Sunday Special - Italian Chicken on Rice

OK - it is Sunday and I am watching the USA - Canada hockey match. Canada is ahead 2-1. Beginning of the third period . . . GO USA!!!

Ran this morning with Sophie - 4 miles - it was a relatively warm, 28 and no wind. I really think that 3-4 miles is Sophie's maximum. I am not just saying this to make myself feel better . . . but she is slowing me down. The last mile - she is behind me and I need to pull on her lease to get her to speed up a bit. Problem is when I am running - she is trotting. If she runs . . . I would not be able to keep up. ;-) Last summer I would take her out for 2 miles (because of the heat) and then drop her off at home and then run the rest of my miles. I will probably need to do that again.

After our run - then it was off to church.

I have been thinking about something to make my blog unique . . . so on Sunday's I am going to share some of my "GO TO" recipes. These will not win culinary awards - but these are recipes that I turned to whenever I didn't really have a lot of time and everyone in the family enjoyed these. And many of these are basic ingredients that I would keep on hand.

Before we had children, I loved to cook and spent a lot of time on weekends trying new recipes and making bread (kneading by hand - not with a bread maker). We were married for almost 12 years before we had children. But once the boys were born I just didn't want to devote too too much time to cooking . . . especially since it took them the same amount of time to eat the food, whether I spent 2 hours making the dinner . . . or 15 minutes. ;-)

So here is one of my favorite recipes:

Italian Chicken on Rice

2 whole chicken breasts (about 1 1/2 pounds - skinned, boned and cut in thin strips or chucks - I usually slice the breast in 1/2 inch wide strips and then cut those slices in 2 to 3 inch long strips.) I almost always use frozen chicken breasts - you don't need to thaw them. Simply slice them while frozen.

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

3 tablespoons butter

One 15 1/2 ounce jar spaghetti sauce

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning - or use some Basil and Oregano

3 cups sliced celery

4 cups cooked rice

Season chicken with garlic salt and pepper and leave sit for 5 minutes. Saute in butter until cooked through. Stir in spaghetti sauce and Italian seasoning: cover and simmer 10 minutes. Add celery, continue cooking until celery is tender crisp (about 10 minutes). Make rice while the chicken is simmering. Serve over Rice. Sprinkle with Parmesan or Roman cheese.

ENJOY

Peace

Sometimes life just gets in the way

I haven't written in a week and I have only run twice this week. hmmmmm . . . there just might be a correlation. Anyway - I had a lot of things going on this week and work has been really hectic. I have been spending 10-11 hours at the office - not getting home until around 7:00.

AND my foot has still been bothering me. My self diagnosis of Plantar fasciitis is not going away. I have been wrapping my arch for support when I run or take my goldie Sophie out for a walk. That certainly helps - but I can still feel the burning, especially afterwards. Boy the other day I wore a pair of slip on penny loafer flats that just about killed my foot. I won't be wearing them again until my foot feels better.

Last night I went to dinner with a friend from my church. I picked an Italian restaurant close to my work - that I haven't been to in years. The restaurant is in an old church, yes - she is a friend from church and we had dinner in a church ;-) The church was built in 1897. It is a beautiful interior and exterior with what appears to be all of the original woodwork and lovely stained glass windows. Some of the pews are used for booth benches. The food was delicious. I had the Fettuccini pasta with shrimp, red peppers, gr. onions and garlic in a vodka tomato cream sauce. Yummmmm I am happy to say that I brought some home and will get to enjoy it for lunch today.

Speaking of today - Todd (husband) and I are going to look for a new snowblower today. Our snowblower of 25 years died this year. He tried to fix - took the carburetor apart - but no such luck - he took it to a small engine shop yesterday and left it there as a gift to be used as spare parts. I told him that could be his Christmas present. ;-) Our luck we won't need it this winter. Living in wisconsin, sometimes we get a lot of snow and sometimes - not so much. Oh well.

Well I smell the coffee - it is done brewing - I am going to have a cup, look at the paper and net for news and then head out for a walk with the dog. I am going to take my camera - it is extremely foggy this morning and I would like to get some nice pic's.

Enjoy the day!