Chicken Caccitore

This week bountiful baskets had mushrooms and tomatoes. Not gonna lie, i dont actually like either. Jesse loves mushrooms tho, and i love italian so i decided to make Chicken Caccitore. I had never attempted it before and it came out really good. It was really easy to make also. I didnt have a recipe and since i hadnt made it before i decided to mostly follow this one http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,2373,155181-232201,00.html  I tend to only use recipes to get the general idea of what to use. I changed this one up a bit. Instead of using wine i used chicken broth, and i didnt have any bell peppers so i just skipped that. After making it without the peppers i dont really feel like the recipe NEEDS them, but i am sure they would be good if added. Also, i think it calls for a little too much red pepper. If you dont like spicy i'd cut back a little.  I used my dried oregano and frozen basil from the herb pack a few weeks back :)

Rosemary and lemon pepper chicken

INSPIRED BY BOUNTIFUL BASKETS, OF COURSE! THIS WEEK I GOT LEMONS, GARLIC, AND ROSEMARY SO I PUT THEM TO USE!!

PREHEAT OVEN TO 450 

                                                                           INGREDIENTS: 

 3 TBSP FRESH ROSEMARY SPRIGS

6 CLOVES GARLIC, MINCED

1 TBSP STEAK SEASON (or salt and pepper)

1/2 CUP CHICKEN BROTH (or white wine) 

3 TBSP EVOO

THE ZEST AND JUICE OF ONE LEMON 

IN A GLASS 13X9 PLACE ABOUT 2 1/2 LBS CHICKEN BREAST 

ADD ROSEMARY, STEAK SEASON, GARLIC, LEMON ZEST, AND EVOO

TOSS CHICKEN AND SEASONS TO COAT 

BAKE AT 450 FOR ABOUT 25 MIN UNTIL CHICKEN IS FULLY COOKED 

TURN OVEN OFF

 REMOVE CHICKEN FROM OVEN

ADD LEMON JUICE AND BROTH TO PAN DRIPPINGS AND STIR TO COMBINE

SPOON JUICE ONTO CHICKEN

RETURN TO OVEN FOR 10 MIN

ITS DONE!!



PLACE OVEN ON A TRIVET AND SERVE FROM DISH. SPOON JUICE ONTO CHICKEN WHEN SERVING. I SERVED IT WITH RICE AND BROCCOLI BECAUSE MY HUSBAND AND DAUGHTER EAT IT WELL. WE ALSO SPOON THE CHICKEN JUICE ONTO THE RICE FOR EXTRA FLAVOR!! YUMMMMMMMM

ALWAYS HANDLE CHICKEN SAFELY AND WASH HANDS OFTEN.

Preserve the Herbs

 This week in my bountiful basket i ordered the herb pack for an additional $10 here is what  i got:

dill, rosemary, oregano, sage, cilantro, parsley, basil, 2 cloves garlic

I knew i would get a good helping of herbs but my good it was a BUNCH. I've never seen more basil in my life (except of course on the plants). I put everything in the fridge and it nearly filled my tiny apartment refrigerator and i knew i couldnt use it all before it went bad so i decided to start researching! 

Drying would be appropriate for the herbs, but you need a cool, dry, dark place and lots of patience as it can take 2 weeks or more for them to dry- this girl isnt that patient. 

The oregano and sage are best preserved dry so i did a quick dry with them. 

1. spread out flat on cookie sheet

2. turn oven to bake at the lowest temp you have

3. place herbs on middle rack

4. Leave to bake for 1 hour with the door slightly ajar

5. turn oven off and allow to sit overnight with the door cracked. 

6. pluck now dry leaves from their stems and store in an air tight container

most herbs are good for about a year when properly dried. If not properly dried that can mold and mildew so be careful! 

The leafy herbs like basil, cilantro, and even the rosemary freeze really well. i made herb cubes with the rest of my herbs...

Herb Cubes

Basil leaves, plucked, washed, and pat dry

                                whatever herb u use needs to be clean if you are going to freeze it. 

roughly chopped and coated with olive oil 

after washing and patting dry, use a food processor or a good knife to roughly chop your herb if its leafy like basil is. Place in a bowl and coat well with olive oil. This will preserve the color of your herb. 

Transfer your coated herb into ice trays. The bottom row i filled completely, the top row i filled about halfway so i can have a lot or just a little basil whenever i need it. Fill the trays the rest of the way with water, broth, olive or vegetable oil, or room temp melted butter. I just use water as its most universal for future use. Freeze overnight. 

dont forget to label the bag! 

After the cubes have frozen solid, remove from the ice trays and place in a freezer bag or other air tight freezer worthy container! These are super easy to take out and use in any recipe! 

you can make cubes of cilantro and parsley or any other small leaf herb without chopping them, just remember to wash them well. :)

 

Bountiful Baskets

I learned about Bountiful Baskets through the online garage sale site for hunt county of all places. At first i thought it was probably too good to be true and that i would receive old, gross, never heard of produce, but i am thrilled to say that i was wrong!! Here's what i got this week:

THE FRUIT

huge pineapple, 9 bananas, grapes, 2 pomegranates, 4 apple pears

  THE VEGGIES  

lettuce, kale, celery, onions, cherry tomatoes, acorn squash

                                                                   BREAD 

in addition to the basket you can get bread! i got the assortment
3 loaves 9 grain
1 artisan loaf
1 sourdough loaf

So how does it work??? It's super easy! visit www.bountifulbaskets.org between noon monday and 10pm tuesday to place your order. Print your reciept and take it to your pickup location at the specified time. In greenville, pick up is every saturday at 10:45 at the mall. Dont forget to bring something to tote your produce home in! 

Here are the prices! 

1 regular basket $15 

1 all organic basket $25 

Bread is available for an additional cost and that varies by what u get. Bulk items are also offered when available :)

Bountiful Baskets is a volunteer organization and they encourage anyone who can help to come to the pick up location 1 hour prior to pick up time to help set the baskets up and to clean up afterwards.

Why we switched to cloth diapers

Jesse and I have decided to use cloth diapers. It's something i was interested in doing throughout my pregnancy but looking at the cost of most cloth diapers i thought i would have to be rich to afford enough diapers to not need  to buy disposables. With this in mind i decided maybe we wouldnt or couldnt cloth diaper. We were fortunate to be given a good assortment of diapers from the baby shower, family, and colleges at work. When little Owen was born we started using those diapers. He is just about 4 months now and we still have a partial box left so we have not had to purchase any disposables with the exception of 2 boxes of newborn size diapers.

While on facebook i noticed that a friend had switched her two youngest girls to cloth diapers. The designs in the pictures were ADORABLE!! I talked to her about them and found that she was buying them for cheap!! I bought 2 from her to try out. I paid $16 for 2 pocket diapers and 2 inserts. I took them home and prepped them as she suggested and tried them out!! They were so easy to use, easy to clean, AND Owen had a cute fluffy butt! 

Jesse was hesitant at first about the diapers until i showed him how soft they are, and how easy they are to use. It doesnt take forever to get them on as he thought it would, and you really dont "handle" any more poo than you would with disposables. In fact, with Owen being breastfed and only pooping every couple of days we ALWAYS had poo explosions in disposables. It would be all in the bed, all over his clothes, up his back,  and everywhere in between!! I slowly began ordering more diapers from a buy sell trade group on facebook. I bought all new never used diapers. The more i bought and started using the more Jesse came to see how nice these really were. He finally came to me one day and said that he really wanted to use the cloth diapers since they were so easy to use and so much more friendly to Owen's little booty. 

If you didnt know, here are the common ingredients in disposables that make them absorbent: 

The cloth diapers we use are Sunbaby diapers. These are manufactured in China which is why they cost so much less. One Sunbaby diaper with insert bought directly from Sunbaby costs about $5  bought locally from A re-seller costs $8-$10. I decided to do a little research on these diapers before purchasing my stash since they come from china and here is what i found. 

*The owner and creater Sun Pei has 2 children and has diapered them both in Sunbaby's

* they are made in Shanghai which actually enforces labor laws 

* the "factory" consists of about 40-50 workers

*Sun Pei is completely transparent and upfront about where these diapers come from and how they are                                         made. She has done several interviews, and provides info. on her website. 

I know some people will turn their nose up about them being made in China but to those people i say google Fisher Price and see where your child's toy's come from....

THE COST BREAKDOWN 
* these are my personal costs starting at 4 months to 2 years of age. i started at 4 months since we are just now completely switching over

Disposables 
1 box Pampers Swaddlers $25 lasts 1 week
1 month's worth = $100

Total disposable expense $2,000

My Sunbaby stash
12 diapers and inserts bought from re-sellers= $96
24 diapers with inserts + 12 extra inserts= $132

Total cloth diaper expense $228 

some of my sunbaby's the others are in the wash

For the environmentally conscience the benefits of using cloth are obvious:

i know this has been long winded, but we really love our cloth diapers and we are both glad that we switched! Owen seems to like them too!

Since switching we havent had a single rash nor leak! I do an extra 2 loads of laundry per week and make my own detergent that costs $.05 per load. For us the benefits are many and i wanted to share that with you!! Comment with any questions :)

When i grow up...

As a child everyone always asks you what you want to be when you grow up. I can remember always answering that i wanted to be a teacher, or sometimes a ballerina, but sitting here now at 25 years old i still cant give a confident answer. It;s been weighing heavily on my mind lately. i dont dislike my job, but i know it isnt the career for me. I wouldnt mind working the same job until i do decide what my career will be, but eventually i want to move on. I think my problem is that i genuinely love to learn. i love going to school. Learning is an amazing gift to me and i want to know everything!! I have several ideas in mind of things i would like to do.
 1. Teach high school level math or chemistry. I think i would be a decent teacher. I've had some really amazing teachers in school and i think teaching with the love and passion that they teach with is honorable. Teachers are looked over, under paid and under appreciated and i think it's pathetic. I have doubts about it. What if i cant find a job, what if it turns out that i'm no good at it, what if i get bored after 2 years and dont want to do it anymore?
 2. computer science/ software engineering. i think this comes also from the math/science part of my brain. Computers arent going anywhere and tho i dont know much about the technical aspect of computers now i think it would be cool to learn!
3. Get a BSN (bachelors of science in nursing) and eventually become a CNM (certified nurse midwife) To some people this may come as a surprise but i've always liked learning about pregnancy and birth and it's my opinion that the "birthing system" in the US is utter chaos. So many unnecessary medical procedures are done everyday and in my opinion these women are being taken advantage of all for the sake of profit. I would love to help women experience birth the way it is naturally intended to be.
4. Lactation consultant. This is usually a part time type job but  i would love it. In the short time i have been breastfeeding my little owen i have learned so much about the nutritional, physical, and emotional benefits of breastfeeding for both the mother and child. The rate of which mothers breastfeed now is so low and i would love to help educate and encourage women to breastfeed and be there to help with the trials and learning curve to make it a lasting relationship between themselves and their child.
5. nurtition/food science. its no secret that i love food!! i like the food science aspect because i think so many of us dont know what we put into our bodies everyday. i believe that many diseases and illnesses can be prevented through good diet!
6. Environmental science. Again, something i'm passionate about. I want to provide a better environment for my children and the children of the future and i would love to learn how to be a bigger part of ensuring safe renewable resources are discovered and used to protect our planet and hopefully to slow the downward spiral

As you can see its a pretty long list. I've got an associates degree with concentration in chemistry. It just so happened to work out that way due to a scheduling error on my part... an associates is a start( i managed to keep a 4.0 and graduate with honors), but its not enough for me. i want to do something, but i dont want to waste my time and money going to school when i cant decide what i want to do. Its hard because my job offers tuition assistance if its a company related field which is wonderful, but if i choose one of the other fields i'm on my own. commerce doesnt yet offer the BSN program but will be soon. UGH i want to have a carreer by the time i'm 30! Thats the goal... to finish by the time i'm 30. If i choose the nursing route that would be pretty much impossible to make it to midwife by then, but i want to AT LEAST know what i want and be diligently pursuing that choice.  

time is already flying

on aunt ray ray's lap 

       Owen is already a month old!! i cant believe how fast the time has past. I've only got 10 more days before i have to go back to work. this makes me very sad. i dont want to leave him. i know he will be in good hands at home with jesse. it may be a little rough for the two of them at first, but they will adjust and eventually so will i. Abigale is such a big help and she is so sweet to him. I couldn't ask for a more perfect little family.
      Owen has changed so much in so little time. I'm not exactly sure what he weighs now. He is sleeping at the moment or i would weigh him. i'm guessing he weighs 11 pounds or so. He is a chunk for sure. He just started smiling and accidently coo's on occasion. His eyes are still very blue and i'm betting they stay that way. He has a good amount of hair but its so blonde he looks bald in pictures. i just love looking at him. He is so spoiled because we all hold him so much. 
     Breast feeding has become pretty normal now i guess. it's not been too hard, but has been challenging at times. I'm still trying to figure out how to have enough milk stored for the days i'm at work. I had never really paid much attention to the way society views breastfeeding until now. it's crazy to me that people seem to act like it's strange and not something you are supposed to do in public or talk about. I think it's funny that we drink cow's milk like it's no big deal yet there's awkwardness if you talk about our own species ability to produce milk. Now i'm not saying i want to go to dinner and have some lady whip her boobs out in front of me and my family while we eat, but with proper coverage i don't see why its a problem. Furthermore i don't see why there aren't nursing stations in public places where there are bathrooms. its not like breastfeeding is a new phenomenon, its been around a while...  Thankfully it seems president Obama did one thing right and created federal laws protecting a mothers right to breastfeed at work. http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs73.pdf State laws regarding breastfeeding can be found here http://www.ncsl.org/issues-research/health/breastfeeding-state-laws.aspx However i still see it being a strange conversation to have with my boss who happens to be male...

this is a pretty cool website for moms or moms to be if considering breast feeding. http://tayelor.blogspot.com/2012/07/time-is-already-flying.html

also i wish every hospital had lactation consultants or la leche league people or both

that is all...