I feel like my brain is pulled in 50 different directions these days. I can feel my mommy ADD kicking into overdrive as my mind tries to focus on any one of the following: baby, work, Disney, running, labor, J, Monkey, and the list goes on from there. I think I get where the whole "baby brain" theory comes from; it's just a lot to think about at once. Sometimes I wonder why baby #2 isn't a little less overwhelming to plan for, after all this isn't my first rodeo. But then I remember that it has been about seven years since I've gone through all of this with Monkey. And I wasn't working. That's a bit of a game-changer. It's not a bad thing though; thankfully I have a career I love which makes being away from home easier. It also makes me more aware of how I spend my time when I am home. Soaking up as much time with J and Monkey has become priority one these days. Just yesterday we spent the day in NOLA using the membership to the Audubon institutes Monkey got for Christmas to visit the Insectarium and then the Aquarium. We had a great time, and Monkey's grandmother even came out to meet us for the Insectarium.
Of course, between work and my agenda to make as many memories with my little family as I can before it grows means that I've had less time for other things, like this blog. Sometimes I think of something to write, but then I get home and can't remember a thing I wanted to say. Oh, well. There's that "baby brain" again.
That being said I've finally decided to take advantage of this opportunity to hop on here as I "supervise" J and Monkey as they put together Wolverine's crib. So, let's talk Disney.
In July....well it actually starts long before that. For a few years now, my sister and I have passively made comments like, "We should do a Disney run one day." Well in July we finally bit the bullet and signed up for the Princess Glass Slipper Challenge, which is the 10K Saturday followed by a Half Marathon on Sunday. I was pumped, thinking of how great it was to have a goal that would motivate me to pick my running back into high gear after Nursing school ended in August. Well, of course, I found out I was expecting Little Man the week of graduation. I'm stubborn, however, and decided I'd be one of those super badass mommas who runs up until she gives birth. These days, however, I find myself questioning my own sanity every time I pull on my running clothes and lace up my running shoes. My pace, which was a decent 9'30" pace back in July, has plummeted to barely-qualifying to not get swept. Monkey is faster than me these days. I feel like I am working so hard to move so slow. I get winded. I get heart burn. I get cramps. I get thirsty, and boy do I get hungry! But you know what else I get? I get a rush of pride from knowing that I'm still getting out there. Yes, I look like this guy:
But when I finish even a one-miler, I feel like this:
That being said, the upcoming race still has me nervous, but what would a race be if it didn't get my heart going? I've even decided to embrace the extra girth around my middle by forgoing the typical princess route and dressing up as this voluptuous baddie for the half:
Meanwhile, my sister will be going as the little mermaid herself. I'll be sure to get plenty of pictures for sharing later. It's less than a month away. Eeeeek!!!
Well, I think I've rambled enough, and J's almost finished with the crib, so let me wrap this up with a recipe.
Chicken Pot Pie
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1 cup carrots, sliced
1 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup sliced celery
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup onion, chopped
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp celery seed
1 3/4 cups chicken broth
2/3 cup milk
2-9" unbaked pie crusts (I use Pillsbury)
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
In a saucepan, combine chicken, carrots, peas, and celery. Add enough water to cover and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain, set aside.
In the saucepan over medium heat, cook onions in butter until soft and translucent. Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and celery seed. Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick. Remove from heat and set aside.
Spread bottom pie crust in pie plate (or if you're like me and don't have a pie plate, an 8x8 baking dish should work). Place the chicken mixture in bottom pie crust.
Pour hot liquid mixture over top.
Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough. Make several slits in the top to allow steam to escape.
Bake in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, or until golden brown and bubbly.
Cool for 10 minutes, then serve.
Enjoy! It may not look the prettiest, but it's become a house favorite, as it's so yummy and filling.
My poor little neglected blog needs a bit of an update. I've been busily finishing out the last bit of Nursing school, and as a result I've been adjusting to the life of a "real nurse". The schedule is not the typical 9-5 I've been used to, with twelve hour days 3-4 times a week, and it's taken some getting used to. Poor J has had a time trying to navigate this blog for various recipes, and I've had one too many nights where I've come home to a disaster in the kitchen with a note on the table saying, "The kitchen's a mess; don't judge me". It's all a learning experience though, and I think we will make it out of nursing school alive after all... I hope. In my down time I've still been cooking as always, and of course I have a recipe in store for y'all, but in the meantime I am super excited to announce that my sister and I will be participating in the 2016 Glass Slipper Challenge :-D This is a runDisney event that consists of the Disney Princess Enchanted 10K and the Disney Princess Half Marathon. Ultimately it's a Disney fanatic/insane runner's dream come true, and I'm going !
This is coming at a good time because the heat has me needing some motivation to run. I've recently begun a weight training program by Jamie Eason, but I miss running. With school ending soon, I'll have fewer excuses to not get out there. Now I get to have fun picking which princess I want to be for a day :-)
Now I think I owe y'all at least two recipes since this poor blog has been so neglected lately.
1 cup walnuts 1 cup dark chocolate chips In a large pot, combine oats, milk, brown sugar, peanut butter, and eggs. Mix well and simmer over medium heat, stirring regularly, 20 minutes or until thickened. Once mixture is thick, stir in raisins. Pour into greased 9x13 inch pan and top with chocolate chips. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until oatmeal is set. Let stand 5 minutes. Serve warm; top with milk or additional brown sugar if desired. This made for a yummy breakfast for dinner meal. That is, for everyone except Monkey, who has found peanut butter personally offensive for some reason. Oh well, you can't please everyone. This next one had a much better reception from all parties.
1 lb asparagus, end portions trimmed and remainder diced into 1 1/2-inch pieces
1 small yellow onion, sliced into thin strips
8 oz button mushrooms, sliced*
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes, then more for garnish if desired
1 Tbsp peeled and finely grated fresh ginger
4 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup honey
2 Tbsp cornstarch
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
In a 12-inch non-stick wok (or large and deep non-stick skillet), heat 1 1/2 tsp canola oil over moderately high heat. Once oil is hot, add diced chicken and season lightly with salt and pepper. Sauté until cooked through, tossing occasionally, about 6 to 7 minutes. Pour chicken onto a large plate and set aside.
Return wok to burner, reduce to medium-high heat, add remaining 1 Tbsp canola oil. Once oil is hot, add asparagus, yellow onion and mushrooms, and red pepper flakes and sauté until tender-crisp, about 4 - 5 minutes, adding in garlic and ginger during the last 1 minute of sautéing. Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl (or in a 2-cup liquid measuring cup) whisk together chicken broth, soy sauce, honey and cornstarch until well blended.
Pour chicken broth mixture into skillet with veggies, season with salt and pepper to taste, and bring mixture to a light boil, stirring constantly. Allow mixture to gently boil, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 1 1/2 minutes. Toss chicken into mixture and serve warm over white or brown rice, sprinkled with additional red pepper flakes if desired (note that this is best served immediately as the liquids from the veggies will begin to break down and thin the sauce).
Okay guys, I know I post a ton of recipes onto this blog, but I've never really considered myself a chef. "Cook" or "Foodie" seem much more appropriate to describe my dabbling in the kitchen. Yesterday, however, I felt like a real chef for a bit.
Years ago, I read the novel Julie and Julia and although I heartily enjoyed the story, I had no desire to master the art of French cooking myself. Yet, when I found this link on Pinterest, my interest was most definitely piqued. Upon seeing my pin, my sister commented, "Once you master this, blog it with a recipe, then I'll try ;-)". I laughed it off, and the pin got lost in the sea of other food I wanted to try. This past week as I was going through my Main Dishes board on Pinterest I rediscovered the pin, and, curious, I finally clicked on it. I was taken to a site in which the first thing I noticed was the following video. Before reading anything else I watched video, and I was hooked. Pepin made deboning a chicken look so easy with his fluid movements and his simple explanations. After the second viewing, which J watched with me, I decided I would do this. This statement was met with apathy from J, and a comment of, "okay, but no spinach". I didn't care; I was going to debone a chicken, stuff it with deliciousness, and serve it for Sunday dinner. It would be an epic challenge with glorious results that the muses would one day sing about!
As it got closer to the day I decided to invite some friends over to revel in the glory that is good food. Then the day actually arrived, and I set to work early in the morning in order to make sure everything was perfect. I viewed the video once again before getting started. Confidence oozed out of me as I danced around my kitchen to Alicia Keys' "I am Super Woman" setting out my cutting board, knifes, a pot for all the bones to make stock, my computer so I could reference the video, a kitchen towel, and the garbage can (just in case). Finally, I was ready to begin.
I rinsed my chicken and patted it dry. Then I moved it to the cutting board, and (with my non-chicken-y hand) hit play. I followed Pepin flawlessly as he cut the wings and made "ze little lolliPOP" (which I threw in the roasting pan with the rest of the chicken). My confidence wavered slightly as I struggled to remove the wishbone. (He makes it look so easy!) I got it out finally, though, and was read to move on. My ego took another blow as I cut the skin of the back, because my cut was not nearly as flawless nor as easy as his. I blamed his experience and amazing knives and moved onward. Finding the articulation was easy. (Thank you, Nursing school!) Then I heard it, that mocking comment Pepin makes right around the 3 minute mark, "It should not take you but a minute to bone out a chicken"....... I frantically looked at the clock and realized I had already been at it for 15 minutes. (I kept having to call J into the kitchen to pause the video for me.) I began to wonder if this was all a big mistake, and then I envisioned my friends arriving to see my sloppy chicken that somehow managed to be burned on the outside and raw on the inside. I comforted myself with the knowledge that they wouldn't judge, and that there was always Domino's in a pinch. I pressed forward again. (I didn't literally press anything as my hands were full of chicken goo, but J obliged by pressing the play button.) At this point my confidence began to grow again as I started to undress the poor chicken. I had no problems getting the carcass out, and I called jubilantly to J to come feast his eyes on my brilliance. He obliged by glancing my way and nodding, which I took as adoration and praise. Next I removed the fillets, apologizing to Pepin for resorting to the use of my knife. Then Pepin and I scraped the chicken fillet from the sinew. Next I followed Pepin's lead in taking the bones from the legs and wings, only growing slightly frustrated when my bone did not break on the first hit...or the second...or third, but ultimately, the sixth time was the charm, and we pressed on. Finally I had a completely deboned chicken. I celebrated my victory by waving the floppy chicken suit in J's and Monkey's direction while singing, "I deboned a chicken, I deboned a chicken".
I stuffed my bird with a stuffing of my own creation, the recipe for which I will gladly share below. I was inspired by this recipe I found, but I meddled with it quite a bit before I was ready to use it. After stuffing my bird, I tied it up under Pepin's careful guidance. Finally I was done! I was so proud of myself for this epic achievement. All other cooking journeys seem pale in comparison. For one glorious moment, I was a chef! Then I came back down to reality this morning as I woke up exhausted and fed my child cereal. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted :-)
Chicken Galantine with Pork Stuffing
1 large whole chicken, deboned
10 red potatoes, quartered
2 large carrots, sliced
2 lemons
1 garlic pod, separated and ends trimmed off
Baby bella mushrooms (I used 1-1/2 8oz containers of mushrooms)
3-5 fresh sage leaves, chopped
1 tsp garlic salt
minced garlic and 1/2 stick butter (if cooking mushrooms separately)
For the stuffing:
1 cup Garlic and Herb bread crumbs
3 small cloves garlic, peeled
1 onion, peeled and quartered
18 fresh sage leaves
1/2 cup uncooked white rice
5 sausages, skins removed ( I used Johnsonville's Sweet Italian Sausage)
1/2 TBS garlic powder
1 tsp Tony's
Debone chicken by watching Pepin's video (above). Cook rice. Combine cooked rice and remaining stuffing ingredients in a food processor until combined. Stuff chicken as shown in the video using half of the stuffing. Once chicken is tied up place in a greased roasting pan. Add potatoes, carrots, and garlic cloves to roasting pan. Squeeze the juice of one lemon into a bowl; add garlic salt and chopped sage leaves. Rub over the chicken. Cut the other lemon in half, and the juice from one of the halves over the carrots and potatoes. Reserve remaining lemon half.
Remove the stems of the baby bella mushrooms and stuff with remaining stuffing. arrange around chicken in roasting pan or bake separately in an 8x8 dish with minced garlic and butter.
Cover roasting pan with aluminum foil and bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Remove pan from oven; remove and discard foil. Return roasting pan to oven and bake for another 45 minutes. Removed chicken from over, and squeeze juice of the remaining lemon half over the chicken. Return to oven to bake for another 30 minutes.
Meanwhile cover mushrooms with foil and bake at 350 for the entire time the chicken is baking, an hour and a half.
Once chicken is cooked through, removed from oven and transfer to a serving platter.
Slice the chicken and serve. Enjoy!
I am happy to report that all the hard work was well worth it. My friends arrived just as this chicken was finished roasting, and we all enjoyed digging into the scrumptious meal immensely. We had a good night with great food and even better friends.
Tomorrow is New Year's Eve. Another year has come and gone, and I'm amazed at how fast this one went by. It seems the older I get the faster the years fly, not to mentioned that ever since Monkey was born they seem to be reaching lightening speed. As bittersweet as it is, I'm looking forward to this new year. This year Monkey will be 6 years old. I will finally graduate from Nursing school in the fall. I'll take the NCLEX in September, and (hopefully) I'll begin my first nursing job before the year is out. Just as 2015 will mark the beginning of my Nursing career, it will also bring the close of J's Navy career. Who knows what new adventures that alone will bring. At any rate, I think it's safe to say that 2015 will be a year of many firsts, and I'm ready to meet them head on.
As with many of you out there, the beginning of the New Year makes me think about what changes I can make in my life, and although I'm not one for New Year's resolutions, the holidays and all the goodies they entail have me wishing for a bit healthier fare in the near future. Thankfully, my awesome MIL gave me a Magic Bullet which will come in handy as I get back on the smoothie wagon. In the meantime, though, I have been indulging a bit too much in food like this:
Easy Crockpot Burritos Adapted from FoodPusher blog
2 lbs stew meat, ground beef, or chicken
19 oz can mild red enchilada sauce
1 beef bouillon cube
1 can refried beans
7 burrito-sized flour tortillas
1 cup cheddar cheese
Optional Toppings: guacamole, sour cream, diced tomatoes, sliced green onions, shredded lettuce
Place beef, bouillon cube, and enchilada sauce into a crockpot. Cook on low 7-8 hours or high 3-4 hours, or until meat is tender and flakes easily.
Once beef is tender, heat refried beans in a microwave or on the stovetop according to package directions.
Grease the inside of a 9x13 baking dish or spray with cooking spray. Set oven to broil on high.
Assemble burritos by placing about 1/2 cup drained meat in the center of a tortilla. Add a about two scoops of beans to the center. Fold the sides in and roll up like a burrito. Place inside the greased baking dish. Repeat with the remaining tortillas or until all the meat is used up. Pour leftover sauce from the crockpot over the top of the burritos. Sprinkle with cheese. Broil for 2 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly.
Serve with optional toppings.
I love that this recipe can be adapted for your preferences (and budget). J prefers ground beef burritos, but I like the stew meat best. Chicken is always a good compromise, and it's easier on the bank than beef, not to mention it has less fat than beef. Plus I like any recipe that gives me the choice to mix things up without becoming a whole new recipes I have to memorize.
Anyway, I hope everyone has a fun-filled New Year's Eve, and a wonderful New Year!
What can I say about the last two months? They have been one Hell of a ride to say the least. I never thought I could go through so many emotions in such a short time span. Adult Health I (Med Surg) was almost more than I could handle. Almost. It was rough, and I wasn't always sure I'd make it to the other side, but here I am. Thank God! And thanks to my wonderfully supportive family who put up with me going from completely neglecting them to wanting to do nothing but cuddle and cry all day and talk about how much we love each other. Yeah, they've been troopers. Also to my fellow classmates, we're not out of the woods yet, but I'm definitely starting to see some thinning of the trees. At any rate, I've missed blogging, and I hope y'all missed me too. Either way I'm back ;-) Until Adult Health II, that is.
Now that this semester is over and I get a little break I plan on catching up with everything else in my life. Let's start with this blog. Since I've been neglecting my wonderful readers, let me share an awesome recipe with y'all to make amends. This recipe comes from Cuisine at Home magazine, which I picked up on vacation last year to idly flip through while we had some down time in the hotel. It has since become well worn from overuse. My favorite recipe in this magazine is the one I'm about to share.
Buffalo Chicken Fries
(Makes 4 servings)
1/3 hot sauce (I like Texas Pete, but you can use any)
1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted
1 TBS honey
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup vegetable oil, divided
Slice chicken length-wise into 1/2 inch strips, and season with salt and pepper.
Whisk together hot sauce, butter, and honey in a large bowl.
Pour flour into a large Ziploc bag. Add chicken, seal bag, and toss until chicken is coated. Shake off excess flour.
Heat 2 TBS oil in large sauté pan over medium-high heat; add half the chicken strips, sauté until browned, about 2 minutes per side, then transfer to hot sauce mixture and toss to coat. Repeat with remaining oil and chicken strips.
These little chicken fries with a kick are paired perfectly with some of my end-of-the-season finds from the garden. I managed to get just enough pole beans off of my dying plants to cook some up as a side. There's really nothing like some home grown veggies! Now that I've got a bit of a break from school, I'll be tearing up my summer plants and planting my Fall/Winter garden.
Another thing I'm looking forward to is packing Monkey's lunches for school. I know I probably sound crazy, but ever since I discovered Everyday Bento, I can't wait to pack her lunch each morning. I just love all the cutsie ideas that make eating healthy fun for my baby girl. Plus I feel better knowing exactly what she's putting in her belly each day at school. That's right; I said "school". My baby girl is officially a Kindergartener! How crazy is that?! So in order to keep my mind off of that fact in hopes that I'll eventually stop crying, I'm trying to keep busy by planning out her fun lunches. Here's an example on one I made last week. I wanted her to practice opening all her containers in her lunchbox, since I won't be there to help her. So I went ahead and made this practice Bento box:
Bugs Bento Box Lunch
The bottom layer of Monkey's Bento box held these crawly critters
For these snails you'll need:
1 tortilla
a few slices of deli meat
a few thin slices of cheese
Spinach leaves
Baby dill pickles, sliced in half at an angle
Toothpicks
Simply place your meat, cheese, and and spinach leaves on the tortilla, roll up, and slice into pinwheels, and then assemble as seen above.
The top layer of Monkey's bento box
Using this awesome veggie/fruit cutter I cut butterflies out of one of our homegrown cucumbers. Then I filled the other containers with grapes and yogurt (or magic fruit dip, as Monkey calls it).
Well that's it for now, y'all. I have a ton of housework to catch up on, which will (hopefully) keep me busy until Monkey gets home from school this afternoon.
Summer semester has started, and I've hit the ground running. This semester I'm doing Adult Health I, or Medical-Surgical Nursing, and Pathophysiology, or Fluid and Electrolytes, which are two rather hefty subjects, so I'm going to be pretty busy for the next couple of months. Since I knew what I was getting into, I decided to start a few long-term activities with Monkey. I already showed off the Human Body that will be something we can add to as we go. Another thing we started was an ecosystem. I found the idea for this project here, and I loved it!
Here's what
you'll need:
3 empty and
clear 2-liter bottles
clear packing
tape
aquarium gravel
(or fine, rinsed pea gravel)
water
de-chlorinator
(optional)
rubber band
4-inch square
piece of netting
soil
mustard, rye or
alfalfa seeds
fish, snails or
other aquatic life
elodea or other
aquarium plants
duck weed
crickets, pill
bugs or earthworms
a couple dead
leaves or small sticks
Step 1: Cut the top off of the first clear
bottle (make sure the labels are removed, you'll need the bottles clear so the
sunlight can get through). Don't cut it too short, just chop off the spout so
you have enough of a bowl left over to fill with lots of water. This will be
your "bottom floor."
Step 2: Cut the top and the bottom off of
the second clear bottle, making a clear coupler that will eventually link the
two other sections together.
Step 3: Cut the bottom off of the third clear
bottle but save it, you'll reattach the bottom with tape after you fill
it with good stuff and it will be your "top floor."
Step 4: In the bottom floor (the one you cut up
in Step 1) put an inch of aquarium gravel and fill it nearly full with water.
Make sure it's treated with de-chlorinator to take out the chlorine or, if you
don't have any on hand, you can set out the water in a shallow pan for 24 hours
and the chlorine will evaporate.
Step 5: Choose your guests! We used two little guppies, male and female. We also chose a couple of different plants from Petsmart's fish section. The guppies live quite happily by
eating the plants and algae that accumulates in the bottle, keeping the system
in balance. The plants help keep oxygen in
the water and filter the water.
Step 6: Now fill your top floor. Place the piece
of netting over the neck of the bottle and secure it with the rubber band. With
the bottle upside-down and the bottom off fill with about an inch of gravel
then with a couple inches of soil and plant your choice of seeds (alfalfa, rye
or mustard work well and are easily found in health food stores).
Step 7: Choose your top floor guests. You can
use pill bugs or an earthworm or crickets. We chose two earthworms and three crickets. Let them
loose among the grass seeds and throw in a few dead leaves and a stick or two
for decomposition.
Step 8: Replace the bottom to your top floor
bottle and secure it with packing tape. You might want to have the top edge fit
slightly down inside of the bottom edge (and that's when the bottle is upside
down and the soil is in the spout) because as moisture collects in the top part
it will trickle down the walls and if the seal isn't tight you'll get water on
your counter. Fix this problem by putting the edges down inside of the edge
they're to join up with.
Step 9: Slip the taped up bottle down into the
coupler, secure it with packing tape and then slip the bottom edge of the
coupler down into the top edge of the water-filled bottom floor. Secure it with
packing tape.
Step 10: Place in a well-lit spot where sunlight
can get through the clear plastic to do its work. Sunlight will allow
photosynthesis which will keep the cycle in motion. Keep an eye on your guests, we lost our original pair of fish, and had to replace them. Thankfully Petsmart has a exchange policy if the fish die within a certain amount of time. We lost a cricket, but the other two seem to be doing great. The whole thing is really quite cool to watch.
This is our ecosystem after about a week and a half. There's grass growing up top, and more algae is growing in the bottom. You can even see condensation at the top of the bottle. I used that to help Monkey understand how rain works. That and another Magic School Bus episode, Wet All Over really brought it all home for her.
I've been doing a lot of hands-on, scientific-type projects with her mainly because I want her to grow up thinking of learning as something fun and enjoyable. I don't want her to drag her feet about school or learning. I want her to be excited about new ideas and new concepts. I think that's the biggest problem kids have in school, but if they're excited about what they're learning, they may actually want to learn more.
Well that's my soap box for the evening. Now how about I get off of it, and leave y'all with a recipe? This one comes from The Wholesome Dish, but I made a few adjustments.
Very Berry Chicken Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing serves 4
1 TBS cooking oil
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 tsp Tony's (or your version of a season-all)
4 cups baby spinach
1 1/2 cup strawberries, diced
1 1/2 cup blueberries
1/2 cup walnuts
1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt (I use Chobani)
1 TBS poppy seeds
2 TBS white vinegar
2 TBS extra virgin olive oil
3 TBS honey
1/2 tsp salt
Heat cooking oil in a skillet. Season chicken breasts with Tony's, and add to skillet. Cook about 4 minutes per side, or until cooked through. Remove from skillet, and let rest 5 minutes. Cut into chunks.
While chicken is cooking, assemble salad in a large bowl by adding spinach, strawberries, blueberries, and walnuts.
Also, prepare salad dressing my mixing together Greek yogurt, poppy seeds, white vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, honey, and salt in a small bowl. Top salad with chicken chunks. Serve with dressing.
Enjoy!
This is seriously the best salad I've ever had! The dressing was the perfect balance of sweet and tangy. I loved it!
