Almond Crusted Chicken

Before I moved to Tennessee and long before I became a vegetarian, I used to cook dinner once or twice a week for my parents to 'practice' cooking meals. This was a HUGE hit! I found it in Fitness magazine (they always have such good recipes!) and served it with green beans and spanish rice. I hope you enjoy it as much as my parents did...

1/3 cup finely chopped almonds
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp garlic salt
Black pepper to taste
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 4 oz each)
2 tsp finely chopped fresh parsley for garnish

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Sprinkle pepper all over the chicken. 
3. Combine almonds, brown sugar, and garlic salt in a bowl.
4. Dredge chicken in the almond brown sugar mixture.
5. Arrange chicken on a baking sheet. Firmly pat any remaining mixture on top of each chicken piece.
6. Bake for 18 minutes, or until thermometer inserted in the thickest part registers 180. (18 minutes always worked just right in our oven)
7. Garnish with parsley if desired.

Serves 4*

Calories 254, Fat 8g, Protein 29g, Carbs 15g, Fiber 1g
 
(I wish I had a picture!)
 

Blog Hop: Holiday Photos

I was actually already planning on posting about this fun Christmas tradition in general!! It's a favorite of mine… at least of my Christmas traditions in Tennessee ;o)

The first weekend in December, my roommate A and I went shopping in Franklin, TN. It's not too very far from Murfreesboro, but it always seems like a very special trip. This year was our 3^rd annual trip and it was as fun as always. I love being able to spend a day catching up (I know we live together, it doesn't mean we always see each other!) and just spending time in their little downtown area and at the antique mall and other antique stores.

I captured a few fun memories this year…

Blog Hop: Christmas Ornaments

This is my second Christmas with my roommates! RubyRed and C have had three Christmas' together in the house, and who knows where we will be next year... except RubyRed, she's going to be with her husband =o) ... We've also made R-Jo an honorary roommate, even though she lives with her husband. But that's another story.

And that was all a long introduction to the not great pictures of the ornaments I'm displaying for you all today! They are pictures of our matching ornaments!!

yep.you read that right.matching.

This first is a set of bears we got when we all went to Gatlinburg together before we were roommates.

 The Candycanes, C picked up for us last year

And this year, R-Jo came over with these adorable penguin ornaments that I featured on a Wordless Wednesday just last week! (we 'tagged' ourselves as penguins)

I think it's fun knowing that we will always have a reminder of our Roommate Christmas's!

Blog Hop: Fall

It has rained like CRAZY here in Tennessee. I don't know about you, or where you are reading this from, but we have had rain for weeks!! I know it's making everyone crazy, but now that it's finally stopping and the weather has hit that point of beautiful fall, I have been very much enjoying the leaves and all of the beautiful colors that God has given us. Here are a few pictures of nature that I've taken lately (although it's hard to choose favorites!) I hope you enjoy them too =o)

A puddle of leaves

berries turning color in the grass

crazy mushrooms from all the rain

fall through a peephole

Blog Hop: Albert

Gripping antenna
seeing the whizzing by sights
Albert flies all day

Blog Hop: Favorite Photo of Kids

I took these a couple of years ago at a church picnic and edited them together. I just love the composition of the whole thing!

Blog Hop: My Favorite Recipe

I got this recipe from Fitness Magazine a while back and I absolutely LOVE it!!! I'm a vegetarian, so it's my version of a 1 dish meal =o) (oh, and I tend to like using extra green beans, because they're my favorite!)


Red Potato and Green Bean Sauté
(Makes: 4 to 6 servings)

1 lb baby red potatoes, halved
1 lb fresh green beans, halved
1 ½ T Extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
3 T chopped fresh basil

1. Instructions:
3. 1. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add potatoes; cook about 15 minutes or until almost tender. Add beans; cook about 3 minutes, or until tender. Drain well.


4. 2. In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic; cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add potatoes, beans, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook about 2 minutes or until heated through, tossing to coat. Add basil and toss once more before serving.
   

Nutrition Facts per serving:

115 calories
3 g protein
18 g carbohydrate
4 g fat (0.5 g saturated)
3 g fiber

Blog Hop – 3 Things You Didn’t Know About Me

Ok Blog Hop… This isn't an easy one for me!! I mean obviously if you're just hopping through, I can say any three things and you wouldn't know the difference, but for others who potentially read this at least occasionally… well… what do you not know? So I'm writing this strictly for the unknown. For people who want to get to know me in three easy steps.

1. I am originally from the suburbs of Chicago. I lived in a small-for-Chicago town called Westchester, and the house I grew up in was about 5 blocks(ish) from where Al Capone was buried. I moved to TN in September of 2004 because I felt that it was what God was calling me to do with my life. It's been a ride so far, and I can't wait to see what God has in store for my future
   


2. I'm a banker. I can open accounts, work teller-row, do all things back office. There's a lovely little term called nepotism that got me a job in banking when I was 16 (almost 17) and except for about a year and a half just after I moved to TN, that's what I've been doing with my life ever since. It's amazing to me that I've had 10 years in the same field and I only recently celebrated the 4^th anniversary of my 25^th birthday! I'm not always content in this because what I want more than anything is for God's timing to be now when he lets me meet the man of my heart and get married. I want to be a mom. But I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this pretty recently…
   


3. When people ask me how I'm doing, I always answer, "I'm livin' the dream!" It all started out kind of as a joke when I was having a bad day. I really believe in using reverse psychology on myself (i.e. when I'm in a bad mood I make myself act chipper, when I'm feeling self conscious I make myself look people in the eye). So when I started saying that I was 'livin the dream' it was to convince myself that the day wasn't as awful as I was making it out to be. Now it's become kind of a staple for an answer for me. People just got such a kick out of it that I kept it going. But I realized there was even more. I am living the dream. I have my health, my family, friends… and most importantly, I have God in my life!! It is a dream indeed…

Blog Hop: Fruit

I was sitting on a blanket by a lake hanging out with RubyRed. No food sighs summer quite like watermelon.