Thanksgiving Recap.

If you ever want to make plans just to watch them change.......have a baby. 

A baby changes everything. 

99% of the change is good. 
But, there is always that 1% that will kill 'ya. 

Let's start our recap on Monday shall we?

Monday am: 8am, Jax is being tested for the flu. 
Remainder of the day: pajama day. 

Tuesday: Jax is still sick. Another pajama day. 

Wednesday: Mama was climbing the walls and left the boys to another pajama day while she met up with Granna to Christmas shop. 

Wednesday night: it's time to start cooking. 

My little chef loves to help me "cooookk." 

Thursday am: I had imagined cooking a breakfast casserole for my boys and watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. 

Instead, my little buddy was still running fever and tag team parenting commenced. 

It took 2 hours to load the car because Jax thought it was Monday or Tuesday again and he wanted me to sit on the couch with him and watch a "moo bee." Meanwhile, the corn casserole in the oven is now dry. 

Once the car was loaded and everyone was buckled up.......click.click.click. The car battery is dead. 

Apparently, leaving the back hatch of your car open for 2 hours will drain your battery. 

After a trip to Walmart for a new battery, we were on our way. 

Due to fever and hunger and who knows what else, sweet Jax cried half of the way to Birmingham. 

However, our day turned around. By 8:45 pm, everyone was showered and laying in bed watching Paw Patrol. By 9pm, the lights were out and we all slept until 7:30am!

Friday was a new and better day. 

Even on the down right terrible days, I'm thankful for them. 
I love my people. 
I realize that my terrible days are still better than someone else's terrible day.....and that puts things in perspective. 

Because H and I were both in terrible moods on our way to Bham, and because we both needed attitude adjustments, we had to talk about putting our "bad day" in perspective. 

1. Our car battery died......not a family member. 
2. Our child has flu symptoms......but, he's not in the hospital. 
3. In order for you car battery to die......it means you actually have a car. 


Sometimes in the midst of the storm of the day, we need to step back and put it in perspective. So, I held my man's hand all the way to Tuscaloosa and I sat with Jax some in the backseat so I could hold his hand and "play." 

And because Jax slept until 7:30 am on Black Friday, we treated him to stack of "pan pakes" at Ihop along with his first glass of chocolate milk. I swear my child looked at me like "woman, why haven't I had this sooner!" I felt the same way when I took my first bite of Haverie cheese. WHY DIDN'T I KNOW ABOUT THIS CHEESE?!?!

I digress with the cheese. 

But, just know, I'm thankful. And grateful. And undeserving. 

Colored Butterbeans.

I grew up in the country. 

When I say country, I mean dirt road country. 

Every Sunday when I was a little girl, my sweet grandmother would make some type of peas for Sunday lunch. It was always a staple. 

I'm still giving my neighbor credit from the ziplock bags of great food she gave before she moved. 

You know the butter beans will taste good when they come in a ziplock bag. 

Here's my recipe for no fail Butter Beans:

-Chicken Broth (if you feel fancy, simply make your own)

-Sausage or Bacon

-Of course, Butta'

-and your beans

Then, just boil the beans. 

Cook 'em until they are good and tender. Generally, 20 or 25 minutes work just fine. 
These would be great as a side dish on a Thanksgiving table. 

Happy Foodie Friday! 

Mixed Berry Cobbler

Cobbler.

 It's a delicacy in the South. 

It's the last course on the table on a lot of Sunday lunches. 

It must be served with ice cream. 

You can even eat it the next morning for breakfast due to it having so much fruit in it. Right?!?

I sorta think of cobbler like I do Taco Soup: there's a million ways to make it, but it will always taste great! 

One of my favorite neighbors recently moved away and shared these peaches so she didn't have to take them in the move. I mean, you know it's gonna taste good when the peaches start off in a ziplock bag! 

Ingredients: 

1 1/4 cup of blueberries
1 stick of butta'
cap full of vanilla 
1 cup of suga'
1 cup of flour
1 cup of milk
1 teaspoon of baking powder
2- quart bags of peaches

Melt the butta' in your 13x9 baking dish. 

Don't make fun of the food ring inside my baking dish. It's my absolute favorite and I use it at least once a week. It's an Emile Henry and it's great! One day if I can peal myself off of the couch from 'watching Grey's Anatomy and eating bonbons'......I may actually try to scrub off the ring around the edge. 

Back to the recipe: 
Mix the flour, milk, baking powder, suga' and vanilla. Afterwards, pour it over the melted butta'. 

Lastly- pour your fruit over the mixture. 

Save some blueberries to munch on while you bake the cobbler at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. 

Because I was so busy eating the cobbler, I forgot to take a final pic. AND THAT is why I don't consider myself a 'professional' blogger. The best of foods distract me. 

Stuffed Chicken Roll-Ups.

I love a good Pinterest recipe like the next person, but, like most recipes, I adapt them to our preferred taste. 

I saw the delish picture of stuff chicken on Pinterest at 11:45 pm one night and decided to add it to the list of test recipes. Because I no longer wake up at 5:30 am to report to work by 8am, I stay up a tad bit later than my normal 8:30/9 pm bed time. 

It's more fun if you don't go back and reference the recipe and just try to wing it. This certainly gives it a flare of your own. 

STUFFED CHICKEN ROLL-UPS

Ingredients:

Hand full of spinach

(3) mozzarella sticks cut in half

Tonys seasoning

Italian seasoning

Chicken Cutlets

1/4 white wine

Butta' (use as much as you want)

Onion (use as much as you want)

Because I wanted to be fancy, I sliced the onion into disks and then place the rolled chicken on top of them.
You don't have to go this fancy. 

You can use chicken breasts, or take the easy way out and just buy chicken cutlets.
Sprinkle your desired seasonings on, add the spinach and your cheese sticks. Anything that involves cheese sticks is bound to be good! 

Next, roll 'em on up and put a tooth pick in the middle.
Again, I went fancy and even wrapped some bacon around a few of them. Because butta' and bacon make everything better. 

Pour the white white over the chicken and add the butter.
I even drizzled some olive oil on the chicken before it went in the oven.
Bake at 350' for about 35-40 minutes.

These are super simple to make and they taste divine! Hope you enjoy as much as my fam jam did! 

OMG! There's chicken.

So, I found a new recipe on Pinterest.

This is what our generation does. We find recipes on the epicenter of the internet.

I read the ingredient list, realized that I had everything and started whipping it up.

On Pinterest, the name is OMG! Chicken. I however, wanted to rename it. I can imagine conversations taking place like this on the phone:

RING RING

Friend of Meg: Hey, what are you doing?

Meg: Oh, just cooking up dinner.

Friend of Meg: What are you cooking?

Meg: OMG! Chicken

Friend of Meg: Really! Where? Your yard?

Meg: No, I'm cooking OMG! Chicken

Friend of Meg: Wait. You have chickens in your yard? Are you at home?

So, to avoid any confusion, I'm now renaming my version of this recipe: Parmesan Chicken.

Riveting name.....I know.

Ingredients:
3 chicken breasts
4 ounces of sour cream (this is half of a small container)
1/4 cup of parmesan cheese
breadcrumbs ( 3 big pinches)
desired spices


Directions:
-Mix the sour cream, parmesan cheese and spices together. I used Tony's, pepper, dried onions and italian seasoning. You can add whatever you have in the cabinet or your heart's desire. This will make a paste.

-Next, apply your "paste" on the top of your chicken. Spread it out like butta'.

-Then, sprinkle your breadcrumbs on top and bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees.

Ya'll. I'm not gonna lie......this was good. I'll add this into the rotation of my meals.

If you wanna clean eat this, use organic chicken, whole wheat bread crumbs, freshly grated parmesan cheese and you can **probably** get by with the sour cream. The sour cream that I bought only had 1 ingredient......cream.


At the end of this meal, you will probably say: OMG! Chicken! 


***Please don't think I stole the photos from another blog. We use to be "Keeping Up with the Jones'. Now, we are obviously 'Meg the Mama.***

Quick Ravioli Bake

It's no secret, I heart the Pinterest.

I really heart when easy and time saving recipes come across my page.

Case in point: Quick Bake Ravioli

I adapted this recipe from: http://amylynntitus.blogspot.ro/2009/12/baked-ravioli.html


Ingredients: 
(1) bag of frozen beef ravioli
(1) can of tomato sauce
(1) jar of alfredo sauce
shredded cheese (use what your heart desires)

Directions:
Pour some of the alfredo and tomato sauce in the bottom of your 9x13 dish. Don't pour too much! You will need sauce for the raviolo. 

Layer the frozen ravioli on top. Pour more alfredo and tomato sauce. Top with cheese. 

Hit repeat.

Top your 13x9 with foil and cook for 30 minutes at 400 degrees. 

My man died when he ate this. 

It was so good! I made a spinach salad and french bread. 
This is essentially adult Chef Boyardee, but better. 

* I adapted my recipe to be all organic and 90% clean eating. 

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Confession: I did not bake these cookies this week.

I'm probably not going to make them this Christmas season.

However, I'm happy to share my recipe with you for the MSWB Cookie Swap link up party!

Ingredients:
1 cup brown sugar

1 stick of butta'

1 tsp of vanilla AND baking soda

1 egg

2 envelopes of oatmeal

1 cup of all purpose flour 

1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:
In large bowl, beat the brown sugar, butta', vanilla & egg with mixer u til blended. Add the oats, flour, baking soda & and a pinch of salt. Mix well then stir in the chocolate chips. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. 

Makes 12 cookies.

Merry Christmas and Happy Baking!!