Spaghetti Squash, Chicken Recipes, and Embarrasing Story

These are three separate thoughts:

SPAGHETTI SQUASH

We made spaghetti squash for the first time tonight. You have to realize that when I was in third grade, my friend's mom put a glob of stringy yellow stuff on my plate (stuff is the correct word here) and told me I had to eat three bites before I could get down. I sat there with tears in my eyes and watched all the kids playing while I gagged down one small bite at a time. That woman has no idea she scarred me for life. So when Rob suggested we tried spaghetti squash to go with my yummy tomato dish (PENNE & VEGGIES IN TOMATO-BASIL SAUCE - without the penne), I conceded. It was a leap of faith. I was very pleasantly surprised - the squash was actually really good with this dish. And the bonus is now Erica can take squash seeds to school to share with her class for their seed unit. :)

2 CHICKEN RECIPES:

My friend gave us a delicious herby chicken recipe (thanks, Brandy!). I copied it from her blog so I can share it with you. It tastes like it takes a long time to make, but it is very simple:

Honey & Balsamic Marinated Chicken

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 Tablespoon honey

1/4 cup olive oil

2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, chopped

2 teaspoons salt, divided

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

Directions: Place balsamic vinegar, honey, olive oil and rosemary in a large zip lock bag. Add chicken, seal the bag refrigerate, turning occasionally, for at least 2 hours or overnight. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Remove the chicken from the marinade, discarding the marinade. Season the chicken with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Heat a large ungreased cast-iron skillet or a large heavy skillet over medium high heat. Cook the chicken for 3 or 4 minutes per side or until nicely browned on both sides. Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake for 20 minutes or until juices run clear when pierced with a fork.

Here is the Parmesan Chicken recipe I kind-of made up. You can use bread crumbs in place of the sesame seeds:

6 chicken breasts
3 Tbsp melted butter
2/3 c grated parmesan cheese
1/4 c sesame seeds
1 1/4 tsp dried oregano
1 1/4 tsp parsley flakes
1/3 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Preheat oven to 400°F. Melt butter in a dish. Mix remaining ingredients in another dish. Dip chicken in melted butter or margarine and then dip in dry ingredients until coated. Place in 13x9-inch baking dish. Bake 20-25 minutes or until juices of chicken run clear.

EMBARRASING STORY:

Today when we were leaving church, we noticed that our reflections in the shiny blackcar next to us looked funny. In the neighboring car's door, we looked really short and squatty...about 300 pounds heavier. It was hilarious - probably more so since we were sleep and food deprived, not to mention leaving church about 90 minutes late. Picture Rob, Erica, Robby, and I all squatting and moving our limbs and laughing hysterically. I noticed a no-nonsense lady walking out of the church that I'd never seen before. I felt kind-of silly, but by that point I wanted to make sure anyone who saw us knew what we were doing (and didn't just think we were loonies staring at some random car). So we kept laughing at our heavy selves and moving all about. Suddenly, this woman makes a beeline for the car we were staring at!! Rob and I were mortified!! I knew she was wondering why on earth we were laughing at her car...So I said something silly like "We're looking at our reflections...not your car." She answered with something that made the embarassing moment even more embarrasing. As she climbed in the passenger side she said without cracking the smallest smile, "Don't let me get in your way." Ahhhhh!