Smoky Orange BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

I can not take any credit for this tasty meal! I found it over on Randi's recipe blog. It was so easy to make the sauce and I loved the taste! This is anything but mild, and it really packed a punch! I knew Christopher would like it as he's in a hot sauce phase right now and puts it on everything! I did leave it off of the kids' chicken, as I knew it would be too spicy for them, but overall, I'm glad I tried this one! It's a keeper!

Darn that blue jello

Preston loves jello. Loves it! I often make up a batch and pour it into single-serving size containers and pack it in his lunch box. It never fails to be a favorite. So when the school served blue jello at snack time, it was too much to resist. Preston is usually extremely careful about what he eats if it's not given to him by us, or if it's new. I rarely worry about him at school because of how careful he is, and his teacher is cautious as well. Then one day they had blue jello at snack time. Instead of eating his snack, he decided that the blue jello was something that he simply had to have. Well, the blue jello was not the Jell-O brand that is safe. No, it was the Wal-Mart brand that contains traces of milk and peanuts. I pick him up from school and see that his mouth is blue- slightly alarming because I knew that I'd sent nothing blue that day, not because I thought he was oxygen deprived. I asked what he'd eaten, and he told me. I get him home, clean him up, and find that his eczema was flared up in a terrible way. We'd just gotten it under control in the past few days, now it was horribly inflamed again.

WE had to have a little chat after that incident. He already knew that not all jello is OK, but that blue jello was oh, so, tempting to a six year old. I can't blame him, I love jello, too! But I think (at least I hope so) he learned a lesson from it- he hates his eczema flares, especially the ones on his face.

Oh, and beware of lipstick as well! While at Granny and Pa's 2 weeks ago, Preston went upstairs with Granny and decided he wanted to try on her lipstick. Not sure where that one came from... Anyway, his eczema flared up horribly all around his mouth and took over a week to get back under control. Cosmetics companies don't list ingredients, and often times they contain peanut oil and other strange and not-so friendly ingredients. Just be careful!

Tomatoes, Chicken and Rice

I love canned tomatoes! I buy and use more canned tomatoes than almost any other canned good- second only to chicken broth. It's SO much easier than cutting fresh tomatoes, and I think the flavor is much more intense (probably from the salt). Tonight I fixed Tomatoes, Chicken and Rice, a recipe aptly named with tomatoes listed first, as there's many more tomatoes than anything else! But it was delicious!

Tomatoes, Chicken and Rice

1/4 c. Italian dressing
4 boneless chicken breasts, sliced
2 cloves minced garlic
1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 c. water
2 c. instant brown rice

1. Heat dressing in large skillet over med. heat. Add chicken and garlic and cook until no longer pink.

2. Add tomatoes, water and rice. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes or until most of the water is absorbed.

Worcestershire Chicken

Do you have trouble saying that word- Worcestershire? It's one of my favorites, both the word and the sauce! Pronounced, woos-te-shire, it's a tricky word, but a tasty sauce that surprisingly, both kids love! This never lasts long in our house, and it proved to go just as quickly tonight. Darn, no leftovers!

Worcestershire Chicken

Chicken cutlets (as many as desired)
salt
flour
3 T. dairy-free margarine, divided
2 T. olive oil
2 T. worcestershire sauce
1 T. vinegar
1/2 c. chicken broth

Warm oil and 2 T. of margarine in skillet. Dredge the cutlets in flour and sprinkle with salt. Add chicken to skillet and cook until done. Transfer to a plate and keep warm.

Add worcestershire, vinegar and broth to the skillet. Add remaining tablespoon of margarine and bring to a boil, stirring until slightly thickened. Serve over chicken.

My sauce never thickens in the least, but that doesn't stop me from spooning it over my chicken. It's delicious! I always serve it with mashed potatoes and whatever else I feel like. Tonight we had it with mashed potatoes, three bean salad, and homemade French bread. YUM!

And since I know it off the top of my head, I'll throw in my 3 bean salad recipe!

Three bean salad

1 can green beans
1 can wax beans
1 can kidney beans
1 c. vinegar
2/3 c. sugar

Boil sugar and vinegar together and let cool. Drain all beans and place in a bowl. Once vinegar is cool, pour over beans and let sit for at least an hour. YUM!

Fried rice

With the kids at school, there were no hungry wolverines swarming about, so I was able to document the making of my delicious lunch. Consider this a treat!
Fried Rice

2 cups cooked rice, cold 1 large carrot, sliced frozen peas 1T. olive oil 1t. garlic powder 1 egg soy sauce

Heat oil and garlic powder in skillet (please excuse my ugly skillet).

Scramble the egg with the oil until cooked.

Add remaining ingredients and cook over med. high heat for about 10 minutes, stirring often. I never measure. I add as many peas as I like, and enough soy sauce to turn the rice light brown.
You can also add ham to this, but I prefer it without. If you want, you can always beef it up with some milled flax seed! Enjoy!

I'm making yeast bread after the kids get home. Maybe I'll document it!

I get by with a little help from my friends

One of my allies in the kitchen is milled flax seed. It's full of fiber and Omega-3's and is listed as a super food. My children can be picky, and this helps me to feel a little better about what they eat. You can put it in just about anything. I put it in baked goods and they never know. Anytime I use ground meat, I sprinkle a generous helping in before I cook it and no one ever knows. After it's opened, it has to be refrigerated or it will spoil. It's a great thing to have around!

Favorite kabobs

My kids love kabobs. I think they just like eating off of a stick, mainly! But this recipe is an all-over pleaser. There are no complaints when I fix this! I served this with brown rice and roasted tomatoes. I usually marinate cherry tomatoes and skewer them, but plum tomatoes were on sale dirt cheap, so I roasted them and they were so much better!

3 chicken breasts, cubed
6+ red potatoes, halved
green pepper, cut into chunks
cherry tomatoes

1/2 c. vegetable oil
1/3 c. lemon juice
1/3 c worchestershire sauce
1/4 c vinegar
1/4 c soy sauce
3 T. yellow mustard
2 garlic cloves, minced.

1. Half red potatoes and boil until tender. Drain and let cool. Put all vegetables in a bowl. Place all of the cubed chicken into a separate bowl.

2. Whisk all marinade ingredients together and pour half over chicken and the other half over veggies. Let sit for several hours.

3. Skewer chicken and veggies and bake at 400 for about 20 minutes or until chicken is done. Can also be grilled.


Roasted Tomatoes

Plum tomatoes
Olive oil
Kosher salt

1. Cut tomatoes in half length-wise and scoop out the core. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with kosher salt. Roast at 400 until tomatoes are cooked and start to wither.

YUM!

Breakfast for dinner

One of my favorite quick and cheap dinners is breakfast. The kids love to find out we're having pancakes and bacon or waffles for dinner. And really, sometimes it's just nice to have pancakes whenever you feel like it!

The kids went to Grammy and Pa-pa's for a bit tonight, so Christopher and I had breakfast for dinner. Instead of pancakes, though, we had western skillet omelet. Neither of my children will touch eggs, so I save this one for when they're gone!

Western Skillet Omelet

1/2 bag frozen hasbrowns (cube style)
1 t. seasoning salt
1 T. olive oil
1 green pepper diced
1/2 can diced tomatoes
1 green onion, sliced
4 eggs

1. Heat oil in skillet over med. heat. Add half a bag of hashbrowns and seasoning salt. Cook 10 minutes and add peppers, onion and half a can of diced tomatoes (freeze the other half for next time). Cook until hashbrowns are tender. Reduce heat to low. Make four wells in the hashbrowns. Crack one egg into each well. Cover and cook until yolks are set (about 15 minutes).

This is such an easy recipe and one of my favorites- I have leftovers in the fridge for morning! The original recipe calls for fresh tomatoes, but I find that canned diced tomatoes give it a lot more zing and it's so much easier than cutting tomatoes!