Today is National Chicken Noodle Soup Day and National Good Samaritan Day. In the three years we’ve been acknowledging these two National Days, only once have we served up Chicken Noodle Soup. Guess this year we’re skipping the soup yet again.
Truth be told, talking about Good Samaritans is far more important than the Jewish Cure for all that ails you – Chicken Noodle Soup. In all fairness, there is a great deal of research that supports the health benefits of Chicken Noodle Soup. Growing up, the only time my mom gave us Chicken Noodle Soup was when we stayed home from school with a cold. What about you?
The very term Good Samaritan I find amusing. What is a Good Samaritan? Just someone who does a good deed for a complete stranger with no expectations of recognition or compensation, right? Anyone can be a Good Samaritan by that definition. From a Biblical aspect you would first need to be a Samaritan, and then be good. Jesus used the parable of the Good Samaritan to demonstrate that everyone is capable of acts of compassion regardless of stereo-types or preconceived judgments and that we are all neighbors.
Leave it to an attorney to think he might ask a question that would cause Jesus to slip up. His question was simple enough – what should he do to inherit eternal life? Jesus answered the question with a question of his own – what does the law say, and how did this man understand that law?
He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’, and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself'”. Jesus praised the lawyer for answering correctly, according to the law. But the Attorney needed more. So he asked who is my neighbor?
This is when Christ sees an opportunity to teach a valuable lesson about kindness and compassion, to expand our understanding of friend and neighbor. Samaritans in Jesus’ time were a people not held in high esteem. They were the lowest of the low. And yet it was Samaritan, hardly seen as a man of God that Jesus chose to demonstrated true compassion for a Jewish stranger beaten and left to die on the side of the road. The point of the parable is that everyone has within them the capacity to show kindness and mercy. As we should since we are all neighbors, a part of the same global community. Amen.
The day I made this for my family it was raining. There was something comforting about the house filling with the aromas of supper simmering and the sounds of raindrops on the roof. God seems to know just what we need most when we needed it.
Slow-Cooker Cream Chicken Pot Pie
3 boneless Chicken Breasts
1 cup Heavy Cream
1/4 cup Flour
1 package Chicken Gravy Mix
1 tablespoon Poultry Seasoning
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 (12 oz) bag frozen Mixed Vegetable
1/2 cup Half-and-Half
2 teaspoons Granulated Chicken Bouillon
1 tube Grand Buttermilk Biscuits
Cut chicken into 1 inch pieces. Set aside.
Spray the insert of an oval, oven-safe slow cooker with cooking spray. Scatter chicken into the slow-cooker bowl.
In a 2-cup measuring cup mix heavy cream, flour, gravy powder, poultry seasoning and salt. Whisk to blend; pour over the chicken. Cover and cook on HIGH heat setting for 90 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and tender.
Thaw mixed vegetables under cold running water. Stir thawed vegetables into the slow cooker. Add half-and-half to create more creamy cooking liquid. Sprinkle with chicken bouillon for deeper flavor. Cover and cook for 15 minutes or until hot.
Heat oven to 350-degrees while the vegetables are heating. Remove slow cooker crock insert.
Separate biscuit dough into 8 biscuits. With a serrated knife, cut each biscuit in half to create thinner biscuits. Top Chicken Pot Pie mixture completely with biscuits. Bake uncovered in the heated oven for 25 minutes or until the biscuits are deep golden brown on top and cooked through.
Ladle biscuits into bowls surrounded by the Creamy Chicken and enjoy. This is very filling and oh so satisfying.
Jesus said to his disciples: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”
Welcome to Rosemarie's Kitchen 