Honey Mustard Chicken

We are 3 weeks into our summer vacation and we are enjoying it so much! We've had some really nice days, nothing too hot yet! I know it's coming though, this is Alabama! We've had three play dates at the park, library programs, a birthday party, two services at our new church plant, bridal tea, an ER visit (!) and a 5K race so far! And I'm sure I'm leaving some things off the list. It's been busy but it's been the good kind of busy... well, minus the ER visit! I hope to have some more time this summer to get back to blogging more regularly, there are lots of events and things I want to share with you all!

But instead of sharing more about those things, I'm going to do what comes easy to me... share another recipe! My last post was a yummy recipe for honey mustard dressing. I enjoyed it on a few salads and it really is so good! I haven't been very good at meal planning here lately, though and the dressing really helped me come up with a great, weeknight meal. One night last week I had laid out some chicken to thaw, but I had no idea what I was going to do with it! Don't tell me that never happens to you! I was also crunched for time so I needed something quick. So, I thought, I'll chop up the chicken breast so they will cook fast. Now what? Honey mustard dressing! I poured the dressing over the cooked chicken pieces and it made a glaze over the chicken. It resembles sweet and sour chicken. I served it with steamed broccoli and cheese toast.. yes, I know. I told you I was pressed for time. Next time I make it I will make brown rice, because the chicken would have been great over rice!

Honey Mustard Chicken

2-3 chicken breast, chopped into bite sized pieces
1/3-1/2 cup honey mustard dressing
olive oil
salt and pepper

Heat oil in skillet on med high heat. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper and add to the pan. Let the chicken sear on one side about 5 minutes and then stir. After stirring and making sure the chicken pieces have flipped, let cook another 5 minutes. I did this about 3-4 times before all of the chicken pieces were browned and cooked. Once chicken is cooked, turn heat down to med-low and add honey mustard dressing. Stir to coat and continue to stir as the sauce turns into a glaze. This took a 3-5 minutes for me. Serve alone or over rice.

Some extra info: I used two chicken breast. This fed me and my boys (Hubs had already eaten some leftovers) and then I had some left for lunch the next day for me. If the Hubs would have been eating I would have used three chicken breast. Eli enjoyed it and ate all of his. Luke ate it but was not really pleased but hat is typical. I used about 1/3 cup of dressing but I would up it to 1/2 cup for three chicken breast, maybe more if I wanted some 'sauce' for the rice (one entire batch of dressing makes about 2/3 cup total). It really is an easy weeknight meal! By the way, the leftovers were great, I put them in a pan with the leftover broccoli and added a little low sodium soy sauce. Great, healthy lunch! This is a recipe you could play with, maybe add a little more honey if you want it sweeter, add some soy sauce for a more Asian feel, add some stir fry veggies to the pan.. you get the idea! Enjoy!

Homemade Honey Mustard Dressing

(Don't be too jealous of my photo skills.)

So, today I was really wanting (needing) to eat a good salad. I try to eat salad several times a week, especially spinach. It's one of the best foods you can eat and everyone should really try to eat it once a day. It's fantastic sauteed with scrambled eggs! My boys actually LIKE it in raw form. In fact today they ate a handful with their lunch. They don't do "salads" per say, instead they eat it deconstructed. Today they had a pile of spinach leaves, carrot sticks, shredded cheese and sunflower seeds. Then they eat them all separate. I could care less how they eat it, as long as they do!

So, back to my lunch. I normally have homemade ranch on hand but we are out of buttermilk.. so I thought... "I have honey and I have dijon mustard... and I have several types of vinegar.." Hmm. So I did a quick search and made homemade honey mustard with what I had. It was delicious and super easy. This recipe is a modified recipe from Alton Brown.

Homemade Honey Mustard Dressing

5 TBS honey (I use local)

3 TBS dijon mustard

2 TBS apple cider vinegar (I use Bragg's unfiltered, organic.. SO good for you!)

Mix all ingredients together with a whisk. Store in the fridge! Yum! This would be great for chicken fingers as well, though it is more of a thin dressing rather than a dip! Makes 2/3 cup of dressing.

Italian Roast Wraps ~ Recipe Highlight

You've probably seen this show up on my menus before but I wanted to spotlight it becuase it's really one of my favorite meals. It's a simple meal and not too expensive when you can find roast on sale. For the longest time I thought that all you could do with a roast was serve it along side carrots and potatoes! But there are lots more you can do with them and this is one of my favorite things.

I cook my roast the same way that Laura at Heavenly Homemakers does, except I add about 1/2 cup of water to the bottom of my crock pot. I do this because I love the juices at the bottom! I like to shred up my meat and mix the juices in. I use the homemade Italian dressing mix from Heavenly Homemakers as well. I've used it to make Italian dressing and just didn't like it but I think it's fantastic as a seasoning for roast! I keep some mixed up and ready in my spice cabinet. Unlike Laura, I don't make my own tortillas. I would love to try but just haven't gotten around to it. I have found three different brands that are whole wheat that don't have partially hydrogenated oils but are made with olive oil. So, I go with the lesser evil. ;) We often have these just as she suggests with chopped tomatoes and sour cream. My boys like the wraps with just meat and cheese. Tonight I made them with feta cheese instead of sour cream and they were so yummy! I usually serve them with sauteed green beans or a salad. I've often thought of using homemade taco seasoning on the roast and making them Mexican style, rather than Italian.

As I said before this can be a pretty economical meal when you can find roasts on sale. It's simple, delicious and good for you too!

What other ways do you like to use roast?

Linking up with

Comfy in the Kitchen

Hello, old friend!

I decided to sit down and see if I could update the ol' blog! I haven't been around in a while! I've got a few minutes, literally a few so let's see what I can share!

(The boys riding their Jeep at Easter)

We're winding down our school year. Can you believe I did it!? My very first year of homeschool! I am so encouraged and just thrilled that God helped me through this year! It was fun! We still have a few weeks left and we'll still keep up the reading during the summer! Luke has done fantastic and we've just had a great year! I pray we have many, many more! Maybe I can get around to sharing what we loved and didn't love about our homeschool curriculum and what I learned along the way. I really wanted to blog more about our journey throughout the year but well, I was a little busy! There are so many moms that make the time to blog and though I love it, I just have a hard time fitting it in. It's one of the things that sometimes falls to the wayside! Maybe next year!

Speaking of Luke, he will be SIX in just a little over a month. He is currently obsessed with both Lego's and Star Wars. So you can imagine what kind of birthday party he wants! He's such a smart boy! He enjoys doing most school work. Reading is a little bit of a struggle, so we take it slow. He really loves all things science and math! He's very strong willed and while we've had some rough times in the area of discipline, I'm beginning to see some fruit there. Praising God for that!

Eli is a mess. He loves to play with his brother and he also loves Star Wars! He is pretty much his brother's shadow. He's still not potty trained and we're very much still struggling with that. In fact this afternoon I found him outside with nothing on from the waist down. He had taken off his pull up in attempts to 'get rid of the evidence'. Oh, that kid.

The Hubs is working hard at work and school. He is getting closer and closer to being finished and I am so proud. We're also involved in planting a church and it is so exciting! We've been meeting twice a month and getting to know everyone in the church plant and praying over and discussing things like what we want the church to be about, how we plan to get involved in the community and more practical things like where are we going to meet (we're currently meeting in a home). The plant consists of families from two local churches. We are so excited to be a part of this and to see what God does! The Hubs and I really feel that God has prepared us for this over the last few years and we are just thankful for His faithfulness to us. It's really amazing how God has put us where we are and brought along side people who are so dear to us and at the same time given us great new friends, all of which we get to serve with! He is just so good! When I have more time I hope to share more! :)

Well, it's bedtime for the boys so I've got a few stories to go read!