The Food Stuffs:
Prep:
Have a frying pan ready and a plate to batter the chicken lightly. Making the tangy chicken nuggets takes about 20 minutes, prep included. The nuggets are light, flavorful, and delicious on top of fresh spinach leaves!
Ingredients:
-2 Boneless Chicken Breasts, thawed
-1/2 Cup Flour
-Paprika
-Chili Powder
-Pepper
-Salt
-Garlic Powder
-Dried Basil
-1 Egg (see note)
-Oil
-Lemon Juice
Cooking Instructions:
1. Trim thawed chicken breasts, cutting into nugget sized chunks.
2. Crack egg into bowl, mix with a little water (or see note at the end of the recipe.)
3. Spread flour on a plate, mixing in all of the spices listed according to your sense of smell.
4. Dip chicken into egg mixture, then lightly flour on plate.
5. Meanwhile, preheat oil in a frying pan over medium.
6. Drop lightly battered nuggets into pan, turning over as each side browns.
7. Once the first side has browned and chicken is flipped, squirt lemon juice over chicken.
8. When the nuggets are cooked through (about ten minutes, slice through a nugget to see if completely white,)
squirt more lemon juice on nuggets.
Putting It All Together:
After the nuggets are cooked through and squirted with lemon juice, drop directly on to fresh spinach leaves.
Excellent if served with mild macaroni and cheese.
Notes:
-Instead of an egg, you might try a mild sauce or marinade. For example, a slightly spicy or acidic marinade will add a little more flavor than egg, but serve the same function of getting the flour to stick to the meat.
-Reduce heat if your batter is browning too quickly while the insides are not cooking efficiently.
Mmm.....
Thoughts on Who We Please
I'm fairly certain I was born a people-pleaser. Ultimately, that is the result of my sinful nature and self-seeking tendencies. I would like to think, however, that at least a small part of my tendency to constantly please others comes from a common misconception.
My husband, who is not a people-pleaser (but is a kind, gentle, friendly, loving person anyway) pointed out this misconception to me. Repeatedly. It still hasn't completely sunk in.
Pleasing people is not the same thing as loving people. Displeasing people is not the same thing as hurting people.
There, I said it. Whew. I hate to hurt people. It bothers me to ever be in a situation in which I might have to say or do something that won't make everyone around me happy. Surely in part because I don't want the flack that comes from making others less than happy, but also because it makes me feel like I did something wrong when someone else is not pleased with or by me. And I don't like to do the wrong thing.
But it isn't necessarily wrong to say no. Or to point someone to the truth, even if they don't believe it. It is not actually wrong to hold others accountable. In fact, when you care about someone deeply, you sometimes have to call them out or say things they don't want to hear. The Bible has something to say about that.
"...so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love." -Ephesians 4:14-16
It is more loving, sometimes, for me to displease others by speaking the truth. Or exemplifying the truth. Or pointing toward the truth. And, more than that, it isn't just for other people's sakes' that I have to do that. Sometimes pleasing the Lord looks very different than pleasing other people. When it comes down to it, glorifying the Lord is always more important.
"For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ." -Galatians 1:10
Although I've done it many times, the fact of the matter is that is does a disservice to others and to myself to choose making others happy over speaking the truth lovingly. More than that, though, is the truth that doing right by others is never an excuse for failing to glorify God. No matter how you swing it.
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