You Know It’s Bad When I’m Resorting To Recipes
What should I write when I really have nothing to say?
Should I tell you about The Girl graduating from Pre-K and how she, instead of a picking a toy for her present, chose 2 new outfits instead? It is quite a win-win for a mother when necessities are ranked as a gift. Kind of like my boys using their Christmas Hibbett’s gift cards to buy new tennis shoes. My pocket book let out a sigh of relief on that one – especially considering we get hi-fived every time we bring our three boys through the door of that place. All Employees get to meet their sales quotas on those nights.
Or would you like to know that I wore my cute shoes to WalMart today and a girl chased me down to ask me where I got them? Her husband thought we were both weird chatting it up in the frozen food section over footwear. She said, “Well, are they comfortable?” to which I replied, “Heck no, but who cares?!” We bonded instantly. She said, “It hurts being beautiful, doesn’t it?” Considering my feet were screaming, I responded in the affirmative. I wasn’t even offended when her hubby rolled his eyes. Dudes are just different.
Oh, I know. I know! I could tell you how I made an excellent new dish tonight called Chicken Penne with Smoky Chile Cream Sauce. Shoot, you might even want the recipe so here it is:
12 oz. uncooked penne pasta
1 1/2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts – cut in strips or cubed
1/2 chopped onion
1 tsp minced garlic
2 cups Alfredo sauce (I used Ragu)
1 tbsp chipotle in adobo sauce (I used more because we like spicy)
2 tsps chili powder
2 tsps maple syrup ( I used Log Cabin but I think you could really leave it out)
1/2 tsp salt
8 slices bacon (I used real bacon bits)
2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro (didn’t use this – I hate to bite into cilantro)
1. Cook penne pasta. Drain.
2. Heat oil and cook chicken until done. Remove to plate and reserve.
3. Reduce heat to medium. Add onion to the skillet and cook for 3 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Stir in the Alfredo sauce, chipotle, chili powder, maple syrup and salt. Cook at med-high until bubbly. Stir in chicken.
4. Place the pasta in the pot and stir in the Alfredo and chicken mix. Spoon pasta onto a large serving platter and garnish with the bacon and cilantro.
(Recipe: Family Circle, January 2008.)
This dish was delicious and the whole family loved it. Just a word of caution. If you live in a small town in Alabama, don’t expect your local grocer to have heard of, much less stock, Chipotle in Adobo. And if you see a guy in the store who goes to your church and he asks you what you are doing? Well, don’t tell him you are looking for Chipotle in Adobo (Henceforth known as CiA). He’ll think, along with the guy in the frozen food section at Walmart, you are totally wacko. And his wife will think so too if you text her a picture of said delicacy when you find it just to prove it actually exists – especially if her hubby hasn’t explained it’s significance. And if all that ever does happen to you? Be glad those two love you enough to overlook your fruit-cakiness.
(BTW – You can find CiA at Walmart in the Latin Food aisle for $1.19. You have to have it for this dish. It adds the most wonderful flavor to the sauce.)
Well, friends, that’s all I got. Seems a good place to cut it off for now so I’ll just bid you a good night!
You know what I think? Whatever you write about is gonna be fun and clever and interesting, so who cares what it’s about! And just for the record…I am SO that girl who would have chased you down to ask about the cute shoes. Come to think of it, I’m also the girl who would be wearing the extremely cute, yet uncomfortable shoes. And I would also SO admit it! :) Girl, we would do some bonding, now!
On another note, how is the book coming? I just finished my article on the Top 5 Needs of a PK for Just Between Us mag. I share your passion for ministry families, sister. Keep up the good work…and keep on keeping it real, even in Walmart! :)
Lisa
I bet Wal-Mart has a file on you.
This sounds really good. I’ll have to try it this weekend. Also, thanks for telling me where the Chipotle in Adobo would be b/c I was thinking “What the heck is that?!” :)
Kathy
You poor things that don’t live in Texas. Chipotle is on every menu in town. There’s even a gigantigus burrito chain called Chipotle’s. (The burritos are huge, not the chain.)
And you know you could post the back of the toilet tissue package and we would come visit your blog!
Never heard of Hibbetts, but lo and behold there’s one just up the road about 20 minutes from me. They should give you a commission!
You crack me up.
Once I was in the church parking lot having what my husband thought was a long and serious discussion with a friend. They loaded in the car giving us the space and time to talk, thinking something was terribly wrong.
Oh his dismay and the eye rolling that ensued when I got in the car told him we were discussing the difficulty in finding cute shoes in our size (which is looonnngg) and in narrow. They do not exist and we were very troubled by the whole thing.
He thought we were off our rockers to say the least.
The recipe sounds great and I love your wacky-ness!
Michelle
Britt is absolutely gonna love it that he made the blog in a round about way! He really got a kick out of the pic on the phone and said, “I thought she was just making it all up!” notice I quoted! Have a great day!
I’m just impressed you wear cute shoes to the WalMart. I don’t even wear makeup! :-)
And hey, a recipe isn’t bad as long as it’s good!
?
I might have to try that recipe sometime! I posted a Mexicali Cornbread Casserole recipe on my blog last week – we love the Mexican food around here!
Thanks for sharing!!!
Don’t feel like you had nothing to say! Sometimes the best sharing between girlfriends is a good recipe!
Blessings!
Funny! We visited my Mom last week, and she told each of my girls she’d buy them a present at Wal Mart, and my youngest chose clothes over a toy, too! Yay.
That was cute, even when you SAY you didn’t have anything exciting to write about. The recipe sounds excellent, to us chipotle loving Oregonians.
Join in at my Bloggy Testimony Carnival Thingy, if you are still searching for something to write tomorrow.
Diane
How fun, I enjoyed this post so much, I will have to try this…
Connie
GBU
May I just say, “Dang! Those shoes are cute!!”?
Sorry for the D-word, but it was SO necessary!
I love all those ingredients so I’m thinking I’m going to have to put them all together just like you did! Thank you.
You know, rubbing some Mint Bliss foot lotion on your feet before you go to bed makes your feet say “aaahh”…and let me at those shoes tomorrow!
ILLEGAL!
Sounds yummy!! And since becoming pregnant it seems that ALL of my blogging revolves around food. Food is good! :)
Love the sound of this recipe, but I tripped over the word SPISHAY. Is that SPICY?
I need a Lisationary.
Hahaha Macro, “Lisationary”, I love it!
This post cracked me up.
And what do you think this oh so creative mommy posted on her blog already today???
A recipe.
I got nuthin.
Blessings, Joanne
It has been a while since I had time to visit your blog. I’ve never been “into” shoes until my sweet hubby bought me a pair of QA Onesole shoes. Talk about cute! And to top it off, the style I chose is very comfy. Now I shop for clothes with shoe tops in mind. (Check them out http://www.onesole.com and you’ll see what I mean.) Now I’m a shoe addict.