Cottage Cheese

So tonight my mom got home with the fixins for lemon chicken, cheesy veggie pasta, and whipped strawberry cottage cheese dessert. The trick was that I need to use up a bunch of the cottage cheese. The Chicken turned out great! :) even my brother who despises chicken, liked it! YES! That is one to do again...though I will definitely use breasts next time not thighs because thighs take forever to cook. The Cheesy pasta turned out good too...needed some salt and is best served cold...the warm wasn't really doing it for me. And for dessert we had the whipped strawberry cottage cheese pie that I made with extra of everything and graham cracker crust...It was the favorite thing tonight. Really really yummy...I think all of my taste testing made eating the finished product slightly less enjoyable than it could have been but maaaan those tastes were good. So I will post the recipe for the chicken and the dessert. Hope you like em too if you try em. My family is full of picky eaters and some how I managed to cook 3 completely new things and 2 of them were a hit! Woot!! :D gold star for me haha.

LEMON GARLIC CHICKEN

This is a garlic and lemon flavored, oven fried chicken. Serve this with the Low-Fat French Fries recipe from Quick & Healthy Recipes and Ideas and a salad for a healthy quick meal. Look for cornflake crumbs in the breadings section of the grocery store. This recipe is also a good choice for a diabetic menu.

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into 4 portions
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/4 cup cornflake crumbs (I just used whatever crackers we had and crushed them)
1/8 teaspoon salt (optional)
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
lemon slices (optional)

Place chicken breasts in a plastic bag. Add lemon juice and garlic. Be sure the lemon juice and garlic mixes with all of the chicken. Seal and marinate in the refrigerator for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray a 9-inch by 9-inch baking pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Drain the lemon juice from the chicken and discard.

Pour cornflake crumbs onto a plate. Roll chicken in corn flake crumbs to coat evenly.

Arrange chicken pieces in the baking pan so that they are not touching. Top with any garlic remaining in the plastic bag. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until chicken is cooked.

For an attractive presentation, serve topped with a thin slice of fresh lemon.

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And IF THEY DIDNT GET ENOUGH PROTEIN haha

Whipped Strawberry Cottage Cheese Dessert


16 oz. Container of Lactaid 1% milkfat cottage cheese

4oz. of Kraft Sugar free Cool Whip

Entire Package of Strawberry Jello ( dry mix )


Directions

Empty Cottage Cheese into mixing bowl then stir in entire package of dry strawberry jello. After mixing well stir in 4oz. of Cool Whip....Blend Well and Refridgerate....

**** If you want you can do like I did and mix a stick of butter with 1 1/3 packages of graham crackers and press the mix into a pie dish then put the whipped mixture in to the pie as filling. It set up really fast for me and I even added some strawberries on top for a beautiful finish.




Ok so other than that my day was well a little less than normal. After staying up till early this morning I slept until 10 and got up and around to clean the house. I vac'd the entire first floor of the house! A major feat! And then I cleaned up the kitchen planned dinner and took a nap haha. Then I got up and wanted to read so I am reading for the 2nd time an awesome book called "the anatomy of hope" its amazing. It has been so long since I have read it though that it is coming back but I can't remember what comes next. It is a group of stories/actual people this oncologist knew in his practice and how hope is what really made the difference in many cases. He takes a good look at how people survive, why certain people are happy and satisfied even in the face of serious illness or death and why others are not. Hope is the answer. You can always have hope. I like that a lot. I remember times in my life where at certain points I didnt have faith that things would get better because truly its not dependable...things do not always get bettter...but I did have hope that they would. I hope that everyone will one day see their true potential, if even for a moment, just to see what good they can really do and the amazing people that they really are or could be. I have faith that maybe some will have that experience but I hope that you and me are some of the few that will. I would love to look my potential in the mirror and say ya know what I will do that. I can do that.

Why not? Why not try to be the best you, the kindest, most loving, most trustworthy, best dancer, best cook, best daughter/son, most wonderful woman/man you could be? Why not? What's holding you back from trying today. Tonight I am just thinking as always of things I could have done better today, that I can do tomorrow so that i do not get stuck being satisfied. I love my grandma... she tells me often "Abby...I heard a good quote once and you should hear it too...we need to be cheerfully dissatisfied. Be content with your current situation, enjoy it, love it, learn from it, but do not be satisfied with it. We must be continually striving for perfection." And when I think of perfection I think of being whole, complete, pure, and more than I am now...But it is always important for me and you to remember that yes its more than I am now but I am on my way.

Well thats it for tonight with some destress before bed yoga and reading.

closer today,

Patience