winnar winnar chicken dinnar*

JT loves simple meals. I have tried to impress him with variations on homemade sauces, intricately cooked scallops and salmon about anyway you can make it. However he always seems most thrilled when I make a traditional family down home meal.

Honestly we eat pretty healthy. As I have already mentioned I love salmon, enjoy grilled and steamed vegetables and substitute turkey for ground beef at all times. So every now and then we indulge. JT usually “indulges” with a McDonalds hamburger (plain with cheese of course). In my effort to indulge him and my need to try new recipes I gave good old Southern Fried Chicken a try.

Naturally I went straight to the master of all things fattening, fried and delicious – Paula Deen. Now her accent goes all over me and she says “y’all” a bit too much for my taste, but the lady makes some damn good, albeit not heart healthy food. But that’s the point of an occassional indulgence, right?

I used this simple recipe which yielded excellent results. I have never made fried chicken before and was surprised at the ease and speed of it. I know my good friend BenFann would like it because it takes a whole cup of  Texas Pete’s. I was also worried about this Texas Pete’s addition as anyone who knows JT knows he is terrified of anything remotely spicy. Not to worry. It was perfectly seasoned, not too salty and had that nice crispy crust we usually deprive ourselves of with all our skinless grilled chicken breasts. It was also incredibly juicy.  We’ll be making this again..in a couple of months. It’s a pretty good substitute for my favorite fried chicken in the whole world.  I used store bought flaky biscuits and glazed them with a honey butter sauce for a side. No vegetables tonight – just the indulgences.

The finished products:

crispy fried goodness

 And the verdict from JT?

JT mealing the chicken, Remy mealing her hand

 JT approved. Next he’ll want a pot of beans and corn bread, to which I say —  Gross.  Make that yourdamnself.

*FYI-I know how to spell winner & dinner. It’s an inside joke. If you get it – you get it.

nice little saturday

Let’s be honest – I hated it here from the moment we moved. We left our version of the Shire and moved to the Hellmouth. (For those keeping track, according to my friend Niscole, Cincinatti is Mordor.) We left friends, family and I was 5 months pregnant.

This weekend was probably the best I’ve had since we’ve been here. It almost felt  home-like. What made it so good was that it was absolutley normal. I didn’t feel like this is pretty good but it would be better if my besty, any of our other friends, or family were here.  Jonathan mowed, we took the recycling (still miss that sweet curbside action!), we hit up Target, Best Buy and HEB.

Yep we’re like  Frank the Tank.

“Actually, we’ve got a nice little Saturday planned. We’re going to Home Depot to pick out some wallpaper, then maybe we’ll hit Bed Bath and Beyond. I don’t know! I don’t know if we’ll have enough time! “

Other highlights of our lowkey weekend include:

• Jonathan got me a a Wii. The new Wii is sleek, plays Netflix streaming and let’s this terrible gamer play her favorite games from childhood. Yep – Zelda for NES and Zelda: A Link to the Past SNES will be played at my house again sans cartridge and with new fancy controller. 
• Remy comes alive! Remy has taken up babbling and is trying REALLY HARD to crawl and to stand. She gets more and more fun everyday. She had lots of playtime with JT – not sure who enjoyed it more. I’ll let you be the judge.

who's making who laugh?

daddy - you crazy

how JT helps Remy get ready for bed

•  I made this on Saturday. It was delicious, Jonathan approved, I think it would impress my foodie friend Laura and as my father likes to say it was “restaraunt quality.”
• We got to sit outside. We enjoyed the relatively low humdity, breeze and the shade.  Remy enjoyed her toes.

delicious baby feet

• LOST series finale on Sunday. We’ve been watching this since we started dating and have almost always enjoyed it. Now we’re ready for our summer programs to come back on the TV. We’re looking at you True Blood and Warehouse 13.

Really how can anyone not have a nice little saturday with this face around?

nicest little baby