On the love of dinner

I'm not going to lie...  Dinner is about my favorite time of each day.  Work is over; the whole family is back together; and the craze of baths and bedtimes has not yet begun.  As a child, my family talked and laughed so much at the dinner table that it baffled me to visit a friend's house where they would scarf down food in silence.  Of course, enjoying dinner means having some quick go to recipes when things get crazy.  Though I tweak about every recipe I get, I want it to be clear that all of these came initially from somewhere else.  Also, I am not here to write a cookbook so forgive the inconistent format.

Crock Pot Chicken Tacos (Stolen initially from Lori Johnson)- Love these as you can make one pound as easily as ten pounds so it is good for crowds or for freezing.
For every pound of raw chicken, you will need one cup of water, one package of taco seasoning and one bell pepper.  I like to make three pounds at a time so I can use one of each color b/c it is just prettier that way! 
Place the raw chicken in the crock pot.  Mix the water and taco seasoning thoroughly and pour on top of chicken.  Slice the peppers into fajita strips.  If your kids need their vegetables to dissapear, place all the peppers in on top of the chicken.  They will literally almost disappear by the time you are ready to serve.  Cook for 4-6 hours on low in the crock pot.  If you like a little visible veggie presence, save back half of the peppers and add them to to crock pot 30 min. to 1 hr. before serving.  At this same time use two forks to poke around and shred the chicken. 
This chicken will taste just like shredded chicken from a mexican restaurant and can be used in flour tortillas, on taco salads or can be tossed with Mexican rice and black beans.  You can even use it in all those creamy chicken enchilada recipes floating around out there. 

Crock Pot French Dip (Stolen from Christine Sedgwick)
2 to 3 pound pot roast
1 can beef broth (Campbells)
1 can beef consume
(there is an accent on the e---Campbell's)
1 can French onion soup (Campbell's)
Rolls
Cheese (we like provolone)
Cut the roast into big chunks. Put all ingredients in the slow-cooker; cook on Low for 8 to 10 hours. After at least 8 hours, shred the meat. Spoon meat into rolls, top with cheese, and serve with beef juice.

World's Easiest Roast
Place a 3-4 pound beef roast in the crock pot (any kind)
Mix one packet of French Onion Soup Mix with one cup of creamy Italian dressing and pour on top of the roast.  Shred or slice after cooking on low for 6 hours.

World's Easiest Chicken Casserole
Cube one pound of raw chicken
Mix in an 8X8 dish with one packet of chicken flavored rice, one can of creamy chicken soup and one soup can of water.  Cook for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.  We serve broccoli on the side when we have this but I have cooked it with a head of broccoli in it and it works well too.  You can even sprinkle a little cheddar on top about ten minutes before it is done and call it Broccoli Cheese Soup Casserole. 

Chicken Parmesean Casserole
Drizzle Olive Oil on the bottom of a 9x13 casserole dish.  Sprinkle crushed or powdered garlic and red pepper to your liking on top of the oil.  Take 6 chicken breast (cut smaller if needed) and place them on top of the oil.  Take 1/2 cup of your favorite spaghetti sauce and pour on top of the chicken.  Take 4 oz. shredded mozarella and sprinkle on top of sauce.  Cover with one bag of Salad croutons in any flavor of your choice.  Sprinkle with another 4 oz. of shredded mozarella and a good dusting of parmesean.  Bake for 45 minutes at 350. 

Finally - Dump Taco Soup. 
Mix together in a crock pot - one pound of ground beef, one package of taco seasoning and two cans of corn, two cans of black beans, and two cans of Rotel.  ONLY drain the beans.  Cook together on low in the crockpot for at least four hours or as long as you need it to sit.  The water from the corn and rotel will make the soup base. 

I also have some really fast appetizers and desserts if you are in a jam and are going somewhere/hosting.  Let me know if you have any interest in hearing some of these... or more dinners for that matter  :)

On the consequence of confidence...

Today on the way home from dance Avery became upset about something she was not allowed to do last week.  In typical Avery fashion, she was deeply caught up in the tragic unfairness of it all.  She wondered out loud, “Maybe bad things keep happening to me because I don’t like myself or maybe it’s just that I don’t know myself.”  It was all I could do not to laugh out loud.  I figure this was probably not the most logical instant reaction, but I found humor in the depth of such a comment coming from such a young brain.  Aren’t these the very issues we grapple with through the toughest parts of our lives… the big transitions…  The more I thought about it the more I realized the comment really wasn’t funny.  It was a moment that caused me pause as I contemplated some interesting conundrums all parents face.

This child raising is risky business.  Any parenting style comes with consequence – for you, your child, their future children and all people who come into the lives of each of the latter.    For some reason it came up twice last week that I was a tad bit spoiled when it came to some material things.  I was given 18 (yes 18) Cabbage Patch Kids through the course of my childhood.  The second time it came up in a matter of days I felt compelled to defend my parents and their parenting choices.  I added that we were also spoiled with love and praise, and the result was assertive, outgoing adults.  I often describe our assertiveness this way; if we are in a room full of people and only two will get their needs met, we make sure we are among those two.  (Not to say we don’t care deeply about the needs of others because being raised with so much love created a nurturing side as well.)  The person I was talking with followed this up with the recent report that incoming college students have never been more confident according to self-reporting scales or less competent according to standardized tests.  The trophy for everyone, you can do anything, all are special mindset is to blame.  Were my parents wrong to make us think we walked on water?

I don’t think so.  The confidence we were instilled with caused us to thrive and survive.  I am not sure we could have gotten through a move to a whole new town during the most tumultuous of adolescent years if we did not have slightly inflated egos.  Surely athletes who push themselves are confident to the point of cockiness.  The doctors who discover never tried before life-saving cures have an arrogance and stubbornness that allow them to proceed despite risks. 

Listening to Avery wonder if she didn’t like herself, or just didn’t know herself, reminded me of just how important it is to raise self-confident children.  I was once told to not tell my girls they were pretty too often or it would go to their heads.  In this often cruel world, I hope it does.  Recently the girls and I were talking about what would happen if someone was allergic to candy.  Without thinking, I said, “Well that person would be skinny.”  Immediately, I regretted it.  I struggle with how to talk to them about making healthy choices without making fat be the ultimate undesirable confidence of not eating well.  I don’t want them to think that is the most terrible thing, because I do want them to know that I like myself.  At the same time, I do want them to be healthy. 

What I am getting at is this... Every parenting style, every way we frame the world for our children, has consequences.  Some might feel I should make the correlation between overeating and weight very clear to my kids.  Some might call my brothers and I spoiled brats.  Ultimately we have to go with what feels right to us.  Perhaps this generation of overly confident college freshmen will have the courage to be the next great generation.  Maybe the standardized tests have not kept up with growing skills needed to thrive in today’s world.  Maybe we shouldn’t spend so much energy figuring out how each generation is worse than their parents while blaming the predecessors for the failure.  My parent’s style felt right to them.  It was intentional as well.  My dad told me that he wanted us to win a few battles with them now and then so we could learn to win necessary battles outside the home.  Some would say that this may have led to us being overindulged, but I don’t think so.  We are also amazingly hard workers (modeled to us through example) and I don’t think that would be true if we didn’t somehow pick up discipline despite being showered with goodies from time to time and unconditional love all the time. 

These thoughts and more flashed through my head as I slowly approached home this evening.   Avery interrupted my mind wander with a hesitant, “I do think I know myself.”  I quickly asked her, “Do you like yourself?”  “I guess so…” she decided. I hope that whatever choices I make as a parent, more often than not  they help her slowly gain her voice as she answers that same question positively and certainly.