Bruschetta 'n Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breasts

This is a good tasting and easy chicken recipe that our family enjoys. Hope yours does, too!

1 can (14 1/2 oz) italian style diced tomatoes, undrained
1 1/4 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese - divided
1/4 c chopped fresh basil
1 pkg (6oz) stuffing mix for chicken
8 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1/3 c Roasted red pepper italian w/ parmesan dressing

Preheat oven to 350. To prepare stuffing, combine tomatoes and their liquid, 1/2 c shredded mozzarella cheese, basil and dry stuffing mix, stirring until just moistened.

Put 2 chicken breast halves in a large resealable bag. Pound the chicken with the side of a heavy can, rolling pin or meat mallet until chicken is 1/4 in. thick. Repeat process in the same bag with remaining chicken breasts.

Place pounded chicken breast, smooth side down, on a cutting board. Spread with 1/8 of stuffing mixture.

Roll chicken breast, starting at the narrow end, as tightly as possible around the stuffing mixture.

Place in a 9 x 13 baking dish with seam side down, as this allows the chicken to hold together nicely. Pour dressing evenly over chicken and bake for 40 min.

Sprinkle with remaining 3/4 c cheese and bake 5 min. longer, or until cheese is melted and chicken is cooked through.

Makes 8 servings of 1 chicken breast each.

God Bless and have a peaceful, restful Sunday!

More on Reading

One of my favorite relaxing activities is to read. I love a good book (yes, and also the Good Book!) and I am not shy about telling people when I have read a good book. I'm sure the reason why most of my relatives won't talk to me about religion is because they are afraid I'm going to hand them a book. Over the years, I have handed out many a copy of my new "favorite" book. I wonder how many of them were actually ever read??? I wonder how many of them managed to stay out of someone's trash??? Oh well, since I love to read a good book and I love to tell people about a good book that I might stumble upon, I thought I would put up a section in the sidebar of my blog that would list the book I am currently reading and therefore recommending. You should be able to glance to your left and see the title "The Pain Of Christ and the Sorrow of God" by Gerald Vann, OP. This is a book of Lenten Meditations following the Passion. For example, the first chapter is entitled "The Agony in the Garden". The author talks about what the Agony was and what it can teach us. He presents the reader with the following - Omnia in manu Dei sunt = all things are in the hands of God. He then later goes on to say,

"No, all things are in the hands of God. You must do your planning for the morrow, you must make the efforts required of you, you must think out your problems and act as you think best; but then leave God to accomplish His will in you; make the moment as it comes and passes a love-gift to the unsleeping love of God. He has care of you all, your Father who is in Heaven. Small things and big things, the sorrows and joys, take them from Him and give them back into His hands with thanksgiving: Not my will but thine be done."

Wow. This message goes along quite well with the other book I have talked about "Trustful Surrender to Divine Providence". While I know that there are only two weeks left of Lent, I still thought it worthwhile to mention this book. It is packed full of wonderful insights in its 97 pages. If you can't get a hold of a copy of it now, try to get it so that you are ready for next Lent (although I imagine you will benefit from it no matter what time of the year you read it!)

God Bless!

Socialization

I remember a few years ago one day after mass a lady that I know approached me and began to tell me about a new group they were trying to start at the parish. The group was going to be aimed at moms with small children and they would get together a few times a month. "You know," she said, "its for moms who might feel isolated. We just wanted you to know about it." (At the time I had a few small children and some that were older.) "Isolated?", I responded, "Oh I would LOVE to be isolated right about now!" I don't think that was the response she expected. She smiled politely and walked away. Sometimes, in the midst of all of the craziness of life, isolation sure does sound good!!

This thought then led me to think about why people wonder if homeschoolers socialize. For instance, today I left my house with my seven children at 7:15 a.m. We drove a few miles and picked up three girls from our friend's house. We drove a while more and picked up another girl. We drove a while more, dropped five girls off to spend some time before girls club with four other girls and picked up two new girls. We drove some more and dropped six girls off at their girls' club so that they could spend the morning with 21 other girls (in case you were keeping track, that left me with my two boys). So in the span of just under two hours, we "socialized" with five other families. Not bad for a few hours (and about 50 miles) work! Yes, we might have to try harder, but I really don't see that socialization is a problem for most homeschooling families. In fact, for this family, sometimes our big problem is too much socialization!

God Bless!

Unasked for Graces

I realized that I have been spending a bit of time thinking about bad days and cabin fever so I started to ponder what would make a good day. Well, if it was up to me it would look something like this: I get up on time and actually feel rested, the kids get up and are ready for school on time, we actually accomplish some schoolwork without any tears, we have something that most of us like for lunch, we accomplish some needed chores in the afternoon, dinner gets done on time, the rosary is not a brawling match, the kids go to bed somewhat peacefully and I am not totally exhausted by 8:30. Sounds good, doesn't it? It was at this point when the lightbulb went on. I was looking at all this from the wrong perspective. Now, from God's point of view, a good day for me might look like the following: I get up tired, the toddler is crabby because he has a cold, we get our schoolwork done but not without a lot of grumbling, there isn't much to choose from for lunch, we discover that most of our hens have been eaten by some larger animal, our income taxes haven't been filed yet and the rosary is less than prayerful. However the thing that would make this a good day for me in God's eyes is that I managed to keep my cool throughout the whole day and accept everything He sends me with a peaceful countenance. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen as often as it should.

About a month or so ago, we went to hear Ivan, one of the visionaries from Medjugore, speak at a local parish. It was a beautiful mass and he gave an interesting talk. He mentioned something that I had never heard before, and it is something I have been trying to remember to do so that maybe I can increase the odds of responding with a peaceful countenance. He said that the Blessed Virgin told him that there are many graces that are to be given to people throughout the day to help them but that they neglect to ask for them. He suggested that we remember to ask for all of the graces that we had forgotten to ask for during that day and they will be given to us. Furthermore, he said we should ask that all of the other unasked for graces in the world be poured out all over mankind. I know that Medjugore is not an approved apparition and of course I stand by the final decision of the church. That having been said, it stands to reason that we do, indeed, pass up opportunities for grace throughout the day and isn't cool to think that we can still receive these graces from our Loving Mother and our Merciful Lord, even if we ask after the fact?

God Bless!

Being Overjoyed in our Affliction

As I mentioned last week, we are in the midst of a severe bout of cabin fever. The other morning, however, I came upon a quote from Paul in 2 Corinthians 11:24-27 that I would like to share with you to help put some perspective on what a bad time really is.

"Five times have I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I have been beaten with rods; once I was stoned. Three times I have been shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brethren; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure."

Now, we have had some bad days lately, and by the end of them I might feel as if I had been beaten with a rod, however I am very grateful that I have never come close to anything that Paul had to suffer. He then says, "I am filled with comfort. With all our affliction, I am overjoyed." Well, I guess that is something that we should all strive for, being overjoyed in our affliction.

To round out this thought, I will close with a quote from Blessed Escriva from my "In Conversation with God" book. "This is how we must travel along the way of self-giving: the Cross on our shoulders, a smile on our lips and light in our hearts." Another good one for the kitchen wall!

God Bless!

Teaching Them Not To Judge

When I was deciding which recipe to choose for this past Saturday's post, I looked at the ham and noodle one and hesitated. This recipe is loaded with dairy, no one is going to want to try this recipe! (You have to understand that most of the people I associate with on a regular basis have at least one person in their family that is lactose intolerant.) However, on the hopes that there are people outside of my homeschooling group that are reading this blog, I posted the recipe anyhow; because it really is a good one (even though I can only eat a small amount of it because I am lactose intolerant). Then, lo and behold, a homeschooling mom from Hawaii actually said that she wanted to try this recipe. You mean there really are homeschoolers who eat dairy??? Our group tends to be very health food conscious: organic when possible, no dyes, no msg, no artificial anything...you get the picture. So I tend to forget that other people actually do eat all that "other stuff". I remember once we went to a gathering at the home of a devout catholic family and they actually served diet pop. My first reaction was one of horror - I thought these people were good Catholics? What are they doing serving diet pop????? Then, this past Christmas at our mom's cookie exchange, one mom brought cookies with red frosting on it. My first thought again was, "Alright, who on earth brought cookies with red 40 in it? Doesn't she know no one is going to take any of them????" (I am constantly amazed at the young age at which members of our group learn to spot red 40 in something!)

So what is my point? It is certainly NOT to judge anyone - not those who consume diet pop and red 40, nor those that don't. My point is that I find that when I spend a large amount of time with people who think the same way I do (call it sheltering myself), I have to make sure that I remeber that the whole world does not think the same way that I do and that that is okay. At moments like the ones above, I have to stop and laugh at myself and remember to adjust my thinking so as not to judge others. I then need to be careful to teach my children not to judge others, especially when it comes to people who do things differently than we do. It is so important to maintain a sense of balance, both in my own mind and in the mind of my children. While we are good friends with a lot of people who think the same way we do, I have to make sure that my children do not grow up judging people by what they eat, drink or wear. Teaching them to look at each person as a child of God, first before anything else, is one of the most important things, and probably one of the hardest, that I can teach my children.

Garden Ham N Noodles

Here's an easy meal that we really enjoy. Again, it is easy to adjust for your size family. This recipe serves 6.

Garden Ham N Noodles

4 qts water

2 medium carrots, diced

8 c uncooked egg noodles

1 medium zucchini, halved and thinly sliced

1 c heavy whipping cream

1 c milk

1 tsp salt

1/2 - 1 lb fully cooked ham, cubed

1 can whole kernel corn, drained

1 c Parmesan cheese

In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, bring water to a boil. Add carrots; cook for 1 minute. Add noodles; cook for 2 minutes. Add zucchini; cook 4-5 minutes longer or until noodles and vegetables are tender.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, bring the cream, milk and salt to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered for 5 minutes. Stir in ham and corn; heat through. Drain noodle mixture; stir into ham mixture. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and toss to coat.

God Bless and have a joy filled Joyful Sunday!

P. S. If you would like a good laugh, check out this link.