Fried Chicken Fresh from the Farm

We spent our spring break processing all of our chickens and the one thing that David wanted was to have fried chicken!  I definitely love fried food and fried chicken is one of my favorites. The problem was getting from the whole chicken to pieces of chicken and not making it look like a lawnmower ran over it. This is where the journey began  . . . our whole chicken

 After looking at many of my first cookbooks that I received as a new bride, I found one that showed how to cut up a chicken. The chicken was then sprinkled with Paula Deen's House Seasoning---it is so easy to make and it taste so good on everything. It is 1 cup salt, 1/4 cup pepper, and 1/4 cup garlic powder.

 The chicken wasn't soaked prior to seasoning it but you can always soak it in either some cold water or some buttermilk and egg.  Next, heat up your oil for frying.  I like a mixture of vegetable and peanut oil  Before putting it in the grease,  bread your chicken in either a pre-made breader or some flour.  We use  House Autry's chicken breader because it has a good flavor and fries up very crispy. Just be sure to check your grease in between batches to make sure that the grease is the right temperature, which should be at 325 degrees for deep frying and 350 degrees for pan frying.

 After about 7 minutes on each side (depending on the size of the pieces), you can remove and place on paper towels to soak up any excess grease. This is what it looks like-crispy, juicy and delicious.

 As you can see, it didn't take long for David to start trying this great southern staple. I hope you enjoy. If you need any birds to fry then let me know because we have plenty of those delicious birds to sell.

I met The Pioneer Woman!!!

So if you know me at all, then you know that I love reading thepioneerwoman.com. Actually, my husband is the one who got me addicted to her website. He was looking around on the web for a steak with a blue cheese cream sauce, and her website was the first to come up.   Here is the steak that I first made from her website:

It was delicious!  It was very rich and we thought that it caused another case of pancreatitis, but it wasn't pancreatitis at all, it was a black widow spider (another story for another time).  

I then went on to make the famous "Marlboro Man Sandwich".  It was an instant success and according to my husband is the "best sandwich he has ever eaten", and he loves food!  I could go on and on about all of the great food. The great thing about the website is all of the step by step pictures while you are cooking to make sure that you haven't messed it up. 

The thing that got me completely hooked besides the great photography and stories, was how she met her husband, Marlboro Man.  It was such a great story that I stayed up late reading it and was telling everyone about it (My staff can testify).  I related to her very easily because I grew up in a suburb of Atlanta and then met my cowboy/farmer and moved to a really small town in South Carolina. 

This past Saturday, The Pioneer Woman was in Augusta which is about an 1 1/2 hours from home. David and I left Sarah Katherine with Grandma and made a date night out of it. It was the best date night by far!  

Here I am with Ree Drummond aka The Pioneer Woman. 

Right before her talk, my husband leaves to go to the restroom.  The event had started and David had not returned.  I forgot how long he had been gone, but he then walks back in with whom, no other than Marlboro Man himself and Ree Drummond's two young boys. 

 He had left me to go and talk with Marlboro Man! It was quite funny because everyone was cheering for her family and my husband was caught in the middle of it. He looked like a deer in the headlights!  He comes back and says what a really nice guy he is and that we might be selling them some cows.

 Only my husband!

My first cricut project

I received a Cricut Machine for Christmas and I love it!  I am not the world's best scrapbooker but I love to decorate.  A co-worker of mine had a cricut and let me play with hers.  I immediately fell in love.

I had seen on many websites that you could use the cricut to cut out vinyl for decorating. Well, I went full force- bought a cartridge with a rooster and found a saying to put above my cabinets.  So here is my first project. It took a while to put up because my cabinets aren't perfectly level, but we got it up there!  My next project will be with fabric!

The essentials to living on a farm: the Muck Boot!

If you ask someone what they should have when they live on a farm in the name of footwear, they will probably say cowboy boots.  Don't get me wrong, they are a vital part to living on a farm, but I have come to understand in the past month that I rely more on my muck boots then I do any other type of shoes.

This is what our house looked like 3 weeks ago

Entrance to our pasture

All of this beautiful snow turned into mud puddles this past week. In doing so, it has made it very difficult to stay clean, or relatively clean, when going to feed animals.

This is our front door. As you can see that my husband relies on his just as much as I rely on my. If you are a fashion enthusiasts, then there are many types of designs or colors like these:

Or you can use them for dual purposes like my husband does: feeding animals and hunting

Needless to say, mine are plain and black but I wouldn't do anything on this farm without them.

Besides keeping your clothes from being destroyed by our southern red clay, they are the warmest shoes that I had out in the snow. My feet were nice and cozy. 

 If you don't have a pair of these shoes, then be sure to get some if you are out in mud, snow, rain, or any other type of harsh weather. Your feet will thank you. 

Shrimp and Grits: A must have recipe for every southern girl!

This is what I woke up to yesterday morning. Not your everyday morning in South Carolina!

We ventured out into the snow to feed animals and to check on Hamlet, our pig who decided to go into labor when this snow storm approached. There is definitely something to weather patterns and going into labor! (check out the blog about her piglets at clearcreekfarmsc.blogspot.com).  Because I couldn't stand in front of the fire long enough to warm up, I decided that we needed to have something warm and filling for supper-Shrimp and Grits!

Carrie, my sister in law!

I have to give thanks to my sister-in-law (Thanks Carrie) for showing me how to cook this recipe because it has become one of my favorite dishes to cook. Over the years, I have changed it a little bit to appeal to my New Orleans upbringing but it is still very close to the original recipe.  Today, I will share that recipe with you because I have not found another one like it.  

Here are the key ingredients to this dish that make it so very different from the other Shrimp and Grit recipes that I have had, and trust me, I usually order it off the menu when we go places. I left out the can of tomatoes in this picture, but they are definitely a key ingredient. The whipping cream goes with the grits, but I will let you know about that later. 

First, I started off by frying bacon. I usually use about 1/2 pack of bacon to make bacon bits. Tonight I made more because I wanted to eat some while I was cooking.  So, fry the bacon until it's crispy but not burnt!  Chop or crumble it up into small pieces. I would start making your grits at this point because they can take a while to cook and the next steps will go pretty quickly!

Here is my soap box about grits: they should be very creamy, almost like mashed potatoes. To do this, I cook my grits with water and whipping cream (or half and half). Just take the amount of water that they call for and use half for water and half for whipping cream.  I also add a 1/2 stick of butter and plenty of salt to my grits. Okay, now back to sauce!

  

Next, chop approximately 5-6 mushrooms. Here I used Portabella mushrooms because I LOVE the flavor. 

Also, chop a small onion. While you are chopping these, place a stick of butter in a pan over medium heat until it is melted. After the butter is melted, add the onions to cook until translucent and add the mushrooms. 

After the mushrooms are cooked, add approximately 50 shrimp that have been peeled and deveined. You can add more or less, depending on how concentrated you would like your shrimp and grits.  Allow your shrimp to cook for about a minute. Then add 2 tablespoons of Old Bay Seasoning, 1/2 teaspoon of white pepper, 8 dashes of worcestershire sauce, 4 dashes of cayenne pepper, 4 dashes of Tobasco and your bacon bits. This is going to seem very dry, but trust me, you are on the right track.  (If you don't like spicy then I would definitely cut down on the white pepper)

You then add a can of diced tomatoes (drain most of the juice, but not all). It should look like this.  You will start to have everyone come into the kitchen at this point asking "when are we eating?" Then, you add the final ingredient and the most important, besides the shrimp: THE ALFREDO SAUCE!

It will then become this creamy mixture that is like heaven to any man's heart!

I assemble shredded cheddar cheese to the bottom of the bowl and then add grits on top of that.  

Finally, I put the shrimp mixture over top of all of that goodness.  Oh, cheddar cheese biscuits go great with this meal to soak up all of the left overs in the bowl. Hope you enjoy!