Pretty lazy Sunday around here. Tomorrow will be Manic Monday… we might get crazy around here. A little schoolwork, a little cleaning, a little cooking. Our house is a happenin’ place, people! Hope you’ve all had a relaxing Sunday with friends, since we apparently aren’t aloud to go anywhere by law now… even though there isn’t even anything open…
Month: March 2020
Easy Chicken Quesadillas and Sauce
I honestly don’t know anyone that doesn’t like quesadillas, so this one is always a winner. I was searching for a good Taco Bell quesadilla sauce recipe (fancy…) and the one I came up with definitely doesn’t taste like theirs, but… I actually like it better, so I’ll call it a win! I altered a sauce recipe I found from Food.com, so check out their original if you’re interested!
I baked chicken for the quesadillas and used a homemade taco seasoning sauce recipe I found from allrecipes.com because I didn’t want to bust open a whole pack of seasoning just for a small amount of baked chicken. Use your own seasoning or prepackaged-either way, they turn out great!
Ingredients
Taco Seasoning
- 1 Tbsp chili powder
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/4 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
Sauce
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- Dash of chili powder
- 3/4 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/8 tsp Gaelic powder
- Dash of salt
Quesadilla
- Chopped backed chicken (or any other meat or protein if you’d like!)
- Taco size flour tortillas
- Shredded quesadilla cheese
- Shredded mild cheddar cheese
- Vegetables (optional)
- Salsa for serving (optional)
- Sour cream for serving (optional)
Directions
- Prepare the sauce by mixing all ingredients and storing in the refrigerator until serving.
- Fully cook all meat or protein.
- Preheat a large skillet on medium heat and spray with cooking spray.
- Sprinkle quesadilla cheese on one half of a tortilla. Add chicken, then sprinkle mild cheddar cheese on top of the chicken. Fold the tortilla over the cheese and chicken.
- Add the quesadilla to the pan and brown one side of the quesadilla. Flip the quesadilla over and brown the other side.
- Enjoy with quesadilla sauce, salsa, or sour cream.
COVID-19 Quarantine – Day 8
Laundry, vacuuming, mopping, cleaning sinks and toilets, cooking, and picking up all the things! Just your typical Saturday.
Oh! I also found a pretty good quesadilla sauce recipe and made chicken quesadillas for dinner. Who doesn’t like quesadillas?!
COVID-19 Quarantine – Day 7
Well, today is officially a week since our oldest last went to school. We’ve survived! Woo hoo! After going to the grocery yesterday and picking up a few things I knew I’d need to prepare meals for a while, I feel more relieved today. After the storms last night we had warm weather this morning, so we were able to go for a walk and open the windows most of the day today. This was handy considering the dog ran from me and peed behind the couch at 5 am after I had been up with him since 3 am because of the storms. Yeah… he’s my favorite. Moving couches and hardcore cleaning carpet is what I always want to do at 5 am after being up all night.
I digress… the tiny people ate their lunches and healthy snacks (minus the Reese’s Pieces) all day, our oldest did his school work (reluctantly, but we tried to make it fun, so he enjoyed it), I made dinner that EVERYONE actually ate (here’s the recipe if you need an easy crowd pleaser!). The youngest actually had three bowls and I had time to make brownies with the oldest after dinner.
I was able to get 4 loads of laundry done and most of it folded and put away, which usually takes at least a week to do. The youngest refused to take a nap, but eventually passed out and I was able to get nearly half a day of work done while the oldest did some school work and made up his own art projects to do. There was a lot of coffee today. A LOT of coffee.
I’m starting to feel sad. Not about not being able to go anywhere, but that life isn’t just normally this way. This is how it should be. Not too rushed, enjoying time with kids, and just taking things as they come. No rushing to get the oldest on the bus, then the youngest to the grandparents, run to a store on the way to work, rush to get the oldest off the bus, pick up the youngest, wonder how I’m ever going to be able to get dinner finished before people starve to death or heck… just pick up dinner every night.
I actually love cooking and baking, but I hate cleaning up because every evening is so rushed after school, work, homework, and the list goes on and on. Simple is best. Simple allows us to take it all in. I’m a creature of habit and hate change, but this change… this change is good.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Matthew 11:28
COVID-19 Quarantine – Day 6
Foggy day here in the DYT. I ventured out for a “quick” grocery trip that turned into much longer than expected. I had a list of things I thought we may need and I figured I’d get a little Easter candy shopping done just in case. Just in case of what I’m not really sure… total shutdown maybe? I don’t know. Just seemed like it would give me some sense of normalcy somehow.
Anyways… this post is dedicated to all of the individuals who are working overtime in grocery stores all over America. Every aisle I went down contained at least two employees stocking, cleaning and scrubbing, and doing everything they could to keep the stock coming in and the store as clean and safe as possible. Lines weren’t long, a lot of lanes were open, and the employees seemed tired, but optimistic. Please be kind to your local store employees. They’re risking their health serving us and they’re pulling long hours away from their families, so be kind and make their lives a little easier!
Easy Crockpot Chicken Noodle Soup
I’ve made this a few times this winter since the cold and flu season hit us HARD this year. I figure it might be a good comfort food for everyone right now, so here’s my adjusted recipe from Family Fresh Meals.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts (I use frozen since it’s usually what I have on hand)
- 2 cups carrots peeled and chopped
- 1 medium yellow onion diced (I use frozen chopped onion-no smelly chopping!)
- 3 stalks celery chopped
- 3-4 cloves garlic minced
- 3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 bay leaves
- 7 cups chicken broth
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 2 cups (or more… we love noodles… I use more!) wide egg noodles, cooked per package directions
- 3 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (optional)
Directions
- In a 6 quart crockpot add in whole chicken breasts, carrots, onion, celery, garlic, olive oil, thyme and bay leaf.
- Next, add in chicken broth and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Cover and cook on low heat 6 – 7 hours or high heat for 3 1/2 hours.
- Cook egg noodles per package directions. I usually cook an entire package of noodles and save the remaining noodles for another dish the next night. Two meals out of one? Yes, please!
- Remove cooked chicken breasts and cut into bite sized pieces. Place chicken back in to the crockpot and add in egg noodles and parsley.
- Enjoy!
COVID-19 Quarantine – Day 5
No pictures today. No cute little crafts to display. Reality has set in. It has set in that the world has lost its dang mind. Completely. It’s raining, which is making it all the more depressing and ominous because if it continues, I know I will be getting zero sleep tonight due to the neurotic chiweenie that claims residence in our domicile. The kids aren’t here, since I’m working from home (which… per my previous post, Karen, you can’t fully commit to working when kids are home… you just can’t).
You know, the weird thing about all of this isn’t the virus-I couldn’t give two craps about the virus. I’m not afraid of it or its affects-it’s no worse than the flu (do your research, don’t argue with me… it’s DIFFERENT… not worse). What kills me is the response to all of this and the mass hysteria that has ensued. Sheeple are scary. VERY scary. The amount of misinformation, panic, and outright incorrect information floating around is astounding. I’m also perplexed (although not terribly shocked) about how willingly everyone is to allow full government control of this entire situation.
Hear me out for a minute here… I realize the entire point is to “flatten the curve” by “social distancing”, but if I hear those two phrases again someone will receive a quick punch to the face. Everyone gets it… we all get it. Stay away from other people. But honestly, you’re grocery shopping. You’re around people. You WILL see people. I’m just shocked that responses are “protect those with low immune systems!”. Yeah, we get it. But when do the needs of the few outweigh the needs of the many? Here’s a little example: one child in an entire school has a mild peanut allergy. Should the school ban peanuts entirely due to one child? No. The answer is no. Everyone is too quick to answer, “Yes! Do what we can to protect the one!”. No. Not even close. You are demanding everyone else take care of the one. Now, don’t get me wrong… proper hygiene, stay home when you’re sick, make common sense decisions, but come on. An entire country quarantined for the few that this will affect? Those with low immune systems should be urged to self-quarantine until it runs its course. The flu? Ever heard of it? Did you know that over 80,000 people in the United States alone died from the flu in the 2017 – 2018 flu season? You didn’t? Now you do. The CDC estimates that there have been 22,000 – 55,000 deaths due to the flu since October 2019 and 370,000 – 670,000 hospitalizations due to the flu during this time period. How many have died worldwide from coronavirus, you ask? 8,944 worldwide. Approximately 56 of every 1,000,000 Chinese citizens tested positive for coronavirus. Doesn’t sound so scary now, does it? Yeah, yeah… I know not everyone was tested. Still, not as staggering of a number, is it? Why are we treating this different than the flu that has already killed as many as 55,000 people in the United States since October? Why????
This virus spreads fast, it’s semi-unpredictable and hasn’t been studied extensively, so precautions are being taken to not overcrowd hospitals. I’m not debating that that doesn’t need to happen, but what I’m debating is HOW it’s happening. The blatant fear mongering that’s taking place at a state level is astounding. Stop “guesstimating” numbers to scare people. Present facts. Stop telling me you’re getting take out for dinner to support local business… guess what? All local mom and pop business are now in economic RUIN. People’s financial lives have been destroyed completely. So, you economically devastate a large majority of a country to protect the small minority that are immunocompromised? There’s something more to this. Time will tell…
For now, have fun at home with your loved ones, peeps!
COVID-19 Quarantine – Day 4
We St. Patrick’s Day’d all the things. We are all tired. The end.
COVID-19 Quarantine – Day 3
Well, the tiny humans are still alive. Only major catastrophe has been a water paintbrush was used on a book of real paints… still trying to figure out how the heck he even got this out of the giant, heavy craft bin under the coffee table. Toddlers, man… they’re little Houdinis! I haven’t found what else the paint ended up on besides in the book. Surprises are fun, right? Right…
Here is what I learned on Day 3:
- I apparently lack the ability to get myself ready if I don’t set an alarm. Pajamas are still on, teeth are unbrushed, face is unwashed, and hot mess status has been achieved. Tomorrow I set an alarm.
- I have this home school thing on lock. I mean, I rocked it. This one was a pleasant surprise. I have a plan for the rest of the week (and really the next 3 weeks, thanks to suggestions by Liam’s awesome school!), I made sight word flash cards and dry erase math worksheets. I moved Liam’s Melissa and Doug calendar to the dining room so Liam can keep track of the month, day, year, weather, and any holidays that come along, thanks to Tia (thanks, Aunt Astrid!)!
- I put together a modest lunch of any perishable items I thought the tiny people would eat. Matchstick carrots were thrown on the ground, guys… it got ugly.
- I am a horrible, horrendous, heinous mother. My kids have had “screen time” by 2:30 pm (*gasp*). Seriously, moms? Chill the heck out. If your child is addicted to a screen, fine, do what you need. If not, let them play games… chances are they’ll learn something or gain a skill you never expected. I’m sure every child is different and some are more addicted than others, but dang… the mom guilt is real on this one! It’s not a competition of who is “momming” harder than everyone else. In the words of Tay Tay… you need to calm down.
- I also learned that I am a horrible mother because I do not have a schedule. A SCHEDULE. My little people get to have 3 weeks (at least…) out of school and you people are complaining about your schedules being ruined on the first day already. Really? *full eye roll* I’m just over here like “anyone know what stores still have frozen chicken? I need some…”. I get it, kids need structure sometimes, but a schedule down to the half hour? Nope. Not even going there with a toddler in the house. Sure… I have a plan so education can continue, but holy cannoli, Batman! Take a deep breath!
- Kids hear EVERYTHING. The image for this blog entry is of my kids’ kitchen. Just before taking this picture I found Liam cleaning the entire thing wearing an apron and a chef hat. I noticed the “closed” sign on his chalkboard and asked why his restaurant was closed. He said “Corona Virus” as if it was a normal, everyday occurrence for a restaurant. Bless their hearts. I think most kids are dealing with this situation better than the adults. We can learn from their hopeful, matter-of-fact attitude in life.
- If we shouldn’t be having mass gatherings, why are we voting tomorrow? Seriously… think about it. We’ll be in line less than a foot away from each other when we’ve basically been quarantined to our homes, but we’re supposed to do our civic duties to vote. Wow. Just wow.
Hope your days at home were pleasant, peeps! Have a fabulous St. Patrick’s Day tomorrow!
COVID-19 Quarantine – Day 2
Here we are. Day 2. Pretty much the same as Day 1. Today I’m now thinking about how to get items we’ll be needing in case everything goes on lockdown. I mean, they can’t shut down grocery stores, right? I’ve been cleaning, which inevitably is undone as soon as I clean it, but hey… we won’t be living in filth.
I’m starting to devise a plan for grocery shopping. Target seems to be fairly well stocked on most items compared to other grocery stores, so maybe I’ll attempt a lot of pickup items there-boxed items, rice, things like that. Then, I’ll head to Meijer for meat. But when do I go? Morning, night? Guys… when are the crazies not out?
The Engineered Mama 