almond crusted chicken

I can't believe it's been a month since I last posted!  In the last month, tennis season started up, and I got a stomach bug.  It's been very eventful but has also kept me from branching out in the kitchen.  We've been eating lots of rotisserie chickens and frozen veggies lately.  We were both so busy last week, neither of us felt like going out for our standing Friday night date.  So I decided to cook something new!

Whenever we visit my parents, we usually eat at West Cobb Diner.  It popped up after I left high school, but it has become a staple in Kennesaw.  My favorite thing on the menu is Pecan Crusted Porkchops with blueberry chutney.  I always try to get someone at the table to split it with me.  It really got me thinking about using ground nuts as a coating in my cooking.  And as I've mentioned before, my first love is chicken fingers.  So it got me thinking that there had to be a way to combine these two things!

I googled many recipes and eventually pieced together my own.  It turned out to be amazing.  This recipe is 100% EASY!

Almond Crusted Chicken Tenders

Serves 4

2 lb chicken tenders

1 egg white, beaten

1 1/2 cup almonds, crushed/ground

1/2 flax meal

2 tbsp Parmesan, grated (more or less optional)

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/4 tsp pepper

Preheat your oven at 350.  In a small bowl, beat the egg white.  In another bowl, mix all dry ingredients well.  Take chicken tenders, lightly brush in beaten egg and coat in dry mixture well.  Place them in a glass baking dish, covered in alumnium and sprayed with Pam.

Bake for 40 minutes and enjoy!

smothered spinach chicken

Pre-planning is in full swing and I've been staying up late trying to get everything ready.  I always feel extremely overwhelmed this time of year.  There is so much to get done before the first day! But me and Hazel have still found a little bit of time to get in our FRIENDS for the day ;)

As I have mentioned before, I love 90s music.  It's one of the things that really keeps me going during this time of decorating and rearranging my classroom, creating new lesson plans, pacing guides, syllabi,  common core curriculum and much much more.  So when I arrive in the morning, I immediately put on my playlist and get busy.  

Yesterday morning, one of my favorite 90s songs came on.  I was filling out my desk calendar, singing/rapping EVERY word, and dancing.  I was really not expecting anyone, however my principal was going around the school greeting everyone and stood in my doorway silently watching me as I jammed to Gangsta's Paradise.  Embarrassing. But he thought it was hilarious.

One of the other things that helps me get through this stressful time is cooking.  It's been a long time since I cooked for just David and I, and we both wanted to stay in.  Of course the first place I looked for a recipe was Pinterest.  I was drawn to something called Smothered Chicken.  It sounded great, but not healthy or easy to make! So many ingredients!  I thought I might be able to make a easier, faster, and healthier version.  It turned out great! Husband approved!

Smothered Spinach Chicken

4 chicken breasts

Garlic salt

Seasoned salt

1 package of frozen chopped spinach

1 package of frozen mushrooms

1 tsp minced garlic

2 tbsp 0% Fage greek yogurt

Mozzarella cheese

Chicken:

Preheat to 350.

Cover chicken breasts in garlic salt and seasoned salt.

Bake for 40 minutes.

Smothering:

You will need two skillets.

In one, put a dash of water and the spinach.  Begin cooking and add minced garlic. Cook down.

In the other skillet, put a dash of olive oil and the mushrooms. Cook down.

Once mushrooms have cooked, drain excess water and add to the spinach over low heat.

Add Fage yogurt and fold together.

Once your chicken is cooked, add "smothering" on top.  Then add as much mozzarella as you would like.  It will melt from the heat!  The "smothering" would also be good as a side!

ENJOY!

road trip

David and I got up really early to head to Asheville on the 30th! We wanted to make several stops along the way and bypass some closed roads in the process.

And.... We saw TONS of snow ❄❄❄ and this Georgia girl just had to go play in it!

David let me jam out to 90s (the only thing I listen to) almost the whole way. My favorites you ask? Every song written during the 1990's. Anything Goo Goo Dolls, Third Eye Blind, Matchbox Twenty, ALL boy bands, TLC, and Coolio just to name a few.

Confession: in high school, I named my tennis racket Rainmaker. Mostly, because I was obsessed with the song Real World by Matchbox Twenty. I told David about it in the car today, we had a good laugh. Instead of Coach Dove, maybe I'll have my tennis team call me Rainmaker. (Seriously kidding!!)

On our first night we dined at Tupelo Honey Cafe. Every time we mentioned going to Asheville, it was recommended to us that we eat there. It lived up to the expectations. The biscuit and honey was such a yummy start to the meal. I had "fried" chicken in nut flour and nuts(GF) it was amazing! And after our waiter went on about how famous their Brown Butter Pecan Pie was... well, we had to try it.

And he was right.... It was AMAZING!

We shared one piece, but we were wishing we hadn't!

David and I spent all of the 31st touring the Biltmore, Biltmore village, and downtown Asheville!

I had not been to the Biltmore since 2000 and David had never been, so we were soaking it all in!  It was gorgeous!  They were still decorated for Christmas and it was beautiful.  We went back for the Candlelight Tour.  All of the fire places and candles were lit, it was amazing.

Outside the Biltmore with the beautiful view!!

In front of the Biltmore, about to go in!

In the Biltmore conservatory!

      

We ate our New Year's Eve dinner at Cedric's in the Biltmore.  Cedric was the family dog that lived there.  I even got a picture with him...err...his statue.

And we couldn't leave sweet Hazel without bringing her back a yummy treat!

We went to Three Dog Bakery and picked up some treats that she absolutely LOVES!

She actually helped me write this post... but really she just walked on my key board and erased everything, so I got to start all over!

I hope you had a wonderful New Year!  We certainly did!

thankfulness

So it's been awhile...
life has gotten in the way again!

Just before we went on Thanksgiving Break, I got the flu.  And I had it for roughly two weeks.  It was so awesome, but not really.  Let's just say if my kiddos have something, I always get it!  Thanksgiving break was just what I needed to get over it for good!

We kicked it off with a GEORGIA game!  David and I had such a good time!  We even got to help Uga crowd surf!  To be honest, I'm probably a little too proud of the picture below.  I whipped out my phone so fast and jumped off the bleacher to get this beauty!

David has officially kicked off finals and all the fun studying that comes with it.   So I went to visit my parents for a whole week!! It was so much fun!  But just before I left, David and I celebrated 5 months of marriage.  And how much fun we've been having!

We treated ourselves to a Last Resort supper, Jittery Joe's coffee, and a walk around North Campus.  And of course, I had to have the chicken praline.  I get it every time and it never disappoints.

Then we ate an incredible lunch at Five Star Day, just before I hit the road to spend some quality time with the fam! Soup and salad!

Over the last week, we made our first step towards celebrating our first Christmas together by participating in Operation Christmas Child!  We love knowing that we have made some litter girl's day.  We highly recommend you get involved if you are interested!

And speaking of celebrating...my sister was almost a turkey baby!  We got to celebrate her birthday on Thanksgiving this year.  My grandma made a HUGE peppermint ice cream cake for Claire!  It was three times as big as her head!  She is 24 now... wow she's getting old!

And her precious dog, Margo LOVED helping her open gifts!  She can seriously rip up some paper!

It was so great to see so much family over Thanksgiving break!  I am so thankful for David, my family, job, and church.

Now I just can't wait for the weekend!

done and done

David and I are so busy during the week we hardly have time to do anything, especially cook!

While I was searching Pinterest, I started to notice how so many women make their meals once a week or once every two weeks and freeze them.  

So I picked out a couple recipes and got busy.
This literally took me less than 20 minutes to put together.

Before I talk about my recipes, I should tell you about an amazing new app I downloaded.  Not only do I have it on my iPhone, I can access it via the web anywhere.

On Google Chrome, I have a Evernote Webclipper.  So anytime I find a recipe I like, I click on my clipper and tag it in recipes.  It organizes everything for me!  I can clip any recipes and tag them to a specific notebook.

The best part, if I need to look up something from a recipe that I can't remember, I can access it EASILY while at the store!

I made two dishes for this week--Basil Pesto Chicken and Chicken Parm Bake!

I write the directions on the tops, so that David can start something before I get home if he wants.

Here are my recipes!

Basil Pesto Chicken

- Chicken breasts

- Basil Pesto

- Mozzarella cheese

Cook at 375 for 25 minutes.

Pull out, cover in mozzarella cheese and continue cooking 5-7 minutes!

Enjoy!

Chicken Parm Bake

- Chicken breasts

- 1 cup Fage greek yogurt

- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese

- Seasoned salt

- Pepper

- Garlic powder

- Onion powder

Preheat to 375.

Cover chicken breasts in the seasonings.

Mix greek yogurt and parm cheese together.

Cover chicken in mixture.  Cover the top of every piece so that it doesn't dry out!

Cook 45 minutes.

Top with fresh parm at the end and let melt.

ENJOY!

my mama is awesome :)

My mama is super awesome.  For a lot of reasons. I don't talk about her enough on my blog.

I was feeling a little homesick today after seeing my parents for just a short time yesterday.

David and I took care of Charley while they went to the UGA game.  She was so precious and sweet. It was really fun!

Today, I forgot to get cauliflower at the grocery store and I had this weird feeling I was supposed to go to Walmart to get it.  I was just walking around (with no particular plan in mind and FOUR bags of frozen cauli).  I had thought about getting a pumpkin to sit out for the fall season.  I was thinking about this pretty glass pumpkin my mama always puts out.  She keeps candy corn in it all season.

Just as I had this thought, I turned around and saw one that looked just like hers!  It was only $5, so needless-to-say it now sits on my dining room table with candy corn in it.  While I can't eat it, I know David will enjoy it.  And my homesickness has subsided, because now I have a piece of home here :)

I've been using my crockpot a lot lately.  My amazing mama suggested a recipe she found for Balsamic Chicken.  Yesterday I prepared it, and today we ate it.  AMAZING.  I'm seriously in love!

Let me tell you, my mama knows everything.

I put this yummy meal on before Church and it was ready when we got home!

Inside this pot you will find:

6 pieces of chicken breast (uncooked)

1 tsp Rosemary, Oregano, Basil

1/2 tsp Thyme

4 garlic cloves

1/2 cup Balsamic Vinegar

1 tsp Oil

1 can of diced tomatoes (I used fire-roasted)

1 onion (sliced, not diced)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Only 4 hours on high!

This is what the chicken looked like plated.  We had mashed cauli and black eyed peas with it!  This recipe was super easy and so good!  We absolutely loved it.

Way to go mama!  Thank you for an amazing recommendation!

I hope you had a great weekend!