Chicken Tortellini

This is one of those quick and easy dinners that I love! You only need a handful of ingredients and it's delicious!

2 chicken breasts, cubed
salt and pepper
1 tsp. each garlic powder and onion powder
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar (leave this out or substitute another vinegar if you don't have this one)
1 package tortellini, frozen or fresh
1 can spaghetti sauce
1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese

Saute chicken with seasonings. Cook pasta according to package directions.

Drain tortellini and add to pan with chicken. Stir so that your pasta picks up those bits of goodness off the bottom of the pan.

Add spaghetti sauce, continue cooking until warmed through. Stir in cheese until melted.

Serve! Bread and a salad turns this into a complete meal!

Seasons of Waiting

This year has been a waiting year for us. We've been waiting for reasons that we can't control and I don't know how long we'll have to wait. I don't have any tips to make waiting easier. Who likes to wait? But I can tell you what I determined while I have been waiting.

1. I will remain settled. I am going to keep doing exactly what I'm supposed to be doing regardless of what happens. I'm not going to stop serving God and pout. I'm not going to stop growing in an area and say "Oh, I'll pick it back up when ..... happens."

2. I will keep growing. I'm going to keep working toward my goals. A change in circumstances will not change my character or my habits. Hard work done now will change those. I don't want to put myself on hold and waste time that I will never recover.

3. I will put my mental effort into "now." Instead of thinking about how I will do things "when," I strive to tweak or modify how I do things now to make them/me more effective. If my methods won't work in five years (or five months), that's fine as long as they are working for me now. I can adjust later as life changes.

4. I will be thankful. God has blessed me with so much and I deserve none of it! My attitude will honor Him when I am thankful for what I have instead of complaining about what I want and don't have.

More than likely the things we are waiting on now will happen. Probably sooner rather than later at this point. But you know what? We'll probably be waiting on something else then! I don't want to get to the end of my life and realize that I was discontent and always wanting something else. I choose to enjoy now.

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Roasted Chicken

Sometimes Kroger has chicken breast on sale for 99 cents a pound! That's amazing! I always stock up when they do this :) The only "downside" is that it's bone-in and skin-on. It's not really a downside; it just involves more work.

Here's one of the quickest and tastiest ways to get chicken ready for any dish that calls for cooked chicken breast! Roast it in the oven. Low-maintenance cooking that gives you moist and delicious chicken!

6 chicken breasts
salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder.

Peel back the top layer of skin carefully, leaving it connected on one side. Sprinkle liberally with seasonings.

Place skin back over chicken breast.

Roast in a preheated 425 degree oven for 45-60 minutes. Be sure chicken is cooked thoroughly! (I've got to get a meat thermometer. That would be so much easier!) Let chicken cool and cut off the bone. Cube, shred, or freeze chicken. And you can even keep the bones and skin and make chicken broth!

Friday Favorites: Volleyball and Friendship

Last year my friend Lesley and I went to a UT volleyball and had a blast! We went again tonight (we think this should be a yearly tradition!) and had so much fun!

Check out that hit!

Lesley and I

The bloomin' onion at Outback

Filet Focaccia- an amazing sandwich at Outback!

Justin tried to jump into the picture and hit his hand on the ceiling and I was cracking up!

I'm thankful for good friends and fun times! And to my husband for staying home with Micah!

Italian Chicken Sandwich

I love a quick sandwich for lunch! This sandwich can be finished in under 20 minutes. And you'll even have time to cook a veggie for a side.

Ingredients:
3 chicken breasts, pounded thin (Do this in advance; it does not fit in your 20 minute window. And just cover the chicken with plastic wrap and pound with a rolling pin if you don't have a meat mallet.)
1/4 cup Italian salad dressing
salt and pepper
1/2 tsp. each garlic powder and onion powder
6 slices sturdy bread- I used sourdough bread
1/2 cup spaghetti sauce
1/2 cup cheese- I used shredded Italian cheese but slices of provolone would be amazing!

Sprinkle chicken with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder. Saute chicken in a little bit of oil and the Italian dressing. Cook 5-7 minutes per side or to your desired doneness. At the same time toast bread on both sides. (Don't forget that it's in the oven and burn it! Oops!)

Divide spaghetti sauce between three slices of bread. Top with chicken and divide the cheese among the three sandwiches.

Put back under broiler until the cheese melts and starts to brown.

Slap that other slice of bread on that melted cheese so your sandwich stays together.

Eat and then go wash your dishes! Really. Don't you feel better with a clean kitchen?

Slow and Steady

Slow and steady sounds really exciting, doesn't it? It doesn't to you? Well, me neither! It might not be flashy but it gets the job done. Lord willing, I have a long life ahead of me and there are things that I can accomplish if I am willing to work at them steadily. Consistent work over long periods of time will show results!

1. Training toddlers. This is not something I can do in one day. Or two days. Or two months. It's going to take time. As soon as Micah started walking we started learning to pick up our toys. Before naptime and before bedtime I would walk over with him and help him pick up his toys and put them away. It might have taken three or four months but he is really good about picking up his toys now! I could have said that it was too much effort and he would still not be able to pick up his toys.

2. Piano. I wish I had a recording of when I first picked up playing again a couple of years ago. Then again, maybe I don't! But while I'm not at all satisfied with how I play now, it is better than what it was two years ago. And I know that if I keep it up, it will be much better in another two, five, or ten years down the road. That end result is great motivation from me. That ten years will speed by and I'll either be able to say that I'm glad I kept practicing or I'll wish that I had because imagine how good I could have been! :)

3. Bible reading. Just think of how many times I will have read my Bible and how much I will have learned in ten years! I might not notice it today but God's Word is changing me.

The best motivation I have for steady work when the progress seems slow is knowing my goal or my desired end result. What am I working toward? I want Micah to be able to pick up after himself and work when he is 5, 15, or 35. So I can afford four months of effort for something that will change his entire life. God is preparing me now for life later; just like all the years before He was preparing me for life now. Little things can make a big difference.

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Stromboli

So in real life I just call these "calzones." They really aren't though because calzones have ricotta cheese in them. And no matter how hard you look at these pictures you won't find any ricotta cheese. Regardless of what I call them my husband loves them! And they're pretty.

Makes 4 stomboli

You need:
Pizza Dough
8 slices provolone cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella or Italian cheese mixture, plus a little extra
pizza toppings- black olives, mushrooms, pepperoni, onions, peppers, etc.
1 egg yolk, beaten and mixed with 1 tbsp. cold water

Prep your veggies. Sometimes I divide them into even portions for each stromboli. Also preheat your oven to 400 degrees. If you are using a pizza stone, put it in the oven now so that it heats preheats as well! That will give you the best results. Trust me. I've tried it other ways.

Divide your dough in half. Then divide in half again. This should give you four pieces of approximately equal size.

Roll dough out into a circle roughly 8 inches in diameter. (I don't actually measure it.)

Place two slices of cheese in center of dough. Layer pepperoni and veggies on top of the cheese.

View from the top

Cover with 1/2 cup of shredded cheese.

Carefully fold the dough over forming a pocket.

Press the dough together and then fold up the outer edge (see picture) to seal the stromboli.

You need places for the steam to escape so I get creative. Justin's has different fillings so I carve a "J" into his so that we can tell them apart.

Brush with the beaten egg yolk. Don't use too much. You don't want scrambled egg on your stromboli. Or maybe you do. But I don't.

Sprinkle with a little bit of shredded cheese. Bake at 400 degrees until golden brown. Serve with marinara sauce.

I told you they were pretty! These reheat fantastically in the microwave. They might actually be better that way because they aren't so hot you can't eat them!