How-To: Olive Cheesy-Eggs

Plain scrambled eggs live on the long list of things that I absolutely cannot stand to eat, but recently I've invented a new version that I like MUCH better. And felt like sharing.

Olive Cheesy-Eggs: 2 Eggs, 6-ish Manzanilla Olives (the green ones with the orange things inside), Shredded Cheese (the bagged kind), and Kalamata Olive Spread.

1. Chop the olives. I cut them three times in both directions, but it doesn't really matter.

2. Put two eggs, a small handful of shredded cheese, the chopped olives and a half-spoon of kalamata olive spread into a cup. I use this amount as about one serving. (By the way, kalamata olive spread is fantastic on sandwiches, too, so I recommend having it around.)

3. Put a slice of butter into a small pan set on medium heat. Spread the butter around the pan as it starts to melt, and then pour the egg-mixture in as well.

4.  Scramble them! When the liquid mixture starts to bubble, begin pushing it around with a spatula. It'll look cooked after a couple flips, but it's only done when the wet, eggy-parts are gone.

And viola! You have Olive Cheesy-Eggs!

Enjoy :)

How-To: Fried Chicken

Recently, I've been having serious fried chicken cravings. Why? No clue. But I decided it was worth satisfying with REAL fried chicken (a.k.a. not KFC), and that was what I did this weekend.

Pre-Prep: I started with a whole, raw chicken, and then cut it into the appropriate pieces; but since that's a pretty difficult procedure to explain, for the sake of this post you either know how to do it, or you bought a pre-cut chicken/pieces of chicken. Soak the meat in a bowl of milk for several hours before you want to fry it. 

Ingredients: Chicken, Milk, Flour, Salt, Black Pepper, Cayenne Pepper, Oil.

Materials: Three Bowls, Pan, Stove, Tongs, Plate Covered in Paper Towels.

1: Take two bowls, fill one with flour, and make an assembly line of sorts with the milk-chicken bowl first, then flour and empty bowls.
2: Remove a piece of chicken from the milk and pour a light covering of the two peppers and salt over it. Roll this piece in the flour so that it is completely floured. Do this with all the chicken pieces and place them in the empty bowl.
3: Pour vegetable oil into the pan so that it's approximately 3/4 of an inch full, and set on medium heat. To check the temperature, hold your palm over the oil: when it feels hot, flick a drop of water into the oil. If it sizzles, it's ready.
4: CAREFULLY set as many pieces of chicken as you can into the pan. Try not to move them once you put them in.
5: When the submerged pieces of chicken begin to look brown, lift them to see if the bottom has turned a golden brown. If so, carefully flip the pieces over.
6: Your fried chicken is completely done when both sides are a nice, golden brown. Carefully remove them from the oil and set on a paper-towel covered plate. If you have more chicken to fry, cover the plate loosely with aluminum foil and place in the oven on warm, and repeat steps 4-6 with the second batch. 

And ta-da! You have authentic, delicious fried chicken. Serve warm or cold; it's great either way.

Enjoy!

xoxo