Survival of the fittest!

Well I survived December....*sigh of relief*. December was insanely crazy for me. 10 days in the arctic (...also known as Iowa), Christmas vacation for the kiddos, Christmas festivities, etc...It was all full of drama drama drama too...:\ BUT part of my new year/new you campaign I'm going to let go of the drama in my life, thus relieving stress! :) How fantastic does that sound?? So far so good... of course it's only day 5.... Anywho, I'm going to try to keep my faithful reader updated and include some recipes here and there, maybe even a pic of the kids once in awhile! Don't get your hopes up though...I'm not the best at remembering to post pics for some reason, hell I'm not the best at remembering I have a blog. HA!

Recipe of the Day

FRIED CHICKEN (for Dummies)

Warning: this fried chicken will cause all kinds of nasty health conditions, such as but not limited to, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, weight gain, etc...but boy is it yummy!

Needed:
Family pack of Chicken THIGHS With SKIN ON!! (if you only like white meat or don't like the skin...just give it up ;) lol)
Flour
Milk
Salt & Pepper
OIL (don't try to get fancy with expensive oils, the plain ol Veggie oil is perfect)
Skillet with lid
Some deep dishes (pie plates work great!)

First off, this is a very easy recipe, although it takes awhile. So bare with me. Before I bread the chicken, I rubbed it down with salt and I soaked it in room temp water. Flipping every so often. You can soak as long as you'd like I did mine about an hour.

To make your breading its real difficult so pay attention...flour, salt, pepper, blend in a dish!!! This sounds fool proof does it!? Almost...:) Pour some milk in another dish. Put empty skillet on stove, turn stove on med-high. Once hot to the touch add about 1/4" of oil to the hot skillet. Now its time to get dirty...hahaha, bread the chicken. Take the chicken out of the water and dip in milk, both sides and plop it into the flour stuff. Coat well. Make sure all the little places are covered with flour. Test grease temp by throwing a pinch of flour mix in the oil. If it doesn't sizzle, its not hot enough...wait. Once HOT!, put them things in the grease. If you need to turn the temp down do so, you don't want your grease to smoke, every stove is different. Fry the chicken until underside is a nice golden brown color. Flip over the chicken in the skillet very careful (as not to splatter grease or mess up the breading, fork works well). After flipping, cover skillet with lid and turn the temp down just a bit, from med-high to med, ish. This is the waiting game....check on the chicken periodically to make sure they're not getting too brown. It will take awhile for the insides to cook through, be patient. To test done-ness cut one open, or if you're an experienced chicken cooker person, watch your juices. When they're done they're done!

I ALWAYS make gravy from my grease...if you plan to do the same, I suggest transferring cooked chicken to a baking dish and placing in a 200 degree oven while making the gravy. Reasons being not only to keep it warm, but to also prevent the crispy exterior from becoming soggy.

Here's an additional tip: after breading the chicken, stick it in the freezer for just a few minutes, it helps keep the breading on it during frying...if you have time.

I serve fried chicken with:

Mashed Taters
Gravy
Fried Vegetable, such as vidalia onion, mushrooms, squash, etc. (might as well while you have your hands messy and the grease out)

....Just wondering how I'm only 23 and I sound like I'm Paula Dean....hmmm food for thought I suppose (no pun intended ;))

Anywho, give the chicken a whirl, if you have any tips/tricks/comments/concerns please, don't hesitate to say.