Chicken Salad

2 cans white meat chicken
2 chopped celery stalks
1/2 small red onion, diced
1/2 tsp dill weed
1/8 tsp dry mustard
1/8 tsp onion powder
mayo (I just add until it's the consistency I want - and, yes, "When you bring out the Hellman's, you bring out the best!")
1/4 cup dried cranberries
handful of pecans, walnuts or both
ground pepper
tbsp chopped cilantro
dash of garlic salt

Shred chicken and add mayo, then add all other ingredients. Serve in a whole wheat pita pocket, on sliced bread, with crackers, or even atop a fresh spinach salad. Mmm! Mmm! Mmm!

Chicken Saag with Homemade Roti

That's right, Indian food! Mmm..... This one's sure to knock you Zoners' socks off! LOL

Chicken Saag (out of Cookie magazine)

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts (diced and seasoned with salt and pepper)

salt and pepper

2 tbsp olive oil

1 chopped onion

2 tbsp tomato paste

2 lbs fresh spinach or 1 lb thawed frozen spinach

2 tbsp garam masala spice (yes, I was able to find it at Wal Mart)

1 cup half and half

jasmine rice, cooked (as much as you like)

Heat olive oil in large pan over medium heat. Add chicken and brown on all sides until cooked through. Remove chicken and set aside. In the same pan, saute onion until translucent. Stir in tomato paste. Add spinach and stir until wilted (or warm if using thawed frozen spinach). Add garam masala, stir and saute 8 minutes. Stir in half and half, add chicken and cook until warmed through. Season with more salt and pepper. Serve over jasmine rice.

Roti (makes 8) (from bellaonline.com)

4 cups of whole wheat flour

1/4 cups of water

Butter

Keep aside a little flour for dusting.

In large bowl, gradually add water to flour and mix well until you have stiff dough. The easiest way to do this is by using clean hands. Knead the dough until it yields a smooth texture and consistency. Cover with damp cloth and let dough rest 10-15 minutes. Knead dough again and divide into 8 equal portions. Roll the individual portions into round golf ball-size balls. Take 1 round ball at a time and flatten it into a round disk using palms. Dust your work area and rolling pin with a little bit of flour to prevent sticking. Gently roll the flattened ball into a circle, making sure the roti is even in thickness. Keep rolling until you have created a thin round roti approximately 8 inches in diameter. Heat a large frying pan on medium heat, add a little butter (or cooking spray) and carefully place the roti in the pan. After a minute or so, turn the roti. Both sides should be golden brown. Brush with butter and serve hot.

***Use the roti like a tortilla to eat the chicken saag. Enjoy!

Easy Peasy Week of Recipes

We're trying to get our rental house, well, rented, so my wonderful husband will be busy showing the house in the evenings this week. His suggestion for quick dinners? Sandwich week! What a great idea! It's so easy, the grocery list isn't very long and I can get as creative as I want. Here's our menu for the week:

Monday: Chicken salad pita with side salad
Tuesday: Grilled cheese with potato soup
Wednesday: Ham salad with potato chips
Thursday: Ham & Turkey Hoagies with jalapeno chips
Friday: Bologna with (leftover) Mock Shirshank Dip & chips...I made more Mock Shirshank Dip over the weekend for the guys during that crappy Mavs game. Boy, were they robbed! If I were Mark Cuban, I would've shoved that camera man too! "Get out of my face! I'm mad! We were robbed!!!" I feel better now...

Bon Apetite!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mothers out there. Especially my Mom, whom I become more and more like every second of every day. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful mother to teach me how to be a wonderful mother. I owe it all to her (and my Dad, but we'll cover that on Father's Day!).

I am incredibly sad that we had to cancel our plans to travel to the lake to be with the most important mothers in my life (Mom, Dian, Nana),

but as a Mom, that's what I had to do. So, for Mother's Day, I am celebrating by being the best Mommy I know how to be and keeping my recovering-from-croup baby at home.

I want to also extend my Mother's Day blessings to the mommies of pets. You know who you are! I have always taken being a mommy to Pagan very seriously.

She truly helped prepare me for motherhood. With all that said, I would like to share a poem with you that's been passed around the World Wide Web a few times, but it still brings tears to my eyes every single time I read it. I haven't a clue who the author is, but she must be an incredible mother!

Before I was a Mom,

I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby.

I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.

I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom,

I had never been puked on.

Pooped on.

Chewed on.

Peed on.

I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts.

I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom,

I never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests.

Or give shots.

I never looked into teary eyes and cried.

I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.

I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom,

I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put her down.

I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt.

I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.

I never knew that I could love someone so much.

I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom,

I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.

I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.

I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child.

I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom,

I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.

I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache, the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom.

I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much, before I was a Mom.

I hope you all have the best Mother's Day ever! You deserve it! And don't forget to thank the men in your lives who blessed you with your children and gave you the opportunity to be a mother!

And I'll even thank the mother of my wonderful husband, because without her, I wouldn't have him!

Happy Mother's day!

~Courtney (One Very Happy Mommy)

"Somebody once said that it takes 6 weeks to get back to normal after you've had a baby. That somebody doesn't know that once you're a mother, 'normal' is history!"

Mock Shirshank Dip

Remember when I blogged (on the other blog) about that dip that Victoria and Tricia (aka Shirshank) brought back from their trip to visit Tricia's family? Well, I found myself wandering aimlessly through the grocery store today trying to figure out what I wanted for lunch. The only thing that sounded good to me was that dip. Not knowing exactly how to make it, I decided to try to recreate it using my mad cooking skills. LOL! So, here you go. It's not true Shirshank dip, but it's darn close and darn good, too! And, of course, I did my best to make it as guilt-free as possible.


1 8 oz container reduced fat cream cheese
1 can white corn
approx. 2 tbsp salsa (I use El Fenix)
dash of paprika
dash of garlic salt
dash of black pepper
2 chopped green onions
approx. 1/4 c shredded cheese of choice (I used a mixture of mozzarella, colby jack and a Mexican blend)


On the stove or in a crock pot, warm (med-low heat) all ingredients together, mixing as the cheese slowly melts. Serve warm with multi-grain tortilla chips for a delicious treat!

Leftover Orzo Salad Scramble

I took about a cup of leftover Warm Spinach and Orzo Salad (see previous post for recipe) and warmed it in a small, lightly greased skillet over medium heat. While it was warming, I beat one egg in a bowl. Once the pasta salad was warm, I added the egg and stirred to get the pasta salad nice and covered. Cook until egg is done. I sprinkled a little shredded 2% milk mozzarella on top. Yum-O!

***I served it with a crumpet. If you've never had a crumpet, I highly recommend it. I find them at Kroger in the International section, by the British stuff. They are like an English muffin, but better! They're fat free and only have 60 calories to boot.

Panini with Orzo Salad

Herb Pesto and Mozzarella Panini

1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
3/4 cup fresh basil leaves
1/3 cup chopped fresh chives
1 garlic glove
1 tbs lemon juice
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing
1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
Salt and pepper to taste
8 slices country-style bread
8 oz fresh mozzarella, sliced
1 large tomato, sliced


Put pine nuts, basil, chives, garlic, lemon juice and 1/4 cup oil in blender until smooth. Stir in Parmigiano-Reggiano, season with salt and pepper.

Preheat panini press to 400 or medium-high heat. (I don't have a panini press, I have a sandwich iron, so I just used it) Brush one side of each piece of bread with olive oil. Lay slices oiled side down, spread pesto on and top with mozzarella slices and top with tomato slices. Season with salt and pepper and lay remaining bread slices on top, oiled side up.

Cook until toasted and cheese is melted.

Warm Spinach & Orzo Salad
1 lb orzo
1 lb fresh baby spinach
1 lemon
1/4 cup olive oil
salt
pepper
1 chopped tomato
a few thin slices red onion
4 oz crumbled feta (I used reduced fat)
handful of pine nuts or walnuts (I had both, so I added a little of each)

Prepare 1 lb orzo according to the package.
During the last minute of the orzo's cooking, add 1 lb fresh baby spinach. Drain, set aside.
In large bowl, combine juice from one lemon and olive oil.
Whisk in salt and pepper to satisfaction.
Add orzo and spinach mixture, tomatoes, and red onion. Toss to combine.
Stir in feta and nuts. Serve.

(Sorry, I was in a hurry and forgot to take a pic!)