2 Step Easy Balsamic Chicken

This week has been super hectic! I mean crazy busy! I feel like I haven't had a moment to sit down and just breath! The kids and they're activities are non stop, then they have been recovering from the colds that they had and then the baby was sick too! but she's much better now just recovering too.  Anyhow with the preface how I have had zero time this week I threw this together.  I actually did this on a Monday night and that happens to be our most hectic evening of the week!!  A helpful note for this chicken is to MAKE EXTRA! the leftovers are simply delicious for the next day!

Happy eating from my kitchen to yours! 

What You Need:

4 chicken breast

salt and pepper to taste 

1 bottle of balsamic vinaigrette dressing (I used Kens Dressing for mine)

How to:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Place your chicken in a deep baking dish.   While your oven is pre-heating take a minute to season your chicken with salt and pepper.  Then pour the entire bottle of dressing over your chicken.  Cover with tin foil allowing the sides to be partially exposed. cook for 45 minutes or until your chicken reaches an internal temperature of  170 degrees Fahrenheit.  Pour reaming balsamic liquid that, you will find on the bottom of your baking dish on top of the chicken for additional yumminess. 

Easy 5 Ingredient Rice Pilaf

Yesterday was an amazing day! I was able to go to the gym,and  wear out the baby at the kids club they have at that the gym.  When I picked her up from the kids club a little boy who was about 3 years old was singing this lovely tune "Shots, Shots, Shots", to the tune of the Aristocats DVD that they had put in for the kids!!!!  If you were there you would be on the floor laughing just as I was! kids say the most hilarious things. They are especially great at repeating exactly, what you don't want them to say also lol!.  So I arrived home and to my surprise the baby took a looong 2 1/2 hour nap for me YAY!!!!! score for mom. I was able to clean up a bit and start dinner before the afternoon crowd came home. 

Later that day I  did the afternoon pick up and I noticed I had a sicky on my hands when I went to pick up my daughter from pre-school.  My daughter hops in the car and said to me "Jordan (my son) got me sick!" We all started laughing and on our way home we went.  I have a great time in the afternoon pick ups!.  My best friend and I do a carpool daily.  She takes the morning shift, because I am not a morning person by any means and then I take the afternoon shift. So in the afternoon I have 5 kids in the car telling me about their day and what they did the day before. My girlfriends daughter who is 9 just cracks me up! she tells me these mishaps that happen when they go out, and it always seems to be when they are with there dad! I'll get into details with that another day, but take it from me the afternoon drive home is literally the highlight of my day! 

I was in the mood for rice last night with dinner but I really wanted to make something more than just plain ol' rice I wanted a little something extra so I thought I would do a super simple rice pilaf that you can put together in a flash! I hope you all enjoy this as much as we did! 

From my kitchen to your's Happy Eating! 

Adapted from: www.foodnetwork.com

What You Need:

1 cup low-sodium chicken broth

1 cup water

1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup chopped scallions, white and green parts

1 cup long-grain white rice

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste 

How To:

Bring the broth and water to a boil in saucepan over medium heat.

 Reduce the heat to low and keep hot .In another saucepan, heat oil over medium heat.

 Add the scallions and cook for about3 minutes. Stir in the rice, season with salt and pepper, to taste, and cook for another 2 minutes.

 Pour in the hot broth mixture and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and 

cover the saucepan. Cook until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender, about 20 minutes.

Creamy Vegetable soup (hold the cream)

This week has been pretty trying; the kids got some sort of a stomach bug and they have been on the ever so wonderful (BRAT) diet for the past week.  For those of you who may be unfamiliar with it it's a variation of bananas applesauce rice and toast. Anyhow, the kids tummy's were still a bit sensitive so I wanted to make them a really healthful yet tasty meal that would be easy on their belly's.  This is how I came up with this fab soup and it was something that the entire family enjoyed, including the baby!  I hope you all enjoy delish dish! Happy Eating!!

Ingredients:

2- 32 ounce box of chicken stock (or if your a vegetarian you can certainly substitute this will vegetable broth)

4 cups of water

drizzle of olive oil

10 garlic cloves

baby carrots chopped

2 onions chopped

1 zucchini chopped

1 yellow squash chopped

4 stalks of celery chopped

2 cups of raw broccoli

1 yellow bell pepper chopped

1 table spoon dried parsley

1 table spoon dried basil

salt and pepper to taste

4 cups of brown rice

Heat the pot that you will be making the entire soup in on medium.  Drizzle your olive oil on the bottom of the pot. Then add onion, garlic, carrots, zucchini, squash, yellow bell pepper, celery and let them caramelize (this should take about 5-8 minutes.)  After the vegetables have caramelized add your chicken stock.  Next add broccoli  dried parsley and dried basil and salt and pepper.  Cover pot and turn stove on high for about 20 minutes and let all the vegetable get happy together (this process makes vegetable tender) .  Lastly add the brown rice about 40 minutes before serving

(Tip) You may need to add more water to soup while the rice is cooking, keep an eye on it to make sure the rice does not absorb all the liquid, I had to add about 4 cups of water during this process.

Taco bread braids

Have you ever had one of those nights where you haven't been to the grocery store in about a week and your kids have eaten you out of house and home and you feel like there's nothing in your house but maybe a pack of ground meat? Well that was my issue the other night! and I didn't want to really put out a spread! So I found this online and made a few changes that make it a lot easier for quick dinners or even lunches!  Enjoy! Happy eating!!

 Source: http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Taco-Braid

Ilb. of any lean ground meat ( I used turkey)

2 cups of Mexican cheese and 1/4 cup of queso blanco

Pillsbury pizza crust ( you can find this in the cooler isle of your market)

1 sweet onion chopped

1 bell pepper chopped

2 cloves of minced garlic

8 ounces softened cream cheese

2 cups of your favorite salsa

In a skillet put a good drizzle of olive oil, the onions, bell pepper, 2 cloves of garlic, and cook on medium heat until caramelized (which means they are softened and have a browned color)  then add the meat keeping the temperature on medium.  When meat is browned it is ready.  

Combine creme cheese and salsa together in a bowl and mix.  Then spread onto the pizza crust, which should be laying opened flat.  Then add the meat mix on top of the cream cheese spread.  On top of the meat, layer the cheeses as well.  

Pizza crust- You want to cut small pieces on the sides so that way you are able to braid the top part of the dough.  Braid dough by overlapping the loose cut pieces over each other.  Put in oven and bake as directed on back of the dough package.  Eat and enjoy.  Happy eating!!