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Saturday, June 7, 2014

Another PIN WIN…Sriracha Ranch Chicken

 

OK, just gotta say…this is one that I wanna make again VERY SOON!  I pinned and pretty much followed the recipe from HERE.  And I wouldn’t change much, that’s for sure!  Super easy, and all four of us loved it!

Now, I have to mention that this ended up on the menu a LITTLE sooner than I’d intended.  I’d had the recipe pinned for a short while, and knew I wanted to make it.  But we had plenty of leftovers and such in the fridge.  Since it was my wonderful hubby’s birthday, I asked him what he wanted to have for a birthday meal.  It didn’t take him long to figure out that he wanted T-bone steaks.  Yum!  So he went downstairs to dig them out of the chest freezer.  He had to move and shuffle a few things around, but was successful in finding a nice package of 4 huge steaks.

Well, the next morning, when we went downstairs to work on some laundry, we discovered….a box of chicken breasts sitting on the freezer. A box that he had left out overnight (In February I made my first purchase of Zaycon chicken breasts.  They are a good price, and HUGE and I highly recommend purchasing these if they are ever in your area.) Fortunately for Ron, it was his birthday when this discovery was made.  Because it was his birthday, I did NOT throw a screaming hissy fit, but just calmly said “I love you, dear” (or something like that)  We brought the partially thawed chicken upstairs, and decided that the Tbones would wait…we needed to use this chicken. (Don’t worry…it wasn’t sitting out too long.  It was still mostly frozen and safe. I wouldn’t have used it if it weren’t!)

I put 2 breasts (and they are HUGE…close to a pound each.  In a casserole, 1 breast will feed all 4 of us!) in the crock pot with some broth to make hot chicken sandwiches (that’s all done and in the freezer…I’ll post the full recipe at some later date), and the rest I decided would be good for this Sriracha Ranch Chicken.

And it was.

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  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 1/2 cup prepared ranch dressing
  • 3 T. Worcestershire sauce
  • 3 T. Sriracha** sauce (otherwise known by my hubby as “AWESOMESAUCE”)
  • 1 t. salt
  • 1 t. lemon juice
  • 1 t. white vinegar
  • 1/4 t. black pepper
  • 1 T. white sugar

I took the 3 remaining thawed chicken breasts and pounded them to an even thickness.  This is important, because these Zaycon chicken breasts are just HUGE, and parts of them are really, REALLY thick, and then you get to the thinner ends.  Chicken that is in varying degrees of thickness doesn’t grill very well.  So I pounded them a bit, just to even them out.  They were still pretty thick.  Then, I cut them into chicken tender size pieces…I ended up with TWELVE tenders from these 3 pieces of meat. 

While I was pounding and cutting the chicken, Rachel was being her gourmet self and preparing the marinade.  We put the chicken in the sauce and let it sit. The original recipe said 8 hours, but…it’s summer and I don’t wake up in time to do the prep work and marinate something for 8 hours before we need to cook it at 5 pm.  So this only marinated for around 6 hours. 

**Some in our family don’t care for super spicy stuff.  Even those that  prefer milder dishes enjoyed this chicken.  3 T. was not too much sauce.  If it makes you uncomfortable, you could certainly reduce that to 1 or 2 T. 

Then..grill it til it is done.  Seriously YUMMY chicken!  Another WIN for Pinterest!! (I served it with hash brown casserole…another family favorite)

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

The Man of My Dreams

God knew exactly what I needed when He knit together the man who would become my husband. He created a laid back, funny,  loving,  Godly man who is perfect for me.  

I love him when we are walking down the street together,  and he reaches out to hold my hand.

I love him when he randomly bursts into song (and it is a different song daily... maybe even hourly) ... Yesterday it was "And I'll bet you a drink or two that I can make you put that lampshade on your head" While playing a game on his computer,  and today it was "Winnie the Pooh doesn't know what to do,  Got a honeypot stuck on his nose" while walking down the street in Cedar Falls.

I love him when he patiently puts worms on my hook,  because he knows that I don't like to do it.

I love him when he messes up the lyrics to songs "When the world runs out of bubbles,  we'll still have each other..."

I love him when he mows our lawn,  does the dishes, takes out the garbage,  does our taxes,  and all the other things he does to keep our home running smoothly.

I love him for so readily forgiving me when I say or do something stupid.

I love watching him cheer on our kids in any of their sports or music activities.

I love him for being a man my kids look to for answers to their questions.

I love watching him be a pastor that is loved and respected by congregation and community members.

I love hearing him laugh.

I love seeing new places with him,  and doing new things with him.

I love that my kids respect him.

I just really love Ronnie Koch.   I thank the Lord daily for creating him.   He is the best part of me.

Happy birthday,  Ron.

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Gone Fishin’

Today is the one day this week that neither Rachel nor Ethan had to work.  Since it was Rachel’s birthday last Friday, and tomorrow is Ron’s birthday, we decided to go fishing together to celebrate.  We always enjoy fishing, but I must admit…we enjoy it a BIT more when we actually get some bites!

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We went to the dam in Nashua.  We often have good luck there.  Today?  Not so much…

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So…what does every good mom do when the fish aren’t biting?  She takes photos, of course!

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Sunday, June 1, 2014

Pinned it. Made it. Strawberry Poppyseed Salad

And it was seriously FANTASTIC! Everyone thought it was yummy.   I followed the recipe from HERE.   I did it exactly as the recipe stated,  (except the I really didn't measure much,  lol) and added grilled chicken.   Oh.. And I used the whole pound of bacon... 'cause you can never have too much bacon,  right?
Strawberry Poppyseed Salad (with bacon and chicken)
Salad ingredients :
6 cups romaine lettuce,  chopped
2 cups strawberries,  sliced/chopped
8 strips (or the whole pound) cooked and crumbled bacon
1/2 red onion,  chopped
1 cup feta cheese
Dressing ingredients :
1 tsp.  minced garlic
1 tsp.  diced red onion
1/3 c. sugar
1/3 c.  white vinegar
1/4 c.  chopped strawberries
1/2 c.  olive oil
1/4 tsp.  salt
1 tbsp.  poppyseeds
Additional optional ingredients :
Grilled chicken
The family suggested cucumbers
I suggested candied pecans
And next time,  I would do it with Bleu cheese instead of the feta
Mix the dressing ingredients in a blender or food processor and process till smooth.   Mix the salad ingredients in a big bowl (and if you are like me,  you have to set aside a serving with no onions,  for the picky eater).   Add dressing and mix well.   Yummm!