Whole frying chicken
salt and pepper to taste
All purpose flour
Crisco lard ~ Use enough lard to provide about 1 ½ to 2 inches deep of melted lard. Do not use too much or the frying pan will overflow when you add all the chicken pieces. If Mary did not have enough lard, she added bacon grease from her stove-top container.

1. Cut chicken into individual pieces. You can substitute your favorite chicken pieces, but the flavor tastes best when you use the whole chicken ~ minus the organs, of course! Today’s chicken pieces contain more chicken skin than when she cooked. So, trim some of this excess chicken skin.
2. Rinse each chicken piece in water, shake most of the water off the chicken piece, and place the chicken piece onto a dry surface (i.e. wax paper, cookie sheet, etc.). Do not pat the chicken dry.
3. Sprinkle salt on both sides of each chicken piece.
4. Put about a 3 inch deep frying pan (preferably cast iron) onto the stove burner, add lard to the frying pan, turn the burner to a setting between medium-high and high, and melt the lard. A haze will appear over the frying pan when the oil is hot.
5. While the lard is melting, put some flour into another bowl and season the flour with some salt and a little pepper. Skip the pepper if you are cooking for kids.
6. Coat the biggest piece of chicken piece with seasoned flour and place the edge of the chicken piece into the hot oil. If the chicken edge does not sizzle, remove the chicken piece, recoat the edge of the chicken piece with seasoned flour, and try again in a few more minutes. Repeat this process until the chicken edge sizzles. Then, place the chicken piece completely into the oil.
7. Coat the next biggest chicken piece with seasoned flour and gently place the chicken piece into the hot oil. Repeat this step until the frying pan is full but not crowded. If you run out of seasoned flour before you have coated all the chicken, just make more seasoned flour.
Tip: If you add chicken pieces too quickly or crowd the frying pan, the oil will cool down too much. If the oil is not hot enough, the chicken will taste greasy and less crispy. If the oil is too hot, the chicken will look done but will be undercooked.
8. When the chicken is golden brown on one side, turn the chicken over. After cooking for a while, lift the edge of each chicken piece up to see if the second side is golden brown. If not, continue cooking. If so, remove the chicken pieces and drain on paper towels. Cook time runs around 20 -25 minutes. Repeat steps 7 and 8 until you have cooked all of the chicken pieces.

3 medium zucchini or squash, sliced into 1/4″ pieces
2 small green peppers
1 medium onion
1 1/2 c cracker crumbs
3 eggs beaten

Brown the peppers and onions til soft. Brown the cracker crumbs in a separate pan. In a casserole dish place the pepper and onion mixture, 1 cup of the browned crumbs, the squash and the eggs and mix in. Top with rest of the crumbs and bake 350 degrees til browned on top, about 15 minutes.

3 Tbsp orange juice
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground red pepper
2 tsp oil
1/4 tsp salt
cooking spray
2 large sweet potatoes, cut into 1/8″ strips

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine all ingredients except the potatoes in a saucepan, bring to boil. Reduce to simmer and cook til thick. Let cool. Add the potatoes, toss, discard the juice. Place the potato strips single layer on sprayed baking sheet. Bake 30 minutes or until edges crisp.

1/2 bag frozen potato fries
2 Tbsp minced garlic
2 Tbsp chunkey onion slices
4 eggs
oil
salt, pepper

Cut or break the fries into 2″ sections and layer on a large oval plate, one layer thick. Use a very large pan and lots of oil. Get the pan hot and then brown the onions til almost burnt. In the meantime, microwave the potatoes for 1:30 on half power so they are defrosted but still firm, add to the onion. When one side of the fries are browned, turn over uniformly and reduce the heat to about 3/4 hot. Add the garlic when the potatoes are near to fully cooked. You may need to add more oil. Remove the cooked potatoes from the pan, divide in two sections and place each half in a bowl.
In a separate pan, fry the eggs to the desired doneness and place two each on top of the potato bowls.

Serves 2

1 small onion
1 chopped tomato or 1/2 c canned tomatoes or 2 Tbsp tomato sauce
4 medium sized yellow squash, cut into ??
1 tsp dried parsley
salt and pepper to taste
2 eggs, beaten
1-2 Tbsp grated cheese

Brown onion in pan, add tomato, squash, parsley, salt, pepper, and cook until squash is tender. Add the eggs and cheese, mix in, cover then take off of the heat and allow to sit covered for 10 minutes to complete the cooking process.

Meatball recipe:

2 lbs lean hamburger
2 tsp salt and pepper
4 eggs
1/2 c chopped fresh parsley
1/4 c chopped fresh basil
1/4 grated Parmesean cheese
2 slices soaked bread, water squeezed out, crumbled
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 onions chopped
4 cloves garlic chopped

Hand mix all ingredients except the onions and garlic only until all ingredients are combined. Form into small balls, about the size of a marble. Brown the onions and garlic in olive oil til brown, the brown the little meatballs.

Soup recipe:

2 Tbsp of any spaghetti sauce
3 c water
1 head escarole, cleaned and chopped into pieces

Cook 10 minutes, drop the meatballs in and cook another 10 minutes.

This is a thin soup and should be served with garlic bread or fresh bread to sop up the broth.

1 onion
1 garlic
1 small can stewed tomatoes
1 qt water
salt, pepper
8 oz pkg lentils, washed
3 large chopped carrots
2 inches celery leaves or 3 ribs celery
1/2 c brown rice, cooked ahead of time

Brown the onion and garlic in butter. Add the tomatoes and cook down. Add the water and the rest of the ingredients. Cover, cook simmer, 45 minutes.  Add the rice to the soup, stir in.

2 whole chicken breasts, skinned, boned and cut into strips
2 Tbsp oil
1 1/2 c fresh green beans sliced thinly
1/4 tsp ground ginger (or a little finely cut ginger root)
1 1/2 c carrots thinly sliced diagonally
1 1/2 c sliced fresh mushrooms
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 Tbsp sherry
1 Tbsp soy sauce

Pre-heat oil in wok or skillet, med temp, 2 min. Add beans and ginger. Cook 3 min, stir constantly. Add chicken strips, carrots. Cook 10 min, continue stirring, add a little oil if needed. Add mushrooms, cook 1 min. Add rest of ingredients and heat through.
This dish is good with rice.

2 10 oz pkg frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1 pkg ziti
2 medium zucchini and 2 red peppers, cut into strips
2 c sliced mushrooms
1/4 c chopped scallions
1/3 c butter
1/4 tsp pepper
2 c chopped tomatoes
1/2 c flour
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 c milk
1 c chicken broth

Cook the pasta. Grease a 14″ x 10″ x 2″ baking dish. Saute in a skillet the zucchini, peppers, mushroom, scallions in butter, 3-4 minutes. Add tomatoes and spoon that mixture over the cooked pasta. Place the flour in the skillet, blend in the milk, add the broth, nutmeg, pepper. Cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally, heat until thickened then add spinach and mix together. Pour over the veges that are on top of the pasta. Bake 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes.

Or, mix in the spinach sauce with the veges and pasta and then bake.

1/2 lb skinless breast cut in 1/2″ cubes
1/2 c sliced onions
2 Tbsp oil
1/3 c shredded provolone
2 c small mushrooms
1 c each zucchini, red pepper, julienne cut
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1/2 lb raw shelled shrimp
2 c fresh spinach cut in 1/2″ stips
1/2 lb fettucini cooked, drained

In large sillet, saute chicken and onions in hot oil until browned. Add veges and saute 2 minutes longer, then add the sauce and the shrimp, cook completely and ladel on top of the pasta. Top with provolone.