counting every blessing...

I am tired. and grumpy. and lonely. and sad.

I don't like it.

I am trying to combat it but mindfully choosing to be grateful.

So here in no particular order are some gifts from this past week-

• Mikayla safely to school
• Lynyrd Skynyrd concert (it was so amazing, we had the best time)
• feeling his arm around me <3
• sitting on the tailgate
• subs from Wegmans
• being able to babysit Isaac
• Hannah's chicken stacks
• Cider Donut Hard Cider from Beak and Skiff
• Church on sunday
• watching food network at Laura's
• Abby taking Ry to youth group
• taking Chance to the creek
• creek walk is fixed!
• school shopping/ 40% off coupon
• no cavities for Hannah!
• Zephaniah 3:17
• reading a friend's poems
• Mikayla is having a good first week
• lunchtime texts
• extra time to read
• fresh apple
• "broken" devotional
• fresh produce
• cooking Sunday Dinner
• Hannah's cheesecake
• music

Yum! We love to cook!!

Cooking is kinda a thing around here. We love it. I love cooking food I know my family will enjoy.

Saturday Hannah asked if she could make chicken stacks (or homemade Taco Bell crunch wraps). Kinda her specialty. And they are delicious!

 

She mostly follows this recipe- HERE. This time we used chicken.

She also made this super amazing cheesecake, entirely by herself.


PS-- she is 11.

Yesterday I made this deliciousness for dinner after church. Cooking yesterday made me insanely happy.  Like I can't even describe it. Then when I saw it all plated up I was practically giddy. It looked sooooo good!  Spoiler alert- it was! I even brought some for lunch to work today and that was still delicious maybe even more so, if that's possible.

 

I saw this recipe on pinterest that I used as my jumping off place.  10 minute honey garlic shrimp.

I cooked it on the grill on Pampered Chef's BBQ grill tray.  The chicken I used the same sauce and grilled as well.

For the sauce I used-

• 2 TBSP Honey
• a generous tablespoon-ish sized scoop of Sriracha Chili Garlic sauce
• 2 TBSP Soy Sauce
• 1 TBSP Olive Oil
• 1/4 tsp of ground ginger
• salt and pepper to taste

I marinated the chicken and shrimp for a few minutes then tossed em on the grill.

The veggies I did in a skillet.  I heated some EEVO, sauteed some chopped onion, added the red bell pepper for a few minutes, then tossed in the broccoli and cooked covered for a few minutes until everything was tender. Tossed with a little butter and salt and pepper at the end.

The rice is just plain white rice I cooked up in the Rice Cooker Plus in some chicken stock.

Tonight I am making Italian Wedding Soup. From Mash Up Mom's blog. She published weekly Aldi Meal Plans.   I was having trouble coming up with a meal plan, and hers looked pretty good so I just went with it. As part of my Pampered Chef Fall Products Reveal/Back to School Real Food Real Fast party.  I'll be making this recipe LIVE on my VIP page around 5:30ish.

What's for dinner at your house? 

Does anyone have an Instant Pot? Do you love it?

What's your dream and a whole lotta randomness

"Suddenly we find another year has gone by, 

and we still haven't started doing what our heart longs to do." 

- Only Love Today p 52

This quote has been eating at me the past week or so. Sometimes I feel like life is passing me by...

I have been trying to focus on the good. To figure out what I want... and how to get there.

I'm trying to adopt a little more of this attitude~

I can't believe September is nearly upon us. Tomorrow the Mister is taking Mikayla to school. My only consolation- she's so much closer! And will be back next weekend to celebrate Rhett's birthday. And then a couple weeks after that I will be with her on HER birthday at Ladies Retreat! Yes, I will be bringing CAKE! 💓

The sky in the mornings this week have captivated me. Sky and water- two things I can't get enough of. =)

You can barely make them out- but there are two fawns in the middle of this picture. They were right across the street Monday morning when we went out for our run. It was still a tad darkish out.

This guy- post run today.  He sure does love pillows and blankies. Dogs really do make life better.


Tonight is our team's Fall Reveal! Starting at 8 pm (eastern time) in -->THIS<-- facebook group.  I will being a short LIVE recipe demo at 8:10 pm. ;-) Be sure to join and check it out. If your watching LIVE or later... be sure to give me a shout out so I know you're there.

Here is the list of goodies disappearing at the end of the month! Get em while you can!

Here is the party link to order --> https://pamperedchef.com/party/AmyFallReveal18

The recipe I will be demoing tonight... ZUCCHINI NOODLE LASAGNA BOWL


In other cooking news I made this delicous copy cat Panera Summer Corn Chowder last night for dinner. YUM!!!



This. Yes.

Stronger than I think- I've come a long way. . .

5 years ago I was on the brink of running my first ever 5K. This picture popped up in my Facebook memories yesterday. On the heels of a really crappy week of running it was really an encouragement to me.


Saturday I had really terrific run with this guy, I was really so proud of him! And me :-P  My sisters and I ran together to kick off our training for the Syracuse Half.  We actually RAN 4 miles! It has been a wicked long time since I have done this. When I run alone with the pup we tend to take a lot of walk, sniff and creek breaks. This felt good to remind me what I am capable of.


While we were running the kids had breakfast on Mimi and Papa's deck.  Well-- all the cousins but Ryan.  He was home in bed.


Looks like there was also some pretty intense checker playing. 😃

Chance was not feeling our run this morning. After he balked twice I took him home about half a mile in and then finished up myself.  I don't know maybe he was worried I was dragging him on another 4 miler.

Again, I struggled with walking but I kept reminding myself of Saturday and knowing I was capable of running a full mile without a break.  I'm excited to jump into half marathon training and crush this Half in November.

Another quicksicle success! This one is my favorite so far! Kiwi-Watermelon.


It was  a bit of a struggle making the bed on Friday night after I washed our sheets. Chance didn't want to move for anything.

He did not move from this spot until Rhett got home a couple hours later :P

Daybook - August is here . . .

For Today {August 10}

In my kitchen


Cold Brew Quicksicles!


Testing a new Pampered Chef Recipe! Total WIN!







Post Script Our Facebook LIVE video making Quicksicles!
         --->   https://www.facebook.com/amyspamperedkitchen/videos/1830874727027069/

Shared Quote

"The future is in God's hands and His plans are good."  -Enough, Sharon Jaynes

A moment from my day Last week the mister and I had a few days away.  It was wonderful!

We visited a few breweries/wineries ;-)

Food is my love language...

This I truly believe.  I think family mealtimes are so important and to be treasured.  Nothing makes me happier than when all 5 of us are actually gathered 'round the table together.

Hungry Runner Girl (my favorite blogger, I read her blog pretty much every day).  Anyway, she posted today about meal time rituals and it got me thinking about how important family meal times are.

I love cooking and baking and feeding my family. I love trying new recipes.

Incidentally it is also why I LOVED this book...

We Laugh, We Cry, We Cook. I finished it while we were on vacation last week and am reluctant to return it to the library because I want to try all the recipes included in it.  I love it because it's written by a mother-daughter duo.  Also it intrigued me as the daughter is a vegan and the mother is not. Not gonna lie- I am having trouble embracing the whole plant based diet thing.  But Becky (the mom) talked about how much she enjoyed nurturing her family and friends with food, and how she found vegan recipes that were just as heart warming and satisfying. It gave me hope.  I don't think I will be adopting a plant based diet any time soon. I would like to find more recipes I genuinely enjoy to share with my girls though.

One of the reasons I also love Pampered Chef so much is helping others find recipes and tools to feed theirs.

Monday night we made Grilled Loaded Nachos.


One of our many weekly pizza nites.  I love grilling pizza, its the best!


I'm working on a meal plan for the next week so I can get groceries tonight.  Hopefully-- I will be making this new recipe tonight. Its one of the new fall recipes from Pampered Chef- doesn't it look delicious.

I have been struggling with my job, my purpose, my life in general lately. I have kinda let PC go this year. All the more frustrating since I had built my business up so much last year.  But then things happened.  Life just felt too busy to try and squeeze in one more thing. But I miss it- cooking is my passion. In a perfect world- I could be a chef- so for now I am going to get to back to what I love. Cooking and Food and sharing it with people. =)

Swing by my facebook page -> Amy's Pampered Kitchen to check out the latest specials :-) and of course our live recipe demo's.