The Blog Post that Almost Wasn’t and a Greek Chicken Crockpot Recipe!

Well here we are again…three months have passed with no blog posts after I specifically wrote in my last blog post (and the one before that, and the one before that…) about how I was going to try to post more. I’m going to specifically NOT write that this time…although it’s still a secret goal!

As it is for everyone, life has been busy and my time management skills are constantly being put to the test. Babies tend to do that to you I suppose. Most of my time is allotted to this sweet girl who is somehow already nine months old.

9 Months

I’m honestly not sure how that happened…science I guess. Amelia keeps me quite busy but we have fallen into a weekly routine which works quite well for us. Her two naps provide me with a respite to shower/eat/clean/do laundry/cook/work from home and occasionally do this. Most days…getting it all done is a distant dream, but we somehow manage to hit all the important parts at the right time. We haven’t yet resorted to wearing dirty clothes or only eating take out.

Amelia eats real people food now which has been a little scary (gagging…ugh), mostly funny (she looks like a squirrel with a nut) and incredibly messy. And although we are still doing our fair share of Hello Fresh for convenience, it has also inspired me to cook more. We started out just feeding her breakfast and lunch but have recently added in dinner. Robert works late so most nights, I feed her random things before he comes home but occasionally, when the stars align (aka when I use my crock pot), we are able to have dinner as a family.

 

Shame on me for forgetting how wonderful a crock pot can be. I can assemble meals during her morning nap and voila, dinner is ready when Robert walks in the door! Now I know why my mom used hers so often when we were growing up. Crock pots are also great when you are feeding a baby because everything comes out soft, which is still necessary for her despite the fact that she has EIGHT teeth already. We don’t listen to the song “Baby Shark” but I imagine it was written about my child, although she seems to be over her biting phase thank goodness.

Amelia

I called this the blog post that almost wasn’t because despite rediscovering a love for my crock pot, I can’t claim to be overly inspired by most of my go to crock pot recipes…at least not inspired enough to share them. Also I think we can all agree that crock pot meals don’t photograph particularly well. This particular recipe was shared with me by my friend Rebecca. I in turn told my sister about it who asked me to share it with her. I figured if I was going to send it to her I may as well write a post (which I’ve been meaning to do for ohh, three months) and send her that instead. I mean a recipe with pictures of your niece embedded is preferable to just a recipe, no?

This chicken recipe is so easy and flavorful. I serve mine over a bed of brown rice to which I add; a can of black beans, a diced and sauteed red onion, a diced avocado and crumbled feta cheese. Other delicious additions to up the veggie factor would be roasted red peppers or even sauteed zucchini.

Chicken

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Clean out the Fridge Frittata

Breakfast foods for breakfast, breakfast foods for lunch, breakfast foods for dinner. These are a few of my favorite things.

Close Up

I have long waxed poetic on this blog about my love of all things breakfast. I could eat breakfast foods all day long, and some days I actually do. Like today. I had a spinach smoothie for breakfast (spinach means its basically a salad so this could technically be lunch..right?), oatmeal for lunch (Which exploded in the work microwave..bummer), and last but not least I’ll be dining on the rest of this delicious frittata for dinner tonight.

Ingredients

Oatmeal for lunch typically means I’m completely out of groceries and need to make a trip to the store. While I am currently out of groceries, I will not be making a trip to the store any time soon since we leave for Bermuda on Wednesday! I talked about this trip on the blog many posts ago when it was first planned and seemed forever away… well, it’s finally here! Between treadmill falls (which is almost totally healed, hooray!) and a few tough weeks at work, I am more than ready for a few days away with Robert (and the rest of my family too of course :). My aunt and sister-in-law chose the location and accommodations and have done the majority of the planning thus far. They are both fun and have great taste so instead of going into my typical “plan everything to the minute” vacation mode, I’m looking forward to just going along for the ride and seeing what they have up their sleeves! If they need any suggestions once we get there I did happen to find this fun helmet diving activity on TripAdvisor…

Helmet Diving

I’m not sure if her face is screaming “This is TERRIBLE!” or “This is AWESOME!” but either way, I’m in.

Ok, so back to the frittata. Wasting food is a personal pet peeve so when we are headed out of town I try to use up everything perishable in the fridge before we go. What better to do with random ingredients than make a frittata? I mean EVERYTHING goes with eggs, am I right or am I right?

 Crisped Potato slices saute

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Baked Coconut Chicken Bites

Is August really over already? I feel like Labor Day is the unofficial end to summer which has been making me quite sad…that is of course until I bought a sweater last Saturday. Then I promptly remembered how much I love sweaters, and scarves, and boots (can’t forget boots!) and even hats! One thing I do NOT love is pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin baked goods are another story but hopefully that’s enough to set me apart from every other “basic” 28 year old girl in America 🙂

Close Up

End of summer means back to work. Back to work means a lot less time in the kitchen. Less time in the kitchen means batch cooking is once again my new best friend! Heyo! I am big on trying new recipes and we rarely have repeats, but I do rely on a few staples when we are short on time. Enter, Coconut Crusted Chicken Bites!

coconut Toasted Coconut

I love fried chicken in all its forms (except wings…too messy and bony, bleh), but I NEVER fry foods at home. A. I’m scared I’d burn myself and B. Crusty baked chicken tastes equally as delicious and is so much better for you! Before I discovered the secret to crispy “baked” chicken, I made many a bird that came out soggy and did nothing to mimic the fried texture I was aiming for. Then one day I read a recipe that called for a rack and that made ALL the difference. When the chicken sits up and the heat is able to circulate all around it, everything cooks evenly and gets nice and crispy. I use my cookie cooling rack since it is oven safe, and it works wonderfully. If you have had similar experiences and thus snub your nose at baked fried chicken recipes, try this method, I guarantee you’ll change your tune!

Coconut-bc-panko

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Easter Weekend & Artichoke Salsa

I meant to get this post written Sunday/Monday but you know…life. It happens.

Per usual, it’s been hectic around these parts. Next week is my spring break and my job always seems to gear up and get even more crazy busy than usual before a break. I am definitely looking forward to the time off, as I plan to spend it in Tennessee with my family. My mom is actually flying in this weekend so we can attend the funeral of a good friend’s grandmother. Not the best circumstances for a visit, but I am excited to see her and happy to have someone to make the drive home with! Not that Renly isn’t good company, but he tends to sleep a lot in the car and doesn’t really talk back much.

 Passenger

I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend! My friend Caite got into town late Thursday night and we enjoyed a breakfast date (my favorite!) Friday morning followed by an afternoon spent in our bathing suits on a dock. It was just warm enough to be laying out and just windy enough not to be too hot, heavenly. We followed up our day in the sun with dinner at home and a late night visit to Hilton Head Ice Cream. Ice Cream is my weakness and if you are ever in HHI I suggest you give this place a try. All their flavors are homemade and chocked full of add-ins. Robert considers himself a cookies and cream connoisseur and he has deemed their Oreo ice cream “the best”. Believe it.

Oreo Cake
The birthday cake of a true Oreo lover…

Robert left us Saturday to head to his aunt’s home in Charleston. I was sad to see him go but a girls night with your best friend is certainly not something that happens every day so I didn’t stay blue for long. We took Renly on a long walk around one of my favorite neighborhoods on the water and then took ourselves shopping. That night we tried out a new restaurant in town that’s been on my to-do list, Poseidon. The food was underwhelming but the drinks were good and it was a fun excuse to get dressed up!

Green Renly
Instead of dying eggs, Renly dyed his head green with a roll in the grass

Caite left early Sunday and I had a few hours to get the house back in order before Robert got home and we headed to a late Easter dinner to celebrate my brother in law’s 40th birthday. The kids had a great time hunting eggs and it was nice to catch up with my family since I had missed them over the weekend. As Caite was leaving Sunday we discovered an Easter surprise on the front porch….

Easter Delivery Easter Delivery 2

Such a thoughtful husband I have, surprising me with wine and chocolate even when he is out of town Smile Love that man.

 Easter Basket 2

Since I knew Caite and I would be indulging this weekend I tried to make our Friday dinner at home a healthy one. I found this delicious looking recipe a few weeks ago on one of my favorite food blogs and was instantly inspired. I am not yet a grill master (summertime goal) so Robert grilled up the chicken while I made the sides, ham wrapped asparagus (the only way I like asparagus, I’ll share the non-recipe soon) and roasted carrots (yep, can’t stop, won’t stop). Grilled chicken is pretty ho hum on its own,  but a topping/sauce can make it sing. In typical indecisive fashion, I couldn’t decide between trying Kristin’s artichoke salsa or making my favorite creamy chimi churri sauce, so I went with both. They don’t call me the condiment queen for nothing! *Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I just gave myself that nickname, like right now as I was typing, but I do really love sauces so lets just go with it.

 Grilled Chicken with Artichoke Salsa

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Lighter Creamy Chicken & Wild Rice Soup

Happy Weekend! Let me preface this post by stating that any obvious typos can be attributed to my fingers having gone completely numb. Robert and I are going on Day 4 of no heat and it has been dipping down into the high 30’s around here. Brrr. After the first missed appointment, the maintenance man finally showed up last night and was unable to find the issue. He wisely advised that we “bundle up and cuddle close” to make it through the night and promised to come back today. Considering Robert and I had a real argument last night about who got to sleep next to Renly the live heater, we better hope he follows through!

Soup Veggies Wild Rice

There are really only a few food items that will suffice for dinner when you are residing in an igloo. Hot, plentiful and warm-you-up-from-the-inside-out are my personal criteria and soup fits the bill. I love soup of all kinds. It’s versatile, healthy, can be made out of literally almost anything you have on hand and most of the time fairly inexpensive. This particular soup recipe came from my mother who clipped it from the weekend section of the local paper. I have since adapted it slightly and made it many times over for friends, family and batch lunches. It is delicious, re-heats perfectly and unlike some soups, filling enough to be a meal on it’s own, even for Robert! If you are really hungry or feeding a crowd, a gooey grilled cheese or crusty bread to dip would be the perfect accompaniment.

Diced Veggies Rosemary Sprigs Continue reading