tasty thursday

Buffalo Chicken Macaroni

3 boneless, skinless, chicken breasts- cooked and cubed

1 Tbsp flour

4-6 Tbsp butter

1.5 cups milk

4 oz. grated monterrey jack cheese (half a brick)

1/3 cup sharply shredded cheddar cheese

1/3 cup buffalo wing sauce

1/3 cup Panko bread crumbs  

Ranch dressing (or you can do bleu cheese)

Cook pasta, drain, and return to pot.  While pasta is cooking, heat saucepan over medium heat and add the butter.  Add the flour once the butter is melted and bubbly.  Whisk together to create a little roux and then cook for about 1-2 minutes until it starts to get a little golden in color. 

Add in the milk and turn the heat down to low. Stir until the milk thickens and add cheeses; stir until mixture is smooth.

Add in wing sauce (along with a little salt and pepper to taste) and mix well.

Lightly grease a casserole dish and spread pasta and chicken evenly throughout the pan.  

Pour cheese sauce on top of pasta/chicken and make sure it is all divided evenly.

Top with panko bread crumbs and more cheese.  

Bake at 375 for 25 minutes or so (or until cheese is golden brown).  Drizzle a little more buffalo sauce on top along with ranch/bleu cheese.  

Enjoy!

Thanks for walking with us,

JL

a beautiful wedding

This past weekend, John and I braved the 10 hour drive down to Hilton Head Island to see our parents and sister, Caroline, and attend Josh Ford & Hannah Dezeeuw's wedding.  It was a fun little getaway (as always) and so special to see such a good friend of John's get married.

Hannah and Josh's wedding took place in Okatie, South Caroline (right off the island of HHI) and was back in Oldfield Plantation.  Honestly....most beautiful place ever. It is tucked away in it's on little place, with the most southern feel to it.  Beautiful white picket fences, large areas of land, gorgeous water, and amazing southern houses.  It was incredible.

The wedding was outdoors, and though it rained and had to be moved inside, it was still the most beautiful wedding.  Hannah was beaming with happiness and Josh's eyes didn't leave her as her dad escorted her in.  There was so much love.  

John got to see a bunch of friends he hasn't seen in a while which was a lot of fun for him.  We were honored to be invited and a part of their special day!  I didn't take my real camera; only my iPhone, so these pictures will have to do!

While we were in HHI, staying with our family, we spent time golfing, laying by the pool, and eating, eating, and more eating (what we all do best).  It was just a good relaxing weekend for a lot of quality time.  There were 3 dogs at the Peter's home before we got there, so Noe made the 4th.  Let's just say she hasn't stopped sleeping for the past 3 days straight - she is exhausted and had the time of her life, too!

Cheers to almost-Friday!

Thanks for walking with us,

JL

tasty thursday

Skinny Orange Chicken

2 large carrots, peeled and sliced about 1/2" thick

2 large red or green bell peppers, cut into 1/2" chunks

3 cloves garlic, minced

3 boneless skinless chicken breast halves ( about 2 lbs )

2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

8 ounces orange juice concentrate

2 cans mandarin orange segments; undrained

2 green onions (scallions), chopped

2 cups hot cooked rice

Put carrots, peppers, garlic, then the chicken, ginger, salt/pepper, and frozen orange juice in crock pot.  

Cover and cook on LOW 4-6 hours.

Serve chicken on top of hot cooked rice on platter.

Top with mandarin segments and green onions!

Enjoy!!!

Thanks for walking with us,

JL

tasty thursday

Banana Bread: 

4 ripe bananas, smashed

1/3 c melted butter

1 c sugar 

1 egg, beaten 

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

1.5 c all-purpose flour

pinch of salt

**I double this recipe and make 2 loaves to share with neighbors!**

(the recipe above makes 1 loaf; double for two!) 

Preheat oven to 350.

With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl.  

Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla.  Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in.  

Add the flour last, and mix.  Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan.  

Bake for 1 hour.

Cool on a rack; remove from pan and serve!

Thanks for walking with us,

JL

the beauty in a mother

In honor of Mother's Day (a day late), I figured I'd write a post on the beauty of a mother.  Though I have not yet experienced motherhood, in a lot of ways, I've logged more hours with children (ranging from the age of 7 days old throughout the teenage years), than some mothers.  I have not yet carried around a child for 9 months and birthed it into this world, but I can relate to motherhood on many levels throughout my experiences thus far.

Motherhood.  What is the beauty of a mother? One of the many amazing things about mothers is their ability to live each day...over and over and over {with a servant's heart}.  Have you ever sat for a minute and considered a 'day in the life' of a mom? Let's just consider ONE morning...Depending on the age of her child[ren] it probably goes a lot like this.

Wake up early before the rest of the home starts to stir.
Stumble downstairs.
Make coffee.
Unload the dishwasher.
Have one sip of coffee; place it down.
Feed the dog.
Wake up kids.
Running around trying to get kids dressed, fed breakfast and given lunches.
Get frustrated with kids because they are moving slow and are going to be late.
Get kids out the door.
Reheat coffee.
Take one sip of coffee; place it down.
Put dirty dishes in dishwasher, clean up kitchen.
Run dishwasher.
Reheat coffee.
Take another sip; place it down.
Throw a load of laundry in.

By this time? Oh....it's probably 7:30 am.

Mothers are simply amazing.  Have you realized how they are constantly serving? Their children, husband, friends, and others....It's a wonder everyone in the house is typically showered, dressed, and the mom is the one sporting yoga-pants and 3 day old hair.  Family first, yourself second - that's the true motto of a mother.

She wakes up and goes through her day that inevitably, looks a lot like the day before, and what tomorrow will look like as well.  The dishes are done 3-5 times a day.  The laundry piles up and even when it's all washed, dried, folded and put away, the mound is heaping again by the end of the day.  Meals happen to roll around 3 times a day and she makes, serves, and cleans up after each one.  She is a constant taxi driver; driving to and from school, after school activities, friends houses, and not to mention the "regular" errands that go into making a house a home - such as the grocery store.  She is a maid; constantly cleaning her house that just gets trashed over and over again.  After this, and so much more, the life a mother is living each day, over and over, with constantly having everything you've worked on, 'undone' in a sense. The laundry, the dishes, the clean house, the homework, the driving.  Once it's 'done', it just starts all over. Daily. Weekly. Monthly. And sure enough, year after year.

Hats off to all of the mothers out there.  Especially my own.  Thank you, mom, for constantly loving our family and more importantly raising us to love Jesus.  THAT in itself is the greatest gift you could ever bless us with.  And thank you to my precious mother-in-law for raising your son to be the man of my dreams.  For raising HIM to love and serve Jesus first and foremost for that is the greatest blessing in our marriage.  Two wonderful mothers, I have.

Thanks for walking with us,
JL

tasty thursday

Fresh Lemon Garlic Pasta with Shrimp

1 lb spaghetti (I used whole-wheat)

1 T butter

3 lemons

6 garlic cloves, peeled & thinly sliced

1 t crushed red pepper

1/8 c extra virgin olive oil

1 zucchini; finely grated

1 lb Shrimp; peeled deveined 

1/8 c white wine

salt/pepper to taste 

3 T freshly grated Parmigiano cheese

Cook pasta to al dente; retain one cup of pasta water and set aside.  Drain pasta and toss with 1 T of butter; set aside. 

To infuse the olive oil with lemon; peel rind off 2 lemons with knife (very thin; not the thick white part).  Saute rinds in 1/8 C olive oil on low for 15-20 minutes.  Discard scions and save olive oil for future use.

Squeeze juice from the 2 peeled lemons; set just aside.

Finely grate the rind of the 3rd lemon; set zest aside.

In pan with lemon olive oil, saute sliced garlic with crushed red pepper on medium for 1 minute.

To the same pan, add shrimp, zucchini, salt, pepper; saute for a few minute until shrimp is pink.

Add lemon zest, lemon juice, and 1/8 C white wine.

Continue to cook for a few minutes and then toss in cooked whole wheat pasta.

Toss for a couple minutes; add a little pasta water (retained earlier) if the pan doesn't have enough moisture and the pasta begins to stick together.  

Add fresh parsley, black pepper, and freshly grated Parmigiano cheese to top!

Voila; you have an impressive and ridiculously tasty dinner! So fresh and light tasting.

Enjoy!

Thanks for walking with us,

JL

a night in the woods...

After a few extremely long weeks with work for John, we decided that we needed a good quality weekend together.  So...what was the first thing that came to our mind? Camping. A night away from the world; phones, tvs, work, calls, distractions, you name it. A night with our little family, a fire, good scenery, and quiet.   

So, while John worked on Friday, I made a list of groceries we needed and hit the grocery store. I made homemade pimento cheese (the exact recipe they use at the Master's Golf Tournament) and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (John's favorite) and loaded up the coolers with lots of food and drinks - you know; the goods.  What would camping be without eating the entire time?  I loaded up blankets, the tent, pillows, chairs, odd'n'ends, and waited for John to get home.  As soon as he got home from work Friday evening, we hit the road and left the world for a little while.

We pretty much have a system for camping (after doing it a good amount of times).  When we arrive, John pitches the tent (yeah - I'm no help on that one) while I unload the car.  Once he's finished, I set up all the blankets, "beds", etc inside the tent.  Meanwhile John takes off to get wood for a good 45 minutes.  (That man can make a mean fire!) Once the wood is collected and our site is set up, we go on a little hike.

This camp site is one of my favorites because it has an amazing train track that winds around a beautiful stream/river.  It is absolutely breathtaking and so peaceful.  As we got down to the river (and Noe is having a ball exploring the water and pebble jumping) - John says, "do you hear that?" ...."Hear what?", I say.  Then I start to hear it in the distance.....THE TRAIN is coming.  We couldn't believe it.  John grabs Noe and says we have to go back up the hill to catch it and get it on tape for his dad (he LOVES trains).  So we hauled BUTT up the hill, I almost died from falling and getting fwapped with branches in the face (my dear husband left me in the dust, pretty much), BUT we made it to see the train come into view and chug past us. It really was amazing.

After our hike, we headed back to our site and John made a fire and we just saw and talked for a good hour before making our hot dogs.  Fast forward past another hour of talking around the fire, and we made s'mores.  We stayed up for a long time just sitting in the dark, talking, and enjoying the heat from the fire (it got chilly at night - 40 degrees!)

The next morning... we had muffins and bananas and pretty soon after packed up our site.  We were ready to get home for some COFFEE.  By 10:30am, we were home, (pretty much unpacked), had our first load of laundry going, showered, and were in a clean set of pjs.  We sat on the couch and watch a movie on tv....and another....and another. YES. We spend a good 7 hours on that couch.  It was amazing.  Around 6, we decided we should do something productive (okay, it was ME who decided), but while still staying in our pjs.  So we cooked TOGETHER (this is rare, people), an amazing lemon-shrimp pasta dish.  STAY TUNED for tasty thursday this week as I will post the recipe!  It was to.die.for. SO GOOD.

We ate. And returned to the couch :)

This, my friends, was the best weekend for good QUALITY TIME with my husband.  We milked every minute of it.  Call it lazy? Yeah, okay, me too. Whatever!

Thanks for walking with us,
JL

tasty thursday; grill-style

How does it seem that every time I turn, it's Thursday again? Which means....time for a new recipe up on the blog! Last night, we both got home from work at a reasonable hour (6:45 ish) AND it was still 65/70 degrees outside so we decided to heat up the grill and dine outside!

We made 'caprese grilled chicken' which was simply amazing.  If you like caprese anything - this recipe is for you!  You know what I like best about grilling out? John does most of the work! He loves to grill so all I have to do is the handle the sides, marinating, glaze, whatever - and he handles the meat!

Start by preparing the chicken on the grill; no marinating, pre-preparation, etc....just straight up throw the meat on the grill and cook til it's done.

Or...if you're anything like me and don't know a thing about grilling - get your man too do that part.

While the chicken is a cookin', work on making your balsamic glaze.  1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar (heated on a skillet until reduced in half; and whisk in 1 tablespoon of butter until completely mixed together evenly).  Set aside to cool.

Oh yeah....and in the mean time; have a drink....I mean....what's grilling out without a good booa? (yes - my family will likely be the only ones to get that).  - oh, and take a picture with your precious little pup, too -

While the chicken is still cooking; cut some slices of tomatoes, get your basil out, and mozzarella ready.  

Once the chicken is done, place the mozzarella on first, then layer with basil, and top with a tomato.  Drizzle your balsamic glaze on the tippy top.  

Now you have it - an amazing (and healthy) caprese grilled chicken! 

Caprese Grilled Chicken: 

Boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1 T butter

Mozzarella Cheese

Tomatoes

Basil Leaves 

1. Prepare chicken on the grill

2. As chicken is cooking, pour balsamic vinegar into sauce pan or skillet and cook until reduced by half.  Add in butter and stir with a whisk until completely combined. Set aside. 

3. Top chicken with mozzarella cheese, basil leaves, and tomato slices. 

4. Drizzle with balsamic reduction and serve warm. 

Thanks for walking with us,

JL