I love homemade Chinese food. I think it's ten times better than a restaurant, even if it can be a bit of prep work ahead of time. Tonight we're old fogeys hosting some young pups for dinner so I thought I'd make something most hip, young folks like so I've started Sweet and Sour Chicken. I'm also making Egg Fried Rice, a super easy side dish. Here's my recipe. I've been making this for years.
Sweet and Sour Chicken
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
1/3 c. cornstarch
2 eggs, beaten
2 tsp. salt
1 c. or so canola oil
2 tsp. onion powder
2/3 c. packed brown sugar
1/3 c. white sugar
1/4 c. ketchup
2 T. soy sauce
20 oz. canned pineapple chunks, juice reserved
2 T. cornstarch
2 T. water
Combine cubed chicken with the egg, salt, and cornstarch. Stir to combine and chill for at least 30 minutes. Heat the oil in a large, deep skillet. Fry chicken pieces until golden brown and not pink inside (test the biggest piece to see if it's done). Drain on paper towels. Set aside. This usually takes a few batches and I do this ahead of time because frying is so messy! Discard oil in skillet and wipe out any crusty stuff on the bottom with a paper towel. Combine onion powder, sugars, ketchup, soy sauce, and pineapple JUICE. Whisk and heat until blended over medium heat. In a small bowl, stir together the cornstarch and water until smooth (sometimes I need a little bit more water, just depends). Add to sauce and stir until thickened. Add chicken and pineapple chunks. Serve with my easy crab rangoons and egg fried rice (remember I posted those crab rangoons a while back?).
I really, really liked this book.
When a Barna poll suggests that 7 out of 10 children from evangelical homes leave the faith by their freshmen year of college, it seems that we are all doing something wrong. That's the basic premise of his book. We're not accomplishing what we want to, namely raising our sons and daughters to know and love the Lord Jesus Christ. Sure, our homes might be decent, where we give God our Sundays, even Wednesdays, but the other 5 or 6 days He's not even on our radar screen.
It is encouraging to see someone articulate what I believe about so many things, but he does it in a way that doesn't make me feel like the biggest loser if I've had trouble implementing some element of family discipleship. Baucham presents the case for a realistic solution to keeping our children in the faith: read them the Bible. Pray with them and for them. Take them to church and make it your first priority. Teach them Truth in every area of their education, whether it's within the context of a Christian school or a homeschool. Answer their spiritual questions honestly. In other words, form within them a biblical worldview so that when they leave your home they continue to cast situations through that lens. You might have a home with plenty of rules about media, clothing, dating, etc. but once your children leave home if all they've ever heard is what to do and not to do, but they've had no encounter with the Living Christ who has written His Word on their hearts, then they're going to go off the deep end. Our hearts are naturally inclined toward evil. When our son is off at college and there's no one to tell him not to let his girlfriend spend the night, what's he going to do? That's where a worldview becomes so important. I know there are people out there who have written better about this than I have, but these truths make me shake in my boots for my beautiful children and force me to my knees!
I will admit that there are some issues in the book that can be so counter-cultural, especially counter-church cultural, that it has forced me to seriously wrestle with how I view the role of the church in the spiritual training of my family. The church is essential, but it's also a more supporting role. I already agree that Sunday School, the origin of which was to evangelize the children of parents who weren't Christians, isn't enough spiritual food for my children. I already agree that the youth pastor's job isn't to teach my children all they need to know about Jesus. God gives parents the job of teaching Truth. My trouble is that I cannot imagine having my 8 year old, my 5 year old, and my 1 year old all together with me for Sunday morning worship. I might feel differently if I had my husband with me (remember, he's pretty tied up on Sunday morning). I know moms who can do it. But am I one of them???
I'm almost done with Family Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham and I've been struck with how short the time is that I have with my children. How I only have a few years to try to instill faith into their hearts, a faith that doesn't die out like the seed that fell into the shallow soil. So as I read Lisa Writes' post this morning, I absolutely had to share it with you:
http://lisa-writes.blogspot.com/2008/02/nostalgia.html
If you haven't tried these yummy frozen soybeans yet as a snack or in your favorite salad, you are missing out! Now just get yourself past the fact that they are SOYbeans. Put it out of your mind that tofu and all kinds of other strange substances are made from soybeans. Edamame are in pods. You boil them for 2-3 minutes, drain them, then let your kids help you to pop the beans out of their pods. Add the beans to your salad, pasta salad, or eat them plain (I don't eat the pods, but I think you could if you wanted.). They have a slightly salty taste (you can salt the water if you want, but I don't). And while they look a little like lima beans (of which I am not a fan), they don't taste like them. Or peas for that matter (which I also don't like). You can find edamame in your frozen vegetable section. Even my po-dunk Walmart has them.
So here's a quick, healthy salad using your new-found edamame!
Prepare 1 bag of the edamame, popping them out of the pods
shred a bunch of peeled carrots
Wash and chop two hearts of romaine lettuce
Combine these, add some of Newman's Own Low Fat Sesame Dressing (or any other Asian inspired dressing of choice). Top with (just a little bit, now) chow mein noodles.
It's getting to be that time again, so I decided to repost my traditions posts from last year. Check back often as Easter is about a month away and I'm looking for new inspirations for my own family, too, so there should be some new stuff in the mix!
We love bunnies and candy and baby chicks...but we also love to make Easter more than that around our house. For the past few years we've tried hard to incorporate the Gospel into every aspect of our Easter celebration, especially during the season leading up to Easter Sunday. Sure, we have Easter baskets and sometimes a hunt in our yard that day, but we try to emphasize why we celebrate.. So I'll be posting some of our unique celebration ideas in the coming weeks with the hope that you, too, can use these to magnify Christ in your family.
Some of my inspiration has come from Noel Piper's outstanding book Treasuring God in Our Traditions, so I can't take all the credit. If you haven't read this book, I'd encourage you to. She has chapters on celebrating birthdays, Christmas, and Easter and makes the case that our children will remember our family traditions so we must use them to glorify God and point our kids to Him. Though not necessarily an Easter tradition, I will say one of my favorite ideas from her book is to give each child a special hymn that you sing to him or her each night at bedtime. Our oldest one loves There is a Fountain. Our second child requests And Can It Be (just about every night of his entire life he's asked for it!). I've decided our new baby girl, Grace, will hear Grace Greater Than All Our Sin. I don't want the next generation to lose the value of these rich, old songs.
So, check back here periodically to help get your own creative juices flowing as we approach Resurrection day!
*originally posted March 3, 2007
Very few recipes I've found for whole grain pancakes call for all the flour to be whole grain. But these do!
Whole Wheat Pancakes by Alton Brown from his fantastic cookbook I'm Just Here for More Food
(slightly altered by me!)
2 c whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 T sugar
2 large eggs
2 c buttermilk
4 T unsalted butter, melted
Heat a griddle to 350.
Combine dry ingredients with a whisk. Combine the wet ingredients in another bowl. Add to the dry and stir just to combine. Set the batter aside and let rest for 5 minutes.
Spray the griddle with nonstick spray. Using a ladle, scoop batter onto the griddle, cooking until bubbles form in the batter and bottom is golden. Flip for another couple minutes.
These freeze beautifully. I usually triple the recipe and freeze them for mornings when I'm pressed for time.
Yesterday we went two hours to nearest bigger city for doctor and photo appointments. We were all done and needed something fast, but not fast food. So we tried this place.
Oh. My. It was wonderful. Here's how it works:
You get a bowl and you can fill it with as much raw meat as you want (beef, chicken, sausage, shrimp, calamari, crab, etc.), as many veggies you want (broccoli, sugar peas, carrots, etc.). Then you give it to this guy at a huge circular grill where you choose what starch you want (from noodles, to brown or white rice, fried rice) and what sauce you want (everything from teriyaki to sweet sour and all kinds of different sauces in between!). The dude fries up your veggies and meat, throws your sauce and rice in with it after it's cooked through, and puts it in a bowl for you to enjoy.
And, boy, did I enjoy it! I think I would have licked my bowl clean had I been in the privacy of my own home. This has become a favorite stop for me now! Did Genghis Khan eat this well??
I've added a few new ladies to my blog roll--since I'm the worst computer person in the world and can't get any hyperlinks right with blogger, be sure to click on over there, 'kay?
I know I do this to you all the time. I start discussing a book I haven't even finished yet. It's just I get so excited I want to share it with you! I'm about 1/3 of the way through this one and I think it should be required reading for EVERY Christian family. He begins the book by showing us why 7 out of 10 kids who are raised in Christian homes leave the faith by the end of their freshmen year of college. I don't know about you, but that thought makes me shudder. But, unlike lots of family discipleship books, it doesn't make me despair that I can't ever do it well enough. It GIVES ME HOPE! Now I need to homeschool and actually get ready or I'd write more.
Don't forget to check out the breakfast recipe-round up today at Elaine's blog:
http://homebutnotalone.wordpress.com
This is my favorite breakfast casserole. It's no-fail! I've been making it since I first got married (back when I didn't know what I was doing-so you know it must be good!).
1 c finely chopped onion
1 c chopped red bell pepper
3 T. flour
1 tsp. dry mustard
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/4 c. milk
1/2 c chicken broth
6 oz. sharp cheddar, grated
1 c sour cream
32 oz southern style hash brown potatoes, thawed (these are small cubed potatoes-I can usually find some that are Ore Ida brand.)
7 eggs, beaten
10 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled
Coat a large saucepan with nonstick spray, heat to medium heat. Add onion and bell pepper and saute 3 minutes or until tender. Add flour, mustard, and salt. Cook an additional minute. Remove from heat. Gradually add milk and broth, stirring until blended. Cook over medium heat for another 5 minutes, stirring constantly until thickened.
Remove from heat. Add cheese and pepper. Add sour cream.
Combine cheese mixture and potatoes, stir well. Coat a 9x13 inch pan with nonstick spray. Pour mixture into pan. Pour beaten eggs on top.
Add crumbled bacon to the top and bake covered at 350 for 35 minutes, then uncovered for 25-35 until cooked through.
