My mom decided to take all of Thanksgiving week off from work to clean out her kitchen cabinets and rid herself of some of the hundreds of cookbooks and various clipped recipes that she has collected over the years. I took advantage of this opportunity and spent some time at her house going through the stacks upon stacks of books and magazines that lay piled on the dining room floor. I came away with some gems and look forward to trying out some new recipes.

One of the collections I went through was called My Great Recipes. It was a huge box full of index cards, each with a different recipe. I spent a couple hours alone just going through the cards to pull recipes that I might find interesting. After a long evening of scanning various recipes, I came home with quite a plethora of new dishes beckoning to be prepared. I decided to start with a simple Fried Rosemary Chicken recipe.

Just a couple weeks prior to making this dish, I was experimenting with another fried chicken recipe which turned out to be not so great. This is probably because I failed to follow one simple instruction. This recipe called for the chicken to be dipped into a mixture of spices, and then dipped into an already prepared batter. My batter was a failure. It was to be a simple mixture of flour, milk, and a beaten egg. My mistake came when I failed to beat the egg before adding it to the flour and milk. My batter was SO thick that when I put my seasoned chicken in, it literally pulled all the spices right off the chicken and refused to coat the pieces of chicken like it was supposed to. After this mishap, I was a bit leery to try another fried chicken recipe, but decided I had learned my lesson and that it was worth another try.

The recipe called for the following ingredients for 4 servings:

• 1 frying chicken, 3 to 3 1/2 lbs, cut up*


• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour


• 1/2 cup milk


• 2 eggs, beaten


• 2 Tbsp. butter or margarine


• 2 Tbsp. olive oil


• 1 tsp. crushed dried rosemary


• 1/2 tsp. black pepper


• 1/2 lemon


• crushed red pepper


• parsley for garnish

*Though the recipe called for a whole frying chicken, I decided to improvise and buy a package of thin chicken breast fillets instead, as my fiance isn't a fan of eating chicken still on the bone.

Preparation
First I prepared 3 medium sized bowls (2 of them large enough to dip my chicken pieces in); one with the flour, one with the milk, and the last with the beaten eggs. I then took my chicken pieces out and spaced them out on a large platter.

I then took a spoon and sprinkled a layer of flour over the chicken, flipped the pieces and sprinkled the other side with flour as well.

Next, I used a fork to dip each piece of chicken into the bowl of milk, making sure each piece was thoroughly coated. I then returned the chicken to the platter.

Again I used my spoon to sprinkle both sides of the chicken with another layer of flour.

Next, I used the fork to dip each piece of chicken into the bowl of beaten eggs, making sure each piece was well coated.

Cooking
I heated the butter and the oil in a large frying pan. Once it was hot enough, I placed each piece of chicken into the pan (without crowding) and fried on medium-low heat for 15 minutes.

Next, I turned the chicken over and fried on medium-low heat for an additional 15 minutes.

Then I sprinkled the chicken with the rosemary and black pepper, covered my frying pan with the lid and cooked the chicken for an additional 10 minutes on medium-low heat.

I used my half lemon to squeeze juice all over the chicken, then sprinkled it with red pepper and served.

Results
The chicken turned a nice golden color and was crispy but surprisingly not overly greasy. My biggest fear (the breading) subsided after I got the chicken into the pan successfully, but a new fear emerged as I read the cooking time. The chicken was supposed to be frying for 40 minutes total. I figured this would dry the chicken out, but I was again pleasantly surprised that the meat was moist. My recommendation is to definitely keep the flame pretty low when cooking, otherwise the breading could easily burn. My fiance was thoroughly satisfied with the meal and looks forward to the next time I cook it. My only complaint was it didn't seem to have a lot of flavor, but then again I really like spicy food. When I make it next time, I may use a whole lemon instead of just a half. The lemon complimented the spices really well, and more lemon definitely couldn't hurt. Overall, we were both happy with the recipe and are eager to make it again.

I've always enjoyed cooking and experimenting with foods to create fun, delicious meals. Working an 8-5 (or sometimes even an 11-8) job tended to put a damper on my creativity. When I came home from work I was never really in the mood to spend my evening in the kitchen and often ended up with fast food or something easily microwavable.

I now find myself jobless - a stay at home fiancee, if you will, and in order to contribute to my household and feel like I have some worth since I'm not bringing in an income now, I have resurrected my love of cooking. With all the spare time I have these days, I'm able to look through various recipes that I've never tried before and embark on a new cooking adventure everyday.

It's been fun getting to experiment again and to have a meal ready for my fiance when he comes home from work or school. I decided to create this blog to share recipes I love, recipes that maybe didn't work out so well, and things that I've learned about cooking in the process. I hope you can find this blog to be a useful tool in your own kitchens, and that maybe it will spark a new interest, or even bring back to life an old interest, in an endeavor to create something enjoyable with food.