We’re getting ready to leave tomorrow for our annual pilgrimage north to Trail Days in Damascus Virginia.  I’m looking forward to a few days of family, relaxing by the river, a whole lot of excellent pickin’ and grinnin’ and watching all the smelly hippies pass by on the Virginia Creeper Trail as we chill at the Creeper Trail Cottages.  I love Trail Days!

I will have plenty of pictures and maybe even a story or two when I get back, so check back early next week for updates.  Until then, y’all have a great rest of the week and weekend!

Appalachian Woman - Life in the North Georgia mountains…

Even though I am a good Southern woman, I try really hard not to fry things very often but I do love me some fried chicken now and then.  I mean, who doesn’t?  So, last night when Guitar Dude said “Let’s pick up some fried chicken for supper.” I was all for it.  We had to go to the store after work, and sometimes convenience wins.  Much to our surprise, the good folks of Dahlonega had already cleaned out the store of every fried drumstick and wing they made that day.  By that time, I had the taste for fried chicken come hell or high water.  We already had everything to make my own at home, so that’s just what I did.  Sometimes convenience loses, too.

This is about the healthiest recipe for fried chicken you’re ever going to find, and please no one mention “oven fried” because if you bake it, it ain’t fried, mmkay?

Kickin’ Southern Fried Chicken (getchasum)

Ingredients:

2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 cups fat-free (lactose free) milk
2 cups self-rising flour
Cholula hot sauce (to taste)
Salt and pepper (to taste)
Canola oil

Instructions:

Pound the holy hell out of the chicken breasts with a mallot, a pan, a soup can, whatever ya got, until it’s about 1/2 inch to an inch thick.  (Helpful hint: Use the bottom of the pan. Otherwise your pan will bend, and you will no longer be able to put the lid on it… or so I’ve heard.)  The thinner your chicken, the faster it will fry.  Put another way, if you leave it too thick, the outside will burn to a crisp and the chicken inside will still be raw.  Got your chicken the right thickness?  Good.

Now, dump enough canola oil in your frying pan to cover the bottom about 1/2 inch deep, turn the burner to medium-high and put one droplet of water in the pan (it’ll tell you when the oil is ready).  Mix the milk and the Cholula together in a bowl or pan big enough to fit one chicken breast at a time.  I use about 1/4 of a big bottle of Cholula (sorry, I don’t measure it) and mostly go by color.

When the milk is a bright orange color, I know I have enough.  Now put your flour in another pan, or just put it on a plate if you enjoy cleaning up flour.  Put one of the chicken breasts in the milk and let it soak for a minute or so.  Now move it to the flour, salt and pepper the “up” side of the breast, then cover with flour and press lightly to ensure coverage.  Flip it and repeat.  Once the water has “popped” in the oil, it’s ready for the chicken.  Turn the oil down to medium.  Pull the chicken breast out of the flour and put it directly in the oil.  Do not move it.  Prepare your other chicken breast and place it in the pan, as well.  Set the timer for 7 minutes.

Once it goes off, flip the chicken carefully using a spatula and a fork so you don’t throw hot grease out of the pan onto a hot burner.  Grease fires are bad, mmkay?  Set the timer for another 6 minutes and check to see if your chicken is done by cutting into the thickest part of one of the chicken breasts.  If it’s done, perfect.  If not, give it 2 – 3 more minutes.  Once done, drain the chicken on paper towels, flipping often to keep it from getting soggy on one side.

The hot sauce and the self-rising flour are the two parts of this recipe I swear by.  The hot sauce gives the coating a lot of flavor without a lot of heat, and the self-rising flour just works better.  Don’t question it.

We served this up with mashed taters and mixed veggies.  Guitar Dude whipped up the mashed taters with fat-free milk and light soy butter, so all-in-all was a fairly healthy way to have some good ol’ comfort food.

Appalachian Woman - Life in the North Georgia mountains…

Well, we didn’t have many entries for this month’s contest to win a copy of The Pioneer Woman Cooks, but I guess that just increased the odds for those of you who did enter!    So, without further ado, our winner is……………

Carol Zamora Ward

Carol commented on the blog with the following favorite of hers:

“My favorite meal is one that my grandma passed along to my mom for authentic Spanish Rice and tacos! Running a close second would be any kind of comfort food – stew, roast, homemade soup – and the nice thing is, those things are usually very simple to prepare!”

The Spanish Rice sounds delicious, Carol, and I am a huge fan of comfort food.  Please send me an email at christine@appalachianwoman.com with your address so I can send you your prize!

Appalachian Woman - Life in the North Georgia mountains…

I’ve always loved to go fishing.  And by go fishing, I mean just doing the ol’ cast and reel without any real aim to catch anything.  In fact, I’m always a little surprised when I do catch something.  Almost like I forgot that was the point.  I just like the relaxation that comes with the motions and sounds.  You can’t be stressed out and cast a line.  That thing’ll snap back on you and inevitably get snagged on something along the banks.  Which leads to cussing.  And eventual tugging on the line until it suddenly snaps free causing everyone within 10 feet to shield their eyes and pray to God the hook is still stuck in the weeds/sticks/rocks/otheroldfishinglinefromthelastguywhofishedhere and that it’s an empty line hurling who knows where at this very moment.  Yeah, I love fishing.  Fishing requires fluid motions, and fluid motions require relaxation.  Or maybe they cause it.  Either way, it’s good stuff.

Fishing casualties...

We decided Saturday that we were going to go get some fishing gear and go fishing on Sunday.  Then, as we lay in bed talking it over on Sunday morning, I start picturing stringing the reel and remembered how frustrating that could be, and started wondering where the good spots are around here because I’ve never fished in Dahlonega (hey, it’s only my third summer here, cut me some slack!), and my tackle box is buried somewhere in the basement, and…. seriously, am I too lazy to fish?  That’s ridiculous.  I gotta work on that.  Although, to my defense, I had a very sleepless week last week, and the laziness of this past weekend was exactly what I needed.  But fishing…is…not…really all that hard. We never did go.  I’m so ashamed.

Have you ever had one of those too-lazy-to-fish moments?  Please say I’m not the only one that lazy (sometimes).  Lie to me if you have to.

Two-parter: Can any of you Dahlonega folks recommend any good fishin’ holes?  Pretty please?

Appalachian Woman - Life in the North Georgia mountains…

I had a hankering for a Coke yesterday afternoon, so I headed up to the gas station at the entrance of our neighborhood.  There’s a girl who works there who seems pretty cool, and there’s usually at least one or two retired guys hanging out at this little card table they have set off to the side.  They like to go up and chit chat, and a lot of them like to scratch lottery tickets.  Every time I get a string of losers, I secretly blame them for taking all the good ones.  Sorry.  Anyway, when I walked into the store, I picked up in the middle of a conversation about who knows what, and this is what I heard in an old timer’s Southern drawl.

“I would change the 10 commandments.  They got it all wrong.  It says ‘Do not covet thy neighbor’s wife’ but it should be ‘Do not Corvette thy neighbor’s wife’ ’cause if you give her a Corvette, she’ll foller you anywhere.’”

If that’s not a Jeff Foxworthy bit, that man needs his own comedy show.

Every day I find another reason to love Dahlonega.

Appalachian Woman - Life in the North Georgia mountains…

Remember when I put a *watch this spot* on cannephoto.com?  Well, here’s why…

For the last year and a half, I’ve been trying to come up with a feasible way to actually earn a living as a photographer.  I’ve had many people tell me I have a knack for capturing the moment when photographing people, but I just really don’t care to do portraits.  I like people, well most of them anyway, but the idea of shooting portraits – even in a rustic, outdoor, natural light setting which is the only way I would do them – bores me to no end.  I’ve sold a few fine art prints this year but that’s hit-or-miss which, unfortunately, does not pay the bills.  So, how do I make a real, honest-to-God living as a photographer?  Here’s how…

I’ve always had a thing for houses.  I can spend hours browsing real estate ads, and I get really frustrated with the quality of real estate photos in this area.  *cue light bulb*  Real estate is one of the up-and-coming areas of photography.  Most people these days start their search for houses online whether they are looking to buy or rent.  The days when it was good enough for a realtor to snap point-and-shoot pictures around a corner are quickly going bye-bye.  Buyers want to see photos that show more of a room than just the far corner or, worse yet, just the couch or bed – neither of which they are buying.  This is where I come in.

I’ve spent the last 4 – 6 weeks lining up all of my little ducks, and I am now ready to launch my real estate photography business!  I’ve had some really great people helping me out, such as Guitar Dude who developed my website, and my new friend, Annie, who is a real estate photographer in another part of the country and an invaluable inspiration and mentor to me as I get things started.  Without both of them, I wouldn’t be facing one of the most exciting times in my life.  I’ve technically been working for myself as a writer for the past 14 months, but I’ve never owned my own business.  This one is all on me.  I love it.  In the words of a cheesy, chick-flick Ben Affleck character, “It’s not brave if you’re not scared.”

Now, who needs a real estate photographer?

Appalachian Woman - Life in the North Georgia mountains…

My mind is wandering around unsupervised this morning, and somehow I ended up on hopscotch.  I have no idea how.  Since I haven’t thought about the game since I was a kid, I did what any modern adult would do.  I googled it.  Yep.  And now you’re going to learn as much useless information about hopscotch as I did!  Why not?  It’s Tuesday.  What else do you have going on?

Ohai, I'm Butterscotch.

Do you think kids today even know how to play hopscotch?  It’s usually played on a playground or street, and I don’t know if they have wi-fi on playgrounds, so it might not be the cool thing to do anymore.  Too bad, they are missing out.  Not only is hopscotch fun, but it is also a cool word.  Hopscotch.  You could be hopped up on scotch, but or butterscotch for that matter, but I wonder how the game came to be known by that name? I consulted the Oracle, I mean Google.

In 1677, the first reference to the game calls it scotch-hoppers which, to me anyway, implies the application of scotch prior to the hopping.  My kind of game.  It used to be played by adults which begs the question, why can’t adults bust out some chalk, vandalize the street, get liquored up on scotch and hop around anymore?  I think we should rise up and take back our fun!  Go on, you first.  I triple dog dare you.  No, I don’t have bail money.

Apparently New Yorkers call hopscotch Potsy.  No, that doesn’t make any sense.  Fuhgeddaboutit.  Other fun names for it around the world include pon, laylay, escargots, himmel und holle (heaven and hell) and kith kith.  I don’t speak foreign, but I don’t think any of those words mean scotch so I’ll stick to our version.

That’s all I have about hopscotch.  If you need more, you’ll have to ask Google.  Also, in other game news, today happens to be the 137th anniversary of the day snooker was invented.  A guy called Sir Neville Chamberlain, who sounds like he might’ve been a scotch-hopper himself, invented it.  Never snooker after a scotch-hopper.

You’re welcome.

Appalachian Woman - Life in the North Georgia mountains…

I recently discovered that aged cheddar naturally does not contain lactose, so I’ve been happily enjoying (maybe a bit too much) Cabot brand cheeses for a few weeks now.  Oh how I missed real cheese!  I’ve been experimenting with making macaroni and cheese with one of their sharpest cheeses, and last night I finally got it perfect.  We had salmon patties, and thanks to my childhood I just don’t believe you can have salmon patties without macaroni and cheese.  I’m not sure if Guitar Dude realizes yet that every time he says, “Let’s have salmon patties…” he’s also saying, “…and macaroni and cheese.” in my mind.

I figured I couldn’t possibly be the only lactose intolerant person to miss the deliciousness of macaroni and cheese, so I thought I’d share the recipe with y’all.  If you are lucky enough to be able to eat dairy, you can substitute regular butter and milk and use the same cheese.

You know any recipe that starts with a pile of cheese like this isn’t going to suck.  It’s just not possible.

Super Sharp Macaroni and Cheese (and it’s lactose free!)

1 lb macaroni noodles
1 lb Cabot Seriously Sharp Cheddar Cheese
2 cups lactose-free fat-free milk (or regular, if you can have it)
3 TBSP Earth Balance butter (or regular, if you can have it)
3 TBSP a/p flour
1/2 tsp. dried mustard
1/4 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Rough chop cheddar cheese and set aside.  Measure out two cups of milk and set aside.  Do these things first.  Trust me.  Melt butter in sauce pan over medium heat.  Add in flour one TBSP at a time while whisking your heart out to make a roux.  Slowly add in milk and keep whisking so it doesn’t stick or burn.  Add in dried mustard, paprika and garlic powder.  Cook until it starts to thicken, always whisking.  Once the milk starts to thick, slowly add in cheese and reduce heat to medium-low.  Switch to a heavy spoon.  That whisk won’t help you now.  Add in all the cheese and stir until completely melted.  Add in salt and pepper to taste.  The cheese has a good bit of salt in it, so be sure to taste it before you add in salt and pepper.  If it’s still too sharp, add a bit more dried mustard.  If it needs cream, add a TBSP of butter instead of more milk.  Reduce heat to simmer/low, cover and keep warm.  Cook macaroni noodles according to package instructions for al dente consistency.  Drain and return noodles to pan.  Add in cheese sauce and stir until thoroughly combined.  Once it is all mixed up, pour into a lightly greased baking dish.  Throw it in a 350 degree oven for 15 – 20 minutes, and then give it a quick turn under the broiler to nicely brown the top.  Or, at least, that’s how I like to do it.

If you like sharp cheddar, you are going to love this recipe.  I plan on having leftovers for lunch today!

Appalachian Woman - Life in the North Georgia mountains…

I love snail mail.  There’s something fun about opening the mailbox and seeing something colorful in there.  You know colorful mail is good mail.  I made a post way back when about saving the postal service, and as part of that quest I’ve been messing around with a site called Postcrossing.  The idea is to send a postcard, with or without a note on it, to some randomly assigned person.  Once they receive your card, they register it and your name gets dropped into the hopper to receive a postcard from some other random person.  Strangers connecting to strangers.  One world.  All that stuff. Pretty cool.

So, my first batch went out to Netherlands, Norway, Taiwan, Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.  The postcards to Netherlands, Norway and Taiwan have been delivered so far.  The Russia and Belarus bound cards have both been traveling for 27 days.  Given my past in international logistics, I already know it will be a miracle if either ever arrives at their destinations.  If a 2 foot by 3 foot piece of freight can get “lost” on the way to a major Russian city, there’s no hope for a tiny 3×5 piece of cardboard.  Ukraine still has some hope.

Yesterday, I received my first two postcards in return.  One from Poland – the lovely city of Krakow, which I insist on saying “KRA-KOW!” with an awkward karate chop every time for no other reason than I am strange.  The coolest thing about this card was that the sender took it to some kind of Postcrossing meeting, and it was signed by 16-17 different people.

The other postcard I received was from Linz, Austria which I’ve decided is a good name for a dog – Linz, not Austria.  The sender of this card took the time to write a nice introduction so I can tell you that she’s a school teacher, grew up on a farm, she drives by this Cathedral on her way to work and she is a member of the Cathedral Choir.  Strangers meeting strangers.  Pretty cool.

The best part about this site is that you aren’t obligated to send so-many within a certain period of time, so you can participate as time and money allow.  It’s a fun way to connect to people all over the world, even if just for a second.  And, so far, the pictures have been beautiful!

Appalachian Woman - Life in the North Georgia mountains…

I’m hoping this month’s Appalachian Woman contest will help get me back in the mood to cook a little more.  Well, I’ve been cooking almost every day, but I haven’t been inspired to share anything I’ve cooked lately.  I’ve had my head buried in a new venture I’m in the process of starting, so my thoughts about food have edged towards, “Oh crap, it’s almost suppertime.  What do we have here?!” Bo-ring.

Here's a picture because I like posts with pictures better. Rawr.

I don’t know how many of y’all are familiar with her, but I love The Pioneer Woman.  A friend sent me her blog years ago, when it was just a li’l ol’ fledgling blog, and I’ve been reading her stuff ever since.  She was, in part, an inspiration for the Appalachian Woman blog, and Lord knows she’s inspired several of my own recipes – like my green bean casserole.  Oh my damn.  What excuse can I make up to justify a green bean casserole in the middle of the week?  What was I talking about?  Oh yeah, The Pioneer Woman.  Well, she has her own cookbook out now, so that’s what one of y’all will get this month – a copy of The Pioneer Woman Cooks.  I’ll even let you decide if you want the digital or paper copy of it.  Ain’t I nice?!

So what do you have to do to win the Appalachian Woman contest for April?  This month is all about audience participation.  All you have to do is make a post or comment telling us your favorite dish or recipe.  It could be yours, your mama’s, from a restaurant down the street or from your favorite food blogger.  You can comment on Facebook or on a blog post – any blog post – anytime during the month, and it will count.  See, that’s just proof that I do read what y’all write!

How easy is that?  And in return, you get a chance to win a kick ass cookbook.  Sound like a plan?  Well then, get to commentin’!

Appalachian Woman - Life in the North Georgia mountains…