Anniversary Chicken

When I was single, I had a few rules that I tried to abide by (the key word here is "tried").  One of those rules was not to cook for a guy until we'd been dating for a reasonable amount of time, because otherwise, the next thing you know I'd have another idiot thinking that he either found a Mommy fill-in or a nice girl to take advantage of.  He'd get all crazy clingy and want to marry me or something.  And not take me to dinner anymore.  I don't know about the rest of you, but as much as I like to cook, I love to go to great restaurants and really enjoy some quality cuisine, delicious desserts (or hoity-toity desserts as Kyle calls them), and good wine/craft beer.

I was completely out of my element with Kyle.  I've always been a very free spirit, and didn't like to be held down or told what to do.  Hell, I have a cell phone and it wasn't until I had a child and a husband that worried that I began carrying the darn thing around.  I've just never been the leash- electronic or otherwise, type.

Anyway, the point is that once I met my husband, I saw him everyday.  Not practically everyday, not everyday but one day a week.  I'm talking everyday.  We ate dinner together every night, and damn it if I didn't break down and make the boy dinner much earlier in the relationship than I had ever planned.

So now, whenever it's an anniversary or Ky needs cheering up, I make "Anniversary Chicken".  It's a very simple breaded chicken that for some reason impressed Kyle's roommates (Doby declared that "it looked like restaurant chicken!" when we met), and I hope you enjoy it too.  Oh, and to all you parents out there, my little one LOVES this chicken.

Anniversary Chicken
(serves 4)
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
Bread Crumbs (doesn't matter if they're seasoned or not)
1 tsp Onion Powder
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3 cloves Garlic (crushed)
3 sprigs Thyme (leaves only)
2 sprigs Rosemary (chopped finely)
2 Eggs
3 Tbs Milk
Sea Salt (to taste)
Pepper (to taste)

Clean the chicken breast.  If you don't have great knife skills, no worries, just use some sharp kitchen shears.  If you're afraid of cooking a whole breast, you can slice it in half so that it's thinner, and cooks about four minutes faster.

Now that the chicken has been butchered, beat the eggs and milk together in a medium sized bowl.  Add the spices and herbs to the egg mixture.  Get another bowl and fill it with breadcrumbs.  Before you dredge the chicken, heat the skillet to medium low heat.  Add a few glugs of olive oil.  Let the pan get hot before you put the chicken in the pan.

While you wait for the pan to get hot, dip the chicken in the egg mixture and then in the breadcrumbs.  To test if the pan is hot, flick some water in the pan, and if it sizzles, you can put the breaded chicken in.  Cook the chicken for about six minutes per side (depending on thickness).

Let the chicken rest for a minute or two before eating it so it stays nice and juicy.  Enjoy!

Shake me all life long!

This past Saturday, our good friends Lizy and Wyatt got married.  The entire shabang was completely beautiful (can you really go wrong with a wedding in the Finger Lakes?  I think not.), but what really got me was just how much they love each other.  They've been together a long time, they understand and accept one another for who they are, and they have so so much fun together.  They're one of those couples that are just lovely to be around because they are exactly as a couple should be- two wonderful individuals that create a really fantastic union.

Their wedding was the first time we ever left Laela, and honestly, it was the first time in a long time that I really got the chance to remember some of the silly things that made me fall in love with my husband.  Sometimes, living life is busy, and through going through the motions, we don't get a chance to express ourselves the way we'd like.  When it was just us, the love letters were longer, the dates more elaborate.  But now, we have to cram a lot of love into a smaller amount of time, so it was nice to "escape" for a little while and get to just be for a moment.

When I met Kyle, he told me he was going to marry me or kill me.  I figured I'd dated enough psychos to be able to tell if he was a total nutjob, so I gave him a chance to be right, and you know what?  It's the best decision I ever made.

The first time we ever danced was to the song "You Shook Me All Night Long" long by ACDC.  It may not sound romantic to you, but he told me he was going to shake me all life long, and I have to say he has.  If you know my husband, he is one exasperating individual.  He's as stubborn as he is generous.  He's the most loving person on the planet.  And while you may not like what he has to say, it's never a lie.

I shared some of this with a friend after the wedding.  I told him how much I love my husband, how I think he's the greatest guy in my world, how he can make me laugh on the worst of days, and I realized in that moment that romance is what you make it.  Love is what you make it.  Love is not just hot lovin' (although I do think that's very important), it's about friendship and being able to be yourself- whether it's the very best version or the very worst, and being accepted and genuinely loved as that person.  With the exception of asking Kyle not to be evil in church, or to put the seat down, I really don't want him to change.  I married him for who he is, not my idea of who he should be, and I really think that (and hope that), Laela grows up knowing that her parents love and accept one another, and that we'll love and accept her- even when we disagree with her,  or with one another.

I know this post is a bit off tangent with my other posts, but all these weddings have me all mushed out, and I can't help but give this one piece of advice.  Be happy.  I have single friends that feel like they have to be on the hunt to be married, and you know what?  Hunting doesn't always work.  Sometimes finding the right person takes a lot of meeting the wrong people.  And for those that are married?  Happy Mommies and Daddies make for happy kids : )

Tune in Weds for my simple "Anniversary Chicken" that even the pickiest of eaters will love.

A Mac Attack!

Holy Moly.  As I type this my daughter is eating cinnamon toast while making Frankenstein noises, so if this post seems to abruptly end, it's because she's started chasing me and I had to run.

Okay, put down the pitch forks and torches, I'm half kidding.  A while back, I promised some good old fashioned macaroni and cheese, so put down the box of Kraft, bust out a 1-quart casserole dish, and let's do this thing!

You will need:

3 Tbs butter (it doesn't matter if it is salted or not.)
1 small onion (if you hate onions, just use a few good shakes of some onion powder)
2 Tb all-purpose flour
2 cups milk (reg, low-fat, non-fat)
2/3 cup shredded cheddar (about 5 ounces)
1 tsp dry mustard (if you don't have this, use a Tb of any kind of mustard)
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp salt
2 dashes of Tabasco sauce (or more if you like your mac with a little kick!)
6 ounces dry elbow macaroni cooked according to package instructions
1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (about 1 ounce)

1.  Position the rack in the center of the overn and preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter your casserole dish, and set aside.

2.  Melt 3 Tbs of the butter in a medium saucepan and set over medium heat.  reduce the heat to very low, stir in the onion, and cook for five minutes, until soft and golden, stirring frequently.  Don't let the onion brown.  Whisk in the flour and cook for 15 seconds, just so that the flour loses its raw taste.  Do not brown the flour.  Whisk in the milk in a steady, slow stream.  raise the heat to medium and continue cooking and whisking for about 1 minute, or until the mixture returns to a boil and thickens.

3.  Reduce the heat to low and stir inthe Cheddar, dry mustard, pepper, salt and Tabasco sauce.  Continue cooking for 2 more minutes, or until the cheese melts and the mixture is smooth, stirring constantly.  Finally, stir in the cooked macaroni and grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.  Pour the mixture into the casserole dish.

4.  Place the casserole dish into the oven and bake it for 30 minutes, or until bubbly and lightly browned.

Now if you're like me, and like some extra crunch to your mac and cheese, about five to ten minutes before the casserole is done, mix 1/3 dried bread crumbs (any will do- even panko!) with 1Tbs butter.  Crumble it over the top of the casserole and Wala!  Crunchy topped mac and cheese.

Once you get comfortable with this recipe, get adventurous!  Try it with some fabulous cheese like Gruyere, Gorgonzola, Brie, Camembert, or Asiago!

Happy eating!

Cha Cha Cha Changes!

It's funny how at nine months old, children understand the word no, but much like when they're sixteen, they keep doing what they're doing to test their parents for a reaction.  As I type this, Laela is trying her hardest to rip open the entertainment center doors, which even though they've been "baby proofed", she can still open if she pulls just hard enough.  She knows I'll say "No Laela.  Stop."  She turns around, stops for a second to smile at me and plop herself on her butt, just to pull herself back up and rip open the doors again.  She's learning so fast- our reactions, cause and effect (ie.."if I throw my food on the ground, the cat eats it, or I don't get it back."  "If I dump out my sippy cup, I can splash and play in the water."), and how to express what she wants (she's pointing to things now!  Ahhh!!)

A few months ago, my husband asked me how I'd feel about moving for a few years for work.  My initial reaction was very reasonable.  It's not forever, I like to travel and meet new people, and I want Kyle to be as successful in his job as he can be.

Then, the Thursday before Memorial Day weekend, he told me he was offered a really exclusive promotion at his company, that only 17 people in his division were offered, and that we would have to move for 2-5 years.  At least two moves in the States, and one move to Europe  Again, I reacted with pride and excitement for him.  He's incredibly brilliant, and I can't even express how thrilled I am for him that he's got this amazing opportunity to achieve more than he'd ever really even considered in his career.

The difficult part, the part that makes me scream in my head "No!  I can't do this!" is facing what this means for not just our family, but for me.  It's taken me some time to really realize and then accept that this is going to mean no more support system, no Friday nights at Grandpa and Neesa's, no meeting up with any of my awesome friends when I'm having a bad day, or just need the company of someone that can speak in full sentences, instead of points, grunts and giggles. 

Frankly, I wrote this post last week, and I've been blocked ever since.  I'm a stubborn person.  I didn't even want to acknowledge that I had a support system, let alone that I needed one, until a few months ago.  When Laela was born, I didn't ask for any help.  I was cooking dinner by the time she was a week and a half old.  Kyle had packed lunches.  The house was clean.  Our laundry was done.  I was this crazy person taking on the world, and somehow I succeeded at it- with a baby on my hip.  I think that I derived some of my strength from the fact that even though I wasn't asking for help, it was there if I needed it.  I'm not saying that everything was totally "normal".  I was a sleep deprived zombie for a while, but hey, things were done!

After meditating on all of these changes (which I have to say is incredibly difficult since we don't know when or where we're moving to yet), I realized that my support system is still my support system no matter where I live.  Is it going to be easy?  No.  But that's what planes and Skype are for.  Instead of looking at this experience as a big upheaval of my life, I'm going to use it as an opportunity to take some cooking classes in different parts of the country- maybe even the world.  And then we'll just see what comes next.
 
"Growth means change and change involves risk, stepping from the known to the unknown."

I'll keep you posted on where this ride is taking us.   See ya Weds for a simple, comforting Mac-n-Cheese recipe.