Chicken & Black Bean Casserole

I found this delightful dish on Pinterest a while back.  I decided to make it for the family on the first night of fall break.  Huge success.  I was impressed the brother didn't have any complaints, although I did add extra chicken just for him.  Teenage boys REALLY like meat apparently.  I think it makes great comfort food for the cooler weather months.  And it's decently healthy.  You can get the original recipe from Six Sisters' Stuff.  Here's mine:

Ingredients:
1 cup minute brown rice
1 tbsp EVOO
1/2 small onion, diced
2 medium zucchini, sliced thin
4 small chicken breasts, thawed
8 oz package mushrooms, sliced
1 tsp cumin
salt to taste
ground cayenne pepper to taste
15 oz can of black beans, rinsed and drained
7 oz can of diced green chile peppers
Shredded cheese to taste (pick your variety)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.  Boil the chicken until done.  Shred it or cube it.  Meanwhile, heat a large skillet with the EVOO.  Add onion, mushrooms, and zucchini.  Cook until done; set aside.  In a large microwave safe bowl, cook rice using broth from boiled chicken.  Add seasoning, black beans, green chile peppers, chicken and some cheese; stir.  Mix in vegetables from skillet.  Place in a greased 9x13 baking dish.  Cover with foil.  Bake for about 20 minutes.  Remove foil and bake for about another 10 minutes.  Enjoy!      

Fabio's Pasta & Bean Soup

My mother actually found and made this recipe.  It was so good that I had to share it with you!  It's perfect for cooler weather days.  The original recipe is by Fabio Viviani.  Apparently he is famous.  I had never heard of him.  Oops.  My mother chose to add a link of sweet Italian chicken sausage, so that it would have meat and make the brother happy.  However, I think we'll be adding 2 links next time around.  One just isn't enough.  Of course, if you're vegetarian, you can easily revert to the original recipe and totally leave out the sausage.  Here it is:

Okay, so this is actually leftovers that I brought back to school...and reheated.  Not as pretty as the first time around, but definitely just as delicious!

Ingredients:
3 TBSP EVOO
2 carrots, diced
1 onion, diced
2 celery stalks with leaves, diced
1 fennel bulb
3 bay leaves, dried
6 sprigs thyme
3/4 lb Borlotti beans
pinch sea salt
4 cloves garlic, grated
2-3 quarts chicken or vegetable stalk (reduced fat and sodium preferable) 
28 oz canned diced tomatoes
pinch sea salt
pinch fresh group black pepper
EVOO for drizzling
2 cups small shaped pasta
2 links sweet Italian chicken sausage (optional)
20 fresh basil leaves

Directions:
Heat a large cast-iron pot over medium heat. Add EVOO. Add carrots, onion, and celery and stir. Meanwhile, dice fennel; add to pot and stir. Strip the thyme sprigs over the pot and discard sticks. Add bay leaf.  Saute about 10 minutes, or until the vegetables caramelize and start to soften. Add Borlotti beans and grated garlic; stir. Add stock, canned tomatoes, a pinch of sea salt and black pepper, and a drizzle of EVOO. Stir, cover, and boil for an hour, or until beans are soft.  Meanwhile, cook pasta (I like it al dente),brown sausage, and chop the basil.  Add sausage and basil to pot.  You may also add the pasta. (Keep in mind that if you're not serving the pasta all at once, the pasta may be soggy in leftovers.) Remove from heat.  Remove bay leaves.  Serve.  Enjoy!

My favorite clinical

I can say, without a doubt, my peds clinical rotation has by far been my favorite.  More specifically, the NICU has been my favorite.  Which, is really good.  That's where I've thought I wanted to be since I picked nursing as my major.  So, I'm thankful that I do actually really like it there.  It would have been rather disappointing to get to this point only to find out that I didn't like what I thought I would.  Plus, it's simply refreshing to be reminded of why you wanted to do something in the first place.  Why I'm a nursing major.  Why I wake up at obscene times in the morning.  Why I did all those clinical rotations I didn't like.  It's all so one day, I can be a nurse in the NICU.  So I can care for the very tiny humans.  

All I have to do is make it to April 26th.  Graduate.  And pass boards.         

Cream of Potato & Broccoli Soup

My fantastic roommate whipped this tasty soup up one night.  My part was to perfectly steam the broccoli before putting it in the soup, which I did a great job at.  The soup was wonderful, and the recipe made enough for us to have leftovers for a while...which is very important.  It's originally a Weight Watchers recipe, but we changed a couple things...like using 1% instead of skim milk and using a hole head of broccoli instead of 20 oz.  Nothing too epic.  Here it is:

I know, right? Great place mat.

Ingredients:
1 tsp unsalted butter
1 medium sized onion, chopped
1 head of broccoli, chopped and steamed
1 32 1/2 oz can condensed cream of potato soup
4 cups 1% milk
3/4 cup low-fat extra sharp cheddar cheese, shredded 
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Melt the butter in a large non-stick saucepan over low heat.  Add the onion and increase the heat to medium-low.  Cover and cook until tender, about 7 minutes.  Stir occasionally.  Add the condensed cream of potato soup.  Gradually add the milk, stirring until blended.  Increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil.  Add the steamed broccoli.  Reduce the heat to a low and simmer for about 5 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in the cheese.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Enjoy!

Glitter Jar

Well, the school year is in full-swing...hence the lack of posts.  Between class, clinical, club, and my enjoyment of sleeping and working out, I haven't had a whole lot of time to blog.  However, I did make time to do crafts one day.  My roommate and I have this little problem with getting worked up about things...one class in particular... You know, it's one of those classes where you learn 1+1=2, the homework tells you 2+2=4, the test goes like "Johnny has 4 apples, now calculate the volume of the sun" or something to that effect.  My point being, craft day was necessary.  Craft day was necessary because we saw these jars on Pinterest...GLITTER jars.  They're actually for kids, as some kind of alternative to time out.  The idea being, you shake the jar and, by the time the glitter settles, you've calmed down.  Totally brilliant.  Plus, who doesn't like glitter?  We decided that the big jars were so great that we made baby ones too.  It's amazing how fascinating it is to watch the glitter.  Maybe it's just because we have ADD, and sparkly things grab our attention.  But, we like them! Here is mine:

I added this verse from Exodus 14:14 to my jar.  It might be my favorite Bible verse ever.  You just use a dry-erase marker to write what you want on the jar (to make sure you get it where you want it...it erases easily).  Then, grab your paint pen and go over it.

What you need:

• Jar or bottle with a lid

• 1 TBSP of clear glue or glitter glue to each 1 cup of hot water to fill jar 

• Glitter 

• Food coloring (if you use colored glitter glue, you don't need this)

• Dry-erase marker and paint pen (optional)

Note: The glitter falls and settles REALLY FAST at first.  However, the water/glue mixture gets thicker with time...thus, it takes longer for the glitter to settle.