King Ranch Chicken

RECIPE HERE

The verdict was...."it was good".  Here are the things I like about it:

1. It doesn't ask for soup in a can, all the foods are whole and fresh
2. One roasted chicken is the perfect amount of chicken, without using much of the dark meat

Tips-

1. Always shred your own, good cheese.  Preshredded cheese has a starchy consistency to keep it from clumping together and can taste alittle plastic
2. Make 2 smaller pans
3. DON'T over soak the tortillas- mine got too soggy
4. Keep the tortillas whole, as the recipe calls for.  I thought I would be clever and cut them into strips like lasagna and I think I will try whole next time
5. You can adjust the heat if you have kiddo's or people who don't like spicy by using diced tomatoes instead of Rotel
6. Immediately take the peppers from the over and cover them in plastic wrap.  Let them sit until they cool off enough to touch.  The peels come off much easier.
7. Wear rubber gloves when chopping and handling peppers- I keep a box of restaurant gloves in my kitchen to use with peppers, garlic, shallots etc.!!

Cooking

If you know me at all...you know I love to cook.  Being single and living on my own (for the first time EVER really) has resulted in me having a different outlook on dinner.  A dinner of hummus, apples, cheese, nuts or leftover toddler dinner (plain pasta, 1/2 eaten chicken nugget, tots) is considered a good dinner in my book.  13 years of Cooks Illustrated and several other award winning cookbooks are just sitting on my shelf...gathering dust. 

So, I got a nudge when I someone came over and the only thing I had for dinner was Mac & Cheese.  I went through my freezer and pantry and decided to make some food, with love, freeze it, share it or eat it!

With what I had already in my freezer:
Ground Chicken
Chicken Thighs
Italian Sausage
Chicken Sausage

I spent $66.54 at Sam's Club and $33.88 at Walmart ($5 for a Matter T-Shirt)

Recipes to come for:
Make Aheads-

• Shredded Chicken Burittos smothered in Hatch Chili (Made 14 and freezed them without the sauce)
• King Ranch Chicken (used a whole roasted chicken from Sam's and the rest of the tortillas from above)
• 2 Shredded Chicken Quesadillas

30 Minute Whip Ups-

• Skillet Greek Lasagna with Greek Chicken Meatballs
• Chicken Sausage & Pasta with fresh Mozzerella
• Omlets
• Artichoke Dip
• Skillet Italian Lasagna

Dessert-

• Chocolate Chip Scones

Eddie Vedder

I have stated that I am late to the party when it comes to Pearl Jam and Eddie Vedder. True statement! I have stopped checking my FB page at work and deleted the app on my phone because it is a waste of precious time that I don't have enough of. FB being a waste of time that I don't have wasn't enough of a reason to tune it out. It took the Supreme Court to steel my resolve. I know more about politics than most women in my demographic because I think it is important, but not because I think my particular issues and needs are more important than anyone else's dissenting views. The polar "debate" through singular posts make me crazy. Not as crazy as people who post "pray for me, but I can't tell you why" type messages...those take the cake!

...back to Vedder- go ahead and listen to Society (Into the Wild soundtrack) and Patriot and hover above it all and try to see this world and it's people- all of them- from a much less divisive perspective. I always want to just get in the car and drive...far...far away to Montana to be truly alone in nature. Or, as an ex-patriot in France so that I can appreciate what I already have when I hear those songs.

Happy Sunday! It's going to be a long road to November. Seek out truly important news and don't believe everything that scrolls at the bottom of the news feed!

ps. An entire post will be dedicated to the travesty of the Into the Wild soundtrack and Society receiving ZERO Academy Award nominations.

It is possible...

To crash a sharepoint site in the middle of a busy conference day!  I have come to learn that you can only have 5000 records in a single list.  SMU has the best OIT Help Desk people and we got back up and running by 8:15 this morning. 

Sounds easy enough....

                  I wish I believed this
                  I wish I hadn't spend all this time thinking it was selfish to want anything everything for myself

Transformation....in progress!  I finally have the strength to be my own editor and will rewrite this story, word for word, if I have to.

5 *Simple Things-Repost

Be Grateful
Act With Love
Check Your Motives
Watch Your Attitude
Forgive

It's not lost on me that the last two things listed seem to be the most difficult lately.  But, what a great reminder of how grace is not difficult unless we chose to ignore just how simple it really is.  Thank you Katie M'Lady!

Single Mom- no more

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/denise-albert/divorce-diaries-dont-call_b_1498191.html

Single Mom will never cross my lips again! Well said, sister! The only thing she missed (probably because she was trying to make a point) is that for all the days where I do absolutely EVERYTHING...I now have days where I can't do anything for my son and have no choice but to focus on myself (which I never did as a married mom). I make the most of it so that my son sees me as not just a mom that can do everything but also a woman that can do anything. Run races, hike the grand canyon, sew, knit, being a great friend, a valuable addition to my team at work and actually read things that make me a smarter and more interesting woman.

Formerly Married Mom FMM, Available Mom, whatever...just not a single mom!

I used to feel it was an insult to me to be called a single mom, and compared to never married moms. Yes, I can be a snob (not proud of that, just stating a fact). I actually still wore my wedding rings whenever we traveled because I whole heartedly believed that people treated me better.  I look young for my age and the way that people treat young, unwed mothers in this state is not something to be proud of Texas!  It is an insult to the real single moms who do EVERYTHING on their own. Compared to them, I get a girls, spa, me-time weekend, every-other weekend. No guilt, no paying someone to watch him. The sadness went away when I admitted that our son deserved and needed time with his Dad, even though that meant it would be time away from me.

Giving Myself Permission to be Sad...

I read articles from the Divorce page on the Huffington Post, almost every day.  Some are validating, some are informative, some are petty…but, this one really hit me.  It probably doesn’t make sense because this actually made me feel better.  Saying it’s ok to be incredibly sad and confused for a while.  Know that this sadness I am feeling is mine and no one else is responsible for it.  It just is what it is.

Rachael Harris- The Daily Show

It was still really… I don’t know if you’ve ever been through that, but for me, it was a huge transition. It was really painful. I had conflicting feelings about it. I knew it was the right thing to do, but I still loved my husband tremendously," Harris said, adding that she found Linda's realization that she was living alone especially relatable:

When I went back to my house, and the house was completely empty -- I had moved out when my husband figured out what he was going to do, and then I moved back into the house, and everything of his was gone -- there’s a moment in the film when Linda goes back to the house and she’s brushing her teeth. And that moment when -- she has a double-sink -- she has to turn the other sink on to feel okay, I completely related to that. That floored me. There’s this quiet emptiness that is awful.

Keep It In the Pantry

Why do I have so much food in my Pantry? It's just me...and picky McPicky eater! I come by it honestly (remember my Noni's Pantry)?  But, things need to change. I started by organizing my cupboards.

Operation: STOP buying food and "whip up dinner out of what you have" has begun.

Stay tuned for posts with the impromptu "recipes" if they taste good!

Braised Brussels Sprouts

I have a new love of greens, green-greens! I will post some more of my recent dishes (black bean soup with Mustard Greens, Brussels Sprouted green leaves with spinach)  Before anyone disses me about these, they are just little cabbages, people! If you like cabbage, you like Brussels Sprouts!! The Dijon mustard glaze at the end is what makes it a second helping dish.

See the full recipe HERE