My Little Frog

The picture above is of an ultrasound of our baby at about 7 weeks.  While we, my wife and I, were watching the screen we both thought the same thing.  The baby's shape looked like a sitting frog.  Therefore we nick-named the baby, "Frog".  I couldn't wait to scan the picture into the computer and trace it out and share it with others to show my new bundle of joy off to my friends and family.  And for anyone that thinks the other little spot is ANOTHER baby, it's not.  It's the yolk sack, we double checked.

Like with our other children together, we started planning out how things would change, and so forth.  We would spend a few extra minutes in the baby section when we were getting clothes or diapers for our other little ones, and think about whether it would be a boy or girl, and what kind of outfits we wanted to get.  Bringing a life into this world seems to have an effect on the mind that makes some people constantly visualize the future with an imaginary child sitting in the buggy instead of a bump on your wife's/girlfriend's belly.

Sad to say, we lost our little Frog 12/30/2012.  That was the first time I had seen an ultrasound and no movement or anything.  My world dropped off in that very moment.  What seemed to make it worse for both my wife an I, was the doctor sent her home, and made her get a second ultrasound the next day, and then proceeded to remove the lifeless child from her.  The day was New Year's Eve.  It seemed like everyone that day could only say, "Sorry for your loss, Happy New Year."  For that very reason I will disable comments on this post.  I'm not posting this for any sympathy or feedback.  I mentioned in an earlier post that this is the start of something that I intend to pass on to my other children to give them a little more insight into some of the things that they may not understand now.  This isn't our first child that we lost.  This was my second and her third loss.  We have our ways of dealing with it and aren't looking for any outside help.

I look at it from a natural point of view.  I have raised and even hatched my own chicks before.  I have seen eggs fully mature as expected and then a few days before they should start pipping (breaking from the shell) a blood-ring appears, meaning that the chick died.  If it was close enough to have a somewhat formed chick in the egg, I would open it to see what happened.  The most common occurrence I saw was a malformed chick, which wouldn't have survived long if it had hatched on schedule.  With that in mind, I can look back and find some peace knowing that the child didn't have to suffer, and that we wouldn't have to watch it suffer and then have to mourn even longer for a child that we have actually held and started the entire bonding process.  That may seem somewhat selfish, but it's the truth.  All in all, I don't want any living thing to suffer, and I wish everything was always perfect, but it's not.  That's just how it is.  I don't have to like it, but I can accept it.

I know a lot of my posts have been, from what I recall just sitting here, upbeat, positive, or just plain food oriented.  This may be a sad time in my life, but I will carry on.  So, I want to end this in a positive way.

Things in life don't always turn out how you want them.  That doesn't mean everything stops.  It might slow you down, or even stop you cold in your tracks for a moment, but you still have to pick up and drive on.  Handle each and every obstacle fully and move on.  Don't let it make you a cold and heartless person either. Everyone goes through down times.  Some people even feel at times that it will never end, but it will.  The only thing I have ever found that will keep a person down is themselves.  For every excuse you make to not be happy, is a lost opportunity to find a way to move on and be happier.

I hope that this finds the right person and lifts their spirits enough to keep on trying.  Don't give up.

One of the best way to feel better about yourself, and help someone else, might just be doing something good for someone other than yourself.  Pay it Forward.

How to make a Kickin' Chicken Stew

Part of my family's traditions when I was growing up was going to "Chicken Stews".  For some people a Chicken Stew is an event.  For others it may be the actual stew cooking in the pot.  For me it was being around the people I enjoyed being with, and getting to chow down on some good food.  A few weeks ago, I was telling my wife about the Chicken Stews I went to growing up, and she had never heard of them, and I proceeded to tell her what they were, and tried to show her...but there wasn't hardly anything online about it.  The only thing I truly found was a Wikipedia article that gave a brief description and I believe a 1-2 sentence basic ingredient list.  I was so disappointed in my findings that I set out to be quite possibly the first person to share this recipe online ( I doubt it too, but I can dream.  Besides, I couldn't find one, so it's a first in my eyes). So get your pen and paper and get ready to be schooled on the next best thing you may ever eat.

Before I move on to the ingredients and how to make it, I want you to know that I wish I had the photos and video to walk you through this step by step but I don't.  I will make this promise though.  If I get an overwhelming response to this post I WILL make a video from start to finish of how to do it.  I'm not lazy, but it is a pretty hefty task of cooking and trying to film by yourself with a couple of kids running around.  Okay, now on to the goods!

Ingredients:

• 1 Whole Chicken
• All Purpose Flour
• Whole Milk
• Butter / Margarine (Pref. Butter)
• Salt
• Pepper

Extra Stuff that makes it better:

• Chicken Stock (Homemade if possible)
• Chicken Bouillon Cubes
• Hot Sauce
• Saltine Crackers

If you are one of those people that measure out things to the exact drop and go strictly by a recipe, then you need to run and hide right now.  I cook by the seat of my pants?  Kind of.  I cook until the food looks and tastes right to me, and the may mean altering or changing stuff along the way to make it happen.  Cooking is really about preference.  I will give some substitutions along the way, but overall, I'm sharing this the way I would serve it to someone.

To start off, put your whole chicken in a large pot or crock-pot.  I prefer the crock-pot, but a pot is fine if your in a hurry.  You can use chicken breast instead of a whole bird but the flavor just won't be there.  Most of the flavor in this dish comes from the slow cooking on the bone just like a barbecue is done.

One you have the bird in the cooking dish of choice, cover it as much as possible with chicken stock.  I save my leftover stock from one stew to the next, which seems to intensify the flavor a little more.  Store bought stock will also be fine.  If you don't have stock on hand, or don't feel like getting any, water will work also, just add a couple of chicken bouillon cubes to the water.

Cook times vary on the chicken.  If you do the crock-pot method, you can put it on before bed, and you'll know it's ready by the time you're ready to cook dinner the following day.  If you cook it on the stove top, you need to make sure the chicken is cooked all the way through.  When you start to break the chicken down, if you notice any pink or bloody spots, don't fear.  Keep on breaking it down, and add it back to the pot with some stock to cook a little longer until done.

Once the chicken is done, you have to remove the bone and shred the meat.  I usually cut the wings and legs off first.  Then I cut the breast and tenders away from the spine.  Always double check for little bones.  I do the dirty work of cutting all the meat away from the bone and cartilage, but I cheat when it comes to shredding it.  Shredding it by hand works good, especially if you use a fork or two.  I cheat.  I place my meat in a "Ninja" food processor, and cover all the meat with stock and *blitz* it a few seconds at a time to achieve a small but sizable shred of meat.

Now is the time to strain your stock and set it to the side for a minute.  If you use the processor method above, be sure to strain the stock first.

If you use the processor method, just pour your blended meat back into the pot.  If you shredded the meat by hand or other means, add it back to the pot, and cover with strained stock.  This is where preference seems to come into play.  I don't use all of the stock that I got from my chicken to cover it back with.  I tend to like mine a little bit thicker, so I lay off of some of the stock.  Bring your stock and meat up to a slight boil and add in about a cup of whole milk.

I use flour to thicken my stew.  The trick is you really shouldn't add flour to hot liquids because it just clumps and makes the stew lumpy.  A way around this is to pour about a half cup of whole milk and mix in enough flour to thicken the milk some.  It should be about equal parts milk and flour.  Now you can pour the flour/milk mix into the stew while stirring without getting the flour clumps.

Adjust the flour and milk to achieve the thickness you want.  Thicker means more flour, thinner means more milk.

Now for the butter.  I generally add a whole stick.  This is completely up to your butter preference.

Add salt and pepper to taste.  I also throw in another chicken bouillon cube or two for good measure. You can also add the hot sauce to it now, but we usually let everyone do that on their own because of the kids.  We also serve it over saltine crackers, but again that's just preference.

I know this might look like a lot, but it really isn't.  I was just trying to describe the steps in lieu of photos and video.  There isn't anything really hard about making a chicken stew.  Just remember to try not to rush it.  Take your time and take pride in your work.  When you take pride in it and love what you are doing, the food will speak novels via taste that your mouth could never explain.

If anyone out there was curious before about how to make this stew, I hope I quenched that curiosity well enough.  Feel free to ask questions below or on one of the social sites.  If you feel I left something out, please share it below for everyone else.

As always, do something nice for someone else and always try to Pay It Forward.