The Juggling Act

I am someone with many passions and lately it feels like I have been trying to do everything all at once. Now that I am a Mom I feel busier than I have ever been yet, I leave the house so much less than I used to. We are deep into rehearsals for Nightofthelivingdead and even though I only go twice a week at the moment, I feel so much busier. I also began making my own baby food AND eating a lot of South Beach Diet recipes. Both of those things are time consuming on the weekends and I haven't felt like I have had much time to sit down and write or even think lately either. I shouldn't complain because we have had a lot of fun the past couple months too. We have been to the MD Renn Faire, Lily had her first overnight baby sitter while we went to Williamsburg for a weekend, I sang in a one night performance of Jason Robert Brown's Song's for a New World and it was amazing, Lily had school pictures taken and of course I brought in two outfits because my baby needed a costume change, we went to the Old Town Manassas Fall Festival, Lily is cutting her first tooth, My car's check engine light has been on for two months, I had a facial at massage envy and had an allergic reaction and now my skin is breaking out/dry/peeling, i had a cortisone shot in my back for the first time ( i have a lower back injury), and just this morning me and my office chair fell over in my cube and I still can't figure out how it happened.
Even on days where Nick and I say we are going to stay in and "relax" we still fill the day with laundry, dishes, baby food making, meal prep for the week, and house projects..not to mention there is a little 6 and a half month old needing our attention. It just doesn't stop. Being a Mom with a full time job, a side gig as an actor, and having a huge cooking hobby is tough people!
This week my goal is to take a breath and slow down a little.
The good news is I have lost some more baby weight and I discovered I love making baby food for Lily. Rehearsals are also going really well and I have made some discoveries about my character that are bringing me a few steps closer to making her real.
So I haven't been making too many meals lately that have excited me enough to share. I got the Beaba Babycook and so I have been steaming and pureeing a lot of fruits and veggies for Miss Lily and I love that. Right now its just very basic stuff but I can't wait to add spices or meat to make her really neat combinations. The coolest thing I have done so far is cucumber and avocado, kind of like a version of green gazpacho. I hope she likes it! I do know that she LOVES peas.

I have been cooking a ton of recipes from the South Beach Super Charged cook book. Right now I am enjoying some green gazpacho myself and a low fat cheese stick.

You basically just take a few peeled cucumbers, some leaf lettuce, lime juice, garlic, chopped green pepper, salt, cumin, Cayenne pepper, a tablespoon of olive oil, and a little water. Puree that in a blender and chill and you have your soup. Its good but its even better if you add a few slices of avocado to your bowl once you are ready to eat it. 

I guess I did make one pretty wacky and interesting meal this past weekend. It started off simple and ordinary enough but when I discovered I was out of a key ingredient, I picked an unexpected substitution.

I actually don't have pictures of this one because I never intended to share it. Its called:

Goldfish cracker chicken

Yes

Goldfish Cracker Chicken

Start with-

1/2 cup fat free half in half ( I was out of buttermilk too so it would be better to have buttermilk) and pour into a large zip lock baggie. 

Add several dashes each of paprika, garlic powder, minced onion, salt, pepper to the bag. Shake to mix. Add 3 chicken breasts. Mix. Let chill and soak in the fridge for several hours. 

Now at this point I opened up the pantry and expected to have some corn flakes or bread crumbs but I was all out. I found some french's fried onions and goldfish crackers though and ran with it.

Take a few handfuls of goldfish crackers and a few spoon fulls of fried onions and put them in another large zip lock bag. Crush until it becomes very crumbled and powdery. 

Take chicken that has been soaking and shake 1 piece at a time in the breading mixture. 

Lay chicken on a greased baking sheet and cook at 350 for 35 mins. Depending on your oven and the size of the pieces of chicken, you may need more or less time.

Nick and I ate the chicken over mixed greens with blue cheese dressing. It was excellent!