my love

always working on my photography skills...wilson tends to hide from the camera [i wonder why?!]

chicken stuffed with goat cheese & arugula

i love cheese and most types [minus stinky ones]...about par with cheese is arugula these days. this is a super easy way to get rid of any cheese that either is nearing its expiration date or you just want to use! 

i don't know that there is an easier meal than this that looks as pretty when its done. also, you can totally customize it to what you like! 

start off with chicken & marinate it in some balsamic salad dressing or italian dressing. make sure that its trimmed and pounded before you put it in the marinade. i get the 20lb bag from Costco that comes already trimmed & cut to size to make my life even easier. i defrost it in the marinade. 

when you're ready for primetime, make sure you use your chicken room temp [especially important for this dish so you don't dry it out with the folding. pam a pyrex and then lay out the chicken. place some cheese...in this case i used trader joe's herbed goat cheese. add arugula. fold and secure with 2 toothpicks [i did say this was super easy...right?!]. once you are done you can top with some garnishes that do well in the oven. in this case, more goat cheese & fresh diced tomatoes for my hubby and just goat cheese for me. 

two great trader joe's cheese options...one on the left with the blue label is a great one for any crowd & the one that is shown in this recipe! 

my other great combo is spinach & honey goat cheese. the bite of the arugula seems to be soaked into the cheese and chicken though and is a great blend if you are trying to go outside of the box!

bake at 375 for about 20 min. i start checking the meat temp at that time because i think the worst thing on the planet is dried out meat...especially chicken! this is so great served with something not too crazy like a jasmine rice or quinoa and a green like broccoli or green beans so that you can use any extra cheese that may fall out of the chicken as garnish on that as you're eating it without overpowering it! 

new cheater dinner!

in a despearte attempt for dinner to be ready in time for joe earlier this week when rain allowed me to be home from tennis i frantically scurried around Trader Joe's thinking what can i possibly make for dinner?!?!

Boom...who knew they had great [& i really mean it] pre-marinated chicken, lamb, and pork!? I grabbed pesto first of course and figured that would be hard to screw up but i do want to go back for the peppered lamb tips! i'm not one to get these for freezing but i think that it makes a great quick dinner! also, it was reasonably priced at only $5.99/lb compared to their normal chicken price of $5.29/lb at our Trader Joe's...more than normal chicken elsewhere, but worth it in a rush!

not so spring cleaning

i finally got around to cleaning out my not so organized make up bag. you know that we all have the random samples junked up at the bottom of our bags covered with sediments of who knows what and powder that at some point exploded...that was enough for me. i had to restock some key "every day" items in my make up bag and i was determined before i opened my packages, i would be cleaning out my make up bag! what a great feeling! not only did each item get evaluated for the "keep" and "toss" piles, but those that were kept were wiped down, opened up & cleaned on the insides and placed back in their new home!

phew! i encourage everyone to do this! it feels so good to stick your hand in a make up bag and not have to immediately wash it!

everything dumped out

after all cleaned up! 

3 years & a lifetime in the making

its amazing how much can happen in 3 years...happy 3rd anniversary to the best hubby out there!