Cast Iron Fried Chicken

Is there anything a woman dreads more than cooking (and cleaning) dinner when she's been struck with a weird mid-summer flu bug? Not for this woman, that's for sure! So imagine my joy when hubs texted me this afternoon telling me he will handle dinner! And even better, he would make his deee-viine fried chicken (my favorite thing he cooks, along with his fettuccine Alfredo, but that's another post)!! I knew that many foodies out there would want to know how to make it as well, so I gathered up the strength to take pictures for you all in order to create this post. You're welcome!

For years now he has been telling me that he makes fried chicken really well, but I didn't have proof until about a month ago. Oh. My. Word. I wanted to jump for joy the first time I tasted the crispy morsels of goodness, but that would risk dropping them on the floor!  Contrary to popular belief, it's true! Even us northerners can make an excellent fried chicken- and here's how!

Ingredients needed:

1 pound boneless/skinless chicken breasts (or whatever pieces you fancy)
1 pint buttermilk
hot sauce
2/3 cup corn meal
1 cup all purpose flour (you can use wheat if you must, but AP makes for a lighter crust)
1 Tbs salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp Italian herb season
1/2 tsp nutmeg
3/8 tsp ground red pepper
3/8 tsp paprika
Shortening or oil for frying (enough to just cover the chicken when submersed)
(note: we really only measure when baking, so these measurements do not need to be strictly followed...especially the seasonings. Add more or less depending on your tastes and how much you're making)

Step one: Prepare the Chicken

Trim up your chicken pieces- taking off extra fat and gristle if there is any. If you're going the chicken breast route, we suggest halving them so they're not so thick. Otherwise, you risk the chance of the breading burning before the inside is cooked.

Simply slice the breast as if you're butterflying it, but this time go all the way through.

Next, lightly pound each piece out so that it is slightly flatter- this tenderizes it and makes it oh so good! My husband apparently doesn't value his hands and he used the knife to do this; those of us who would like to not maim ourselves should use a heavy pan or something of the like.

In a large bowl, pour in the buttermilk and add hot sauce- as much as you'd like. Don't worry, a little bit won't make it spicy, just give the fried chicken lots of yummy flavor. Now throw the sliced chicken into the pool and let it hang out while you get the other ingredients ready.

Step two: Mix the breading

In a bowl big enough for dunking chicken, mix all of the dry ingredients. Whew, that was hard! :)
Side note: these are the spices you will taste, so add more or less red pepper depending on what you like. We like spicy foods so we added lots, as you can see.

Step three: Prepare for Frying

In our humble opinions, nothing beats a cast iron pan for frying anything: chicken, bacon, pancakes, you name it! You can of course use any heavy-bottomed pot, but why would you if you can get your hands on the king of all cookware? This is our favorite one: a 10-inch deep skillet from Lodge, only about $30 online or at many supermarkets and outdoor stores. And they will last FOREVER if you take care of them. Okay, rant about my love for cast iron is over, for now. :)

In the fryer of choice, insert whichever fat you would like to use. We prefer shortening, but a light oil works fine too. You just want to make sure that you have enough to barely cover the chicken when it's frying (picture below). Heat that up to about 350 degrees or so- but not much hotter than that!
I also had a baking sheet with a cooling rack parked in a warm oven for storage since this recipe is done in batches.

Step four: Bread the chicken

This is the one part of the recipe that I changed from the way Aaron was taught by a nice southern lady he worked with: double dipping. I just really like a nice thick, crispy crust on mine. Still, even with double dipping it is not  heavy batter, but you can bread just once if you prefer. So, let's dip!
One piece at a time, take the chicken from the buttermilk bath, let the extra drip off a bit, then coat in corn meal mixture. Once evenly applied, re-insert into buttermilk, and repeat. After the second round in the dry mixture, we are ready to fry!

(Note: we opted to bread the chicken as we went along rather than doing it all at once simply because our modest kitchen lacks counter space. If you have the room, I say get this step done all at once so that frying goes faster.)

Sty Five: Fry, baby fry!

Slowly drop chicken pieces into the hot oil. It should gently bubble up around the edges. No bubbles= oil is too cold. Lots of big bubbles= oil is too hot. Adjust accordingly.

Let cook, flipping every 3-4 minutes (so that one side doesn't get darker than the other) until coating is a universal golden brown and delicious. When done, transfer to cooling rack in the oven.
Continue until all the chicken is done.

Step Six: Enjoy your golden, crispy, delicious chicken and feel oh so proud of yourself. 

I must say, there is a real sense of pride in creating something that you previously thought you could only get in a restaurant (and to northerners, in a different state!). And this recipe is so darn good. Thank you, former co-worker of my husband, for sharing your wisdom with him. My taste buds are very grateful for you. My hips are not, but that's okay!

DIY: Special Shapes Crayon Gift

My close friend recently had a birthday party for both of her sons, who were turning 4 and 1. I am all about giving meaningful gifts, preferably homemade, so I thought to myself, "Self, what can I make that an active four-year-old boy will LOVE?" After a few days, my inner crafty goddess came up with this fantastic idea: make fun crayons to give with an awesome coloring book!

Here is a little known fact about me- I love to color. I mean, really love to color. I may or may not recieve a new coloring book and box of crayons every year for Easter well into my twenties because I love it so much! So naturally I have accumulated quite the collection throughout the years Plus, I was a teacher for a year, not including the four years I spent in and out of classrooms, so I stocked up because of that too. Do you know how rough children, even teens, are on crayons?! It really is astonishing. All that to say that this project is a great way to use up all those broken crayons to make something new and beautiful!

So, let's get started! The first thing to do is to gather the crayons! I am a little obsessed with organization, so I began by separating crayons into colors first. I knew I wanted to make some crayons using one color each (with varying shades) and some mixed so I kept that in mind. I must say, I had fun reading the creative color names courtesy Crayola :).

Sorted crayons and my bin o' fun

Now, you need to peel the labels off all those pretty color-makers! Trust me here, you do not want to sit there for hours and tear off all of that paper. I found that using a small knife was the easiest- just firmly run the blade along the length of the crayon and the whole label will come right off. Next comes the fun part: breaking the crayons into the molds! 

You will want to use silicone molds in whatever shape you fancy. I found mine at my supermarket in the shapes of cars and dinosaurs...so fun! There are tons of shapes out there to choose from. Break your crayons into small pieces and arrange them into the molds. Use about 2-3 crayons in each shape in order to get it nice and full when they melt. If your shapes aren't filled enough, the "new" crayons will be too fragile and break when you take them out of the molds.

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Super cool cars and dinosaurs molds. Only $2 each!

Crayons broken into molds. Most of these turned out on the small side, so I ended up having to add more and re-melt. Word of advice: add more than you think you need!

Now you're ready to melt! Put your molds on a baking sheet (simply for easy handling) and into a preheated 350 degree oven for 8-10 minutes or until everything is nice and melted. If you happen to have any air bubbles in the canyons, just pop them with a toothpick.

Fresh from the oven! Note: the front middle car is an example of too small...the rest are perfect!

Let cool completely before popping from the molds. Warm crayons are broken crayons, especially intricate shapes like those dinos. If they break, just put it back in to melt and try again. 

Aren't they fun?! I especially love the "solid" trucks- the marbling makes them look like little camo trucks!

Package them up with a coloring book or two, and you have yourself a great and affordable gift that anyone would love! My favorite four year old just loved them! Score!