Chick-Fil-A for dinner

We've really been missing us some Chick-Fil-A. Really. It's the ONLY thing I have craved and actually cried over not having. But cry now more!! I found a recipe for Chicken Sandwiches that come pretty close to the original. I altered it a little (when do I EVER NOT alter a recipe?!) to make it work for our family - mainly turned it into strips not sandwiches.

Here is the recipe:

I know lots of us are from the south and REALLY miss Chik-Fil-A. DebbieM sent me this recipe for a copycat Chik-Fil-A recipe for chicken breasts, but you could use it for chicken nuggets, too. Debbie's notes:

"I used regular Sundrop oil (couldn’t find peanut oil, but I know they have it here!) I used 4 chicken breasts (cut a little of the skinny side off.) You can definitely make more than that! The salt in the flour mixture sounds like too much. It was really OK. It was not too salty. The powdered sugar was a surprise!! I used a thermometer to see the oil temp. Sadly, mine doesn’t go to 375 so I had to guess if it was right. I double dipped the chicken like it mentioned. That was a good idea…make it very crunchy.

When I put the lid on the pressure cooker, it would not close all the way. It still was good and definitely kept the oil from spraying all over the place. I cooked for 4 minutes. Oh, there was plenty of flour mixture and milk/egg to fry more. I really wished that I had made more…they were good!!"

3 cups Peanut oil

1 Egg

1 cup Milk

1 cup Flour

2-1/2 Teaspoons Powdered sugar

1/2 Teaspoon Pepper

2 Tablespoons Salt

2 Skinless, boneless chicken breasts, halved

4 Plain hamburger buns

2 Tablespoons Melted butter

8 Dill pickle slices

Mix together the egg and milk. Place the filets in this mixture, and let

sit for at least an hour.

While the breasts are sitting, mix together the flour, sugar, pepper, and

salt.

Once the sitting is done, dredge in the flour. (For ourselves and our

favourite customers, after the first dredging, we would put them back in the

milk bath for a few seconds, and re-dredge! This is not company policy,

however!)

Place the Peanut oil in a deep fat fryer, and bring up to a high heat.

Once up to 375 F., gently drop into the oil, and let cook until golden

brown. (This is for those of us who do not have a pressure cooker. If you

do, follow the note below!)

Note: Chick-Fil-A actually uses a Pressure Cooker to cook the Filets in. If

you have one, use the peanut oil according to the instructions for frying in

it. Desired heat is 400 F. Place chicken in it and put the lid on. Cook for

about 3-4 Minutes. Be VERY careful removing the lid…you have to make sure the steam is released.

Lightly butter the buns, and grill until heated through. Place two

pickles on each bun, and place a hot breast on each!

SO, I cut my 4 breasts into strips. Keep them thin. I double dipped mine too - like she suggests. Here is my suggestion on that: double or triple your flour mixture (I doubled mine and it was just barely enough). Divide your tripled amount into two bowls. That way you will have a fresh mixture to dip into when you are half-way through your strips. The first bowl gets a little chunky and won't stick to the chicken if you don't do this and you are double dipping. If you choose not to double dip you may only need one bowl - I dunna know. I used peanut oil. It was my first time :) It smelled a little bit like peanut butter which was not a turn on, but perhaps if you live in the states and not in Asia you can get some really great peanut oil that might work for you. I know Chick-Fil-A uses peanut oil. I used a regular old frying pan with lots of oil to fry them up. Each batch took about 8 minutes.

We'll have to try the sandwiches some night too, cause I think the buttered bun and pickles would just make this meal perfect! Also, some of that AWESOME honey roaster bbq sauce that they have - if someone could ship me some of those I would be a VERY happy pregnant woman :)

How the belly muscles weaken with each baby....

12 weeks with Hannah

14 weeks with Jacob

12 weeks with #3

first trimester - OVER!

I am 12 weeks and 3 days along now. I feel every bit of it too! Thankfully I am not nauseous AT ALL and only a little tired. I don't require a 2 hour nap and a 7:30 bed time anymore, although I def sneak in that nap and go to bed at a reasonable hour, most of the time.

I want to post my most recent picture but before doing so I need to clarify something: Please know that I totally realize that in the two previous pictures I look anything BUT pregnant! I did not take those to show you the pregnant belly, but just to show where I came from and what my ultimate goal is when this is all said and done next year....!! Those were just "starting point" pics.

Okay, so here is it. You should notice some changes. BTW, I "suck it in" in each of these pics to show what is really there.....

In other news, our Christmas was wonderful. Different, but good. We enjoyed having just the four of us together for a slow relaxed morning. Two of our most treasured packages did not arrive in time for Christmas morning (we are actually STILL waiting) so that put a damper on things, but we still enjoyed our time celebrating Christmas as a family. We had Grandma's coffee cake and bacon for breakfast while chatting with the entire gang in NY. We ate kraft macaroni and cheese for lunch, then made an apple pie, took naps, and cooked chicken cordon bleu for dinner. We ate the pie while wrapping up our day with a family movie night.

Here are a few pics of the fun:

Is it almost vacation time?

January 26 can't get here soon enough. That's the day we leave for the beach. Lately I've been feeling like I am SO over this whole study language 40 hours a week thing. Honestly, it's not been 40 hours a week. At least not for me. I basically go to class, review, prepare for the next class and sleep in between. I just don't have the energy to do much else. And I am losing interest. It's hard to stay committed to such a long term goal. Usually my goals are semester oriented. Not so when you are learning one of the world's toughest languages.

In other news, take a look at this cute little catepillar....

Adorable, huh?

Yeah, adorable. Except that this is where I found him.....

That would be my dinner. Or what was left of it anyways. This little guy was not alive. He had been washed in soapy water and boiled until he was stiff and lifeless, left to rot on my final piece of broccoli. Now, I wasn't exactly hungry for dinner tonight. This definitely convinced me to be done.

And apparently our son can recite the names of his classmates. Keep in mind that each child has about three names...He also speaks to them in the local language when playing with them. This does wonders for encouraging us in our language learning....He's gonna have to be our translator!!!

Here's a photo of Hannah looking oh-so-interested in her Christmas performance. She knew every word to every song yet didn't sing a single one. At least she looked cute in her Christmas dress....

9weeks

Amazingly enough I AM sucking it in for this picture. Someone asked me today if I had broken out the maternity pants yet - not quite, but it won't be long. For now and rubberband is doing the trick!

Don't blink...!

It occurred to me today, while standing in the kitchen whipping egg whites until they were "stiff but not dry", that this is my third Thanksgiving to be with child. While I should be thankful for that, it honestly made me a little annoyed. Why do the women always have to be the ones in the kitchen cooking up a storm for ONE meal?! AND Why do we as Americans slave all day, sometimes multiple days, to prepare and present a HUGE meal that no one could possibly entirely consume, only to be totally turned off by the multitude of leftovers at the end of the weekend?... Two answers: 1. because we want it done right, and 2. because that was the example set for us so long ago when those pilgrims prepared a meal of thanks to the Lord and shared it with their new indian friends. Awww, the true meaning of Thanksgiving.

You see, we live in a place where you actually have to choose to celebrate any given holiday. It doesn't just happen to you. In America you can't escape from it! The commercialism of Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter and even President's Day is EVERYwhere. Go to the store to buy bread - you are immediately greeted with leaf and pumpkin shaped cookies. Go to Starbucks for your morning latte - would you like Pumpkin Spice or Gingerbread? Go to the movies, you know - to get away from it all. Your options include Merry Madagascar. Need to buy new shoes to run away your stress? Don't even think about going to the mall! You'll be greeted with eager and determined shoppers rushing aimlessly about to the joyous melodies of I'll Be Home For Christmas and Have a Holly Jolly Christmas. You pretty much can't forget that the holidays are here, or at least fast approaching.

Here, not so. As a matter of fact, I woke up this very morning and thought: when exactly is Thanksgiving anyways? To my surprise everyone on FB was already talking about their cooking plans. Had it not been for my FB connections I may have truly forgotten about Thanksgiving all together. I am not kidding. I think it would be so easy to completely choose not to (or just forget to) celebrate any given holiday! That kinda scares me.

You see, I have kids. And they KNOW Christmas happens EVERY year. If mommy and daddy forget about Christmas and they realize mid-Feb, guess who will be putting up the tree and making Christmas cookies while the rest of you are being bombarded with advertisements convincing you of the need for a day to tell the ones you love that you actually love them?

Of course I am being a bit facetious. We will NOT forget about Christmas. (I Promise) But we almost did forget about Thanksgiving. Needless to say my usual Thanksgiving traditions are being rewritten. This year there will be no "thankful tree". Or at least not one I made. We are actually celebrating with our friends and the lady of the house has already made a HUGE tree and pasted it on her front door. The only difference between hers and mine is that hers is made from felt and fabric. Mine is usually made from the largest stick like branch we can find in the yard (which we do not have), and hand cut construction paper leaves (which we also do not have). Since she is hosting I just didn't think it right to bring our "thankful tree" and show her up in her own house. Right?

For this joint meal I am contributing Cranberry Pinwheel Bread, Sweet and Sour Meatballs, Rosemary Potatoes and a Swiss Cake Roll (no, not that kind...) One of the joys of being pregnant this time of year is the ability/privilege to eat whatever and how much ever appeals to my ever growing belly. For that, I am thankful.

So, tomorrow is the day. I'm sure I won't forget for my tired body will remind me, even if the world around me does not.

Here we go!!!!

Official 4 weeks picture - taken the day after we found out. Well, two days after I officially found out....Basically, I'm just bloated....

See why I wasn't so sure about the positiveness of this asian test?! it's SO light! And at 6am it was VERY light, esp in the flouresence of my bathroom. I couldn't figure out if it was positive or if that line was already there to begin with.