Country Chicken Casserole

A couple of weeks ago I had Cody over for dinner and decided to cook for him and my parents. I wanted something with a lot of veggies, but that would still taste really good, so I scoured the internet and checked out Pinterest as usual. I’m a huge fan of comfort food, and let me tell you, this is definitely that kind of meal. The creamy soups and milk make it a little rich, but the vegetables help you get in all those good nutrients. I served it with fresh cooked green beans and extra broccoli on the side. The best part about this dish is that you can choose what veggies you want inside or if you’re tired after a long day you can easily just use a frozen mixed veggie pack! Try out this recipe and let me know what you think!

Ingredients:

• 1 can of cream of celery soup
• 1 can cream of potato soup
• 1 cup of milk
• Dried thyme (amount depends on your preference)
• Black pepper (amount depends on your preference)
• 2 cups of cooked chicken cut up into cubes
• 1/2 -1 small onion
• 4 cups of assorted vegetables of your choice (I used carrots, peas, broccoli, and celery)
• 1 box of stuffing mix (flavor of your choice, but chicken or mixed herb will probably work best)

Instructions:

1. Grease a baking pan (using Pam spray, butter, oil, or whatever you normally use to prevent sticking).
2. Chop up the vegetables and the onion.
3. Cook the chicken and cut it up into bite sized pieces.
4. Prepare stuffing by following the directions on the box.
5. Mix the chicken, soups, milk, onion and veggies, pepper, and thyme all together in the baking pan.
6. Cover the top of your mixture with the cooked stuffing.
7. Bake at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes.

Cody and both of my parents loved this dish! It’s such a yummy, cozy recipe. I will definitely keep this meal in my back pocket for those chilly fall and winter nights! (Those nights that I hope start coming reallyyy soon because I live in California and this drought and heat are not my cup of tea!)

Fresh out of the oven!

Plated with veggies on the side!

A Trip to The San Francisco Zoo

Cody loves animals and has been dying to take a trip to a zoo for a while now, so we decided it was time to go. We chose the San Francisco Zoo. We went on a Sunday, arrived around 11:00am and the zoo parking lot was already full and closed. Pro: we didn't have to pay for parking. Con: we had to park four blocks away and walk. And of course, I had forgotten to grab my tennis shoes out of my car when we switched to Cody's so I had to walk around the whole day in thin flip flops. We made it to the zoo though and that is what matters. Once we got inside we perused the gift shop, grabbed a map, and headed off on our adventure.

We followed the map and signs and walked through each area, taking our time and enjoying the stroll. Cody was especially excited about the baby gorilla that we saw. (I'm not much of a gorilla fan, but for a few minutes the little guy was actually kind of cute.) Following our true cliche habit, we saw a cart and bought a pretzel to share. And oh hey, I had no idea, but they sell beer at the zoo!

The zoo itself is pretty big, so we did a lot of walking. We went around the entire park, and by the time we were done we were tired and hungry so we stopped at the Leaping Lemur Café for a late lunch. The food wasn't too bad, I ended up getting chicken strips, Cody got a chicken sandwich, and we felt like being kids so we both got chocolate milk. After that we headed home. But not before buying a couple of souvenir shot glasses for our collection. It was such a nice outing and we were able to spend some wonderful quality time together.

Healthy Side Note: Activities like this are a great way to sneak in some physical activity. Sure, you're just walking, but covering that large of an area has got to burn a few calories right?

Here are a few tips we have for a trip to the zoo:

1. Check the zoo's hours, admission prices, and parking fees before you go.
2. Make sure you know how to get there. (Or use your GPS like I always do.)
3. Wear comfortable shoes. Seems like common sense, but I had mine ready to bring with me and forgot them when we left.
4. Put on sunscreen. Especially on your face. You're walking around outdoors a lot and even with clouds overhead, it's an easy way to get too much sun exposure and possibly a sunburn. Gotta protect that skin!
5. Make sure you have cash for parking in case you do decide to use the zoo's lot. Many parking lots only accept cash.
6. Grab a map as you enter. This way you'll know where you're going, where you can get food, and where the restrooms are located. I can't tell you how many times Cody and I needed to refer to our map during our trip.
7. Bring a camera or make sure your phone has room on it to take some pictures.
8. Take your time and enjoy it. Leave enough time to be able to take it all in and enjoy your trip. You may need to stop and rest, or stop and eat, and you should allow time for that so you won't feel rushed.

So…we found a mirror at the SF Zoo…photo op! Lol

Giraffe!

Mama and Baby Gorillas!

Polar Bear!

Penguins!

Tigers are such pretty animals.

We were able to see two young tigers resting right up against the glass!

Young tigers cuddling.

Strawberry Kale Salad with Vinaigrette Dressing

So here’s the thing: kale is supposedly amazingly good for you. So naturally, I wanted to find a way to fit it into our diet. We tried kale chips…but that was not a success in the taste department in our opinion…I’ll let you know if that ever changes. A kale salad was next on the list to try. The only problem is that kale itself has a pretty bitter taste…there is however, a way to remedy that! Thank goodness!

Most of what I know about kale, I learned from Haylie Duff and The Real Girl’s Kitchen. I’m in love with her book and her little cooking show and her website. I just love her take on life and she’s got some pretty great recipes. Anyway, back to kale. By reading about kale in her cookbook, I learned that you can make the leaves less bitter by showing them some love and massaging them with olive oil for about a minute. I wasn’t too sure of how well this was going to work, but it did work and it cut that bitter taste right out! I also made a version of Haylie Duff’s classic vinaigrette dressing and added a few things to my salad to give it a splash of flavor and get even more nutrients in.

Here’s the recipe:

Salad Ingredients:

• 1 or 2 bunches of kale. (1 bunch will probably feed about 2 people)
• Fresh strawberries (however many you want)
• Almond slivers
• A few drizzles of olive oil
• Homemade vinaigrette dressing (click to get the recipe)

Salad Instructions: 

1. Rinse the kale leaves and dry them off. (You can either break them up right then and put them in a salad spinner, or pat the leaves dry with a paper towel.)
2. Pull the leaves away from the rib of the kale and tear them into smaller pieces
3. Put the leaves into a big bowl and drizzle a little bit of olive oil on top. Massage the oil into the leaves for about a minute.
4. Chop up strawberries and add them into the salad.
5. Sprinkle the almond slivers on top.
6. Make the homemade vinaigrette dressing and use that to put the final touch on your salad.

Make this salad at home, take a taste, and let me know what you think! I’d love to hear from you!

Homemade Vinaigrette Dressing

Cody and I are really into health lately. Not in that overly enthusiastic, in-your-face, health nut kind of way, but we just really want to get in better shape, get more energy, and just feel better all together. So I’ve been reading a lot about eating cleaner, and I read recently that the reason store bought dressings last so much longer is because they have all kinds or preservatives in them. Sure, it’s more convenient, but if you have the time, why not cut out the preservatives that you don’t need to be putting into your body and make some homemade dressing?! Homemade dressings usually last about five days in the fridge and are so much healthier than anything you can buy at the store.

I looked up a couple recipes for a homemade vinaigrette dressing because we wanted something light. I came across Haylie Duff’s Real Girl’s Kitchen Classic Vinaigrette recipe and decided to make a version of that one. I tweaked it just a little bit, and it came out great. It was so delicious and I felt like I was doing something good for my body by eating something more natural.

Ingredients:

• 2 cloves of minced garlic
• 1 tbsp of finely chopped shallot or onion
• (I completely forgot to add this to mine, and it turned out great anyway, but you can always add that in as well.)
• 1/3 cup of champagne vinegar
• 1 tsp of dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp of honey
• 1 tsp of sea salt
• 1 tsp of black pepper
• 1/4 cup of vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup of good quality olive oil
• The juice of half a lemon

Instructions:

1. Mince the garlic.
2. Chop up the shallot or onion if you’re adding that in.
3. Mix all of the ingredients together and refrigerate until you’re ready to dress your salad

Tip: Give the dressing a quick stir or shake right before you pour it over your salad.

I completely forgot to take a picture of MY dressing, but it looked similar to this.
Next time I make some i will replace this picture with mine.

Check out our Strawberry Kale Salad recipe! This dressing goes with it perfectly!

Recipes Coming Soon!

Lately, Cody and I have been cooking a lot. We have been trying to eat healthier and save money by not eating out so much. Plus, we just enjoy cooking together and for one another. Since we are trying all sorts of new recipes and tweaking them to our liking, I thought that I would start sharing some of our favorites with our readers. So be on the lookout for some recipe posts very soon!

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Recreate Your First Date

Last week, completely out of the blue, Cody told me that he wanted to recreate our first official date on Friday night. Now of course, my reaction was “Awww, of course!”. That was SO cute. I couldn’t wait. Our first official date was simple: mini golf and ice cream afterwards.

For our night he added in dinner and made the first meal he ever cooked for me (another first that happened on a different occasion). When I got to his house after work, he had breaded chicken, potatoes, and veggies waiting with Champagne and flowers. It was my favorite champagne (Coeur de Bulle), and a bouquet with a couple of gerbera daisies in it because he knows those are my favorite. We ate and cuddled and relaxed a little, then headed out. We went mini golfing at Golfland around sunset so that part of the way through our game the lights came on as it became dark (which in my pinon makes everything more magical and fun). I was in the lead for a while but I completely lost it at one of those volcano holes . (Those things are ridiculously tricky!) Cody took the lead and we made a couple of fun wagers but by the end we had stopped keeping score and were too busy laughing to know who had actually one. (Though my guess is that it was probably Cody since he’s so good at anything and everything sports related.) We kept our balls (just like we did the first time) as cute souvenirs. (Shh, don’t tell anyone!)

Afterwards, we went to Cold Stone and we both ended up getting milkshakes. They were delicious. We then headed back to his house to watch some TV, but we both ended up passing out cold and sleeping until 2am when I had to go home for my curfew.

It was such a cute little evening and he put a lot of work into getting my favorite things and making sure dinner was ready when I got home (he had to work on it in between work and coaching the local high school football team and then some more after football practice.) It was such a sweet idea, and he went all out. I couldn’t be luckier. He truly is the best man I know.

You can easily recreate your first date with your other half, and you can always add in new things or other old traditions like Cody did to make it longer date or fill the needs of the day (ours was that we obviously needed to eat dinner lol). This is such a simple idea that really goes a long way in the cuteness department.

At Golfland!

My pretty flowers!

Night lights!