Chicken and Noodles

Chicken and noodles is one of my favorite winter meals. Not the soup, but the thick, creamy variety that you slather on top of a heap of mashed potatoes. Yummmm. Turns out, Zane likes chicken and noodles too, which I discovered when he said he ate them at a friend's house last week. Well, then. Time to make a batch at home.

Now I'm not the super ambitious type that will make my own noodles. It sounds nice and all, and I have good memories from my childhood of my mom making noodles and hanging them on drying racks. But I just wanted a simple tasty recipe to make on a lazy Sunday, so no noodle making for me. I searched around on the internet for awhile until I found a couple good crockpot recipes. I kind of made my own recipe by combining a couple different recipes together, but I was really pleased with it. I will probably add a little more liquid next time to get them a little runnier like the ones that my church made growing up. But if you like a nice thick chicken and noodle that's almost like a casserole, leave this recipe as is.

Chicken and Noodles in the Crockpot

1/2- 1 lb chicken breast, chopped (depends on how chicken-y you want it)
2 cans chicken broth (I used the low sodium type)
1 can cream of chicken soup (I used the 98% fat free type)
chopped onion or onion flakes (just a little)
dash or two of parsley
10 ounce bag of noodles

Cut chicken into smaller chunks and place in crockpot with all ingredients except for noodles. Cook in crockpot for 6-8 hours on low or 4-5 hours on high. Use slotted spoon to scoop out chicken and shred it. Add chicken back to broth. Add package of noodles. Cook on low for about 20 minutes, keeping an eye on the mushiness of the noodles. (This cooking time will depend on the strength of your crockpot. Also, if you use frozen noodles instead of the dry variety, which is what I use, it will take longer for the noodles to cook.) Pepper to taste and serve over mashed potatoes.

Six Word Saturday

Oooh, I found another writing prompt blog that I may (or may not) start participating in regularly. The trick for me is remembering that I want to do it weekly. haha It's called Six Word Saturday, and the point is to describe your life/day/something in a phrase of just six words. It's a good challenge for me, because I like to write. And talk. So here goes. My 6WS for today is:

Learning to parent a headstrong toddler.

I would say that's pretty self-explanatory, wouldn't you? :)

Good problem solving skills!

Raegan has always been really determined. She will practice and practice at a skill until she masters it. I also really like this video because of how she's singing and talking during her bath. She loves bath time!

(You also get a little preview of Zane's trumpet skills if you listen really closely!)

My recommendations

Here are some things that I have been absolutely loving lately:

This is Avon Intensive Treatment Lotion. You guys, seriously. There is nothing better for super chapped hands in the winter. My hands get really gross every winter thanks to washing them five million times a day because of the germy preschoolers I work with. My knuckles were cracking and bleeding before Christmas. I've been using this for the last two or three weeks, and they are almost back to normal. Find yourself an Avon gal, stat.

My parents got us a new crockpot for Christmas. It's a Hamilton Beach Stay or Go 6 qt. and it is awesome! It has this little spoon rest in the back that pulls out so that you don't have to lay your spoon on a paper towel or (ew) the counter if you take your crockpot somewhere. And as you can see from the picture, you can hook the spoon in the lid when you take it somewhere to free up your hands. It is fabulous.

I don't know if you all are familiar with Scentsy or not. If you don't have one, you really should get one. They have a little bulb inside that melts scented wax that you put in the top dish. There are some really good fragrances out there, and you don't have to worry about remembering a candle. My favorites are Baked Apple Pie and White Tea and Cactus. Mmmm, this makes me want to go turn on my warmer right now. Which is the one I have pictured above, by the way. Isn't it so pretty?

I also recommend Babies That Don't Fight Going To Sleep, but I apparently do not own one of those tonight, so I guess I'm not recommending from personal experience. Ha.

Writing Prompt #1

I found this website through a friend's blog, and thought I would give the Writer's Workshop a try. Since, you know, I'm still too lazy motivated to figure out my picture storage dilemma. So here's the prompt I chose:

1.) Choose a word that encompasses 2010 and describe why. What word will you choose as your theme for 2011?

My word that encompasses 2010 would be accomplished. I feel like I accomplished a LOT in 2010, more than I ever thought I would be capable of doing. I graduated with my masters in exactly two years. My original goal had been two and a half to three years, knowing when I started the program in August of 2008 that we were trying to get pregnant already at that point. (Fact: I was pregnant or had a newborn/young infant for all but three months of my grad school career.) So I far surpassed my goal for grad school, and did it in the time that 24 year olds that aren't working full time with a family do it. And I finished with a 4.0. Which I never said outloud, but I wanted that so badly. I am a perfectionist with myself. If someone gives me a goal or project or whatever, I am going to do it as perfectly as possible. I probably could have spent a lot less brain power and effort on grad school, but my God, I wanted to do the very best I could. I kicked out some papers that I am pretty proud of. :)

I also accomplished going back to work and almost a full school year of teaching after having a baby. I don't know if I would call it PPD, but I definitely struggled with going back to work. It was a hard school year. And let me tell you, not wanting to be at work and simultaneously being a perfectionist that wants to do everything just so can really mess you up. But I did it. I figured out how to be a working mom and still make Raegan a top priority in my life. I still sometimes dream of getting to stay at home, but I know that it's not really a feasible option for where we are in life right now. The important thing is that I've come to peace with that. And *that* may have been an even bigger accomplishment than the whole grad school package, in the long term.

So my word for 2011? Security. My goal for this year is to gain some financial security for Luke and I. We have a savings account, sure. We also have a decent amount of debt, with our mortgage, car payment, and my now even bigger student loan balance. My biggest goal is to knock out a good chunk of our debt. Obviously, it's not going away by the end of 2011 (hello, mortgage!) but I would like to take away more of it than I would by just doing things the same. I'm hoping that eventually that my employer will offer a Financial Peace class for employees (like we already do for families in the program) so that I can get some more ideas on how to reduce our debt.

I want both kids to have a college savings account, not with the thought of paying for their college, but that Luke and I can give each of them a little break from their future student loans. Zane's obviously needs to be started like yesterday, and we'll be contributing more to that than Raegan's at first.

I enrolled us in the Flexible Spending Account through Luke's work, which is where they deduct pre-tax dollars from his check into an account that we get reimbursed from for our medical expenses. I started out pretty conservatively, and skipped the part where we could use money for child care. We'll see how the plan works this year and then look at saving more pre-tax dollars next year. I've also already started saving for our vacation next summer, so that it's not this burden on us to get away as a family. I still remember so many details of my own family's summer vacations to Colorado, and I want Zane and Raegan to have those kinds of memories from their childhoods also.

So bring it on, 2011. I feel like it's going to be a good year! I really hope I'm right. :)

I got an award! :)

I'm being lazy (or I could be positive and say that I'm just caught up in going back to work after a long break) so I haven't really figured out my picture loading situation yet. Apparently my choices are either purchase more room or delete pictures off my blog. I have some pictures I want to post, so I guess I better figure it out pretty soon....

So in the mean time, a post that doesn't require me to have media storage space on Blogger. I got an blogger award! I feel like I'm a real blogger that a lot of people read, or something. :) Samantha over at A Bad Romance gave the Honest Scrap award to me.So here's how it works. I have to give five facts about myself, then pick five bloggers who I feel write from the heart to pass the award on to.

My facts are as follows:

1. I hate writing with pencils. If I do write with a pencil, it needs to be perfectly sharp. Writing with a dull pencil literally makes me want saw my fingers off. Ew, I'm shuddering just thinking about it.

2. Okay, one more fact to illustrate the fact that I am obviously a freak. I hate hair. I think hair is disgusting. Not hair, like on your head hair. Loose hair. I gag (not for drama, I seriously cannot control it) everytime I see loose hair. There was a squirrels' nest outside on our playground at work last month and it had fur and hair and leaves and I just about lost my mind.

3. I love reading the Harry Potter series. (Hmmm, to some people I'm probably still highlighting the fact that I'm a freak. lol) I've read the whole series through multiple times, and my favorites (Goblet of Fire and Deathly Hallows) too many to count. I only discovered this series in 2006, so I was too late for all but the last book release, but Zane and I still enjoyed that one by going to the midnight release of the book with him dressed up as Ron. It was awesome.

4. One of my big dreams is to open my own bakery/catering business/mail order food business someday. I love to bake SO much, and I would love to be able to do it for a living. When we lived in Manhattan I sold baked goods at the farmer's market there for a while, but there were a coupe big baking booths that made it hard for me to get going.

5. And since this is for being someone who blogs from the heart, I feel like I should toss in a serious one. I have polycystic ovarian syndrome, also known as PCOS. It's actually a pretty common thing in women, and I know several women that have it to varying degrees. Because of my PCOS, Luke and I had to seek out fertility treatment to get pregnant. We were absolutely blessed by God in that it only took us 7 months (with 4 months assisted by a specialist) to get pregnant, but for some women it takes years, or it never happens. We were also very blessed to not have to go very far up the ladder of treatment options, so it did not cost us nearly as much as it does some people. I've been thinking about blogging about it sometime soon, but for now you can click on the link I provided if you don't know very much about it. You probably know at least one woman who has some degree of PCOS.

Okay, now for the people I nominate:

1. Claire at Claire Emma Miller. This isn't actually the blog of hers that I read where she calls it like she sees it, but I'm linking that one so you can check out the fabulous crafts that she does.

2. Tabatha at Onederful Tabatha blogs about being okay with doing things by herself, and not feeling like she always has to surround herself with people. It's a good concept!

3. My mom Ruth at For Here We Have No Continuing City. She writes from the heart (just like everything she does) but mainly I'm doing this so she will update her blog already!

4. Olivia at Olivia's Family Blog. I admire what a wonderful job she does as a stay-at-home mom to four children. Talk about strength!

5. Beth at Baby Song's First Blog. Again, not the blog of hers I read where she's real, but I don't want to link to her private blog without her permission so there you have it.

Crock Pot Baked Potato Soup

Out of the three recipes that I was looking at, I ended up making the recipe from Domestic Pursuits. It sounded the easiest because of the crockpot aspect, and it didn't involved me going out to buy a LOT of ingredients that we frankly don't have the money for right now because it's post-Christmas. I left my camera at my in-laws today, so you get blessed with the picture straight from Domestic Pursuits.

The recipe tastes pretty close to the potato soup at Panera Bread, which is kind of my gold standard for really good potato soup. It was a little off - I think maybe it needs to be a littler thinner? And the website says that their soup has chives for flavor, so maybe a little of that would help? It was close enough that I ate a good-sized bowl (hello, trip to the gym tonight!) and Zane actually liked it too.

One trick that I used that made it even easier to make was to put the garlic and onion into my mini food processor, which saved me quite a bit of time in dicing those two ingredients. Every time I use that gadget I think of how handy it is and I how much I love it. I really need to start using it more often! The only variation from the recipe that I really made was leaving out the red pepper flakes. I didn't feel like buying red pepper just for this recipe, and I figured that such a small amount wouldn't really be missed in a whole crockpot of soup. I also made a half-batch, because I didn't want to be eating potato soup all week! :) The recipe below is for the full batch. The blogger at Domestic Pursuits did warn that it will fill a 6 quart crockpot almost to the brim, so be aware of that if you decide to do a full batch.

Crockpot Baked Potato Soup

Yields 10 servings

5 lbs potatoes, peeled and diced in 1 to 2-inch chunks

1 small onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

2 quarts chicken broth

2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese

optional garnishes: crumbled bacon, green onion, chives, shredded cheddar cheese

1. After peeling and dicing potatoes, place them in the slow-cooker (use 6-quart or larger). Add onion, garlic, seasonings and broth.

2. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or on high for four hours.

3. Once potatoes are fork-tender, use a masher to mash the potatoes.

4. Break up both packages of cream cheese and add to slow-cooker. Put the cover back on.

5. Cook on high for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

6. Once cream cheese is completely dissolved, serve with desired garnishes.

Recipe and photo from Domestic Pursuits