Southwestern Chicken Salad in an Avocado Bowl

I have to admit....I did it again. I browsed Pinterest hungry. Out of all the food pins I saw, this one really stuck out because of the avocado bowl was unique. This recipe comes from a cookbook called Real Food Real Easy by Chef George Stella. And the title of the cookbook doesn't lie. It was real easy!!!

Before I post the recipe, I need to confess a problem of mine. I often fail to read a recipe thoroughly. I was so proud of myself when I first saw this recipe because I did read it all the way through! Go me!!! Went and bought all the ingredients and got to work making the chicken salad. I've made many types of chicken salad before, so I knew I could handle the first step- cook the chicken- without consulting the recipe. Cooked it and then cubed it, which is what I've always done in a chicken salad. At this point, I checked the recipe. Doh! The chicken needed to be shredded. Not a huge problem...I just threw the cubed chicken in a food processor and chopped it up. BUT, if I had read the recipe AGAIN before cooking, I would have caught that and saved myself some extra cleanup later on. I love cooking, but I HATE cleaning up afterwards. Lesson learned, for now. Let's see if it sticks later.  

Southwestern Chicken Salad in an Avocado Bowl

Prep Time- about 1.5 hours (depending on method to cook chicken and how long you refrigerate the chicken salad after assembling)

Serves 4 (or 3 if a hungry man wants two halves!)

Ingredients- 2 cups cooked and shredded chicken, 2/3 cup sour cream, 3Tbsp chunky salsa, 1Tbsp fresh and chopped cilantro, 1 tsp lime juice, and 2 avocados

Step 1- Cook your chicken. I went with grilling it because it is late February, but 65 degrees outside, and I wanted to pretend it was Spring! Don't forget to shred it afterwards.

Step 2- Add 1 Tbsp chopped cilantro.

Step 3- Add 3 Tbsp chunky salsa.

Step 4- Add 1 tsp lime juice. Can you use the stuff in the plastic green bottle? Sure. But I think fresh squeezed is so much better.

 Step 5- Add your sour cream (I used light sour cream) and fold all the ingredients together.

From here the recipe said you could either serve it now, or refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes to let the flavors meld together. I tasted it as soon as I mixed it up and wasn't too impressed. Put it in the refrigerator for about 45 minutes while we went to run a few quick errands. Sampled the chicken salad after we got home...WAAAAAY better tasting! So, I strongly advise letting it meld! 

When you are read to serve, halve your avocados lengthwise and remove the pits. Using each avocado half as a serving bowl for one person, spoon chicken salad into the empty pit cavity and then heap more over the avocado. 

We had leftover chicken salad and were hungry....

Let's see if this was Peanut approved....

Gingerly trying out the new recipe...

Thumbs up from Peanut!

While we liked the recipe and would eat it again just like it is, it seemed like the taste was a bit mellow. It could have been that I used store bought mild salsa in an attempt to keep the spice level down for Peanut. I'm thinking if I used my own canned salsa I made last summer, it would have had a bit stronger taste. Also, the recipe says you can add chopped bacon to the recipe for extra flavor. Why I didn't do this the first time is a mystery to me because bacon makes everything better. 

The verdict is out- will definitely make this again with a few slight modifications (BACON!!!). Speaking of which, if you like avocado and bacon, you should try making this Bacon Avocado Grilled Cheese Sandwich!

Happy Valentime's*** Day!!!

***Before I begin, I know I spelled Valentine's Day wrong in my title. Peanut has gone around all morning talking about handing out his valentimes today at school and I now I think that instead of the correct pronounciation. Plus....it's cute! :)

My little family lives in the suburbs of Atlanta, GA and it has looked like this for the last three days....

We've really enjoyed the snow; but here in the south, no one really knows how to function properly with frozen precipitation. That being said, we've been stuck at home since Tuesday. We JUST got home from dropping Peanut off at Pre-K and did a little happy dance because homeboy REALLY needed to get back into a routine!  Although, not much is going to come out of it because he's out for mid winter break all next week too. *Sigh*

I began pulling my hair trying to think of ways to keep him occupied. This activity of lining up Matchbox cars down the hallway took up 45 minutes.

I was glad Peanut was home from school for a few days because his teacher wanted him to fill out all of his valentines himself. I was proud of him for doing this but it took a LOOOOOOONG time. It was a good thing we had all week home to work on them!

One down, twenty to go!

Thankfully I had the foresight to get everything we needed for Valentine's Day on Monday when I went out for my bread, milk, and eggs that everyone apparently needs when a snow storm comes. I mean really....does everyone crave French Toast when it snows?

Besides the valentines that he filled out, I came across this cute idea for the kids in his class.

All you need is red and black craft foam sheets, lollipops, and the templates for the lips and mustaches (which I got here). It took me about an hour, over several days, to trace and cut out 24 lips and mustaches. Older kids could do this all by themselves. Peanut's cutting skills aren't quite where they need to be to tackle this project.

Peanut modeling his mustache!

We also whipped this up really quickly for his teachers. I think the soap was 2 for $5 at Publix and I printed off the label from here.

They were lucky enough to get lip lollipops too!

For Valentine's Day breakfast, I decided to make some special cinnamon rolls for my boys. I lucked up because Peanut's school didn't start until an hour later than normal, so I didn't have to get up super early to make these!

Heart Cinnamon Rolls (please say they look like hearts...)

Now, you could be Wonder Parent and make your own cinnamon rolls. I ain't got time for that. I bought a regular ole can of Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls. Peanut saw the tube in the fridge on Monday and every morning casually mentioned that he would like to have them for breakfast. 

I popped the tube open this morning and quickly realized that Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls should actually be called Cinnamon Lumps. There were no actual rolls. So I cut a spiral into each and rolled them out.

They kind of look like hearts before I even shaped them.

 Then you roll each side into the middle and pinch the end to make the bottom of the heart. Cook and ice according to the directions on the package.

Peanut was super excited to see the cinnamon rolls shaped as hearts, but he didn't eat them at first. His direct quote, "But they don't look like the cinnamon rolls Mimi makes!" He didn't want to eat them because they weren't shaped into a circle like a regular cinnamon roll. He was totally ok when I made them into waffles though....  Lesson learned from this? Kids are weird. 

Heaven on a Plate, otherwise known as Bacon Avocado Grilled Cheese Sammich

Do not, I repeat, DO NOT Pinterest while hungry. Anyone who follows me on Pinterest can probably tell when I'm pinning hungry because I'll have pinned 18 straight food items. This happened Saturday morning before we had breakfast. While it was a mistake to pin whilst hungry, sometimes mistakes have huge payoffs. Thankfully, Saturday was a huge payoff!

After coming across the pin for Bacon Avocado Grilled Cheese on Sourdough Bread, I pinned it and mentally stored it away in my brain. We headed off to Peanut's first baseball practice and I casually mentioned to The Woodman that I found a recipe that sounded pretty good. You could see him falling just a little bit more in love with me when I told him what it was. Baseball practice finished and we began to head home, discussing where we should go for dinner. The Woodman brings up the grilled cheese so we wheeled into Publix, gathered the items, and rushed home to make dinner.

You can find the official recipe here, but who needs an official recipe for something that requires lots of cheese and lots of bacon???

You can almost taste the deliciousness just by looking at the picture!

Here's how I made the sammiches...

1) Lay out your sourdough bread and lightly brush olive oil onto one side of each piece of bread. Place the oiled sides down on a clean workspace.

2) Add sliced cheddar cheese to one piece of your bread. I didn't use a specific amount of cheese, because really....can you have too much cheese????

3) Add sliced avocado on top of the cheese.

Peanut wasn't sure if he wanted avocado on his, hence the smaller amount on the first sammich.

4) The Woodman decided tomato might be good on the sammich, so put your sliced tomato on top of the avocado. (This, by the way, was an excellent request and will be replicated on all future sammiches!)

5) Place cooked bacon*** on top of your avocado (or tomatoes). Again, no specific amount because can you really have too much bacon???

I can hear Homer Simpson now. Hmmmmm, bacon.

***Side note on cooking bacon...
I have never mastered the art of cooking bacon in a cast iron skillet. It is either not finished, or completely burnt. I found this tip on Pinterest- cover a shallow baking sheet in aluminum foil (for easy cleanup), place bacon in a single layer row, and put the pan into your cold oven (before turning the oven on). Then turn oven on to 400 degrees and cook for about 15 minutes. The 15 minutes begin from when you turn the oven on, not from when it reaches 400 degrees. Start checking your bacon every so often after 15 minutes until it is cooked to your liking. Remove bacon from pan immediately to keep it from overcooking once out of the oven!

6) Put more cheese on top of your bacon. The original recipe called for Monterrey Jack on this layer, I believe. We just used more cheddar. 

7) Place the other piece of bread on top, oiled side facing up and cook using whatever method you like to make grilled cheese. Just cook until bread is golden brown and the cheese is all melted. I thought I was being clever and actually grilled our grilled cheese on our gas grill; but based on a Facebook poll, other people have done this as well.

8) Once they are finished cooking, remove from heat, cut in half, and serve.

Peanut wanted to be a sammich model.

I knew right off the bat that the Woodman and I would like this sammich, but wasn't sure about Peanut. While he is a fan of guacamole, his jury is still out on whether he likes plain avocado.

Inspecting the new sammich.

Tentatively taste testing....

Hey Mikey! He likes it! 

The moral of today's story is this- bacon, avocado, cheese, and sourdough bread makes for an EXCELLENT dinner! It's Peanut approved! Enjoy!

I'm no 'poo....how about you?

Welcome to post number three of my three part hippy, tree hugging blog series. As in the previous two posts, this post stems from trying to find a way to be more frugal.

Let me start off by saying this- I haven't washed my hair since Saturday morning. As I write this, it is Wednesday afternoon. I probably won't need to wash my hair until tomorrow. That's right. Five full days of non-washed hair. I haven't needed to. No, I'm not wearing hats and pulling my hair back in a ponytail. No, it's not greasy or stinky. It looks great.

These pictures were taken literally 10 minutes ago. After four days of not washing it, I think it looks pretty good (ignore my grays that are popping out- more on that though later)! How can I go this long and still have clean looking hair? I ditched shampoos and conditioners. This helps the wallet greatly because they are EXPENSIVE. I had everything I needed to go no 'poo in my pantry and it is super cheap to replace the ingredients. 

I honestly wasn't looking to stop using shampoo when researching how to save money. I stumbled upon it, thought that it sounded kind of gross, and went about my business. But the thought kept percolating in the back of my mind and several weeks later I began to research the idea. Now, there are many different ways to go no 'poo and my way may not work with your hair as everyone's scalp is different. I'm not even sure this method works on ethnic hair types. If this idea interests you, go research it and experiment! 

How can you go without shampoo without your hair looking like a greasy, flat mess? There's science behind it! Your scalp produces sebum, which lubricates your hair to protect it from drying out. Sebum is good for your hair. When you use shampoos, it completely strips this sebum away. Your scalp freaks out and produces more sebum to make up for the loss. Overproduction of sebum will result in oily hair and, while sebum itself is odorless, bacteria will form which causes your hair to stink. This would then signal you to wash your hair again and you start the whole cycle over. 

So what do you need to go no 'poo? Here's what I have stored in my bathroom cabinet....

To go no 'poo, you need baking soda and apple cider vinegar (ACV), a couple of cups, a tablespoon, and a measuring cup. This works best if you mix it up right before you shower. I turn my water on to heat up and then mix this up while waiting. I take one Tbsp. of baking soda and put it in the plastic ketchup bottle (hence the funnel), rinse the tablespoon off and then pour one Tbsp. of ACV into a separate cup, and then add one cup of hot water to each container. Shake up the baking soda and water to dissolve all of the baking soda. I then start showering! I wet my hair and then squeeze the baking soda and water combo all over my scalp. It doesn't need to be poured all over your hair. This is why I opt for the plastic ketchup bottle. Then I use my fingers and gently scrub my scalp. This won't lather up like regular shampoo, but it won't just feel like pouring plain water over your head. The baking soda will leave a bit of sliminess (in a good way??).  I then let it sit for a few minutes on my scalp. This would be a perfect time to wash your face with honey! Thoroughly rinse out the baking soda. Then carefully pour the ACV and water over your hair (avoid the eyes...it burns!!!). The ACV acts as a conditioner and will soften your hair and leave it super shiny! Leave that on your scalp while you finish your normal shower routine and then rinse completely. While it might still smell a little vinegary after you rinse it, by the time it's dry there will be no smell.  

From my research, there were a lot of people reporting a "breaking in" period for their hair. It takes a bit of time for your scalp to adjust to not having to produce extra sebum and people noticed a range from super greasy hair to super dry hair during this period. This did scare me a bit, so I decided to wean myself. I didn't go straight from shampooing every day to going 5 days in between washing my hair. For the first two weeks, I did the baking soda and ACV every two days. Then I did two weeks of washing it every third day. Finally after a month, I was able to go 4-5 days in between washes. I did notice that at first, my hair felt like straw (although it looked normal). This feeling went away after a couple of washes. 

I have found many benefits from going no 'poo-

• it saves money
• less chemicals leeching into my skin
• my at-home hair color (I know...kind of negates the last bullet) lasts longer because you aren't washing it as frequently (which also saves money!)
• my hair has a lot more body and is softer
• that super annoying extra frizzy hair that developed after having my son turned into nice curls when I let my hair air dry
• saves a huge amount of time when getting ready for the day...not having to dry and flat/iron or diffuse my hair

The negative- once people know you go no 'poo, you can't use the excuse, "Sorry, I can't. I'm washing my hair!"

Give it a shot, at least for a month, and let me know what you think. You have to get through the breaking in period to really get the full effect! I've been no 'poo for three years now and my hair has not looked, or felt, better!

You use WHAT to wash your face?!?!

Welcome to number two of my hippy, tree hugging blog posts. This post is all about how, again stemming from lack of money, I ditched chemical laden face washes and moisturizers and moved to all natural ingredients.

As I mentioned in my previous post on DIY Laundry Detergent, our two job household dropped down to one and we were looking at ways to save money. Besides making our own laundry detergent, we've started washing our face with honey. You read that right- sticky, sweet honey. When I tell people this, I usually get a reaction similar to if I had just said I like to kick puppies (I don't!). Yes, our family washes our faces with honey!

I came across a Facebook status update from a college friend that said something along the lines of "I just finished the two week Crunchy Betty Honey challenge and I'll never go back to regular face wash again!" I was immediately intrigued because face wash is EXPENSIVE! After questioning her about this, she sent me to this post from the Crunch Betty blog. Basically, you ditch your regular face wash for two weeks and wash your face with honey in the morning and right before bed! After reading all the glowing reviews from others who have tried this, I decided that the Woodman and I would as well. He was a little skeptical, as was I, but what could it hurt? We researched a little more and found out that honey is a natural, antibacterial substance. It kills all that bacteria hiding in your pores and causing pimples. It (while this sounds really weird) helps to dry up all the extra oil on your face and at the same time is very moisturizing! And to top it all off, it's completely natural!

So off to the grocery store we went to buy honey. You want to get raw and unfiltered honey. The honey in the plastic bear has been heated during processing and kills off all the good stuff that you want on your face. The raw honey is more expensive, but all you need is a little bit on your fingers and a bottle like shown in the picture above will last the Woodman and I about 2-3 months. We just keep this bottle in our shower. Be sure to keep the outside of the bottle free of any honey drips. You might end up with an ant problem in your shower like we did, not that I speak from experience!

The challenge listed on the Crunchy Betty site was to wash your face with honey twice a day for two weeks. Here are the directions to wash a makeup free face- put a small amount on your fingers, rub the sticky goodness all over your face, and rinse away (it comes off surprisingly easy!). You can just put it on and rinse it off, or leave it on for the duration of your shower and then rinse. I noticed a difference after the first wash! My face felt firmer and softer. After two weeks, my skin was the clearest I had ever seen it since puberty hit. The small patches of eczema that I had all over my face had cleared up and the skin was super soft. We were sold!

Now, if your face isn't makeup free, you need to add a few more ingredients.

In the first bottle is olive oil. Put a small amount of oil on a cotton ball and use as an eye makeup remover. A few swipes over your eyelids is all you need. To wash your face, put a small amount of honey onto a wet washcloth, and then put some baking soda onto the honey (the middle bottle). I keep the baking soda in a salt shaker for this purpose in my bathroom cabinet. Gently rub the honey and baking soda all over your face (avoid the eyes), and rinse! The baking soda will exfoliate your face and hurts if you rub too hard. The third bottle is apple cider vinegar (ACV). After drying off your face, put 2-3 drops on a slightly wet cotton ball and rub all over your face, steering clear of your eyes. The baking soda will dry out your face and the ACV is a toner that will even everything back out. 

The final step is moisturizing. Now, with using honey, you won't need much, if any at all. I like to use a small amount especially during the winter. After going through all these steps to clean your face without any chemicals, you don't want to ruin it in the last step with store bought lotion. 

To moisturize, we use a very small amount of coconut oil. Just get out a little bit and rub all over your face. It'll feel a bit greasy at first, but it'll soak in after a few minutes. I could write a whole other post on the wonderfulness that is coconut oil! It can be used in so many different ways. When I go to describe all the uses, the SNL skit Shimmer Floor Wax commercial comes to mind (it's a floor wax....and a dessert topping!) 

There you have it! In an attempt to be more frugal, we have eliminated all chemicals from our face washing routine. Give it a try for two weeks and let me know what you think!