One dish meal: Roasted Chicken, Carrots and Potatoes

In my quest to find meals that my family will eat, I discovered a meal by accident. I am a huge fan of one-dish meals, because quite frankly, who likes to do the dishes? So, one night, I was trying to make a chicken dish (I honestly forgot the name of it), and I didn't have the white wine that the recipe called for. So, I decided to just wing it. Usually, this turns out badly, but it didn't this time.

I honestly eye-ball this recipe, but I am going to try to give measurements.

3-4 boneless chicken breasts
4 red potatoes, diced
1lb baby carrots
1/4 cup olive oil
1-tsp Tumeric
1-tsp ground thyme
1-tsp garlic powder
1-tsp onion power
1-tsp poultry seasoning
1-tsp seasoned salt
salt and pepper to taste

-Preheat your own to 400 degrees.
Dice up your potatoes and set them aside. - In a small bowl, combine the olive oil and all the seasonings and spices and mix them well. Season your chicken with salt and pepper on both sides. Place the potatoes and carrots in a 9x13 baking pan/dish (I line mine with tin foil for easy clean up). Put the chicken on top of the veggies, and pour the seasoned mix over the veggies and over the top of the chicken coating evenly. I use a rubber spatula and mix the veggies in with the oil mix really good and make sure it is all coated well. I then season with salt over the top, then put it in the oven for about 35 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and the veggies are tender.

My husband and kids really like this meal and so do I. We usually have it once a week.

A Recipe

I am not a cook.Very truly, I am not. My kids are beyond picky, my husband is not a big fan of my cooking...so we stay in a slight rut of the same foods every week. Our menu usually consists of a makeshift tomato "sauce" and pasta, maybe spaghetti...flank steak, tacos...yea. It's boring. So, I ventured out into a recipe my husband found on WholeFoods.com,so I thought I'd share my experience with it.

Honey Glazed Pepper Crusted Roast

Honey-Glazed Black Pepper Roast Beef

The roast after it was seasoned with salt and pepper

The ingredients. Balsamic vinegar, pepper, coarse salt, and honey

 Serves 6 to 8

Enjoy this sweet and peppery beef with baked sweet potatoes or roasted broccoli. Leftover beef makes great roast beef sandwiches.

Ingredients

2 tbsp	coarsley ground black pepper
1 tbsp	coarse sea salt
1 (4 lb)	beef top round roast
6 tbsp	honey
3 tbsp	balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp	expeller-pressed canola oil

 Method

Preheat oven to 400°F. Rub beef all over with pepper and salt and place on a rack in a roasting pan. Roast beef, undisturbed, for an hour.

Meanwhile, whisk together honey, vinegar, and oil in a medium bowl. After 45 minutes of roasting, brush beef all over with honey mixture. Continue to cook 15 minutes then reduce oven temperature to 350°F. Roast 10 to 30 minutes more, until roast has reached desired degree of doneness, brushing it every 15 minutes with glaze. Note that the meat will continue cooking while it rests after being removed from the oven and the temperature will rise another 5 or 10 degrees. Let meat rest 15 minutes before slicing thinly. Serve with pan juices drizzled over the top.

It was pretty yummy!

**I followed the recipe exactly. The downfall, I am not sure if my oven is the culprit (sometimes it is), or what, but the meat came out over cooked. The flavor was really good, and I made smashed potatoes and green beans with it. Next time, I will cook it at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.

Halloween Part Deux

Halloween 2013 was a wet, windy evening that caused our city to decide to hold off on any festivities. So this evening, Brian and I decided to take L and A to Middletown, with another couple and a friend of ours and their kids. How fun it was! Now, there weren't a ton of houses giving away candy, but seeing my two year old run with his big brother and the other kids was just gave me joy. A is on the autism spectrum, and he managed to see his Spiderman mask on for a good chunk of the evening {which is a huge accomplishment!!} Having that time together with my family and friends was just awesome.

The next eight weeks will be interesting to see how they work out. I ended up in four classes for this term, and two are quite extensive {math and biology...gulp!}. I am also taking on babysitting my youngest nephew, Dalton whom will be eight weeks old, as well as my other nephew who is 14 months. I am tellin' ya, I don't know what I was thinking. :) It's gonna be crazy in the Williams household.

Still working my Thirty-One business, and loving it. It's starting out slowly, but if you love something, you can share it with others and God led me there so I trust His plans are going to be good for me. My long term goal is to become a Director with Thirty One.

So, I am going to link my Blog on Thirty One to this one, and you guys can keep up with all the awesome offers that Thirty One has to offer,

A New Opportunity

Life has been good and busy. My husband, our sons, school, Aidan's OT...it's all been a balancing act. The best part? I mentioned before that I felt led to join Thirty-One Gifts. Well, I made the leap on Friday, and received my kit today. To say that I am excited is an understatement. There are things that our family needs {like a second vehicle, extra income so we can save up for a house, paying off school loans...etc} and I want to help my husband in providing income.

I am giving this whole movement to God, because I can't do this without Him. I am not a saleswoman, am painfully shy until I get to know people and I am not pushy...so I am very much out of my element and out of my comfort zone. I want to live for Him, and I feel like I am being called into the Thirty-One Ministry.

So, if you don't have a Thirty-One Gifts consultant and are interested in their products here.

You can host an online party and earn free/half priced products, or even become a Thirty-One Consultant yourself. The rewards are great, and the incentives are awesome!

Emotional overload

I will forewarn you, my scarce amount of readers, that I am an emotional wreck. Why? I honestly have no clue. Life has been difficult lately {isn't it always?}, but the prospective that I have taken from two different situations and put them together has seriously just blown my mind. Hormonal imbalance probably plays into it as well, but oh well.

I am a Christian. You probably know that. I do not hide it. I am not the best at living the way my God has intended for me, but God help me, I am trying. I have discussed in a previous post, that my friend Three nearly lost her life due to pregnancy complications. She ran our city, and two surrounding cities OUT of blood. The beautiful thing about this is, she LIVED. God's healing hand was on her the entire time. He was in control. That just blows my mind, fills me with joy...I don't even know what else to say about it.

So, these past 3-4 weeks, a guy whom I have known for at least 15 years, has been going through some serious pain himself. I won't name names, or explain the situation for his privacy...but I will say this. I have encouraged him to read the Bible, the book of John to be exact and prayed for him. What never dawned on me, is that he has never heard the Gospel. He knows Jesus died for him on a cross, but that's it. I totally missed the point here, and now I am trying to figure out if I truly get it.

My heavenly Father loves me. He loves US. He wants US. He holds our lives, our world, in His mighty hands. HE is in control...and He wants whats best for us..Jeremiah 29:11-13 says, "11For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." 
Why are we walking away from Him? Why do we question His authority and try so desperately to do something on our own, only to fail? 

To be continued...

Late Birthday Pictures

I had every intention of posting the boy's birthday pictures. I did. But then, I saw how they came out and I was not impressed. So, instead of posting pictures of children with frosting all over their faces, I did a simple and quick photo shoot in our backyard. Aidan does not like his picture taken, so I am amazed these came out as well as they did. Liam, well, I had no worries. He is such a ham. So, here they are. My boys, at ages 8 and 2.

Close call..

What a week this has been! Making some major decisions, and saying "YES!" to God, and dealing with the near loss of my best friend. Aye...my brain is frozen.

So, we'll start from the beginning. My friend Three and I have known each other for years. We had about 3 years of no communication, but we came back around and are happy again. I reached out to her right after she'd found out she was expecting her 2nd child. Yay! I was excited for her. We met at Steak and Shake...and we talked for about 3 hours. We don't quite text on a daily basis, but I always checked in on her, and vise versa. Well, I knew this pregnancy was going to be complicated, but to hear how complicated it got is insane. Three was admitted into the hospital for placenta previa. She was hospitalized for a month. They had the intention of delivering baby Ella on August 5th, so she'd be 32 weeks. God had other plans.

Three's uterus ruptured and an emergency c-section was done along with a hysterectomy. Baby Ella was born, and was very strong. Three, well...she bled. A lot. In fact, she bled so much that they ran out of blood {they only used 58 units..only}. The doctors could have let her go, and but they kept trying. Three kept fighting. She was placed on a vent in CCU. I have never, in my life, prayed as hard as I did in those 24 hours. I am thankful for Facebook because had it not been for Facebook, I would not have known. So, today is four days after the fact...and she is alive and well. She is off the vent, sitting up in a chair and hopefully today, she'll be moved to a regular room. Ella is one strong little girl. At 31 weeks, she is off of the oxygen, and is taking a pretty good amount of food. Praise be to God! I am telling you, it's all a miracle!

So, saying "yes!" to God entails some risk taking, of course. I have been playing with the idea of being a Thirty-One consultant for years. I love their bags, and knowing a friend of mine is a consultant herself and is very successful excites me. I have thought about it for two years, but fear of not succeeding always stops me. I researched, and researched some more...and found out that there is no obligation. You buy the starter kit, which gives you some pretty awesome bags...and your goal is to sell $200-300 worth every quarter. If you don't sell, you still keep your stuff and you keep going. I want to contribute to serve God, contribute to our income, pay off school loans, and maybe take my kids on a trip. I feel like this could be the way to go. So, I prayed about it, and I think it's time to say "OK! Let's do this!" So...I plan on joining at the end of August or beginning.

I never post pictures on here because I simply forget. So, here is some pictures that are long over due.

Aidan at Emily's Birthday party at Incredible Dave's.

Hailey at the party too.

How sweet is this little man? My nephew Lucas

What can I say? My brother, Lucas and Hailey

Happy Birthday Boys!

My babies are growing up so quickly. Thursday, Aidan turned 8. How can I seriously be old enough to the momma to an 8 year old? It blows my mind how time has passed.

He is very camera shy, but he is so incredibly loveable. My sweet son, as I have mentioned before, is in the autism spectrum. He is sensitive to loud noises, large crowds and loves to play in his "own world". He is one smart cookie, has a love for science, the movies "Cars", "Monsters University" and the cartoon "SpongeBob".

Friday, the 19th, my sweet Liam turned 2. He is the opposite of Aidan. He loves his picture being taken, doesn't know a stranger and loves music and dancing. He is quite the flirt, and just loves attention. He absolutely loves balls, trains, balloons and books. He loves trying to hit a baseball with the small bat he has. He loves the cartoon "Bubble Guppies".

We invited a few family and friends over to our house for a small birthday party on Saturday. Taco bar, cupcakes, and fellowship...it was fun. Our house was full but the kids had an absolute blast.

Happy Birthday to my sweet boys. Can't believe they are already 8 and 2! Slow down, babies...don't grow up so fast.

Home Sweet Home!

We have been in our new home for about three weeks or so. It has definitely been a transition for us! This house is about 200-300square feet bigger than our apartment. We truly love having a washer and dryer in our home, and the ability to do laundry in our home! The kitchen is definitely bigger, and it is so awesome that the boys have their own rooms now! So, we painted our "master bedroom", the bathroom and kitchen. The backyard is overtaken with tree roots and the sun really doesn't get through the trees, so we don't really have anything but mud back there. Over all though, we are really happy to have a "home". We have no intention of moving again for quite some time.

 

In His Perfect Timing

I sit back and look at what our lives have become and what has been going on. I am amazed. God knows what He is doing, and it is done in His perfect timing. Brian has been moved to 1st shift, finally. We prayed and hoped his permanent placement would be first shift, and God delivered. We look forward to rejoining our Sunday morning bible group that we have missed since November.

This past week was my trying to adjust to live without the hectic schedule of rehearsing for MWS' concert. I was tired exhausted, and struggled a lot. But, I made it through. Saturday, we had a call time of 2:30pm for choir. We sang this weekend. Awesome, awesome, awesome. We sang "For The Sake of The World", and "Great I Am". Very powerful and moving. I love serving in the choir.
Before we went on the stage, BJ said he had an announcement to make. We were all excited, as I think everyone had a sneaking suspicion that we were going on another trip. Saturday night, we came home and ate. I made homemade Sweet and Sour Chicken from Pinterest. We ran a little late, so the chicken was a little dry...but all in all it was good.

Sunday morning, we made it to church and after yet another amazing worship service...BJ announced that MWS is doing a Patriotic themed concert in Washington D.C. We were invited. YA! :) How amazing is that?! We don't know how much the trip will cost, but I know that the Lord will provide for this amazing opportunty. I hope to take my family with me this time. I know Aidan would absolutely LOVE D.C. as he has been asking for us to go here lately. He wants to visit the cemeteries. There are a ton of free things to do in DC, so I know we'll enjoy it. Bonus? It will late summer, so it will be WARMER. Yeah! God is so good, and using the choir to help bring the Gospel to DC is just fantastic.

NYC: Such an amazing experience! WITH PICS

I decided to make NYC all one post. So, I have added all the pictures that I have seen so far. There are more, I just haven't been able to get them off of my camera yet. ENJOY!


NYC was cold. Very cold. But OH so amazing. So, here's a brief detailed recap:

Thursday: Woke up at 5:15am, dressed and made sure I had everything. A sweet friend of from choir, Vicki, picked me up for the airport. We arrived, checked in and got through security like a breeze. We got to the gate and took a few photos.


 We boarded and were off. We had a connecting flight in Detroit, and caught that with no problems. The flight from to NYC was not bad, with the exception of the turbulance landing in NYC. Trying to see the city and the Statue of Liberty while landing was not fun. In fact, it was downright nauseating. But, we landed and found our guide and got on the shuttle. We finally made it to the hotel, which was the Sheraton New York. Beautiful hotel.

The front of the Sheraton :)

 We didn't get our rooms right off the bat, so we decided to start our adventures. First stop, the 9/11 Memorial.

The WTC

 

Some of the names on the wall

This is the tree that was saved from Ground Zero.

Some more of the names...you can see the waterfall behind it. It was beginning to freeze.

 

 

 

The Memorial was beautiful. The only thing that could have made it better was if it was warmer. We went through (security is REALLY tight), and it wasn't very crowded. They had the north pool off because the fountain was freezing. The south pool was in the process of freezing over. I took a few pictures, but I don't feel like I was really able to appreciate it because I was frozen.

After we left the Memorial, we headed to St. Pauls church (the church across the street that remained undamaaged after the attacks), but it was closed. Back to the subway, where our group split up. Most of them went to the Empire State Building. I, however, had to go back to the hotel because I left my ticket at the hotel. So, my roommate Velvet and I headed back to the hotel. We got there, got our bags and went to our room. Velvet's friend called and asked us to walk to Time Square with her. I being stupid, left my hat and gloves in the room. It.was.cold. Holy shenanigans. We walked.and walked. We then were invited to a restaurant, called Carmine's. It's very similar to Buca Di Beppo here in Louisville. They had already eaten, but had some left over so Velvet, her friend and I had a bit of lasagna and salad. It was delicious. Very happy with the food. Velvet and I decided to head back to the hotel, and froze on the way back but we stopped in at a few stores. I did not buy anything, although I sure wanted to. When we got back to the hotel, I met up with two other roommies and we went to a little deli next to the hotel. I had a piece of cheesecake. Ahh...it was heaven.We went back to our room and headed to bed, as we had to wake up super early for a meeting.

Friday: Up at 6:30am for a 8am meeting at Calvary Baptist Church. Here, we met David Hamilton (MWS producer), Roy Hayes with True North Productions (the company who organized this amazing event)...and of course, Michael W. Smith and his beautiful sweet wife, Debbie. After the meeting, the "friends" (or guests of the choir members), went back to the hotel with MWS for a Meet and Greet. The choir stayed at the church, were we rehearsed from 9am-4:30pm (with a 1.5 hour lunch in there). After the rehearsal, we had to decide what we were going to do. I had no interest in trying to go back to the Empire State Building, so I headed back to the hotel. Some took a short nap, and I took a shower and checked e-mail. Lorneth (roomie) and I headed to get a pizza and to a drugstore for some medicine. We ended up finding the Late Show with David Letterman's building. We also found the imfamous Ellen's Startdust Diner. We heard from our choir director's wife, Carrie, that it was amazing and the singers were awesome but it was best after 10pm. We were not out that late, so we decided not to go. We bought our pizza from Angelo's Pizza. My portion was burned so it was not good. Back to the hotel we went, after sitting up talking for a bit, we went to bed so that we could go to our Meet and Greet with MWS at Carnegie.

This is MWS at the church, before rehearsal

 

The Calvary Baptist from the back.

*Picture by Major*

 

SECC's amazing choir director, BJ (in the black). He joined us to sing :)

 

 

I have no idea why I am smiling. Ha!

 

My roomie, Lorneth

 

I was pointing at the other row that I was going to stand with at Carnegie...althought it didn't work out that way.

 

 

 

 

Saturday: Up at 8am. Went to Starbucks for my white mocha. Paid $5 for that mocha. We head down the street to Carnegie, and arrive. I drank half of my mocha, and this guy came running out of the office and told me I could not bring my mocha with me, it would need to be put in the trash receptacle. I was a little very upset, but I obliged. We walked into the Carnegie Hall. It was pretty awesome to be in there. I sat down, and then I saw three people walking in with large Starbucks cups with no.lids. Sounds petty, but $5 is a lot of money. I was very upset over that. But, you know what, it is what it is. So, we were then led to the room were Michael W came in to do pictures with each person.

Michael W. and I at the Meet and Greet. He is so down to earth, and sweet. Very humble.

 

Michael W. and my roomie, Heather

 

Michael W. with Lorneth and Brandon.

 

And last, but not least...my roomie Velvet with MWS :)

 

11:30am, we left Carnegie. My roomies and friends and I headed to the Stardust Diner. O.M.Gosh. How amazing it was. The experience, that is. The food...ehhmm...not so much. Overpriced and well, mediocre food. I ordered loaded fries. Still ended up with a $21 bill, but ya know, like I said the experience was great. Watching the waitstaff singing was just awesome.

First waitress, belting it out.

Lorneth and her son, Brandon

Me :)

My overpriced, mediocre fries.

 

The outside of the diner

 

After leaving the diner, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for dress rehearsal at 1:15pm. Sitting on the stage, in Carnegie Hall was incredible. I fell in love with that feeling. I am not very obvious in these pictures, but look for then grey sweater HA!

I am next to the lady in the blue shirt at the bottom in the middle.

 

Rehearsal (no I am not in this one)

 

I am on the bottom right, again, next to the last in the blue shirt.

 

 

 After rehearsal, we rushed to the Subway, where we purchased our subway tickets for Sunday morning church. We then headed to the hotel to dress. It was surreal to be honest.

Me, before the big event. Didn't have anyone to snap a picture, so I did it myself.

The Big Event: We arrived at Carnegie at 6:15. I was placed in a different row, which happened to be the very front row, inbetween percussion. We filed onto the stage, and sat down. The concert began. The Holy spirit filled the room, and it was the most incredible feeling. Watching people in Carnegie Hall, stand up and lift their hands in worship. I fought tears and got choked up many of times. It flew by, and ended so quickly. 6 months of planning, anticipation, and two weeks of quick rehearsal and God took it in His perfect hands and made a beautiful masterpiece of heavenly voices...and I was a part of it. It is truly humbling, that little old me got to sit on the stage of Carnegie Hall, with Michael W. Smith and sing my heart out.

*The following photos were taken by our amazing photographer, Major. We were not allowed to have cameras in Carnegie Hall (though MANY people did)* Thus far, I have no found a photo of me during the actual concert. I was seated in a very bad area from a photographer's POV (between percussion and orchestra). So...here is what I do have.

During the concert.

 

 

MWS, what an amazing man of God he is! So blessed to have met him and sang with him.

After the concert was over, we loaded onto a shuttle and boarded a cruise ship. The dinner cruise was amazing. We ate a delicious dinner of prime rib, salad, rice and veggies, and rolls. Kind of funny, because the buffet table was about a foot too high for me, so it was difficult for me to see what I was getting. HA! I forgot to get a picture of the dinner, as I was STARVING...but it was delish! I sat there, taking in this elegant ship and the people I was surrounded with. I finally met up with our amazing choir director, BJ. We took a group snapshot. When dessert was served, we ate New York cheesecake (YUMMO!), chocolate cake (another YUMMO!) and a mini-ice cream. I simply couldn't eat it all. Michael W. and Debbie made their appearance and we thanked them for the amazing experience...and just like that, it was over. We left, got back on the shuttle and headed back to the hotel, where we packed because as soon as church was over, it was back to the hotel to board a bus to the airport.

Not the best picture, but this is the inside of our cruise ship

Two sweet friends of mine :)

The NYC skyline in the background

My roomie, Heather.

Lorneth, Me, BJ (our choir director) and Velvet

My delicious dessert plate. That was after I got ahold of it. Notice I didn't eat it all. But it was SOOO good!

Heather and her son, Tyler

The Smiths. Debbie and Michael thanking everyone for the incredible experience

Michael leaving the boat.

Here are the professional shots from the boat

This is the outside of our boat

My "travel family". From L to R- Lorneth, Velvet, Me, Brandon (behind me), Kelly, Heather, Rick (behind Heather) and Tyler

 

Lorneth, Me, Michael Daniel, Velvet...and I don't know who the redhead is.

Sunday morning: We rose after I don't know...3 hours of sleep? We got dressed and met in the hotel lobby with our room. Can you imagine? 75-100 people in the hotel lobby, following to mod the streets and subway of Manhattan? :) Fun stuff! We got to the subway...and as our group was waiting for the train, something amazing happened. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_M-f9hn8xs

 

 

 

 

We made it to the Brooklyn Tabernacle for Sunday morning worship. It was a little out of my element, because they are very different from SECC, and I was exhausted so I had a hard time staying awake. But, all in all, I got a meaningful message out of it. After service, we made a mad dash to the subway to get back to Manhattan, to the hotel. And just like that...within an hour or so, we were boarding a plane and on our way home.

On this trip, I learned to hem (which my sister will love because I won't have to pester her anymore), I learned to turn anything and everything over to God. Waking up at 3AM with stomach issues, and Lorneth praying over me...the pains went away and I slept. It was good. I remember praying that I would be shown what I was supposed to be seeing/taught or why I was there...and I am still not sure why I was chosen. I am not sure why God put me there...but I am truly grateful to be little old me who was able to praise Him in the most incredible way. I sang and praised Him in Carnegie Hall on a stage in front of 3,000 people. Amazing!

I want to say "THANK YOU!!!" to those who made this trip possible. I cannot express my gratitude enough. It was a long six months, but GOD worked through these amazing people, and I am just in awe. So, thank you, thank you, thank you! You know who you are, and I am truly blessed to have you in my life.

**Disclaimer - Most of these images are mine. I took them. The professional images are by our amazing photographer, Major. I have not have all of them yet, and not all of them are posted yet, so there is more to come, I promise.!!**