30 April 2012

What's For Dinner?

Not sure what to make for dinner this week? Here is a recipe that you must try!! Almost every time I go to Olive Garden I order Chicken Scampi, it seriously is so so good! I recently found a recipe and it actually turned out really good! Dan and I loved it and Aiden couldn't get it in his mouth fast enough. :) You must try it. I found it here. I tweaked a few things as I was going of course. :) Recipes like these not only taste good, but as I am making it I feel like a real cook. haha. Try it and I would love to hear how it turns out!





Ingredients:
  • 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into strips
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 green bell pepper, cut into strips
  • 1 red bell pepper, cut into strips
  • 1 chopped yellow onion
  • 2 tsp fresh or dried parsley
  • Grated Parmesan Cheese
  • 16 ounces angel hair pasta or spaghetti
Sauce Ingredients:
  • 3 Tbsp butter
  • 2 Tbsp onion, finely chopped
  • 2 Tbsp minced garlic
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp of dried basil
  • 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
  • 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
  • 1 tsp of dried oregano
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 2 tsp minced fresh or dried parsley
  • 1 cup heavy cream

Preparation:
Start the Pasta:
  1. Get some water boiling and cook the pasta until done while you are cooking chicken.
Make Scampi Sauce:
  1. Using a medium sized pot over medium heat. Melt the butter, add the chopped onion and cook the onion begins to brown, about 2 to 4 minutes.
  2. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Don't let the garlic turn brown or it will taste bitter.
  3. Add the chicken broth, crushed red pepper, salt, dried basil, dried oregano and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, and bring the mixture to a simmer.
  4. Cook until the sauce has reduced to half, about 15 minutes
  5. Add cream and 2 tsp minced parsley. Simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Don't let the mixture boil.
  6. Take off heat and set aside.
Cook the Chicken:
  1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
  2. Place the flour on a plate. Lightly salt and pepper the chicken pieces, then coat each side in the flour.
  3. Place chicken in pan and cook on one side until golden brown. About 3 - 4 minutes.
  4. When the chicken is brown on one side, turn over the pieces and move them to the side of the pan to continue cooking.
  5. Add sliced bell peppers and red onion to the middle of the pan.
  6. Continue cooking the chicken and veggies for 4-6 minutes, or until the vegetables are beginning to brown on the edges. You may need to take the chicken out before the onions and peppers are done.
  7. Put the chicken back in the pan if you have taken it out.
  8. Pour half the Scampi sauce over the ingredients in skillet. 
  9. Add the cooked pasta to a pot and mix in the other half of the sauce. Put on medium heat to warm it up.
  10. Prepare each persons plate by placing equal amounts of pasta onto each dish.
  11. Use tongs to add peppers and onion on top of each portion of pasta.
  12. Arrange equal amounts of chicken on top of pasta.
  13. Sprinkle each plate with about 1/2 tsp minced parsley and grated parmesan cheese.

24 April 2012

Moments

One of the reasons I love pictures so much is the feeling it brings me to look at them. The emotions and remembering the event and why I took the picture. Here are a couple of recent special ones. :)



21 April 2012

Genetics

What do you get when you mix brown eyes with blue eyes.....


Hazel of course, seems to be blue on the outside and brown on the inside!

19 April 2012

Finally!

Oh how we love to be outside when it's nice and warm!


17 April 2012

Discipline Lessons


As a mom I have amazing days or moments when I see that Aiden seems to be retaining what I am teaching him. When he obeys the first time or does something on his own like putting a toy away in the right spot. And that is so very exciting to see!! But then there are also the moments where I am telling him the same thing over and over, and I feel like nothing is sinking in to that little head. That can become very frustrating to me and it's easy for me to burst out my discipline out of frustration or annoyance. Thinking to myself "Why do I have to tell him no again?" "Why can't he just get it?" It is very ineffective, and I just am left annoyed. But, I am learning that when I take the time to go where he is, get on his level and talk to him in a calm but firm voice I am in a much better place to discipline. It's no longer about the inconvenience of discipline and more about teaching Aiden and helping him grow. It's not always easy, but I think it will help both Aiden and myself!


16 April 2012

More Friends

Aiden loved playing with his friend Micah all weekend long, and we loved hanging out with his amazing parents! We can't help but dress them in matching outfits, sometimes planned and sometimes not. What can I say, great moms think alike. :)


09 April 2012

What Jesus Did.

Since yesterday was Easter I wanted to share with you some of my favorite verses that I regularly read to meditate on the gospel and what it meant that Jesus died on the cross and rose again. The gospel changes everything for us if we choose to accept it. And it can change my everyday life if I let it. 


  • Surely he has borne our grief and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. Isaiah 53:4-7
  • For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21
  • But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Romans 5:8-11
  • But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:4-10


One of my favorite songs is Via Dolorosa by Leeland.

03 April 2012

Growing Big

Just some fun stats from my growing boy who 
is such a toddler and not a baby anymore.




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About Me

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I am a follower of Jesus and I am committed to living life for Him. I am the wife of a wonderful man who loves me so much and the mother to the best two little boys! I love my family to pieces and miss them everyday! I love my friends (obviously) lol. They all are such a joy to me! I am a youth pastors wife and I enjoy being involved in the lives of teens and just people in general. I love photography and find so much joy in the moments I want to remember being saved in time. Last but not least I love sunshine and being warm. :) That's me in a nutshell, the important things anyways. :)

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