Happy Valentine's Day

Sending lots of Love

from the Lee Kids!!!

We spent the past few days

preparing...

delivering...

 and tasting...

 Valentine Treats.

Today our day has been filled with

love...

love... 

 love!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Love,

The Lee's

Lemon Chicken

This is Ella's very favorite chicken.  It has become a staple at our house.  It is easy, quick and the ingredients are all things that you normally have at home.  And the added bonus is that the kids absolutely love it!  Anytime the kids get really excited about something that I am cooking for dinner that is not dessert, I know it is a winner!

Lemon Chicken

What you need:

Chicken Breast (3 or 4)

Flour

Butter

1/4 cup chicken broth

1/4 cup lemon juice (about 1 1/2 lemons squeezed)

8 lemon slices

Chopped flat leaf parsley

Olive oil

Salt and Pepper

Split the chicken breasts (this has become my favorite way to cook chicken, you get so much more of the flavor when the breast is split!).

Very important, Salt and Pepper the chicken!!!  Just ask Ella, Salt enhances the flavor!

Dredge the chicken breasts in flour.

Heat about 2 tbsp of olive oil and 1 tbsp of butter in large skillet (butter is not necessary, but oh so good!)  Add chicken to heated pan and cook on both sides.  If you are cooking more than 2 chicken breasts, you will need to cook the chicken in batches.

When chicken is done, pull chicken out of pan and cover to keep warm.  Add chicken broth, lemon juice and butter to pan.  Deglaze the pan with the liquid(get all the yummy brown bits off the bottom of the pan using a wooden spoon to scrap the bottom of the pan) and cook until the liquid starts to thicken.  I used a nonstick pan this time against my better judgement.  I just got these new pans that I love and I wanted to try the chicken in my new nonstick pan.  The chicken did not stick, but neither did any of the yummy, yummy brown bits.  Lesson: do not use a nonstick pan!

When liquid thickens, add lemon slices to pan and cook for a minute or two.

Add chicken back to pan to coat in the delicious juices!

Sprinkle with parsley.  Top with some of the savory pan juices.

This dish should take about 20 minutes from start to finish.  Perfect for a quick meal at the end of a busy day.

***I will say, this picture does not do the chicken justice.  I have never and will never claim to be a food photographer.  It just always helps me to see the finished dish so that I can see what I am making.


Enjoy!  Your family and friends will love this dish!

The Will of God

The Will of God will never take you where the grace of God cannot keep you, where the arms of God cannot support you, where the power of God cannot endow you.

The will of God will never take you where the Spirit of God cannot work through you, where the wisdom of God cannot teach you, where the army of God cannot protect you, where the hands of God cannot mold you.

The will of God will never take you where the love of God cannot enfold you, where the mercies of God cannot sustain you, where the peace of God cannot calm your fears, where the authority of God cannot overrule for you.

The will of God will never take you where the comfort of God cannot dry your tears, where the Word of God cannot feed you, where the miracle of God cannot be done for you, where the omnipresence of God cannot find you.

--Author Unknown

I find myself having to be reminded over and over again of the things that I know to be true.

***this picture is from the Sweetheart Tea today at Ella's class

Valentine's Cookies

Ella and Miller (especially Ella) love to have friends over after school.  The problem is that they get so excited and are so loud and run all over the house.  Which means poor Sara Wells never gets a nap.

I know, hard to believe, the Lee Kids being loud.  But it is true, they often keep their sister up.

 I can only push off the inevitable for so long, so when I finally do cave, I try to think of something to keep their attention at least for a little while.  

 Who doesn't love making pink cookies for Valentine's Day

 and decorating with (and eating) Valentine M&M's?

 Nothing like a good sugar cookie, dyed pink with M&M's on top

 The girls enjoyed them.

 And so did Miller.  Every single

 last bite!

Added bonus, Sara Wells stayed asleep all afternoon!

Flying

This morning on the way to school, everything was great.  Ella was bee bopping away in the "way back" to her Covenant Day School cd.  After a few minutes, I realized it had gotten quiet in the back.  When I looked back I realized Ella had transformed into a very quiet and even sad little girl.  

 When I asked what was wrong, in her saddest little voice she said, "Mommy, its just that, I really want to fly.  Why can I not fly?"  Pouring her little heart out to me, I answered the best way I knew how, "that is just not how God made us.  God did not make us to fly."  She seemed to take it all in pretty good, but followed up with, "how long does it take to get to Pixie Hollow?"

 So sad to break her little heart that she will not ever fly.

However, this little guy does not realize he cannot fly through the night

 saving the world.

 So for now, we will let him be Miller by day 

 and Batman by night.

Picture of the Day

... or maybe the week

...or maybe the year

Favorites: New Recipes of 2011

2011 was filled with many good new recipes.  A few I have shared here, sadly most I have not.  I wish I could share more recipes, but in order to do that I have to cook the dish once to test it out and then cook it again, not too close to the first time I cooked it so my family does not get the same thing in a week, but not wait too long so that I forget about it.  And then taking pictures while cooking with kids hanging on my legs or trying to help, whew, makes me tired just thinking about it.  Hopefully this year I will share more recipes with you!  I promise to try harder.

Anyways (sorry for the confessional there), here are a few of my favorite new recipes from last year.  The first two I have posted here, the second two I have not.

Stuffed Squash

I know we are far away from squash season, but this was definitely one of my favorites from last year.  Simple.  Rustic.  Delicious.  And Easy!  I am always looking for different ways to serve vegetables and this became a staple at our house through the summer.  Here is a link to the recipe.  

Argentinean Pork

This recipe is from Cooking Light.  I have not made it in awhile, so I honestly cannot remember if I changed the recipe any from the original.  Does not matter, you will love it!  Here is the link to the recipe.

Pioneer Woman's Perfect Pot Roast

I have been meaning to post about this pot roast for a little while.  We first had it right before Christmas and the title of the dish is correct!  This is the Perfect Pot Roast!  You will throw away all your other pot roast recipes once you make this!  I will tell you, this pot roast you cook in the oven instead of a crock pot, which makes it sound like it is not as easy and convenient, but it is so easy and it literally melts in your mouth.  In her recipe, Pioneer Woman says the red wine is optional, but THE RED WINE IS NOT OPTIONAL!  You will not believe how good the red wine makes this pot roast.  And an added bonus is your house will smell heavenly as it is cooking.  Here is the link to Pioneer Woman's Recipe.

Beef Tagine with Butternut Squash

*This picture is not mine.  It is straight from myrecipes.com

This is probably our favorite new recipe from 2011.  I hesitate to share it because I do cook it a little differently from the recipe on the website, but if I am sharing my favorite recipes, I just could not leave this one off.  In a nutshell what I do differently is slow cook the beef for 8 hours.  Any kind of beef cooked for 8 hours is going to melt in your mouth!  I will try to make this in the next couple of weeks and share my revised recipe with you.  For now, you can get the recipe here.