Chicken Stuff!

Chicken Stuff?  It is a term we coined years ago when I found a recipe for chicken that everyone liked.  I made a few changes and found the winning recipe, but never knew what to call it, so we all took to calling it that "chicken stuff."  It was one of those recipes that I could throw together fairly quickly and that always was popular.  Even people in the ward who received chicken stuff from us when they were sick or in need of a meal seemed to like it.

So it was inevitable that we fix it for our YSAs.  Now I have to tell you that I spent the day working up to the meal being served at 8:30....and tonight at 8:30, the carrots were still percolating, the peas were just getting warm, the pasta was just about ready to be drained and I had 25 YSAs just coming out of class ready to eat.  I meant to take a picture, but it just didn't happen!

Aeldste Madsen peeling 4 pounds of carrots with our wonderful peelers.

The meal tonight was chicken stuff, boiled carrots, steamed peas, sliced french bread and mini-cheesecakes.  The Lord is good to us.  I always figure that I am making enough for 40 or more and it always ends up that we have enough and perhaps a touch to spare.  We fed 26 tonight, which was surprising because we were missing several of the regulars who have gone to their parents homes to celebrate Christmas.

I don't know if the food is good, or if the Lord has answered my heartfelt plea that it will taste good to them....but that is what happened tonight.  They seemed to love it, and ate seconds and in some cases thirds.  I ran out of time right at that last minute and served the carrots without butter or salt of pepper, but they ate them all....and there were a LOT of carrots!  The carrots here are particularly good, crispy, a beautiful bright orange and sweet.

We also had a sweet young man come with his friend who has recently converted to Christianity.  This was the first time the friend had come to a Mormon meeting of any kind.  He seemed to enjoy himself and spent the evening after class visiting with many of the other YSAs.  I can't imagine how anyone could leave the center and not have felt something.  Everyone is so friendly and welcoming, and there is a special spirit there...even when they get a loud game of CRUD going.

We wanted to give them a little something to say Glaedelig Jul, so we got cute little gift bags from IKEA, put about 5 different little wrapped candies inside and a book mark of one of our favorite scriptures, and wrote a little note to them.  It wasn't much but they seemed to like it.

By the way, maybe you have read two recent reports in the  news.  One is that Denmark is the happiest place on the earth.  No not Disneyland, but Denmark, and they have earned that title two years in a row.  The other is that in a rating of the most corrupt governments in 176 nations of the world, Denmark is tied with New Zealand for the title of least corrupt.  Not bad!

I think one reason they are so happy is because they don't have scorpions here.