honey

Recipe: Honey chipotle chicken thighs

Abby H.

This is a recipe I recently made. I wanted chipotle chicken but with veggies and sauce.

I looked online for a recipe, however, there was nothing that fit the bill. I headed to the kitchen and started cooking.

This meal turned out AMAZING.

Chipotle Chicken Thighs

Ingredients:

  • 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs
  • Chipotle sauce from a small tin of adobo pepper in chipotle sauce
  • 1 cup salsa
  • 3T. Hot honey
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 2 large bell peppers or 3 medium bell peppers, cleaned and sliced into bite-sized pieces 
  • Dash cumin
  • Dash salt and pepper
  • Juice of 2 limes
  • 2T. Corn starch
  • 1/3 cup water

Directions:

  1. In a crockpot, combine all ingredients but corn starch and water.
  2. Cook on low for 5 hours, or high for 3 hours.
  3. Strain sauce into a saucepan, and heat over medium until boiling. While sauce is heating, mix water and corn starch and slowly pour into boiling sauce. Stir until thickened, add back into meat and veggies.

Serve with rice, beans, and tortillas. 

If you want extra smokiness, chop 1-2 chipotle peppers and add to the sauce while it thickens on the stovetop. 

This freezes well as well- If you have leftovers.

Top 4 Ways to Take Care of Parents When They are Sick!

Abby H.

Parents get sick, it’s a fact of life. I’ve been working at a school for two years, and it’s really the first time I’ve been SICK. Like capitalized SICK.

Here are a few easy ways that others can support a sick friend or family member:

  1. Pick up their Target Order. Did you know that you can add people as authorized pick-up folks on your Target app or Target.com? If your sick friend/family member can’t drive, you can still have someone pick it up and drop it at your doorstep without spending extra on Shipit or Uber Eats. I was so dizzy yesterday, I was afraid to drive.
  2. They aren’t a Target Shopper? Text them and ask what kinds of medicines or comfort foods they need, and if it’s within your means, make a quick shopping trip. My mom brought my cough drops (for me) and croissants (for Bitty Bird) this morning.
  3. If you live with someone who is sick- whether it is a roommate, spouse, or family remember HYGIENE is the best way to keep the germs at bay. That means everyone needs to mask up in common areas (both sick and well folks), wash your hands frequently, and use hand sanitizer between hand washings. I also use a disinfecting room spray too. Microban is my favorite.
  4. Take it Easy- This is both for you as the helper and the sick person. You can’t fill a broken glass. When your body is sick, it’s broken, and it needs time to heal. Dishes and laundry can wait. No one expects a sick person to make gourmet meals for their family while they recover. Offer to help, but sick people often want/need rest and solitude.

And not a specific hint, if you have a sore throat, I recommend this Honey Citrus Mint Tea Copycat recipe. It’s amazing. Right now I’m drinking Bigelow Lemon Ginger Tea with Honey and lemon juice.

Recipe: Hot Honey Ginger Carrots!

Abby H.

This recipe is so easy and so tasty. You probably already have some (if not all) of these ingredients in your kitchen.

We get carrots in our Yasukochi Family Farms CSA box every week, and with a few extras we have hanging around in our fridge, I make these weekly.

Ingredients:

  • 1-2 lbs of carrots
  • 2 T oil of your choice, I used Yasukochi Farms Olive Oil
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
  • 3 Tablespoons Yasukochi Farms Honey
  • Pinch Ground Ginger
  • Pinch Pepper Flakes

Directions:

  1. Place a foil-lined baking sheet in a cold oven. Pre-heat to 425 degrees.
  2. While the oven and pan heat, peel and cut into spears or bite-sized pieces, and toss carrots in oil, salt, and pepper.
  3. Roast carrots in the oven for 20 minutes, stirring mid-way.
  4. Once the carrots are cooked, toss in a bowl with honey, ginger, and pepper flakes, as serve right away.

These carrots are so good. If you don’t want the heat from the pepper flakes, omit them. The honey and ginger plays nicely with the natural sweetness from the carrots.

Recipe: Honey Balsamic Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Abby H.

This recipe is super easy. I used the Brussels Sprouts from my CSA box.

There is no need to use expensive balsamic vinegar or honey, whatever you have on hand is fine. BUT_ Make sure your honey is 100% honey and not honey flavored syrup.

Honey Balsamic Roasted Brussels Sprouts 

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds Brussel sprouts
  • Two bell peppers
  • 2 tablespoons avocado or olive oil (your choice)
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
  • 1/4 cup honey

Directions

  1. To prepare the brussels sprouts for roasting, sliced each Brussel sprout in half and discard any loose outer leaves.
  2. Destem and deseed the bell peppers, dice or cut into long strips.
  3. Preheat oven to 450°. Place a foil-lined baking sheet into the cold oven and allow the pan to heat.
  4. In a mixing bowl combine brussels sprouts, bell peppers, salt and pepper, and oil. Toss veggies to coat in oil.
  5. Once the oven and baking sheet has come up to temperature, evenly spread veggies on the hot baking sheet and roast for 10 minutes, stir, and roast for up to an additional 10 minutes.
  6. While veggies are roasting, in a small pot combine honey and balsamic vinegar, cook on medium until the mixture reduces by half.
  7. Once veggies are cooked and removed from the oven toss in honey balsamic glaze. Serve immediately. If you desire, top with a little shaved Parmesan or pecorino.

Serves 4 to 6.

If there are any leftovers, they can be stored in the fridge for 3-4 days and reheated as you see fit.

Save Money with Honey!

Abby H.

I love saving money. We all do, right? No one shows off when they over pay.

Lemme tell y’all about Honey! You’ve probably heard about them as they love to sponsor YouTube videos and other bloggers. Honey is a Browser extension, it takes a few minutes to download and install.

Honey has the coupon code hook up. They can help you with coupons or earning cashback. Honey works with thousands of websites from JCPenney to Walmart to Kohls.

I’ve been using Honey for about a year. We’ve saved about $500, that I’ve counted. The biggest amount we saved at once was last May when we bought the big kid a bigger bed. We saved over $145 on his bed!

It’s quick, easy, and unobtrusive.

What I’ve Been Up To…

Abby H.

_DSC2099As some of you may have noticed, I haven’t been posting a lot lately, either here or on Social Media. I’ve been busy. Distance learning is coming to a close for the year, so we’ve been doing a lot of meetings and paperwork (I’ll be glad when the mountains of homework packets stop).

In addition to supervising all of the learning (for both kiddos), I’ve also been taking a more active role in helping my big kiddo find behavioral therapies that will work well on his journey through life. My big kid is on the Autism spectrum (ASD) and that means that we do behavioral therapy a few times a week in addition talk therapy. So lots of time helping process feelings and emotions, and that leaves this mama bear feeling tired.

I (try to) get up early about 6:30 each morning, make coffee, do emails, and work on getting stuff set up for the day before the kiddos wake up. Sometimes I’m super successful and get it done. Sometimes I’m lucky if I get a shower.

Successes for the days are measured so much differently now. Did we make it through a day without tears? Missing friends, regular routines, going to the gym, extracurricular activities- all of these weigh heavy on the kids, and grown-ups.

We’ve also been trying to get our home more organized, and we’ve been getting some help from a family friend who is a Konmari guru. We’re about halfway through the process, and it’s been super liberating to get rid of stuff that no longer serves us. We sold all of the DVD’s/video games that we no longer wanted, and raised over $200, that we’ll put towards family fun (maybe sock it away for a 2021 vacation?). Thankfully our local thrift shops are accepting donations at this time. We’ve been loading up the back of my car weekly to donate goods.

In an attempt to wear the kids out physically, I’ve been taking them out for a walk a few times a week with my parents at a local park. Social distancing and masking occur- Also a liberal application of mosquito repellant is applied- The kids and I are very tasty according to the local ‘squito population. We also picked up a small pool for the patio- We are on our second. The first was not heavy-duty enough. This is the one I recommend. We also put tarps under it to protect it from the textured decking. I also use this solar fountain to keep the water moving all day, and we cover it with a tarp at night. I usually dump the water and refill it 2-3 times per week.

downloadSaving money has been a challenge as of late- There aren’t as many deals as supplies aren’t being delivered to stores regularly, less staff to stock shelves, etc. And really, who has been shopping lately for fun? Not many of us. I’ve been using coupons when I can find them, but what I have really found useful is Honey. Honey is a browser extension that helps you find coupon codes and sale prices on items that you are shopping for online. I used it to save over $145 when we bought the big kids new bed a few weeks back.

And I’ve been making masks for family and friends- I made some especially for the kids this week too.

kalecutI’m here y’all! I’m up to my eyeballs, but I’m here. And of course, I’m doing the Always Eat After 7pm program, so I’ll be posting about that. There are so many good recipes I am excited to try (dark chocolate dipped PB cookies, uh, yeah). and I’ll be posting some recipes this weekend- I’ve got a killer Kale Salad recipe that is so tasty and easy (and it keeps in the fridge for a few days too).

I’ll be hosting an Amazon Gift Card Giveaway soon! I want to spread the love with you!

 

Talk Back: What have you been doing lately? 

Mom Gets Sick Too!

Abby H.

file0002037778834.jpgI’ve been sort of dark on the blog lately because we’ve all been sick.  A few weeks back it started with Miss Bitty. She had a tummy bug, then went right into a cold.

Then Henry got a mild case of the sniffles, and then about a week ago, I felt like I got hit by a truck. Body ache, fever, ears killing me, headache, sore throat, you name it. And of course, just in time for Spring Break! What’s a mom to do?

After calling the nurses line, they told me that if I wasn’t feeling better after 2 weeks to call back in for an appointment or go to Urgent Care. So, it was time to whip out the home remedies:

  • A little DIY-Made a batch of Honey Lemon Ginger syrup. And chucked it diluted with boiling water like a boss.
  • Set up the humidifier next to my side of the bed.
  • REST!! Encouraged the kids to have snuggle time with me in the afternoon (climb onto a big pile of pillows and blankets and watch a movie). Bitty napped, Henry snuggled me and told me it was ok. He fell asleep and I did too.
  • Took my vitamins and other daily meds (A lot of times when you get sick, you forget your daily maintenance stuff).
  • I tried a new medicine, Boiron Oscillococcinum. I met with the people from Boiron at Influential Summit and they hooked me up with some samples of their products. I’m always willing to try something new.  I’m not saying it’s the reason I feel a lot better, but it probably didn’t hurt! I took it in the morning. And at night, I went with a night time medicine to help me get to sleep. I also filled in my cough needs with A bottle of Boiron Chestal. It’s an awesome cough syrup made with honey.  Combined with my Honey Lemon Ginger Tea, my throat felt much better in just a few days.
  • Went to bed early. Not like 7pm early, but 9:30-10pm early- It’s all abut baby steps!
  • Gave myself some grace. It’s ok for mom’s to get sick too. It’s ok not to run the vacuum 3 times a day, or wash laundry every day, or do 2 loads of dishes when you feel like your head is going to pop off and float away and you are dripping in sweat while you have chills. The kids will survive if they have a dinner of snacks (applesauce pouches, Cheese sticks, croissants, celery sticks with PB cups, and a popsicle for dessert). For the record, I served them on cafeteria style trays like these. These kind of meals are always way more of a hit with kids then when I spend hours making them something.
  • Hydrate-Drank a lot of water and tea.
  • Declined social events- As much as we love our friends, we stayed home a lot this week. We skipped a lot of our usual Easter-time events and focused on being healthy.
  • Leaned on Hubs for support. As always, he made me dinner, went to the grocery store, gave me medicine, and sent me to bed when I needed it.

Commiserate with me! I want to hear about how you cope with being sick!