Some family favorite recipes
These are not your typical family favorite dishes - our family's favorite restaurant is a small family run Vietnamese place. Even my 2 little ones who are oh-so-picky LOVE Asian food of all types. And if you know my 2 little ones - who think "french fry" is a food group, that's pretty unusual! I've missed several Succulent Sundays - but I am finally feeling back on track after being sick, so here's a couple to make up for the ones I missed. All of these are from allrecipes.com - that is my number one source for recipes!
1)Peanut Butter Noodles - I make a lot of small variations of this recipe. Don't be afraid to add chicken, or cut up pork, or some other kinds of veggies. You can also substitute angel hair pasta for the Udon noodles.
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 1/2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger root (I use dried)
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons peanut butter
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons hot chile paste (optional) (I usually do NOT add this - I might do a dash of Thai hot sauce, or some red pepper flakes)
3 cloves garlic, minced
8 ounces Udon noodles
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1/4 cup chopped peanuts
Cook noodles in a large pot of boiling water until done. Drain.
Meanwhile, combine chicken broth, ginger, soy sauce, peanut butter, honey, chili paste, and garlic in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat until peanut butter melts and is heated through. Add noodles, and toss to coat. Garnish with green onions and peanuts.
2)Pad Thai - this one is not quite as kid friendly as the above, but my kids still love it (as long as I make sure to add enough peanuts to the top, that is)
1 (12 ounce) package rice noodles
2 tablespoons butter
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/4 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar (I've used apple cider or regular white vinegar as well)
2 tablespoons fish sauce
3 tablespoons white sugar
1/8 tablespoon crushed red pepper
2 cups bean sprouts
1/4 cup crushed peanuts
3 green onions, chopped
1 lemon, cut into wedges
Soak rice noodles in cold water 30 to 50 minutes, or until soft. Drain, and set aside.
Heat butter in a wok or large heavy skillet. Saute chicken until browned. Remove, and set aside. Heat oil in wok over medium-high heat. Crack eggs into hot oil, and cook until firm. Stir in chicken, and cook for 5 minutes. Add softened noodles, and vinegar, fish sauce, sugar and red pepper. Adjust seasonings to taste. Mix while cooking, until noodles are tender. Add bean sprouts, and mix for 3 minutes
3)Chicken Papadoris - This one is more Indian tasting than Thai or Vietnamese, but it is sooo good. Not your typical Indian curry, but fantastic. My kids ate this, asked for seconds and cleaned their plates! We ate this over steamed jasmine rice.
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup butter
2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into bite size pieces
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 (14 ounce) can unsweetened coconut milk
1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon curry powder
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water
Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Add pine nuts, and cook stirring frequently, until evenly toasted. Remove from heat, and set aside.
Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in the chicken, and cook 5 to 10 minutes, until no longer pink and juices run clear.
Stir onion and garlic into the skillet, and cook until tender. Stir in the pine nuts, soy sauce, and coconut milk. Season with paprika, cumin, and curry powder.
In a small bowl, blend the cornstarch and water. Mix into the skillet. Stir constantly until a thick gravy has formed.
Ahhh, switched out the keyboards!
Now, I can type wwwwwwwwww all I want LOL. It is *amazingly* difficult to type when you are missing one letter.
Now, on to more interesting things than my keyboarding woes. My pastor has been going through the Lord's prayer, phrase by phrase. VERY interesting for this former non-denom girl; I didn't grow up saying the Lord's Prayer. In fact, I only really memorized it in the last year since starting with our new church. This week's phrase was "and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors".
Now, I'm sure we've all heard a gazillion sermons on forgiveness right? Forgive, or you won't be forgiven...God's forgiveness...our forgiveness, and on and on. For some reason, the message of forgiveness never hit me quite the way it did on Sunday. (and I had a MASSIVE migraine, so it's kinda amazing that anything made it through my pounding brain. Must have been God, huh?)
The text for the day was from Matthew - it was a familiar story. The one about the king whose servant owed him a huge debt, one he could not possibly repay, and the king forgave the debt. Then the servant turned right around and found a man who owed him a very small debt, in comparison, and would not have mercy. For the first time, I saw this passage through my "mommy" eyes.
There are several folks out there in conservative Christendom (so-called parenting experts) who propagate the teaching that as parents, we have the responsibility to punish our children, in order for them to be cleansed of their own sin. And I quote: "A spanking (whipping, paddling, switching, belting) is indispensable to the removal of guilt in your child. His very conscience (nature) demands punishment. The parent holds in his hand (in the form of a little switch) the power to absolve the child of guilt, cleanse his soul, instruct his spirit, strengthen his resolve, and give him a fresh start through a confidence that all indebtedness is paid." These quotes are from a little book written by Michael Pearl. It's not just him, though, that believes and teaches others this particular little doctrine of parenting. Gary Ezzo, probably best known as the author of Babywise, also furthers this belief in the parenting classes his organization, Growing Families International, distributes. I unfortunately, have firsthand experience with this one. Much was made in our Growing Kids God's Way class of the *necessity* of punishment, in order for our children to have clean consciences and be able to be restored both to the family and to God.
Now, you might be thinking that this makes sense...I thought so too, at the time. But the more understanding I have of God's grace, and His forgiveness - well, it just doesn't match up. We are that first servant. We have a debt that we could never hope to repay, no matter how long and hard we work to do it. God, by His grace, has made a way to forgive us of that debt. He no longer calls us servants, but friends. But see, here's the thing that hit me, when our children sin, they don't "owe" us as parents. Where in the Bible does it say that we are the ones to forgive sins anyway? Last time I checked, that was a God thing. By punishing our children in order to "cleanse their souls", we are appointing ourselves God in their lives. We are not leading them to the cross, and letting the redemptive work of Christ have it's way - in fact, we're putting ourselves on the spiritual throne and making the grace of God unnecessary. Most of all (and saddest of all), we become that wicked servant, who has been forgiven so much, and yet turns right around and demands payment from a debtor of our own. The Gospel applies to our kids, folks. Just as much as it applies to us. Teach them, yes. Let them experience the consequences of their actions, absolutely. But let's leave the forgiveness of sin up to the Lord - the only one who truly CAN.
