Gratitude Friday...

Today, I'm grateful for something a little odd.

I'm grateful for a food blog.

Right?!?!

The Recipe Critic 

With this whole NO GLUTEN thing, my recipes had gotten pretty boring.  There's only so many ways you can roast a whole chicken.  The leftover chicken gets used for a variety of things.  Mostly either something in the TexMex or chicken salad category.  

But then a couple of months ago, I read this recipe for Firecracker Chicken and COULD NOT RESIST.

I think I read through the recipe four or sixty times before I finally committed to making it happen.  I'm not much of a fried food eater and certainly not much for the time it takes to dip something in egg and then in flour and THEN fry it.  I'm more of a skip a step whenever possible kinda gal.  

It's the trait Chris most dislikes about me.  

He follows every single solitary step in the directions.  Any directions.  Every direction.  Every time.  

Shoot.  Me.

BUT for this Firecracker Chicken recipe, I followed every step.  It took an entire nap time to cook but I DID IT!

And once I took the first bite, well, I was in love.  

Since then, I have made the Better Than Take Out Chicken Fried Rice, Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken and the Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken.  

There are oh so many recipes on this blog I can't wait to try.  I might tweak the fried part of them and see if I can sauté and bake without frying.  Save the calories.  And the time.

It's strange to be grateful for something simple like new recipes but I cook and eat at home for three meals a day, mostly seven days a week.  Every once in a while, we eat out of the house but not usually.  And whatever I make for dinner one night is generally lunch the following day.  I need to like what I cook...a lot.  These recipes are so delicious.  I could eat them everyday.

And that may or may not have happened last week when I made a gigantic tub of chicken fried rice.  

When the world feels like it is spinning faster and further away from the things of God, a good recipe...and the time to myself during nap time to cook it...is a welcomed break.  

Anyone else have a favorite food blog?