I was getting ready in my bathroom and heard: "Mine! Give it to me. No it's mine." It is normal for Jacob to make his toys fight and I have to remind him that even his toys have to play nice, but I wasn't expecting this...
His right hand was fighting with his left hand for a sword. Really?
I reminded him that we aren't allowed to say "mine" and that even his hands have to play nice. I then went back in my room and laughed out loud!
Praying that God will give me the wisdom (and patience) to help direct and encourage his imagination. He is one amazing kid!!!
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Friday, September 16, 2011
Cooking: quick chicken meals
I don’t claim to be the world’s best cook nor do I claim to cook the healthiest meals, but I do have quite the arsenal of dishes that I make often. I have a list of over 30 dishes that I rotate through and often add to. I’m in the middle of planning a big freezer cooking day and those are all new dishes so if that goes well, I’ll be adding another 15+ dishes to the list. Needless to say, dinner doesn’t get boring at my house.
I good friend recently asked me for my quick chicken dishes. Thought I’d share them with everyone.
Chicken tips: I buy a big bag of skinless, boneless chicken breasts at Costco for $2.25/lb. You can find it cheaper on sale, but I find these cuts to be the perfect portion size and we don’t waste chicken. I also buy whole chickens at Costco for $0.89/lb (and occasionally I stock up at Albertsons when they go on sale for $0.49/lb, but they don’t run that sale often).
Quick meal tip: I don’t know about you, but we eat dinner at 6pm so that means I’m in the kitchen around 5:15/5:30 cooking. Guess what is the worst time of day for my kids? That would be 5:15/5:30. The best time of day for them is right when they get up from nap. What I will try to do, is do any dinner prep then. I chop veggies and put them in foil in the fridge or even get my chicken dish prepped so all I have to do is pull it out of the fridge and put it in the oven (if you work, this is something you can do once your kids go to bed the night before so that when you get home from work, dinner is already prepped and you just have to cook it). Anything I can do early lessens my cooking-stress.
Happy kids = happy mommy = happy house!
Below are my recipes for:
Teriyaki Chicken
Sweet ‘n Sour Chicken
Chicken Georgia (adapted from Paula Dean…wonder if I use more or less butter?!?)
Snow Chicken
Roasted Chicken
Lemon Italian Chicken
Bruschetta Chicken
Pasta Carrabba Shaw Style (more time-consuming to make, but worth it!)
Pantry Alfredo Pasta Chicken
**All dishes make about 4-5 servings**
Teriyaki Chicken
3 chicken breasts (or 4 depending on the size)
Teriyaki marinade (we use a pineapple teriyaki that goes BOGO at Publix often)
Linguine pasta
Butter
1. Cut up chicken into bite-sized pieces and marinade (I use a 30min marinate, but I like to keep it in there as long as I can)
2. Once chicken is marinated, melt about 2tbl butter in skillet and cook the chicken. Transfer to bowl.
3. While chicken is cooking, cook pasta to package directions and drain.
4. Put pasta in skillet (leave all that yummy goodness from the chicken in there) with about 2tbl of butter and some of the marinade (you are flavoring the pasta). Cook on medium for less than 5min.
5. Serve chicken over pasta.
If you get your water boiling right away and your chicken is already marinated, this dish take just about 15-20min to cook.
Sweet ‘n Sour Chicken
3 chicken breasts (or 4 depending on the size)
Onion and green pepper (I like to use yellow or orange instead of green, but they are way more expensive)
Sweet ‘n sour sauce (my favorite is Ty Ling and you can get it in the ethnic part of your grocery store)
Salt & pepper
Garlic powder
Rice
1. Cut up chicken into bite-sized pieces and put in a bowl.
2. Add salt, pepper and garlic powder to chicken. Start with a little and then add more as you prefer. If I have corn starch, I’ll add a little bit too (as they gives almost a light “breading” to the chicken, but it does make it harder to cook) and stir all together. Set aside.
3. Chop veggies. (I don’t always use the whole onion. I want as much onion as green pepper.)
4. Heat some butter in skillet (how much depends on how much you like!). Cook veggies in skillet until tender over medium heat. Transfer veggies to a bowl.
5. Cook chicken in butter in skillet over medium heat until done. Transfer to bowl with veggies.
6. Pour sweet n’ sour sauce over chicken and veggies (I try to use about 1/2 of the jar. You can always add more. You want it to have plenty of sauce to mix with the rice, but not too much).
7. Serve over rice.
Chicken Georgia
4 chicken breasts
12oz fresh mushrooms (if you don’t like mushrooms, then just leave them out)
Onion
1 stick of butter (you can use less if you want it more healthy, but it is yummy with a whole stick!)
Worcestershire sauce (this is if you use the mushrooms)
Mozzarella cheese
Salt & pepper
1. Prep: Chop onion. Wash mushrooms (and chop if they are too big). Salt & pepper both sides of chicken.
2. Melt stick of butter in skillet and put in onions. Cook onions about half-way and then add mushrooms and about 4-6 “shakes” of Worcestershire sauce.
3. Once onions and mushrooms are cooked, put the chicken in the skillet under the veggies (you kind of have to push them aside and then move them on top of the chicken.)
4. Cook over medium until the chicken is done.
5. About 2min before the chicken is done, sprinkle top with mozzarella cheese (serve once melted).
I serve this with rice and we normally mix the onions and mushrooms into the rice on our plate. Super yummy!
Roasted Chicken
Whole chicken
Stick butter
Salt and pepper
Rosemary
Optional: white wine
1. Put whole chicken in pan and rub 1-2 sticks of butter on outside.
2. Put salt, pepper and rosemary on chicken (as much or as little as you like). Optional: pour white wine in pan to coat the bottom.
3. Bake at 350° for about 2hrs and serve. (To have crispy skin, do not baste while baking.)
The prep for this should take just about 15min. Great meal as long as you plan ahead enough to give yourself time to thaw the whole chicken (takes about 24hrs in the fridge) and cooking time.
Lemon Italian Chicken
4 chicken breasts
Italian dressing (fat free works well; you can’t even tell!)
1 Lemon
Salt & pepper
Italian seasoning
1 Tomato
1. Put chicken in Pyrex dish. Pour Italian dressing over chicken. You want enough to cover the chicken about 1/3 of the way up.
2. Squeeze the juice of 1 lemon over chicken (cuts the tanginess of the dressing).
3. Sprinkle a little salt, pepper and Italian seasoning over chicken.
4. Cut up 1 tomato and put on top of chicken (can be left off if you don’t like tomatoes).
5. Bake at 350° for about 20-30min (depending on the thickness of your chicken)and serve.
Bruschetta Chicken
4 chicken breasts
Stick butter
Box of pasta (I like to use bowtie pasta)
About 3 Tomatoes
Basil
Salt and pepper
8oz Rondele Garlic and Herb Cheese Spread (this goes on sale BOGO and will freeze!)
½ cup of milk
1. Dice the tomatoes. Put in bowl and mix with a little salt and pepper. Add basil (as much as you would like), mix and set aside.
2. Boil water and cook pasta to package directions.
3. While the pasta is being prepared, salt & pepper chicken and cook your whole chicken breasts in a skillet with butter (as much or as little butter as you like). Set the chicken aside.
4. In the same skillet mix cheese spread (it will melt down), milk and tomato mixture (purpose: to heat the sauce).
5. Chop up chicken.
6. Drain pasta, pour in chicken and sauce. Mix and serve.
Pasta Carrabba
3 chicken breasts (or 4 depending on the size)
12oz fresh mushrooms (you can leave this out if you don’t like mushrooms)
Bag of frozen peas
Italian dressing
Garlic (I used the pre-chopped, buy in a jar, keep in your fridge kind)
Lemon
Butter (of course!)
Alfredo sauce (I stock up on the jars when they go BOGO at Publix)
Pasta (whatever you like, penne, bowtie, etc.)
Salt, pepper, garlic powder
1. Prep: Cut up chicken into bite-sized piece and put in bowl. Add in salt, pepper, garlic powder and a few shakes of the Italian dressing; mix and set aside. Wash mushrooms. Squeeze all juice out of lemon into small bowl. Get water on for pasta (use a large pot because you’ll mix everything together in pasta pot).
2. Cook chicken in skillet with butter, chopped garlic (as much or as little as you like)and a about 2-3 spoonfuls of lemon juice. Put cooked chicken in bowl and set aside (not the same bowl the raw chicken was in!)
3. Don’t forget to put your pasta into the water once boiled and cook to package directions. (I’ll put the rind of the lemon into the water while it boils and then fish out before adding in the pasta. Just flavors the pasta a bit more, but not necessary.)
4. Heat frozen peas in microwave to package directions and add to bowl with chicken and mushrooms.
5. Cook mushrooms in skillet with some butter and about 2 shakes of Italian dressing.
6. Once mushrooms are almost done (or if you are skipping the mushrooms, once chicken is cooked and out of skillet), add whole jar of Alfredo sauce, about 2 pats of butter and remaining lemon juice. Cook over medium until bubbling. Add to bowl with chicken and peas.
7. Once pasta is done, drain* and then pour the contents of the bowl over pasta, stir and serve.
*If you need to thin out the Alfredo sauce (or you need to stretch the sauce which I need to do when I make more for my brother and I’ve added a chicken breast and another third of a box of pasta), take some of the pasta water (before you drain it) and add it to the empty Alfredo jar. Mix well to get any leftover sauce mixed in with water and pour as much as you need over pasta dish. Good way to stretch the meal without adding cost with another jar of sauce.
Pantry Alfredo Pasta Chicken
This is a dish that I haven’t been successful in, but we loved the concept and I will find something to make it work for us!
I cut up chicken breasts and marinated the pieces in a jerk Caribbean marinade. It was too spicy for me, but I loved the concept of the finished product, I now just have to find the right marinade. We “create” this dish because I stock up on pasta and Alfredo sauce whenever it goes BOGO and so I wanted more meals to use it with.
1. Marinade your cut up chicken with a marinade of your choice.
2. Cook pasta of your choice to package directions.
3. Cook chicken in skillet with butter and then set aside in a bowl.
4. Heat Alfredo sauce in skillet.
5. Heat frozen veggie in microwave (I didn’t have any peas so I used green beans and really like that, but whatever you have would work. You could even put fresh Spinach in the skillet and cook that down some.)
6. Mix pasta, sauce, chicken and veggies together and serve.
I good friend recently asked me for my quick chicken dishes. Thought I’d share them with everyone.
Chicken tips: I buy a big bag of skinless, boneless chicken breasts at Costco for $2.25/lb. You can find it cheaper on sale, but I find these cuts to be the perfect portion size and we don’t waste chicken. I also buy whole chickens at Costco for $0.89/lb (and occasionally I stock up at Albertsons when they go on sale for $0.49/lb, but they don’t run that sale often).
Quick meal tip: I don’t know about you, but we eat dinner at 6pm so that means I’m in the kitchen around 5:15/5:30 cooking. Guess what is the worst time of day for my kids? That would be 5:15/5:30. The best time of day for them is right when they get up from nap. What I will try to do, is do any dinner prep then. I chop veggies and put them in foil in the fridge or even get my chicken dish prepped so all I have to do is pull it out of the fridge and put it in the oven (if you work, this is something you can do once your kids go to bed the night before so that when you get home from work, dinner is already prepped and you just have to cook it). Anything I can do early lessens my cooking-stress.
Happy kids = happy mommy = happy house!
Below are my recipes for:
Teriyaki Chicken
Sweet ‘n Sour Chicken
Chicken Georgia (adapted from Paula Dean…wonder if I use more or less butter?!?)
Snow Chicken
Roasted Chicken
Lemon Italian Chicken
Bruschetta Chicken
Pasta Carrabba Shaw Style (more time-consuming to make, but worth it!)
Pantry Alfredo Pasta Chicken
**All dishes make about 4-5 servings**
Teriyaki Chicken
3 chicken breasts (or 4 depending on the size)
Teriyaki marinade (we use a pineapple teriyaki that goes BOGO at Publix often)
Linguine pasta
Butter
1. Cut up chicken into bite-sized pieces and marinade (I use a 30min marinate, but I like to keep it in there as long as I can)
2. Once chicken is marinated, melt about 2tbl butter in skillet and cook the chicken. Transfer to bowl.
3. While chicken is cooking, cook pasta to package directions and drain.
4. Put pasta in skillet (leave all that yummy goodness from the chicken in there) with about 2tbl of butter and some of the marinade (you are flavoring the pasta). Cook on medium for less than 5min.
5. Serve chicken over pasta.
If you get your water boiling right away and your chicken is already marinated, this dish take just about 15-20min to cook.
Sweet ‘n Sour Chicken
3 chicken breasts (or 4 depending on the size)
Onion and green pepper (I like to use yellow or orange instead of green, but they are way more expensive)
Sweet ‘n sour sauce (my favorite is Ty Ling and you can get it in the ethnic part of your grocery store)
Salt & pepper
Garlic powder
Rice
1. Cut up chicken into bite-sized pieces and put in a bowl.
2. Add salt, pepper and garlic powder to chicken. Start with a little and then add more as you prefer. If I have corn starch, I’ll add a little bit too (as they gives almost a light “breading” to the chicken, but it does make it harder to cook) and stir all together. Set aside.
3. Chop veggies. (I don’t always use the whole onion. I want as much onion as green pepper.)
4. Heat some butter in skillet (how much depends on how much you like!). Cook veggies in skillet until tender over medium heat. Transfer veggies to a bowl.
5. Cook chicken in butter in skillet over medium heat until done. Transfer to bowl with veggies.
6. Pour sweet n’ sour sauce over chicken and veggies (I try to use about 1/2 of the jar. You can always add more. You want it to have plenty of sauce to mix with the rice, but not too much).
7. Serve over rice.
Chicken Georgia
4 chicken breasts
12oz fresh mushrooms (if you don’t like mushrooms, then just leave them out)
Onion
1 stick of butter (you can use less if you want it more healthy, but it is yummy with a whole stick!)
Worcestershire sauce (this is if you use the mushrooms)
Mozzarella cheese
Salt & pepper
1. Prep: Chop onion. Wash mushrooms (and chop if they are too big). Salt & pepper both sides of chicken.
2. Melt stick of butter in skillet and put in onions. Cook onions about half-way and then add mushrooms and about 4-6 “shakes” of Worcestershire sauce.
3. Once onions and mushrooms are cooked, put the chicken in the skillet under the veggies (you kind of have to push them aside and then move them on top of the chicken.)
4. Cook over medium until the chicken is done.
5. About 2min before the chicken is done, sprinkle top with mozzarella cheese (serve once melted).
I serve this with rice and we normally mix the onions and mushrooms into the rice on our plate. Super yummy!
Roasted Chicken
Whole chicken
Stick butter
Salt and pepper
Rosemary
Optional: white wine
1. Put whole chicken in pan and rub 1-2 sticks of butter on outside.
2. Put salt, pepper and rosemary on chicken (as much or as little as you like). Optional: pour white wine in pan to coat the bottom.
3. Bake at 350° for about 2hrs and serve. (To have crispy skin, do not baste while baking.)
The prep for this should take just about 15min. Great meal as long as you plan ahead enough to give yourself time to thaw the whole chicken (takes about 24hrs in the fridge) and cooking time.
Lemon Italian Chicken
4 chicken breasts
Italian dressing (fat free works well; you can’t even tell!)
1 Lemon
Salt & pepper
Italian seasoning
1 Tomato
1. Put chicken in Pyrex dish. Pour Italian dressing over chicken. You want enough to cover the chicken about 1/3 of the way up.
2. Squeeze the juice of 1 lemon over chicken (cuts the tanginess of the dressing).
3. Sprinkle a little salt, pepper and Italian seasoning over chicken.
4. Cut up 1 tomato and put on top of chicken (can be left off if you don’t like tomatoes).
5. Bake at 350° for about 20-30min (depending on the thickness of your chicken)and serve.
Bruschetta Chicken
4 chicken breasts
Stick butter
Box of pasta (I like to use bowtie pasta)
About 3 Tomatoes
Basil
Salt and pepper
8oz Rondele Garlic and Herb Cheese Spread (this goes on sale BOGO and will freeze!)
½ cup of milk
1. Dice the tomatoes. Put in bowl and mix with a little salt and pepper. Add basil (as much as you would like), mix and set aside.
2. Boil water and cook pasta to package directions.
3. While the pasta is being prepared, salt & pepper chicken and cook your whole chicken breasts in a skillet with butter (as much or as little butter as you like). Set the chicken aside.
4. In the same skillet mix cheese spread (it will melt down), milk and tomato mixture (purpose: to heat the sauce).
5. Chop up chicken.
6. Drain pasta, pour in chicken and sauce. Mix and serve.
Pasta Carrabba
3 chicken breasts (or 4 depending on the size)
12oz fresh mushrooms (you can leave this out if you don’t like mushrooms)
Bag of frozen peas
Italian dressing
Garlic (I used the pre-chopped, buy in a jar, keep in your fridge kind)
Lemon
Butter (of course!)
Alfredo sauce (I stock up on the jars when they go BOGO at Publix)
Pasta (whatever you like, penne, bowtie, etc.)
Salt, pepper, garlic powder
1. Prep: Cut up chicken into bite-sized piece and put in bowl. Add in salt, pepper, garlic powder and a few shakes of the Italian dressing; mix and set aside. Wash mushrooms. Squeeze all juice out of lemon into small bowl. Get water on for pasta (use a large pot because you’ll mix everything together in pasta pot).
2. Cook chicken in skillet with butter, chopped garlic (as much or as little as you like)and a about 2-3 spoonfuls of lemon juice. Put cooked chicken in bowl and set aside (not the same bowl the raw chicken was in!)
3. Don’t forget to put your pasta into the water once boiled and cook to package directions. (I’ll put the rind of the lemon into the water while it boils and then fish out before adding in the pasta. Just flavors the pasta a bit more, but not necessary.)
4. Heat frozen peas in microwave to package directions and add to bowl with chicken and mushrooms.
5. Cook mushrooms in skillet with some butter and about 2 shakes of Italian dressing.
6. Once mushrooms are almost done (or if you are skipping the mushrooms, once chicken is cooked and out of skillet), add whole jar of Alfredo sauce, about 2 pats of butter and remaining lemon juice. Cook over medium until bubbling. Add to bowl with chicken and peas.
7. Once pasta is done, drain* and then pour the contents of the bowl over pasta, stir and serve.
*If you need to thin out the Alfredo sauce (or you need to stretch the sauce which I need to do when I make more for my brother and I’ve added a chicken breast and another third of a box of pasta), take some of the pasta water (before you drain it) and add it to the empty Alfredo jar. Mix well to get any leftover sauce mixed in with water and pour as much as you need over pasta dish. Good way to stretch the meal without adding cost with another jar of sauce.
Pantry Alfredo Pasta Chicken
This is a dish that I haven’t been successful in, but we loved the concept and I will find something to make it work for us!
I cut up chicken breasts and marinated the pieces in a jerk Caribbean marinade. It was too spicy for me, but I loved the concept of the finished product, I now just have to find the right marinade. We “create” this dish because I stock up on pasta and Alfredo sauce whenever it goes BOGO and so I wanted more meals to use it with.
1. Marinade your cut up chicken with a marinade of your choice.
2. Cook pasta of your choice to package directions.
3. Cook chicken in skillet with butter and then set aside in a bowl.
4. Heat Alfredo sauce in skillet.
5. Heat frozen veggie in microwave (I didn’t have any peas so I used green beans and really like that, but whatever you have would work. You could even put fresh Spinach in the skillet and cook that down some.)
6. Mix pasta, sauce, chicken and veggies together and serve.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
On a recent episode of The Young and the Emotional...
At youth one night, Jacob came running up to us all hysterical. He was really upset and tears were beginning to form in his eyes . . .
“Jacob, what is wrong? It is ok. Tell us what is wrong.”
{He says something that we can’t understand.}
“Take a deep breath and tell us what is wrong.”
“Hailey said she is leaving me!”
At this point I felt like I was watching so sort of little people soap opera.
“Yes? Jacob we are all leaving soon. It is ok. Why are you so upset?”
“But I’m leaving her!!!!”
I had to hide behind Adam as all I could do was laugh.
He then continues to cry and has to sit in a chair for a little while before he calms down.
And so continues another episode of The Young and Emotional . . .
“Jacob, what is wrong? It is ok. Tell us what is wrong.”
{He says something that we can’t understand.}
“Take a deep breath and tell us what is wrong.”
“Hailey said she is leaving me!”
At this point I felt like I was watching so sort of little people soap opera.
“Yes? Jacob we are all leaving soon. It is ok. Why are you so upset?”
“But I’m leaving her!!!!”
I had to hide behind Adam as all I could do was laugh.
He then continues to cry and has to sit in a chair for a little while before he calms down.
And so continues another episode of The Young and Emotional . . .
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
God is Always
A Jacob story...possibly the best yet:
We went to Maters and Taters (a local produce stand) to get some peaches today. Pumpkins where everywhere and prompted many questions...
Why are the pumpkins out?
Because it is almost fall.
When is fall?
Soon.
The pumpkins are out because it is almost fall?
Yes.
When it is fall, I'm going to going trick or treating.
No.
But it is almost fall...
I wasn't ready to have this discussion in public. First, I felt like the worst mother in that my son knew all about trick or treating (and that it took place in the fall), halloween, ghost, monsters...oh my!
Once in the car, I tried to explain to him that we don't go trick or treating or celebrate halloween because it doesn't honor God. We don't believe in ghosts and monsters are just pretend.
I asked Jacob to repeat back to me why we don't celebrate halloween...he instead asked if we could go trick or treating. I told him again that we don't do those things because it doesn't honor God.
Nothing could have prepared me for what came out of his mouth next...
"Mommy, when God is not here and Jesus is not here, then can we go halloween-ing? When is God going to go back in my Bible?"
I was at a loss for words. His logic was impressive. His ability to reason is amazing. I have to step up my game. My son understands so much. He is so smart. I need to teach him more about his God (and protect him more from learning things that aren't the Truth).
After I gathered my thoughts, we had a wonderful conversation about how God is always, He never leaves us, He gave us the Bible to learn about Him, He takes care of us, He created us...why?, Jacob asked. Because He loves us.
And so, I had another funny and heart warming conversation with my son. I'm sure many more will follow!
We went to Maters and Taters (a local produce stand) to get some peaches today. Pumpkins where everywhere and prompted many questions...
Why are the pumpkins out?
Because it is almost fall.
When is fall?
Soon.
The pumpkins are out because it is almost fall?
Yes.
When it is fall, I'm going to going trick or treating.
No.
But it is almost fall...
I wasn't ready to have this discussion in public. First, I felt like the worst mother in that my son knew all about trick or treating (and that it took place in the fall), halloween, ghost, monsters...oh my!
Once in the car, I tried to explain to him that we don't go trick or treating or celebrate halloween because it doesn't honor God. We don't believe in ghosts and monsters are just pretend.
I asked Jacob to repeat back to me why we don't celebrate halloween...he instead asked if we could go trick or treating. I told him again that we don't do those things because it doesn't honor God.
Nothing could have prepared me for what came out of his mouth next...
"Mommy, when God is not here and Jesus is not here, then can we go halloween-ing? When is God going to go back in my Bible?"
I was at a loss for words. His logic was impressive. His ability to reason is amazing. I have to step up my game. My son understands so much. He is so smart. I need to teach him more about his God (and protect him more from learning things that aren't the Truth).
After I gathered my thoughts, we had a wonderful conversation about how God is always, He never leaves us, He gave us the Bible to learn about Him, He takes care of us, He created us...why?, Jacob asked. Because He loves us.
And so, I had another funny and heart warming conversation with my son. I'm sure many more will follow!
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Wednesday, September 07, 2011
Our life with Parker
Parker had his milk in one hand and his paci in the other. He wanted to drink his milk but couldn’t because he couldn’t figure out where to put the paci. He was frozen and adorable. I took his paci and he happily drank his milk.Parker loves my phone. I try not to give it to him often, but sometimes it is nice to be able to give him something to help occupy him at times. Today he wanted my phone. I told him instead that I would give him all of my love. He didn’t like that trade. I don’t know why an endless supply of kisses isn’t as much fun as an iPhone.
Parker wants to eat dinner at 5:30. We eat dinner at 6:00. Needless to say, that 30min as I’m trying to finish dinner is a bit stressful. Parker’s new favorite way to deal with that time is to stand at my feet, screaming, with tears running down his cheeks and pull at my shorts to try and climb up my leg. Lately I’ve been wearing basketball or volleyball shorts around the house (comfortable attire when I’m not going anywhere). This creates a problem because they have an elastic waist band. So now I don’t just get to finish dinner with a 1-year-old screaming around my ankles, but I also get to cook with my shorts almost around my ankles. We have a great time in our house!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)