Mom's Southern Cooking - Iron Skillet Fried Chicken

Easter Sunday in our house has always been a low key event. When I was younger, we would dress up for church, come home to change, and then relax. Or at least that's the way I remember it. Years later, we stopped attending church, kept to a very relaxed wardrobe, and spent the day enjoying family. This past Sunday was no different.

Our Sunday meal, which is always dinner, doesn't vary either. We serve up a traditional Southern cuisine and we don't spare a single calorie! And, since I am all about learning to cook the foods my mother's have cooked, I took on the task of whipping up mashed potatoes and iron skillet fried chicken. (When my mom makes friend chicken today, we go the healthier route by "frying" it in the oven. So let's take a walk on the calorie laden wild side and fry up some chicken!

Here is what you'll need: Chicken (we used chicken thighs, legs, and breast), Flour, Paprika, Garlic Powder, Cayenne Pepper, Salt, Black Pepper, a paper bag, and Crisco.

Add several heaping spoonfuls of flour, several shakes of Paprika, a shake of Cayenne Pepper and Garlic Powder, two pinches of salt, and several pinches of black pepper. No real measurements here! This is how my great-grandmother cooked!

 

That's three tablespoons of Crisco. You add more per batch.

 

Add your chicken to the flour mixture and shake to cover. Place your fattier pieces, like thighs and legs, in the bag first.

That's me shaking the chicken!

  

Place your Crisco in the pan and let it get really hot!

 

  

Add your chicken in batches. Again, fry the fattier pieces first.

Turn over as the sides become golden brown. Turn several times, and once all sides are fried, place the lid over the skillet and continue to cook. When I asked my mom how long to cook the chicken, she said "I don't know. I just cook the chicken." If you want to know it's done, make sure the juices run clear and your thermometer reads 165.

This is a traditional Southern spread! Fried chicken, deviled eggs, mashed potatoes, green beans, jello salad, rolls (seen below) and gravy. All recipes are handed down from both sides of the family. My great grandmother's fried chicken and mashed potatoes (although I'm sure everyone makes them the same), my cousin Judy's jello salad which is amazing, my mom's own delived eggs, and my mom's cooked green beans with bacon.

 

And our sweet table was set in all the colors of Easter; pink, blue, and yellow! This was also complete with my great grandmother's (on my dad's side) darling blue glasses.

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter!!

McKinley's Third Birthday

Over the weekend we celebrated McKinley's third birthday. I can't believe my baby is three! I mean, he's still a baby in so many ways, but at the same time he's such a big boy. He's making decisions, taking his coat off and hanging it on his little coat hook, learning to use the big boy potty, and generally talking a blue streak from the moment he wakes up! But in the next breath, he still wants to be cuddled, still wants to be carried, and still wants someone to lay down with him at night. I guess he will forever be my baby!

But, I digress. Back to the party! I took him to Party City weeks before his birthday so he could pick out the theme. See, making his own decisions. It was between CARS, Thomas, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Mickey Mouse, and Planes. It was CARS hands down! I wasn't surprised. He loves cars, he loves trucks, he loves Mater and Lighting, so really it was a no brainer. (I knew I wanted to throw a CARS themed party after we spent time in Radiator Springs at California Adventure.) And with Mater being his favorite character from the movie, I knew I wanted to make him a 3D Mater cake. How I was going to execute that was a different story.

I searched the internet months prior for 3D Mater cake molds and let me tell you, they don't exist. We have a Lighting mold from the year I made Joel a Dale Jr cake for his birthday. There is nothing for Mater. My husband kept saying that I should just make a sheet cake and make the face of Mater on the flat surface. That I could do, but didn't want to do. I wanted McKinley to have a 3D cake. I continued my search for ideas up to the week of the party and I finally landed on a step by step instructional from Sugar Plums Adventure in Cake. This tutorial was a lifesaver!! 

I took most of her ideas but tailored them to my needs. I didn't make my cake nearly as big as hers. I didn't use fondant. I made homemade chocolate buttercream. Instead of wooden dowels and fondant, I used lollipop sticks covered in brown floral tape. I used floral wire wrapped in the same brown floral tape for the side view mirrors, but instead of fondant, I used papertowel cardboard and wrapped that in the brown floral tape as well. I didn't cut out tires from styrofoam. I used half of an Oreo per tire. Same thing for his radiator. I tried to use as many edible things as I could, and when that wasn't possible, things that around the house. 

There was a lot of piecing things together, freehand tracing, tears when I became frustrated, but most importantly, a lot of love went into making this cake! I wanted McKinley to have his favorite truck come to life in front of him, and when he saw Mater, the look on his face meant everything! He opened his mouth wide, grinned from ear to ear, and exclaimed that it was Mater. He told everyone about his cake, told the doctor at his three year well visit, and still talks about it almost a week later. I am simply overjoyed.

So without further ado, I give you my version of a 3D Mater cake!

I also made a version of a Lighting McQueen cookie. (At the last minute, I found actual CARS cookie cutters on eBay. Why hadn't I looked sooner....)

I also made red and chocolate covered cakepops! I loved the mini CARS lunchbox as the container.

 

 I truly had a blast planning this party! I tried to keep the theme throughout the party, giving drinks character's name and using some of McKinley's own CARS toys throughout the decor, while the movie played in the background in the den while kids played. 

 

But as long as McKinley had the best day ever, that's all the really matters to me! Happy Birthday, my sweet, baby boy!