Friday, July 29, 2011

What to do with this damn chicken - detox recipes

I normally post the chicken recipes on Wednesday but, I am doing it today because I forgot this week and, this one truly can not wait until next Wednesday. 

In case you saw my recent post of Facebook about going through a sort of detox (temporarily), you should know that my children have survived 2 weeks of my recent experiment. I have not put them through my torture and they are still allowed their Cheez-its, but I have stared them down, in a very unhealthy way,  plenty of times when they get out the box.

evil child!

Basically, I have given up soda, coffee, any form of alcohol, most carbs with the exception of low sugar fruits and yogurt. I am only consuming, water, green tea, greek yogurt, lean meats, fruit and veggies. I have cheated a few times and have realized that carbs are a true addiction for me. But this whole thing was based on a recent request from my doctor due to my hereditary high blood pressure. This is not an attempt to turn into a Uber mom. If you have  heard the term Uber-mom you might think I am running down this path, with the idea of turning off the cable for the summer. No, my reasons were to save my sanity, not shelter my children and quiz them on Mandarin Flashcards instead. See definition of Uber-mom below....

"Uber moms are highly successful career women who have take time off to make sure all their kids get into Harvard.  And you can usually tell the uber-moms, because they actually weigh less than their own children. So at the moment of conception, they're doing little butt exercises. Babies flop out, they're flashing Mandarin flashcards at the things. 

Driving them home, and they want them to be enlightened, so they take them to Ben & Jerry's ice cream company with its own foreign policy. And they go to Whole Foods to get their baby formula. And Whole Foods is one of those progressive grocery stores where all the cashiers look like they're on loan from Amnesty International. They buy these seaweed-based snacks there called Veggie Booty with kale, which is for kids who come home and say,"Mom, mom, I want a snack that'll help prevent colon-rectal cancer."

And so the kids are raised in a certain way, jumping through achievement hoops of the things we can measure -- SAT prep, oboe, soccer practice. They get into competitive colleges, they get good jobs, and sometimes they make a success of themselves in a superficial manner, and they make a ton of money. And sometimes you can see them at vacation places like Jackson Hole or Aspen. And they've become elegant and slender --they don't really have thighs; they just have one elegant calve on top of another.  They have kids of their own, and they've achieved a genetic miracle by marrying beautiful people, so their grandmoms look like Gertrude Stein, their daughters looks like Halle Berry -- I don't know how they've done that. They get there and they realize it's fashionable now to have dogs a third as tall as your ceiling heights. So they've got these furry 160-pound dogs -- look like velociraptors, all named after Jane Austen characters.
 
And then when they get old, they haven't really developed a philosophy of life, but they've decided, "I've been successful at everything, I'm just not going to die." And so they hire personal trainers, they're popping Cialis like breath mints. You see them on the mountains up there. They're cross-country skiing up the mountain with these grim expressions that make Dick Cheney look like Jerry Lewis.  And as they whiz by you, it's like being passed by a little iron Raisinet going up the hill."

So, back to the chicken. Since I am forced into eating only chicken, turkey or fish, I have needed more good chicken recipes that don't include the yummy sauces and breading that I am so fond of. This one came from my sister-in-law who served it to me on a recent visit to her home. I thought I may have died and gone to heaven, except I could still hear my children screaming in the background, which told me this better not be heaven or I have a bone to pick with someone!  So, thank you Karrie for your contribution to my need for change!

Here goes folks. Close your eyes, imagine your garden sparkling in the morning dew, imagine the crisp pop in your mouth of that beauty of a cherry tomato you grew with only the up-most tender loving care (after beating the dog for eating all the other red ones). Imagine the Basil you planted in your garden that you gently plucked of flowers before the whole thing turned to seed. Now, open your eyes, realize the true condition of your garden and go to the store to get the following ingredients.

Cherry Tomato Pesto Chicken
  • 4 boneless skinless organic, free range, happy chicken breasts
  • 1 carton cherry tomatoes -quartered
  • 2 heaping spoonfuls of pesto (with our without pinenuts included) the most garlic the better- I made my pesto just to make sure it had enough garlic. :)
  • 2 heaping spoonfuls of non-fat whipped cream cheese
Salt and pepper your chicken breast and grill on the barbecue. Mix the cherry tomatoes, pesto and cream cheese together in a bowl. Dump a few large spoonfuls on top of your grilled chicken breasts. Eat and feel good about yourself.

I added the following recipe as a side dish since It wasn't going to be mashed potatoes.


Have a wonderful weekend and happy Friday.
Love, 




Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Home away from home for 10 days...and we are back!

We went for 10 days, we stayed, we played, we fished, we hiked, we swam, we boated, we built amazing Lego displays, and created yet another year of memories of our summers at Buck's Lake. We are back!

Where in the world is Buck's Lake you ask? Well it is about a 20 minute drive from Quincy, CA and about 1 1/2 hours drive northeast from Chico, ca and about an hour south of Lake Almanor. Still don't get it? Here is a map...

My parents bought a cabin at Buck's Lake about 13 years ago after years of camping there. It is a little slice of heaven tucked in the forest with great fishing, wildlife, and very minimal amounts of people, like you might get in Almanor or Tahoe. Our cabin is a small 2 bedroom 1 bath, A-framed place with only the essentials, which excludes phones, internet, cable and a dishwasher!

isn't it cute!
What it does have, is a ton of fun things to do, very comfortable accommodations, and the perfect setting for extreme relaxation. Here is a little glimpse of the inside.
the cool dinning table that seats 10 with the giant Lazy Susan is my favorite part.
Only downside of this place is that we have to get our fill during the summer and early fall because about 6-8 months out of the year there is snow. Nobody plows the roads up here so if we plan to come for a visit during the snowy season, we need to figure out how to get 2 dogs, 2 kids, 2 adults and all of our stuff up on snow mobiles for a 10 mile drive. At this point of our lives, it isn't very doable.  There is a great snowmobile park there for anyone who is willing to take on the challenge.

Ahh, i love it there. I miss it already. It has so many great things about it and I can almost smell the fresh mountain air all the way from here at my little computer desk.  Here are some of the little things about it that has left my heart aching to go back .

  1. The endless amount of floor space for lego building.
  2. The wood burning stove that sits smack dab in the center of the room, which used to scare me to death when my kids were little but now, provides endless warmth on the cold evenings.
  3. A large deck for long days of reading, sunning, BBQing and just relaxing.
  4. Fresh wildflowers always adorning the table.
  5. A full sized shuffleboard table that is better suited for a dirty college bar
  6. A bottle open and old tin can to catch your caps, on the deck right next to a full cooler.
  7. Last but not least, my parents awesome decorating. 
But, it is really about what is outside the cabin that draws us to this place every year. My kids spend all day outside doing things I could only dream of during regular days at home, when I am fighting them to go outside and play!





He got his first Bow. Its not just fishing anymore folks! Yes, there was still snow on the ground behind him!
Oh and the dogs, they love us for these trips too!
 It seems as though we won't make it back up this summer, prior to school starting. The kids go back to school August 11Th!!! I know, its crazy! Who do I talk to about this? When is this decision made and why wasn't I asked for my opinion?

I hope all of your vacations are as great as ours was. We are back to the reality of the non-simple life. The phones are ringing off the hook and my kids have been asking for the iPad again. But, we still don't have cable (insert evil cackling laugh)! 

Love,