Finger-licking Good Fried Chicken

By Terry Orr

Fried chicken is a dish consisting of chicken pieces usually from broiler chickens, which have been floured or battered and then pan-fried, deep fried, or pressure fried. The breading adds a crisp coating or crust to the exterior.  Oh – also Oven Baked Fried Chicken.

American fried chicken has its roots in the Southern United States, but Europeans have been eating fried chicken since the Middle Ages! During that time period, cooks discovered that covering meat in flour and spices before cooking it helped seal in the flavor and made it more portable. (Source: Punchbowl)

Celebrating National Fried Chicken Day – today – Saturday – is a great day for a picnic with this family favorite and gathering of friends and family. There are so many good things to go along with the chicken, potato salad, and corn on the cob, baked beans, salad, chips, mashed potatoes, gravy, and more wonderful goodies.

Enjoy your long 4^th of July weekend with family and friends, be safe and have lots of fun.

(Photos from Google) 

National Peanut Month

By Terry Orr 

My earliest memory of peanuts in the shell was at a Major League Baseball game in Kansas City oh so many years ago.  Sharing a bag with my Dad and brother along with a soda still puts a smile on my face.  All these years later, I still enjoy, cracking open the shell and eating fresh roasted peanuts.

Every three months or so, I order two 25 pound boxes of peanuts for our outdoor critters each morning. Putting a few on the deck railing - then the remainder tossed in our back yard.  From the kitchen, we (wife, cats and I) can watch the Blue Jays swoop down and pick up a peanut.  Those that spill onto the deck are fair game,  between the squirrels and chipmunks.  

Peanuts are also very good  health-wise as they are a good source of niacin, folate, fiber, vitamin E, magnesium and phosphorus.  They also are naturally free of trans-fat and sodium and contain about 25% protein.

U.S. peanuts fall into four basic types: Runner, Virginia, Spanish and Valencia. Each of these peanuts is distinctive in size and flavor. 

Peanut are not a Nut? Are you kidding?  True...they are a Legumes/bean!  

Archeologists have dated the oldest specimens to about 7,600 years, found in Peru.

Now you know. 

(All images from Google)