Easy Dinners--Gluten Free Mozzarella Chicken

Steve has been asking for Chicken Monterey A LOT lately.  Well, unfortunately I had zero monterey jack cheese in the house BUT I did have lots of mozzarella.  Sorry babe, next time :).
He wasn't too bummed though because this awesomeness happened:

We ended up eating it for the rest of the week.

Mozzarella Chicken
Makes about 4 servings (more if you're like me and only eat half of a chicken breast at a time)
Ingredients:
4 Chicken Breasts
1/2 Cup Milk
1 cup Gluten Free Bread Crumbs
1 jar of marinara sauce (you can also use Tomato Sauce)
2 T. Olive Oil, divided
1 T Parsley (the original recipe calls for fresh, I used dry)
1 T dried basil, crushed
1 T dried oregano, crushed
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes (I just shook them until it looked right)
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 cup Shredded Mozzarella

Step 1:
Dip each chicken breast in milk.  Shake off excess.

Place in a single layer and refrigerate for 30 minutes to set the bread crumbs.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

For reference these are my favorite GF Bread Crumbs:

Step 2
Spray a 9x13 inch pan with olive oil or cooking spray. Spread 1/3 of the marinara or tomato sauce on the pan and set aside.

 Step 3
Heat a large skillet over medium high heat.  Add a tablespoon of olive oil and swirl, making sure to coat the bottom of the pan.  

Step 4
Pull the chicken breasts out of the fridge and pan fry two of them in the oil, about 1 minute each side. Use the rest of the olive oil for the second batch.

Step 5
Arrange the now browned chicken in the glass pan.

Step 6

Spoon remaining tomato sauce or marinara evenly over the chicken breasts. Sprinkle with basil, parsley, oregano, red pepper flakes, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Top with mozzarella and pop in the oven for about 15-20 minutes. You want the cheese to be bubbly and a little golden.

Step 7
Let the chicken set for a few minutes and then dig in.

I served mine with gluten free pasta and broccoli:

A note on prepping broccoli:
I love pan sauteing my veggies in coconut oil.   It gives them this added nice nutty flavor.  Make sure you use Virgin Coconut Oil (I love the one from Trader Joe's).
I also add a bit of olive oil and lots of lemon pepper and garlic powder.  Also, you know my obsession with 21 Seasoning Salute from Trader Joe's.  

ENJOY :)

Easy Dinners--Honey Dijon Lemon Chicken

'Tis the season for trimming down your waist and your wallet.  Hence this recipe: its cheap, delicious and healthy. I love this recipe because I rarely have to go to the grocery store to get any of the ingredients.  Both honey and dijon mustard keep forever and if you get bottled Real Lemon Juice and keep it in the fridge you're good to go (you can even skip the lemon juice if you're in a bind). It seems like I do a lot of chicken recipes so I'll try to change it up next time and do fish or red meat.

Ingredients: 
1.5 lbs Chicken (3-4 Breasts)
1/2 cup Honey
1/4 cup Dijon Mustard (I used slightly less than a quarter cup)
Juice of 2 Lemons (or a couple of squirts from the Real Lemon Juice)
Lemon Pepper
21 Seasoning Salute (from Trader Joe's)
Red Pepper Flakes

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Rinse off and trim the fat off of your chicken breasts and pat try with paper towels. 
   
2. Season both sides of the chicken with lemon pepper, 21 Seasoning Salute and Red Pepper Flakes.  I don't measure this, I just do a couple of shakes of each seasoning on each side. 
   
3. In a small bowl mix honey, dijon mustard and lemon juice.  Don't be afraid to taste it to make sure you've got the consistency right.
   
4. Place the seasoned chicken breasts in an oven safe baking dish. Cover with the honey dijon marinade. 
   
5. Cover with aluminum foil or the lid of the baking dish. Bake at 350 for approximately 40 minutes. 
   
6. Enjoy! I always forget to take a pic of the finished product because I'm too busy enjoying it!

Now Dessert
Want some healthy dessert options? Check out one of my favorite bloggers: Taralynn McNitt and her fabulous blog Undressed Skeleton.  This girl loves to find ways to make traditionally unhealthy things (like the brownies here) healthy.

I made a couple of alterations to her brownie recipe.  I used gluten free baking flour (I really like Red Mills Gluten Free Flour because it includes Xantham Gum which helps when baking with non-glutinous grains).  I accidentally used too much unsweetened cocoa powder so I actually used 8 packets of Purevia instead of 5.  I also added extra chocolate chips to the batter instead of just on top (don't worry I added them on top too).  

This picture doesn't do them justice they're delish. Mine are a bit fudgey but I love them and love knowing that they're WAY better for me than traditional brownies.

Resolution Time

Its 2014!!! Is it me or did last year go by ridiculously fast??

So grateful to have rung in the new year with these peeps and their hubbies:

From Left: Allison, Brittney, Cara, Laura, Me

This is my second year in a row celebrating New Year's with this group.  Totally love them.  We stayed at Ben & Britt's, drank delicious champagne punch (recipe here), ate LOTS of yummy food and played Cards Against Humanity (best game ever).

My lame butt was asleep by 11pm...don't worry though, I woke up at midnight to kiss my husband and hop into bed.

Allison and I woke up New Year's morning and ran a 5K.  Don't be too impressed, its the last time I've worked out since the New Year started.

My Resolutions for this Year?
Here we go: 

1. Be more intentional with my time and "be present." How many times do I attempt to "multitask" and in so doing totally miss being completely attentive to the task or person I'm with?  I always complain about not having enough time to do things but the truth is I'm often just not being intentional with the time I have.
2. ACTUALLY stick to my budget.  I love to fudge budget numbers or in the past charge things. Its a problem.  NO MORE!
3. Simplify my life.  I have so much STUFF!  Clothes I don't wear, old make up & lotions that need to be thrown away, fashion magazines that I'm NEVER going to look at again (because they're so old the clothes are no longer in fashion), college papers, you name it I have it. I need to do a massive detox.
4. Eat healthier. Less sugar mainly.  Less glutinous grains...really grains in general. Less dairy. More veggies and fruit, lean protein, etc. 
5. Get moving more.  Sometimes I do a poor job of working out when I feel like I have two short of a time to get a "good" workout in.  We all know a short workout is better than no workout. 
6. Read my Bible daily. Talk to God more. 

Vegetarianism? A little can actually go a long way.

Ask any of my friends whether or not I would ever consider vegetarianism and you will hear a resounding NO WAY (if they say otherwise they probably don't know me very well).  In fact, I'm not even sure I would give up meat if you promised me I would have the body of a Victoria's Secret model. Don't get me wrong, many of my best friends and even my sister are staunch in their no meat views and that's great for them.  I'm a big believer in the Eat Right for Your Blood Type diet which explains that Type A blood types do better on a predominantly pescatarian diet (modified vegetarian diet that includes fish).  I on the other hand am an O blood type which is code for carnivore.  I do best with a high protein, high fruit and veggie, low grain and dairy diet (basically Paleo).  If you want to learn more about the Eat Right for Your Type diet you can visit Dr. Peter D'Adamo's website here.

With all of that being said,  I took an assessment of my diet not too long ago and realized that I was over-indulging in red meat (we're talking almost every day) and under-indulging in veggies, fruits and fish.  My solution?  Have at least one vegetarian meal per day and really change up my dinners to include more fish and chicken dishes. I even cook using a cast iron skillet so there's more iron released in my food (iron deficiency is a key reason our bodies crave red meat).  The result? I feel more energized and I've started to crave vegetables over meat.

Check out today's salad below.

What's in it: 
I opt for Organic Mixed Greens, they're more expensive than regular mixed greens but I find that organic fruits and veggies actually keep longer and are WAY better for you as they're devoid of nasty pesticides and preservatives. Plus, you can get them at an affordable price at Trader Joe's.

I added herbed goat cheese (also a Trader Joe's find, this stuff keeps FOREVER), beets (my favorite brand is called Love Beets and you can find them at Costco in bulk), sliced up baby carrots (Costco in bulk), sliced almonds, Trader Joe's Asian Style Spicy Peanut Vinaigrette (in the produce section....soooooo yummy), and just because you can't be completely good I add seasoned croutons.

 

Buh-bye Christmas, Hello Home!

After a week away from home, visiting my Mom's family in St. Louis and Steve's family in Houston we are finally HOME!

It was great to catch up with our wonderful families but there is nothing quite like being home after a long time away.

We spent the first couple of days in St. Louis and I got to see my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. My second cousins have grown so much! The last time I saw them they were babies!

My second cousins Peyton and Olivia

My cousin Tayler and I grew up together

One of the nice things about being at my grandmother's house is that I basically don't have to do much of anything. She does all of the cooking, all of the laundry, all of the dishes. She's one of the most energetic people I know.  She's also one of the most giving.  Basically she inspires me.

Grandma hates to have her picture taken.  This is one of my favs of her :)

We visited a store I had never been to before that I absolutely fell in love with: Altar'd State. Its a Christian owned and run store that sells women's clothing, home goods, jewelry, etc.  Right now the only stores they have in Texas are in Frisco, Allen, Midland, El Paso and Austin but you can visit their website by clicking here.  Other store locations are here.

I got this cute little number that I'm going to pair with my new black J.Crew Pixie Pants!

The day before Christmas Eve we headed over to Houston.  My brother in law Dave picked us up at the airport. He had driven in from San Antonio and had all of our presents in the trunk so I got to sit in the back seat along with all of this on the hour and a half drive to Montgomery:

Fun times.

Christmas at my Mother in Law's house is magical.  She kind of goes overboard on the lights but I love it!

Monday night we went on a nice walk/run through the neighborhood and were greeted by this:

Most gorgeous sunset ever!

I also discovered there is a Lyndsey drive and they even spell my name correctly!

Christmas morning was significantly quieter than what I'm accustomed to but it was lovely.  And I got basically everything I asked for. Including my Erin Condren planner.  I'm beyond excited about this.
They're a bit pricey but soooooooo cute!

Just look at it!

Planner Front

Planner Back

We watched tons of Christmas movies including Elf, Home Alone, Funny Farm and The Christmas Story.  We finished off the night by watching The Impossible.  The story is about a family that is in Thailand during the Tsunami that hit on December 26, 2004.  Not exactly Christmasy but it definitely reminded us that the important things in life aren't things.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Oh Christmas Tree!

Today Steve and I started one of our new Christmas traditions:
We went to a Christmas Tree farm, picked out and chopped down our first, real Christmas tree as a married couple.

The farm we went to is called Devine Acres Farm in Devine, TX, about an hour or so south of San Antonio.  This farm was FANTASTIC!  They have about 5,000 trees on their property so it took us a couple of hours to pick out the right one.  For each tree that is chopped down every year they plant an additional tree.  In addition to their Christmas trees they have tons of fun activities for the little ones: catch and release fishing, mazes, hayrides, farm animals, mini golf, etc.  Our plan is to continue to go back every year even when we have little ones.

I kind of liked this little fellow but Steve had grander things in mind. 

We settled on a nice 9-10 footer.  Since we have 14 foot ceilings in our place it works out pretty well.

 Once we picked it out we had a bit of a rough time getting it chopped down.  Apparently I was supposed to be pushing while Steve sawed. Oops!  Luckily a nice man who worked there came along to help Steve out.

And the same nice man gave us a hay ride back to the front with our tree in tow.

One of my very favorite things about Steve is his love of tradition. 
This is one of my new favorites by far.

Only in Vegas....

Today is my last work trip of the year and we're headed to Vegas!

Looking back on my calendar this will be my 18th work trip this year.  Kind of intense when you think about it.

Its a nice short trip (3 days/2 nights).  Just long enough to get some work done and have a good time.

My sweet husband woke up at 5:45am to take me to the airport.

Coffee was necessary. 

I'm always so shocked when I visit Vegas.  This is my 5th time here and it still blows my mind.

Things that amaze me (in no particular order)
1) There is a liquor store in the airport.  IN the airport!!!!  Just in case you can't make it from your cocktail on the plane to the hotel bar: 

2) Carousels made entirely of flowers (and yes it does go around in circles):

3) While we're at it, Hot Air Balloons made entirely of flowers:

4) Gondolas and canals inside malls. The gondoliers even sing for you:

5)  Incredible views from the bed of my hotel room (I didn't even have to stand up to move the curtains...its automated):

6) There is Fro-yo in the Walgreens...I don't have a pic of this but I PROMISE.

I didn't indulge but I really wanted to.

More to come...