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!!

Crafting Alone at the Holidays

The holiday tradition creation continues at the Krasnow home. I really want to try and create memories that last a lifetime and traditions that we can continue year after year. Or as long as McKinley will participate. You know those pesky teenagers... 

My Christmas traditions consisted of going out on a tree hunt with my parents every year where we would hit every tree lot we could find. My dad and I would get out, scout the lot for the perfect tree while my mom stayed toasty warm in the car. When we thought we had found "the one", my mom would get out and give us her feedback. And, we generally ended up getting the very first tree we saw! My mom and I made cookies as most families do. My dad and I went Christmas shopping together every year for my mom. I'm not sure if it was actually on Christmas Eve, but it was as close to Christmas as we could get without it truly being last minute. We watched White Christmas every Christmas Eve night. And, we never opened our gifts on Christmas Eve. We were Christmas Day people. However, my mom allowed one gift on Christmas Eve and it was generally one of those books of Lifesavers.

Some of the Krasnow traditions I started last year are going to be pretty easy to continue. A couple of days prior to Christmas, my mom and I took McKinley to Crown Center for lunch at Fritz's, play time in Santa's Crayola Christmas Land, photos with Santa, and drinks for me and mom inside the Weston. I have it on the calendar for Friday the 20th and can't wait to do it all again. Last year was the first year I actually spent the night at my own home. I wanted McKinley to wake up on Christmas morning at his house, as I had done every Christmas for the past 38 years. My parents came over to help celebrate. I made a corn chowder for dinner, the Santa Sleigh Cocktail via Sandra Lee, tried to watch White Christmas, and went to bed so Santa could come. I plan to recreate this memory every year, or every year that my parents decide to spend the night and wake up with us on Christmas morning.

This year, I've wanted to add a few more things to the fold. McKinley and I have continued to bake, but I've added arts and crafts to the mix. We made classic construction paper garland a couple of weeks ago and it was a huge success! McKinley helped me thread the paper through each ring, alternating color, and he really paid attention to his work. It hangs in his bedroom and looks so cute! We made clothespin characters, which I thought were ornaments. I was wrong. They are simply characters and the tree also resides in his room along side a jingle bell tree on a little side table. (I have since purchased clothes pin ornaments that I hope to make next year.) Because things were going so well in the craft world, I decided it was time to experiment with a gingerbread house. This is an experiment that went so wrong so fast!

Upon opening the box I knew we were doomed. Both sides of the house were broken. And, since I had never built a gingerbread house before, I wasn't sure if it could be repaired. However, I kept hold of my positive holiday spirit and assured myself it could be salvaged. I got all of our house pieces, icing, and candies together. I had Joel at the ready with the camera. I needed him to capture this amazing new holiday tradition. We were ready!

As I started to assemble the house, I found pretty early on that the broken pieces were going to be harder to repair than I had hoped. It wasn't until I started to add the two triangle pieces to make the eave of the house, that the whole thing caved in. Oh, and I should say that while I was putting the sides of the house together, McKinley had completely lost interest. I mean, I had two sides of the house up and he was ready to play in the living room. What was happening to my new, cherished tradition? I was determined to not give up. So I added the front of the house, attached the roof, and started to attached the eaves when again, the whole thing started to collapse. It started with the broken pieces and then each piece started shifting, slowly into itself, and then fell into a heap. There I sat, all alone in the kitchen, devastated.

My devastation slowly turned to frustration which then turned to anger. Anger over the fact that my pieces were broken to begin with, anger over being left alone in the kitchen to finish the craft by myself, and anger that I am pretty sure this is how my life is going to be. Me, wanting so badly to create wonderful memories for my family, working hands on with my son in hopes that he will want to do these things year after year, and finding that I could just be that mom who does these things alone while the boys go off and do boys things. Because who wants to do girly things with their mom when you're a little boy who just wants to play cars, and trucks, and stuff. My hopes were dashed for the rest of the evening.

I always have these preconceived notions that life can should be like Hallmark commercials, ABC Family shows, and any Christmas movie every written. Everyone sitting around the table together, playing, eating, hanging out, simply enjoying each others company and completing any fun tasks at hand. However, life isn't really like that, especially mine, and I may just need to craft alone and show the boys what I've made in hopes of getting enthusiastic oohhs and aahhs! And about that gingerbread house, it wound up in the trash! Merry Christmas!

The Holidays - Creating New Traditions

The holidays are upon us and I for one am ready! I've actually been in the holiday spirit for weeks, but had to save my enthusiasm until after Thanksgiving. I am definitely one to NOT skip Thanksgiving. In my house, I refer to it as "The Forgotten Holiday". However, the Friday after Thanksgiving is a full on decorating day and I love how things are taking shape!

One thing I really want to focus on this year is creating new traditions and working more hands on with McKinley. He is getting to an age where we are baking together more so I really want to start exploring more arts and crafts projects. For Halloween, we made foam ornaments and decorated a little tree that sat by the front door. For Thanksgiving, we made lollipop stick puppets that didn't really go over all that well. For Christmas, I have lots in store. Baking cookies, crafting, and decorating. And last night was our first crafting session.

I wasn't going to put a tree in McKinley's rooms this year only because the living room tree has been such an ordeal. He is far more exploratory than he was last year and some of the ornaments are beginning to show some wear. His bedroom tree last year consisted of nothing but Santa ornaments, and since he has a tendency to wander upstairs and play in his room, I could just see these ornaments lying on the floor in pieces. Then, as I was searching for other decorations, I found a box of ornaments that I had forgotten about. Non-breakable ornaments that were on the main tree last year. Ornaments that were purchased only for him. Cars characters, Jake characters, and a few soft ones as well. McKinley can definitely have his own tree!

And because I'm going for non-breakable, I really wanted to make things with him that he can hang on the tree himself. So, last night we made the tradition construction paper garland! You know the ones I'm talking about, right? The ones all of us have made over the years and I'm pretty sure it started in Pre-School.

You take red and green construction paper, or any color you choose, and begin folding it back and forth like an accordion. I didn't take the time to measure a piece to create a template and then mark each one accordingly. I just folded the paper back and forth.

Once you've created all the folds you can, start cutting. And, if you have a toddler who has Play-Doo scissors, they can help "cut" as well. We have not entered the world of safety scissors....

Now, I'm not going to fool into thinking I'm a professional photographer, a professional blogger, or a professional crafter. In the real world, you snap pictures when you can, cut the strips of paper on your own while your husband gives your son a bath, and then pick up crafting where you left off. Everyone is in their pajamas because this is real life! And, you crop the photos so you readers don't see the clutter in every shot!

After the bath, McKinley continues to "cut" the strips for our garland.

Now the assembly can begin. I made the rings and McKinley helped me thread each color. And, he knew exactly the color pattern without me prompting him! He's a genius!

Helping mama fold the paper over to make the ring.

And here's the finished product. To McKinley, this is a roller coaster.  (And dreidel's are ice cream cones.) We will place this around McKinley's tree this weekend. I can't wait to show you the finished product. We have a few other crafts to make before we decorate the tree. I can't wait to get started on those!

What family traditions have you started with your children? What are some of your favorites? Can't wait to hear all about them!