Outside-In Buffalo Chicken Breast



Ingredients:
Boneless skinless chicken breasts
Flour
Eggs
Panko Bread Crumbs
Red Hot brand buffalo wing sauce
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Blue Cheese Crumbles

I did not supply measurements on this recipe, because it all depends on how many servings you are making. Just eyeball it!

First of all take your chicken breasts and put them in a large Ziploc bag or between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and pound them flat. Lay them out flat when done and sprinkle about 1-2 TBSP of the blue cheese crumbles and then roll it up. Secure with a toothpick.
Now set up a little breading station. Bread chicken in this order: flour, egg, and then bread crumbs. Place in a skillet of HOT EVOO seam side down and brown lightly. Transfer browned chicken to a baking sheet and coat in the Red Hot Buffalo Sauce. Bake chicken in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until chicken is thoroughly cooked. Eat alongside some slices celery.

For us the blue cheese inside was enough, but a little dollop of homemade blue cheese on top was yummy too.

Blue Cheese Dressing
Blue cheese crumbles
Fat free sour cream
Salt and pepper
Celery seed

Combine in food processor or blender until desired consistency and taste!

Lentil, Bean, and Meatball Soup

I love, love, love fall!!! Today it was finally cool here in Southern California!! Perfect day for a nice bowl of hot soup! Here is my latest creation:

Bean and Meatball Soup

Soup:
3 cups Dried Bean and Lentil mix (found in the bulk section of most health food stores)
4 cups Vegetable Stock
Celery Hearts
Roma Tomatoes
White Onion
Fresh Garlic
Cumin
Coriander
Pinch white pepper
2 Bay Leaves
Fresh chopped parsley
Salt and fresh cracked black Pepper
Water (enough to make 1 inch fluid above everything)

Soak beans for a couple hours and then drain. Add all the ingredients together and bring to a boil. Reduce to a slow simmer.

Meatballs:
Lean ground beef (I use 7% fat)
¼ red onion finely chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp garlic powder
Fresh cilantro and mint leaves (as much as you like)
1 egg

Combine all the ingredients well and form into ¾-1 inch meatballs. Place on a baking sheet and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and add to soup pot when beans are beginning to get soft, but still have bite. Continue simmering soup on low until beans are done. Salt to taste and remove bay leaves.

Over a month now....an update.

Can you believe it? It has been over a month now since I have seen baby Michael. For those who don't know, to make a LONG story short, Ashlie ended up calling the police on me telling them I kidnapped her son (thankfully I set the police straight on the whole situation). They did make me give him back to Ashlie. After living in a motel, going to state daycare, and getting really sick, Michael is living back with his mom and her boyfriend back in the boyfriend's parent's house. Yep, I said that right, after his mother coming to us telling us the baby was in danger, she let them move back in. So here we are a month and a half later and everything is exactly back to the way it used to be....well except Ashlie won't let us be around Michael and she won't speak to us. She believes we began this whole thing to steal her baby, not because she was a drug addict leaving her baby alone in the home, driving him while high, and taking him on drug runs. So here we are the "bad guys" because we were lead to believe that the baby was in danger (he still is) because of something HER boyfriends mom told us.

I have heard he has 3 teeth now. He is soooo close to walking. He says a couple baby-talk words, and we have missed it.

Drugs ruin families.

Fifth Avenue Floral

Oh how I am loving this stamp set from Stampin Up! There are so many possibilities with just the rose!!! Here are some different cards I made using this set:

For the first card I used Versamark to stamp the images and used a black embossing powder. Then used Lavender Lace and So Saffron ink (StampinUp!) for the flowers. For the leaves I used the flame from the Big Birthday Candle stamp set (StampinUp!) and embossed them also. I sponged Old Olive ink onto the "leaves" before cutting them out.

For the second card I began by embossing the chipboard from a back of a notepad I cut off. I used the leafy vine embossing folder from Cuttlebug (ProvoCraft). I used a brayer to ink up the cardstock with some Old Olive ink (StampinUp!). Then using the StazOn, I stamped the flower and used a blender pen to apply Summer Sun and Barely Banana ink to the flower.

Chicken Parmesan with Roasted Tomato and Garlic Sauce

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup Panko breadcrumbs (Japanese breadcrumbs)
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
¼ cup shredded parmesan cheese.
½ cup flour
2 eggs
2 pints grape tomatoes
8-9 cloves of peeled garlic
Salt and pepper
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
Fresh parsley
¼ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Preheat oven to 450.
Place grape tomatoes and peeled garlic cloves on a baking sheet. Drizzle 1 tbsp of Extra Virgin Olive Oil and add salt and pepper on them and smear it all around. Place in the oven until all the tomatoes look like flat tires (about 20 min)

While tomatoes and garlic are roasting, slice the chicken breasts in half horizontally to make 4 thin pieces of chicken. Season the chicken with a dash of salt and pepper. Combine the grated parmesan cheese and the Panko bread crumbs. To coat the chicken do it in this order: coat in flour, coat in egg, and then coat in Panko bread crumbs. Add the ¼ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil to a hot skillet and wait until oil is hot. Add the coated chicken and brown on both sides. Remove from pan and put on baking sheet. Top the chicken with a bit of shredded parmesan cheese and place in oven as you remove the tomatoes. Bake until cheese is melted. As chicken is baking mash up the tomatoes and garlic with a potato masher or fork and add oregano and basil. When chicken is done, spoon tomato mixture on top of chicken and top with fresh parsley. Enjoy! Makes 4 servings!

Calories 498.6, Total Fat 21.3 g, Saturated Fat 5.1 g, Polyunsaturated Fat 2.1 g, Monounsaturated Fat 12.3 g, Cholesterol 180.5 mg, Sodium 453.1 mg, Carbohydrate 36.5, Dietary Fiber 2.7 g, Sugars 0.6 g, Protein 39.0 g

The results of drugs...

If someone ever tells you that it is ok to try drugs just once, remember this blog post ok!? My neice Ashlie has had an addiction problem for a few years now. In January she gave birth to an amazing little boy named Michael. He was a miracle. She found out she was pregnant when she was 6 months along. with no prenatal care, smoking, drinking, and drugs through the first trimester, Michael came out perfectly! Our family hoped that this baby would be her motivator to make a better life for herself. It didn't. This weekend our family and her boyfriend's family decided it was time for a change. After months of Ashlie and her boyfriend doing drugs, spending all their money and Michael's money on their habit, lying, stealing, and neglect, we decided it was enough. Bruce and I took Michael and Ashlie and her boyfriend were kicked out of their home. Bruce and I will have Michael until they are clean, employed, and have a place to live. So this morning I had to quit my new job to be a stay at home Auntie. This is a scary journey that we have been on before with Jessica, but we have a God working along side us that is bigger than anything! There are so many little details that need to be taken care of to make everything legal, so please pray for our family that we will be able to get everything taken care of that we need to make sure Michael is safe. Please also pray for his 10 year old Auntie Jessica, who is struggling to understand this all as she watches her big sister do what her mom did to both of them. She is amazingly strong and loves Michael so much, but at the same time she is still a little girl and does not deserve to watch what she has to watch happen to her sister. I will keep you all updated as best as I can. Thanks for all your prayers and support. I am so blessed by each of you!

Cranberry-Raisin-Walnut Energy Bars

I found a recipe for some Fig and Walnut Energy bars. First of all I don't like figs. I do, however LOVE dried cranberries so I used them instead. The recipe also called for bran flakes. Well, the granola bars that I love the most have raisins in them so I used Raisin Bran. Here is the recipe! It is sooooo easy!

Ingredients:
• 1 cup quick-cooking oats
• 1 cup raisin bran cereal
• 1/4 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1 cup walnut pieces
• 1 1/2 cups dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup nonfat dry milk
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 large eggs

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350. Coat a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with wax paper.
Place the oats, cereal, flour, walnuts, cranberries, dry milk, cinnamon and ginger in a food processor; coarsely chop.

Add the honey and eggs; pulse until well combined.

Transfer the mixture to the pan; spread evenly with your fingers. Bake until lightly browned around the edges, about 20 minutes. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then cut into 16 bars. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, or wrap individually and freeze for up to 3 months.

Per bar: Calories 149; Fat 6 g (Saturated 1 g); Cholesterol 27 mg; Sodium 31 mg; Carbohydrate 22 g; Fiber 4 g; Protein 5 g

Vegetable Marinara

Veggie Marinara
Have you ever looked at the ingredients on a can of "spaghetti" sauce? What is all that stuff. Part of my journey of weightloss also includes eating the right stuff. No corn syrup, no preservatives, no processed goods as much as I can. Well here is my version of a yummy marinra sauce, packed with veggies that when blended up, can get some kids (or husbands) to eat veggies that they won't normally eat! :)
So for this recipe you will need a large crock pot and the following ingredients:
1 large zucchini
2 peeled carrots
1 large onion
5 cloves of garlic
7-8 tomatoes (depending on the size)
1 green pepper
Fresh basil leaves
Oregano
Salt and Pepper
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 cups Vegetable Stock
Chop up all the veggies into about ½ inch cubes. Finely chop the garlic cloves. Cut out the stem parts of the tomatoes. Add all the veggies and the basil, oregano, salt and pepper into a Crockpot and then drizzle with Olive Oil.
Put tomatoes on the top of the veggie mixture and then pour in the vegetable stock. Cover and cook on Low heat for about 5 hours.

When the veggies are all soft, strain them and place into food processor. Puree until desired consistency while streaming in just a bit of olive oil.

(Add some shredded rotisserie chicken and you have a nice chicken soup at this point!)

Now with my prepared sauce I browned up some lean ground beef and combined. Mixed with some whole wheat linguini and some fresh basil and here you go!

Now I hate wasting anything! After you strain all the veggies you are left with all this yummy, wonderful broth.

I put it in a frezzer storage bag and freeze it until I need it for a soup or liquid to cook some brown rice in!

Along with leftover marinara, this will freeze BEAUTIFULLY! Let everything cool before you store it in the freezer.

Beans and Potato Soup!

I know it is almost summer, but I can eat soups year round!!!
This is my Beans and Potato Soup

What you need:
2 large red potatoes (or any color you like)
2 green onions (white and green parts)
Pint of grape tomatoes (sliced in half)
2 garlic cloves finely chopped
Handful of fresh parsley finely chopped
16oz can of Garbanzo Beans (drained)
1 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp Paprika
Pinch of white pepper
Salt and Pepper

What you do:
Chop up potatoes and put in medium saucepan. Fill up with COLD water until the water is just above the potatoes. When they begin to boil add in all the rest of the ingredients (except for the garbanzo beans) and let simmer until potatoes are falling apart! Add Garbanzo beans until they are heated through. Top with some Parmesan cheese and Voila!

Makes about 2-3 servings

Now if you don't like garbanzo beans or if you just wanna switch this up, replace the Garbanzo beans with black beans and replace the parsley with cilantro and top with tortilla chips and Mexican blend cheese. You can also replace the garbanzo beans with pinto or chili beans, add some chili powder, and top with Cheddar cheese!

For 3 sevings, each serving contains: Calories 257; Fat 2g; Sodium 487g; Carbs 51g; Fiber 9; Sugar 3; Protein 10g

Happy Birthday Mom!

My Mom turns 50 this week and I live too far away to make her a cake with 50 candles so I made her a card with 50 candles instead!

Here are the inside views!