jennifer, Author at Hopeful Homemaker

Chicken Rollups

January 10, 2010 jennifer Main Dishes

My mom used to make these sometimes when I was growing up.

One thing I love about this recipe is that it requires only 3 ingredients; five if you wish to add salt and pepper. The list consists of: chicken tenders, sour cream and Corn Flakes Crumbs.

I guess it’s not much of a recipe in some ways, as you just use what you need of the 3 ingredients, so no real measurements are involved. I prefer to make these roll-ups with chicken tenders, as they are smaller, cook faster, and don’t seem to dry out much. So, figure out how many chicken tenders your family needs, and flatten each of them by placing the chicken inside a ziploc bag and pounding on the chicken with a mallet until it is about 1/4 inch thick.

Now, get a shallow cereal bowl and pour about 1 cup of Corn Flakes Crumbs into it. (You can crush your own corn flakes if you’d like, but I prefer to just keep a box of the crumbs on hand so my kids don’t eat my ingredients without realizing.) Lay a flattened piece of chicken in the bowl.

Now take a spoon and scoop some sour cream into another small bowl. This is because you don’t want the spoon that touches the raw meat to go in and out of your sour cream container. Take about a tablespoon of sour cream and spread it over the top of the chicken.

If you want to, sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper over the sour cream.

Now start at the widest end of the piece of chicken and roll it up, securing it with a toothpick.

Place your roll-up on a baking sheet and repeat with your remaining chicken until all the pieces are prepared.

Now bake at 350 for about 20 minutes, then check for doneness. This isn’t something you want to overcook.

TaDa! Simple, pretty and actually quite yummy. My kids like these a lot, and people are always surprised that it’s only sour cream rolled up inside the chicken. It’s one of those deceptively simple recipes.

Enjoy!

One comment cooking

Last Look at the Manger

January 9, 2010 jennifer Christmas, Musings on Life and Beauty

It wasn’t very hard for me to say goodbye to Christmas and pack up the decorations… until it came to the manger.

My heart lingered here, reluctant to carry it to the basement. I realized that this was probably my last Christmas to lay my own baby in the manger for our annual re-enactment of the nativity. The realization made my heart ache.

In an effort to appreciate the wonder of this stage in life while it is still mine, I dressed my infant in white and carefully laid her in our own little manger for some photos.

Gratefully, I was able to capture it in a way I feel pleased with. I love the way the light was shining on her face. It reminds me how much light is in her, how much light she has brought into my heart and into our family.

The words of a favorite song kept running through my mind, “dressed in white, filled with light, what wonder did I see?”

The next lyrics say, “What I feel, what I know, leads my heart to sing, ‘I will praise thy name, praise thy name from day to day.” As my own heart was weeping a little at the idea of moving past this moment, it hit me how very blessed I am, to have experienced this wonder EIGHT times! I realized that instead of weeping, I should joyfully praise my Heavenly Father for sharing this with me.

In the above picture, she is playing with her oldest brother. How marvelous it is to watch your older children bask in the wonder of a baby. In the photo below, I love the bokeh of the white lights on the tree behind her.

Again, I LOVE the light. The white is so white, her smile so pure, her eyes so clear.

Years ago I read a line in one of Sara Teasdale’s poems, which says “children’s faces looking up, holding wonder like a cup.” For many years now I have wanted to capture the feeling of that line in a photograph of one of my children. In this setting, I feel like I did, as my baby gazed up in wonder at all the world around her.

And because I’ve never been in love with a baby’s feet like I have with these little ones, I took a few of her toes for good measure.

Sigh. How glad I am that I listened to my mother’s heart that morning, and captured a moment I don’t ever want to forget. It made me think a little of Mary, the mother of Jesus. I wonder how she felt when they left the stable, if her feelings were bittersweet. I’ve never thought of it before. We spend a month at Christmas celebrating the manger, yet it was a dirty place where animals lived. Surely she was a little bit relieved to put it behind her, and somewhat overwhelmed by the many physical needs that both she and the baby had. Yet if she realized that prophecy had been fulfilled in that dirty place, then part of her must have paused to mark the moment, to hold it in her heart for future reference. I wonder how many mothers throughout history have stood on the threshold of time, anxious to move on but reluctant to leave. I wonder what Mary thought as they left the stable. I wonder if any of her feelings paralleled my own.

A stable moment. My grateful heart sings.

2 comments baby, beauty, Christmas, parenting, photography

Surprise!

January 9, 2010 jennifer Color, Dishes

I love it when Camille Roskelley posts on her blog . I’m in love with the colors she uses on her blog, in love with her red polka-dotted chair, her quilts and fabrics, and in awe of what she’s accomplished with her business at her age.

A few days ago she posted this post about things that are her current favorites. Inspired by what she had there, I went to this site and decided I wanted some bowls, too. And I will freely admit that it’s purely a COLOR thing. I’m not the biggest fan of melamine dishes but I’d be happy to make an exception for these colors.

The next morning I called Macy’s and discovered that the one closest to me had some in stock. Yippee! I put a set on hold and planned to just zip down while the older kids were in school.

Then my better judgment took hold of me. Did I really want to take 4 little children to the mall? Nope. The longer I postponed, the wiser I was. Soon I’d come to grips with the fact that I didn’t NEED the bowls, no matter what color they were, and so I never went to buy them. (Victory for me, I thought. I can write this down in my One Step journal under discipline!)

I mentioned to my husband that it felt good to make that choice, that I was proud of myself for saying no.

Later that night when I came home from our last carpool of the night, he hugged me and told me there was something in my office….

Inside was this….

which held these….

Wow! What a sweet thing to do. I ran back to the kitchen to give Mr. Wonderful a big kiss and hug before opening the box to drink in the colors.

Need another look?

As Camille said, “YUM.” Right now they’re sitting on my kitchen counter because I like looking at them too much to put them away. There’s nothing like color to brighten up a winter day. Thanks, Mr. Wonderful!