Peace–It’s Just One Little Word

On December 1st I wrote this from a journaling prompt to “encapsulate the year 2010 in one word. Now, imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2011 for you?”

December 1 ~ One Word.

2010 in one word…Chaos. It has felt like we are chasing our tails all year. Our business was so consuming so we stopped, but the rest of the year has been a whirlwind. Some self imposed, some imposed on us. As we are winding up the year, work for me has been more crazy than normal with a structure reorganization. And November brought us heart break in the sudden bad turn in my mom’s health. Now that we are in December, I am spending my evenings in the hospital, my days at work, the few minutes I have in the morning with my boys and squeezing in Christmas shopping on my lunch hour.

As I look to 2011 I hope for Peace. Time to enjoy our life, time to enjoy our boys, and some freedom from everyday worries. No life is perfect, but I pray we have some peace in our days.

Little did I know when I wrote those words, that we would be faced with more before the year would end. Ten days after I wrote this, my mom left us. We dealt with the holidays grieving our huge loss, one we didn’t expect to happen so quickly.

I have never chosen a word of the year before, it is a “popular” thing for us scrapbookers to do. But this year it seemed so appropriate. I felt a need for calm, quiet, reflection, hope, and serenity.

Peace – (noun) – 1. a state of tranquility or quiet. 2. harmony in personal relationships

Synonyms – calm, quiet, stillness, silence, tranquility, harmony, serenity, agreement, friendship, love, order, unity, relaxation, rest, repose

Quotes that resonated with me  -

“Peace is not something you wish for; It's something you make, Something you do, Something you are, And something you give away.” ~ Robert Fulghum

“When you find peace within yourself, you become the kind of person who can live at peace with others.”  ~ Peace Pilgrim

“Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with it”

Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.”  ~ Hindu Prince Gautama Siddharta

“Each one has to find his peace from within. And peace to be real must be unaffected by outside circumstances.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi

“Peace is its own reward.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi

“Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

“When we are unable to find tranquility within ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere” ~ François de la Rochefoucauld

“Peace is the deliberate adjustment of my life to the will of God.”

“All we are saying is give peace a chance.” ~ John Lennon

“Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures.” ~ John Fitzgerald Kennedy

To help me remain committed to my word for 2011 I have signed up for Ali Edwards One Little Word class at Big Picture Classes. Each month we will receive an assignment to help us remember what we have committed to, I know this will be important for me this year.

Inspiration for My Favorite "Almost" Fried Chicken

Growing up, my Nana babysat us while my mom was working. Nana and Papa lived just around the corner from our house. Nana was raised on a farm in Mississippi and would tell us she rose with the chickens every day. She was up at 5:00 a.m. making breakfast for Papa, eggs and toast as I remember, and then packing his lunch for his workday.

On weekdays when she watched us. During the summers she would make us breakfast in the mornings after my mom dropped us off for the day.  To this day I sometimes crave waffles (the frozen kind) with lots of butter and syrup, just like Nana would make me for breakfast.

While we were playing throughout the day she would have her soap opera's or game shows on the TV. Most days something would be on the stove about mid-day to get a start on dinner.  All the while, she might be ironing, cleaning, or stopping to play a card game with us kids.  Depending on the year, any number of my cousins would also be at Nana's while our mom's and dad's were at work.

My favorite day each week was the day Nana would make fried chicken and mashed potatoes for dinner. Being from the south Nana made us a lot of southern food for dinner, but her fried chicken was my favorite. I still compare all fried chicken to hers. I have yet to find one that truly comes close. She passed in 1999, and I haven't had her fried chicken since long before that.

I have never made my own real fried chicken. After I started cooking in my 20's I realized how it was made and felt guilty cooking something so fattening. I just saved fried chicken for a rare occasion when I was eating out. About 16 years ago, I got a cookbook by Oprah's chef called "In the Kithchen with Rosie", which ironically, Nana's name was Rosie.  In this book was a recipe for "Almost Fried Chicken".

I have been making this chicken a few times a year; working at adapting the recipe to get it just right. While it doesn't come close to my Nana's fried chicken, every time I make it, I think of her. It looks a lot the same, but it is a lot healthier than that one I grew up with.

I do think I have got the look pretty close.  I usually make a lot so we have it for leftovers for a couple of nights and eat it up for lunch.  

Here is how I make it:

Almost Fried Chicken (as adapted from, "In the Kitchen with Rosie")

10 drumsticks

10 thighs, skinless if available

About 2 cups nonfat yogurt

cooking spray

Breading (I make a lot more than I actually end up using, I'll explain why in a minute)

2-3 cups of Italian Bread Crumbs

2-3 cups of flour

Dried seasonings:

2-3T Old Bay Seasoning

1-2tsp garlic powder and Creole seasoning

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper

2 tsp thyme

2 tsp basil

2 tsp oregano

Wash chicken, skin if desired, and place in a bowl of ice water.  Set aside while making the breading mixture.  Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Put about 1/3 - 1/2 of the breading mixture in a Ziploc bag.  Put yogurt in a shallow bowl. I recommended using at least 2 pairs of tongs.  Have a cookie sheet prepared sprayed generously with cooking spray.

Dip each piece of chicken in the yogurt mixture (1-2 at a time) coating well, but try to avoid big clumps. Put dipped chicken in Breading Mixture bag (shake) and remove chicken from bag with tongs (spray the whole piece of chicken with cooking spray generously to coat (this will help it crisp) and put on cookie sheet. Repeat until all chicken is coated.  Start a new bag of mixture (from the remaining set aside) as each bag gets too clumpy to coat the chicken properly. I usually get by with 2-3 bags depending on how much chicken I am making.  Before placing in oven, spray the top of all the chicken one more time with cooking spray.  You want to try to make sure all the dried breading mixture is coated.

Bake in 400 degree oven for about an hour, turning at least once half way through.  

Enjoy!

Thanks for letting me reminisce a bit. Happy Thursday!

What I Have Learned as a Mother

Today on Stacy Julian's blog I saw this post about 22 Things I Learned Being a Mother which was inspired by  Amy Krouse-Rosenthal who I remembered from doing an Encyclopedia of Me (A-Z) inspired scrapbook a few years ago based on the book by her, ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AN ORDINARY LIFE.  So I took Stacy's challenge and wrote down my 22 before reading Stacy's or watching the video by Amy.


My list was a bit different since my two boys are still toddlers, but I think it will make great journaling for a scrapbook page.  So make your list of 22 Things and then read mine and Stacy's and watch Amy's movie. I am sure that we will all find little nuggets in common.

22 things I have learned as a mother

1. You can’t protect them from everything
2. Independence is a good thing at any age
3. There really is nothing sweeter than hearing mommy 100 times in a day (one day you’ll miss it)
4. When your children do something that you are really proud of you know you must have done something right
5. Routines are important
6. I look forward to hearing “mommy’s home” when I get home from work at the end of the day
7. Watching the world through their eyes as they explore and learn is very cool
8. When your child is hurt or sick or struggling you would do anything to take their pain away
9. Snacks are a good thing
10. Sometimes (okay most times) it is just easier to let your very picky eater have chicken fingers or hot dogs than it is to have a melt down
11. When you hear “I love you mommy” for the first time your heart will immediately melt
12. Children do things at their pace not yours
13. They grow up too fast
14. It is really cool to watch your sons bond with their daddy
15. It is okay for daddy to be the main caregiver and have mommy go to work everyday
16. You do not need to yell at your kids to let them know you aren’t happy with something they did
17. Barney, The Wiggles and kids TV shows in general are not terrible and you are not a bad parent if you let them watch
18. Getting your baby to consistently sleep through the night makes for a much happier home
19. Sometimes bribery is okay to avoid a public meltdown
20. Your house will never again be as neat as it once was and it won’t matter
21. You won’t have all the free time you used to have and sometimes you’ll miss it
22. But, when those little guys crawl in your lap and want to cuddle with you, you will forget what life was like before they were here