Food Friday - Chicken Out

In addition to this week’s recipe, I offer you a few observations on life courtesy of  my experiences with this week’s recipe.

1. Ever thinking that you will be ahead of the game is wasted thinking.  

It seems that no matter how much I plan and schedule and prepare and believe that I have things under control, I don’t.  This week was an object lesson in that.

During the school year, I try to cook ahead, sometimes it is whole meals and sometimes just ingredients so that I can throw together a quick meal when I get home.  On Sunday, I roasted two chickens.  Some of the meat I used immediately to make a chicken chili for a friend, some was for this week’s recipe, and the rest was going in the freezer.  Wednesday, I got the chicken out to make and photograph this week’s Chicken and Shells.  Just as I was starting, the contractor working on our landscaping wanted me to come outside and decide which way I wanted the gate to swing.  I left the ingredients on the counter only to return three minutes later to find the baggie of chicken no longer on the counter, but on the dog bed under my desk where there also sat a very full black lab.  That not only put an immediate stop to this week’s recipe preparation, it also meant that we had nothing for dinner that night, and my husband had no lunch the next day.  This is where planning ahead gets you.  I thought that I was being so clever by scheduling such that I would get the work done for the blog, and dinner, and the next day’s lunch all done at once and I was completely thrown off by an arthritic black lab who has trouble getting up and down stairs, but managed to get up on his hind legs to steal the meat of a whole chicken!  We had Taco Cabana for dinner that night.

2. The whole is usually greater than the sum of the parts.

We usually photograph all of the ingredients and the preparation of our recipes here.  I did that with this recipe, but the photos weren’t…well, they just weren’t pretty.  Technically they were OK, but that’s it.  Gorgonzola cheese is not pretty.  Flour and cream are not pretty.  And the there’s the whole meat thing.  

I can’t bring myself to photograph meat, especially raw meat.  I do eat meat, but not very often and I have to admit that I don’t cook it very well.  When we eat meat at home, most often it is prepared on the grill, and not by me.  Going back to the chicken mentioned earlier, my husband does all of the cutting and de-boning.  I just can’t do it.  Yeah, I am a walking contradiction!

3. Multitasking…

I can’t do it!  If I could, I probably would have done something differently and protected the chicken from the supposed arthritic dog.  Also, my inability to multitask clouds my opinion about the ease of preparation of this recipe.  It probably is not terribly time consuming, but when you stop and attempt to photograph each step along the way, it seems more cumbersome to prepare than it probably actually is.  In my defense, I have yet to burn anything because I have been more concerned with photographs than cooking, so maybe there is hope that I may one day become an efficient multi-tasker.

4. I have found my photographic calling - garlic portraiture!

As I said, most of the ingredients used today were not visually appealing to me.  The garlic was the exception…and the garlic keeper.  The garlic keeper is one of the relatively few things that I kept from dad’s home.  It sat on the counter.  Always.  And it always contained garlic that my dad had grown in his garden.  That’s why I kept it.  Now it sits on my counter, with garlic…that I buy at the grocery store.  Some day, I will grow my own garlic as my dad did.

Pasta shells are kind of pretty too.

When you attempt to share a new recipe every week, you realize how repetitive your eating patterns are!  I always thought that I cooked a variety of things, but as Tracey and I put our heads together mapping out the recipes for the coming weeks, we realize that we are now sharing new found recipes rather than personal favorites.  Such is the case with my contribution this week.  Chicken and Shells is in the current issue of Cuisine at Home magazine.  I love this magazine!  It is now the only cooking magazine for which I still have a subscription.

And (finally) the recipe…

Chicken and Shells

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound medium pasta shells

2 boneless, skinless chicken breast seasoned with salt and pepper

5 TBS olive oil, divided

2 TBS all-purpose flour

2 TBS minced fresh garlic

1 1.2 Cups low-sodium chicken broth

1 1/2 Cups heavy cream

10 oz. Gorgonzola, crumbled

2 sprigs fresh rosemary

1 Cup fresh bread crumbs

1/4 grated Parmesan cheese

2 TBS chopped fresh parsley

1 tsp minced lemon zest

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Coat a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray.

Cook the pasta according to the package directions.  Drain and transfer it to a large bowl.

Saute the chicken in 2 TBS of olive oil over medium heat until an instant read thermometer inserted into the thickest part registers 165 degrees, *about 6 mines on each side.  (*It took about eight minutes on each side for mine to be cooked through.)  remove from the pan, let cool, and then shred.

Using medium heat, add another TBS of olive oil to the pan used to cook the chicken.  Which in the flour and garlic.  Cook for one minute.  Gradually whisk in the garlic and the cream, then add the Gorgonzola and the rosemary sprigs.  Do not strip the the rosemary leaves.  Add the entire sprig to infuse the sauce with the herb flavor.  Return the chicken to the sauce.  Bring to a boil then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until thick, about ten minutes.

Remove the rosemary sprigs.

Combine the sauce with the pasta.  Transfer to the prepared baking dish.

Combine breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, parsley, lemon zest, and remaining 2 TBS of olive oil.  Sprinkle this mixture over the pasta.

Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

In the interest of full disclosure, I did not use the parsley or the lemon zest in the topping.  I forgot to buy the parsley and decided that the lemon zest wasn’t necessary without it.  Other than that, I made the recipe exactly as it was in the magazine.

And we are having it for dinner tonight.



By Tracey G

Thinking on Kris's post, I have to say that every time I've tried, as well, to be ahead of the game, it seems to be a fail in one way or another. It's either on a small scale, or a rather epic fail as in the smart black lab who did not waste an opportunity for some yummy cooked chicken when it arose, lol.

 I had this week's recipe that I'm sharing, all done and prepared on Wednesday, but it never fails that something prevents me from stringing more than 2 minutes together to get the shots processed, and then put together with words in a manner that makes sense, lol before Friday afternoon or like today, Friday evening. I guess this is the life of having a 6 yr old in your home, lol. That's where my minutes go, most of the time happily, some of the time not so happily, lol. I am hoping that when school starts this year, I will do better than last year in time management.

 It was all new to me last year, I had no idea what to expect, and I will admit I felt lost 90% of the time without Harry around. I feel like I wandered aimlessly through my days. (same feeling after my mom passed away and I was no longer driving her to dialysis 3 days a week, and being her caregiver with her living with me - was a culture shock when I lost her) By the time I started getting the hang of being home, alone, during the day, it was June and school was out. LOL I had just started to get a taste of how I could structure my day and boom, all wiped away with summer vacation, lol. But this year - I am hoping that I can hit the school year running and balance trying to be as involved in his school and class stuff as possible along with my self-imposed work from home projects that I adore, namely this blog, my photography and being a part of the Capture Your 365 Creative Team and CY365 community in general! But, we'll see.... I think Kris and I have learned, or at least have been reminded over and over that planning ahead has not always equaled actually being ahead! :-)

Now, as far as this week's food offering, I don't think I have run across any recipe, ever, that has surprised me as much as this one. I never expected such flavor from such simple ingredients as are found in this recipe, in this combination. And it's almost criminal how uncomplicated and effortless this dish is, lol, but yet, tastes like you put hours into it! It's gone through some changes, and that sounds funny when I think about it, but it had a few other things as toppings along with the cheese, but I found that if I boiled it down to the basics, it was yummier and easier as less ingredients were needed to get it done.

And here we are - the ingredients. Yep. Just 3. Boneless skinless chicken breasts, prepared pesto and provolone cheese. Usually I use shredded, but this was all I could get my hands on and it worked just fine of course, lol. :-) 

Preheat your oven to 400°F. While it's preheating, time to put this together. Start by placing the chicken breasts in a 9x13 inch baking pan. The recipe calls for 4 breasts, but sometimes I only use 3 so I downsize my pan a bit. This go around I had 5 pieces of chicken.

Once the chicken is arranged in the pan, spoon the pesto over the chicken breasts. The recipe calls for 1/2 cup. I ended up using the whole 8 oz jar this time because I wasn't thinking and contaminated it all with raw chicken by using the same spoon to scoop it out of the bowl and to spread it around on the chicken, lol. Normally I just measure out what's needed and proceed from there, but in the sake of saving a step, I dumped the whole thing into the bowl (for the photos first) and scooped - fully intending on using that 2nd spoon I'd gotten for the spreading, lol, not one for both... Oh well, the pesto is the best part and it was just as yummy with all of it as only a 1/2 cup, lol. 

Once you get the pesto evenly spread on the chicken, it's time to bake it. Usually takes about 35-45 minutes for the chicken breasts to be cooked thoroughly, but I always get out my meat thermometer and check at the end of 35-40 minutes or so to see where I'm at with doneness. 

After you've baked your chicken and it's the correct temperature for proper doneness (which according to foodsafey.gov is 165°F and can be found here:foodsafety.gov Safe Minimum Cooking Temperatures), it's time to put on the cheese! Now, here's where I normally use the shredded provolone, but as you can see the deli-style slices worked just fine. Pop them back into the oven for 1-2 min or until the cheese is melted.

Once the cheese is melted and as browned as you'd like, pull it out and let it rest for about 5 minutes  (I've let it sit for 10 minutes before and had no ill consequences, lol) before serving. 

I served this batch with a garlic-buttered noodle that had some green beans mixed in, it was a bit of overload on green, lol, but it's one of the few vegetables Harry will eat these days, so I work them in a lot, lol. It is one of my favorite ways to do a quick side dish though, while the noodles are cooking I toss in a handful or two of frozen cut green beans, so that when the noodles are done, so are the beans and they're already tossed together that way - and then you can season any way you like :-) 

Pesto Baked Chicken

serves 4

Preheat oven to 400°F

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, about 6 oz each

1/2 c prepared pesto

1 c (4 oz) shredded provolone cheese

Place chicken breasts in an ungreased 9x13-inch baking dish, spoon pesto over chicken.

Bake, uncovered, at 400°F for about 35-45 minutes or internal temperature in the thickest part of the chicken breast reaches 165°F. Remove from oven and sprinkle with cheese. Bake 1-2 minutes longer or until the cheese is melted. Let stand about 5 minutes before serving. 

Food Friday - After School Snacks

from Kris B.

We all remember those days of getting home from school and rushing to the kitchen because we were starved.  A cookie or two and a glass of milk and then it was off to do homework while mom fixed dinner.  

School lunch schedules never seem to take into account the body's normal hunger patterns.  Lunch often happens way too early in the day, making for extremely long afternoons!  Even as an adult, I still get home from school in the afternoon's hungry.  The problem is that it is nearly 5:00 at that point and I am the one who has to fix dinner!  I often find myself say, "I'll just have a little something to eat before I start cooking."  Well, that often turns into more than "a little something" and by the time dinner is ready, I don't really want it.  This is a terribly bad cycle!

These Peanut Butter Snack Bites are just enough to curb the appetite and take the hunger edge away before fixing dinner.  They have some protein, carbohydrates, fruit, and some sweetness to boost what is for me the inevitable afternoon slump.  And, rather than the childhood favorite of an accompanying glass of milk, it is an afternoon cup of coffee.  Another dose of caffeine helps with the much needed pick-me-up as well.  These may not be the absolute healthiest afternoon snack, but they certainly aren't the worst, either!

INGREDIENTS

2 TBS butter
2/3 Cup natural peanut butter
1/4 Cup powdered sugar
3 TBS honey
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 Cups Rice Krispies
1 Cup quick cooking oats
*1/4 Cup mini chocolate chips
*1/4 raisins
1/4 Cup finely chopped, lightly salted peanuts

This recipe makes me thankful for my 1980's Tupperware measuring spoon set that has 1/4  and 1/3 measures.  Normally I don't like recipes that require every measuring device that I own, but because you have to work sort of quickly as far as mixing the ingredients, pre-measuring and lining up all of the ingredients works best here.

You probably all know this, but in case you don't, here is a tip that is helpful when using a couple of these ingredients.  To ens ure that you get the full measure of the honey and peanut butter, or any other ingredient that may stick to the sides of the measuring cup, coat the measuring cup or spoon with a light coating of cooking spray.  This allows the "clingy" ingredients to slide right out and none is lost or wasted by sticking.

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan.  Remove it from the heat and stir in the peanut butter, powdered sugar, honey, and vanilla.  Once these are well-mixed add the Rice Krispies and the oatmeal.  

Let the mixture cool completely and then add the raisins and the chocolate chips.

* Because nothing is simple at my house, I make two batches of these - one with only chocolate chips, and one with only raisins, using 1/2 cup of each.  Though I like chocolate covered raisins alone, I really don't care for chocolate and raisins in my cookies.  So I opt for just the chocolate.  Big surprise.  LOL!  My husband also like chocolate covered raisins, but doesn't want chocolate in his cookies, so his batch is made with only raisins.  Because these are so simple to make, doing it twice is no big deal.

Once cooled, shape the mixture into balls.  I use a small cookie scoop to maintain uniformity of size.  Roll each ball in the chopped peanuts.  

Makes about 24 balls.

Store in the refrigerator.

As an aside, Tracey and I often discuss when and how we are shooting these blog photos.  As you may have noticed, the lighting in my kitchen is TERRIBLE!  Tracey has said the same thing about hers as well.  We all know how important good light is to good photos.  We all also know that bad food photos are some of the worst bad photography there is!  These two things make shooting the photos for these posts super challenging for me.  It is forcing me to better my photography skills...at least I am hoping they are improving a little bit.  We remodeled our kitchen a few years ago, before i was addicted to photography, land long before I thought that I would ever engage in food photography.  If I had known then what I know now, I would have designed the kitchen layout to maximize the light for photos rather than for ease of cooking. LOL.  Hindsight is always 20/20!



 by Tracey G

These are one of my favorite treats - a snack that I think works for any time of day, they're not too sweet and nicely tangy and lemony - which for me works anytime. So, as an after-school snack, they're perfect! Maybe not a whole lot of nutritional value, lol, but they sure do taste good and make you smile - and that can be very important after a long day at school, in any grade or any level, whether student, teacher or parent! :-)

I've searched for years for one that I like, last one I had tasted too "eggy" to me, the lemon kind of got lost in all the egginess of the flavor. So, after a bit of searching around, I found this recipe, and with a few tweaks that made it mine and to get it just the way I liked it and wanted it, this is the result, and I couldn't be happier. And apparently neither could Harry because he's been eating way more of these than he ever did of the old recipe! :-D And they are so easy! I actually had everything on hand - usually there's a couple ingredients I need to pick up for whatever treat I'm making, but not this one. Had everything I needed and it came together quickly, longest parts were taking the photos and the cooling time before the dusting of powdered sugar and eating! LOL

I actually got every ingredient  this time in the photo! LOL The players in this recipe are: flour, lemon juice and zest, powdered sugar, granulated sugar, eggs and butter. That's it. Pretty simple and even if I don't have fresh lemons on hand, which I pretty much always do, but I could even make it with bottled lemon juice and skip the zest. Not that I'd want to, but hey, if a craving hit - anything's in play and fair to use! ;-) 

Preheat the oven to 350°. In a bowl, beat the butter and powdered sugar...

...until smooth and well combined.

Gradually add in the flour until a soft dough forms. Press the dough in the bottom of a greased 9x13" baking pan. Bake 18-20 minutes or until lightly browned. 

Pour the egg mixture over the hot crust.

Bake 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned and lemon mixture is set. Cool completely on a wire rack, then dust with additional powdered sugar. Cut into squares and store the leftovers in the refrigerator - if there are any, lol.

Lovely Lemon Bars

3/4 c butter, softened

2/3 c powdered sugar

1 1/2 c + 3 tbsp all-purpose flour, divided

3 eggs

1 1/4 c sugar

1/3 c lemon juice

zest from one lemon (or more if you prefer!)

additional powdered sugar for dusting

 1) Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, beat butter and powdered sugar until well blended and smooth. Gradually add in 1-1/2 cups flour. Press into the bottom of a greased 9x13 inch baking pan. Bake 18-20 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

2) Meanwhile, in a small to medium sized bowl, whisk eggs, granulated sugar, flour, lemon juice and lemon zest until frothy. Pour over hot crust.

3) Bake 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned and lemon mixture is set. Cool completely on wire rack, dust with additional powdered sugar. Cut into squares. Yield is about 4 dozen. 

Food Friday - Breakfast. It's What's for Dinner!

from Tracey G.

This week's recipe has really been a trial to get accomplished! LOL I didn't plan on 90+ degree temperatures when I picked out a new recipe to try that needs to be baked...poor planning on my part! I thought for the fun of it I'd find something new to make, always looking for new stuff. So, I picked this recipe, sounded super simple and super yummy. Well, it was simple, until you have a grocery store than doesn't quite have the bread you need. Then the frozen blueberries I'd bought for it (as you can use frozen or fresh with this one, which was another appealing thing about it!) somehow never made it to the freezer. I found them on the dining room floor, still in the grocery bag - the next day. I have NO idea how that happened, how does one miss a grocery bag??? I guess though, that's what happens when you're not the one who puts the groceries away - Harry wanted to be helpful and since the Cool Whip had made it to the freezer, I figured so did the blueberries, lol. I was wrong. So, I had to get some more blueberries which also set me back, ugh.

And even the photos were a challenge this week as well, hence the reason there's so very few, I did what I could, and had to just admit defeat and call it good enough, lol. So, let's get to it... ;-)

Here's the ingredients to get started with - butter, bread, sliced frozen or fresh peaches and frozen or fresh blueberries. The bread is supposed to be a long loaf of French bread, cut into 20 slices. Of course my grocery didn't have any baguette style bread - just an already sliced loaf of Italian bread, and not very thickly. So, I ended up improvising, which proved be a bit troublesome down the road, lol, now, looking back, I see a few ways differently I could have done it, but oh well, next time I will when they don't have the right bread, lol. As for the other ingredients, I didn't get any shots of them, lol, it's definitely been a challenge getting this one accomplished! 

First you melt the butter and pour it into a 9x13" baking dish, I tilted the pan to coat the bottom. Then, you layer in your bread slices. You're supposed to layer half the slices, which if you have the correct bread, would be 10, lol. Since I had the Italian loaf to work with, I put mine in this way, as shown in the above photo. And since they were pretty thin, I doubled the bottom layer. (This whole thing was trial and error for me since I didn't have the proper bread - it really threw a bunch of things off! LOL).

This photo, above, shows the dish a few more steps into the process....after putting your first layer of bread in, you top with some of the peaches and some of the blueberries. You then top it with another slice of bread (in my case I used only one slice for the top layer) and then you top that with the rest of the peaches and the blueberries.

Now you mix up the custard part - milk, eggs, brown sugar, vanilla, nutmeg and salt. Once you have that mixed well, you pour it over top of the prepared bread and fruit. At this point you cover and refrigerate 2 hours to overnight.

Pull the French toast out of the refrigerator about 30 minutes before baking, preheat your oven to 350°. Meanwhile, you make the caramel sauce :-) This is a super simple little recipe on it's own, and I am going to use it for other things I think down the road, lol, vanilla ice cream for one thing! But anyway, you melt 1/2 cup butter and together in the microwave with 1/2 cup brown sugar, and cook it for about a minute. Then you add 3 tbsp heavy cream and 3 tbsp corn syrup and cook for about a minute longer until bubbly.

You take a 1/2 cup of the caramel and drizzle it over the French toast, then bake it uncovered for about 35-40 minutes, or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. For me, I ended up going about 60 minutes, but that's because of the bread configuration I'm sure, lol. You let it stand about 10 minutes, then drizzle with the remaining caramel sauce before serving! It's really yummy no matter what it looked like, lol.

I hope the next time I make it I have the right bread, but if not I have a few ways, now that I know how it comes together, that I think will make it a better turn out than this first run, lol.

Peach-Blueberry French Toast

courtesy of Taste Of Home

3 tablespoons butter, melted

1 loaf (1 pound) French bread, cut into 20 slices 3­1/2 cups sliced peeled fresh or frozen peaches

1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

6 eggs

2 ­1/2 cups 2% milk

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon salt

CARAMEL:

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup butter, cubed

3 tablespoons corn syrup

3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream

1) Pour butter into a greased 13­in. x 9­in. baking dish. Top with half of the bread slices. Layer with 2­1/2 cups peaches, 1/4 cup blueberries and remaining bread.

 2) In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, brown sugar, vanilla, nutmeg and salt; pour over bread. Arrange the remaining peaches and blueberries over top; cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.

 3) Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Place brown sugar and butter in a small microwave­safe bowl. Microwave on high for 1 to 1­1/2 minutes or until sugar is dissolved, stirring once. Add corn syrup and cream; cook 1 minute longer or until bubbly, stirring once.

 4) Drizzle 1/2 cup caramel over top. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 35­40 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving; drizzle with remaining caramel. Yield: 10 servings.


from Kris B.

What I have to offer this week seems more about reminders and resolutions than it does a recipe.  Here are my somewhat random thoughts in a random order that will eventually result in a recipe...sort of.

First of all, breakfast is my favorite meal.  Or perhaps more appropriately stated, breakfast foods are my favorite foods.  Oatmeal, eggs, bacon, potatoes, pancakes, fruit, French toast...it doesn't matter.  I love them all.  Therefore, when I am stuck for what to eat for whatever meal, I will usually reach for something "breakfasty."  This is how we arrived a this week's theme.

Though having breakfast foods for dinner sometimes feels like cheating as far as meal preparation goes, they really do make for a perfectly reasonable anytime meal.  Who decided that eggs are a breakfast food, anyway?  It is the perfectionist in me that somehow drew the conclusion that dinner should be well-planned, painstakingly prepared, and beautifully served.  I don't know where these ideas originated.  What I do know is that no matter how tasty, oatmeal or an English muffin with peanut butter doesn't really count as dinner in my mind.  Believing that dinner should be a more elaborate meal than the others sometimes keeps me from preparing a simple, but really perfectly acceptable to most, meal.  I share this week's recipe as a way to help myself shatter my own unrealistic expectations.

"Hash," as used here, means whatever you happen to have in the veggie bin in the fridge, a potato, and a fried egg on top for a little protein.  There are many different ingredients that can be used in this and equally as many seasoning variations that you can vary it every week and make it your own.  The ingredient that makes it worthy of being called hash is the potato.  Hash does not need to be well-planned or painstakingly prepared.  Quite the contrary.  It can be thrown together at the last minute with whatever ingredients you have on hand and the preparation requires nothing but dicing the ingredients.  It can, however, be beautifully served.

Here is my simple version.

INGREDIENTS
1 russet potato
1 sweet potato
1 zucchini
1 red bell pepper
1/2 medium yellow onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 TBS olive oil
1 TBS butter
Salt and pepper to taste

Microwave the russet and sweet potatoes for 8-10 minutes, depending on size.  You want them to be "not quite done."  This is a lesson I learned late in life.  Any kind of fried potatoes need to be partially cooked before they are fried or the outsides burn before the insides get done.  

While the potatoes are in the microwave, dice the other vegetables.  When the potatoes are done, dice them as well.  I leave the skin on the russet potato, but remove it from the sweet potato.  

In a heavy skillet, (I am partial to cast iron.) heat the olive oil.  Add all of the vegetables, but no potatoes yet.  Saute the vegetables until they are tender.

Add the butter and the potatoes to the veggies.

Cook the potatoes until they start to brown on the edges and have a little bit of "crunch."

While the potatoes are cooking, prepare a fried eggs sunny side up in a non-stick skillet.

Serve the egg on top of the hash.  And that's it!

Like i said, the variations here are endless...add herbs, spices, different veggies, or meat to create a meal that is suitable for breakfast, lunch, or dinner!

Tuesday in Texas - A Farewell to Summer!

Not that you would know this by the 104 degree temperatures here in Dallas, but summer, at least as it is known to those of us who are teachers, is winding down.  This is the last week that my husband and I are off together.  He returns to school on Monday for teacher in-service.  His first day with students is the 24th.  I have a little bit more time to ease back into the routine, with a few required appointments at school over the next two weeks, but classes don’t start in earnest until August 31st.

This has been a lovely summer break for us.  We had a good bit of “down” time at home, a fantastic vacation, lots of opportunities to spend time with friends, and we have accomplished many long-neglected household chores.  Though I am not really ready to go back to work, as I face the inevitable start of another school year, at least I can say that I am mentally prepared to return thanks to having twelve weeks off.

Perhaps the most significant revelation that I have had during my summer break is that running a household is a full-time job!  I now realize why so many things at home are left undone between August and June; we simply don’t have the hours in our days and/or the energy in our bodies to get it all done.  You would think that I would have figured this out a long time ago, while I had kids at home.  I guess during those years I didn’t have the time to give the whole scenario that much thought.

Our days have included getting dogs and cats to the vet for annual check-ups and vaccines, auto maintenance, air conditioner servicing, electrical work done, cleaning out the garage, sorting through closets, rearranging to make room for the things that came from my parents’ home, and lots of other smaller tasks.  When I list them here, it doesn’t seem like so much, but somehow, on top of regular stuff like laundry, dishes, dusting and vacuuming, our days have been packed full.  

We joked, well sort of joked, that one of us needs to retire and stay home so that the house would be clean and cared for more than two months out of the year!  I think back to the times when two incomes weren’t necessary and homemaking was respected.  Think about it.  What would life be like if the laundry was done before dinner instead of during?  If you were home to get the packages left by UPS when they were delivered rather than after they’d sat in the rain, heat, or snow for several hours?  If you cleaned up the hairball right after it appeared instead of once it dried on the rug?  If the evenings could be spent enjoying time together doing something other than walking side by side while hauling trash bags to the curb or holding the dust pan while the other sweeps?

My quandary comes from both loving my job and wanting a calm, clean, cared for home.  Yep, I want to have my cake and eat it too!  I know there are many people who work so that they can pay others to do all the things that I just mentioned.  They have “a staff.”  Remember when I said that we are both teachers?  Well, we don’t have a staff.  In fact, we ARE the staff both at home and at work!  Oh well…

I guess I will enjoy my last few weeks of order and cleanliness at home and then, well…call before you come for a visit so I can at least sweep up the big wads of dog hair and put the toilet paper on the roll.  Don’t judge us on the state of our house. Know that we are giving our time and energy to educating your kids!