Laundry Trick

Here is a quick little tip for keeping all the baby socks under control. I use a delicates mesh washing bag to keep them all accounted for as they travel through the wash. Just thought I would pass that on for any mom who is tired of searching for those tiny little socks every time you wash them.

Menu Monday - Dinner

I am going to try my hand at Menu Mondays that some bloggers do. I have no idea at how consistent I will be at this but I am going to try it.

So on tonight’s menu is one of my favorite meals to make because all my kids love it, it is over all healthy, and it is really easy to make. Oh yeah and did I mention, it is not pizza or hamburgers, it is real food - yes real adult food you can make for company. I found the idea in a magazine several years ago but I have made it my own only keeping the over all idea of the dish. Okay I have kept you wondering long enough. The dish is in our house called "Cheesy Chicken."

The Ingredient List (No real quantities because it depends on how many you are feeding and frankly unless I am baking bread, I don’t measure)

• Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast (Breast is best but thighs are fine.)
• Seasonings (I use some salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, whatever strikes my fancy when I am making it.)
• Olive Oil (or canola if you find out that you ran out and it never made it on the shopping list)
• Canned chopped tomatoes with garlic, basil & oregano (Italian style)
• Mozzarella cheese

Okay so what you do is...

Get the baby entertained by playing with the kiddos.

In a skillet, drizzle enough oil to lightly coat the bottom of the pan and turn it on to about med-high.

Season the chicken on both sides and place in the hot pan.

Brown for about one minute on each side.

Remind the kiddos that they are on baby duty and redirect the baby to play with the kiddos. (Sometimes baby goes in her chair with her own cooking supplies but tonight she was being cranky and the kids were able to keep her happy.)

Turn down heat to medium.

Pour in entire can of tomatoes including juice over the top of the chicken. One normal sized 12 oz can will cover 3 pieces of chicken and cover the pan with a lid.

Check on the kids because they have become way too quiet.

Start grating about 1 to 2 ounces of cheese per piece of chicken or you can slice a piece per chicken but it takes longer to melt and does not really get that gooey cheesiness. 2 ounces will completely cover, 1 ounce is like a sprinkling.

The chicken from this point only takes 10 to 15 minutes to cook usually, sometimes a little longer, if the pieces are thick, so you need to check it and make sure they are cooked.

When chicken is done, sprinkle (or thoroughly smother) the cheese over the top and recover. Also, turn off the heat.

While the cheese is melting, you can finish making sure everything else is ready. (Make sure you time everything so the chicken will not be over done waiting for the rest of the meal to be ready.)

I serve this with either light pasta with pesto, or brown rice. It is also very good with spaghetti squash. Make sure you have a veggie too. (Now we all say, “Yes Mommy." :p )

By the time you are done, if kids were not involved this meal takes about a half hour to make, with the usually kid wrangling involved I would say no more than 45 minutes.

Happy eating!

Coffee Innovation

Okay, so I have to tell anyone who enjoys their freshly ground coffee in the morning what to do if tragedy strikes and you have no power. That was the situation I found myself in a week ago and as I am every morning so desperate for coffee. I used my hand chopper! Below is a picture of one just like mine. I now love it more than I did ever before. I already use it for so many things like chopping nuts, chicken salad (when I am making a sandwich for one), hard candies for sprinkles on desserts, onion mincing, garlic mincing (when I need more than a couple of cloves), chocolate and the list can go on forever but it was the first time I ever thought about grinding coffee in it. But, my honey and I so desperately needed coffee to survive such a crazy day and we all know necessity is the mother of innovation. I put some beans in it and started chopping. It was great! I however would not suggest trying to go for a very fine espresso grind, as I am sure that would take forever. I was able to get a great "grind" for our coffee press cups that we have. I have to say my little hand chopper saved the day.

Bath Time

Today was a two-bath day for Baby G and I thought about how much I love our little inflatable bathtub. I bout this one when Vincenzo was almost one and I still have it. The only thing that has worn out on it is a slow leak somewhere on the bottom section of it that makes the cushioning on the bottom - no big deal. It has survived three kids and I am confident will survive the fourth. When we first had Vincenzo, we got a bath seat because everyone said to get one and quickly decided we did not like it because it could easily come unsuctioned to the tub, it was difficult to put him in and take him out, and you could not really clean him in it. A friend suggested getting the inflatable tub and I am so glad I took her advice. It is a perfect fit until they are about two then they are big enough for the big tub on their own. In our last home, I was able to give Baby G a bath in the shower because I had this little tub. I use a showerhead that is on a hose so that it is easy to fill the tub and I keep it on the gentle mist so I can easily rinse her hair also. I have found this to be the easiest way bath a little one. No mess, little fuss and Baby G loves her bath time.

Bath time Checklist

• Inflatable tub
• Heat sensing ducky to make sure the water is not hot
• A couple of toys (no more than 3 at a time)
• Hooded Towel (make sure it is a fluffy, soft, bigger one so baby doesn’t get cold)
• Wash Clothes (I always grab 2)
• Baby Shampoo
• Baby Wash (Or you can get the 2 in one, but with curly hair, it does not really work well.)
• Changing station ready with lotion, diaper, and clean clothes.
• A dirty baby - or not so dirty…