Sad, But True

It's sad, but it's true.  I have to return to work in less than 2 weeks.  (Insert huge frowny face here.)  I love being on a laid back schedule ... sleeping late, staying up late, eating whenever, going to the bathroom whenever.  Yes, I enjoy going to the bathroom when I need to.  During the school year, our time is so regimented that we have scheduled bathroom times. If I have to go to the bathroom at an unscheduled time, I have to find another teacher to watch over my class.  It's a pain in the behind to have to interrupt another class for coverage when nature calls.  Nature does not always have the same schedule we follow in the plan book.

Lunch is also on a tight schedule.  Two classes arrive every 3 minutes.  If you are early or late, it throws a kink into the serving line, other teacher's lunch time, and the table you are scheduled to sit at.  If you are late picking your kids, you have a million people mad at you because you just messed up the lunch time of the class that follows you and the teacher of that class is losing precious time from eating her lunch.  By the time a teacher gets her class through the line, gets them seated, gets her lunch, heats it up, and goes to the bathroom, she has 12-15 minutes to actually eat.  That is why teachers don't want to have a mini conference with parents during lunch.  I have been known to completely miss my lunch because of this.  This is not good for me, my co-workers, or my students because if I don't eat, I get grouchy ...  very grouchy!  So parents, if you come to have lunch with your child, have lunch with your child.  A friendly wave and a smile will suffice.  If you need to talk to me, simply ask me to call you or send a note about your concern.

With that off my chest, I can get back to what this post is about.  Since school will be starting back soon, I have begun my annual cook-a-thon.  I decided to take the leftovers from the Braised Chicken and Mushrooms and put that in the freezer.  Yesterday I was on a chicken cooking frenzy.  I cooked and froze 4 bags of shredded chicken, 3 bags of cubed chicken, and 3 batches of chicken pot pie filling.  In the midst of all of that, I put a whole chicken on the smoker and had part of that for dinner.  Then I saved the chicken broth from the shredded and cubed chicken and froze it to use when I cook other things.  Next, I cooked squash, zucchini, and brussel sprouts and put them in the freezer.  I also roasted cauliflower, but we ate that with dinner.  I don't think cauliflower would freeze very well.  I used some of the chicken broth in the brussel sprouts.  It made such a difference in the flavor!  Today I made a HUGE batch of Three Cheese Chicken Penne Pasta Bake and separated it into 3 freezer pans.  I added a pound of fresh mushrooms to it this time!  I also filled a smaller pan to take to my mother.  She'll like that.  Next on my agenda is to make Chicken Crescents, but first I have to go to the grocery store for crescent rolls.  That will make 2 more meals.  After that, I will be making a pot of White Chicken Chili and regular Chili.  We won't eat all of this next month, but it will be nice to have it ready and waiting.  In total, this will make about 20 dinners.  Plus I will have a number of lunches from it.  All of these recipes are already on the blog so I won't post them again, but here's a picture of my menu.  I made the menu before I started my cook-a-thon.  You might be able to pick up a few ideas from it.

Braised Chicken and Mushrooms

I've had a little extra time this summer with school being out.  I have been able to kick back and relax, explore new interests (essential oils), enjoy time with my grandbabies, and start to clean things out of my house.  The hubby and I have a plan to downsize in the next few years.  We have a lot of things to get rid of to do this, but I must admit, it feels good to get rid of things we haven't used in a long time.  Goodwill is probably wondering where to put everything now, but that's their problem!  Since I have some free time right now, I was on Pinterest the other day and saw a recipe that looked interesting.  Of course, I had to make a few changes to it!  It's like they say on American Idol, "You have to make it your own!" and that I did.  The mushrooms came out with the best flavor I have ever tasted in a mushroom.  The meal was so good, I can't wait to have the leftovers tomorrow night.  This recipe takes a little more time to make, but hey, it's summer!

Braised Chicken And Mushrooms

• 3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken (breasts or thighs)
• 1 pound fresh whole mushrooms
• 2 ¼  cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp. minced garlic from a jar
• 1 yellow onion, sliced into thin strips
• 1 bay leaf, crumbled
• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose Gluten Free flour
• salt and pepper, to taste

Remove fat from chicken.  Lightly salt and pepper chicken.  Heat olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat and brown chicken. Place the chicken on a separate plate and set aside.  You may have to cook the chicken in 2 batches.  Sauté mushrooms, garlic, and onions until tender (about 10 minutes).  Remove veggies from pot.  Sprinkle flour into the pot with the juices that are left and cook for 1-2 minutes.  The flour will start to clump up.  Pour in the vinegars and chicken broth and whisk continuously until it’s smooth for about 3 minutes.  Add in crushed bay leaf.  Return chicken and veggies to the pot and bring the mixture to a boil.  Reduce heat to low, cover your pot, and let simmer for 20-25 minutes until the chicken is cooked completely.

Burritos

I had a busy afternoon today and needed something easy to fix for dinner.  I looked in the freezer and saw I had a bag of precooked, cubed chicken breasts that I had cooked one day.  I checked inside the refrigerator and pantry and came up with a plan.  We were going to have burritos.

Burritos

Tortillas - regular or Gluten Free
2-3 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
1 can of black beans, rinsed well
1 red pepper, sliced in strips
1 onion, sliced in strips
2 Tb. water
1 package taco seasoning
1 cup shredded Monterrey cheese
olive oil
1 large or 2 medium tomatoes, diced
Lettuce
Sour cream - I used fat free
Sliced black olives, optional
Salsa or hot sauce, optional
Cooked brown or white rice, optional

Put a little olive oil in a large pot with pepper and onions.  Heat until they get soft.  Use a large pot because it makes stirring everything up much easier.  Add water and cover so the water can steam the onion and pepper a bit.  Add chicken, beans, tomatoes, cheese, and taco seasoning.  Stir well and heat mixture.  Warm tortilla shells in the microwave.  In the tortilla shell, spread sour cream, lettuce, meat mixture, lettuce, olives, rice, and hot sauce.  Roll up and eat.

Sweet Simplicity!

In my desire to simplify, I have been trying to reuse things for a different purpose.  In this case, it's orange juice containers.  I don't drink juice because it has too much sugar in it, but I know other people do.  In this case, it is my mother.  I asked her to save her orange juice carton for me.  She saved two of them because they were different sizes.  I cut the the top section off and now I use them to hold bags for me to pour things into.  As you can see, the top was not cut off perfectly in a Martha Stewart fashion.  I'm trying to get away from the perfection thing too.  It causes too much stress and I don't need any more than what I already have.  As a matter of fact, I'd like to get rid of it too, but that's another story for another time.  Back to the OJ cartons.  It's hard to put left over soup in a bag to freeze without another person standing there holding the bag open.  The big one is good for gallon sized ziploc bags and the smaller one is good for the quart sized bag.  Just put the bag in the container and fold the sides of the bag over the edges of the juice container.  TA-DAA!  Today I put a gallon bag in the bigger one and poured in chocolate chip banana muffin mixture.  That recipe is already on the blog.  I zipped the bag closed, squeezed out the air, snipped the corner off the bag, and squeezed the mixture into the cups of the muffin pan. I will NEVER spoon cupcake or muffin batter into the cups again!!!!!  It was not messy in any way and then I just threw the bag away.  I know.  I am a simple person.  It's the small things that make me happy!  Ahhh!  Sweet Simplicity!

A Bunch of Randomness

Wow!  It's been a while since I've posted anything!  Life has been CRAAAAZY.  School has ended and I'm on summer break now ... a MUCH needed summer break.  Next year I will be teaching 3rd grade.  This was not my decision.  I loved teaching 2nd grade and I loved the people I worked with.  However, the forces that be felt I should be in 3rd grade. In the mean time, I get to sleep in, eat when I want, go to the bank during the day, run errands when I want, and best of all, go to the bathroom whenever I choose!  Yes, summer is good!

On a happier note, my beautiful, amazing, smart, sweet granddaughter turned 4 years old last week.  I love her so much!!!!  It's hard to believe she's already 4! She loves her family and friends, singing, drawing, church, and so much more.

I have also found the most miraculous thing around!  Essential Oils!  Have you heard about them?  They are natural and have been around for thousands of years.  They are used to add in healing so many ailments from bug bites to pneumonia!  They kept my husband out of the hospital a couple of months ago, helped clear up a sinus infection I had, helped co-workers with plantar fasciitis and headaches, drove mosquitoes away, and many other things.  You ca eve cook with some of them!!  Let me know if you are interested in learning more.  I'd love to share what I know with you!

I went to the grocery store this morning and the people passing out samples were there.  One of the samples was salmon with a mango salsa.  I thought the lady would have a recipe to pass out, but she didn't.  The lady told me how she fixed it and I ran around the store picking up what she said she used.  I made it for dinner tonight and I must say it was pretty good!

Salmon with Mango Salsa

1 diced mango

Pepper to taste

½ fresh lime squeezed
2 drops doTERRA Lime essential oil

Olive oil

Salmon

Mix the first 4 ingredients in a bowl.  Cover and refrigerate.  Put the salmon on a baking sheet and cook at 425 degrees for 25 min.  Top with salsa and cook for 10 – 15 more minutes.

The sample lady said you could add jalapenos if you'd like, but I don't care for jalapenos so I didn't include them.

This post was a little bit of everything.  I'll try to stay focused more on one topic next time. 

TGIF

I never thought Friday would get here this week.  It has been a LOOOOONG week!  Hubby was out of town and I was busy with different things.  He got back home this afternoon, so everything can fall back into place now.  I brought chicken home for dinner, but didn't know how I wanted to prepare it.  I went through some recipes and found one I don't think I ever tried.  It was easy, quick, and very tasty!  Perfect for a Friday night!

Chicken Nacho Bake

4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (4 oz. each)

1/2 cup  chunky salsa
2 drops of doTERRA Cumin essential oil

1/4 cup fat free sour cream

1/2 cup  crushed corn tortilla chips

1/2 cup 2% Mexican Style Finely Shredded Four Cheese 

Preheat oven to 400ºF.  Place chicken in a baking dish. Slice three cuts on top of each chicken breast with sharp knife.  In a bowl, mix salsa and sour cream.  Sprinkle the top of the chicken with the crushed tortilla chips.  Evenly spread salsa mixture on top of the chips.  Bake the chicken for 20 min. Remove from oven; sprinkle with cheese. Bake for  an additional 10 min.

Lazy Day Recipe

Today was a lazy, lay around kind of day.  I enjoyed every minute of it too.  Too bad I have to go back to work tomorrow.  I could do this all the time.  This is the perfect recipe for a lazy day.  You put everything in one pot to cook so you only have one pot to clean up.

I tried to take a picture, but my camera battery was dead.  Dang!

Chicken Zucchini Mushroom Pasta

4 ½ cups of water

1 lb mushrooms

2 Tb. minced garlic

1 cup of peas, frozen

Italian Seasoning to taste

2 zucchini, sliced

1 lb. spaghetti or fettuccini (I used whole grain)

salt and pepper to taste

½  cup milk

2 Tb. butter

2 tsp. flour

1/3 cup Parmesan, grated

1 diced chicken breast, if desired

In a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium high heat, combine spaghetti, mushrooms, zucchini, peas, garlic, Italian seasoning, and 4 1/2 cups water; season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until pasta is cooked thoroughly and liquid has cooked out, about 10 - 14 minutes. Mix milk, butter, and flour.  Stir in Parmesan and milk mixture.

Add chicken, if desired.  Mix well.