Chicken Ciabatta Casserole

"Give careful thought to the paths for your feet 

and be steadfast in all your ways." Proverbs 4:26

Food for the Palate

Ingredients:
6 Tbsp butter
2 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms (10 ounce pack), big chunks
2 cups chopped, cooked chicken
3 cups of chicken stock
1/2 cup white wine, dry
2 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp dried rosemary, crushed

4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp flour
2 1/2 cups gruyere cheese, shredded
1/2 cup pecorino cheese, grated

2 large onions, thinly sliced

4 cups of chopped ciabatta bread, crouton size cuts

Basil, chopped for topping.

Instructions: Preheat oven to 425F

Pour 1 Tbsp of melted butter in a 9x13 baking dish.  

In a large sauté pan over medium-high heat melt 1 Tbsp of butter. Add your mushrooms and garlic and sauté until golden brown, about 6 minutes. Set aside in a bowl.

In your sauté pan (don't clean it) melt 4 Tbsp of butter and add your sliced onions. Sauté the onions until caramelized, about 20 minutes, stirring often. After your onions are caramelized, add your mushrooms back into the pan with them. 

Sprinkle your flour over your mushrooms and onions and coat well. After about a minute, add your white wine and bring to a simmer. Then add your chicken stock and your chunks of chicken. Bring back to a simmer. Cook until it thickens, about 4-5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Lay 3/4 cup of the chicken, onions and mushrooms on the bottom of your buttered baking dish. Now put a layer of your ciabatta croutons over the mixture. Add half of your chicken mixture on top of the croutons.  

Sprinkle 1 cup of gruyere cheese and 1/4 cup of pecorino cheese on the top. Repeat with your layering of your chicken mixture, croutons and cheeses again. 

Place your baking dish in the oven, covered. Bake for about 20-30 minutes, once it is bubbling, remove lid and cook for another 15-20 minutes, until the cheese is browned. Sprinkle with fresh chopped basil. Let stand for 10-15 minutes before serving.  Tasty to the Palate!     

     

                          

Food for the Soul

Like most people, I really enjoy bread. It has only been recently though that I have discovered my love for Ciabatta bread. Ciabatta bread is an Italian bread that has a wonderful soft inside with a crusty outside. It is perfect for making homemade croutons. I haven't purchased store bought croutons for a couple of years now because of my newfound appreciation for Ciabatta. I am not sure why they call it Ciabatta though, because the word Ciabatta means "Slipper" in Italian. It is safe to say that Ciabatta bread is meant for eating and not something that you wear on your feet!

I once had a counselor give me an assignment that was more difficult that I thought it would be. She asked me to "Find something about your physical self that you love and write it on a 3x5 index card and tape it to your mirror so that you read it every day." At the time I received this assignment I was seeing a wonderful Christian counselor and she recognized that I had a very difficult time seeing anything about myself physically that I liked, so she decided to challenge me. This really was a challenge for me at that time in my life, but I finally found something and wrote it on the index card and taped it to the mirror to read every day. So began a full year of me telling myself daily, "Lynda, you have beautiful feet!" 

Proverbs 4:26 says; "Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways." There are numerous Bible Scriptures that have reference to our feet, but none probably speak to me as much as this one does at this time in my life. For the first time in over 30 years, I don't like looking at my feet. I have what is called "Drop Foot". But honestly, a more accurate term should be "Dead Foot" in my opinion. My left foot doesn't do what my brain tells it to. It doesn't matter how are I strain, or think positive thoughts, my foot won't move. And while I am not happy about this sloppy, droopy foot issue, I have come to terms with it and am not letting it hinder my moving forward. I am learning to walk all over again by just putting one foot in front of the other, one step at a time. 

Every day we come to crossroads that either seem insignificant or we don't even see them at all, and we make decisions that seem good for us at the time but end up being very harmful to us spiritually. We often forget or discount that each step forward is an action that can lead us down a path that is either good or bad for us.  Often times in the Bible when talking about "walking" as in Proverbs 4:26, we see a metaphor that is about practical living. As Christians, our life is a journey, and we need to make consistent progress if we want to grow closer to God by moving forward. But honestly, if left up to our own decision making, not only will we cause hardship for ourselves, and a stagnant spiritual life, but more often than not, we will find ourselves falling flat on our faces, just like I do with my drop foot if I am not paying careful attention to where and how I am walking. God's Word teaches us that when it comes to moving forward spiritually there is only one way this can be achieved by us and the answer is found in Galatians 5:16 that says; "So I say, walk in the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh." 

To walk in the Spirit means to live your life in the continual presence of God. To walk with God, we must have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We need to be in God's Word daily and pray to Him for guidance regularly. Walking in His Spirit means that we will have a "God awareness" in our decision making. Having this kind of an awareness means that we are pursuing God with all of our heart. Walking by the Spirit means we rely upon Him. He leads the way, and we follow. When He speaks, we listen. We take to heart His warnings and we obey His commands. To walk in the Holy Spirit means to walk a path of surrender which, although difficult, leads to the riches of life that comes from Jesus Christ. Trust me, you don't want to fall flat on your face. Take it from me, it is no fun! I may have a "dead foot", but I have a faith that is alive and living moment by moment in the presence of a Savior that doesn't care what my feet look like as long as I am following Him. And the best part is, when I stumble in my faith, He catches me when I fall.  Satisfying to the Soul!