Catholic Again: Blessings - Edible and Otherwise

You may have noticed I've alluded a couple times now to my husband having a surgery earlier in the summer - but out of respect for him, I've never gone into any detail about it. And.... I still won't. (ha! This must definitely be breaking a blogger rule somewhere. "Don't bring it up if you don't want to talk about it." Or something like that.)

But suffice it to say his surgery kept him out of commission for quite a while, and during that time wrangling the 2 kiddos became my 24/7 responsibility. I was so nervous about this that prior to the surgery that I solicted anyone and everyone's prayers: for my hubby's recovery and adjustment, for my wee ones to have extra grace with Daddy, and strength, endurance and *joy* for me.

One of the first places I took these requests was to my friends and family. (OK, I first took them to God... but after that, then I took them to friends and family). I was so humbled to immediately receive those prayers and then some! (More on that in a minute).

But I also did something I never had before - I shared them with folks on a website: PrayMoreNovenas.com. Right before his surgery, the folks at PrayMoreNovenas announced that their next novena would be to St. Anne - the mother of Mary and grandmother of Jesus. She is often asked (by single women) for help in finding a spouse, but she has also been known to intercede for people in need of healing. In addition to this, the novena was perfectly (miraculously?) timed to go for the 9 days prior to my husband's surgery. Well, this sounded like more than just a coincidence to me so I logged on and typed in my prayer requests, and hit "Publish".

I have to admit: praying novenas, especially to saints, is still very new to me. Because it's so new, my senses are heightened and I'm paying close attention to everything I say and do. Well, come to find out I have some phrases that I use in prayer that come out, just on auto-pilot, that are really not appropriate in a prayer to a saint (like St Anne for instance). Like, I say "Lord". A. Lot. If anyone else were to be listening to me pray they would think that I have either forgotten who I was talking to, or that I think Jesus has nodded off and needs to be snapped back to attention. It's bad. So I learned I have to really pay attention to what I'm saying.

In any case, praying this novena to St. Anne was a great consolation to me. As was having my friends pray for us as well! They loved on us with prayers and food - and I can say with certainty - our bodies and souls were blessed. My husband especially loved our friend Monica's chicken bites that he had to have the recipe - which he doesn't often say things like that! So you can trust that this one is a keeper.

Monica's Breaded Chicken Bites

Course: Main Course

Serves: 4

Ingredients

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
24 Ritz crackers (Original, whole wheat or a combination)
¹⁄₂ cup grated parmesan
¹⁄₂ tsp seasoned salt
1 tsp thyme scant
1 tsp basil
¹⁄₂ cup butter melted (or avocado oil or EVOO)

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 deg. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Put crackers, salt, thyme and basil into a gallon ziploc bag. Close bag and crush crackers into crumbs.
Add parmesan to bag and mix thoroughly.
Cut chicken into strips and coat in butter (or oil).
Toss 5-6 strips into the bag and shake to coat. Remove and place on baking sheet.
Repeat till all strips of chicken are used.
Bake 15-20 minutes or until the chicken is done.