Southern Kitchen

As I was eliptical'ing last week, watching "Trisha's Southern Kitchen" (yes, I watch cooking shows whilst working out... I find it inspiring... to finish faster to get home and eat dinner), I caught a fried chicken recipe.  I can honestly say I'm not sure I have ever actually had fried chicken, but it looked tasty, so thought I would give it whirl.

Well, I ended up using a Tyler Florence recipe instead, and here is how I did it:

Ingredients:
- peanut oil
- 2 T salt
- 6-8 pieces of chicken w/ the skin (i used thighs and legs)
- 2-3 C all purpose flour
- 2 T cayenne pepper
- 2 T paprika
- 2 T onion powder
- 2 T garlic powder
- 2 C buttermilk
- 2 T chili/garlic sauce
- salt and freshly ground pepper

Prep:
- Soak chicken in water and salt for min. of four hours in the refrigerator.  This will brine the meat and make it super tasty and super moist.
- Mix flour and spice mixture in 2 inch dish.
- Mix buttermilk with chili/garlic sauce in a bowl.
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
- Line a baking sheet with foil and paper towel.

Step 1 - Heat oil (about 3 inchs deep) in a fryer, or a deep pan to approx. 350-356 degrees.  Thermometers are a must!

Step 2 - While the oil is heating, pat the chicken dry with a paper towel.  Next, dust in flour mixture, followed by buttermilk, and back into flour mixture.

Step 3 - Make sure oil is hot enough (Note: the oil will cool as soon as you place the chicken in it, so adjust the temp. accordingly), and gently place 3-4 pieces of chicken in the oil. Cook for about 4-5 minutes, then carefully turn to cook on the other side until golden brown, another 3-4 minutes, or so, depending on the size of your chicken pieces.

Step 4 - Remove cooked chicken and place on lined baking sheet. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and place in the oven to stay warm while cooking other pieces.

Serve warm with your favorite side.  I tossed some freshly blanched green beans in butter, olive oil, garlic and some S & P.

The chicken skin was SOOOO crunchy and so tasty.  NO sauce or gravy required.  Inside, the chicken was perfectly cooked and flavored nicely from the salt brine.  And, not oily at oil.

A must try for the fried chicken virgin.

I might even get real Southern, and eat the leftovers with waffles tomorrow.

Enjoy!

Namaste

Week 29 and feelin' fine!  Baby is measuring normal (whatever that means), I too seem to be measuring normal, and all systems a-go to date!  Baby is moving lots and feeling him or her move is the best part of my day.  I cant wait to get into bed at nite, grab my baby books, and read while I feel the baby move around, wondering what is going on in there!

I had my first pre-natal yoga class this evening, and it was awesome.  It should have been my second, however, I somehow managed to lock my keys in my my car last week... in a car that is virtually IMPOSSIBLE to do this in.  Dumb. Young. (no, thats not any sort of Asian Cuisine...Sta)

I've really, really, missed hot yogs, so it felt so good just to be going through familiar poses, even if it was in a cold room, very slowly, with no music, four randos, and at a hospital.  I fell asleep towards the end and started drooling;  I was that relaxed.  I can still do pretty much all the moves, I just have to be extra careful of my growing belly when bending over and/or backwards.

Here's me attempting one of my favorite poses at home for Lily, dancer.  She is clearly not amused. Needless to say, my balance is off these days, so its not as pretty as it should be, nor my leg as high as it could be.

I haven't quite mastered my new spacial allowance, so often run into things... and people.

I cant believe I'm on the home stretch already... less than 2.5 months to go (with a short month!). WOW.

#notreadyyet!

A New Year, A New Opportunity to Soar Your Spirit

A line stolen from Jonathan Lockwood Huie (no clue who that is, BTW), kind of spoke to me and wanted to put it back out into the universe.  The continued thought is as follows:

...to see light and joy in everything.
to spread our wings and fly boldly.
to give thanks for rainbows and butterflies - our symbols of renewal.
to offer daily thanksgiving - for ourselves, our family, friends, community and world.

I have accomplished 99.9% of all New Years resolutions I have ever set, and 2013 is no exception!  Figured I would get my goals on "paper" to further reinforce my commitment to myself, my family and friends, and my work, which I hope I never lose passion for:

 

- Thank god everyday for my family and friends... NO greater people on this earth than them.

- Be a confident, open-minded and compassionate parent, and thank lucky stars for the opportunity to become one!

- Continue to make smart decisions with food and health; start running and hot yogs again as soon as Doc clears it post baby!

- Be excited to go to work EVERY DAY, and be thankful for an amazing opportunity to work for a stellar organization.

- Ski as much as possible Winter '13.

- Consider joining Instagram publicly.

 

Here's to a great year ahead for all my peops!

 

 

Three...

... months (or so) from today, I will have produced an actual human life.  When thinking about this, I need to remind myself to do the following:

                     

Thank you Jeremy for our on-going tradition of silly and sometimes super inappropriate joke gifts for all occasions requiring a gift.  I'm sure you really love your fake party poo.

SO excited for 2013!  Happy New Year.