Pasta Sauce Chicken

As promised, to make up for missed Munchy Mondays, I'm going to post the tutorial for a recipe I do that is super simple and absolutely delicious.  It's my pasta sauce chicken.  The chicken ends up extremely moist, it takes maybe 5 minutes to prep, and it's one of my go to meals if I don't have a lot of time to spend in the kitchen getting it ready.

MMM delicious

What you'll need:

• chicken breast
• a large baking dish
• a jar of pasta sauce
• foil
• an oven
• Parmesan (optional) <--Also I'm fascinated by the fact that Parmesan needs to be capitalized

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My Blog has Abandonment Issues

Oh, poor little blog.  How I have mistreated you!  Alas, with Squishy pediatric ophthalmologist appointments, 200+ mile trips for temporarily moving to Malaysia parties, eye inspections for me, and trips to the fair, we have been quite busy.

Since, I'm sure the first thing you're wondering about now is the Squishy baby, I'll fill you in on that first.  When she had her two month check-up in early July our fantastic pediatrician checked her eyes and was getting a strange refraction from her left eye.  It was very subtle; but, it was enough that she needed to see the pediatric specialist to make sure that all was good in the hood since it could have been a sign of cataracts and other no bueno problems.

Turns out the Squish is fine though.  She has perfect vision (for a baby) and does not need to go in to have her eyes checked until right before she starts school.  Yay!  It was such a relief.  Poor thing did get her tiny eyes dilated and had to be in the house with shades drawn for about 24 hours; but, it was worth it to find out she was okay.

Squishy in sunglasses to protect her poor dilated eyes.

Keep reading to find out more about us these days

Sunburns & Gatorade & a Baby Smile Too

I am sitting here sunburnt and overly full of Gatorade after going for my run in 90 degree plus weather.  I am tired and my knees hurt.  Why didn't anyone tell me making a lifestyle change would be so hard?

The reason I brave the heat anyway.

I'm kidding.  Kind of.  I mean, I did know it would be hard; but, it's really daunting to change your entire life and break an addiction to food.  Especially when you rely on the number on your scale for validation of your feelings.

That's not what I want though.  I don't want to wrap myself up in the scale.  I keep having to remind myself that this isn't about a number, this is about changing my life and becoming healthier.  So, my plan is to stop weighing myself until at least August 1st.  Longer if I have the will power.  Instead my gauge will be my largest pair of pre-pregnancy pants.  I'm still rocking the maternity jeans until I lose weight because I refuse to buy giant pants so I'm really looking forward to fitting in my old jeans. 

Munchy Monday: Creamy Garlic Pasta

I kind of dropped the ball for Munchy Monday this week.  I absolutely made some delicious food; but, I totally forgot to take pictures along most of the way.  Yeah, I was hungry, baby was crying, and it just smelled so good.

So, I'll just give it a fabulous review instead.  I made the creamy garlic pasta from The Cheese Pusher and it was AHHH-Mazing.  It didn't take long at all and only required one pot for the whole prep so it made clean up a breeze. 

By the time I was done the house was full of delicious smells and it went perfectly with our tri-tip.  I highly encourage everyone to try it.  It went straight onto a note card for my recipe box.

One of the few pictures I did manage to take.  Yay for things cooking.  Haha!

Munchy Monday: Mini Smore Pies

The recipe I tried out this week was from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen and it was delicious.  I pinned it on Pinterest months ago; but, only just got around to making it.

What was this lovely recipe you ask?  Well, if you read the title it's MINI SMORE PIES!!

So scrumptious!

How to Use a Diaper Genie II Without Buying Refills

A long time ago (actually as recently as March) I worked at a child development center in the toddler classroom.  I worked with a herd of 12 toddlers, eight hours a day, five days a week.  We weren't one of those centers that required children to be potty trained so I ended up changing a lot of diapers.  Of course, you don't want diapers stinking up the classroom so for a long time poopy diapers were just thrown into a trash can right outside the classroom door.  It was kind of a pain in the tuchus.  

Then, a miracle happened.  We had an amazing intern in our classroom who saw our plight and bought us a diaper genie.  It was awesome...until we ran out of the bags.  We were a non-profit center and we couldn't afford to keep buying refill after refill.  Thankfully, I was unwilling to sacrifice my new found convenient diaper disposal method and I figured out how to jury-rig (yes jury and not jerry) the diaper genie with regular bags.  So follow me you money saving mommies (& daddies) to learn the way...

Keep reading to learn how to make me less expensive!

I've Got a New Toy! (and a cold)

I have been wanting a heart rate monitor forEVER.  Largely because I don't trust the calories the machines at the gym claim I burn.  Then I got pregnant and it didn't seem like the right time.

Well, I'm no longer pregnant.  I'm trying to work on my fitness.  I'm trying to lose weight and want to monitor my intake and exercise as precisely as possible.  So, it became time. 

I ended up getting a Polar ft4.  I had read that it was easy to use and unlike some heart rate monitors it allows you to input your gender, weight, and height.