Good Medicine and a Delicious Chicken Casserole

"Laugh and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone;
For the sad old earth must borrow it's mirth,
But has trouble enough of it's own."
~Ella Wheeler Wilcox

"We are here in mortality, and the only way to go . . . is through; there isn't any around."
~Elder Neal A. Maxwell

I have decided that one of the best ways to get through life is to laugh your way through it. I suppose one could choose to cry their way through it, but I prefer to laugh, myself. Laughing is a lot easier, makes you feel a lot better and as some wise person once said . . . "Laughter is the best medicine."



My daughter Eileen is the laughingest person I know. She has a beautiful smile and everyone who meets her, and takes the time to get to know her, falls completely and totally in love with her. Her joy is infectious, as is her laughter. She recently competed in the Canadian Winter National Special Olympic games, representing the province of Nova Scotia and came home with not one, but two Gold Medals! She got the wonderful news yesterday that next February she will be competing in the International Winter Special Olympics in Boise, Idaho! So, she is very excited about that, as are we all!! I will find a way somehow to be there. Not sure yet how I am going to do it, but another thing I have learned in life is that . . . "If there is a will, there is always a way."



"The most wasted day of all is that in which we have not laughed." ~Sebastion Roch Nicolas Chamfort.

I think we need to laugh more every day. It's soul enriching and stress reducing. It's a gift from a God who loves us, and helps us to cope and survive in this mortal plane of existance, which on some days . . . can seem to be more of a burden than it's worth!

Laughter rings and peals, roars and bubbles . . . we chuckle, giggle, snicker and snort. It trickles out like a trickling stream, or tumbles out like a roaring river. It's soul saving and heart enriching, and it springs from our innermost emotional core and helps us to feel better and to see things in a different light and with a brighter perspective.

Being able to laugh at ourselves, and at life, helps us to roll with the inevitable punches that life throws at us every day. It's a powerful force and a powerful tool. It's contagious and spreads with the ease of a wild fire in the dry bush.



Sometimes, if I feel blue, I go to a page on the net where you can find a Laughing Baby . He's on an elastic and as you move your curser around the page he bounces around on the end of an elastic and laughs from his belly. It's impossible to come away from that page without a smile on your face and a song in your heart. Another place I like to visit from time to time is Cute Overload , and while it may not always make me laugh out loud, it's pages certainly make me smile.

Human beings are not born serious. One of the first things a baby learns to do is to smile, and when it does, our hearts are captured forever more. In fact, adults will spend a great deal of time trying to make a baby smile and to laugh. It's a great diversion and a real heart warming experience. We all begin life with an innate playfulness and the ability to laugh freely. It is something that comes naturally, not something we have to learn or to work at. Somehow, sadly enough, we learn to curb this natural playfulness as we mature into adulthood . . . Unfortunately, it's not something that we can pay someone to do for us, no matter how rich or how wealthy we are . . . laughing is something we must all do for ourselves.



Nature laughs . . . just listen to a babbling brook as it trickles down stream over pebbles and stones, or a bird as it trills in the bush, or the wind as it whispers across your face on a warm summers day . . . it has the power to heal hearts and homes and families. It helps to release anger and fear and, it just plain feels good. I laugh often and hearty. I laugh every day. Let's face it . . . it beats the alternative!

Yes . . . laughter is good for the heart.



Have you ever tasted a dish that was so delicious it had you craving it again, long after you had eaten it and thinking about it well into the night. I have . . .



*Chicken Savoyarde*
Serves 6

This is not much more than a glamorous chicken casserole and so very easy to make. It's a great way to dress up leftover turkey or chicken if that's all you have, but well worth the extra effort and expense of buying a chicken purposely to poach and dress up in this simple but decadently delicious manner. This will have them scrambling for seconds.

For cooking the chicken:
1 (4 1/2 lb) free range chicken, organic if possible
2 small onions, cut in half and stuck with two cloves
2 carrots, peeled and cut in half lengthwise
3 stick of celery, halved (preferably with some leaves attached)
2 leeks, trimmed and well washed
2 bay leaves
2 springs of thyme
salt

For the sauce and finishing:
2 ounces of butter
2 ounces flour
14 ounces of the stock, reserved from poaching the chicken
10 ounces of dry white wine
8 ounces double cream
3 1/2 ounces gruyere cheese, grated
1 TBS Dijon mustard
2 ounces tarragon leaves, chopped
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 ounces of fresh white bread crumbs
1 ounce of grated strong cheddar cheese
2 TBS of grated Parmesan cheese

To Poach the chicken: Put the chicken into a large pot along with cold water, barely enough to cover it. Add the vegetables and herbs and a good sprinkling of salt. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat immediately and poach very gently for around an hour and a half. Once cooked thoroughly and tender, lift the chicken very carefully out of the poaching liquid onto a plate and allow it to cool. Strain the poaching liquid through a fine sieve, and set aside to cool. Once cooled, lift off any surface fat. I like to use paper kitchen toweling for this. I just keep sweeping it over the top and it lifts and absorbs all the grease. You could also put it into the fridge to chill and the fat would harden to the point where you can just lift it off quite easily.

Remove all the meat from the chicken carcass, discarding any fat, bone or gristle. Cut into large bite sized pieces and place in a lightly greased gratin dish.

To make the sauce: Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Add the flour and cook over medium low heat for at least three minutes, without browning. Gradually whisk in the hot chicken stock, white wine and the cream. Cook and stir until bubbly and thickened. Whisk in the cheese, mustard and tarragon. Taste and adjust the seasoning as needed with some sea salt and black pepper. Simmer for about 20 minutes over low heat.

Pre-heat the oven to 230*C/450*F. Pour the sauce over the chicken in the gratin dish. Mix the bread crumbs and cheeses together and sprinkle evenly over top. Bake the dish in the heated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown and bubbly. Remove from the oven and serve.

We like to have this with boiled baby new potatoes and a green vegetable.