What to do with 40 lbs of Chicken

 The other day I found a co-op that was offering 40 lbs of chicken for bulk purchase.   I used to buy bulk chicken like that all the time and make freezer meals back when Zaycon Fresh was around.  It is really nice to have something I can just pull out of the freezer and cook or have ready.  It helps with meal planning and daily clean up too.  I was so excited to see the availability, I jumped right in.  

It was then time to figure out what meals I was going to put in the freezer.   I have a small collection of freezer recipes that I have gathered from thefamilyfreezer.com and onceamonthmeals.com websites over time.   They offer free downloads that I have taken advantage of.   I also have some standard recipes that we love that I put together and freeze.   Really anything that is chicken and a marinade, can be assembled and frozen and then you defrost and grill or cook.   

I have catalogued some of these recipes on Plan to Eat (although I have not been as organized as I would like with that) and also have some in files on my computer.    For this event...as that is what it is an event of chicken going to the freezer.  I pulled a couple recipes from a group I received from OAMMs.  It was a collection from other websites.  The first came from thepinningmama.com and had a couple of tweaks to it.  This is the first time I've made this one so hoping its as good as it sounds.  :)

Easy Chicken Parmesan Bake--Dump and Go Dinner

The Pinning Mama and Once a Month Meals

Creates 2 meals of 4 servings each in a 8x8 baking pan

2 pounds Chicken, Boneless Breasts

1 1/3 cups marinara sauce

5 1/3 individual provolone cheese slices

1/3 cup bread crumbs (italian)

1/3 cup parmesan cheese (shredded)

Divide chicken among the indicated number of baking pans.  Cover chicken with marinara and then the provolone.  Mix togeher the breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese.  Sprinkle evenly over the chicken.   Cover with Foil.  Label and freeze.  

Day of:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees, bake a 350 for 35-45 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.    Personally---I would defrost over night in the fridge before placing in the oven and then use a thermometer to make sure the chicken reaches 165.  

Serve with a green salad and pasta, garlic bread.   

Baked Chicken Cordon Bleu--Dump and Go Dinner (pictured above)

A Mind Full Mom and Once a Month Meals

Creates 2 meals of 4 servings each in a 8x8 baking pan.

8 individual Chicken boneless breasts

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons Black Pepper

8 teaspoons dijon mustard (I used regular)

8 individual deli Ham slices

8 individual Swiss Cheese slices

2 cups white wine (I substituted chicken broth)

If chicken breasts are large, pound flat to a uniform thickness.  (I am so too lazy to do this.  I cut the chicken in half and arranged it in the pan so that it looked more uniform)  Divide chicken among indicated number of baking dishes.  Season with Salt and Pepper.  Brush chicken with dijon mustard (or just take the mustard container and squirt what looks like an appropriate amount over the chicken, like I did...)  Cover each chicken with ham then top with swiss cheese.  (since I cut the chicken in half, I also cut the pieces of ham into smaller pieces.)  Top with swiss cheese.  Pour wine (or broth) around chicken.  Cover with foil.  Label and freeze.

Day of:  Preheat oven to 375 F.  Bake at 375 for 25 min or until internal temp reaches 165.   

Be careful stacking these ones...they will leak with the liquid in there.   Also, I would take out of the freezer and refrigerate the night before.  I suspect this will take 45 min to cook if not more when frozen.  

These next two recipes are marinades that my family really likes.  We grill this chicken.   I sliced the breasts into strips to make them easier to handle.   The 40 lbs of chicken comes as double breasts so I was cutting them up anyway.  

Manti Chicken

1 cup sprite

1/2 cup soy sauce

2 Tablespoons Olive oil

1/4 teaspoon Granulated Garlic

1/8 teaspoon horseradish (I found powdered and use that instead of the prepared)

Mix all ingredients together, pour over 2-3 lbs chicken that you have placed in a ziplock freezer bag.  (Label it first) seal and then freeze.   Remove from freezer 1-2 days before cooking.  Grill.  Chicken is cooked when it reaches 165F by thermometer in the thickest part. 

Serve with a salad, crusty bread and ranch dressing...we love dipping this in ranch. 

Fajita Chicken

2-3 lbs chicken sliced

3 Limes, juiced

3 Tablespoons fajita seasoning  

Mix juice and seasoning.  Pour over chicken that you have placed in a ziplock freezer bag. (label first!)

Freeze.   Remove from freezer 1-2 days before grilling.  Grill until chicken is 165 in the thickest part.  

Make fajitas with tortillas, cheese, sour cream, salsa, lettuce, tomato, avocado and sautéed onions and peppers if desired.

The rest of the chicken (yes there was more!)  I threw into a crockpot with a container of salsa.  I let it cook until it shredded and then let it cool and put in bags to freeze.  This can be used anyway you want to use shredded chicken.  Tacos, burritos, enchiladas just to name a few.   In the past I have used a dry packet of italian dressing instead of the salsa.  That shredded chicken is great in wraps, chicken salad and more.   Easy to use and versatile!

Let me know how you enjoy these recipes! 

After these things...

 In our church we have what is called the Come Follow Me program.   It is scripture reading in various books that we talk with our families about and learn about in our church meetings each week.   This week we are in Genesis Chapters 18-23.   I have been listening and reading a few different sources so that I can understand better.  The Old Testament can be really hard for me to understand sometimes. I've heard the stories all my life but to apply them to myself, or to study more in depth escapes me a little.   

Reading about Abraham going to sacrifice Isaac is one of those moments.   It must have taken a magnitude of faith for Abraham to follow that prompting from God. I am afraid I don't have that kind of faith.  It is too easy to question the little promptings I do have.  Abraham was promised posterity.  Isaac was his only son who they didn't even expect to have.  His birth itself was a miracle.   How easy would it be to say, Lord, it goes against your promises for me to do this.  But he and Isaac went willingly and followed what they were told.   Does this mean they went blindly?  No...But they went with faith and trust.    

One video I watched talked about how at the beginning of Genesis 22 verse one.  It says  "And it came to pass after these things"   And they said how important that this was...things weren't written if it wasn't important...writing didn't come as easy as it does now.  So "after these things"   How many times had God saved, showed and loved on Abraham.   Abraham was saved from being a human sacrifice in Egypt.  He had miracles left and right and through every aspect of his life.   Did he have any doubt after all those things that God would lead him down the right path?  Any doubt that everything was in his best interest?   I would say no.  The rest I still can't wrap my head around so I am going to go with this much for now.

So how can I be more like Abraham?   Perhaps start by trusting that what I am prompted to do comes from God and following through.   Understanding that I may not see the end, but God does.  He sees the end from the beginning.   

There is a song I love.  It is called Blessings by Laura Story.   It talks about how the blessings we are looking for are not always found the way we want to find them.   Perhaps the blessing is the raindrops, or the tears.   Perhaps those are the ways we find those things that we are praying and hoping for.   I hope that I can always take stock of the kindness, tender mercies, miracles and blessings that God blesses me with so that when I come to a huge problem in my life I will be able to say that because of those things I have faith and believe God will be there for me as nothing is too hard for the Lord.   

Oops, it's Valentines day!

 Here it is, that moment when you have to have something to hand out in the elementary school classes.  My son decided to pull out his and start writing his name on them this morning.   The valentines we purchased and had just the right number of for the class, ended up having duds.  Really, this does not work to hand out people...  (note the nice hole in the center)

We don't shop on Sundays, so it quickly became time to do some internet searching and scouring of our house for something that would work for the event.  I guess I needed to get creative?  Me...?  Oh we have Oreo packs?  Nope only one of those left.  Granola bars?   Na, not enough either.   (Also, the child did not want to use them.)  Bags of chips?  YES!  Luckily I had purchased a large box of individual packs just a week or so ago for the kiddos to use in their lunch at school.  Thank you bulk shopping!  A quick internet search later and voila!  

A cute printable was found.    So you can find it too here you go...   

Free Bag of Chips Valentine Printable - Great for School Valentines! (consumerqueen.com)

Printed, cut and we have plenty of valentines for tomorrow.   Special thanks to Consumer Queen for the printable content that saved our Valentine's day.   

What did we do before we had the internet to solve our dilemmas?   I don't even remember anymore.  Hope your Sunday before Valentines was less stressful.  :)

Affirmations

 

Do you have any affirmations?   Positive content is one thing, affirmations are different.  When I was in therapy my therapist said that I am statements don't always work because underneath you don't believe yourself still.  I can definitely see that being the case.  Even with affirmations I can see that being the case.   What do you think?  Have they worked for you?

In the book "The Miracle Morning" by Hal Elrod, he talks about saying an affirmation every morning.  I actually printed out one based on his writing and started saying it while in the shower.   First time I said it outloud...my kids wondered who I was talking to in there.  :)  I took it to the Tony Robbins level saying it with conviction and feeling.   He says that if you don't say it with a lot of Umph that you won't believe yourself.  Maybe that's the difference between the belief and disbelief of a statement.  The passion in the words.  So if you have the book The Miracle Morning"  Read the part about the affirmations and pull out that section.  Or possibly adapt your own and say it with substance while in the shower or just as you are climbing out of bed in the morning.   How does it feel?  Do you believe it?

If you don't want to make your own check out a youtube video and play it for motivation instead.  These two are recommended by Jonathan Roche of Energyup.co   He says to listen to them daily.  

Unbroken - Motivational Video - YouTube

Dream - Motivational Video - YouTube

So no matter how you get your affirmations...remember, just like in the movie "The Help"  You is Kind, You is Smart, You is Important.  

Another New Beginning

Life certainly goes in cycles.   This is another example of that.  Here I am still working on some of the habits I have worked on for years.   I am tired of being in this cycle.  Yes I am improving each time.  However, I find that I am forgetting some of the nuggets of wisdom that I had and needing to learn it again and again.   It is time for me to break the cycle of learning and not completing.  So!   Here is my new beginning, again.    I have been in a program called Noom, working with a coach to figure things out.   You know, everytime I have a coach, I tend to tell them what I want and they hold me accountable...well mostly.  It is actually me that is holding myself as accountable as I want to be.   I check in, I follow through, when I want to.   It is time to truly be accountable to myself.   I have a list of items I am working on.   These things are simple.  Sleep, activity, phone usage.   I am not jumping into a huge change all at once, but instead, tackling one item, one week at a time.   That way I can make sure it works for me and integrate it slowly.  I have found in the past that if I jump in too quickly I crash and burn.   It is an all or nothing type of thing.  Especially when it comes to food.  It is time to be my own coach and finally put all my knowledge to work...no more figuring it out, no more looking to another program.  I have the knowledge just need the consistency.   So, here we go again at the beginning of the trail.  A trail I know partly.  A trail I've seen and started and restarted.  I know all the info, I know what to do.  Now is the time to do it!   I am far from perfect, however I am not giving up.   Failure is to not try again...I will not fail!   

Here's to all of us with our new beginnings!  What are you working on?  

Taking Action

Ever have one of those epiphany moments where you wonder why you hadn't thought of that before? I had one of those this weekend. It was a huge lightbulb/duh moment. One that is almost pathetic that I hadn't put it together before now.

Discipline

Discipline,  what is it?   We hear this word thrown about all the time.  If only I were more disciplined, I could do...   fill in the blank.  We could do anything right?   Discipline is the ability to do what needs to be done, even when we don't feel like it.  (thank you Brian Tracy!)  I was listening to a book on Cd by Brian tracy the other day and he read that definition of discipline.  I had to rewind and listen to it again.   Doing something even though you don't want to.   Does that mean that there are people out there that don't want to exercise, but do it anyway?   Does that mean that some people don't want to load the dishwasher, or empty it, but do it anyway?   Mind literally blown.   The difference between who I am now, and who I want to become is a choice.   Whether I do what needs to be done, or give in to my negative voice.   This choice, this discipline.  It's all up to me.   Just like courage is feeling the fear and doing something anyway.  Being disciplined is feeling the pull to not do something, but doing it anyway.   This is possible.   It is not an enigma.  In fact you can make the choice right now.   Stand up, and do that one thing that you have been procrastinating.   Go on,   you can do it.  Load the dishwasher, do 10 pushups.   Just do it.  Once you do you will feel so much better and have that much more motivation to do the next item on your procrastination list.   Discipline, it isn't hard, it isn't impossible.  It is just action, even when you don't want to move.

Just move.

Progress

Not long ago I saw that there was a 10 lb challenge for the month of January.   I decided that I could use a little extra motivation and so I signed up for it.    My therapist and I had been talking about internal vs external motivation.  External motivation is what people tell you.   "A large waist can cause diabetes."  "Weighing 125 for your height is the most ideal."  "yoyo dieting is very unhealthy"   Internal motivation is based off of what you feel, or experience.   "when I eat green smoothies I am more energetic."  "Running on the treadmill increases my mood"   "When I drink enough water I am not as achy."   Notice the difference in the two.   Internal motivation is freeing while external is like a weight of guilt and shame.  The things you "should" fix or do.   External is good, but internal is even better.  
I have been focusing on my internal motivation.  The reasons I want to do things, how they make me feel.   It really makes a huge difference to do things because of me...not what other people, even experts say. 

I found some new water bottles that are really working well for me.   I got them at costco...3 24 oz bottles for $18, now I see (looking at amazon) it was a fantastic deal!  I won't let the kids drink out of them and they sit there as three trophies showing at the end of the day that I drank my water. 

I am also eating more fruits and veggies as well as consistently exercising.   I set up a new goal plan and weekly benchmarks to help me see progress.   I have completed all 17 days so far of the 10 lb challenge and am down 3 lbs.  :)

I realized that I can create the experience I want.   I can create my life, I can create my success.   I just need to create it.   So now that is what I am doing. 

All the best!

My apologies

It appears I was some how spammed, I have deleted the offending post!  I hope it didn't cause any issues. 

I have changed my password, hopefully it will not happen again!

Status update

I have been noticing that I am not nearly as careful with my choices as I was when I was posting daily.   I have not been planning the night before or the day of either.   I am working on ideas for that.   The good thing is that I have a new mantra of "eat at home".  Other than a few instances like hubby taking me out to lunch and our eat out night once a week, I have been coming up with ideas to make food.   Last night I cooked some chicken in the pressure cooker (4 frozen breasts with 1 cup broth and 1 cup water on high pressure for 12 min, which ends up being about 25.  Removed them from the juices and cut them up.  I added gravy mix to the juice and cooked it until thick adding the chicken in to warm through easy and quick!)

Mind Games

In a recent visit with my therapist we talked about motivation.   I have long term motivation.   What could be called "whys"   but that doesn't give me short term motivation.   The short term motivation is what gets you to make the harder choice in the moment.   Turns out that we as humans tend to take the easy way, almost all the time.  I know, I didn't want to believe it either.   It seems that faced with two choices such as eating the chocolate sitting on the counter or pulling veggies out of the fridge, we will pick the first because it is the most convenient.   I know that is how it works for me.   I am not lazy but more wired to find the ways that make something the easiest for me.  In some aspects this is a good thing.  But when trying to change my routines it isn't exactly the best.

So we talked of different methods to combat the laziness.  A rewards jar or an if this than I can have that scenario.  She said something that really struck me though.   It comes down to a constant negotiation with ourselves.   Even if we are having those thoughts of I don't want to, we can play a mental game with ourselves.   Our subconcious doesn't realize we are playing the game, only our conciousness.   So in reality if you trick yourself it has the same effect as if we had made the choice out of habit. 

Since we talked about this, I have started playing the game.  If I want to sit at the computer and I have a load of laundry to do, I will say I will sit down after I do the laundry.   Of course not out loud.  :) 
  If I want to watch a TV show, I will do the dishes first, or do them while watching.   "I can watch while I wash the dishes".   It isn't saying no to myself, but adding conditions.  

My trainer even mentioned something like this the other day.   When she wants a treat, she will tell herself she can have it later (tonight or tomorrow)   usually when the time comes she doesn't want it anymore. Interesting isn't it.   When I tried holding off on treats until a specific day every week, I found myself craving them more, hiding stuff in the freezer wolfing it down on Saturday.   Perhaps my waiting time was too long.  

So far the mental game is working for me in getting me up and moving instead of sitting and not moving.   I found Downton Abby last week...lets say that was rather dangerous.   I have been watching it quite a bit.  But usually (recently) while I am doing something else. 

If you try playing games with yourself, let me know how it goes!

Procrastination...Busted!

I've decided that one of my biggest steps in the wrong direction is procrastination.   It isn't always purposeful, but it is there.   Distraction must be a precursor to it as well.   I'm sitting here still in my exercise clothes at 1:15 in the afternoon.   No exercise yet.   I did get some cleaning done this morning, started out on the right foot but then I slowly began to slow down.   I have things to do.  Now to do them!

So how can I get out of the distraction/procrastination mode?