Chicken and Yarn

Well readers, it was a tragic morning. My coffee pot exploded grounds all over my kitchen counter, ruining the pot I brewed and leaving me no time to grind the beans and brew more. So I put on my ugly cry face and swept the rough, coarse bean innards that were sprayed across my counter into my hand and hummed a few lines of taps while I brushed them into the trash. Top that off with a teething bebe and you can guess how happy and relieved I was when hubs got home and we headed for a play date.
At the playdate, while Emma was busying shrieking and stealing Cheerios from her sweet kiss giving pal, one of my newest and sweet friends taught me how to crochet!
After an adventure to Michaels late the other night, she guided me in what hooks and yarns to buy, then guiding my not-so-nimble fingers (sausages+no coffee=no good) into the glorious world of hat-making! It was literally one of the easiest, most fun things I've started in a long time!
My bulky hot pink yarn is quickly turning into a sweet little beanie for Emma, that I plan on adding PomPoms to, because honestly...everything's cuter with a PomPom!

In other news, I took about an hour and a half over the weekend and laid out a meal plan for the week. This is going to be my New Years resolution, to cook at least 6 nights out of the week. My mom was so good about always putting a homemade dinner on our table every night and it's something that in retrospect, I admire and appreciate so much. (love ya, Mom)
So, in light of New Years being right around the corner, I decided, why not start now. No time like the present right?
So today, knowing I was going to have a long day out and about, I decided to push the easy button and do a crockpot recipe.

Crockpot Salsa Chicken
1 lbs of skinless chicken breasts, thawed
1 can of cream of mushroom
1 cup of Salsa (I went generic on this, much to Mario's chagrin, and picked a medium heat, but next time I'm making mild. I'm a wimp.)
1 packet of taco seasoning

(I love low recipe meals!)
First you add the chicken breasts, soup, salsa, and taco seasoning to the crock pot. Mix and cook on low for 6 hours (or high for 2.5, but I cooked for 6). After those 6 hours, take your chicken out (this is gonna get messy...spoon it out then let it cool a little) and shred it. The best part of this was the chicken was so tender is literally fell apart! Put it back in the pot, reheat and spoon into tortillas, or onto rice. Top with sour cream, cheese, lettuce, etc. whatever suits your fancy!
In retrospect, I would add fresh tomatoes, some black beans and rice to the pot. It was little runny and could use some thickening.
But, the flavor was faaaaantasic! Even my authentic Latino hubby loved it! Emma also enjoyed it, but was way more into the peas I put on her tray.
Naturally.
Either way, it once again made enough for leftovers and everyone enjoyed it...especially me because it was super easy to prepare and the house smelled fantastic when we got home tonight! Win, win.

Life lessons I learned over the weekend:
1. It doesn't matter if you're elderly, it does NOT give you an excuse to treat younger customer service teams like crap. So don't throw sandwiches at me, Grandma, and expect not to get decaf-ed. Ya heard me.
2. When God is giving you a door to step through, do it. It's worth it, even if it's a little door. Also, letting someone pray for you, opening up, being vulnerable...worth it. Soooooo worth it.
3. Baby's are so much smarter than we realize. Emma's already bilingual! Ah!!!


Peace out, trouts, until tomorrow!