EASY Garlic chicken

This is one of my favorite chicken recipes

4~chicken breasts
4~garlic cloves, minced
4~ tablespoons of brown sugar
3~teaspoons of olive oil
preheat oven to 500 degrees
lightly grease a casserole dish..i just used a baking sheet.
In a small pan saute garlic oil until tender.
Remove from heat and stir in brown sugar.
place chicken breast in prepared baking dish and cover with garlic and brown sugar micture (its will be like a paste)
add salt and pepper to taste
bake uncovered for 15-30 until chicken is done
the sugar just melts and makes the garlic sweet and it is AMAZING!!! i paired it with the brocc and it was again AMAZING!
its super easy and yummy!

The best Broccoli of yout Life...

I was searching for recipes on pinterest and i came across this title...THE BEST BROCCOLI OF YOUR LIFE....well who wouldnt stop to take a look..i do love broccoli so i jusr peeked at the recipe and i knew i had to make this..

pre heat oven 425

take 4/5 pounds of broccoli FRESH(or whatever amount your family would eat)

cut the florets.

Here is the key to this recipe! u may wash the broccoli but make sure  that the broccoli is totally dry!

put brooc on a baking sheet

toss with olive oil,salt and pepper

now add 4 garlic cloves that are peeled and sliced

roast in oveb 20-25 mins until crisp tender and browned

when done take out of oven

zest a lemon of the brocc

squeeze lemon juice over brocc

add more olive oil

add pine nuts (as many as u want)

and then 1/3 cup of parm cheese

then ENJOY!

it really is a tasty treat that makes an amazing side to any meat! We enjoyed it with a chicken recipe i will post next!

Meeting two

This past monday Jan.30th Judy came to visit our home. She was a good excuse to really clean my house. And boy oh boy did we clean. My house has never been this clean..so feel free to stop over now haha. =) When Judy arrived we dicussed things like where hospitals and fire and police departments were..if we were going to use private or public schools..and safety questions like do we have a smoke detector in each bedroom and so on. It went very well and she asked about how we would discipline our child and other questions. Cousin Josh even got some questions as it was mantory for him to be present bc he is living at home with us. He did a great job and im honored that he loves us so much. Next Step: meeting with our case worker Linda for more questions to be answered one on one and then together( march sometime)
If u could pray with me for our future birth mother. That would be great!

meeting one (jan. 9th)

We went to syracuse to our first adoption meeting at New Hope. It went very well! We went a day early and stayed over night bc the meeting was at 9am. We arrived (on time of course) and headed in and was greeted my Judy (the director of new hope) She took us to a room that was filled with 5 other couples that are doing the same process as us. We listened to Judy talk till 12. Then Eli and i went to friendly's for lunch and it was a good time for us to debrief on everything we just heard. The main thing we talked about actually was how i was looking at this from a different angle. I was hearing what Judy was saying from the adopted child point of view as well as an adoptive parent view. It was crazy to think that this is the place my birth parents went to and that we were in the same building as they were in when they were deciding to put me up for adoption. Its crazy that my parents were in this building making the same plans as we are now deciding to adopt. It was very over whelming for me but a good over whelming =)
After lunch we met with our case worker Linda.  She was awesome. We really connected with her and it was a great, pretty quick meeting. She asked us questions about our selves and went over paperwork that we have bought with us. Then we were on our way home. It felt good to start with this homestudy and we are just steps closer to getting our dream come true. Thanks for your prayers.

Taking a recipe break....

To share that we are starting the Home study process for adoption.(ahhhh=) I wanted to blog about it! So that we have an outlet to share how we feel through this process and also so that we can look back and see how it all started. So i should start at the very beginning......

 Eli and I had went to an information meet in Albany with New Hope Family Services in Nov. We went and enjoyed the meeting and felt this is the place we should work with. They had opened the meeting up praying and reading from the Word. I felt how cool that was and God was so present at that meeting. We gathered a lot of info and were also told that we wouldn't most likely be able to start the home study process until march. I was bummed but knew God knew best and hadn't given it a second though. i knew it would start when it started...

 Well in the beginning of December we received an invitation to start the home study process and we were so thrilled until we looked at the date and it was during our Florida vacation that we have had planned for months and months. we were shocked and feeling why God  would  have it when we couldn't be there..I was thinking we would have to wait till this home study finished and then we would be invited again. I decided to call them and they were so kind and said we would work it out so that we would be able to start in Jan. There are many other couple going through the same process as us and they all agreed to start in Jan. I was in shock and humbled that they would all do that for us. So here we are now...Going to Syracuse for a day filled with classes and meetings on monday (Jan.9th) and we're so so so excited to start this journey and so so so anxious and nervous. This is going to be an amazing, hard and truly unbelievable journey. Its going to test our marriage,and how we live. And I hope that you all who read this will start praying for us. Just the paper work and questions going into this first meeting has been since a blessing getting to know Eli even more then i thought was possible. I pray that this continues to be a joy!

Crockpot creamy chicken and broccoli

Amy Facchiano inspired me to make a week of crockpot dishes when I noticed on facebook she was doing one..which I will try soon!

Ingredients:

• 1 can Cream of Broccoli Soup
• boneless chicken breasts (as many as you need) - I buy the frozen ones with 6-7 in a bag - approx. 3 pounds
• 1 bag frozen broccoli
• salt and pepper
• 1 cup milk

Preparation:

Place chicken in the crockpot. Cover with frozen veggies and cream of broccoli soup. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cook on LOW 6 to 8 hours or HIGH 3 to 4 hours. (Boneless chicken breasts might be dry if cooked too long.) Add milk about 45 minutes before done

 

I made some adjustments...i put TWO cans of cream of broccoli and i added some garlic powder also.  i also sprinkled some cheddar cheese on top when it was plated.

Over all is was just an okay dish..very very very easy but not the most tastiest dish. Eli and Cousin Josh both said they liked it but would have liked the chicken thinner..(i used thick breasts) i might make this one again sometime and add more stuff=)

 

Southwest Zucchini Boats

"I love this meal!"This is what my husband says as he eats almost the whole pan of zucchini! These are a pretty quick yummy meal!  

The ingredents are:

 4/5 med. zucchini

1lb of ground beef

3/4c of salsa

1/4 c of bread crumbs

1/4c of minced fresh cilantro

1tsp chili powder

1/2tsp ground cumin

1/4tsp salt,

1/8tsp pepper

1c shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Sour cream optional

Cut Zucchini in half lengthwise;scoop out the pulp,leaving 1/4 in. shells.

Place the shells in an ungreased 3. quart microwave-safe dish. Cover and microwave on high for 3 mins. or until crisp-tender;drain and set aside.

Meanwhile in a large skillet,cook beef over med. heat until no longer pink;drain.

Remove from the heat and stir in the salsa,bread crumbs,ciltrano,chili powder,cumin,salt ,pepper and 1/2 c of the cheese.

Spoon into zucchini shells.

Microwave ,uncovered on high for 4 mins. Sprinkle remaining cheese.Microwave 3-4 mins longer or until cheese is melted and zucchini are tender. Serve with Sour cream if desired.

* i added salsa to dip in as well!