Need I Say More...

When Making Up a Recipe Goes Right...

Ok, I am so pleased with myself tonight. I had a couple of ingredients that really needed to be used before going bad and I was in the mood to improvise. Now as most of you know, that can either lead to disaster or a glorious concoction...I made the latter. :)

There have only been a couple of recipes that I made up on my own and then took the time to write down because they were SO good!! This was one of those meals...

We call it, "Sarah's Creamy Chicken and Mushrooms". We actually don't know what to call it yet, so if you have any suggestions, feel free to leave a comment. Okay, so here is the recipe if anyone wants to try it, and sorry for lack of better measurements.

I took a deep saucepan and filled it with about 1/2" of chicken broth. I then added 1 pound of chicken breast tenders. I turned the stove to medium-high heat, covered the pan, and let the tenders cook in the broth until they were no longer pink in the middle. This took about 6-7 minutes.

Then I added 1 regular-sized can of cream of mushroom soup and a large handful of chopped, fresh basil that I have growing in my "garden" (the subject of a whole other blog).

I let the chicken, broth, mushroom soup, and basil simmer in the pan for a few minutes while I cut up and rinsed some mushrooms. Then I tossed the mushrooms in the pan. After a few more minutes of simmering, I added about 1 cup of finely shredded italian blend cheese.

Since all the flavors were simmering together at this point and the chicken was thoroughly cooked, I thickened it up a little bit. To do this, I put a few tablespoons of milk in a mixing cup with a large spoonful of flour. I whisked the flour into the milk and then added this to my pan. This is a trick my mom taught me and works so well.

In the end, the flavors were marvelous but I added a pinch of pepper for something extra. I would probably serve this over rice next time, but we were out. Instead, I made some cornbread stuffing and ladled the chicken and mushrooms over that. It was REALLY good!

Serve warm with a yummy organic herb salad and some breadsticks. :)

Just a few of the things I used...
For the breadsticks, I did something a little unconventional as well. I had a can of Pillsbury Pizza Dough in the fridge, and decided to use that. All I did was roll out the dough, and then pull of chunks and roll them up into breadstick shaped pieces. Sixteen minutes later we were eating really good breadsticks out of the oven. You all should try it soon!!

Also, besides my post on my little "garden", keep an eye out for one about these little guys sometime soon...

A Wink is Worth a Thousand Words

My beautiful goofs winking!! They try so hard to wink at us and we LOVE it! Lexi is above and Lilly is below...

Yummy AND Healthy Chicken Nuggets

I never imagined that I could ever make chicken nuggets at home. I just don't fry food. But around the time the girls were born, I ordered a cookbook off of Amazon. I honestly got it for my husband's benefit, since he HATES eating veggies. I wanted to feed him nutritious foods full of vitamins and veggies, without him knowing. The cookbook is called, Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to To Get Your Kids Eating Good Food, by Jessica Seinfeld.

Jessica Seinfeld is now my hero. She may be married to Jerry Seinfeld, but she is also a mom who wants to feed her kiddos healthy foods without the fight and drama. I want to feed Eric veggies without the fight and drama. :) Ha ha!

Ok, so I finally got around to trying her Chicken Nuggets recipe. They were super easy to make and really yummy. First of all, you need to know that what she does is make homemade vegetable and fruit purees, and then hides the purees in recipes. It boosts the nutritional value of regular foods that kids like, without altering the taste. Fabulous idea!!

She recommends using broccoli, spinach, sweet potato, or beet purees for this recipe but since I am not actively making purees right now, I had a few cups of frozen broccoli that I wanted to use for these chicken nuggets. I also altered other things a bit and I will give the recipe both ways...

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Serves 4 and is Packable (and freezes well!!)

Ingredients

1 cup whole wheat, plain, or panko (Japanese) breadcrumbs

1/2 cup flaxseed meal

1 Tbsp. grated Parmesan

1/2 tsp. paprika

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. onion powder

1 cup broccoli, spinach, sweet potato, or beet puree

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast or tenders, rinsed, dried, and cut into small chunks

1/2 tsp. salt

non-stick cooking spray

1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil (I omitted this)

In a bowl, combine breadcrumbs, flaxseed meal, parmesan, paprika, garlic and onion powder. Mix well.

**What I did to make a fast easy broccoli puree...Take a cup of frozen, thawed broccoli, and puree it in a food processor with a tiny bit of water to make it a little smoother. Then use that in the next step.**

In a shallow bowl, mix the vegetable puree and egg with a fork and set the bowl next to the breadcrumb mixture.

Sprinkle the chicken chunks with the salt. Dip the chunks into the egg mixture and then toss them in the breadcrumbs until completely coated.

Now the next step I did VERY differently. Here is what Jessica says to do...Coat a large non-stick skillet with cooking spray and set over medium-high heat. When the skillet is hot, add oil. Place the nuggets in the skillet in a single layer, being careful not to crowd the pan. Cook until crisp and golden on one side. Then turn and cook until the chicken is cooked through, crisp and golden brown all over. Serve warm.

I baked mine instead and they were awesome!! I sprayed a 9X13 inch baking pan with the non-stick cooking spray. Then I lined the pan with the nuggets and baked them at 350℉ for around 25-30 minutes. They may have been crunchier if I had put them in the oil, but I hate popping oil and wanted to make them a little healthier.

I made a ton of them and they re-heated wonderfully 2 days later. I would totally recommend this recipe. Eric and I could taste the broccoli, probably since it was still kind of chunky, but it actually made them better. We loved the flavor of the nuggets!!

Here is the Amazon link to the cookbook...

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0061251348/?tag=googhydr-20&hvadid=3516127695&ref=pd_sl_5zgc0ozeit_e

Easter Sunday Fun

We had a wonderful Easter Sunday! We got up and went to church where we were privileged enough to be able to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior!! The girls wore there little Winnie the Pooh dresses, which I think are the cutest little things ever!

However, getting them to pose for pictures was again a challenge. They are just entirely too busy being hams to sit still for pictures.

Miss Lilly took a break to rock in her grandmother's rocking chair before we left for church.

Miss Lexi is the ultimate multi-tasker. She spent her time before church carrying things around while still playing ball.
Lilly snuggling with Daddy...
Sneezy obviously felt left out and wanted to snuggle...
My first attempt at getting them to pose together....since it was raining outside, we will have to do nice pictures in the bluebonnets some other time. I love it that Lilly took her bow out and started chewing on it when I asked her to smile. :)
Awww, there's the smile...
My little multi-tasker again...Lexi put almost everything she could find into her little easter bucket. When the girls got up, they found these little buckets on the table waiting for them. I wanted to keep it simple, so we put in some spring-themed socks and little monkey finger puppets. I plan to use the buckets for some of their art supplies.
This was the other attempt to pose for Easter pictures....Lexi told Lilly to eat her bucket, and she did!!! They also begged me to put "Easter Bunny", aka Bugs Bunny, in the picture with them.
Then they played peek-a-boo, when I said to smile!

It was a perfect day spent hanging out as a family!! We hope you all had a very blessed Easter as well!!

Easter Egg Hunt #2

We went to the Belton Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday. Once again, the girls had a hard time waiting, but it looked like most of the kids were having a hard time. I was a bit surprised at some of the parents who were using their arms as shovels to scoop up as many eggs as they could for their kids. This time Lilly got 4 eggs and Lexi got 3. I was so proud of them. They ran to an egg, smiled, squealed, and put it in their bucket. It was so cute!!

My favorite part of the whole day was when Eric and Lexi walked past 2 siblings who were around 1 or 2, and who had not gotten any eggs. They were so sad and their mom was trying to explain to them that the other kids got the eggs and it would be okay. Just then another lady handed the little girl one of her kids eggs, so Eric and Lexi gave one of hers to the little boy. Lexi was beaming and very happy to give her egg to him, and it touched my heart to see her Daddy teach her something sweet like that. It was a great moment...add it to list!

Lilly is in blue...

Lilly and I headed straight for this patch...we got 1!!! Yea!!!

Did I get any yet?
Lilly tried to crack her plastic eggs open on the tree trunk. :)
Easter Day pictures to come soon....