Mayo and Mustard Chicken with Veggies {sometimes things just turn out alright}

 

• 8 chicken breasts
• 4 sweet potatoes
• 16 asparagus
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 4 tablespoons of your favorite mustard

1. preheat oven to 350*
2. peel sweet potatoes and cut into medium sized cubes
3. Place the chicken on a medium sized casserole pan.
4. In a medium sized mixing bowl mix the sweet potatoes with mayo and mustard.
5. Place the seasoned sweet potatoes on top of the chicken and layer the asparagus on top.
6. drizzle with olive oil and salt.
7. Bake for 30-45 minutes until chicken is done.

For the past month I have been going from one (1lbs) of Trader Joe's Milk Chocolate bar to the next, often needing 2-3 a week to keep up with my mood. Feeding 6 people is not easy especially when you're so tiered but so far this week has turned out alright.

I finally took the time to come up with a weekly menu. In the past this was a no brainer and every Sunday night after Enzo was asleep I would spend a couple hours pouring over my cookbooks and the internet to decide a weekly menu. But now when Enzo is alseep Maria is awake and I feel like I never have enough time (I hate the phrase "I never have enough time" I hate it, hate it, hate it) to sit down and actually plan the way I used to. However, this week I forced myself to do it. At one point everyone left the house leaving baby and I to ourselves, and then she slept, and then I decided to not do the dishes or the laundry or a million other things and I just sat and read recipes and planed a doable menu that so far has worked out.

I've been using the Made in Napa Valley  spicy apple mustard with ginger and cinnamon. It seems like they are all out on their website (WHAAAAT?!). I've recently started experimenting with different mustards and this oe is for sure my favorite, time to ration...

Spicy apple with ginger and cinnamon sounded good with sweet potatoes so that's the veggie that I used but try experimenting with different vegetables.

Menu of the week

I only plan dinner and hope that there is enough left overs for lunch as well. It needs to feed 5 people and has to be something that my 3 year old will at least try.

Saurday- Mayo and Mustard Chicken with Veggies

Sunday- White bean soup with salami and French baguette

Monday- Lentils, rice, and potato salad with peas.

Tuesday- Chicken stroganoffe and green salad

Wednesday- goat cheese, grilled eggplants, and grape tomato quiche with steamed green beans

Thursday- Pasta with pesto and peas

Friday- Grilled salmon sandwiches

Desserts- I (Christian actually) usually make 2-3 desserts a week. On Sunday he made chocolate eclairs, on Monday he made snicker-doodles  and yesterday he made pumpkin pie. No matter how much I slave over on the stove top Christian had this family wrapped around his finger tips with his baking skills.

ps. I am so glad we are finally getting our cooking groove back on. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and quesadillas were grossing me out.

Indoor Pulled Pork

Hello blog. It's been such a long long time. My life has gone from crazy to crazy-chaos. In the last couple of months I went from feeding 3 people to now feeding 6 people with complicated eating habits.

My mom works at a factory from 6:00am-2:30pm. She takes her own lunch every day, so I have to keep her in mind when I cook. I have to keep my picky 3 year old in mind and my 17 year old sister who is skinny beyond belief and desperately needs some fat on her bones, in mind. I think of myself because I could literally have 10 meals a day and still be hungry. I blame it on nursing. My husband is easy, but he's just not around that much these days to help.

Cooking has gone from fun to work. blagh. Oh well, it is what it is and no matter what we gotta eat whether I like to cook these days or not.

My friend Mariko showed me how to make indoor pulled pork this and I love how a) easy it is and b) how many people it can feed and c) how many different things you can do with it.

My favorite was sandwiches.

• 4lbs pork butt
• liquid smoke
• rock salt
• Hawaiian sweet bread
• cream cheese

1. Rub down the pork with liquid smoke and rock salt and place in a crockpot on low for 8 hours, or until the pork pulls apart with a fork.
2. Spread cream cheese on Hawaiian sweet bread and place some pork inside. I buy Hawaiian sweet bread at Costco in California. I'm not sure if you can find it in other states.
3. Serve warm.

Enjoy