Backstory with Recipes

So I guess I should give a little more information about the dinner that made Riley fall in love with me. [Actually, the way he tells it, he knew he was going to marry me from the moment he met me, but this meal sealed the deal. I guess I will have to have him write his own version of how things happened. ] Now you would think it was some magnificently hard gourmet dinner, but that is not my style or Riley's style. I am a fan of down home comfort food cooking. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy branching out and going a little fu-fu every now and again, but really it's the basics done right that are my favorite. I made him fried chicken, mashed potatoes, pan gravy and biscuits. Simple right? This is seriously one of those bribery meals you can pull out. Need the garage cleaned out or the bathroom painted? This will do the trick.

For a lot of dishes I cook, I pretty much make it up as I go. I don't have "real" recipes, just a lot of eyeballing this and a dash of that and a pinch or two of something else. It's basically just trial and error and until it's just right the way my family likes it and sometimes those turn out to be the best dishes.

I wish I could have taken some pictures of our dinner last night, but with two crying babies, two older rambunctious kids, and a starving husband it totally slipped my mind. But I will say there was not a lot a whole lot of talking around the dinner table, just lots of happy eating sounds. Even Kendle my picky eater was devouring her chicken like it was going to escape off her plate if she didn't gobble it down.

Sarah's Fried Chicken
4 chicken breasts cut in half (You can leave them whole, I just do it for time's sake because they cook faster and they are smaller portions for the kids.)
3 eggs
Oil
Flour
Garlic Powder
Seasoned Salt
Regular Salt
Pepper

Heat the oil over medium heat about 350 degrees. Do not fill the pot more than half full with the oil. You do not want it too hot, that will burn the outside of the chicken and not cook the middle. To check if it's ready, I stick the handle of a wooden spoon in and if it bubbles and sizzles around it it's ready.

In a shallow dish or pan (I use tin pie plates) mix together about 3/4 cup flour (add more if you need it) a couple of big dashes of Garlic Powder, Seasoned Salt, and Pepper to your own tastes.

In a medium sized bowl beat the eggs.

Season the chicken on both sides with salt and pepper. Set up everything assembly line style on the counter near the stove. Dip the seasoned chicken in the egg and coat on both sides. Then immediately coat in flour mixture. Make sure to get an even coating on both sides. Place in hot oil and cook until nice and brown (I don't have an approximate time, just until it looks done).

Remove and place on paper towels to soak up some of the excess oil. To keep the chicken crispy while finishing the batch, I will place them on a cookie sheet in a slightly warmed oven.

Pan Gravy
[Trust me, this recipe is not for the faint of heart or if you are counting calories. Of course all things in moderation right?]

Drain off almost all of the oil from the pan used for frying the chicken. Leave just a small coating of oil and the bits and pieces left over from the chicken at the bottom of the pan. That's the good stuff. Over low - medium heat add in a tablespoon or two of flour and start mixing and scraping up all of the stuff from the bottom of the pan with a wire whisk. You want it to be smooth and stirrable. Keep whisking until it has browned a bit. You want to get rid of the flour flavor. Then slowly add in a little bit of milk at a time until you get the desired consistency. You don't want it to be pasty and lumpy. Keep whisking and stirring until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste - it needs to have flavor. If it starts getting too thick again, add in a little more milk and whisk until smooth again.

You also have to serve these yummy biscuits with this meal:

Baking Powder Biscuits

2 cups flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder (you can add a bit more depending on your preference)
3/4 tsp. salt
5 T shortening
3/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a large bowl mix dry ingredients together. Cut in shortening until mixture is crumbly and in little pea sized pieces. Add milk a little at a time until a ball forms and dough pulls away from the sides (not too sticky). Roll out on floured surface and cut into biscuits ( I would err on the thick side depending on your preference). If desired brush tops with butter, and then bake 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Do not over bake these. You want them to be soft and flaky.

My family seriously thinks I am the queen of the world when I make this. Well at least during dinner anyways.

*And don't forget the mashed potatoes!*

29

**Happy Birthday to my one and only.**

For a few short months we get to be the same age and I'm no longer the "older woman".

We started off the morning with one of his favorite breakfasts - fried egg sandwiches and chocolate milk. What a great combination right? Tonight I'm making his favorite dinner (the dinner that made him fall in love with me, or so he claims) with an ice cream cake for dessert. He told me this is already the best birthday ever. I hope so.

Riley, may 29 be your best year yet!

*Loves*

Bogie's Last Day

Sunday was a bittersweet day for our family. We gave Bogie to my aunt and uncle that live out in the country near Heppner, OR. We felt he deserved a better life than being cooped up in our tiny yard. He is a hunting and outdoors dog at heart and he just wasn't thriving and living the life that he should. Also, with as busy as our life has become we just didn't have the time to devote to him and that made us sad. Kendle was pretty devastated about the ordeal, but we will take the kids up to visit him and she'll see what a great time he's having and how happy he is and feel better about it I hope. My aunt Alaina and uncle Mark live in a cool place with lots of room for him to roam and a creek that runs behind their property. They also have another dog to be a buddy for Bogie. It's basically a dream home for him and I am so thankful and relieved that he is going to a good place where he will have a great life.

We took these pictures at my parents house Sunday afternoon before we let him go. Bogie was so excited to have space to run we could hardly get him to calm down.

I thought back on some good memories of Bogie and here are a few:

*When we first got him, we tried sleeping him out in the garage since it was winter time, and he would just whine and cry like a baby. So we'd let him in the house and he'd go right to Kendle's room and sleep on the floor by her bed. They were buddies from the start.

*When I was having really bad morning sickness with Morgan, he was still a puppy and I think he could tell I wasn't feeling good so he would come lay by me on the couch in a comforting way. I taught him to fetch the newspaper for me so I didn't have to step outside in the cold. (that would come back to bite me)

*In the summertime when I would be out watering flowers I would always give him a big drink from the hose and spray him down. He would act like he didn't like it and run away, but he'd always come back for more. When we'd put the sprinkler on for the kids to run through he would do it too and we would all laugh so hard. I think that dog knew he was funny. There were times when I swear he was actually smiling.

*One time when he was about a year old, he dug under the gate and got out. In the morning we found about five newspapers and a shoe that he had brought home and put on our doorstep. Guess he got confused that we only wanted our newspaper and shoes brought back home. Glad we have nice neighbors.

*Sometimes we'd be in the backyard playing soccer or letting the kids race each other and Bogie would always try and join in the fun. He would make the kids mad because he'd go and get the soccer ball and run away with it or try and knock them over while they were running just like an annoying big brother. We'd always end up laughing about it though.

*And I don't think we'll ever forget this or this. We still laugh about those incidents and probably always will.

So we'll try and forget about all of the digging in the yard, the escaping under the fence, and the chewing up of lawn furniture and toys and just remember the good times. Thanks Bogie for all of the fun you gave us the last four years.

They said what?

Thought I better jot these down before I forgot.

Riley brought home a bag of Bugles the other day. Morgan loves to eat them. He kept going to the pantry door and asking for more "muggles". I had no idea what he meant until he pointed to the bag. Ohhhh, I got it. (I think we've been watching too much Harry Potter around here.) I hated to correct him though because it sounded so cute.

While riding home from church yesterday afternoon, Kendle piped up from the backseat asking what getting "head whipped" meant. Riley and I were both really puzzled and had no idea what she was asking us about. She kept saying, you know - getting "head whipped". We still had no clue what she was talking about. Then she said, "you know when you're driving really fast in the car and you then you have to stop really fast and it hurts your head." Ohhhh, we got it. Whiplash! Ha, we laughed about that the rest of the way home. I think "head whipped" might be our new favorite verb.