Tedras Thai Peanut Chicken

Well that was a busy summer... I've learned a lot and now fall is almost here again!

I'm sharing a recipe today - a recipe from an amazing friend for an easy amazing dish!

Per Tedra:
Thai Peanut Chicken

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup peanut butter (I use crunchy)
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp curry powder

Combine above ingredients, marinate chicken in mixture for one hour. Grill Chicken.

(My Twist)

Cover bottom of a rimmed baking dish with chicken breast tenderloins - usually 2+ pounds (broiler pan works great.) Double all ingredients, spread over chicken, bake at 400 for 20 minutes. Turn chicken pieces and bake until the chicken is cooked through. Serve chicken and sauce with rice. 

On Hospitality

Hospitality is such a funny thing. I love people and love visiting and talking and sharing a meal - Summer is an easy season for this - throw things on the grill and hang out until the sun goes down… outside… Winter means… well, I just can't think of more than 3x in the past 10 years that our family has invited friends inside our home for a visit and a meal!

A meal from the beach in Haiti - one of the
most  incredibly poor and yet truly gracious
and hospitable places on earth

The truth is - I no longer know how to have people hang out IN MY HOME and be entertained by US. When the kids were tiny it was easy, they would be off playing and we could chat with the adults… but as they have grown and become true parts of our family, well… it’s a whole new adventure that I have no experience in! We find it easiest to fragment – for Jake to have a group over to play games while I do my own thing, or for me to have a group over to chat and eat while he does his own thing… The girls, well, they naturally follow suit. Not ideal at all!

I've been learning quite a lot about hospitality through some blogs I follow, and so I want to share my unpracticed wisdom with you -

Reluctant Entertainer – this has to be my favorite hospitality blog EVER, Sandy Coughlin is a champion for the cause of hospitality and is both Hilarious and Wise! 

Simple Bites – Part of the Simple Mom Network, I love this blog because I love food and story. Since it is designed for moms, tips are practical and often very kid friendly!

Smile and Wave – not quite on the topic of hospitality but more on creating spaces in your home and life that are well lived in, practical, and clever.

 

Our homes speak volumes about who we really are… so I would encourage you to plan an invitation into your home this month. Think about it, what better season!

One final thought. With so many working moms out there, I wanted to share a gift that I would have never thought of on my own. A daughter and I went visiting some friends who moved an hour away. We enjoyed catching up for hours (as girls would!) Dinner was served, a delicious, healthy, scratch made casserole that I MUST get the recipe for. The family is quite large and so they are used to feeding 12 – we all crashed about their large table laughing, eating, and enjoying the best food I have had in weeks. It was better than Thanksgiving (sorry fam) and I was near tears at their generosity. How much easier it would have been to bake a handful of giant pizzas?

The icing on the cake… She made 3 casseroles, 2 very large ones and one small – and she sent the small one home with me. She knows I’m busy and weeknight dinner is often served very rapidly in 30 minutes or less… I’m so excited to enjoy this meal again, with my family, on Monday night.  I’m so thankful for friendship and the blessing we have to share with others.

Share thoughts and comments with me, and Practice LIVING!

Fall

This is my favorite season of the year...

Time for fall bike rides ... Apple desserts ... Home cooked meals ... Books ... Cozy warm sweaters ... Crisp mornings

On the menu this week
Homemade chicken curry and naan

Okay that's as far as I've gotten :)

Kitchen - week 2 challenge

I learned a lot about my lack of planning when I set out to clean and organize the kitchen - here we have before:

I decided to split things due to week 3 being drawers - here are our cabinets after (a couple days later and everything!!) This one cabinet really is most of our foodstuffs - we have a small cabinet above the stove and our cereal boxes on the fridge... the small space keeps me grocery shopping weekly but also helps me hoard a lot less! Also looking at these after pictures helped me see that the peanut butter was gone... time to grocery shop!

 

This is the only cookbook I actually refer to when cooking... You saw my collection... You may ask yourself, why have all the books... I don't know... it's something to collect, I suppose!

Replacing dishes, One Plate at a Time - Chicken Enchiladas

Tonight I was the dish queen; and I wish I had a tiara or a crown, as I've been dish queen so many times as an adult I couldn't even begin to count. We lost another plate today, though, and it reminded me of how little I've been cooking and how much I miss it. I am reminded of how much more I enjoy the cooking side of a meal than the cleanup, and I would gladly pass the tiara to a lass in my footsteps... volunteers greatly appreciated!

Seeing as fall is on its way in a hurry, I am planning my fall cooking routine... I am going to cook a hearty, home cooked meal each week. Maybe even two. First up, chicken enchiladas. I have a delicious recipe from my friend Colleen, whom I haven't spent time with in eternity, but with whom I used to make large batches of cookies and brownies and enchiladas right in her amazing kitchen. Memories will live on as I bake!!

Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas (ala Colleen Schweitzer)
1 7oz can diced green chilis
2 whole chicken breasts, chopped
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup chopped onion
16oz sour cream
1 cup grated cheese
1 pkg fajita size tortillas

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large frying pan saute the onion; add chicken and cook thoroughly. Add soup, sour cream, and chilis and cook through. Fill tortillas and place in a greased baking dish. Top with remaining sauce and cheese,  cover with foil, and bake for 25-30 minutes at 350.

Enjoy!