Buttermilk Fried Chicken

Yummy!! Can I just start off with saying that?! I haven't fried chicken in I don't know how long! Personally frying anything isn't high on my to-do list. Mostly, because I don't enjoy being popped by flying grease or nearly breaking my neck on slippery fly aways on the floor. One thing I can say is that I'm so happy I tried this recipe. The results were fantablous (and fantastical) and went well with my homemade broccoli soup!

What you'll need:

• 2 small containers
• 1 frying pan
• Crisco
• Seasonings such as salt, pepper, cayenne pepper
• 2 medium sized eggs
• About 2 handfuls of Corn Flakes
• About 2 cups of flour
• Draining rack or paper towels
• About 8 chicken legs
• Buttermilk
• Tongs and a Fork

To try to prevent cross contamination (and the spread of microbes all over my kitchen) all of the prep work is done BEFORE dealing with the chicken or the eggs. I make sure my hands are washed, and the sink I'll be seasoning the chicken in is thoroughly washed.

In the 1st container, I pour in flour and then season it well with black pepper and a small amount of cayenne pepper. Spicy isn't my goal, so the cayenne is used sparingly just for taste. Salt surprisingly isn't even in my house. I never ever cook with salt, but you may use if for this recipe if you choose  ^_^  I use roughly 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper and 1 teaspoon of black pepper. The last thing that goes in is the fist full's of cornflakes. These get roughly crushed up with the back of a fork, mixed well, then set aside.

In the 2nd container, goes about a 1/2 cup of buttermilk, and the eggs. Before I crack the eggs I turn on water in a sink and have a trash bag near. Crack the eggs, throw them away, and then wash my hands without touching anything else. Mix the milk and eggs well, and then set aside.

On the stove I heat the frying pan on medium-low. While it's heating up I add about 1 1/2 cups of Crisco shortening. Any type of oil or shortening may be used here. I just wanted the bottom of the pan covered--no deep frying going on here. Prepping the chicken is next!

After turning the stove up to medium--I turn on the water again, so I could wash my hands after seasoning the chicken. No matter what anyone says, I always rinse off meat really well when I take it out of the package. If necessary, you can trim up the chicken legs to get rid of excess fat. After laying the legs down in the sink I prepped I season then on both sides. I sprinkled about 1 tablespoon of black pepper total on 1 side of all the legs.

Time for the assembly line cooking method! Using 1 hand to touch raw chicken and 1 hand to touch anything else is important so bacteria aren't spread. 1 chicken leg gets dipped in the milk-egg mixture, then into the seasoned flour-cornflake mix, and finally into the frying pan. With one hand on the chicken, and the other on the container holding the flour mix you can hold that closer to the pan, so you're not dropping flour on things.

I fit about 4 legs in at a time. The thickest part of the leg should be towards the middle (hottest part) of the pan. Try not to over crowd your pan, this can affect the temperature of the oil extending the cooking time. If the oil is too hot the chicken will brown fast on the outside, but be undercooked inside. Once you've placed the chicken in the pan don't touch it. Place it and keep hand off! Let the 1st side cook for about 8 minutes before flipping with your tongs and repeat.

Once the chicken is finished cooking, place it on a draining rack, or on paper towels to remove excess oil.

Extras:

~~~The buttermilk helps flavor the chicken and keep it juicy while it cooks. The chicken can be soaked in it the night before for extra flavor.

~~~The cornflakes give an extra crunch to the breading that's made while frying.

~~~The egg can be omitted, but gives the flour mix something to hold on to and helps with the crunch!

I've tried to come up with some positive things to eating fried foods. I even googled it, but I really didn't find a lot of good things worth mentioning. Everyone knows fried foods aren't very healthy, BUT to me moderation is the key! Too much of anything in life usually isn't good.

Possible Mods:

• Try egg whites instead of the whole egg
• Use gluten free or whole wheat flour
• Use canola, sunflower, or olive oil
• Try using skinless chicken 

Think you eat too much fried food?

~~Try limiting yourself to eating it once a week

~~Feeling adventurous? Try limiting yourself to twice a month

~~Eat two vegetable for every piece of fried food on your plate

Over all, I give this recipe 2 thumbs up!! The buttermilk chicken was very crispy, crunch, and juicy! It'll definitely be tried again ^_~"

Do you have any variations of this recipe? Know any modifications that can be made? Comment below and don't forget to subscribe!

Broccoli Soup

The "recipe" I have for this soup has to be the most bootleg one in my possession. It's written on a random page in a notebook, and I can't even remember where I found it at originally. The recipe for broccoli soup simply reads:

"Equal Parts of:

Flour

Chicken Broth

Water"

Yes, that is it. There were no instructions on what to do with those equal parts, no times, or temperatures given. That is all that the entire page said so, I free styled this one. Last winter was the first time I can remember having broccoli soup. It was so good and I fell in love with it. Don't ask me why I've never had it before, but I've been missing out! Besides the obvious broccoli, I knew there was cheese involved, and both were absent from the recipe list of equal parts.

Broccoli is one of my favorite veggies! Many people have to be bribed, or tricked into eating this green vegetable. There are a few recipes I can think of off the top of my head that use broccoli as the main ingredient. I love it, so you'll be seeing more of it. Your whole life you've probably heard how healthy and good for your body broccoli was, but weren't convinced. Well it's true and it doesn't have to taste bad!!

Did you know...

~1 cup of broccoli can have as much protein as 1 cup of rice or corn, but with HALF as many calories

Broccoli is full of many vitamins and nutrients such as:

• Potassium- promotes regular muscle growth and brain function
• Magnesium & Calcium- helps regulate blood pressure and for bone health
• Vitamin C, Zinc, & Beta-carotene- helps skin repair and strengthens immune function
• Fiber- maintains low blood sugar and helps with digestion
• Vitamin A- good for structures of the eyes as you mature

The list of benefits can go on and on. One key to making sure these nutrients stay in the vegetable is to not over cook it! For example, if you boil vegetables until they're limp and colorless all of the vitamins have been pulled into the water. This leaves it tasteless and nearly void of nutrients.




Soup!!!!


Using my large trusty measuring cup (holds up to 4 cups) I poured 4 cups of water in a large pot to boil. I chose four, because I had enough bouillon cubes left to make 4 cups of chicken stock! I followed the instructions to make the chicken bouillon, reduced heat to medium, added equal parts of flour (4 cups) and stirred.

Since this was a huge amount of dry ingredients being quickly added to wet, it became very chunky. To fix this, I added the 4 cups of water (equal parts) and continued to stir. The mixture was still thick, so I tossed the spoon, upped the temperature, grabbed my potato masher, and added a little more water. Yes, it was that thick! Next time I make this soup I'll mix all of the wet ingredients before adding the flour. I think this will help prevent any chunks.

After seeing the chunky base, I started having second thoughts on this equal parts recipe. I didn't want to waste my good cheese and broccoli if it was going to be thrown away. My stomach suddenly spoke up--So I continued on! To make this soup quickly I used frozen broccoli spears. If you can picture what the small squares of frozen veggies look like--the bag of frozen broccoli I used was a little bigger than that. Just slightly thawed, I cut the spears into bite sized pieces, tossed 'em in, and occasionally stirred. When the ingredients started to come together I added a small bag of monterrey cheddar cheese.

I was still giving this concoction the side eye and worried it would be bland. I didn't know about this flour, water, and cheese biz, so I sprinkled in enough ground pepper to cover the top of the soup. This probably equates to 1 tablespoon, roughly. Once, all of the ingredients were in the pot I kept stirring to make sure everything was mixed well. To melt the cheese and cook the broccoli I put a lid on the pot, and let it simmer. Every few minutes I'd check on it, stir all sides, and walk away.

After about 10 minutes of simmering, the broccoli soup was finally looking like the soup that inspired this adventure! Taste testing every couple minutes let me know when the soup was done. I didn't want the broccoli to be too tender, so I let that guide me too  ^_^  Ladled into a bowl, this broccoli soup was very much enjoyed.

This recipe can be easily modified to meet many needs. I thought of this AFTER I wanted to share it with a friend, and then remembered I used the chicken base, and they're of the meatless persuasion!

Possible Mods:

1. Use a vegetable or beef stock instead of chicken
2. Want more soup? Use less broccoli
3. Want more veggies? Use bigger bags/bunches of broccoli
4. Like it spicy? Try pepper jack instead of cheddar
5. Want it healthier? Try whole wheat, or gluten free flour
6. Need smaller quantity? Try using 2 cups equal parts instead of 4
7. Need larger quantity? Try doubling the equal parts to 8 cups

Are there any other ways to modify the recipe? Comment below!! Try it out and let me know how it goes. Once I got through a few kinks at the beginning it was smooth sailing. I'll definitely be making this broccoli soup again!!

Noms!

For the longest time I've wanted an outlet for a big hobby of mine. Cooking is something that I've been a part of since I was big enough to carry a pot! Whether it was picking onions from the garden, slicing tomatoes, seasoning some type of meat, or even taste testing; having my hand in the love that brought family and friends together was something I loved. I enjoy eating just as much, so being able to fulfill that encouraged me to learn!

There's been many times that writing a cook book has been tested by me. It's actually a lot harder than it looks! You ever do the exercise in school where you have to write instructions to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, then someone tries, following your directions? Lots of steps are usually left out unintentionally.

Example:
Did you list everything that's needed? (knife, jelly, peanut butter, bread)
Give clear instruction? (open the jar, how many slices of bread, use what kind of knife)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Those mental steps and precise mathmatical measurements are what trip me up when it comes to writing a recipe. Unless I'm baking, I rarely use measuring cups and spoons. A dash of this, seasoned to taste, pinch of that, three shakes, a scoop here, and a tad there--that's what I'm working with. I know my way around the kitchen and the spice rack, but telling others who may not, it's a bit trickier. So here's my pledge and goal for this Edibles by Dez:

While writing new posts I pledge to try my best when giving the steps that I took in cooking something. I'll be as detailed as I can, and will be open to new things. In saying that, the big picture goal of this is to continue motivating myself to eat healthy and actually enjoy every step. Having fun is a big part of it all.

Cooking doesn't have to be a chore, or anything to be afraid of. Making mistakes is a part of learning. I know you've heard, "don't knock it til you've tried it." Eating healthy definately shouldn't make you run away screaming, frown, or hit the red X up top! Believe me I've had more than my fair share of the entire pig, goat, cow, etc., and loved every single bit of it. Sadly, seeing the long term effects of eating that way, along with a scare myself, has curved my diet. You don't have to totally eliminate specifics, but moderation is the key. Me personally, I've removed red meat and a lot of salt from my menu. BUT as the title suggests, don't let that or my size fool ya, because Skinny Girls Can Throw Down Too!! Follow me and you'll see  ^_~"