Cooking Up a Storm: Sausage Scramble, Pan-seared Chicken, and MORE!

Today, I think I spent the entire day in the kitchen.  I didn't plan it that way, but that's what happened!

I started with breakfast.  Had to make some eggs because I didn't eat any eggs yesterday!  I made a "Sausage" and Cheese Scramble.  I put sausage in quotation marks because it is Morningstar Farms Vegetarian Sausage Patties.  I LOVE the maple syrup flavor.  With products like that, I could really be a vegetarian.  I used 1 oz. light colby cheese, 1 egg, 1 egg white, and a thawed "sausage" patty all chopped up.  It was soooooo tasty!  The patty gave it a little sweetness, and the cheese made it creamy.

We went to church, and on the way home, Ryan and I talked about making dinners for some of our friends who have been sick and have had babies yesterday.  So I whipped up two Baked Spaghetti with Chicken Sausage Casseroles.  It was hard not to take a bite as I was making them!  But I did make lots of Angel Hair pasta so I could finish up my semi-homemade sauce from Thursday this week, too.  Now I have some lunches ready to go!

Then I cooked and cut chicken breasts.  I chopped some raw chicken chunks for a recipe later this week.  I had to have somecooked chopped chicken to go in some Tortilla soup I am making for coworkers tomorrow, and I also made some pan-seared chicken for Ryan to make wraps for lunch this week.  (He may or may not be addicted to wraps after "Wraps Week.")  I'll tell you what-- this is the best way to prepare chicken breasts, in my opinion.  They will be so tasty, moist, and delicious.  Your family will ask for them all the time.

Preheat oven to 375.  Spray a skillet with nonstick spray.  (I coat it pretty well.)  Heat to medium-high.  Then, salt and pepper the chicken breasts on both sides.  You can add other seasonings, if you want, but you don't need them.  When the oil is hot, add the chicken.  Let it cook until golden brown on that side-- about 5-8 minutes.  Then tuen over.  Cook for about 5 minutes.  Then cover the skillet and place the entire skillet into the hot oven.  Cook for 10-15 minutes, or until cooked through.  Let stand 3-5 minutes before slicing.  (This keeps the juices inside!)  TIP: when you pull the pan out of the pot, keep the potholder on the handle.  This will prevent you from forgetting it it HOT and burning yourself.

Another tip: if you do burn yourself (as I did today) pour yellow mustard all over the burn and let it sit a few minutes.  Then rinse with cold water.  Don't know why this works, but it's like a magic eraser for burns!

Then I maked some corn muffins to go with the Chicken tortilla soup.  I hope I can remember everything I need to take with me!  I am trying something new-- another "Sorta-Homemade" recipe.  I know that's risky, but we'll see what happens.

Oh, and we had a quick, fun visit from Meredith and David today!  They were shopping in Charlotte and were able to stop by on their way home.  That was a nice surprise.

So now... I am getting tired of my kitchen.  I just sat down to a bowl of angel hair pasta with my semi homemade sauce and a simple salad.  (And a beverage.) 

I am dubbing this week "Try Something New Week."  I've decided I am going to try 5 things that I have never tasted before this week.  Just for fun. 

So tonight, I am going to make a batch of Pistachio pudding to snack on tonight-- because I found a random box of it in the pantry today and I have never tasted Pistachio pudding.  Green pudding... strange stuff.  But I am going to try it!  That's my "Try Something New" for today.

Tomorrow, I have another Giada recipe using another ingredient I have never used!  Can you guess what it is???  It's green and it is found in the produce section.....

Oh, and my little Sadiecasso (get it?  Sadie + Picasso?) painted me a BEAUTIFUL painting today.  What a sweetie...

Thanks for reading!  See you soon!