Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Remember my last post?

Remember Mike's suggestion? 

Well, turns out,

it turned out!

I tried pounding one chicken breast flat

but it just got really big and not really flat.

So, instead I butterflied them, 

opened them like a book,

stuffed them 

and then

secured the the sides together

with a thin metal kind of 

skewer. 

It's resting there on the back of my plate.

They are supposed to be for trussing up a turkey.

I topped the stuffed breasts with

panko, mixed with some grated parm,

mixed with some olive oil.

375 degrees for 35 minutes.

The man may not be able to cook

but he's got some good ideas.

Quinoa and Roasted Sweet Potato Stuffed Portabellas

That's a lot of name!

But I think it needs it. 

I'm still on my vegetarian 

three days a week kick.

I found some beautiful portabellas

the other day and spent a few days soliciting

suggestions and just pondering.

And this is what I cam up with:

It's a sweet potato that I diced pretty small
and then roasted with a red onion
and a few cloves of garlic.

I toasted some slivered almonds,
cooked up some quinoa,
and then tossed everything together
with a bit of grated parm.

I baked the cleaned portabellas
for 10 minutes at 450 degrees
then stuffed them and
topped them with some
panko crumbs tossed with
 olive oil,
baked another 5 minutes
and wound up with dinner!

I have quite a bit of the stuffing left.
I wondered out load at dinner what I
might do with it.
Mike suggested I stuff some
chicken breasts with it.

Me thinks someone is missing
something.....

Sloppy Joe Pizza

Can you turn that into a 

pizza?

As matter of fact,

yes, you can.

And to quote 

Genesis 1:31, 

it was very good.

Too Many Necklaces

And too many picture frames will 

get you 

this:

I was scouring the house for random frames

to do this:

I had plenty.

The frames as sculpture I found on 

Pinterest.

The frame with screening stapled to the back

to hold necklaces was somewhere in the 

recesses of my mind.

Probably that part labeled 

Pinterest.

Scary.

PS, mom, I found that pesky missing "e." 

Meatless Tuesday

I know 

Meatless Monday

has a certain ring to it, 

but, 

life happens.

I hadn't really thought ahead for dinners this

week and doing the whole

vegetarian days

kind of requires some forethought.

But here you have a meal on the fly and

it was actually (actually)

pretty good!

 I started out making a basic red sauce.

As long as I have a 28 ounce can of tomatoes 

around, I'm pretty much good to go. 

I sautéed a red onion in some olive oil, 

added a couple of cloves of garlic, 

chopped up a red pepper

I had roasted and then threw in some

sliced black olives.

All good but I really wanted to bump up the nutrition 

and I thought, a lot of my creamy soups have

you blend the ingredients, be they 

vegetables or, say, beans.

So, I blended up some northern beans 

and added them to the sauce.

It's hard to see but it made the sauce kind of creamy.

And, I figure our meal some protein and fiber.

 Nice!

I like it when that happens.

WhereYou Gonna Put That?

My husband's mantra.

I spotted this while perusing the internet.

I was drawn to the bare wood on the sides.

I like the juxtaposition of the beautiful wood grain

against the elaborate floral design.

Now, what to paint, what to paint.

A little foray into my sister's basement

uncovered a small bookcase in the

exact wood finish.

It started it's life at

 7710 Oakton Street.

About a bazillion years ago.

Since then it has resided on

Winchester Way

and 

Hampton Course.

It's had a brief stop on

Prairie Street. 

Now, where does it go from here? 

Sometimes Creativity Just Takes

Time.

Remember this much maligned project?

http://makingitmerry.blogspot.com/2010/11/work-in-progressmaybe.html

I started on this table in 2010.

Today it has met it's destiny.

PS,
it's 2013,
for any of you keeping track.

What A Difference A Year Makes

Time lapse photography.

In science class the photos were taken from 

one day to the next.

We like a little more "lapse" in our photography.

This was an 11 year lapse.

This was a 4 year lapse.

This was just one year.

That one year made the 

biggest

difference!

Vegetarian Day One

Day one is under our belts,

so to speak.

A couple of friends have said they would
be interested in 

what I make for our vegetarian meals.

Seems we all know a little less red meat 

in our diets is a good thing.

Lunch was tomato soup and grilled cheese.

That's swiss and brie, FYI.

Dinner was 

Aggie's Three Bean Pumpkin Chili.

I wrote about it before.

Here's the link:

http://makingitmerry.blogspot.com/2011/12/aggies-3-bean-pumpkin-chili.html

The link to the recipe is there too.
One thing to note;
I apparently didn't have the Chipotle chili powder
the first time I made it.
I did this time.
That's some hot stuff!
I will cut that in half in the future.

Tonight it's lentils!

French Onion Soup

And mini cocottes.

I would call them mini casseroles

but I just GTS and it seems 

part of what makes a 

cocotte

a 

cocotte

are it's two handles. 

Hmm.

I love all things 

mini

as well as all thing

Le Creuset

as well as all things 

Shanna, 

so what a perfect combination.

Mini 

Le Creuset

cocottes

from

Shanna! 

And here is my inaugural 

foray into 

mini cocottes:

French onion soup.

The cocottes came with a cookbook

so I took their recipe, 

Googled recipes, 

and came up with this.

It was great!

Here's what I did;

I sliced up A LOT 

of onions and then sautéed them in 

4 tablespoons of butter for 35 minutes, 

not a minute less!

All the flavor gets developed here so you just can't

skimp on the time.

The I added some dried thyme leaves, 

a splash of red wine, 

a couple of dashes of worcestershire sauce 

and enough beef stock 

to bring it to a nice consistency

and then simmered it a bit to reduce down.

 I transferred it into the cocottes

with a toasted baguette slice 

and grated swiss cheese on top

and put them under the broiler to brown up.

So good!

It's NOT A Resolution

Mike calls them goals.

I'm not big on 

resolutions 

or 

goals.

In fact, if asked, I will tell you, 

I am hurtling through space. 

And quite happy with that status.

Thank you very much.

Every year Mike makes a "goal" 

to lead a healthier lifestyle

in some form. 

Be it exercise or nutrition.

I'm not so much into being my 

husband's drill sergent but I am

in charge of what he puts in his body.

For the most part.

And usually his desire to eat healthier

falls on my deaf ears. 

We eat a reasonably healthy diet.

But this year I feel the tug for a little 

personal challenge.

I challenge myself to feeding us 

Three vegetarian DAYS a week 

along with one fish dinner a week.

It's totally do-able.

It will just take deliberate action.

But like I said, I am "mostly"

in charge of what Honey puts in his body.

I will NOT be held responsible

for the weekly donut

(or two)

he consumes at his men's 

Friday morning bible study.

God gets that one. 

Christmas 2012

This Christmas had some highs and lows.

All Christmas' do.

But a definite high was

the series of blogs I did with Lory.

 Oh, and this.

And these. 

And these too.

People.

Thank you, God for the people in my life.

The relationships for me to enjoy, 

and most especially the relationship

you have given me with

Jesus.