Dinner rush made easy

I tried this recipe a few weeks ago and the best part besides it being tasty, healthy, and easy... I already had everything at home in my kitchen! Best news ever, for any mom at dinner time and you don't know what to make.

Alyssa @ http://therecipecritic.com  helped me with this nice one pan (sweet not as many dishes) meal for my family the other night;  Crispy Parmesan Garlic Chicken with Zucchini.

What a perfect match- Chicken and zucchini! Two foods I love. Now I know what you're thinking... you got your boys to eat zucchini... no I did not. BUT, I did make it a little more of a kid friendly dinner. If you've read my blog... I tweak recipes all the time to fit my family and if you're new, WELCOME! and I tweak recipes all the time or I give you ideas on how to tweak them. So, on to my tweaking:

First: you can easily make this gluten free by using gluten free flour and you could always use panko crumbs instead of the bread crumbs. What's the difference you ask? Not much except for panko is made from white bread and bread crumbs are made from a variety of breads. The texture is also a different and panko has pretty much no taste so make sure you have Italian seasoning in your cupboard if you plan on making this. Panko also absorbs less oil than bread crumbs making it a little more crunchy and crispy.

Second, the zucchini: This is a side for most people because it is a veggie, but... it is a "good" carb. So if you are doing a cleaner eating than no worries about this next tweak, you've got your carbs covered for the night. My kids, don't eat much of the zucchini other than the 2 bites that is required of them. So this meal paired nicely with penne noodles tossed in a light Alfredo sauce (for me that night it, came out of a jar- nothing super fancy)

So far we have our entree, veggie side, and pasta. Pretty complete meal but it's always nice to serve an "Italian" dinner with garlic bread (from the freezer, because that's how I roll lol- get it? roll) anyway.....

If you're kids aren't big on the zucchini, add a salad or some cooked carrots, or a baked sweet potato. Any of those would go great with this meal.

Hope you all try this recipe and enjoy it!

For the full recipe please visit the link below the picture.


                                                 Photo credit: www.therecipecritic.com  

                   http://therecipecritic.com/2016/07/crispy-parmesan-garlic-chicken-zucchini/

Newest Tries

Happy New Year! The holidays were crazy, fun, and over... I would like to thank my family for putting up with my mom crazy. There was lots of food, family, service, and new recipes to try- all my FAVORITE things.

Here are some that I recently tried and I WILL be making again!

The first one comes from a favorite of mine @Averiecoooks: I had bought a large carton of blueberries and was going to make muffins for the family but my husband said he couldn't eat them until the weekend for his "cheat day". So like anybody now a days, I went to Pinterest for some inspiration for "clean/skinny" muffin recipes. Averie saved me again! My family loved them! Husband wanted to take them to work and my oldest crazy ate 3 for breakfast!

http://www.averiecooks.com/2015/09/skinny-blueberry-muffins.html#

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup Silk Unsweetened Cashewmilk (Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Almondmilk or another milk may be substituted)
• 1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil (liquid-state coconut oil may be substituted)
• 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt (I used 0% fat but other Greek yogurt or sour cream may be substituted)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 and 1/2 cups fresh blueberries tossed in 2 tablespoons flour (helps prevent sinking)

Alisha's tweaks: I don't think I would change a thing! why change a good thing.

My other choose new recipe comes from a women I feel as if we probably have a lot in common
@lifewith4boys- Kathleen.
Our church meetings got moved to late afternoon so it's crock pot Sundays this year. Did you know you could make BREAD in your slow cooker?! Kathleen nailed it! this yummy, easy, time efficient recipe is bread to my butter. lol get it ;)

http://www.lifewith4boys.com/2014/01/easy-crockpot-bread-recipe.html?m=1

No tweaks needed for this recipe either- when you find a good one you keep it! Plus it's only 6 ingredients! Now you could use wheat flour to make a nice honey wheat bread- I might just be trying that this weekend.

3 cup Flour
1 tsp Salt
2 tsp or 1 packet Yeast
2 tbsp Sugar or Honey
2 tbsp Oil
1 cup warm (not hot!) Water

                   *my bread fell because I moved it to soon to check the bottom- so be careful of that.


Thanks for stopping by and feel free to drop me a line :)

Where Summer ends and chaos begins

I don't know about you but my calendar is filling up fast and I'm trying not to pull all my hair out in the process. This can only mean one of two things... it's not the holidays yet so it must be BACK to SCHOOL!

I work full time so my kids don't really get a "summer" but we do try and take them to some places when we can and give us adults a little taste of vacation while we're at it. With that said, it's not a huge transition but man... just looking @ my calendar I'm tired.

My oldest is starting Junior High (that makes me feel old), middle one will be in 2nd grade, and the baby will be in pre-k! STOP GROWING- It means I'm getting old and I don't think that's possible. One of the things I LOVE about our amazing school district is that we can pre-order the school supplies so I didn't have that crazy shopping trip, thank you very much. My mom, oldest sister, and niece took my tween school shopping while he was visiting them so that was another check off my list without having to do anything either (this is making me look like I haven't had to do anything :/ ) But now the end is near and we started football, scouts, back to school/meet the teacher nights, schedule pick ups, and looking on Pinterest on how to survive packing lunches and which first day of school sign to print off.

I believe my husband's exact text to me this morning was," no more calendar updates, mercy please." HAHAHA, we've been married for 12 years.. he should know I show no mercy. ;)

My fellow mom,
   
              I feel your pain, hear your tender cries of help, and I see your SOS signal when you look at me in the store. This to shall pass.. and we will look back at these days and say, "I do not miss that." We will however miss the first day of school, how excited the kids were to meet the teachers and see who is in their class. What clothes they want to wear and making sure their hair is just right. How we secretly tear up in the car after we drop them off and they have grown to old to wave goodbye. The first game of the season and the last. It is hard to watch them stumble as they grow and learn to be "adults" but, I've never been more proud as I see them become who they are and figure out who/what they want to be. My children are people and as they grow older they demand the respect they give me. Life gets crazy and our hair gets thinner, but we wouldn't trade it for anything. God has given us the gift of love in our lives when he gave us children. We (I personally) need to find those little bits of love in everyday and cherish them, because this to shall pass and we will look back on that day and say, "I MISS THAT."

From my Chaos to yours-Happy Back to School everyone!

Tisket a Tasket filling those Easter baskets

Well it's almost Easter and by now if you're like me this week is filled with parties at school, church picnic's and WAY to many egg hunts. I LOVE chocolate just as much as almost every other women but all that Easter candy just adds up and by Sunday I'm not really feeling like the Easter bunny should be bringing my kids any in their baskets. I thought some of you might feel the same way so here are some quick, small, easy, and cheap non-candy Easter basket filler ideas.

younger kiddos:
play dough (DIY Carrot playdough-  http://www.thatswhatchesaid.net/2014/play-dough-recipe/)
bubbles
Annie's snacks- they are in the shape of bunnies!

stickers
small stuffed animals (I am personally not a fan)
little ponies or hot wheels
small dress up accessories
hair accessories
bow ties/ties
little gardening tools
coloring books and crayons
books
finger puppets (see link below for some DIY ideas)
little flashlights
DVD
legos/duplos

older kids:
trading cards
gift cards-Sonic (fast food place), iTunes, Google
make up
fingernail polish
jewelry
action figures/collectibles
books
cap
tie (boy) scarf (girls)
gum/mints
body spray
book light
DVD
legos

If you are feeling crafty and have a few mins to spare: A.tell me your secret and B. here are some easy FREE printables that would make a great basket filler.

First we have Egg coupons from U-createcrafts.com. These are super cute and easy... just print, cut, and fill your eggs! These will be in my kids eggs when they go hunting.

Egg Coupons 

Next one I found is geared towards younger kids but if my older one gets board enough at church he'll play with them too. Easter Lacing Cards from Everydaydishes.com. Again, easy peasy and I'm going to laminate mine so they last longer.

Printable Easter Lacing Cards

If you are feeling REALLY crafty this website has a list of 8 different finger puppets you can choose from ranging from quick and kid friendly to I hope you've got more than a few mins. to spare. All cute and great!

http://www.feltwithlovedesigns.com/2014/04/07/links-with-love-8-free-easter-finger-puppet-patterns/

Hope you all have a blessed and safe Easter. 

* I was not given any monetary means to promote or suggest these websites/items. 

Time saving ideas-straight from other moms

As a "Resident Mom" for Skinnymom.com I get wonderful opportunities to share my ideas, but what I love the most about it is the wonderful community of other women who share their thoughts, idea, recipes, and encouragement a long the way. This past "Blurb of the Week" was all about time saving tips... love it!! I got to include my two cents and also got to read some other really great ideas from some of the other ladies. I don't care if you stay at home, work away from home, or in your home...dinner time is a little crazy and with 3 boys stating the are "starving!" I have got to have a plan.

I do A LOT of food prep in my "spare time." I find it really does save time during the week as far as dinners go and also to help keep me on my healthy eating track. Making a weekly menu plan, going through my cupboards checking off items I don't need at the store and checking my coupons before I go shopping really helps me keep on budget and not get over whelmed and buy a lot of things I don't need. Then when I get home I look at my recipes and see which items go with what dinner and try and keep them all together so I don't have to go searching for an ingredient when I'm about to burn something. My husband helps a lot with this as well. We work together in the kitchen to cut up the fruits and veggies (that won't go bad) so they are more accessible and I don't spend as much time cutting things during the dinner rush.

 

Last night My husband and I prepped 40 lbs. of chicken we got from Zaycon Farms  zayconfresh.com/refer/zf452682. It was a ton of chicken, but at $1.69 a pound I couldn't pass up the deal. Together with my trusty FoodSaver, my husband and I bagged 5-2 lb bags of cubed chicken, 5 bags of 5 thin sliced breast, 1 gallon bag of breast ready for ground chicken meat that I'll do tonight and 3 ready to go chicken freezer meals. I don't so this much prep on a daily basis but doing every once in awhile helps my grocery bill down and my freezer stocked.

Here are more time saver ideas from other moms just like you: http://www.skinnymom.com/resident-moms-reveal-our-time-saving-secrets/

If you Instagram-

I'm on Instagram as @aliher78640.

Spaghetti Alternative

My kids were beyond excited for spaghetti and meatballs last night until that is they saw it wasn't the usual spaghetti that I make. First of all... I never make meatballs for our spaghetti and secondly these meatballs weren't beef!!! As my husband and I go through our clean eating lifestyle change our kids aren't always as eager to try new recipes but I will give them credit... they did all eat at least one "vegetarian meatball" (that's what they called it because it was made from chicken and turkey instead of beef.) The recipe was very fast, easy, and great for week nights. I served it with regular noddles for the kids and my husband and I had ours served over steamed spaghetti squash (harder than you would think to cook.) I was also able to make the meatballs the night before in my mini muffin tins so I'll I had to do is throw them in the over when I got home from work! Easy peasy... on to the recipe!

This comes from Skinnymom.com (love it!) and I only made a few minor changes. Very yummy and we will be making this again in my house for sure...I think I'll just crumble up some of the meatballs and hide them in the sauce so the kids won't be so picky next time.

http://www.skinnymom.com/recipe-chicken-parmesan-meatloaf-muffins/

Ingredients:
1 pound lean ground chicken breasts
1 egg
½ cup Italian style bread crumbs (use gluten free panko)
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 red bell pepper, diced
½ onion, diced
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
¾ cup reduced-fat grated Parmesan cheese
¾ cup marinara sauce
¾ cup reduced-fat shredded mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil

Instructions: Preheat the oven to 350° F and spray a 12-count muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray, and set aside.

1. In a large mixing bowl, with clean hands combine the chicken, egg, bread crumbs, garlic, red bell pepper, onion, Italian seasoning, and grated Parmesan cheese.
2. Evenly spoon about ¼ cup of the meatloaf mixture into each muffin tin.
3. Spoon 1 tablespoon of the marinara sauce on each meatloaf muffin and bake uncovered for 20 minutes, or until the chicken is done.
4. Remove from the oven, top each meatloaf muffin with 1 tablespoon of mozzarella cheese and bake for an additional 3-5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.
5. Allow the meatloaf muffins to cool for 5 minutes in the muffin tins before carefully removing them.
6. Garnish with the fresh basil, and serve 2 per person.

Alisha's Tweeks- First of all I doubled the recipe but used chicken and turkey (1 lb of each.) I also used Italian Panko instead of bread crumbs and omitted the red pepper (not big fans in our house.)