Accidentally delicious!

I needed a quick, easy, healthy-ish last minute (like half my dinners) idea for dinner.  I had a few things on hand that I hoped to use up-roasted chicken breasts and a tiny bit of black rice I'd picked up some time ago.  The kids freaked out a little at the color the last time it was a side, and I swear it tasted like regular rice, but I can't serve it plain, so I gotta use it in some kind of casserole to camouflage it. :)  Again, I searched my Pinterest boards.  I found a recipe for cheesy chicken and rice from laaloosh.com.  It looked good, but I didn't have any broccoli and I didn't want to use 3 saucepans, because, let's be real here-that's a lot of dishes to wash and they won't all fit in the dishwasher!  So, I searched my pantry, did some thinking and got to work... 

...and voila!

 

 

Ingredients:

 

1 1/2-2 cups  cooked rice (I had black rice on hand, but any rice you like will do.  I followed the directions on the package to cook 1 cup dry rice)

 

2 cups cooked chicken (shredded, cubed, whatever you've got on hand)

 

1 1/2 cups frozen corn

 

2 cups frozen green beans

 

1 can or container of cream of chicken condensed soup (I used Pacific Natural Foods Organic soup and it comes in a little box)

 

1 -2 cups of shredded sharp cheddar cheese (I'm always a little heavier on the cheese in any recipe...I was closer to 2 cups for this recipe

 

 

 

1. Cook the rice according to the package directions.

 

2. Meanwhile, boil a small pot of water and blanch the frozen veggies for 3-4 minutes.  You don't want to overcook, just get them thawed and somewhat soft.  Remove them from the water immediately. 

 

3. Put half of the cheese and the rest of the ingredients into a bowl and toss them gently to mix.  To eliminate another dirty dish, I just mixed it in my greased 9x13 casserole dish.  That worked just great!

 

4. If you aren't as lazy as I am, and you mixed in a bowl, spread the mixture into a greased 9x13 casserole dish. 

 

5. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.

 

6. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20-25 minutes.

 

 

The great thing about this recipe is you can use whatever veggies you have on hand, fresh or frozen.  If you use fresh, I recommend cooking them a bit as well.  You can use up leftover chicken, roast your own, or pick up a rotisserie chicken at the grocery.  If you don't have cream of chicken, cream of anything else will do the trick.  This happy accident of a dinner will definitely be put in our rotation.  I'll be making this with broccoli for sure since that's one of hubby's favorites.

 

In case you're counting calories, the dish as I made it was only 192 calories per serving.  This should serve 8, or in our case, our five and several dishes of leftovers!

 

Enjoy!

A Walk in the Woods

So, all this snow and unusually cold temperatures have me thinking ahead to warmer days.  Thinking of warmer days reminds me of  a wonderful experience we had last summer in the Smoky Mountains.  My mom shared a post by the National Park Service about the synchronous fireflies that show up for just a couple of weeks in the Smokies in early-mid June.  We just happened to be planning a trip in June to this, one of our favorite destinations for outdoor fun.  It was too late to get tickets through the park service-they sell out amazingly fast!  It was then I thought of one of our favorite small businesses in the area-A Walk in the Woods.  If you like nature, even a little tiny bit, they've got a hike for you!  They do one hour walks, or days on the AP!

We'd previously been on two hikes with them in the past.  The first time, my husband, ever the skeptic, couldn't believe we were paying someone to walk us through an easy hiking trail with our kids.  Well, that first hike more than exceeded my expectations.  Our older two children, 5 and 7 at the time, were completely engaged for the entire hour or so we were with our guide.  We were joined by 3 other families, whose children were all equally engaged.  The coolest thing the parks had to offer my kids were the salamanders...they could have searched under rocks in the shallow creek beds all day long.  They also saw bear claw marks on trees, old settlements, since grown over and most likely hidden to most passers-by.  The guide even provided a great snack-trail mix (of course!) during the hike.  When it was over, we were all sad...but I knew we'd be "hiking" with them again.  My husband, after paying the guide, got into the van and exclaimed that it was worth every penny.  I love him so!

Our second outing with A Walk in the Woods was another short hike, but this time, we were guided by Vesna, who is co-owner of the company.  What a special surprise-and, unlike our first hike, we were the only family on this particular trip.  She connected immediately with all three of our children.  We put our youngest in one of those backpack carriers we'd borrowed from friends, but he had lots of opportunities to safely get out and walk along with us.  Vesna was genuine in her interest of our children and her love of what she does was so obvious.  She shared so much information about the park, the animals, the history...I wish I'd brought a notebook to write it all down...Unfortunately, my "mommy-brain" does not go away, even in the middle of such beauty!  We were all sad once the hike was over, even though it ran long...Vesna apologized and hoped we'd not had any plans.  Ha!  Not when we're down here...we go with the flow!  We were thrilled with the gentle flow she'd gifted us that day! 

This brings me to our most recent (though certainly not final) trip with A Walk in the Woods and those fireflies I mentioned a while back.  Well, it was the most unusual, amazing and memorable experience we've shared as a family, by far!  We met our guide, Jamie at a pre-determined spot, took a potty break (no potties for a couple of hours) and followed her to another spot where we parked our cars and set out to see the fireflies.  We were all looking forward to this amazing trip.  It was like nothing we'd ever done before.  Again, our guide Jaime connected with our kids, making me feel like we'd known her for years.  She also knows her stuff.  I don't know how they fit all this into their brains!  She knew something about everything we laid our eyes on!  this hike was amazing!  We saw and heard (on her special echo-locator thing) bats, birds, rushing water, and then came the dark. Once dusk had passed, we found a spot, sat and waited in great anticipation.  Even our then three-year old was quiet and waiting-now that is something because that kid is only quiet when he sleeps!  Finally, we started to see them.  All flashlights went out.  It was so dark, we couldn't' even see our hands in front of our faces.  Yikes!  I will admit, that freaked me out a little, though I acted quite brave.  Plus, we were with Super Nature Girl, aka, Jaime, so there really was nothing to be afraid of.  I did notice a certain husband who kept looking back behind us-you just never know when a rogue bear might jump out and get you! 

Anyway...back to those fireflies.  They are so special because they are synchronous and can only be found in two places in the whole world, one being right here in the Smokies.  That name is a bit deceiving, as I was expecting them to flash all around us like Christmas lights, off, on, off, on.  It was so much more amazing than I'd imagined.  They are synchronous in that they light up in sync with those around them, but to me it looked almost like a stadium full of baseball fans doing the wave.  We could look down the trail from where we sat and see total darkness, then, they began to light up.  We could follow the trail of lights all the way up toward where we sat.  I tried to get some video, but total black was all I got on my little camera-phone.  No matter...it's a memory forever etched in all our minds.  We walked back after the "show" continuing to learn and hear about all that was around us...and of course, we searched for salamanders. 

If you're headed to the Smoky Mountains, or need an excuse to visit the Gatlinburg area, I highly recommend you check out A Walk in the Woods and all the different hikes they have to offer.  You won't be sorry for all the wonderful memories you make.  I can promise you that!

Our Day of Service

With today being Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I wanted to finally make the day more meaningful for my kids and honor Dr. King and the Day of Service.  I decided last week, and shared with a couple of friends (so I HAD to follow through) that I would take my two older kids to Matthew 25 Ministries, a local organization that helps people everywhere.  By everywhere, I mean everywhere!  I'd always planned to make it meaningful in some way in the past, but, well, I guess I got lazy, indecisive, nervous, or well, lazy...But, no more.  In my earlier post about resolutions, I said this year I want to actually do rather than plan to do more for others. So, here we are!

We arrived as walk-ins along with some scheduled groups. It was less than 15 minutes that we waited and were on our way to our station.  This place is simply massive.  And well-oiled.  And the people working there were so nice and happy to have us.  We were told that today is their largest day for volunteers-how fitting that we were here today.  We put on our aprons and got started on our important project of the day...soap.  Before we got started, we were schooled in how and why this project was important.  I love how this place educates their volunteers.  We knew from the start the why of what we were doing.  I think it gave my kids a deeper understanding of why we were here today.  The soap we emptied from lots of small bags (think those hand soap pumps in public restrooms) went into 5 gallon buckets and then into large, 4'x4'x4' plastic drums.  Those drums then are shipped to a variety of places that need soap to keep the areas sanitary.  These could be remote villages that have endured some natural disaster, or areas that are poor and are receiving help regularly.  It could be a hospital in a third word country with little soap available to keep things safe, sanitary and healthy or a place for families to come for soap rations for the same reasons.

So, my kiddos worked hard.  For 1 1/2 hours.  No complaints, whining, arguing or fighting.  Doing something for someone else, somewhere else.  I am beyond proud of them not just for that solid length of time with nothing negative whatsoever, but also for the matter of fact "okay" I got from both of them when I told them what we were going to do today.  We don't (yet) make a habit of volunteering our time like this, but they know that when we can, we do for others. So I am so proud no one complained that they couldn't watch TV, play Minecraft, Wii, or any number of other things they maybe would have liked to do today.

The only reason we stopped working was because some of the workers came around looking for volunteers to take a tour of their Global Village to learn more about the organization. This was a great tour that again, helped explain the why, where and how this organization helps others.  My kids learned a lot today and hopefully feel good about how they spent a couple hours of their day.  I hope to make this an annual event for us, but I don't want us to wait 364 more days until we return.  They both said they'd like to go back and we'll take dad and their 4 year old brother. 

After reflecting on the day and what I hope my kids' hearts will be like when they grow up, I am feeling optimistic and proud of the work my husband and I have done so far.  I suppose we're doing something right... 

Life's most persistent and urgent question is this: What are you doing for others?

~Martin Luther King, Jr.

Easy, Tasty Shrimp Cocktail Sauce

My husband and I have hosted a New Year's Eve party at our home for 16 years now.  This year, I realized at 5:00 pm that I'd neglected to worry about the cocktail sauce to go with the shrimp that were thawing in my fridge...whoops!  What's cocktail shrimp without the accompanying sauce?

Well, I did what any girl would do and searched Pinterest for a quick recipe.  I mean, really, what's in it but ketchup and horseradish, right?  I had both on hand, but wasn't sure of the ratios I should use.  Well, it was after about 5 long minutes of looking at cocktail sauce recipes (with more than just those 2 ingredients, mind you) that I decided to make my own!  It was delicious...so much so that I could have eaten it with a spoon! 

What you'll need:



1/2 cup ketchup

1 tbsp. hot sauce

1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp. onion

1 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. salt

3 tbsp. creamy horseradish sauce (I had a jar of this in my panty-hubby likes horseradish, so I had it on hand!)

Mix well and enjoy!

***tip-to keep my shrimp well chilled, I fill a glass bowl with ice and nest a smaller bowl, filled with the shrimp inside of the larger bowl***

 

Meet Sylvia!

Isn't she gorgeous?

Earlier this year, I fell in love again with the idea of owning my very own enameled cast iron Dutch Oven.  We were visiting friends who now live way too far away for my taste (I'm dealing, most days).  During our week-long visit, we cooked many dinners at their home because, well, the idea of 4 adults and 4 children out to dinner every night is ludicrous on so many levels!  Plus, there's just nothing like cooking together with friends!  On this particular night, she pulled out a Greek cookbook (the kind the cute little Greek ladies put together and sell at holiday time with all sorts of tasty treats that include lemons, oregano, feta, butter, pecans, phyllo--you get the idea!)  along with her own prized Dutch Oven.  Until then, I'd only seen the likes of my favorite food network chefs/cooks using this pot.  It was love at first sizzle! 

Immediately, this went on my Christmas wish list.  By "went on my Christmas wish list" I mean that I added it to the cart at amazon.com and hit "buy now."  Worst part was, I had to wait until December 25!  Talk about a lesson in self-restraint... 

I've only had Sylvia for 3 weeks and she's helped me make 5 dinners.  I love her!  She's so pretty, and makes me feel beautiful and oh, so happy when I cook with her.  It's like having an old friend back in the kitchen with me.  No worries, I will be sharing many of my adventures with Sylvia, along with my own version of our dinner that wonderful night I fell in love, in upcoming posts! 

Resolutions

So, we're almost a week into January and I am just now really giving some serious thought to my resolutions for the year...yep, resolutionS.  I don't usually make any resolutions because I always try to do good.  I know that sounds cliché or whatever but really, I do try.  But, with all I've seen on TV and scrolling through my facebook feed reading what my friends will be doing and all the news articles about resolutions, I have started really thinking about what would be most important for me to resolve to do better or even at all this new year.  So, here goes, in no particular order...

• Be more grateful (more on that in a future post)
• Lose 5 lbs (or exercise more-again)
• Eat more fruits, vegetables and whole grains
• Spend more time outside with the family-find more nature trails near and maybe even a little far away
• Make my family eat more good stuff and less bad-ha!  Well, that will at least be easier when all this Christmas candy and treats are finally out of the house....it is trash day, hmmm....
• Read more books (goodreads says only 8 books in 2013...say what??  I swear I read more than that!)
• Begin meditation and yoga again...it was unbelievable how calm my school year started out when I was taking just 10 minutes to be still and quiet before I started my day.
• More dates with my husband.  We've not done this nearly enough in 2013. 
• Actually do for others rather than plan and think about doing for others.

Since I've put it all out here, I am hoping this keeps me more accountable so I can report back on how I'm doing...

Love and Gratitude

So, now that the tree is down, the holiday season is officially over for our family.  In years past, the 2 weeks or so of parties is a quick blur of food, drink, wrapping paper, ribbons and bows.  This year, it still is a blur, with a few stand-out moments.  I've always had my kids give one another gifts, even if they don't go and purchase themselves, but give me ideas for what to buy for one another (let's be honest, a mom of 3, who works part time can simply not find time to take all 3 out separately to shop!).  This simple thing I want them to do each year to understand the joy of giving is my biggest, warm and fuzzy memory of this year's Christmas.  My oldest 2 were thoughtful in their gift selections for one another and had gratefulness for one another I haven't seen in a long time.  I am likely to not see it again for a while.  After opening their gifts from one another, their was a spontaneous moment of hugging, true love and gratitude expressed by each of them.  I was lucky enough to snap a picture, though I am sure I won't need it, as it is forever etched in my mind. 

"For it is in giving that we receive."
~St. Francis of Assisi