Honey Mustard Chicken

honey mustard chicken

I dont have fresh parsley but I do have fresh rosemary and I will also be adding thyme for a nice lemony background.

I cant wait!

I will be serving this with steamed carrots & homemade thyme biscuits. yum!

My Competition

Infinite Massage

Gardening info.

Chelsey sent me this website and it has this info on it. How cool! I have lots and lots of old tea that I need to do something with and I will definitely be trying this!


In the Garden
Give roses a boost
Sprinkle new or used tea leaves (loose or in tea bags) around your rosebushes and cover with mulch to give them a midsummer boost. When you water the plants, the nutrients from the tea will be released into the soil, spurring growth. Roses love the tannic acid that occurs naturally in tea.


Feed your ferns
Schedule an occasional teatime for your ferns and other acid-loving houseplants. Substitute brewed tea when watering the plants. Or work wet tea leaves into the soil around the plants to give them a lush, luxuriant look.


Prepare planter for potting
For healthier potted plants, place a few used tea bags on top of the drainage layer at the bottom of the planter before potting. The tea bags will retain water and leach nutrients to the soil.


Enhance your compost pile
To speed up the decomposition process and enrich your compost, pour a few cups of strongly brewed tea into the heap. The liquid tea will hasten decomposition and draw acid-producing bacteria, creating desirable acid-rich compost.

Problems with the ole garden..

So, my sidewalk border idea has been thrown away and now I've got 2 little quarter circles on either side of my first step. My dirt is crap! I have decided that its going to take too long to treat the soil and get it up to par for both sides of the sidewalk. Yesterday I dug and tried to break the dirt up and I mixed in some peat and humus and it looks terrible. It looks like I'm going to have to buy some topsoil to make these flowers actually grow.

In the mean time, I bought some impatiens and a little greenhouse to germinate the seeds in. I'm thinking about taking the freesia back because it needs full sun and my porch is shaded all day. You can see in the pic on my other post where the shade is...that's pretty much where it is. In the summer it might be a different story but for the spring and stuff just to get things going it needs 6-8 hours full sun. not gonna happen.

Its raining now so hopefully my manure is enriching my current clayish dirt situation. I raked the crap out of that dirt yesterday and I still couldn't get it to clumps smaller than large marbles. pathetic.

I'm not giving up though! I will have flowers this year damnit.

My Sidewalk Border (garden)

I'm so busy, I've decided to be more busy.

I have been going back and forth about having a vegetable garden, but have wanted some flowers on either side of our sidewalk for as long as we've lived in our house. So, 5 years later, its time.

I've only picked out 2 flowers, Lily of the Valley for right at the steps and Freesia for the actual border. Here is some info I've learned and will be using when I start my planing in a couple weeks-ish.

Freesia

Things I may need:
Steaks to support the flower heads
compost
fertalizer
mist/spritz bottle

Things I will definitely need:
full sun
well drainage

Planting:
1. 2" deep
2. 3" apart
3. Put 1 trowels worth of compost in the hole
4. Plant pointed end up
5. After planting water well (thoroughly soaking area)
6. Keep soil slightly moist
7. Keep plant moist to prevent/avoid red spider mites
8. Remove yellow/dead foliage after blooming has ended(late-summer-ish)

*These are supposed to be planted in the fall, oops, I guess we'll see how they do when planted in the spring.
*The bulbs can rot.


Lily of the Valley

Things I may need:
compost
peat moss

Things I definitely need:
shade/full shade

Planting:
1. 8"-12" apart
2. Soak the "pips" in lukewarm water before planting. (Just fill the bag so the peat is saturated and leave it in the sink for a couple hours)
3. Snip the last inch off the roots before planting.
4. Plant so the tops barely poke above the surface of the soil.
5. Water generously, soaking the soil.

*Can become invasive if not controlled, needs propagation.
*The leaves and flowers are toxic to children if consumed. So, don't let them eat it!


This is my unbelievably boring sidewalk that I've dealt with for long enough.

Now, after I plan the flowers I'm still going to need some sort of attractive border to separate the flowers/grass. Once I find something I like, I will probably blog about it.

Peanut Butter Cup Cookie

The Cookie

These sound yummy...I'm sure some people I know would have a fit over them..

no time

I dont have time to blog or cook dinner this week, I'm too busy. better luck next week.

I did buy graphing paper so I can resume quilt creativity. I can't wait to start thinking things up!

Violet's Clothes Quilt

Modern Square Quilt

I think this is the pattern I like. I will just need a neutral color for the border and I can sew a few outfits into a pretty quilt. And this should be enough cotton/normal fabric so that its not awkward to sew. I cant wait to get this started!! Now I just need to pick out Violet's most worn clothes and some fabric and I can be on my way!

SO excited!!! going into convulsions...crap, I just fell on the floor...eek, I need to mop...

Cube Steak.

Italian BBQ Cube Steak

I plan on making this for dinner. It aught to be interesting. I bet I over cook it.


DISGUSTING! Never again will this be made in my house.

Rosemary Chicken & My balsamic Vinaigrette

Sorry I've been a little too busy/tired lately to post any recipes. I was cooking though and have been keeping up with my resolution thus far. I promise.

This chicken recipe is courtesy of Rachael Ray. It was definitely a winner with Justin and Violet.

2T EVOO
s&p
chicken breasts (she recommends boneless but I used Bone-In. :P)
1 lg shallot finely chopped
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
3 sprigs rosemary chopped
1/2 c honey
1T dijon mustard (I dont use fancy pants mustard so I used yellow)
juice of 1 lemon

1.) Heat 1 T evoo in a lg skillet over med-high heat
2.) Season chicken w/ s&p
3.) Cook chicken 6 min on each side
4.) Remove chicken from skillet and cover with foil to keep warm
5.) Drop heat to med.
6.) Add 1T evoo, shallots, garlic, rosemary & cook 2-3 min
7.) Add honey
8.) stir in mustard & lemon juice
9.) Add chicken back to pan and coat all sides with glaze.

Yep, its that easy! And DELICIOUS!!! Make sure you save all the glaze from the pan to drizzle over your chicken.

The salad shown here is a very simple salad to make as well.

Romaine Lettuce
Red Bell Pepper
Cucumber
Carrots

Balsamic Vinaigrette:

evoo & balsamic vinegar (3:1)
s&p to taste
a good squirt of yellow (or dijon) mustard
a good squirt of honey

I dont have measurements because I never measure when I'm cooking from memory.

Just emulsify or shake well and drizzle over your salad.

Violet's Quilt

Ok, the first idea I had for the quilt was to take all of her baby clothes and make a basic quilt using 4" squares in no specific pattern. Justin seems to think this wont work because its all jersey knit cotton(the t-shirt kind). I think I have a remedy for this problem thanks to the plethora of crafting websites out there. I am having some difficulty deciding on what to use for the backing though. I have a couple ideas but I need to do some more research first to see what other people may recommend.

My uncle had a quilt made for his grandson out of his old Navy uniforms and I thought it was SO cool that I wanted something sentimental for Violet as well. Even though this comes nowhere near close to how cool that is, its a start. I can guarantee that if we have another baby I will be getting new baby clothes either from my purchases or from the 3 sets of grandparents and my generous family who think they have to buy stuff for everyone. (Don't get me wrong, I LOVE this about them! If I had money, I'd be the same way no doubt about it!)So, I don't think I'll be needing my current clothes. Plus, I may have a boy or a baby in a different season.

Anyway, I'm only posting this because Justin and I are getting our tax return back soon and I was thinking that I could finally afford fabric. I have a bunch of fabric picked out and a pretty cute quilt idea for it that would be only around $100...yeah, quilts are expensive even to make yourself! The one I made for Becca was WAY expensive. But totally worth it because its awesome!

So here is my question that I am taking way to long to get to:

Should I buy new fabric, and have it be trendy and cute?
Or, do I use all of Violet's old clothes and make it sentimental?

I will definitely be saving a few outfits for her to use or just enjoy when she is older. I have a few outfits from when I was a baby and I love having them. I planned on my daughter wearing them one day but they were all the wrong season. I was born in July and Vi was born in Feb...maybe my next baby??(Justin? Huh?? --oh wait, he doesn't read my blog)


So, thoughts?

This must be made and Soon!

Rosemary Chicken

Recipe Storage

I'm just surfing Martha Stewart's website and found a crap ton of recipes I want to try. So, here they are in case I forget.

Oatmeal Crisps
Chicken Fettuccine with Pesto Cream Sauce
Chicken and Dumplings
Thai Chicken and Noodle Salad


There were more than 4, Violet just happened to wake up...darn babies!