June 2011

Simply Summer {Fried Chicken}

by Lisa on June 30, 2011

With Fourth of July days away, Jeromy and I were talking about our favorite summer dishes. This one isn’t necessarily just a summer dish, but there’s something about fried chicken that makes me think of sitting outside, enjoying the company of family and friends late into a summer night.

We’ve tried quite a few different fried chicken recipes in our day and we’ve taken the best of all of them to create this one. We learned from Alton Brown that if you fry at the right temperature {300 degrees} the meat won’t absorb the oil so it’s not really as bad for you as you think. Granted, we’re not running out, purchasing a deep fryer and frying everything in sight, but for an occasional treat, this does the job!

(Fried Chicken}

Ingredients

For batter:

4 3/4 cups buttermilk
2 whole chickens, cut into 16 pieces
2 tablespoons smoked sweet paprika
6 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons sugar

For breading:

2 cups flour
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
salt
pepper

For frying:

half gallon {or so} peanut oil

A few notes:

I normally like to use the fat free grass-fed buttermilk from Whole Foods, but in a pinch the full fat version worked just fine.

I am terrible at butchering whole chickens, so I did myself a favor and asked the butcher to do it for me. Same price as a whole chicken, but cut for my convenience

Peanut oil is the way to go for this recipe. It’s pricey, but the good news is it can be used a couple of times before it needs to be thrown away.

This makes a double batch because we wanted to put some in the freezer to have on hand for those first few weeks after our baby girl arrives. If you want less, use one whole chicken and half the rest of the ingredients.

Method

Combine the buttermilk, garlic, paprika, salt and sugar. Whisk well to fully incorporate all of the ingredients.

Add the chicken.

Cover, give it a good shake to coat the chicken and refrigerate for at least 4 hours and up to overnight. When you’re ready to fry, prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Add the flour, panko, cornmeal, salt and pepper to a plastic bag. Shake to combine well. We set aside half of this mixture in a bowl so that we could add more to the bag as it became clumpy from the batter.

Choose a large pot for frying. We used our Dutch oven because of it’s ability to retain heat and because it’s wide mouth would reduce the risk of oil overflowing a narrower pot, especially when the chicken pieces are added.

Heat the oil in a large pot to 300 degrees, or really just a little bit over–when the chicken is added the temperature of the oil will drop, but try to keep it at 300 at all times. This means time spent futzing with the heat of the burner {futzing is a word, right?}. It also means that a candy thermometer is a very useful tool to have around. Besides tracking the temperature ours has a very handy clip that attached to the side of the pot.

Jeromy is ready for some breading action {we find that food safe gloves are very useful when working with raw meat, poultry and fish}.

Take a few pieces of chicken out of the batter and add them to the plastic bag. Be sure to leave air in the bag so that the flour has room to get around and coat each piece. Then, shake it up!

Using tongs, remove one piece at a time, shaking off excess flour and carefully add it to the oil. We found that in our Dutch oven, 3-4 pieces worked well.

Carefully monitor the oil temperature and adjust the burner heat accordingly.

Cook for 10 minutes. Monitor the temperature—it will drop as the pieces are added, but you can overshoot 300 degrees if you crank up the heat and don’t keep an eye on it.

Then remove the chicken and place it on an inverted cooling rack over a layer of paper towels to wick away excess oil. If the chicken fried steadily at 300 degrees, there shouldn’t be all that much oil because the moisture leaving the meat prevents the oil from entering it.

Repeat the process, replenishing the breading in the bag as needed, until all of the chicken is cooked.

We decided to pack up our chicken and head to Bon Air Memorial Garden for a picnic! This park is gorgeous and it’s where we met up with Lindsay for our maternity photo shoot.

The chicken was delicious. It has a great, crispy crunch on the outside while staying nice and juicy on the inside.

Enjoy the chicken hot or at room temperature, it’s great either way.

A picnic with my husband, what a wonderful way to end a Work From Home Wednesday.

Happy Independence Day–enjoy!

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Pardon {the Interruption II}

by Lisa on June 30, 2011

I don’t know where the last week went. I know it’s been really busy and that standing on my feet cooking has been getting harder. Nevertheless, I have a lot to tell you about! There is a great recipe post coming up later today, and tomorrow a BIG update on getting ready for baby. Until then, please enjoy some photos I took last night at Bon Air Memorial Rose Garden, where we had our maternity photo shoot with Lindsay.

{The first 2 are flowers in my house right now–hydrangeas from a friend’s yard and my Friday Flowers from my husband }

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On Pregnancy {Getting Ready for Baby: Classes}

by Lisa on June 22, 2011

There are a lot of classes available for new parents. There are even classes for parents expecting subsequent children. When I first looked at the list of classes, it seemed like we needed to take all of them—breastfeeding, childbirth, newborn care, infant CPR, etc. Like everything else that comes with getting ready for the baby, these classes come with a price tag. We decided that the two most important ones to take are breastfeeding and childbirth. On the recommendation of a friend, we are taking a Lamaze class instead of the one offered at the hospital.

This past Monday night, Jeromy and I attended a breastfeeding class at Sibley Hospital, where I will be delivering the baby. I’ve already read a lot about breastfeeding but because this class was taught by a lactation consultant, who is also a mother of 3 children under the age of 5, I learned a lot that can’t be found in one of my books.

Here are a few highlights that I took away from the class:

1) Breastfeeding is instinctual for babies. As soon as babies are born they are looking to feed.

2) Pay attention to hunger cues and try to feed the baby before she starts to cry. Once a baby is crying she cannot latch on properly to feed.

3) Wake a sleeping newborn to feed. I thought the rule was “never wake a sleeping baby” but that only applies once a feeding routine is established in later months. As a baby gets hungry she may not wake up and cry, she may just keep sleeping as a way to cope with hunger, which is why you need to wake her up.

4) A good latch is key, but it’s not always easy to establish. The lactation consultant gave us some tips for getting the baby to latch properly, including positions to try. I can just see myself looking at the class handouts as we try to breastfeed

5) Track the baby’s feedings and diaper changes for the first week for the pediatrician. This is a great way for the doctor to be able to gauge the baby’s health and to determine how often the baby needs to be woken up to feed.

6) Almost nothing is off-limits when it comes to eating and drinking, unless the baby has a problem with a certain food. It’s recommended that I limit my caffeine intake to 2 servings per day, alcohol to 1-2 servings occasionally and fish to 2 servings per week. The same list of fish to avoid during pregnancy still applies while breastfeeding. Bummer, because I am dying to eat some sushi and ceviche.

I know that breastfeeding does not work for every baby and mother or it may not be for everyone. And that’s okay. Jeromy and I agree that breastfeeding will be best for the baby, IF she takes to it. If she doesn’t, we’re not going to panic and I’m not going to feel guilty. To me, there is enough guilt coming my way–I’ve already cried on the metro thinking about leaving the baby to go back to work {and I will go back to work}.

Wednesday night we’ll be going to a group information session at our pediatrician’s office and in a few weeks we’re taking a Lamaze class to prepare for childbirth. I’ll share with you any takeaways from those classes too.

Here we are at 33 weeks:

What about you? What classes did you take to prepare for baby? Share in the comments!

Looking for other pregnancy posts?

On Pregnancy {A Few of My Favorite Things}
Weekend {Update}: Baby Shower #2
On Pregnancy {Getting Ready for Baby}
On Pregnancy {Weighing In}
Weekend {Update}: Baby Shower #1
On Pregnancy {Part 1}
Bun in the Oven

{ 12 comments }

Simply Summer {Cucumber Mint Salad}

by Lisa on June 21, 2011

This salad came together kind of by accident. Rockland’s BBQ in DC makes a cucumber salad that I absolutely love and had at our friend’s Derby party recently. Unfortunately, I couldn’t really remember what was in the salad, so I made it up I picked up some cucumbers at the farmer’s market and used a couple in this recipe and ate another raw with salt for a snack today. {Does that sound weird? It’s not a pregnancy craving, I promise, I eat raw veggies with a little bit of salt normally!}

We have an overabundance of herbs growing in our pots right now. It’s hard to keep up with the plants and use all of the herbs! If you can believe it, we don’t have any basil or chives growing right now, but we have pretty much everything else.

Mint, 2 types of sage and tarragon above.

Oregano, 2 types of thyme, rosemary and more sage.

And we can’t forget about our lemon trees.

For this recipe, I utilized the mint.

Mint grows like a weed and it will take over your entire yard if it is planted in the ground, which is why we keep ours in a pot. Ordinarily I would think of adding mint to mojitos or bourbon and ginger, but that will just have to wait until next year. For now, we’ve been putting mint in sorbet and salads. This salad, to be specific.

I did not take any pictures in progress—I didn’t realize how good this salad would be until I made it. My measurements are not exact, just combine ingredients to suit your taste.

Ingredients

2-3 Persian cucumbers, or 1 large English cucumber, peeled and sliced into half moons {leave the seeds or remove them, up to preference}.
1/4 of a red onion, sliced thin and cut in half
2 large sprigs of mint, leaves removed and finely chopped
1.5-2 tablespoons olive oil
1.5-2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
dash of sugar
salt and pepper, to taste

Method

Prepare the cucumber, red onion and mint and combine in a bowl.

Sprinkle the olive oil, white wine vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper over the mixture. Toss to combine. Allow to sit for 5 minutes before serving.

Not using a lot of olive oil keeps this dish light and fresh. I’ve served it twice this past week—as a side dish to dinner and as a salad for lunch.

This salad can be thrown together in 5 minutes and tastes great.

I honestly like this salad better than Rockland’s. Who says you can’t have restaurant quality meals at home? Not me.

Enjoy!

Have you recreated any restaurant dishes lately?

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Weekend {Update}

by Lisa on June 20, 2011

Once again the weekend flew by in a flash. Friday night we had dinner with some of our neighbors. We really love our new neighborhood and the families we’ve met so far. Our neighbors have made us feel so welcome in our new home!

Saturday morning we headed to the farmer’s market. The famer’s market is awesome—there’s a huge selection of fruits and vegetables from many local farms, plus coffee beans, cheeses, yogurts, flowers, baked goods and local honey. There’s even a crepe stand that I am dying to try—one of these days I’ll get my favorite combination—nutella and banana. We picked up some delicious looking vegetables: tomatoes, Swiss chard, cucumbers and zucchini, coffee beans, local honey, a baguette {chocolate croissant for me} and pickles {also for me }. But our main objective was to stock the freezer with meat. I’ll have more detail about that in the next Getting Ready for Baby post!

Jeromy put the sample colors on the walls for the baby’s room.

Can you guess which one we picked?? We went with Sparkling Sage—the last one on the right. Jeromy put up the first coat tonight and it looks fantastic. I am so excited that we can start putting her room together this week!

Last night we had an impromptu grilled pizza party with Jeromy’s brother, his brother’s girlfriend and another friend of ours. Since it was so impromptu, I scrambled to find some appetizers to put out. I realized that I am a good Lebaneek girl because what I had on hand made for a great mezze spread: hummus, kalamata olives, green olives, feta cheese and pita bread.

Since today is Father’s Day, the day couldn’t go by without a couple of calls with my dad. My dad is the very best and he always wants to make sure that his girls, me, my mom and my sister, are happy. Our baby girl is so lucky that she has such a wonderful Papou {Greek for grandfather} waiting for her. I know he is going to be wrapped around her little finger, just like her daddy.

Even though the baby isn’t born yet, I still wanted to celebrate Jeromy on Father’s Day. I know he is going to be an amazing dad.

Less than 7 weeks until we can replace the doll with our daughter!

I spent a large amount of time at Buy Buy Baby today—way longer than I intended. That store will suck you in! When I finally arrived at the checkout, I realized that I couldn’t even use the coupons that I had—their policies are very strict and ended up putting back several of the things in my cart. Truthfully, they weren’t necessities, so I was doing myself a favor. I did order a couple of things that were not in the store: the baby monitor with my coupon, which knocked $50 off the price and some crib sheets. Thanks to the generosity of family and friends, I’m pretty sure we are now all set with baby gear! We just need the baby

How was your weekend?