Success, Oh Yes!

Today is Eric's last day of studying! I couldn't be more thrilled. Unfortunately, he has still studied a lot today, like ever since we got home from church, so I had to spend one LAST day entertaining myself. And did I ever get a lot of stuff done!

~ Lunch: Did you think I completely forgot about trying out new recipes? Though my experiments have been few and far between these last few months, I managed to sneak in something new this afternoon.

(I should note that I have been putting off trying this particular recipe because Eric thought the name sounded gross. So I gave him time to forget about it, made it, and it was delicious. By the time I told him what it was, he was totally over the name.)

Famous Butter Chicken [sorry, no pictures for this one - definitely a winner though!]

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup crushed Ritz crackers

1 tsp. garlic salt

1 tsp. Italian seasoning

1 tsp. black pepper

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1/2 c. butter, sliced into 1 tsp. pieces

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Place eggs and cracker crumbs in two separate shallow bowls. Mix seasonings with cracker crumbs. Dip chicken in the eggs, then dredge in cracker crumbs to coat.

Arrange chicken in a 9x13 baking dish and place butter around chicken. Bake for 20 minutes, spoon juices over chicken, and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes until chicken is cooked through.

~ Shopping: I bought Eric's snacks for his test and planned what all he is going to take with him. I'm not really sure how he is going to consume all of this in an 8 hour period:

Grapes

Bananas

Dark chocolate almond peanut butter granola bars

6 bottles of water (okay, admittedly not all for him)

Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (see below)

Turkey sandwich

White Cheddar Cheese-Its

Chocolate pudding

Regular chocolate chip granola bars ("just in case")

At least it's decently healthy stuff.

I also looked at new running shoes at Kohl's. There are definitely a few pairs I like, but I think I'm going to wait until I can go to a professional running store to get my arches checked and see how my feet pronate before I invest in more shoes. Still, it's fun to look.

~ Decorating the WALL: I have looked far and wide for some cute lettering that would look good on that thing.


Today, I finally found some. And paired with my fabric flowers, I think it turned out well! (I still have to do the liquid starch to get the flowers to stay - that's also why they look a little funky up there).

~ Making Jam: Thanks to a tip from my sweet friend Jamie Walton, I decided to go ahead and go for Harris Teeter's Buy One Get Two Free deal on strawberries this week and use one package to try my hand at strawberry jam. Who knew it could be so easy?

Strawberry Jam (Pectin-Free)

1 lb. fresh strawberries, hulled

1 1/2 c. white sugar

1/4 tsp. lemon juice

Puree strawberries in a blender, then mix in sugar and lemon juice.

In a heavy saucepan, warm over low heat until sugar is dissolved. Turn up the heat until mixture comes to a rolling boil.
Allow to cook for approximately 10 minutes, or until the mix reaches 220 degrees. Remove from heat and transfer to hot, sterile jars.

Note: To test if the jam is ready, put a cold plate in the freezer, then place a small spoonful of the warm mix on it for 1 minute. Once the jam has cooled, check the consistency.

~ Working Out: I finally got off my behind and did the first section of Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred video. Thankfully, I'm in better shape than the last time I tried it, so it didn't kill me. I even went and did a mile on the treadmill afterwards, and set a personal record: 7:30.

~ Signing up for a 10K: I'll be running 6.2 miles on April 16. Let's hope I don't poop out!

~ Trying out Flax Seed: So I've read and read about how great flax seed is. It's basically just a ton of polyunsaturated fats, fiber and protein. Nobody has anything bad to say about it anywhere. So when I found some at Wal-Mart yesterday for less than $2.00, I decided I'd try it out.

For dinner tonight, I made myself a strawberry-orange smoothie with a special additive: Flax seed! I know, that sounds gross, right? But I totally couldn't even tell it was in there. It's so milled up, it just mixes right in. Instant protein boost!

I also finished up the evening making Eric's oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with, you guessed it, flax seed added in.

I also cut a little bit of sugar out. You can't really taste the difference, so I figure every little bit helps!

So there's a successful day in a nutshell. Aren't Sunday afternoons the best? :-)