This is one of our all-time favorite meals. It is so delicious! I think I found this recipe on Pinterest when my husband actually saw it and sent it to me and said, "This looks good, can you make this for me, please?" One day I was struggling on what to make for dinner and I went on Pinterest and searched chicken broccoli. Because I had chicken out and I wanted to cook with broccoli that night. And this meal came up. Inadvertently not knowing this was the recipe my husband sent me. Here is the recipe!
One Pan Cheesy Chicken, Broccoli, and Rice
3 tbs. extra virgin olive oil
1/2 medium yellow onion, diced finely
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite size pieces
2 cloves of garlic, mined
1 tsp. kosher salt and black pepper
1 cup uncooked extra long grain white rice
2 1/2 cups broccoli florets, cut into bite size pieces
2 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 cups shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese
In a large skillet, or pan, saute onion in two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil over medium heat. Season onions with salt and pepper. Once the onions are softened, increase the heat to medium high and add the chicken to the pan. Brown the chicken pieces and add the garlic. Cook for one more minute. Push the chicken to one side of the pan and add the additional tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil to the other side. Add the uncooked rice in the olive oil and saute it for a couple of minutes. Add the chicken broth to the pan and bring mixture to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and cover the pan with a lid. Cook chicken and rice covered for about twelve minutes. Sprinkle the broccoli evenly over the chicken and rice mixture and stir to combine. Continue to work covered another eight minutes on low, or until broccoli and rice are both tender. Remove from heat and stir in half a cup of cheese. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top and cover with a lid, letting it sit for one to two minutes or until cheese has melted.
For the past two weeks, I have been making these Halloween goodie boxes. I made five for my husband's co-workers and three for the ladies who I talk to at my daughter's school while we wait for our kids to get out of school. I made the green ones for the ladies and the purple ones for my husband's co-workers.
Here is what it looks like when you open it.
I absolutely love how the stamp fits in the white cardstock. Isn't it awesome when things work out for you without even trying?
Here is a look when you open the box from the bottom.
I didn't know what kind of candy to put in there. So I decided I would just stick to the two I know that most people love. I put three rolls of Smarties and two butterscotch candy.
I love the font to the sentiment. This stamp is actually from Lawn Fawn. The green, purple, and orange cardstock is from Recollections at Michaels. The pumpkin on the front was cut out using my Create a Critter 2 cartridge. I absolutely love how everything turned out. I hope everyone likes it, too.
Happy Halloween everyone! Have a fun and safe weekend!
Today at my husband's school, they are having a fall festival of some sorts for the kids. After both of the kids wake up from their naps, we are going to head on out. I will pack their snacks and drinks and stuff when they are napping. It should be fun. A lot of the staff members have been asking my husband to see the kids.
It is cloudy outside today but the weather doesn't feel cold. It is so weird that it is nearing the end of October and it is still not really cold. I hope that doesn't mean that we will have a longer cold season. I hate the cold. I hate dressing up in hoodies and I hate how the cold weather makes my skin so dry.
I think the good Lord has been answering my prayers because my daughter has been pretty pleasant lately. For the last two days she has been nice to me and hasn't really thrown her usual toddler tantrums. Also for the last three nights, my son has been sleeping all night! I am so thankful for that. Now we just need to work on getting my daughter to sleep all night next.
Tomorrow I will be posting a picture of the Halloween craft I have been working on for the past two weeks. It has been a long time since I crafted or made a card. I also need to start working on the family's Christmas cards this year. It usually takes me a while because we send a lot of cards out, so I need to get the stuff together so I can start to mass produce the cards. I love when they are all ready like that.
Here is the Goulash that I made the other night for dinner. I kept forgetting to post the pictures and the recipe on my blog. My husband and I both love this meal, but for future references, I am going to make this and serve it the next day. We both didn't really care for how soupy it looked, but eating them the next day worked great as the pasta absorbed all the juice. It is really good and a hearty meal. I would most definitely make this during the winter and not in the summer though. Here's the recipe!
Classic Goulash
2 lbs. lean ground beef (I used lean ground turkey)
2 large yellow onions, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
3 cups water
2 (15 oz.) cans tomato sauce
2 (14.5 oz.) cans diced tomatoes (I omitted this out)
3 tbs. soy sauce
2 tbs. dried Italian herb seasoning
3 bay leaves
1 tbs. seasoned salt, or to taste
2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
In a laarge Dutch oven, cook and stir the ground beef over medium-high heat, breaking the meat up as it cooks, until the meat is no longer pink and has started to brown, about ten minutes. Skim off the excess fat, and stir in the onions and garlic. Cook and stir the meat mixture until the onions are translucent, about ten more minutes. Stir in the water, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, soy sauce, Italian seasoning, bay leaves, and seasoned salt, and bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for twenty more minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the macaroni, cover, and simmer over low heat until the pasta is tender, about twenty five more minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, discard bay leaves, and serve.
Enjoy!
This week I am truly blessed because my husband works only four days this week. However, he will be doing some landscaping to the front yard. He is going to plant ten new shrubs, five will be Japanese Boxwood and the other five will be some rosemary of some sort. Even though he will be busy doing stuff, I will feel less stressed. Hopefully my daughter doesn't give me a hard time that day.
I have some much needed laundry to do today. I also need to clean the bathrooms, but that will have to wait until I can get both kids asleep. I also have a couple of projects that I need to finish by the end of this week. That's all the stuff I need to do this week.
I have a little confession to make.
Parenting is tough. This is by far the hardest job, but most rewarding job, I have ever had in my life. I thought some of the jobs I have had were tough when I was younger. But this is by far the toughest. It was somewhat easy when my daughter was younger. But now the toddler years has emerged and I am struggling on a daily basis trying to keep up with her and her multiple personalities.
I know it will get easier. I just can't wait until it happens.
I am beginning to have a serious love/hate relationship with Fridays. I love it because the weekend is near and my husband will be home to help me take care of the kids. But I hate it because it is seriously so exhausting trying to handle my daughter. She is most definitely becoming a three-nager. I never thought I would have a child to be such a horrible thing, but she is becoming quite the three-nager.
I just hope and pray things will get easier with her when she gets older. She was such an easy baby when she was younger. I miss those days.
Perhaps a new analogy would be; easy baby, frustrating toddler.. frustrating baby, easy toddler.
Ahh, that would be somewhat nice. I guess. Because that would mean, my son would be the best toddler I could imagine .
I don't think I could handle another toddler who has meltdowns over absolutely ridiculous things.
Today I stopped by to see my dad with my son after I dropped off my daughter. I love being able to see my dad and him seeing his grandson. But the drive there is so long it seems. Most of the time when I see him, it's just a short visit because I have to be home in time to be able to pick up my daughter from school. I fear I am going to be late picking her up and her teacher reports that against me.
My son seems to always fall asleep on the ride home. The question that goes through my head is, should I let him nap or should I wake him up? If I let him nap, he will be woken up once we get home and then he's going to be cranky because his nap was short and then in a hour or so we have to leave to pick up his sister. And when we get home, he might not nap because he's not tired since he took a small nap earlier. Then when she wakes up from her nap, he will be cranky and fall asleep which will make bed time a nightmare since he took a late nap. If I wake him up, he is cranky because he's tired. But nap time for the both of them will be easier because he's tired. Ahh.. the struggle is real.
We are still feasting on leftovers. I can't believe it. Today I might heat up the last of the leftovers and tomorrow, since it is Friday, cook something really good. I can't wait to start cooking casseroles again.
