Lemon Garlic Chicken with Spinach and Mushroom Rice

So Amazing Being a Star for a Day!

Click on the link below. The recipe is there too!

Here
My "Home Cook" Appearance on Windy City Live


First, let me say Thank You to everyone that helped to make this day the most Amazing experience ever!

Thank You to my biggest supporter My Bae aka Pop - Pop.  Without you holding all this down, I would not have had to time to do any of this. The Blog, The Recipe Book, being available to do a live TV appearance, Your Love for me Keeps Me.

My Girls - Kea and Niquey,Uh May Zing!  I called and you came and its what you always do, I love, love you!

Farrah Girl, I told you when we met I was going to put you in my pocket and keep you forever, (sorry about the pocket lint) I'm glad you kept me too. And that hair flip is the best! (see video)

To the Windy City Live Family, Producers and Staff, you made me feel so welcome! How amazing to be asked to appear on you show! Wonderful people from the audience asked me for my autograph and picture, I was blown away.

To Valerie Warner, maybe you could tell, but I think your beauty and grace lights up that place. And pleased as punch I got to do the segment with you! Sorry about the dress, JiJi said I could have my own show so when the Food Network calls, I got ya!

All in all it was a Really beautiful day in Chicago. The Pope and Me were on Live TV!


My Mom and Dad are beaming, what a gift of a day! I truly truly enJoyed!!

Planning, prepping, primping & practicing..

For what?

An amazing opportunity to be on a local TV Show here in Chicago as a "Home Cook"!

IKR? Uh maze ing!

I submitted to the show WINDY CITY LIVE here on the ABC network to be a "home cook" and appear on Live yes Live TV.

The recipe I submitted is a simple one (thank goodness) and I though it might be a good idea to put it up on the blog.

You know in case people want to try it.

If you want to see the whole dish well I hope you watched. May post Video if I didn't burn it.

My 1st DIY Crafting Project

DIY Candle Holders

Made these candle holders for my daughter. Really hoped they turned out well..



Paint Pens & Rub On

Practice Swirls

"Rub On" harder than it looks


 

Finished!

I think they are super pretty.

This was more than a notion but not as hard as I thought. My artistic skills are nil so I'm happy with the results. Took a few hours including drying time for paint embellishment. Hope she loves them as much as I love her. Well, probably not.

Warriors that dash and other stuff..

Today I am washing muddy shoes and clothes and it's still raining.



Yesterday, PopPop and I went to sit with grandchildren while their parents and other friends and family ran a local obstacle course called Warrior Dash. It should have been called a mud mash.

Illinois is certainly not under a drought, we have a tropical rainforest growing in the back yard. So with already wet ground and after a brief downpour out in the middle of the corn fields of Channahon, IL, we spectators and dashers got all the mud you wanted and didn't want, at least on your shoes.

Because the run is designed to be muddy, dashers are encouraged to donate shoes for charity after the run.. I saw several people barefoot, in flops etc. after the run, even saw some shoes abandoned with socks in the grass parking lot, they were done in. My shoes are my favorite truly best shoe ever and cleaned up well. Thank goodness.

I met a woman covered in mud after the run, who said she got dirty again in the parking lot pushing out at least 10 cars stuck in the mud.

Because the lot was grass many cars got stuck in mud trying to depart. Son in law and PopPop and many other Warriors pushed out desperate souls and took mud to the face pushing behind tires for their good deed. I even heard a group of women chanting "Warriors" while pushing one out.

It was amazing to see people old and young, athletic and not, pushing themselves and others.

All in all it was a great day, with great beer, a well prepared turkey leg and my kids who like to do "cool" things and celebrate life.

When my Son in law started dating my Daughter, he remarked about how we would go to restaurants on a regular basis, not just for Birthdays or Graduations. "Red Lobster tonight? Olive Garden? Yes, its just a Saturday night".

In celebration of "not just a Saturday night" he treated the family to Outback. A fit meal for Warriors it was.

It is such a great pleasure as a Mother to see what was important to my Mother is still important to my kids and their friends.

That's celebrating life, living life, moving beyond fear and limitations or history, trying new things, treating life as an adventure to be cherished! I wish this for every one.

To all the Warriors, especially mine,  I salute you!

~M

Where did two years go? Living, loving, learning...

2  years being Mome' and Mommy and Daughter and Sister and yes Bae flew by.

Life is good and trying to keep it that way is exhausting but in the best possible way. 
After two years away from my last post we will keep this one light and breezy. 

Mood: Chicago House Music on the Radio, Yes Real Radio, speakers bumping this lil house.

We have had lot's of early mornings around here lately, so with the choice between dining out and a movie or a long nap well, as it should, the nap won.

Now we are up sipping bubbles, singin and rump shakin. After a light late supper of chicken and shrimp pasta salad. 

Got a Deep Fryer. My cast iron skillet is cursing me out, I can feel it looking at me with that sad disappointing look. But wow, Check @twitter for picture of the chicken. Amazing!

I tweeted that I would post the pasta recipe, it's below. 

The best thing about this dish is you can tweak it to your taste and change it depending on your mood or budget. Normally its just onion, mayo, egg and shrimp. I had a few extra veggies so I added them. You could add crab or shrimp or both works!

I also added Turmeric, please google and find ways to use it. This is a great one! It makes it so pretty and yellow.

Shrimp Pasta Salad Recipe ~ (kicked up)

In a Large serving bowl

Finely Dice and place in the bowl

1 tsp each

grated turmeric
fresh garlic
fresh jalapeno

2 tbsp each

red pepper
orange pepper
scallion
red onion

2 hard boiled eggs diced

1 bag fresh or 1 box dried pasta Spaghetti or Fettuccine boiled to directions (always salt pasta when cooking)

1 lb peeled de-veined shrimp lightly seasoned with salt and cayenne pepper about 1/4 tsp of each sauteed in 1 tsp olive oil until pink 

Place all the diced ingredients except Egg into the bottom of bowl

Drain and pour hot pasta over veggies in bowl and let sit 5 min (do not stir) heat from pasta will lightly soften veggies

On top of pasta add

shrimp, diced egg, 1/2 cup mayo and toss lightly

garnish with green part of scallion 

~Enjoy!

Beyond Belief

Church
In my youth was the pillar of our community and family. We married, christened babies, baptized and buried our families. We hosted celebrations of each other and life.
Today's church is less folksy. More are pillars of principle offering great support to ideals than community or even members.

I held a coat drive for a coworker who attends and is active in a large church here in Chicago. Which to me speaks loudly to what's problematic with theory and practice disparity in all things.
The rally call to practice what is preached. The example. The means and opportunity to be in benefit of the teaching, is what Church meant to me.

Now it's like being a Boy Scout via Internet, earning badges by simply signing on and sitting in the room with the scout masters prezi playing.
My Church is with my family, every time we gather in celebration or support.
The families in Church do gather, some in mass.

My question is why?

My favorite OM III, tweeted this article "Millennial Christians" http://m.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-faith/wp/2013/08/08/the-new-religious-fundamentalists-millennial-christians/

I found the article profound in light of my Daughters recent declaration of her desire to attend Church and sing in the Choir, delighting my very active Church Going Mother, currently struggling with challenges at her current Church.

All learning should be empirical to practice. The Church should be no exception.

Not the just an AUDITORIUM but the STAGE. Where we move beyond belief.

Perhaps in Burbonnais, I pray.

Always in love~ M

I AM..

It's my birthday. Today I'm 47 and as I do every birthday, I reflect. Reflection is part of what has allowed me to move forward in my life, over (yes over) stand and breath. Another part is being aware. Awareness is key because knowledge is power and power, like our sun, promotes growth. Must be aware to reflect, must reflect to grow.

I actually wrote the post below a while ago but never published it. I think it is a great way to "kickstart"* blogging again and is part of a focused reflection on the growth I seek in my life.

It's been 6 months since my last post. A lot has happened, beautiful new grand baby and many great experiences this summer have been great fodder for my blog and direction.

So just in time for the next "Life Class" with Oprah. I submit humbly the following-

Watching Oprah's "Life Class" I learned...

Putting Out Positive Energy: Why Your Life Depends on It!!! Read more -http://www.oprah.com/oprahs-lifeclass/Putting-Out-Positive-Energy-Why-Your-Life-Depends-on-It/2#ixzz1eK6P43nQ

I have always lived by the theory of "getting back" what you put out in the world. I strive to Not live for material growth opting instead for true personal development and deeper more meaningful connections with my life and the people in it. As a follower of people like Deepak, and Dr. Dryer, I have been moved before but...

One of the most moving things I have ever seen was the story of Tom Shadyac on Oprah. That is until I saw his story in his words. "I AM". Changed me.

Tom Shadyac was the hugely successful Hollywood director of such films as Liar Liar, The Nutty Professor, Bruce Almighty and Patch Adams. "I AM" The Film Site Click here

Then in 2007 he moved out of his 17,000-foot mansion and into—surprise!—a mobile home. He began giving away his income.

He participated in Oprah's Lifeclass on "Newton's Third Law,"  and said-

Newton's third law [of motion] or karma—however each of us chooses to name it—is something I've been aware of for years. I call it cause and effect: The energy that you put into the world comes back. In other words, the fruit is in the seed. You can't sow an apple seed and expect to get an avocado tree. The consequences of your life are sown in what you do and how you behave.

Our culture does not teach us this, but what happens in Vegas does not stay in Vegas. If you cheat in Vegas, it comes right home with you. If you cheat in Vegas, you walk home as a cheater. You lie awake at a night a cheater. You cannot escape it.

The one thing that advances a society is not technology or so-called development; it's love—that one principle.

We are all responsible for our own causes and the energy we put into the world. But our actions and reactions are intertwined, so my greed and selfishness may very well be creating a lack in someone else.

It's not up to us to judge the karma of anyone else. It's up to us to clean up our energy and our own karma and leave the results to the higher power that created this whole flipping thing.

We cannot go on like this, the way we treat each other, the way we look at life, the world economy, the way we think of things. The pain will come because if we sow a seed of separation, division, and disunity and disharmony, that is exactly the fruit we'll get.

When you do a loving thing, when you put out positive energy, you feel happy. This is how human beings are wired. So the goal of karma—if there is a goal—is not to put out positive energy in order to get some positive energy back. The goal is to put out positive energy and feel positive about your life. That's where the work is. That's why the true revolution is a personal revolution.


Viva la revolución yours, mine and ours!

I am here, I am you. I am love ~M