Lemony Chicken & Broccoli Noodles

When I like a recipe, it's hard to not make it all the time. I have to restrain myself or both Hubby and I will get sick of it, which is never a good thing. One of those recipes is Lemony Chicken & Broccoli Noodles.  I love this recipe.  Like love-love.  I haven't made it for about two months or so, which is surprising for me.  Hubby mentioned earlier that he wanted it for dinner.  Sure, my pleasure.  *big cheesy grin*



This recipe is so easy and so good.  It would be super easy to make it healthier as well, trading the noodles for whole wheat, using a butter substitute, and low-fat cheese.  Since I'm trying to eat healthier as well, I might have to try that sometime, but for now, it's delicious and not too terribly unhealthy as it is.  I mean, it's got broccoli.  That's automatically healthy, right??  Lol!

The recipe is below with some notes.  I got the recipe from here: Click here to link to original recipe


Lemony Broccoli Pasta with Chicken
(or as I call it, Lemony Chicken & Broccoli Noodles)

Hands-On Time: 10 minutes
Ready In: 30 minutes

Ingredients 
12 ounces dried pasta shapes (fusilli, wagon wheels, rotini, etc.)  -- I use rotini by preference
1 pound (4 small or 2 large) skinless, boneless chicken breasts
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons butter (divided use) 
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, pressed through a garlic press -- if you use a lot of garlic in recipes (like me), I highly recommend the 

         jars of pre-minced garlic.  So much easier.
1 large bunch broccoli, stems peeled, and stems and florets cut into small pieces -- frozen broccoli ftw!  Just don't use 

         the whole florets, get the chopped broccoli, it makes a huge difference.
1 cup chicken broth
juice and finely grated zest of 1 large lemon -- or if you don't like messing with the mess of a lemon, just get a bottle of

         the juice
1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped and toasted at 350ºF for 5 minutes -- purely optional.  I've only added these once and 

        I found that I prefer it without them.
1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving -- BWAHAHAHAHA, freshly grated, sure sure.  This family

       doesn't roll that way.  While I'm sure it tastes even better with freshly grated parm, I really hate grating cheese, a lot. 

       Don't ask why, I just do.  Instead, I use the Sargento 6 Cheese Italian pre-shredded packets for the 1 cup and the    

       handy dandy plastic shaker from Kraft for the extra on top.

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of pasta-cooking water to a boil and salt it heavily: it should taste as salty as seawater. Cook the pasta (if you add it when the chicken is about half cooked, the sauce and pasta will be done at the same time), drain it, and return it to the pot with 3 tablespoons of the butter.
2. Pat the chicken dry and season on both sides with salt and pepper. In a very large skillet, heat the olive oil and remaining 1 tablespoon of butter over medium-high heat until foamy and very hot, then add the chicken and sauté until well browned and cooked through, around 4 minutes per side (thicker breasts may take longer; turn the heat down as needed to keep the chicken from burning). Remove the chicken to a cutting board.  -- Btw, cooking chicken like this is the new standard in the house.  Seriously delicious.  I do add some garlic powder to the breasts with the salt and pepper, but it's not absolutely necessary.
3. Turn the heat to low and add the garlic to the pan, stirring for a few seconds until it is fragrant but not browned, then add the broccoli, the broth, and 1 teaspoon of salt, stirring to dissolve the browned bits on the bottom of the pan.
4. Cover the pan, turn the heat up to medium, and cook/steam until the broccoli is just tender: 3-4 minutes.
5. Add the chicken, which you've sliced thinly, back to the pan, along with the lemon juice and zest, the walnuts, and the buttered pasta, and stir to combine well (if the skillet isn't large enough, combine in the pasta pot).  -- It says to thinly slice the chicken, which does look pretty, but honestly, it's just easier to eat when it's in bit-size pieces.
6. Now taste a piece of pasta: it should be lemony and flavorful; add more salt, pepper, and lemon juice to taste. Stir in the parmesan cheese (or Sargento's haha), then serve, passing more parmesan at the table.

Setting Goals & Making New Habits

Goals are always a difficult thing for me. Why? The issue generally comes with flat out forgetting about them. Then once I've missed a goal (especially a daily one), I get irritated that I forgot to do it and then I get depressed. Each time I don't make the goal, I get more and more angry and depressed until the times that I do remember to do it, I get mad and am unhappy. I completely lose the want to do it since it becomes a negative thing.

The best way to try to fix a problem is to find the source. Other than issues I can't fix (bipolar), I believe the source of my problem lies with the way I think about and treat a goal. It's always been a serious thing; make a goal, put on the "serious face", and do it no matter how much it sucks. Needless to say, but making them 'serious business' isn't exactly inspiring and makes it much more disheartening even if I only have a small failure.

Instead of being super serious, I need to take a lighter approach to things. If I forget once or twice or ten times, it's ok, just pick back up where I left off. I also need to make goals that are fun and that are things I want to make habits. Once something is a habit, (or more likely an obsession since OCD tends to stop me from doing anything regularly without being totally obsessed), then it will be easier. I'll do it out of habit with less forgetful-type problems.

With that in mind, I've been setting short term goals for myself (long term are too hard to remember). Pretty much all the goals I have set so far are things I want to make a habit of; things that will better myself and my life.

Health goals:
-Eat around 1200 calories per day and keep a journal record (online one has been started and bookmarked so that I see it every day to remember).
-Exercise for one hour per day (starting slow and working my way up to that one, but daily exercise is the point),
-Go for a twenty minute walk after dinner.

Goals to better myself:
-Study Japanese for thirty minutes to an hour every day. I love the language and I'm a huge anime and manga fan. The added benefits of learning a second language are numerous as well. It never hurts to know a second language and learning one will help exercise the brain.
-Do something creative and fun at least once per week. How does this one better me? Being creative and having fun isn't always the easiest thing for me. I often get stressed out, depressed, pessimistic, etc. Taking time out to just sit and draw or craft or write I believe will help me to relax and lighten up a bit.

If I forget or miss one of these, it's not going to be the end of the world. No matter where it is I want to get, I have to get there one step at a time.

At this moment, in between sentences, I'm actually working on my creative goal by gluing pages of a book together. I've decided I want to try having fun and making one of these (and possibly more if I really enjoy it): http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=247680.0. It's an altered book art journal. They look like a lot of fun. As I'm going along, I'm also trying to make poetry and sentences that I like out of the words on the pages.

I have to admit that coloring, drawing and gluing in a book feels naughty. In a way, it's kind of like I'm making it better and it's still getting used. It still feels bad though, so I am breaking myself in on a book that I got for free, but I don't want, nor do I think many others would either. I'm starting with Bill Crosby's book called Fatherhood, aka one of those books that would sit at Goodwill on the shelf for years. It's been a lot of fun so far. I'm thoroughly enjoying it. If you have an old book, address book, notepad, whatever, and like being creative and having fun, I highly recommend starting an art journal. There are plenty of inspiring pages others have done in the thread I posted up there ^.

By the way, I have to say that I love Craigslist so much. <3 I picked up over 250 books for free from a guy on Craigslist. Almost all of them are fantasy books, which I love. There are some that I have already, but I'm keeping whichever one is in better condition. The hardest part is finding room in our tiny apartment for so many books. LOL! I would love to build shelves in the bedroom on one wall. I'll have to keep an eye out on Craigslist for free hand-held power drills/screwdrivers and free wood planks. Hehe.

Duct Tape to the Rescue!

It's been awhile since I've had furniture that I actually care about whether or not it gets ruined.  The majority of the furniture I've owned in the past few years or so has all been not-so-loved second hand.  I now have a coffee table that, while second hand still, at least is in decent condition.  Yay!  Unfortunately, like most wood furniture, water is its arch nemesis.  I've had quite a few problems since I got it with the condensation from my glass or a little tea dripping on it when I take the bag out of my morning cup.  Since I didn't have any coasters, I tried using some napkins to sit under the glass.  Yeah, that didn't so much work.  Instead I ended up with the bottom napkin stuck to the table to the point that I have to scrub it off.  Frustrated, I finally came up with a cost free solution.  Well, technically cost free.

Enter man's second best friend: duct tape.  I've had a few rolls of duct tape laying around for years and was inspired to use it today by an image of a duct tape purse someone had made.  Out came a woven duct tape coaster.  Yeah, it's a bit ghetto, but it works great!  It's even large enough for my favorite huge mug from Rainforest Cafe (thanks Mom & Dad) that I use for my morning tea.

It's been awhile since I've written...again.  Lol!  I've been busy, sick, and depressed in the time since I wrote last.  Still really depressed and it's been hard doing just about anything because of it.  Working on getting into a doctor since I could really use some meds.  Unfortunately, have to go through the insurance loopholes to get mental help covered so not sure how long it will take.  While I'm scared to go, at the same time, I could really use some decent sleep and to be a bit more in control.

Anyways, I wanted to check in and say "I'm still alive and haven't forgotten about my blog, yet".  Made dinner (or lunch maybe since it was kinda early) and I figured I'd share since I liked it quite a bit.  I have found that I really love soup.  Well, some soups, not all.  I've been wanting to try making a ramen type soup for awhile now and I decided to make one today.  After looking at a ton of recipes online, I found that I would probably have to make it up to get something that I liked and could get the ingredients for.  So here's what I came up with (ignore the suckiness of the picture, hard to take a good picture of a bowl of noodles, lol), I'm calling it Egg Drop Ramen Soup:




This of course isn't authentic ramen or egg drop soup.  I don't even know what real ramen tastes like, rofl.  The soup turned out similar tasting to egg drop soup and to the wonton soup that I used to get at a Chinese restaurant back when I lived in California.  It's pretty good, if I do say so myself, lol!  It has to be eaten hot though, which I guess is normal for all soups that I like, but might as well mention that.  Anywhoodles, here's the recipe for it in case anyone is brave enough to try it. ;)  This is how I wrote it for me to remember so might seem kinda silly, lol.  I think next time, I'll layer all the ingredients on top of each other instead of little groups of stuff though.

Egg Drop Ramen Soup

1 Thinly sliced shallot

1 Green onion

5-8 Shitake mushrooms

2 Chicken Breasts

2 Cans Chicken Broth (good quality!!  like Swansons)

1 Garlic clove minced

1 Egg

Japanese style noodles (I got them in the refrigerated noodle section at the grocery store)

Olive Oil

Butter

Garlic powder, salt, & pepper to taste

Soak mushrooms in water for 30 mins.

Broth: Start first

Warm garlic & shallots in saucepan on medium until fragrant (just a few mins).  Add mushrooms & chicken broth.  Bring to boil, reduce, let simmer 20 mins.  Remove mushrooms and set aside.  Beat egg in bowl, slowly add to hot broth, stirring broth slowly as it's added to make egg streamers.

Chicken: Start when broth comes to boil

Heat olive oil and butter in pan until frothy and very hot.  Sprinkle chicken breast with garlic powder, salt, pepper & add to hot pan.  Cook through, reducing temperature slightly if needed so it doesn't burn.  Remove to a plate and cover with foil to keep warm.

Noodles: Start water about 10 mins after broth comes to boil

Bring a pot of water to a boil, add salt, noodles, and cook as directed by package.  When done, rinse with cold water, drain well.

Assembly

Slice chicken, green onion, mushrooms

Put noodles in bowl, add broth, chicken, mushrooms, green onion, top with more broth

Brain On Jello Mode & Trip

For almost two months now, I've been stressing out about moving and all the details that comes with it.  Been feeling like poo, sleeping terribly (if you could even call it sleep), and all-in-all driving myself and the hubby bonkers.  Lol!  This is the fourth day of being in the new apartment, which is just above where we were living.  The best part is there is no roommates.  Yes!  No drama, no crazy people (other than us ;p ), no sharing the bathroom or kitchen, no one stealing/using our things without asking, and again, NO DRAMA!  It is so very nice.  Definitely a bit more boring, but nice.

After so much stressing, my brain has turned on Jello Mode.  Great thing is, I'm sleeping slightly easier and a bit more restfully, bad part is, it's pretty dead in there atm.  LOL!  There's still a few things that need to get done in the apartment and that, but it seems my mind and body want a break.  I've been neglecting some things in the past couple months that I usually enjoy like Fiesta, an mmorpg that some of my friends play.  It's much easier to get back into the game and enjoy myself when I'm in Jello Mode than if I was still super stressed and feeling yucky. Bad thing is, it's really easy to get mentally exhausted and cranky, but oh wells.

We have a trip coming up as well.  Going to go to my brother-in-law's graduation, which should be fun.  I always enjoy seeing my mother-in-law, Doug (I don't know what I would call him, lol ;) ), and Dalton.  After the graduation, we are heading to my parents house for a couple days or so and then we will be back home.  I'm excited because Madisen will be coming home with us.  She's going to visit for up to a month.  We had lots of fun when she visited for a couple weeks last summer and I'm sure we are going to have much more fun this time.  I'll just be crossing my fingers that the car doesn't break down on the way there or the way back.  Lol!  That would suck.

I Like Turtles

There is a turtle in our yard!!  Hehe.  While Micheal was mowing today, he found what he thought was a rock at first, but ended up being a turtle.  He's so cute - the turtle that is.  ;)  I took some quick pictures of him, but he wasn't a fan of looming camera ladies so kept going in his shell. This is one of the only pics I got of him somewhat out of his shell:



We showed Tsuba the turtle as well and needless to say, she was scared of him. Lol! Tsuba would slowly lean in to sniff, but was constantly ready for a quick retreat and jumped at every little movement or sound. She's such a chicken. I was hoping he would come out of his shell a bit when Tsuba was near for some cute dog/turtle pics, but he didn't. *sad face* Maybe if it's nice out again tomorrow and he's still in the yard, I might go out and play with him again. Hehe.

Free Webinars Rock!

I've had a Wacom pen tablet for nearly two years now.  It's just a cheap Bamboo one, but a tablet nonetheless.  I absolutely love it and going back to a mouse would be difficult.  I use the tablet for everything.  I also have Photoshop on my computer, but after two years, I'm still quite a novice at using the program.  In a recent email newsletter from Wacom, they had links to three free webinars, which I signed up for all of them.

The first webinar was this week.  I missed the original, live one, but they sent a link to the recorded one.  I watched it earlier today.  It was about using Wacom with Photoshop.  Of course, I knew the basics of what was discussed such as how pen pressure works and how to change the settings for it.  There were a few things that were new to me however and I immediately went to try them out afterward.  I'm still learning and fiddling with them, but I'd figured I would post some of the pictures I've played with today.

I don't have a 'real' monitor with 'true' colors since I use a laptop so hopefully they still look good on other monitors.  Hehe.

This is a picture I took of Madisen at my parents house about a year ago.  I've tried playing with it in the past and didn't like what I came out with.  In the first place, the photo isn't perfect, especially the blurriness, which is a shame; she looks so adorable.  I thought I would try again with the new techniques I learned on the Webinar and see how it went.  Result:


Link to original

This picture is one I took about two years ago.  I've played with it several times, trying to get a result that I liked.  There are still a few things I am not happy with, but for the most part, I think I'm pretty happy with this time around.


Link to original

The last two I took with my new camera when I got it.  I was just messing around in the front yard taking random pictures of things.  These are not good pictures in the first place.  Originally, they are way to bright and blurry in places I don't want them to be blurry.  There is even a big blurry smudge on both pictures due to me not noticing that I had small fingerprint on the lens.  Whoops.  ^^;   I decided to play with these anyway because it's not like I could make them all that much worse than they already are (lol) and even with their flaws, there is something that I like about them.  I'm actually tempted to go back out and get good pictures that are similar to these.  Anyway, I put the sorta finished pictures below.  I like the darker look on them; to me it makes them a bit artsy looking. 


Link to original


Link to original

If you have a tablet and are a novice at Photoshop or photo editing in general, I highly suggest checking out the Wacom website calendar in about a week or two when they update it with the schedule for the new webinars.  They are a bit boring, but you never know if you might learn something you didn't know before.  All knowledge is worth having.