Sweet and Sour Chicken- DELICIOSO!

The story behind this recipe is simple:
In college I had a roommate and best friend (Kylie Kilger Rounds) whose family took me in like one of their own. We visited her family who lived 2 hours south of campus every few weekends to have a good home-cooked meal and do our laundry. One night her mom cooked this meal. I do not like water chestnuts or mushrooms so I left them out of this modified recipe.

AND It's Kylie's birthday today so it's perfect to post this on her birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEST FRIEND!!!!!! I MISS YOU TERRIBLY!

Ok wait, wait, wait..... I am going to post the actual email that this recipe was forwarded to me in. It made me laugh this morning. I will explain the humor after I post it.

Email to Kylie from her mom:

Kylie,  Lauren called yesterday and wanted this recipe. I think it was this one, it was hard to understand her. I doubled it.

Pineapple Sweet n' Sour Chicken

1 can (20 oz) Pineapple chunks, reserve 2 Tbsp. of juice when draining.

1 med green or red bell pepper, cut into chunks (I used one of each)

1 med. onion, cut into chunks ( I didn't double the onion)

1/2 cup sliced mushrooms (I omitted)

2 Tbsp vegetable oil

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken, cut into 1 inch pieces

1 cup prepared sweet and sour sauce (comes in a jar, it's a red sauce)

2 Tbsp soy sauce
Drain pineapple; reserve 2 Tbsp. of juice.

Cook in hot oil, over medium heat, peppers, onion, and mushrooms,

until tender- crisp. Remove vegetables; set aside.

Cook Chicken, until browned.

Add vegetables back to skillet with

sauces, pineapple and reserve juice. Heat through.

Serve with rice. Top with chow mein noodles if desired.

I guess she liked it. I know she doesn't like peppers or onions or mushrooms. Almost as picky as Katie! :)

Love you, Mom

This is so funny to me because when I met them they couldn't understand me at all! I was from the south and my accent had yet to wear down. I also speak extremely fast for a southerner. 

The second reason this is so funny is because I used to be an extremely picky eater (I am still picky, but I have gotten better), but I love this recipe even with the onions and peppers. 

Ok so there you have it above, right from the email from Penny to Kylie. I will post pictures when I make this tonight (without the mushrooms of course!). Feel free to modify this recipe away because its super easy to do!

Update: 10/2/12- The pictures above are from the dinner I made.
I froze the leftovers flat and stacked it into my freezer because there was no way just two of us could finish all of that! I plan to eat it later on this month. Here is my picture of how I freeze my meals to eat later on:

I can't figure out how to rotate the pictures on Blogger....any ideas?

<3 p="p">The Little Green Girl

Little Moments

I know, I complain all the time about how busy we are and how we never have time for anything. Needless to say it's going to be that way until December at least. I promise here and now to stop complaining about it-after this post.

Driving home from a 12 hour work day yesterday, I heard Brad Paisley's "Little Moments". If you don't know the song or can't remember the lyrics, it's pretty simple. He sings about all of the crazy things that happen in marriage and how they are the little moments that he hopes he always remembers because they make him the happiest. When I got home yesterday, Mr. Green was already studying for his EMT class and I knew it would be a long night. I opened the office door and plopped down into his lap and I snuggled right into his neck, breathing in his cologne and body wash smell, one I have missed terribly over the last few weeks.

I realized during that one minute of closeness, that that was my little moment. It was the only thing I looked forward to after a long days work. It wasn't watching a movie or going on a date, or even having the time to be intimate with him after a long day that I had to look forward to, it was the simple minute in his lap, with his arms around me, breathing the same air, that I wanted so badly, for that is all I can hope for at the end of each long day this semester.

That simple moment of pure joy gave me the energy I needed to clean the house, go shopping for groceries and finally be able to climb into bed after an incredibly long day. As I got to thinking about that moment yesterday, plenty of other moments came into my memory. One being a few weeks before the summer ended. I was feeling awfully sick and we were at my in-laws house. After lunch we all went in the living room and Mr. Green and I took the loveseat. We just snuggled up and I fell asleep on him and it was like we were dating again.

The next thing that was surely a moment I will always remember and be grateful for was Friday after my second day at my new job. I had come home after working my new job and my old job all in one day. The person I look after at my new job has a Traumatic Brain Injury and was in a deep depression Friday and could only speak of ending his life. He was angry and me and pushed me a few times. I took it well, but and I had told my mom about it without a hint of emotion. As soon as I got home that night, a wave of emotion flooded my body and I began crying. Mr. Green just let me cry. He held me and asked me what made me emotional about the situation and help me gain perspective about what had happened. I am now ready for another week at my new job, with a renewed commitment to no take things personally.

Another one that came to mind was this past Saturday. I had to work and soon after I got home, Mr. Green had to leave for a Men's activity with our church that he was in charge of planning. I curled up on the couch and streamed the UNC-ECU game. I talked to him before the activity started and he told me to come visit. I told him "No thanks, I don't want to be the only wife there". (I was incredibly flattered that he wanted me to be there even though it was only men. I thought men liked doing man things without their wives around.) He got home around 11PM that night and I was ready for bed. He sat down on the couch and said "So, I bragged about you a lot tonight". Really?, I thought. "I told all the guys how easy it is to be married to you and how much fun we have doing absolutely nothing, and how you are cooler than a lot of guys, you know more about sports, you are so relaxed and you let me do the things I want to do and buy what I want to buy." (It's true I do.) I told him "It is easy, we are best friends and we don't have much to argue about, but we have plenty to talk about and laugh about and I would rather hang out with you than any one else, and I know I complain about how we have no friends, but most of the time I am just content to be with you and no one else, so I don't really care that we don't have many friends here". I also told him "I do let you buy whatever you want, but you buy me the things that I really want too, except a dog!"

The story of him bragging about me was confirmed at church when a few of the guys who went to the activity told me of Mr. Green's bragging. I was flattered and it was another one of those "little moments" that I hope I never forget.

What are your little moments? My advice is to enjoy the moment you are in. Stop worrying about the future. Stop trying so hard to plan and prepare for what's next that you forget about why you are actually here. None of us are guaranteed a future, but we are guaranteed right now- this moment. Use every moment of your life to the best of your abilities. I know we will all get caught up with our infatuations of the future, but I hope that we never lose sight of the here-and-now and that we can make something of it so we aren't left with a full future, but an empty past.

With love and hope for the day,
The Little Green Girl

Mexican Corn and Bean Soup (Freezer Option)

In my frantic rush to find recipes to freeze, I stumbled across this gem.

MEXICAN CORN AND BEAN SOUP

I found this on momswhothink.com

Here is the actual link to the recipe:
http://www.momswhothink.com/crock-pot-recipes/mexican-corn-and-bean-soup.html

This stuff was awesome. The night I decided to make it, it was late, I was sick, Mr. Green was wiped out and I was about to fall over dead from exhaustion. Well, I mixed these ingredients together as quickly as possible, popped in on the stove top instead of the crock-pot, and it came out amazing. I froze the other half of it because I doubled the recipe. It was phenomenal. I was so sick and it went down so nicely...

I ate the leftovers the next day and I have been craving it again since. The only thing that would have made this recipe better would have been some cheese, sour cream, and tortilla chips.

Here is the wonderful recipe:

Mexican Corn and Bean Soup:
Ingredients:
2½ cups tomato juice
1 (14½ ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
2 cups corn
2 cups canned kidney beans
¾ cup finely chopped large onion
¾ cup chopped green bell pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon sugar
Salt and pepper

Optional:
cheese, sour cream, tortilla chips


directions: combine all ingredients into the slow cooker, cook on high 3-4 hours.


TO FREEZE:
Place all ingredients in a Ziploc bag and write the cooking directions on the front. Freeze flat and enjoy later!

Have a happy Saturday. GO TARHEELS!
-The Little Green Girl

Freezer Meals- The real deal!

Ok, so a few weeks ago I was desperate for easy meal ideas for those of us on budgets and time restraints. You see, this fall my husband added an EMT course to his full-load work week. He is awake by 4:30 am, out the door by 5:00am, works 7-3, and would be home by 5, but now he has class 6-10pm on Mondays and Wednesdays. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, he is doing his reading and homework which usually takes 4-6 hours a night. So as you can see, he doesn't have a whole lot of time to cook or clean.

My new schedule is working all day at a desk job, then babysitting for 2 hours after work, and then dancing 3 nights a week. I also have limited time to worry about cooking and cleaning.

So like I told you, I was desperate for quick and easy meal ideas. I asked friends on Facebook for their ideas and almost everyone said "CROCK-POT"!!!!!! Okay, my next dilemma was finding time in the mornings to get stuff put into the crock-pot, but someone recommended freezing meals and then throwing them into the crock pot in the morning before work (takes 2 minutes), and then it's ready at night to eat.

I gave this a go- and let me tell you, it was AMAZING! Not only was it super quick, easy, and tasty, it SAVED me A TON of MONEY! (Sorry for the all-caps, but really, it's that exciting)

So here is how it works:  

FIRST:
Find recipes that have ingredients that can be frozen. 
(For example: chicken and sauce with onions.  WARNING: Potatoes don't freeze well unless blanched)

Once you have your recipes all picked out, check off all ingredients that you have on hand, and then make a shopping list of everything you need to finish your meals. 

Your shopping list MUST include Gallon Ziploc Bags (unless you have them already)

EXAMPLE: 
Recipe Ingredient List: 
-3 Chicken Breasts
- 1 Large Onion  (check)
- 1 c. barbeque sauce
- 1/4 c. zesty italian dressing (check)

Shopping List:
- Chicken Breasts
- Barbeque sauce
-Gallon Ziploc Bags

 
Then go grocery shopping. SUGGESTION: Make sure to prepare enough meals to last you all week, this will vary depending on family size, etc. Also, it's great to do breakfast and lunches this way too, not only dinners. 

Hopefully though, you will see that your cost of making these meals brings your food bill down and allows you to feed your family, no matter the size, for cheaper. 

Mr. Green and I were spending anywhere between $100-200 a week on groceries, and for 3 weeks straight I have yet to break $80 and that includes the ridiculous amounts of snack food and lunch foods for his lunches (and we live in CT where things are pretty expensive). 

NEXT STEP:
Get home, label some Ziploc Bags with the Recipe Name, Day's Date, and cooking/serving instructions.

Example: 

Hearty Chili 9/22/12
Instructions:
- Place in crock-pot on low 6-8 hours, or on high 3-4 hours
- Serve with sour cream, cheese, or tortilla chips.

(once it's labeled there is no confusion on what to do with it)

THEN:
Slice and dice everything you need for your recipes, place all of the ingredients in their labeled bags and squeeze all of the air out before sealing the bags. 

Lay them flat in the freezer and once frozen you can stack them to keep your freezer organized with plenty of space.

FINALLY:
Throw those suckers in the crock-pot and cook them according to directions.

NOTE: Not all freezer-meals are crock-pot meals. I will differentiate between them as I blog the recipes.


This has saved me so much time, effort, and money over the past month and I continue to come up with more ideas and recipes to freeze. I will post pictures with this post to walk you through the steps and I will also start adding recipes to follow. 

One idea to give: make up your own waffles, let them cool, stack them all together in a baggie and freeze for your very own EGG-O waffles! ( I did this with a whole-wheat mix and added my own chocolate chips. It was divine!)
 
-The Little Green Girl

Karin Goodwin Photography

I am very grateful to know a wonderful photographer who is a surrogate sister to Bubba and I. She is Bubba's sister's best friend, and she attended the Hallmark Institute of Photography. She takes some amazing photos and my niece is one of her best subjects (I'm not biased at all). We recently asked her to take a photo of us at the Goshen Fair. It was around 9:30 PM, with no lights other than the ones coming from the booths, and this is what she captured:

I think it turned out great! You should check her out on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/KarinGoodwinPhotography

Or on her blog:
https://www.karingoodwinphotography.blogspot.com

Have a wonderful night. I'm off to bed.
~The Little Green Girl