Grilled Chicken with Garlic, Lemon & Herbs

I am going to miss these lazy days of summer. I didn't get out of bed until 8:30 this morning. And then I puttered around, getting breakfast for the kids, making the hubby his daily dose of dense nutrition (Shakeology) and emptying the dishwasher before I started my workout. In two days, that all changes. In two days, I'll be up at 5:45. Yuck.

I decided to try a new recipe for dinner tonight. You know how I love a recipe where the work can be done early in the day so there's very little to do at suppertime.  I used this recipe from Once Upon a Chef. 

Here's the cast.

I did a few things differently than the original recipe. For starters, I did not use a meat mallet to thin out my chicken. Mostly because I was using chicken tenders and they were already pretty thin. Next, I mixed my marinade in a bowl instead of a bag because I thawed my tenders in a bag. And I didn't want to waste two bags. I'm cheap eco savvy like that.

That being said, I put all the oil, herbs, and spices into a small bowl. Then I set off to zest my lemon.

Confession: I had never zested a lemon. I have wanted to try it many times, but I didn't own a zester, and I was too cheap lazy frugal to buy one. When I saw this recipe, I decided I would finally make the plunge. I purchased my zester at Walmart for just under $6. 

Zesting didn't go quite as well as planned. I have no idea why, but all the lemon zest stuck to the zester and wouldn't budge. I ended up using a toothbrush (don't worry, it was new) to remove the zest from the zester. 

When I had finally collected my lemon zest, I added it to the bowl with the other oil and spices.

Then I whisked them all together. 

I poured them into the bag with the chicken tenders, and I let it marinade for about 7 hours.

Jeff was kind enough to grill these for me tonight. In the rain. He's the bomb.

I served the chicken with some grilled veggies. That Jeff grilled. In the rain. Did I mention he's the bomb?

Everyone loved this chicken! It was super tender and very flavorful. The recipe is definitely a keeper.

Grilled Chicken with Garlic, Lemon & Herbs

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1-3/4 lbs. total)
• 6 Tbsp. olive oil
• 4 large garlic cloves, minced (I used dried, minced garlic)
• 1 tsp. dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp. dried oregano (I used 1-1/2 tsp. dried Italian seasoning instead of the thyme and oregano)
• 1-1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper
• zest from one lemon

~Mix all ingredients except chicken in a small bowl. Place chicken and marinade in a zip-lock bag, seal, and massage marinade into the chicken until it's evenly coated. Marinade 4 - 12 hours.

Question of the Day:

What are your best lemon zesting tips?

Summer Break Workout

Aaahhhh. Sweet, sweet first day of summer vacation for my children. No lunches to pack. No children to wake. No rushing out the door. I even slept until 7:15!!! When I finally rolled out of bed, I fed the kiddos some breakfast, made the hubby his Shakeology, and headed downstairs for my workout.

I was planning to do Insanity Max Interval Plyo today, and to be honest I wasn't looking forward to it. I think it's the toughest of all the Insanity workouts. And when my 2nd dear daughter asked if she could accompany me, I tried to dissuade her. I told her how hard it was. I told her she should just make up her own exercise instead. But she insisted on doing mommy's workout. And I am so glad she did!

We really had the best time! We did power jumps.

We did pogo jumps. (Remember the pogo stick?!?!)

We did burpees.

And globe twists.

And let's not forget kickstand touch the floor.

55 minutes, people. 55 minutes of hardcore cardio, and my baby kept going the whole time. My favorite part was when she told me, "Mom, I feel like I'm going to die. As in die and go to Heaven." I told her she had my permission to take a break. 

She really made my workout so much more fun! It was a perfect way to start my day...and our summer break! 

Question of the Day:

What's your favorite summer break memory?

Bittersweet Endings

The school year is winding down here which means things are busy, busy! Friday was the boy's last day of preschool...EVER!!! When did this happen?!?! Here he is when he started preschool 2 years ago.

And here he is Friday on his very last day. *Sniff*

Dear daughter #2 also had a field trip to the playground on Friday. She has had the best year at school! So many sweet friends in her class and a truly amazing teacher!!! I am looking forward to having her home with me for the summer, but I am sad to see her time with this class and this teacher come to an end.

Here she is with her BFF and amazing teacher!

Friday was a divide and conquer kind of day. The hubby took the girls to a soccer game while I took the boy to his baseball game. He has improved so much in the last few weeks; it was a lot of fun to watch him. He had a great hit every time he went up to the plate. I was a proud momma!

The weekend brought with it more rain. I'm pretty sure it's rained here every weekend for the last month. The rain resulted in game delays, so we were able to sleep in. Then I headed down to the basement for P90X Core Synergistics. I love this workout! It's challenging, but it's different than most of the other P90X videos. Every exercise focuses on the core; it's a nice change of pace!

After my workout, I showered quickly and headed out to the last soccer game of the season! I am so proud of this girl and what an amazing soccer player she has become! She is one tough little lady!

We went straight from the soccer fields to the ball fields for the boy's last baseball games of the season! Baby girl had some fun in the mud .

We finally got home about 3:15. The only thing I'd had to eat at that point was my Shakeology on the way out the door Saturday morning. It kept me satisfied the whole time we were gone! Just another reason I love it!!!

And now we are officially done with all our extracurricular activities for the season...until next week when swim team starts. I wouldn't have it any other way!

Question of the Day:

Do you workout on the weekends?

Weekend Recap

This was more or less the view from my window all weekend.

I think we got something like 5 inches of rain. Not much fun! As a result, all of the sporting events our children were to participate in were cancelled. So we found ourselves with a low-key weekend!

I slept in a bit on Saturday morning, and then I got things started with Asylum Volume 2 Upper Elite. This is one tough workout. The combination of resistance training and cardio kicks my bootie every time!

By the time I was finished it was just about lunchtime, so I had my Shakeology for lunch instead of breakfast. Yummo!

Jeff worked some on Saturday, so the kids and I spent the afternoon doing some cleaning. I love that they are all finally old enough to pitch in a little! It makes my life so much easier. 

After Jeff got home, we took the kids to some sweet friends' house to play while Jeff and I had a date!

We went to Chili's because I really, truly love their light menu! I had the Margarita Grilled Chicken. 650 calories and 50 grams of protein, y'all!

Sunday included church and afternoon naps. Our minister has been doing a series on making it a point to rest. This is one lesson I can really get behind!

My May Madness challenge group is going on right now. And let me tell you, if you're not participating, you are missing out!!! It has been a blast so far! The participation has been fantastic, and I think it's keeping everyone accountable for their fitness routines. Jeff is participating too. We made this little video Sunday for the challenge.

So fun! There will definitely be more challenge groups in the near future, so keep your eyes peeled!

Other highlights from Sunday included making Teacher's Appreciation cards with the girls and transforming baby girl's mullet into a ponytail!

All in all, not a bad way to spend a weekend!

Question of the Day:

What do you do with a curly mullet?

Weigh In and Train Ride

Happy Friday! The weekend has arrived! I got my Friday started with the Asylum Volume 1 Strength workout. I love it because it's a combination of cardio and strength exercises. It really gets my heart pumping, and I was dripping in sweat by the time we finished.

If you follow me on Facebook, you may have seen me report that our bathroom scale had broken. I generally weigh myself pretty regularly. I try not to be obsessive about it because weight can fluctuate by several pounds, but I do use it as a tool to help keep me accountable. 

Yesterday I bought a new scale. Today was the first chance I'd had to use it. Because I would never weigh myself at any time of day other than first thing in the morning. And I would never weigh myself wearing anything other than my birthday suit. I'm pretty sure it's all part of the unspoken female code of weighing.

I am happy to report that my first time on the scale showed that nothing had changed substantially in the 2 weeks since I'd last weighed. In my mind, I just knew I'd jump on and discover I'd gained 10 lbs., but there were no big surprises.

I did, however, discover that my new scale will remember my weight for me and tell me how many pounds I've gone up or down the next time I step on. I'm not sure how I feel about that.... 

I followed my big weigh-in with a shower, and then grabbed a banana for breakfast as I headed out the door for a field trip with the boy. We were going to a local train station today to ride the train. 

Here's the boy waiting to ride the train. Baby girl came, too.

More waiting with his besties.

Finally, we got to ride!

The boy loved it!

So did baby girl.

After the train ride, we had a picnic. Then we headed home and played outside for most of the afternoon. I drank my Shakeology for an afternoon snack. I needed something that would hold me over while I took the oldest to a birthday party. It did the trick!

We plan to spend the rest of the weekend shuffling the kids around to their respective extracurriculars. And hopefully we'll squeeze in a little relaxation as well! Have a great weekend!!!

Question of the Day:

When do you weigh?

Mondays Stink

I don't care for Mondays. Does anyone? Ours almost always end in a "divide and conquer" kind of evening with the children. Yesterday was no exception.

I got my day started on the right foot with P90X Chest, Shoulders & Triceps. I followed that with a PB&J Shakeology (1 scoop Shakeology + 1 Tbsp. PB2 + strawberries + 1/2 cup skim milk + 1/2 cup water + lots of ice) - YUM! And I topped it all off with some serious cleaning.

Then all the kids came home from school, and things got crazy. Jeff had to work until late yesterday evening, so I was down a chauffeur. I recruited my mom to take daughter #2 to her soccer game. (Thanks, Mom!) Meanwhile, I took the other three to a choir rehearsal for my oldest.

My oldest committed to choir at the beginning of the school year. She is so over it at this point. I am so over it at this point. She didn't want to be there, and I really didn't want to take her, but we are trying to teach her to honor her commitments so we went anyway. 

I decided I would have a good attitude about choir, and I would make good use of this time with the littles. So I took them to the park across the street to pass the 75-minute rehearsal. I came prepared. I brought balls. I brought a bat and glove. I brought a tee. We had a remote-control car. I just knew that we were going to have a good time.

The weather was perfect. Things started out cheerfully as we unloaded all the equipment from the car. The boy and baby girl were running around, enjoying the great outdoors.

We started with baseball. After approximately 9.2 seconds, we were tired of baseball. We tried playing soccer. It took 4.7 seconds for that to get old. I tried teaching them how to make necklaces out of flowers. That lasted about 1 nanosecond. 

The next thing I know, the boy had a bat in his hand, and before I could get the words out to stop him, I was taking a baseball bat to the knee. I don't use a lot of expletives, but I do believe one escaped my mouth at that moment. 

The boy was sorry. I could tell he was. But that didn't lessen the throbbing in my knee. I pointed to the van and ordered him inside. Baby girl could see that it was a good idea to follow suit. I picked up the equipment, and we spent the rest of the rehearsal inside the car in the parking lot. 

I wanted to take a picture of my knee all black and blue to show you all just how badly I had been injured. But it really doesn't look too bad. So you'll just have to take my word for it. As someone who has experienced an unmedicated childbirth, it HURT.

I decided I needed to redeem myself today. So after doing Asylum Volume 1 Speed and Agility, I took the littles to the backyard. They had a really good time finding roly polies and playing on the swing set. Then we had a picnic on the deck. I felt redeemed.

Later this evening daughter #2 was begging me to play soccer with her. I figured this was my opportunity for double redemption after yesterday's disaster, so I obliged. We're kind of at the point now where she is just way better than me. So it was pretty stinkin' hilarious. The eldest daughter offered to photograph the event.

This was the first of many times that she scored on me.

My athletic prowess must be dazzling you.

Well, my sparkling personality will dazzle you for sure.

Our esteemed photographer made us stop for a pose.

There she goes again. In flip flops no less.

It's all good though!

See, we're still friends! And my bra is white. Just in case you didn't notice.

She scares me a little bit though.

And here's a photo of our talented photographer.

And our spaghetti-covered cheering section who found our game so captivating that she took to landscaping instead.

Happy Tuesday, y'all!

Question of the Day:

Have you ever taken a bat to the knee???

Zesty Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken

Ok, y'all! Guess what turned up?!?!

And would you believe that 3-year-old little baby girl is the one who found both of these?!?! We call her "Finder" now. Her reward was that she got to sit next to me at dinner. I'm super popular around here.

I got my day started this morning with a little Pure Cardio from Insanity. Here's what I looked like when I finished.

I exude popularity, don't I?

After a well-deserved shower, I had my favorite new Shakeology recipe for breakfast: 1 scoop chocolate Shakeology + 1 Tbsp. PB2 + 1/2 cup skim milk + 1/2 cup water + lots of ice. SO GOOD!!! It's like having dessert for breakfast!

Lunch was a turkey wrap stuffed with my latest obsession: bell peppers. And a clementine for good measure.

I had some apples for a snack this afternoon. I have discovered that apples really hit the spot that time of day.

The last month or so of school is CRAZY around here. Tonight we had to divide and conquer: the boy had baseball and one of the girls had soccer. So I made one of our favorite quick and easy dinners: Zesty Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken. I got this recipe awhile back from Allrecipes. All the kids will eat it, which is a miracle in and of itself.

Here's the cast.

Start by putting your chicken in the crock pot. I used frozen chicken which works perfectly.

Next, mix together your BBQ sauce, dressing, brown sugar and Worcestershire in a small bowl.

Pour your BBQ mixture right over the chicken.

Then turn on your crock pot and walk away.

The next step can be done either when you're ready to eat, or after the chicken has been cooking for a few hours or so and is tender. I like to do it right before my kids get home from school, because they tend to need my undivided attention once they arrive. 

Take the chicken out of the crock pot.

Then pour at least half of the sauce out of the crock pot and reserve it in a small bowl.

Now take two forks and shred your chicken.

Place the shredded chicken back in the crock pot and add just enough of your reserved sauce to make sure it's all nice and moist. I don't like to add back all the sauce though because it's too runny in my opinion.

This chicken is perfect served as is with a couple of veggies. We had it with sweet potatoes and spinach. It's also great on a bun or stuffed in a baked potato.

Zesty Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken

• Approximately 6 chicken breasts (I used 10 chicken tenders)
• 12 ounces BBQ sauce
• 1/2 cup Italian dressing
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

Place chicken in a crock pot. In a small bowl, mix the BBQ sauce, dressing, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce. Pour over the chicken. Cook approximately 4 hours on high or 6 - 8 hours on low. Remove chicken from crock pot. Reserve about half of the sauce from the crock pot in a small bowl. Shred the chicken with 2 forks. Place it back in the crock pot and gradually add reserved sauce until the chicken reaches desired consistency.

I think I would be remiss not to mention how horrified I have been by what transpired in Boston. My heart and prayers go out to all those affected.