Grilled Chicken with Brie and Baby Spinach Salad

We just made this yesterday for dinner and I was reminded of how good it is. This is only our second time making this dish but it has become one of our favorite meals. I do not usually cook with brie cheese because of the cost of it, so it is a treat when we do have it in a meal. It is so easy to make and so tasty! My girls love the chicken, we are working on liking the spinach but I do not mind that much it just mean more for me to eat. :-)

Grilled Chicken with Brie and Baby Spinach Salad

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, about 5 ounces each (I just did the full size)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Salt-free garlic and herb seasoning

4 to 8 slices Brie cheese, about 1/2 inch thick

1 Tablespoon olive oil

2 shallots, chopped (I only used 1)

2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 Tablespoons honey

4 cups fresh baby spinach leaves

4 slices bacon, cooked

Heat a stove-top grill pan or griddle with cooking spray and set over medium-high heat to preheat (I just has Chris BBQ the chicken)

Season both sides of chicken with salt, black pepper, and garlic and herb seasoning. Add chicken to hot pan and cook 3 to 4 minutes per side, until browned and cooked through. Remove from heat. Place 1 to 2 slices of Brie on top of chicken, cover with foil and place back on grill pan for another 1 minute until cheese melts (I just place cheese on top of chicken during the last minute of grilling).

Meanwhile, heat a small skillet over medium heat. Add olive oil and chopped shallots to the pan and saute. In a small bowl, combine the balsamic vinegar, honey and salt and peper, to taste. Add the mixture to the skillet and stir to combines. Pour the warm vinaigrette over the spinach and toss to coat. Crumble the bacon strips over the dressed salad.

Transfer chicken to serving plate or plate with spinach salad. Yields 4 servings. Enjoy!

Recipe courtesy of Robin Miller 2007

Running the Race (Part 2)

"Therefore, since we are surrounded 

by such a great cloud of witnesses, 

let us throw off everything that hinders 

and the sin that so easily entangles, 

and let us run with perseverance 

the race marked out for us."

Hebrews 12:1

How can we more faithfully serve the Lord in running the race that is set before us? I cannot help but think of a runner who is getting ready for a race. I am not a runner myself, so I can not tell you from personal experience, but I have watched my father get ready for many a race and the conditioning that he would go through for a race needed to be done daily effecting all that he did. It determined what food he would eat, the exercise he would do, the running he would do in preparation for the race and what he would drink so he would not get dehydrated.

Just as a runner needs to be conditioning their body daily, we need to be conditioning our minds and hearts daily with the word of God, to help us diligently and faithfully run the race for our Lord. I look at my life as a mother of three young girls, 4 and under, and I see so many things that so easily get in the way of me spending daily quiet time with the Lord. There are always many things that need to get done on my list, children who need my attention and meals that need to get made just to name a few.

Before we can serve the Lord diligently and faithfully in all the various areas of our lives we need to start at the beginning at the most important part of our lives. I have a list of the areas of my life that need to come first (something I will share at another time), the first thing on that list is my relationship with the Lord. It has been heavy on my heart that I need to be more diligent about making that the first priority in my day and life. My daily quiet time has been something that I have always thought important, but there are those days, here and there, where it is not as consistent as it ought to be. Whether it means not getting the floors mopped that day, not getting an extra side dish made for dinner or not getting the laundry folded right; time with God must come first. By no means am I saying that you or I need to start neglecting everything else but that we prioritize. We need to examine what there is that can be done better, organized better, done with more diligence or better planned out so that our quite time with the Lord happens diligently and daily.

I was just reading about a mom who to fit her time in with the Lord when she sits her children down with a snack to watch their favorite show. I had never thought of doing that but what a great idea. I usually try to fit my quiet time in during naps and when my oldest daughter goes down for quiet time, but what a great idea for when my three little one's naps and quiet times do not happen at the same time. Your time with the Lord does not always need to look the same from day to day, but if you need to, be creative in how you find time to make it happen. The most important thing is that it is happening and that you are learning and growing in the Lord.

Lord, help me to meditate on Your word day and night (Joshua 1:8). Help me to hide Your word in my heart so that I might not sin against you (Psalm 119:11).  I want to glorify You in all that I do and in all that I say!

Combat Crawl

Macaylee has started crawling but it's not the normal crawl that you might expect. She is doing more of a one handed combat crawl. I thought that you might enjoy seeing her first venture away from where she was playing. When I started recording, she had already made her way halfway across the room. All this work to see the vacuum cleaner. 

Big Girl Bed

Miriam is now in a big girl bed! She has slept in it now for one night and one nap time. She has not, as of yet, ventured or fallen out of it (though we provided a lot of padding on the floor just in case of a fall). Here are a couple pictures of her and her new bed.

Strawberry Yogurt Parfaits

Sometimes when we go to the library I have the girls pick out a kids cookbook, and let them pick a recipee from the cookbook for us to make together. Well, this is the one that Maddie picked out and my girls have enjoyed making it several times. It is their favorite special snack. Here is how you make them.

Strawberry Yogurt Parfaits:

Granola

Vanilla Yogurt

Strawberries

1. Cut up the strawberries. We use our egg slicer so that the girls can do the cutting.












2. Start with a class cup (this way you will be able to see all the layers of your parfaits) and cover the bottom with granola













3. Cover the granola with a layer of yogurt.
















4. Cover the yogurt with a layer of strawberries.










5. Repeat each of the layers (granola, yogurt & strawberries).













6. Your Done.










Eat & ......















Enjoy!!!

Running the Race

Therefore, since we are surrounded

by such a great cloud of witnesses,

let us throw off everything that hinders

and the sin that so easily entangles,

and let us run with perseverance

the race marked out for us.

Hebrews 12:1

Lord, help me to run with perseverance this race you have marked out for me, help me to throw off all that might hinder me from running this race faithfully for you (Hebrews 12:1). Help me to forget what is behind me and to strain on toward what is ahead, pressing on to the goal for which God has called me heavenward (Philippians 3:13-14). Help me to be faithful so that it can be said of me that I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have kept the faith (2 Timothy 4:7).