Easy Chicken Piccata

One of my husband's favorite foods is Chicken Piccata.  He has been asking for me to make it for at least a year, but I kept forgetting about it.  Until this week! I FINALLY made it last night.  Not only is it MUCH easier than I thought it would be, it was so good!  My husband (who is a bit of a Chicken Piccata snob) loved it! :) So, here is the recipe!   Ingredients: - 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (pounded flat) - Salt & Pepper - 1/3 cup all purpose flour - 1 stick of butter, softened - 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley - 1 lemon sliced - 2 tbsp capers - 1 can chicken broth   Directions: -  Season the pounded chicken breasts with salt and pepper.  - Place the flour in a large bowl and coat the chicken breasts in flour. - Melt about 2 tbsp of the butter in a large skillet over medium heat.  Cook the chicken until golden brown on each side, approximately 6-8 minutes.  While cooking the chicken, pour about half of the can of chicken stock into skillet. -  Transfer the chicken to a serving platter and cover to keep warm. - In the same skillet, add remaining butter, chicken stock, parsley, lemon slices and capers and heat for a few minutes.    Serve chicken breasts with sauce poured on top and serve with a side of pasta and spinach (or whatever you want...that's just what I did)    



  And that's it!! So easy and yummy! Enjoy!    

Easter Weekend Recap!

Having a 4 day weekend is always nice but the first day back to work is always pretty rough. That is my day today. I feel like I have been ran over by a train. What an awesome weekend we had though...so, it was worth it :)

Hubby and I had Friday off so we slept in, cooked breakfast and took a 4 mile hike thru the George Mitchell Preserve near our house. We had to be at the airport for our flight to Atlanta at 4 so we just hung around the house and packed until it was time to go. We flew into Atlanta that night and my Dad picked us up from the airport and we headed to his town, Lincolnton, which is about 2 hours away.

Saturday we just spent time with my family and ate a ton of good, Southern food :)

Sunday was the big day...the final round of The Masters, and we were there for every single second of it. IT.WAS.AMAZING. First we went to a sunrise service & breakfast at my Dad & Step-Mom's church then headed to Augusta National. This is our 4th year going, thanks to my cousin who has tickets, but this was our first year being there on Sunday for the final round. We got there as soon as the gates opened and stayed thru the end of the green jacket ceremony. By the end of the day our legs and feet were killing us and we were exhausted but we had SO much fun! The rules at Augusta National are crazy strict so you can not bring phones or camera's into the course (you have to walk thru metal detectors at the entrance and they THOUROUGHLY check your bags) so I did not get to take any pictures INSIDE the tournament but I took a bunch over the weekend and am going to "borrow" some from the tournament from a photographer that was there. So, I am going to do a full Masters post tomorrow! :) ( We even made it on TV 3 times! Whohoo! )



Monday morning we woke up, packed our suitcases again and headed back to Atlanta to fly home. But, we stopped at the best place on the way... Blue Willow Inn in Social Circle, GA. It is an old Antebellum mansion in a tiny little town with the BEST southern cooking buffet you can imagine. We had fried chicken, fried green tomatoes, collard greens, mac & cheese, cornbread, pecan pie, peach cobbler and more! I swear we gained 10 lbs each during that meal.



We had such a fun, short weekend with family and seeing Bubba Watson win The Master's...now it is back to work and life! As of now I do not have to be in an airplane again until the end of May when we go to Mexico for our anniversary. Praise the Lord!! I feel like I live in airports these days. Hope you all had a great weekend and Happy Easter!

{Tasty Tuesday: Louisiana Seafood Gumbo}

Hellooooo from Baton Rouge, LA everyone!! :) In honor of my trip here and the massive amounts of gumbo I will be eating this week, here is a yummy recipe for some Louisiana style gumbo!

Ingredients:

1/2 c. vegetable oil
1/2 c. all-purpose flour
4 stalks celery, chopped
2 med. onions, chopped
1 sm. green pepper, chopped
1 sm. can tomato sauce
1 qt. water
1/2 tsp. dry whole thyme
1/2 tsp. parsley flakes
1 qt. chicken broth
1 lbs. crab meat
Gumbo file
1 clove garlic, minced
2 pkg. smoked sausage
1 1/2 lbs. shrimp
1 pkg. ham chunks
4 crabs
1 bay leaf
Oysters (optional)

Directions:

To mix roux (base), heat oil in bottom of heavy pot, sprinkle flour and stir until a light brown. Stir in celery, onion, green pepper and cook until tender. Saute the smoked sausage and ham with the seasonings. Add tomato sauce. Add chicken broth, water, and seasonings and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes. Add seafood and cook for 1 1/2 hours on low fire. Add file gumbo after everything else is cooked. Serve over hot rice.

A fun, Christmas filled weekend!

~ We went to our 1st Christmas party of the season Friday night. It was hubby's company party at Hotel Zaza in Houston and it was so much fun. I love getting all dressed up for holiday parties! We even stayed the night at the hotel because they had really cheap rates for his company. We had a room that was about 20 feet from the pool and if any of your have been to Hotel Zaza in Houston, you know how cool that is :) More pictures to come tomorrow!



~ Saturday we had brunch @ Empire Cafe (one of our favorite's) then knocked out a TON of Christmas shopping. We spent hours in Williams Sonoma, Costco, Pottery Barn and Anthropolgie.

~ Our feet were hurting from not sitting for so long so we decided to go see Breaking Dawn. It was a little slow in the beginning and it was driving me crazy how depressed Bella was throughout the first half but, it got really good eventually. I don't think it is as good as the first few in the Twilight Saga but still worth seeing. Can't wait for the final one to come out...that is when all the big action happens! We went home, ordered pizza, watched football and finished decorating our house and tree the rest of the night.

~ Sunday Chris went to the Texan's game ( WE WON! ) with his Dad and I spent the day cooking, baking and grocery shopping. I made the crockpot Italian chicken & pasta recipe that has been floating around Pinterest- it was DELICIOUS! I made gluten free strawberry & blueberry muffins for breakfast and baked some gingerbread cookies with homemade cream cheese frosting too. Our house smelled like an Italian restaurant and a bakery all day!

~ And last but not least....we got some REALLY, REALLY exciting news over the weekend but I can't share it yet! :) Hopefully in the next week or 2 though!! And NO, I am NOT pregnant!