All Things Supercinski

A friend of mine shared this recipe with me, and it was absolutely delicious! I like that it uses bone-in chicken breasts (which were $1/pound last week at HEB) since they are cheaper. I just pulled the skin off and de-boned them before serving.

The recipe seems to take a long time to cook, but it has very little hands-on time. While it was cooking, I folded laundry, changed two of Annalise’s diapers, fed and put Annalise down for a nap, and checked my email (Josiah was asleep).

Apple Cider Chicken - from Rachael Ray
Yields 4 servings
* 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO), divided
* 2 whole chicken breasts, 4 halves, bone-in and skin on (I used 3 breasts because they were all thawed)
* Salt and pepper
* 3 large yellow onions, thinly sliced (I only had 2 on-hand)
* 2 tablespoons thyme leaves, 7-8 sprigs, leaves stripped and chopped (I used about 1.5 teaspoons of dried thyme)
* 3 tablespoons honey (eyeball it)
* 4 large cloves garlic, chopped
* 1 cup plus apple cider vinegar
* 2 cups chicken stock

Preheat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add a couple tablespoons of EVOO, 2 turns of the pan. Season chicken liberally with salt and pepper, and add to the hot oil, skin side down. Brown chicken, about 5 minutes per side. Remove and reserve.

Add another 2 turns of the pan of EVOO, the onions, thyme, honey and the garlic. Season the onions with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring frequently for about 20-30 minutes or until the onions are really brown.

Add cider vinegar, scraping up all the brown bits on the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Add the chicken stock and bring up to a bubble.

Once at a simmer, return the chicken to the pot with the liquid and onions. Place a lid on the pot, turn the heat down to medium and simmer for about 15 minutes, flipping the chicken over in the sauce about halfway through. Remove lid, check to make sure the chicken is cooked through by cutting a small slit in the thickest part of the breast with a paring knife to have a look inside. If it is cooked through — no pink meat — remove to a plate and cover with foil to keep warm. Turn the heat up to high and simmer until the sauce thickens up slightly, about 4-5 minutes.

You can serve the chicken right away topped with a big spoon full of sauce and the onions or you can return the chicken to the pot, turn the heat off and cover with the lid until you’re ready to serve it. Once you are ready, add 1/2-3/4 cup additional chicken stock and turn the heat back on to heat everything back up. This goes really well with a nice, crusty bread.

Sir Spotsky, a resident of Bryan/College Station for 3 years, passed August 2nd, 2008. Spotsky was preceded in death by bowlmates Byte and Giga. Spotsky led a full and at times tumultuous life, beating the odds and outliving his bowl mates and the dire predictions of two pet store clerks.

Sir Spotsky’s latter years were spent imprisoned in solitary confinement after the unexplained death of his one time bowlmate, Giga, whose death was ruled an icthocide by the authorities. The rehabilitation efforts of his wardens seemed to have produce a glimmer of change in his attitude in recent months. Alas, the fruits of those efforts and his positive response will not be seen.

For anyone interested, Josiah was not adversely affected, despite his parents’ attempts at using the occasion as a life lesson. All he could say was ‘fish got died’ and ‘bye fish’.

You will find Sir Spotsky’s burial plot here, if you would like to visit and pay respects.

I was able to get away last weekend with some of my dear girlfriends from college days. I had a wonderful time catching up in person with these sweet ladies I don’t get to see very often. I appreciated the break and the one-on-one time with Annalise that seems rare these days.

This is Lacy, Erin, Kelly, Myself and Vanessa. Annalise and Lacy’s daughter didn’t make it into the group shot.

I had such a great time, but the best part of my weekend happened when Josiah and Thomas got home from church. While Josiah was eating his lunch, he said, “Siah so, so, SO happy Momma come home!”

When asked if he was concerned about who might be next elected to the U.S. presidency, John MacArthur replied:

I’m not concerned about that for 5 seconds. It has nothing to do with the kingdom of God - absolutely nothing to do with it. The Lord will build his Church; I’m concerned about his Church. I’m concerned about the name of Christ, the gospel, the glory of God, the purity of the Church, the clarity of the teaching of the word of God. Jesus said it as clearly as it could be said when he said to Pilate, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight.’ His kingdom has nothing to do with this world. You could argue that the Roman power was oppressive, and even deadly, as indicated in Luke 13 when Pilate’s men went in and sliced up the Jews who were worshiping in the Temple. You can make the case that Jesus should have done something to obliterate slavery, or overturn Roman oppression, and free the people of Israel. It has nothing to do with that - ‘My kingdom has nothing to do with that. My kingdom is not of this world.’ Obviously, as a human being, I would like to see someone who is moral; I’d like to see someone who is a Christian have an opportunity to influence things from a viewpoint of Christianity. But this has nothing whatsoever to do with the advance of the kingdom of God. I am much more concerned about the kingdom that is not of this world than the kingdom that is America.

Right On!

ht Jared Wilson

It feels like Christmas for me–at least the part about getting a really cool present. I started teaching another Bradley series last week. Not sure what we were thinking in scheduling classes with a not-quite two month old, but it’s too late now. I have five couples attending, which is a completely different experience from last time. They are a fun bunch, and since they are paying me a little bit, I’ve been ordering lots of new teaching aids.

I was most excited about this one. Now I just need to find a baby doll with a head that fits through there easily. Who wants to go to Toys R Us with me to find one? I’ll bring the pelvis!

Josiah decided to pretend “the bones” was also a birthday cake and kept singing “Happy Birthday” and pretending to blow out candles. Right…

I also ordered The Business of Being Born DVD to show bits of in class. Any random reader know of a tame, but good birth video to show in class?

Is once again our treasure!

This is a very exciting find, and makes our backyard all the more fun. It’s fun for everyone–I get to cook dinner without a helper sometimes, Thomas gets another thing to move before he can mow, and Josiah, well, I think you can tell he enjoys it.

Sorry grandparents and great-grandparents! I’m writing this post with one hand, the reason I am not posting as often.

Annalise is growing like crazy. Her smiles and coos melt my heart. She is fairly easy-going and content unless she is hungry or tired. She is fattening up nicely, and she stays awake for about an hour or hour and a half before it is time to sleep again.

I remembered the activity mat hanging in the nursery closet last week. It is a hit for all the little ones. I think that singing star gets more smiles and coos than I do!

Annalise also gives a lot of smiles to her adoring big brother, who often adores her far too much. If I had a dollar for every time I heard, “Hi Anna-WEESE!” I would make a decent wage. He is learning to speak softly, not put his hands all over her face and to not put his head on her face when hugging. He keeps me on my toes! He is never malicious, just very, very interested.

We have also been spending as much time as possible with some of our best pals who are moving later this week. We have stayed quite busy hitting the backyard kiddie pools, splashpads and each other’s houses to enjoy them as much as we can before they leave.

I don’t know if Josiah will ever find a wrestling buddy who can make him laugh as much as Dean can, not to mention one with as great of a mom.