Melt-In-Your-Mouth Chicken

Ok, so I don't really know what this stuff is called, but Melt-In-Your-Mouth Chicken is what it's called on Pinterest, so that's what we'll go with. And it does melt in your mouth. It's delicous and super easy! This is a great, quick, weeknight meal!

Here's what you need:

4 chicken breasts (best if they're halved)
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1 1/2 tsp seasoning salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder

Here's what I like about this recipe: I already had all this stuff! I didn't have to go buy anything! Just a note: next time I won't use shredded parmesan cheese, I'll just use the kind in the shaker. I feel like that would work better with this recipe.

This recipe is so easy. Seriously. The first thing you do is mix all the ingredients (except the chicken) together in a bowl.

It will look something like this.

Make sure your oven is preheated to 375 degrees F.

Then just smear the mixture on top of the chicken breasts, and put them on a baking sheet.

Bake for 45 minutes. (Yes, I know I went overboard on the pictures.)

And this is what you get. I know it kinda looks weird, but it's SOOO moist and delicious.

Enjoy!

My Son is Amazing

Yep, my son is amazing. Both of them are, but this story is about Isaac and something very heartwarming that happened today.

James and I took the boys to the park that is located only a block away from our house. There was a girl there who looked to be about 10 years old. She was standing on one of the play structures. Isaac, being the little social butterfly he is, stood right in front of her and said, "Hi!" Very loudly. When she didn't respond, he repeated "Hi!" again very loudly. Still, she said nothing. Just sort of groaned. He shouted his greeting one last time, and then decided to head for the slide.

It was pretty clear that this girl wasn't quite right, but after watching her for a bit, it was fairly obvious that this girl had some degree of autism. She was unable to speak, and frequently made "raspberries" with her mouth.

A few minutes later, Isaac started playing with two little girls. They were a little older than Isaac, and decided to go swing. Isaac followed suit, only he'd never swung on a real swing before. It didn't take him long to figure it out, though, with me there showing him how to pump his legs and giving him pushes. A few swings over, the mother of the girl with autism sat, swinging and watching her daughter. She looked sad. I thought about how hard it must be to watch all these other kids, interacting and playing, while her daughter stood there in her own little world. It made me think about how amazingly blessed I am to have two perfect little boys. After a while, the mother left the swing and sat at a nearby picnic table.

A while later, Isaac went over to that same play structure where the girl was still standing. He went over and stood right in front of her, looked right at her, smiled really big, and started laughing hysterically. The girl looked at Isaac, and then started laughing, too! They stood there and interacted for about five minutes, just laughing and making strange noises at each other. The girl would playfully push Isaac lightly on the chest with two fingers, and Isaac would pretend to fall backwards. The girl's mom started to call out her name when she did this, but I was right there and it was obviously playful, so I called out to her mother "It's okay, they're just playing." After a few minutes, I looked over at her mother at the picnic table, and she had a great big smile on her face.

Eventually, Isaac moved on and played on the slide, with other kids, and with his pail and shovel. But for that five minutes, that mother watched her daughter have a typical childhood experience, which I'm certain doesn't happen often. It warmed my heart to know that my child did that. It's amazing to see something like that. He didn't know anything was wrong with this girl. He had no preconceived notions or judgements. She was just another kid, and he wanted to play with her. And play they did. <3

Meatloaf Cupcakes

I suppose these would be more aptly named Meatloaf Muffins, since you make them in muffin tins. But in a (failed) attempt to get Isaac to eat them, we called them Meatloaf Cupcakes. But Isaac doesn't like red meat, so even the word "cupcake" wouldn't persuade him to try it.

These are awesome. James and I agree that the best part of a meatloaf is the crunchy part on the end. When you make it in muffin tins, there is much more of the crunchy end deliciousness. So we loved these. Plus, it takes WAY less time to cook than a loaf. This is a really easy, quick, weeknight dinner!

I got this idea on Pinterest, but I didn't use that recipe. I used my recipe, because it's awesome. Here it is. I've posted it before. It's really easy.

Once you mix everything together, just put the mixture in muffin tins...

Then smother it with ketchup...

Then bake it for 30 mintues in a pre-heated 350 degree oven.

And here's what you get.

It's really good. You won't be sorry you made it.

Bipolar Blogging

Oh wow. Zero posts in April. I have a theory about myself. I am a bipolar blogger. I post a bunch of blogs in a row, and then nothing for a long period of time. I really should get better about that. Maybe this summer?

Since my last post, there has been a lot of developements in our family. Alex is crawling around like crazy! He's eating table food, and standing up and cruising along furniture. The is this close to walking. Also, I gave him a hair cut and -BAM- now he's blond. Here are the before and after pics.

Isaac has since learned the art of sucking up. He tells me, "Mommy, you pretty" on a daily basis. And to avoid going to bed he says, "I want to snuggle with my mommy!" He's good. He also had his first "man injury" at the park a few weeks ago. He was climbing up some stepping bars to get to the slide, slipped, and ended up with one leg on either side, crushing his, um, well... stuff. He cried, and he cried hard. When I asked him whatn hurt, he hesitated and then said, "My butt." Haha! I know I shouldn't laugh, but it was a tiny bit funny.

Anyway, I wanted to let you guys know that I have been cooking A LOT lately, so there will be some posts popping up in the near future, as soon as I find time. So stay tuned!