PILA Month day 21

Day 21 - a recipe.

Like a thousand years ago I nannied for a family where both parents worked full time. I was more of a house manager as I made sure the house ran smoothly by hiring workers and cleaners and doing all the groceries and dry cleaning etc. I also cooked for the family most nights. I got this recipe from the mom. We are not friends anymore, sadly. I really liked her in the beginning. It went south after we got too close and I had opinions of my own. (NOTE to nannies: Your boss is NOT your friend. It almost NEVER works out)

Anyway, she used to make this recipe and ask me to as well. Since I can't ask her for it now I found a similar one online and here it is.

Jarlsberg Chicken

• 4 whole boneless chicken breasts (8 breast halves)
• 8 slices jarlsberg cheese
• 1 (10 1/2 ounce) can cream of mushroom soup
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 1/2 cups breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 lb asparagus, washed and trimmed (optional)

Change Measurements: US | Metric

Directions:

Prep Time: 15 mins

Total Time: 50 mins

1. 1 Place chicken in baking dish.
2. 2 Layer cheese on top.
3. 3 Add asparagus, if desired.
4. 4 Mix the soup, wine, garlic, and pepper.
5. 5 Spread over chicken and cheese.
6. 6 Top with bread crumbs and lastly drizzle with melted butter.
7. 7 Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 50 minutes (until chicken is done through).

Food Revolution!

Have you watched Jamie Oliver's food revolution? It just had its season finale on Friday. It was a such a great show! We all know that we have the third fattest/unhealthiest country in the world and Jamie has set out to do something about it. He is trying to show people that healthy home made food it NOT HARD to do. You don't have to be a chef to achieve quality results for your family.

Jamie started the season by going into an elementary school in Huntington WV. Huntington was voted the fattest city in America and Jamie sets out to change that, one school at a time. He looks into our countries school lunch program with shocking results. He finds and shows that a french fry counts as a vegetable (WTF?!) and strawberry milk is considered "good" for the children. Supposedly because its better that they drink milk... even if it has more sugar than a soda.

He does this fantastic demo of what goes into a chicken nugget. If you are about to eat them you may want to skip this video otherwise they will become inedible.



After I saw this I decided that the bag of Mickey mouse shaped chicken nuggets in my freezer will be our last. I decided I no longer can ignore what I know to be in those types of foods. You know, the ones we have in our homes that we can't read or understand a thing on the ingredient label. We all know they are bad for us but for the convenience we buy them anyway.

I have been making fresh meals for my family for a long time and ever freezing them so that the nights I am lazy I have something to make that is easy. How hard can chicken nuggets be to add to the list? Not hard at all I found out.

These were SO easy! I used the recipe from this book.
This is a double recipe. And I am happy to report it made three full trays. (a gallon ziplock after we ate dinner.) And G LOVED them!!

Baked Chicken Nuggets
serves 12

ingredients:
4 lbs boneless/skinless chicken

sauce option 1:
1/2 cup mayo
1/2 milk
1T+ 1 t dry mustard
2t onion powder

sauce option 2:
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup ranch dressing, bottled

coating:
2 cup bread crumbs (I used a combo of herbed and plain.)
1t paprika

Directions:
Choose a sauce and mix all ingredients with a whisk. Cut chicken breasts lengthwise into strips and nuggets. Place all of the chicken pieces in the sauce and stir well to coat. Place the coating in a bag or bowl with a lid. Place about 1 lb of chicken in the crumb mixture and shake well to coat. Place chicken pieces on Demarle silpat or spray-treated cookie sheet. Bake at 375* for 15-20 min, turning once. Remove from oven and cool on the baking sheet.

Freeze in ziplock or container for short term storage or in food saver bags for long term freezing if making many batches. Only about 300-324 cal per serving depending on the sauce.

Take a second to sign the food revolution pledge.

And for the fun of it here is the is my cranberry chicken recipe.

Cranberry Chicken

ingredients:
8 oz catalina dressing
1 pkg dry onion soup mix
1-1lb can whole-berry cranberry sauce
4 boned chicken breasts

serves 4 (I double or triple it for freezing)

Cooking day instructions:
Mix together dressing, onion soup mix, and cranberry sauce. Place chicken and mixture together in a freezer bag. Freeze in a freezer bag. (lay flat to take up the least amount of space once frozen)

Serving day instructions:
Thaw completely. Place chicken with cranberry sauce in Demarle round mold on perforated tray or greased baking dish and bake uncovered at 350* for 1-1.5 hours.

The Pioneer Woman Visits Portland

A few years ago I ran across this recipe (this is an old family recipe blog that we never really use anymore- sadly) and was first turned on to The Pioneer Woman- Ree Drummond. I have been hooked ever since. She is an amazing writer/blogger who started her blog 4 years ago as a way to keep her family updated on her children's and her life. And today she is blogging phenomenon who gets millions of hits a day! She lives on a working cattle ranch in rural Oklahoma.

She came out with a cookbook last year
and I have wanted to get it since I heard it was pre-selling! Unfortunately, it wasn't in the budget and she wasn't coming to Portland for a book signing so I figured there was no rush.

Until I hopped on her facebook page on day and there was a new post about coming to Portland!
Woohoo!

I may have peed a little in that moment!
Oh sorry, TMI?

So last Monday I tossed J in the car, I dropped G at a friends, picked up another friend Gretchen and drove over to Powell's to meet PW! (I had bought the book 2 weeks before on ebay)

I made this shirt (CBE= cutest baby ever) hoping to use J as bait. :)
PW LOVES babies! (yes I totally pimped out my kid- shameless I know!)

We got to the book store about 4. There had been people waiting to see her since 10 am!!
So we waited.

And waited.

She was supposed to be there at 6 but got a bit lost.
So we waited some more.

It made no difference though, she was as amazing as we hoped she would be! She was funny and sweet and very candid.

(there is a "WOOHOO" about 29 seconds. That was me- and I woke up Jax. hehe)

Her singing!


Here she is signing my book and a little something for Geneva who'd had a c-section the week before and wasn't up for the adventure.

And here she is taking J's picture! Bait may have worked! Check back later to see if I have updated with a link to her blog if she posts his pic... fingers/toes/eyes crossed!

Signing J's shirt.

Gretchen was in love too.

Powell's had given out 360 tickets to meet PW, and we were 151/2. It took just about 2 hours for us. There was SO many people there. If I had to guesstimate, I'd say 1000 or so. So when we were done we decided to clear out to make more room.

It was CROWDED!

Then we went down the hall in the mall and got Peach wave frozen yogurt. I fell in love all over again! 16 self-serve flavors and ALL the toppings, in HUGE cups for .36 and oz. I have a huge bowl and it was only $4! The one down the street I was eating when I was pregnant with Jax is $2.50 for a 3 oz cup, and they make sure they weigh it to not give you too much. Oy.

Honestly, maybe the perfect date. Now to get my husband to take me to meet my "girl-crush" and get frozen yogurt....
I swoon! LOL

Absolutely perfect night! Oh! and Jax was a fabulous adventure-r with us! He took a brief nap, fussed just long enough to nurse and played "cute baby" the rest of the time!

Here's another one: my head is about 3:13. LOL :-D

p.s. tell everyone you know about my blog! I wanna be her when I grow up! :)