Wednesday, January 16, 2008

OVER THE RIVER AND THROUGH THE WOODS

Billy, Tommy, and I are taking a trip to Nana's house tomorrow morning. We haven't been to visit for several months so we're really looking forward to going.

I have such wonderful memories of time spent at my grandparent's house when I was younger. It seemed like we spent the weekend there at least once a month. I would go with my parents, sister, and brother. Our cousins would go at the same time with my aunt and uncle. So, with my Nana and Poppop, that made 13 of us staying in a 4 bedroom, 1 bathroom home. I never really knew where everyone was sleeping. I just knew that the girls (5 of us) all slept in the third floor front bedroom. It's a gorgeous room with huge windows looking out on the main street of the town. I slept in a crib with my cousin, Chrissy, long enough that I actually have memories of it! She slept with her head at one end and I had my head at the other. We had such awesome times on these weekends.

I am so blessed to be able to share my Nana and her town and beautiful house with my children. I still sleep in the front bedroom on the third floor. My boys will sleep in the "magic room". So called because it has a door that leads out onto the roof of the neighboring homes.

Sleeping above a main street with the trucks, sirens, street lights, people out at all hours, trash trucks rumbling past in the wee hours of the morning is so different than sleeping here in the silence of our farm!! It's much warmer too!!!!

Nana shares my joy in eating. She doesn't do much cooking these days though, so I love to take her a bunch of goodies for here freezer.

Today I made her some pancakes, which she just loves. I package them in in threes for her breakfast. I put them in her freezer, but that's probably unnecessary because I think she goes through them pretty fast!


I also made her some oven fried chicken. This chicken is SO good!!! I make it for my family all of the time. You can make it in nuggets or tenders, but I made it in patties this time. I took 4 large boneless chicken breasts, cut them in half horizontally and then in half again vertically. So out of just 4 chicken breasts, I got 16 patties.

I set up a little assembly line to make the process easy. The chicken first gets a quick dredge in flour, then it takes a dip in an egg wash, and then in it goes into a mixture of bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, and seasonings. When I make this for my family, I put garlic, basil, oregano, salt, and pepper in the crumbs. Nana doesn't like things highly seasoned, so I just use salt and pepper for hers.

I put the chicken on foil lined sheet pans and drizzle them with olive oil. I bake them at 450* for 12 minutes, turn them and bake for 10 more minutes.

These are absolutely amazing dipped in homemade ranch dressing!

Tonight I made raisin bread. I made Nana 2 loaves and I'll leave a loaf home for Doug to enjoy while we're away.


Tomorrow, before I leave, I'm going to make jam crescents. I'll share the recipe another time.

Right now, I'm going to go watch the rest of American Idol!

5 comments:

SimpleFolk said...

It sounds like it'll be a wonderful trip. The food is lovely--what a blessing you are to your Nana! I will definitely try the chicken recipe. It looks amazing! I'm sitting here (dieting mind you) drooling, lol. Oh, and I watched American Idol tonight as well. I always watch it in the beginning and toward the end. Most of those auditions are a crack up! Have fun at Nana's house!

Amy
(Simple Folk)

Anonymous said...

Your food looks so delicious! Your Nana is a lucky woman! I really enjoy reading your blog. And I love looking at your pictures!! Have a good time with your family!

Anonymous said...

It was a fun trip.
-Tommy

Anonymous said...

Did you get lost in the woods? Did you fall in the river?

And since its spring now, maybe get another picture.

Anonymous said...

My dear daughter Ann,
Please sit down and treat us to more news from " the Little House on the Prairie", as Poppop would have said. I love you and your stories and recipes!!

Mama