Shopping Around the World

Hello Friends!! ❤  It’s that time for Shopping Around the World for March.  For March, we are highlighting ‘go to’ meals that you always prepare when you have nothing else to do.

This one is right up mom’s alley for sure.  Her ‘go to’ meal will always be some sort of chicken dish for sure.

In fact, she made her favorite ‘go to’ meal this weekend for all of us – and we all enjoyed it.

So without further ado, take it away mom!

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You will need the following:  four chicken thighs ($4.38); a pack of english peas ($0.88); salad mix ($1.00); salad dressing of your choice ($0.25); flour/spices/oil ($0.50) = Total cost $7.01 – Could possibly be a bit more 🙂

We all know how to fix your salad mix and peas so I will start with my ‘go to’ spice mix for my chicken.  And although I’ve been using my air fryer a lot these days, I decided to go old school and do this chicken the old southern traditionally way.  First thing – an iron skillet.  Every good southern cook here in the south will have different sizes of iron skillets in the cabinets.  Yes it makes a difference.  Put that skillet on the stove to medium heat and pour some oil in it to heat.  While it is heating, prepare your spice mix.  In a mixing bowl, put two cups of flour.  To that add:  salt, pepper and cayenne pepper to taste (make it as hot or leave it out altogether).  Mix it together.  In another mixing bowl, add a touch of milk, two eggs, and again season well with salt, pepper and a touch of cayenne pepper.  Mix it together.

Now clean your chicken.  Then they are going to get all seasoned.  Make sure your oil is hot.  How do  you do that?  Take just a pinch of flour and sprinkle it in your hot oil.  Does it bubble?  Yes, it’s ready.  No, give it some more time.

Take a chicken thigh and put it in the flour mixture, then to the ‘bath’ egg mixture, then (this is what a lot people forget) back to the flour mixture.  Yes your fingers will be messy.  Get over it.  After the flour mixture, then the chicken goes into the hot oil.  You should be able to put all four thighs in your pan.  Then wash up those fingers.  I usually do mine chicken around 10 minutes on one side and then flip to the other side for another 10 minutes.

Then serve with peas and a salad – there you go.  Southern fried chicken at its best!

 

Journal of Healthier Living – Week 6

Welcome my friends.  I’m tweaking my weekly journey with my healthier living.  It’s a step in the right direction for sure.  I hope you come along for the ride.  Instead of day-to-day comments, I’m going to post something from my personal journal to share.  Hope you enjoy.  Remember all of us go down this path and we are all in it together ❤

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Week of 02/11-02/17/2018 – Week 6

“Dear Journal – Sometimes I think we beat ourselves up too much.  There is a line between challenging yourself to do better and pushing yourself over the edge.  If I push myself too much, it becomes something I *have* to do, a chore if you will, and my OCD gets tested.  If I leave it at the pace I’m going, I can fit it into my life where it becomes a habit in the end and not so much as a chore.  Shaking my head.  Life is full of complications – LOL.  But so far, I think I have this right now.  I do want to pick up the pace a bit more.  Now I’m trying to turn a 24 hour day into 36 hours.  Do I really need sleep?  Just joking – I love my sleep.  It’s hard to believe how things these days in the form of moving around is so much easier.  I’m so grateful that I had breast surgery.  I think I need to send the doctor a thank you note.”

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This week walked: 9.12

TOTAL 2018 Miles:  53.30

TOTAL 2017 Miles:  541.06

 ❤ small goals turn into big accomplishments ❤

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Okay my friends – another week with using the air fryer at the Hotel Thompson.  One of my biggest weaknesses foodwise is fried chicken.  It might be a southern thing.  It’s a huge comfort food here in the south.  And it’s something I was never able to work around with trying to lose weight but yet keeping my favorite food in the mix.  Who needs all of that grease that it’s deep fried in, right?

Well, I think I found my heaven.  Let me present to you Exhibit A – fried chicken (skinless and boneless) that was prepared in air fryer.  I put it on on the white napkins straight from the air fryer so that you could see – absolutely NO GREASE.  Look at the crispy outside and the inside was so juicy.  Better yet, I’ve found with the air fryer that you actually taste your food and not the grease that it is cooked in.  I seasoned my chicken before hand with salt/pepper and some pepper flakes.  I then dipped it in a seasoned egg mixture and then dipped it in a seasoned flour mix.  I then put the chicken in my air fryer.  The basket held five chicken thighs at one time.  I set the timer for 20 minutes on chicken at 380 degrees.  At 10 minutes, I stopped the timer and turned the chicken.  It came out this beautiful.  It was a HUGE hit here at the Hotel Thompson.

 

Travels in the South

This weeks Travels in the South is brought to you by the mommy – snorts.  Her and daddy went out over the weekend and she found a really awesome salad that was right up her alley.  You see it in the picture?  This was called the cornbread fried chicken salad.  Can you say yum?  Do you see those giant croutons surrounding the sides of the salad?  That is cornbread cut into croutons.  Now mom didn’t eat them *in* her salad.  She ate them on the side.  They were delicious.  Dad didn’t care for them that much and mom was fine with that.  She said it was more for her.  Why were they so good?  They had corn and jalapenos in them.  Mom said they also had a tad of sugar that she could taste which cut down the heat of the jalapenos.  And of course with mom’s love of fried chicken, having some chicken in her salad was absolutely heaven.

Was it all par for eating healthy?  Probably not.  But this date, it touched a special place in mom’s heart… and tummy.

 

Shopping Around the World

Hello sweet friends ❤  For the month of June we are focusing on something that you have cooked lately that you absolutely went bonkers for and everyone enjoyed.  This could be anything – even a cheese cracker.  Just make it the best cheese cracker you ever had and post prices… and pictures are awesome.  That gives us something to drool on while we read your recipe.

Today, I’m handing our recipe over to mom.  Can you believe that me and dad actually got her to cook dinner for us one night?  Now don’t get me wrong.  She cooks for us but she’s been watching her diet lately so we have to say she went overboard with this dinner.  And *we* all appreciated that – trust me.

So without further ado, take it away mom!

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Hello friends.  If you know me really well, then you know here in the south I just can’t get enough of fried chicken – ever.  I’ll admit it.  Usually instead of taking the time to fix it, I will usually just buy it from the store or a local restaurant.  Every once in a while, I will bring out my southern experience and fry some for the family.  Of course when I do, everyone wonders what they’ve done to deserve it – HA!  It just keeps them on their toes I say.  What you will need:

♦ A package of chicken.  We enjoy thighs.  You get whatever pieces your family likes – mixed or whatever.  This date, we bought a package of thighs.  There was 8 of them for $3.23

♦ You should have some of these ingredients on hand:  flour (3 cups – $0.75); buttermilk (2 cups – $0.50); eggs (3 – $0.50); frying oil (4 cups $2.50); salt/pepper/cayenne pepper

Now this is a pretty basic recipe that we have used in our family for years.  You can also use the same ingredients with different types of  meat – fried fish, shrimp and you know that other white meat that we can’t mention on Bacon’s blog.  You can also use different spices that you like.  Be creative and have fun.

Now is the time to get your assembly line going.  It gets a little messy.  You will need two bowls.  One bowl you will put your ‘dry’ ingredients in – the flour, salt, pepper and shake cayenne pepper to your taste.  Now test your taste.  Remember you can add more, you can’t take out.  In the other bowl, put your 3 eggs and beat them.  Add your milk, salt, pepper and more cayenne pepper.  As that is sitting, put your grease in a frying pan (we like to use an iron skillet) and let that start to get hot somewhere around medium/high.  Now while that is getting hot, put about 4 pieces of raw chicken (that you have already washed) into the wet ingredients.  Let the oil get hot.

Once hot, here comes the fun part. You want to take the pieces of chicken out of the wet ingredients and coat them in the dry ingredients.  Get everything coated.  Now repeat that step.  Yep, I believe in double coating for an extra crispy skin on the chicken.  Dip the floured chicken back into your wet ingredients, back into the dry ingredients and then place the chicken in your hot oil skin side down.  Your pan should comfortably hold 4 thighs – don’t overcrowd.  I cook the chicken about 8 minutes and then flip the chicken over to the other side for about 6 more minutes.  Once it is nicely golden brown, put on paper towels to drain and do the remainder of your chicken.

There you go – a classic southern dish from the Hotel Thompson.  Eight wonderful fried chicken thighs for around $7.50 – great for a Sunday meal.  Enjoy ❤

 

Texts from Bacon

Oh friends, here’s another Texts from Bacon that you can’t miss out on.  The things that are communicated here at the Hotel Thompson never stop.  It’s like living in a circus sometimes!  Hope you enjoy.  My texts are in blue and mom’s are in white.  Have a great weekend – I can almost see the light from here on the couch!

 

Travels in the South

Oh friends!  What a week it has been.  With mom recuperating from her car accident, we have all been trying to be nice to her.  After one doctors appointment last week, mom was craving some comfort food.  Nothing screams southern comfort more than this picture, right?  For those that don’t recognize that awesome glory, let me break it down for you.

Those two delightfully brown looking pieces on that plate, that would be boneless fried chicken.  You see chicken of any kind is like one of mom’s fall to foods when she is feeling really icky.  And personally I think these past couples of weeks qualified for just that.

Mom ordered the chicken with green beans, a side salad and white gravy on the side.  What was the gravy for?  Of course to dip that wonderful chicken into before eating it.  You’ve never done that before?  You are so hidden from southern comforts.  You must try it.

So you see mom didn’t do too bad but she sure felt better afterwards. ❤

 

Birthday PAWTY!

Let’s party my friends.  Today is mom’s 29th BIRTHDAY!!  Grab some eats, heat the beats and have an awesome time.  I’m collecting all messages for mom and will be giving them to her tonight when she gets home from her special birthday dinner with dad and Nana.

Food to enjoy – grab a plate because we are serving some of mom’s all time favorites:

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Thank you mom for ALL that you do for us.  We love you so very much!