Eavesdropping on my boys this morning…
(After another petty argument)
Justin: Well, you’re not real!
Kaleb: If I’m not real, then no one would tell Mommy that you fell off the deck. You’d still be lying there and couldn’t get up. You’d just be lying there crying. No one would know where you are.
(It’s funny and mean all at the same time…not to mention it happened more than a year ago….boys! )
Just a quick post. Busy weekend ahead!
2. BAKE at 325ºF (160ºC) for 15-20 minutes or until edges are light brown. While warm, cut strips crosswise on a diagonal in 1″ (2.5 cm) wide strips. Cool.
3. COMBINE icing ingredients using enough juice to make a drizzling consistency. Drizzle icing over cooled cookies.
Chicken dinner.
When Kevin & I went to Atlantic City for our anniversary a few years ago (hello cheap ocean front time share!), you couldn’t walk through any of the hotels, restaurants, or lounges without hearing that cry from the casinos. I can always hear the dealers’ exclamations in my head, their sing-song chant, everytime I think about chicken. I know it’s strange, but that’s just a free little peek into the wonder known as my mind as I present yet another recipe related post.
A few weeks ago WalMart had whole chicken 2 packs on sale. I had no real use for them in my meal plan at the time but the price was right so I tossed them in the freezer.
I will often use the crock pot to skow cook boneless, skinless chicken into a fall apart mess of yumminess – just toss it in frozen with some herbs, spices, and water, and have juicy shredded chicken to toss into soups, salads, wraps, and more without any fuss.
I am hoping that the process will work similarly with one of these frozen babies. I’ll toss it in tonight and pull the meat off in the morning. I’ll whip up a batch of Mexican Turkey Soup (from my last post – subbing my poultry – I never did buy that turkey breast!) If there is still left over chicken, I’ll throw it into a chicken alfredo dish or serve it with a peanut sauce and coconut rice on Sunday. Easy weekend cooking at it’s best! (I attempt a cooking strike on weekends but it just doesn’t fly anymore what with budgeting and all. And apparently my kids get hungry if they don’t get fed regularly… who knew?)
And lastly, I have beautiful plans for that carcass! It’s gonna be stripped down and tossed back into the slow cooker in a bath of seasoned simmering water for a (hopefully) successful attempt at tasty, healthy chicken broth using this Recipe: Overnight Chicken Stock in the Crock Pot – 100 Days of Real Food.
Sometimes I’m a great little Holly Homemaker.
Every holiday seems to be be an excuse to feast. With the various family celebrations, a bird is likely to turn up at least once… for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. So here I would like to set the record straight and state unequivocally… birds get boring, and eating the same meal as leftovers is just uninspired! Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had some fabulous turkey… my brother-in-law-in-law (sister-in-law’s husband) brought one amazing bird to a family celebration last year and it had a delicious pimento gravy. So good! I throw turkey into our meal rotation regularly but all-in-all, a big carved turkey can be just kind of blah – but the left-overs, ah, the left-overs – that’s where things get fun!
Thinking of all the yummy things you can whip up, I’m a little disappointed I didn’t raid my mom’s fridge before we left last night. There’s the usual but comforting hot turkey sandwich. We’ve baked up some tasty turkey enchiladas. We’ve used the left-over turkey in nachos, quesadillas, stir-frys, stew, and turkey pot pie. This might be a given, but pretty much anywhere you’d use some chicken, you can substitute your turkey (and depending on how big your bird was, you could substitute for days!)
One of my favourite post-feast turkey fixes is a turkey soup. Here is a recipe for Mexican Turkey Soup found in the Winter 2012 issue of Glow Magazine. I haven’t tried it… but it sounds delicious, and obviously can be tweaked to suit your tastes – I’d add more veggies and opt for a lower-sodium broth.
Mexican Turkey Soup
Glow | Winter 2012
Makes approx. (8) 1-cup servings
Nutrients/serving: 216 calories, 9g fat (1g saturated fat), 441mg sodium (yikes!),
24g carbohydrates (5g firbre), 14g protein
Ingredients:
Simply Food Tortilla Multigrain Chips with Flax Seeds (to garnish)
4 cups (1 l) Cambell’s Chicken Broth
2 tbsp (50 ml) extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
1 celery stock, chopped
3 1/4 cups (796 ml can) diced tomatoes
1/4 tsp (1 ml) dried cumin
1/4 tsp (1 ml) dried coriander
1/8 tsp (.5 ml) chili powder
1 1/2 cups frozen peaches & cream corn
1 1/2 cups cooked, shredded turkey
1/2 cup (125 ml) chopped cilantro
juice from 1 lime
1 avocado, pitted, skin removed, and chopped
Hat oil in a large pan and saute garlic, onion, carrot, and celery until they start to soften, about 3-4 minutes. Add diced tomatoes, spices, and chicken broth, while stirring. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and let simmer for 10 minutes. Add corn and turkey. Continue to simmer for 4 minutes. Divide among bowls and top with cilantro, lime juice, and avocado. Serve with tortilla chips (about 5 per serving) on the side.
I can just imagine the aroma and the flavour – I might have to grab some turkey breast just to add this to our meal plan this week! So that’s my take on avoiding turkey deja vu and making the most of your big bird. How do you fight leftover boredom?
I am sitting in a VERY uncomfortable chair bedside in the ER with Justin. The croup monster struck again… We’ve been treated and x-rayed and now we’re patiently waiting under observation to make sure everything is good. The doctors have warned it will be a very long night. These chairs should have more cushion – it’s not like anyone using them would want to plant themselves here long term.
I’ve been browsing Pinterest, surfing old bookmarks, and seriously wondering why I left my Kobo at home. (I was lucky to make it out of the house in real clothes.)
This fun link (ok probably not fun… but it’s late/early and my entertainment threshold is very low….) anyhow it’s about making smart choices with ice caps. http://www.livestrong.com/article/355579-tim-horton-ice-cap-nutrition-information/
Ice caps? Healthy? Probably not… but she breaks it down so you know exactly what you’re getting and what it means. I’m switching to chocolate milk base… with the odd cream based splurge.
Hope everyone else gets to snuggle in for a goodnight’s rest. I’m off to find some toothpicks to prop my eyes open.
Chicken is by far the largest percentage of meat we consume. It doesn’t seem to matter how I cook it, it’s a meal the boys enjoy. Happy dinner = happy mom! Unfortunately, I get bored of chicken when it’s the same old, same old.
Some days, I’ll throw a little bit of broth and some (4) boneless skinless chicken breasts in the crockpot, frozen or thawed, high or low, cook until I think it’s done (3-6 hours depending on the other variants.) I then have precooked meat for other meals.
On weekends by the time dinner time rolls around, the last thing I feel like doing is cooking. So yesterday I did some crockpot breasts – we threw two into a creamy cheesy pasta and tonight I subbed the other two in this BHG Mango Chicken Salad with Coconut Recipe.
I used a whole can of coconut milk. I was missing a mango. I added a bit of honey to sweeten. I served it on tortillas (wraps) instead of lettuce. The sauce was a little runny…
…but overall, it was a tremendous hit! They even asked for seconds. I think it would be delish on a coconut or jasmine rice. Gotta love a new and oh-so-easy keeper!
(Image source: BHG)
We’re a “north of 7” school. Snow days when the rest of the board has bus service. Lazy days of PJs, video games, movies, and an enforced “Go outside!” – just to keep mommy sane. At the moment, it looks like someone cut open a down pillow and is shaking it overhead. Huge snowflakes – at least twoonie sized – are falling very, very quickly. It’s peaceful and intriguing. My camera doesn’t capture the beauty. It’s days like today that I’m thrilled with our decision to live in the country… at least until I have to try leave the driveway.
Would buy a pair of jeans online, to find they didn’t fit, and forget to return them. (If any of you have ever heard my tale of the lost favourite mitten story, this will not surprise you!)
In August, I ordered a cute pair of skinnies from Bootlegger. On clearance. With an extra discount. And no shipping. Sweet!
Alas, when they arrived, my thighs and waist did not agree with them. Sadly, I tucked them in a bag to return in store next time I happened to head to the mall.
At some point I placed the bag in the car… so I wouldn’t forget to return the jeans. But the bag decided to hide out in the passenger seat storage compartment… which apparently, O rarely open.
Today, I was running into the grocery store with my mim and asked if she needed bags. (I keep a couple extra tucked into above-mentioned compartment for the times I forget my stash.)
Well! Imagine my surprise when I find a bag with the skinnies (that I don’t even remember buying!) They’ve been under my butt for months! Aaaaaand, the even better part? Since I’ve lost some weight they actually fit (minus the long legs vs. short me – no biggie!)
So now I’m extra happy. And I’m up a boot friendly pair of jeans. And I didn’t spend any (extra) money! Gotta love surprises… even if they’re more of a case of absentminded Lindsey-ness
This week, I’ve had some crappy days. Not over-the-top horrible, nothing life threatening or catastrophic. Just a run of little things to drive me batty or leave me frustrated. And even though it’s been a productive week because of the amount of work I’ve accomplished, it’s been a non-productive week because I’ve been setting things aside to finish when I’m not ready to just tear it all apart! So half-accomplished projects, but many on the go…
In my head all day I’ve been singing (in my best Franz Ferdinand voice, of course!)
Lucky, lucky, you’re so lucky;Lucky, lucky, you’re so lucky:Lucky, lucky, you’re so lucky:
….Yeahhh!!
I can’t wait for the day my mailbox yields it’s special prizes. More than makes up for the crappy moments. Maybe I should buy a lotto ticket!
Than one perverse in his ways, though he be rich.
In a society awash in mediocrity, ready to sugar-coat scandal, slingers of spin, where a little white lie doesn’t matter unless your caught, in a society devoted to success at any cost, where status is based on wealth and appearance rather than accomplishments or character, this statement kinda makes you go, “Huh…”
Some days it’s hard to remember that your actions speak louder than words. Integrity & character go hand-in-hand along with honesty, truthfulness, principles, and being incorruptible (this sounds like a great group of superheroes… can you tell I have boys?)
I like the blurb from Wikipedia: Integrity is a concept of consistency of actions, values, methods, measures, principles, expectations, and outcomes. In ethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of one’s actions…. The word “integrity” stems from the Latin adjective integer (whole, complete).[2] In this context, integrity is the inner sense of “wholeness” deriving from qualities such as honesty and consistency of character.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson was attributed with saying it best: “What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.” It doesn’t matter what you say or how much you have… if you’re lacking integrity, you don’t have anything! A reputation soiled is hard to repair and you can lose it all if your thought to be lacking basic prinicples or honesty.
Here’s a quote from Harper Lee in To Kill A Mockingbird: …before I can live with other folks I’ve got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience.” It doesn’t matter what’s popular, it doesn’t matter how the rest of society lives, when you ponder upon your own integrity, is your conscience clean? Do your actions and beliefs align?
Life Love Laughter Linds 