(Say that three times fast)
Ingredients:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breast-salt and pepper to taste.
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 shallot, diced
2 tablespoons capers
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (save some lemon for slicing)
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
1/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
8 ounces pasta (of your choice) cooked per instructions
Instructions:
Butterfly each chicken breast. Lay a piece of parchment paper on top and pound to about 1/4 inch thick. Season generously on both sides with salt and pepper.
Cut each breast in half lengthwise so you have 4 pieces of chicken.
Add the flour to a wide, shallow dish. Dredge each piece of chicken in flour, shaking off the excess.
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Fry the chicken until golden brown, about 3-4 minutes per side. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.
Add the butter, garlic, shallots and capers and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
Stir in the lemon juice and chicken stock and cook for 5 minutes, until the sauce has slightly thickened.
Stir in the cream, then return the chicken to the pan and cook for 5 minutes. Remove Chicken and place in serving platter. Ladle the capers and some sauce over the chicken.
Add your cooked spaghetti to the pan with the sauce in it and toss the pasta. Pour the pasta into your serving bowl and add parsley. Serve the chicken on top of pasta and fresh lemon slices. Pleasing to the Palate!
Most of us have heard the story of Henny Penny and how this poor chicken ran around the yard in a panic convincing the other farm animals that the sky was going to fall on their heads. They were all so focused on Henny Penny’s prediction and insistence that they failed to see the danger they were headed towards with the sly fox.
Henny Penny, also known as Chicken Little, is a folk tale about a chicken who believes the world is coming to an end. The phrase “The sky is falling!” is throughout the tale. Sadly, there are a lot of Christians who live like their sky is falling every day.
I must confess that this has been me lately. For many reasons that I won't get into, I have been feeling overwhelmed with anxiety. There have been days when I have allowed it to steal my joy, my peace of mind, my hopes and dreams. I allowed the Truth of Isaiah 41:10 to be clouded by the same dark and dreary skies that Henny Penny feared.
Isaiah 41:10 says: "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with My righteous right hand."
If we aren't careful, we can fall into the dangers that Henny Penny did and play into the lies of the sly fox (devil) and find ourselves thinking that our sky is falling apart. We forget that our heavenly Father will give us the tools we need to overcome our fears and anxieties all while holding us with His righteous right hand.
There is an old story from the Middle East about a little sparrow: A man was traveling on his donkey when he came upon a small fuzzy object lying in the road. He dismounted to look more closely and found a sparrow lying on its back with its scrawny legs thrust upward. At first he thought the bird was dead, but a closer look proved the bird to be very much alive. The man asked the sparrow if he was all right.
The sparrow replied, "Yes."
The man said, “What are you doing lying on your back with your legs pointed towards the sky?”
The sparrow responded that he had heard a rumor that the sky was falling, and so he was holding his legs up in support.
The man replied, “You surely don't think that you are going to hold it up with those two scrawny legs, do you?”
The sparrow, with a very solemn look, retorted, “One does the best he can.”
So it is with the life that God has given to us. We can’t live in fear that terrible things are going to happen. We can't allow fear and anxiety to consume us and forget that God is in control. I mean, we can, but who wants to live the life of a chicken?
We live in a world that offers plenty of chances to be anxious and we can be rather creative in thinking of new things to be fearful about. Nothing delights and warms the devil's heart (if he even has one) like seeing us live in fear instead of trusting in a loving God.
Ephesians 6:16 says; “...Take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” There is a wonderful promise here. The shield we use is not of our own protection. It is our faith in God Himself that extinguishes the flames of all the devil’s missiles, including the temptation to fear. Our faith is our shield. We are God's children, so let’s all live like we are!
Faith can overcome fears and anxieties of any kind, and it is with confidence in God that we take our stand. God doesn’t ask us to just stand there and do nothing. It is quite the opposite. We must fight that sly fox (the devil) and his evil lies, and we must not allow those lies to cause us to be paralyzed in fear and anxiety like Henny Penny was. I don’t know about you, but I would rather be a ‘sparrow’ than a ‘chicken’ any day! Satisfying to the Soul!
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