Foodie Friday! - Green Chicken Curry

Green Chicken Curry!

This is a favorite at our house. One that I make often because it's pretty healthy, easy, and tastes delicious!

Ingredients:

1 pound Chicken Breasts (cut into 1 inch cubes)
1 Green Bell Pepper (sliced)
1 Onion (sliced)
1 can Unsweetened Coconut Milk (do not shake)
1 cup Chicken Broth
1 tablespoon Green Curry Paste (you can do 2-3Tbs depending on how spicy you like it)
1 tablespoon Brown Sugar
1 teaspoon Fish Sauce (optional)
1/4 cup chopped fresh Basil

Directions:

Scoop the white creamy part off the top of the coconut milk - should be about 1 cup - and put in a saucepan over medium heat. Discard the rest. Add the chicken broth and green curry paste, whisk until well incorporated. Add the brown sugar (and the fish sauce, if using) and cook for two minutes. Next, add the chicken, onion, and green pepper. Cook until chicken is no longer pink - about 8 minutes. Add the basil, stir to combine.

I just serve this with rice - and it makes for a very pleasing meal!

Enjoy!

Homemade Laundry Detergent!

Yes, that's right....I made laundry detergent. And I love it. :)

This is all you need to make your laundry soap! And....it costs right around $6. Maybe less. This is for a small batch - and should last 30 loads. I wanted to make sure I liked it before I made a big batch. Next time, it will definitely be a big batch. Annnnnd, it's safe for HE washers.
All of the ingredients can be found at your local grocery store.

 Ingredients

1 cup Borax

1 cup Super Washing Soda

1 cup Baking Soda

1 bar Fels-Naptha

 

 First, grate your bar of Fels-Naptha soap with a cheese grater. It will look a lot like cheese - but don't eat it, it will taste nothing like cheese. :)

 Then, put the grated bar of Fels-Naptha in a blender or food processor and process to get it to a finer consistency. This part is optional, but I wanted my soap flakes a bit smaller.

Lastly, mix the Baking Soda, Borax, Washing Soda, and Fels-Naptha in an air-tight container and mix together.

 

That's it....you're done. Just use 2 tablespoons per load. Next thing on my list to try is homemade fabric softener. Stay tuned. In the meantime, make this.

What I'm Loving Wednesdays!

It's been a while....I know! Hopefully I will be able to be more consistent, now that things are slowing down a little.

I'm loving that our schedule will finally start slowing down a little after Saturday. Saturday is Kaitlyn's last game to cheer at. I'm going to miss seeing all the cute girls cheer, but I'm ready for a break. :)

I'm loving that my husband was able to get Carrie Underwood tickets! Woo hoo! We will be seeing her in concert on November 21st!

I'm loving that our daughter is doing SO well in school!! She is a math whiz and is reading almost 3 grade levels ahead. Whose kid is she?! ;)

Here are some of my favorite Pinterest finds that I'm loving this week:

Spaghetti noodles with garlic, olive oil, and red pepper flakes. Worth a try!

I will start doing this, I will start doing this, I will start doing this....

Look how cozy! One day...

I love these boots - they're calling my name!

Yes, I realize it's not even Halloween yet....but I couldn't resist. :)

 

All of these pictures and their links can be found here.

I hope everyone has a fabulous Wednesday! Tomorrow I will be posting about my homemade laundry detergent! It's awesome!

Foodie Friday! - Enchilada Pasta Casserole

Enchilada Pasta Casserole!

This recipe was super easy (which I'm all about) and tasty! Plus, it made enough for leftovers. Score! I found this recipe on Pinterest, but changed a few things, to make it more to our liking.

 

Ingredients:

1 pound Ground Beef (or Turkey)

5 ounces Cream Cheese (cut into cubes)

1/4 cup Light Sour Cream

1 can (10oz) Red Enchilada Sauce

1 can (4oz) Diced Green Chiles

2 cups Mexican Style Shredded Cheese

1 tsp Chili Powder

1 Tbs Southwest Seasoning (I used Pampered Chef)

1/4 tsp Cumin

12 ounces Egg Noodles

Salt & Pepper to taste

*next time I will be adding some fresh cilantro

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350*

 

In a large pot, bring water to a boil and cook egg noodles according to package instructions.

 

In the meantime, in a very large skillet, brown your meat, then drain the fat. Then add the diced green chilies, chili powder, cumin, and southwest seasoning. Stir to combine.

 

Add in the cream cheese, stir until melted and combined.

 

In a large bowl, combine sour cream, enchilada sauce, and half of the shredded cheese. Stir until combined.

 

Pour mixture over the beef and let simmer for 2-3 minutes.

 

Drain pasta, then add to the beef mixture. Make sure you stir it until it is well combined, and every noodle is coated with the sauce.

 

Spray large casserole dish with non-stick spray. Pour in pasta mixture and top with remaining cheese.

 

Bake for 15 minutes, or until cheese is completely melted.

 

Serve hot. Keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. This can also be frozen. Thaw before heating reheating.

Voila! It was delicious! Enjoy!

 

P.S. Please don't judge the pictures....they were taken very quickly with my phone. :)

Chasing Lions

This is going to be short and sweet today! :) I have started a new book called In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day by Mark Batterson.

The title of the book comes from the biblical story of Benaiah. Benaiah comes face to face with a lion, and chases it into a pit. Most normal people would turn around and walk away, feeling accomplished. Not Benaiah. He jumps in the pit with the lion, and makes it out alive.

I am still trying to get over the fact that instead of walking away, he jumped right in to get rid of the lion for good. I don't think that thought would ever cross my mind. Maybe that's why I am so unsatisfied with where I am in life right now. I feel like I could be doing so much more. That's what this book is all about. Taking opportunities, and running with them.

In the book, Batterson says "I'm absolutely convinced that our greatest regrets in life will be missed opportunities" and "Spiritual maturity is seeing and seizing God-ordained opportunities." I couldn't agree more. One quote I posted to Facebook the other day was this:

The cost of not following your heart, is spending the rest of your life …wishing you had. ~J Paulsen

I felt that was just a perfect quote to go along with the book I was reading.

 

One other important point to remember from the first chapter was this:

"Goodness is not the absence of badness. You can do nothing wrong and still do nothing right. Our calling is much higher than simply running away from what's wrong. We're called to chase lions - look for opportunities in our problems and obstacles, and take risks to reach for God's best." I've often heard that sometimes the right decision doesn't always look like the best one... Now if I could just figure out how to tell the difference.

 

Now I need to figure out which lion chasing skill I need to work on....and start chasing some lions. Check out the book, it's a good one! 

 

And just because I LOVE this....and it's so fitting....

 

 

 

Technology Tickets!

 It has become depressingly obvious how much my 6-year-old daughter depends on either the iPad or the computer for her entertainment. Last week any time she would ask to play on the iPad and I would tell her no, she would then tell me how bored she was. Seriously, the girl would have been miserable if she grew up in the same era I did! We were lucky to have the internet!

 

Anyway, after going out to dinner and looking around at all the kids at the other tables playing on their parents cell phones (and mine playing on the iPad)....I decided something needed to change. Drastically. I saw this on Pinterest a while ago, and thought it was a great idea.

 

Pinterest

 

These are technology tickets. Each one can either be worth 30 minutes, an hour, whatever you feel necessary. Basically, Kaitlyn starts out with 6 tickets every Sunday. Hers are worth 30 minutes each - so that's 3 hours of playing on the iPad/computer. Let me just add that the games she plays on the iPad are educational-type games....so it could be worse. :)

 

I took a small clipboard, painted it with chalkboard paint, then covered part of it in scrapbook paper. Then I added two pockets (one for the tickets used, and one for the tickets she hasn't used yet). The pocket with the "K" on it is for the tickets she has used. These tickets work well for visualizing how much time they have left for the week. The pink tickets clipped to the top are 3 extra tickets, just in case my husband and I feel she has done something that deserves a reward. So, she can have time added, if we feel she deserves it. I added some pretty ribbon and cute bows, just to make it look better. I put the days of the week on the bottom, just to help her remember how many days her tickets have to last her.

 

This project was so easy to make! The hardest part was waiting for the chalkboard paint to dry. So far she's done pretty good, but we've only been doing it for a few days. Hopefully we can stick with it!

 

 

P.S. On a side note....I seriously need help with my handwriting skills!