I'm sitting here in my bedroom typing away, feeling more at peace than I have in a while. Cool breezes are blowing through leaf filled trees, making the hot sunshine rather pleasant.
I really love that sound. It sounds quintessentially summer.
Another week/month has passed.
It was a good week, but the schedule/rhythm was off a bit. I hired a babysitter two days in a row. I spent the first day studying for VBS, and the second day doing She Plans Dinner work. It is hard being gone two days in a row. Things get bumped. Like grocery shopping. I ended up not shopping until Wednesday. That really felt odd.
I am learning to be at peace with the dust bunnies skittering across my bedroom floor. I'm learning to be at peace with a revised cleaning schedule (it's okay to split up the vacuuming & dusting to different days. It's okay to clean the bathrooms one day, and scrub the floors a different day). I'm learning to be at peace with my kids taking on more chores. Because I'm completely missing the "doing it all" mark this summer.
The boys have done some vacuuming and dusting for a long time. I've always felt though, like I needed to go back through myself, and vacuum and dust thoroughly once a week, so that I know it was done right. This is doing a disservice to both the boys and me. I can let/make them do the job, without lowering my standards, and without having a crazy perfection expectation. I can expect them to do it right because they are capable of that. I can send them back to re-do the job until they understand it is faster to do it right in the first place.
Oh-oh-oh!!! We signed up for a cruise! In February! With my family. Without our kids. I am very excited. We have never cruised before. It will give us something to look forward to through the long, cold winter after Christmas.
I finally have a new recipe to share with you. Grilled Lemon Garlic Chicken is both gluten-free and dairy-free. The lemon-garlic marinade combines for great flavor and moist meat.
I served mine with rice because my kids are huge rice fans. I actually saved the marinade, boiled it, and poured it over the rice. I figured that boiling the marinade would be the equivalent of cooking chicken and spooning the juices over _____. If you aren't comfortable with that idea, I get it. Just dump the marinade then.
Grilled Lemon Garlic Chicken
Prep time: 10 minutes, Marinade time: 6-8 hours, Cook time: 10 minutes, Total time: at least 6-1/2 hours2 lemons
6 Tbsp olive oil
4 garlic cloves
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
-Line a medium size bowl with a gallon Ziploc bag, folding the zip over the sides of the bowl.
-Juice lemons, mince garlic. Place in the bag with the oil, salt and pepper. Seal bag, and knead from the outside, to mix the juice and oil. Place back in the bowl, with the zip over the sides.
-Cut each chicken breast into 2-3 pieces. Place into the bag. Seal. Knead the bag to cover the breasts. Place bag, sealed, back into the bowl, and refrigerate for 6-8 hours.
-Preheat grill to medium high.
-Remove chicken from marinade and discard the marinade.
-Grill the chicken breasts for 8-10 minutes, or until cooked through and the juices run clear.
Have a great weekend!
