Parmesan Chicken....YUMMY!

Oh my heavens...you remember a llooonnnggg way back, before I dropped off the blogging community and into the wild blue yonder....I posted a pic of this fantabulous chicken recipe. This one is off the chain and fit for royalty! Here is the long awaited recipe. You can follow the link at the bottom for the sauteed asparagus that is recommended with it. It's a great site for just about any kind of recipe you could imagine!

Parmesan Chicken (from http://www.bigoven.com/)

Ingredients:

2 whole Chicken breasts, boneless and skinless


2 Egg whites

2 tablespoons Cornstarch

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1 cup Dry bread crumbs coarse

1 tablespoon Fresh parsley

1 teaspoon Kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon Black Pepper

Zest of 1 lemon minced

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

3 tablespoons Olive oil

Sage-Butter Sauce

3 tablespoons Shallots minced

1/2 cup Dry white wine

1/2 cup Heavy cream

1/2 cup Chicken broth

1 teaspoon Fresh lemon juice

4 tablespoons Unsalted butter cold, cubed

1 teaspoon Salt, white pepper, and cayenne to taste

1 teaspoon Fresh sage minced

.Preparation

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Prepare the chicken by halving and then halving again lengthwise. (Whole chicken breasts are a bit too big. Making smaller pieces ensures that the coating will not burn before the chicken is cooked through.) Pound to about 1/2 inch thick. Blend the egg whites, cornstarch, and lemon juice with a fork in a wide, shallow dish; set aside. Combine the bread crumbs, parmesan, parsley, salt, pepper, and zest in a second wide, shallow dish.

To crust the chicken breasts, dip each in the egg white mixture and then roll in the bread crumbs. Then transfer the chicken to a rack set over a baking sheet. Air-dry the chicken for 20-30 minutes to help set the crumbs.

To cook, first saute the chicken on the stove in an ovenproof skillet. As you put the chicken in the pan, lay it towards you. This way each piece will rest on top of any crumbs that fall off. Saute until the chicken is golden and crisp on one side, then carefully flip the pieces over. Cook until golden. Finally, transfer the whole pan to a 450 degree oven to finish. Cook for 8 to 10 minutes in the oven. If you are serving this with Sage-Butter Sauce and Roasted Potatoes with Garlic and Rosemary, begin roasting the potatoes while the chicken is air drying on the rack, then prepare the sauce and keep it warm in a warm water bath. It will hold just fine for at least an hour.

For the Sauce - saute the shallots in butter in a small saucepan over medium heat until soft, 2 - 3 minutes. Add the wine, cream, broth and lemon juice. Simmer until reduced by half, 8 - 10 minutes. Whisk in butter, 1 Tbl at a time, stirring constantly. Do not add more butter until previous addition has melted completely. Finish sauce with sage and seasonings. Keep warm in a warm water bath until ready to serve.

Sauteed Asparagus

Love y'all!

TIPitty Tuesday - Quick yet Robust Spaghetti Sauce

Woot Woot! Who doesn't love a good tip to help with running a home, feeding a family, or just making life a little easier to enjoy? I need all the help I can get -- y'all know I'm telling the truth!

For this, the first TIPitty Tuesday, I have a shortcut to creating a robust spaghetti sauce. I love a good sauce for s'getti, but often don't have the time to let it simmer all day.

You need:

However much store-bought spaghetti sauce you typically use for your family. For our family of 9, I use 4 cans of sauce.

2 cans Italian seasoned diced tomatoes (if you aren't cooking for a small army as I am, then use 1 can proportionally)

2 packets Italian spaghetti sauce mix (if you are only using half the sauce, then you only need one packet)

When I'm not cooking for picky children, I sautee green pepper and add a can of mushroom buttons to my sauce. Totally optional.

2 lb hamburger meat (sometimes I use pork sausage if that's what I have)

TIPitty #1 - STORE COOKED, GROUND BEEF FLAT IN THE FREEZER BAG! I buy ground beef in bulk and then brown it when I get home from the grocery store. Brown completely, drain the grease off and rinse (I use my colander for this). Then I divide into 2 lb portions and put it into a freezer bag. FLATTEN OUT YOUR BAG AS YOU ZIP IT CLOSED, SPREADING THE GROUND BEEF OUT INTO A SINGLE LAYER IN THE BAG. I usually put the bag between my belly and the counter and lean on it to get the air out....I'd take a picture of the process but y'all don't want to see all that!

This makes it super easy to defrost, and saves freezer space too! ; )

Fixin' the Sauce:

If your meat isn't browned yet, do that. Drain and rinse. Mine was already cooked and frozen flat!

Then add all other ingredients. DO NOT DRAIN TOMATOES. DO NOT ADD WATER AS THE SPAGHETTI SEASONING INDICATES. Just open cans and packages, pour into large enough sauce pan and stir it all up.

Cook on medium high heat until boiling, stirring constantly. Then turn heat to low and simmer 15 minutes or so while you cook your noodles. You can let it cook longer, but this sauce tastes great either way.

Robust flavor makes people think you worked on it all day!

Hope this helps someone out there! Cooking my ground beef and freezing it flat in an airtight freezer bag changed my life! ; )

Love y'all, Les

Nathan is Inducted Into the National Elementary Honor's Society

This morning my son, Nathan, was honored with initiation into the National Elementary Honor's Society. It was exciting to get to see him accept this honor along with other students from his school. It is the first ceremony of its kind at his school. Just had to brag a bit!

There were a lot of girls but only a handful of guys, and my little man was one of them! Go Nathan!!

My plans for the weekend are varied and I hope to make progress on several things!
* Fishing with the hubby
* Cleaning out closets -- this weekend I need to get all the kids' closets done
* Sewing -- I MISS YOU!!!!
* Plan for blog posts for next week -- I am DETERMINED to get more on here! I have so much to say but failing to plan is causing me to fail!
* Work on an upcoming get together

* I really, REALLY want to try cooking Paremsan Crusted Chicken -- it looks delicious and will be the first recipe I'm trying off my phone's cookbook app! (photo courtesy of bigoven.com)

What are your plans for the weekend? Trying anything new?

Moxie -- as in That Girl Has Moxie

Moxie. It's an old fashioned word but sometimes there are ladies who can only be described by this term. I must tell you a short story about my 8 year old, Lily-Cate. Lily-Cate is a shorty -- she only stands about an inch taller than her 6 year old sisters. Despite her smallish stature, she arrived in this world full of spunk and independance. At 8 months old she was walking and by 10 months old she literally could climb onto my table, and swing on my chandelier.

Our church had a short six-week "Basketball Fundamentals" for the kiddos. Lily-Cate is very athletic and wanted to go. When we arrived, there were only boys. She didn't care and insisted she still wanted to play. When I went to pick her up, she was crying. "I couldn't get the ball in the hoop." "The boys wouldn't give me the ball." Among many other things. I did my best to comfort her and listen. I assumed, naturally, that the child would not want to go back, and because it wasn't a sport we signed up for I wasn't going to force her to.

Fast forward to the next week. "Lily-Cate they have other studies tonight. I'm sure we can find one you'll like." And my short-stuff, my itty bitty girl says, "What are you talking about? I'm playing basketball." I was absolutely floored.

This whole thing has gotten me really thinking about living life with MOXIE. Talk about courage, spunk, independance and power! Now I have not looked MOXIE up in Webster's okay? I am using my own definition here of a term I use often to describe women I admire.

I learned a lesson from my little 8 year old, who turns out to be quite big after all. I can't tell you how proud I am of her. I also want to make sure that I live my life, and make my decisions with that same amount of MOXIE!




I do not have a picture of Lily-Cate playing basketball. But here is one of her playing hind-catcher on her softball team this past season. She is one of the smallest on her team but plays her heart out.


Here are some other ladies that I admire for their MOXIE:

Katherine Hepburn. Wow what an awesome lady! Talk about being independant. If you have never read her autobiography "ME", you certainly should. She made her own rules in a time when it was not nearly as accepted for a woman to be so dauntingly independant.



Sharon Stone. I love how no matter what she's doing, she has that "take it or leave it" look written all over her face. I wish I could walk with such grace while at the same time saying "forget you" to all who don't approve.





Margaret Thatcher. Margaret Thatcher was the United Kingdom's first woman prime minister. She held the office of PM for 11 years -- longer than anyone in the 20th century. Thatcher shored up a Conservative-led government, favored privatization rather than government expansion, led the country through the Falklands War with Argentina, and did it all with a stern no-nonsense flair that earned her the nickname "The Iron Lady." (courtesy of who2.com)

Michelle Obama. Whether you agree with their politics or not, the Obamas are a driving force in America today. You cannot deny their charisma and charm. Michelle carries herself with such dignity and grace! no account of women with MOXIE would be complete without her.

There are many other women in my life that have influenced the woman I am today. I salute you all and thank you for living life with power, independance, and courage. Lord let me live my life with MOXIE.

What women inspire you with their MOXIE? What do you need to change in order to live your life with more MOXIE?? It can only go UP from here ladies! - Les (TTTQ)

What To Say....

I have wavered between creating a blog and convincing myself that I have nothing relevant to post for some time now....Curiosity finally got the best of me and I decided to give it a whirl...

Some of my fondest memories are of summer days spent crafting with my Nanny (my gramma). We embroidered pillow cases, dresses, just whatever we could find. As a child I loved to create. Short stories, cross stitch, needlepoint, anything I could get my hands on. Slowly, the stress of being a "grown up", paying bills, and being responsible choked all the creative energy right out of me!

It was only after finding some long lost friends that grown up me started searching for that creative side again. Surprisingly, it has returned faster than I thought. My mother blessed me with a sewing machine and I have taken off. It started out as a venture to create cute outfits for my girls, but it is quickly overtaking my world!

My current projects are July 4th outfits (yes I am cutting it close) and a super duper, top secret custom gift for a friend who is getting married July 11. Please stay tuned for pictures and let me know what you think! As the crickets chirp, and the frogs croak outside my window tonight, I will be working away at my sewing table. My husband and boys are all gone this week, working a fireworks stand that we do every December and July. It is the perfect time to strow all my craft paraphanalia from here to yonder, and play, play, play. If anyone cares to join me, I've got sweet tea on ice, Ritz crackers and cheese, and plenty of tunes!