If It's Friday, It Must Be Chicken?

"The chicken came first - God would look silly sitting on an egg"
                                                                        ~author unknown


Today is Friday!  Supposed to be cooler today and much cooler for the weekend.  It's actually supposed to be in the mid to low 80's.  I can't wait.  But it is only a three day tease as it is going to warm back up into the mid 90's by the middle of the week. 


Here's is my picture for the day:

This is a Rose of Sharon just off of my front porch

The name Rose of Sharon first appears in English in 1611 the Kings James Version of the Bible.  The bushes can get 6 to 8 feet tall and have a spread of 4 to 6 feet.  It actually isn't a rose but the large flat blossoms attract hummingbirds and tiny insects that hummers eat.  It's leaves don't come out until late spring, causing false alarms in gardeners who think their plants have died.  Native to East Asia and India, it is the national flower of Korea. 

                             

How would you like a super simple, super tasty chicken recipe?  Well, I'm here to provide.  The chicken is glazed with mustard and honey, then baked with bacon and cheese.

Easy Honey Mustard Mozzarella Chicken

Ingredients:

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

3/4 cup honey

1/2 cup Dijon mustard

lemon pepper to taste

4 slices bacon, cut in half

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

                         

Here's what I used

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

2.  Place the chicken breast halves in a baking dish, and drizzle evenly with honey and mustard.  Sprinkle with lemon pepper.

3.  Bake chicken 25 minutes in the preheated oven. Top each breast half with 2 bacon slice halves, and sprinkle evenly with cheese. Continue baking 10 minutes, or until chicken juices run clear, bacon is crisp, and cheese is bubbly.

                          

Chicken dotted with mustard and Dijon mustard.  Sprinkled with lemon pepper.

Cooked chicken with bacon and cheese on top - ready for the last 10 - 15 minutes

Completely cooked.  I guess I was really hungry because I forgot to take a picture of this served on a plate with the summer squash we had that night :)

Personal Notes:

1.  Recipe called for regular yellow prepared mustard - I substituted with Dijon mustard

2.  I used buckwheat honey that I bought at the farmer's market - mmmmmm - so much better than the store bought stuff

3.  I didn't measure the honey or the mustard.  I just dribbled it on until I thought there was enough

4.  After adding the bacon and cheese, I continued cooking for 15 minutes - bacon was nowhere near crispy.  If you want really crisp bacon, I would suggest partially frying the bacon before placing on chicken, or use the precooked kind.  The bacon stayed rather fatty (which we like) even after 15 minutes of cooking.

5.  It warms up in the microwave okay, but the cheese sort of melts away.  I would add more cheese after mostly reheating it and then heat again just long enough to melt the cheese.

6.  Delicious and so easy!

GIVEAWAYS

A great new giveaway is happening over at Canton Village Quilt Works. She is giving away a new book by Barbara Cline and Jackie is also giving away a $20 gift certificate to her shop!

LAST REMINDER! Don't forget to enter my giveaway.  The winner will be announced on Monday!

If you or someone you know is having a giveaway, drop me a line and I will include it in future postings

FINAL THOUGHTS

Do you have big plans for the weekend?  We will be attending a 40th Anniversary celebration for my brother-in-law and his wife.  First a gathering at the church where they were originally married followed by a lunch at an Italian restaurant.  Lots of family and friends - should make for a good time. 

Have a great Friday and a super weekend!

The Lesson I Learned

"The only place housework comes before needlework is in the dictionary"
                                                                                      quote by Mary Kurtz


Most days this is a very true quote in my house.  No matter if it's quilting, cross stitching, or crocheting, it all takes precedence over housework.  Guess that's one of the reasons I have a house cleaner come in once every two weeks.  Thank goodness for Lorraine!

Today is my daughter, Megan's, birthday!  Happy Birthday, Megan.  Megan is the reason I even started this blog.  I so enjoyed reading hers that it inspired me to take the leap.  Take a hop over and check her out at Kitschy Suburbia. 

Did everyone have a wonderful weekend?  Mine was busy but we got a lot done.  Saturday morning we started out running.  First we visited the Farmers Market for lots of yummy fresh veggies and fruits.  Home to fridge the goods - summer squash, white sweet corn, romaine lettuce, buckwheat honey (I didn't fridge this), asparagus, new potatoes, purple potatoes, and strawberries.  Then on to what I fondly call "Our Costco/Walmart run".  We usually hit Walmart first where I always seem to end up in the crafts department for one thing or another - usually yarn for my Project Linus projects.  Then on to Costco.  We try to get there early enough to beat all of the sample kiosks being set up but no such luck this time.  It was a zoo!    Nothing makes the aisles harder to navigate than having whole families trying samples!  Then out to lunch at our favorite spot, The Village Grill, of course, and a trip up the hill to Petsmart and Lowes and on to Bed, Bath and Beyond.  Had to get a new hummingbird feeder as the one I had developed a leak and was attracting lots of bees.  At Lowes we had to buy a new sprinkler clock since the old one kept going on and off when the sprinklers were running causing the pipes to really rattle under the house, a new flag pole for my seasonal flags, and a bag of lump charcoal.  Then we went back across town to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to pick up a package of Debbie Meyer Green Bags (more on those at a later date), a new adjustable two cup measuring cup (I absolutely love this), and a basting brush for the hubs to use while barbecuing.  Our last stop was to purchase a Super Lottery ticket - which wasn't a winner this week :( 

We had an unexpected run up to Target yesterday morning.  We finally 'entered the dark side', as my husband called it, and purchased ourselves a Wii.  We originally planned to wait until Christmas to gift it to each other, but Target had it on sale for the lowest price I have seen yet, so we figured we better not wait.  So, of course, we wasted the afternoon away play Wii Sports and Mario Kart.  We had a blast!

Here's my daily photo:

One of our hummingbirds coming in to feed -  Black Chinned Female

Do you know that a group of hummingbirds is called?  There are many collective nouns, including "bouquet", "glittering", "hover", "shimmer", and "tune" of hummingbirds.  It is also an interesting fact that their nests can expand while the nestlings grow.  In cold weather, Black Chinned hummingbirds ingest three times its body weight in nectar in one day.

Friday was the third lesson in the Hawaiian Quilt with Quilt University.  I learned how to do needleturn applique.  Well, I'm still learning but I thought I would share a couple of pics with you anyway.

Here I am turning under the seam allowance using just the tip of the needle to push under approximately 3/16"  - it's a guessing game for me at this point

This shows the needle still holding the seam allowance in place.  It looks straight, thank goodness.

To make a stitch, the needle should enter the background fabric right up next to the applique fabric.

Take a small stitch with the needle coming up to catch only a couple of threads (2 or 3) of the applique fabric.  Pull the thread through and repeat the above step.

The underside of the background fabric.  My stitches aren't very even yet, but hopefully with time they will become more consistent.

Here is some of my first completed stitching.  The stitches don't show too much (especially from a distance)

Now I have two weeks to complete all of my applique stitching before the next class.  I'm going to try to keep careful records of the total stitching time on this.  It will give me an idea for future projects.  I hope you weren't too bored by this!

Check out the big giveaway at Nailstah.  She is giving away a 'ton' of polish.

Another super giveaway is happening at Canton Village Quilt Works.  She is giving away a GO! Cutter courtesy of AccuQuilt!  (Maybe I shouldn't tell you about this one, because I really want to win it myself!)

Rose Room Quilts is having a giveaway - 7 fat quarters of the new Daisy Doodle fabrics.

Also check out the giveaway at Quiltstory.  They are giving away two sets of fat quarters that are wonderful!

And you can't forget my first giveaway. Don't forget to enter soon, the winner will be announced next Monday, September 30th!!

On with the week.  Obviously I have a lot of hand sewing ahead.  I hope to nearly complete the cross stitch Christmas stocking I'm working on since I wanted it done by the end of the month.  Hope your week is productive and happy!