GCC- Steak Pizzaiola

This week's Gutsy Cooks Club challenge was to make Steak Pizzaiola.  It called for a chuck steak and I had no clue what this was.  I also could not find it in our grocery stores, so I went with sirloin.  Other than that, I stayed pretty true to the recipe.  We served ours with a large bowl of rigatoni, but next time I will serve with mashed potatoes.  Overall, I believe this recipe is a keeper. Make sure to head to SweetBites and get the recipe!

Recipe

Getting Gutsy- Baked Chicken with Honey-Whole Grain Mustard Glaze

I am always looking for new ways to challenge myself in the kitchen.  I love to cook and have tried so many different recipes and am always looking for something new.  I stumbled upon The Gutsy Cooks Club and knew I had to try it!

Sweet Monica at Sweet Bites Blog host it and this was our first week.

This week we made Baked Chicken with Honey-Whole Grain Mustard Glaze by Lucinda Scala Quinn.  While this recipe was not that different for me, or that challenging, it did call for chicken thighs.  I have not cooked with them in the past and I will have to say Mr. J and I loved them, but sweet A adored them!  I found a great sale on boneless, skinless chicken thighs and so that is what we used.  While I am sure the skin would be delicious on these, it was not in my weekly budget to splurge (and we try not to eat the skin).  I would cook these again! Not only were they tasty, but super easy as well!

Make sure and jump over to Monica's blog to get the recipe!

From the Little Red Book

The first Christmas that Mr. J and I spent together he bought me this cute little red cookbook journal.

It is used for my favorite recipes and most of the time they come some where other than the internet.  Some are passed down from sweet family members, some from special friends, and some are my random, crazy creations! But, if the recipe makes it to the prized red book, it is for sure a family favorite!  This recipe, I believe, came from a previous co-worker and it has become a family favorite.  I hope y'all enjoy it as much as we do!

Bow-tie Chicken Pasta

• 2 Chicken Breast, cooked, diced or shredded
• 1 box Bow-tie Pasta
• 1 can Rotel, drained
• 1 jar Alfredo Sauce
• 1/2 jar of Basil Pesto (I use the Bertolli brand...just so you know for size reference)
• 2 cups Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

-Cook your chicken and dice or shred it.  Last night I used diced chicken that I cooked in the skillet.  Before I have used a rotisserie chicken, boiled chicken, you could even use canned chicken if you are into that kind of thing! Which ever way I do it, I always add some of my favorite spices (and those change on a daily basis, but always include italian seasoning and garlic)
-Cook your pasta according to the box, but 2 minutes less.
-Drain pasta.
-Add your Alfredo sauce, pesto, rotel and chicken to the pasta and mix well.
-Place mixture into a greased 9x13 baking dish.
-Sprinkle shredded cheese on top of pasta mixture.
-Bake at 350 for about 20-30 minutes or until cheese is good and melted.
-Enjoy!

Lessons from Sweet A

It is so true that they grow up too fast!  I can't believe our sweet baby A is now sweet toddler A with a sassy little attitude and lots of spunk! With sweet A about to be 2 this summer, I have been reflecting on what I have learned since becoming a mom.  Sweet A has taught me so many lessons and I feel like even though I am the one that is suppose to be teaching her the ways of the world, God is using her to teach me so many things.  Here are just a couple of things that motherhood has taught me.

1. You can function with very little sleep (even though it may not seem like it).  I am so glad sweet A taught me this lesson! This lesson is coming in very handy for youth ministry!

2. I have more strength and courage than I ever thought I could have.

3. I am learning that my mom and dad are a lot smarter than I thought they were! (If y'all are reading...please take this as a compliment!)

4. Getting ready to go anywhere and be on time is a huge accomplishment!

5. A hot shower, alone, with no small toddler pulling the curtain or throwing things across the bathroom is almost as glorious as a spa retreat!

6. Nothing is better than a hug and "I love you".

7.  Motherhood is not a joke.  It is tough, exhausting and most rewarding!

8. I have learned no book, other mom, blog or anything or anyone else knows my child better than I know her. Listen to my gut.

9.  Be a mom, not a friend.  This one is so hard, because I want Annie to love me and like me.  But I am called to be her mother. Not her friend.

10. God loves me...SO MUCH! This has just been a constant reminder as I look at how much I love sweet A.  God loves me so much more!

Happy Tuesday! I am going to love on a spunky little girl who woke up WAY too early form her nap!

Chicken Philly Sandwiches

I am not a huge slow cooker fan, but there are those days I am so thankful for them!  Tuesdays are extremely busy for us and yesterday was one of those days I was SO thankful for my slow cooker!  I think one of the reasons that I am not a huge fan is because I have such a hard time finding recipes that I love that!  I found a great one and it will for sure be a keeper!  

Chicken Philly Sandwiches

Adapted from: Food&Family Finds

Ingredients:

• 2 Frozen Chicken Breast
• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• 2 Green Bell Peppers, sliced
• 1 Small Onion, sliced
• 1 Package Sliced Mushrooms
• 1/2 cup Chicken Broth
• McCormick's Steak Seasoning
• Emeril's Original Essence Seasoning 
• Garlic
• Worcestershire Sauce
• Salt
• Pepper
• Sliced Mozzarella Cheese
• Sliced American Cheese
• Hoagie Buns

Place 2 tablespoons butter in the bottom of your slow cooker.  Place frozen (or fresh) chicken breast on top of butter.  Sprinkle chicken with garlic, essence seasoning, and steak seasoning.  I do not use measurements on this, I just go to town and shake until my hand gets tired. Also, feel free to use any type of seasoning you would like.  I just had these in my cabinet and they turned out great!  Add your onions, mushrooms and green peppers next.  Pour in your chicken broth.  Add a couple dashes of Worcestershire.  Add salt and pepper to your liking.  Cook on low for 6 hours.  After about 5 1/2 hours take chicken out and shred it.  Place back into slow cooker and continue cooking for another 30 minutes.

Mr. J and I like to toast our hoagie buns before we place the chicken on them.  I just stick them under the broiler for a couple of seconds until they start to brown up.  I also like to use a slotted spoon to get the chicken mixture out to help get rid of some of the juice.  Place your chicken mixture on your hoagie bun, place a slice of mozzarella and a slice of american cheese on top and place under the broiler to melt the cheese.  Place that other half of the hoagie bun on top and enjoy! :)

This crazy, beautiful thing called life

Life has been CRAY CRAY! I am giving you guys the quick update on life, why I have been missing, and a glimpse into the new normal for us.

Let me start back in the fall.  In the late summer/early fall Mr J and I decided it was time to put our sweet little house up for sale and start to look for a larger space.

Our sweet little first home

We listed our house right after placing an offer on another house that had immediate possession so when we listed ours we also said we would allow immediate possession. After the appraisal on the house we had placed on offer on came back we decided to back out of the deal (long story), but we had already accepted an offer on our house and had a closing date.  Needless to say, we had to find a house pronto, stat, ASAP! Thankfully, my gracious parents hosted us in their beautiful basement for a couple of months. Soon after we found a house and it couldn't be more perfect We moved into our home in January, while battling 4 cases of the flu (each of us in the house had it...plus I got it a second time).

Our new home

I know I do not talk about my faith a lot on this blog...well to be honest..I am doing good to get a post up once a year! (Yes, I am working on this! For real this time!) But my faith is a HUGE part of my life.  Well, it is my life.  Mr. J and I love Jesus.  With a big, fat, I heart you, Jesus! As long as we have been married we have known that serving in full-time ministry would be some part of our future.  We had no idea what that looked like, what that would be, when or where.  Little did we know that God was paving our way the whole time.  One day I hope to share the full story on this blog just to show how awesome and how faithful God really is, but today I am trying to give the quick update.  Long story short... while the house crisis, selling and buying was going on, Mr. J went from being a Project Manager in the construction world to being a full-time youth pastor and me being a full-time pastor's wife (if you would have asked me for a list of jobs I would do in my lifetime, this would not have been on it!) Our life is now filled with a lot of teenagers, long nights, early mornings, and a very loud, active toddler! We could not be happier, more blessed, and living a more crazy life!

Mr. J and our sweet A

We have accepted that life will never be the same again, and we couldn't be happier! Times have been rough in the last couple of months, but there is so much joy in serving the Lord.

Sweet friends, expect to see much more of me and to hear much more about our life.  Also, we are in the middle of a remodel and once I have an operating kitchen, expect more recipes, fun remodeling tutorials and more! I look forward to sharing our future with you!

Just like I promised...I am coming back!

Hey y'all! It has been a while! Mr. J and I have had a whirlwind of events that have turned our lives a little crazy! But we are getting settled in our "new normal".  I feel like life will never be the same, in a great way, but we are finally getting to a place where we can say, this is how it will be.  We are in the process of remodeling, but hopefully will be wrapping that up next week.  So...be expecting to see me back soon! I will give y'all an update on life!