Grilled Chicken and Corn Salad With Avocado and Parmesan

This could quite possibly be the best salad I have ever made!  I am a pretty big fan of salads, but this one is over the top yum!  It is a perfect way to round up some summer grilling (sniff) and bring in the fall.  I found this in my Real Simple Magazine, but you can also find the recipe online.  Click the link.  This baby is also pretty low in calories and I am guessing if you take the avocado off {if you're crazy!} it would be even lower.  I got a new calorie counter app on my phone so I'm into that these days.

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

4 tablespoons olive oil

kosher salt and black pepper

2 6-ounce boneless, skinless chicken breasts

3 ears corn, shucked

5 ounces baby spinach (about 5 cups)

1 avocado, cut into bite-size pieces

2 ounces Parmesan, shaved

Directions:

1.Heat grill to medium-high. In a medium bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, rosemary, garlic, 3 tablespoons of the olive oil, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Transfer half the dressing to a small bowl; set aside. Add the chicken to the remaining dressing and turn to coat.

2.Rub the corn with the remaining tablespoon of oil and season with ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper. Grill the corn and chicken, covered, turning occasionally, until the corn is tender and lightly charred, 4 to 6 minutes, and the chicken is cooked through, 8 to 10 minutes. Cut the kernels off the cobs and slice the chicken.

3.Toss the spinach, chicken, corn, and avocado with the reserved dressing and sprinkle with the Parmesan.

Here are some time saving tips-

 I actually figured this out on accident, but you can grill chicken tenderloins (I buy Smart Chicken Tenderloins) and cut the cooking time in half, plus you can just throw them on the salad rather than cutting them up!

I also just drizzled the dressing over the top and it worked the same as tossing it with the lettuce.

When we were finished with this meal, my husband said, "I wish we had more!"  In return I told him I would give him the leftovers for his lunch.  I kid you not, he JUST emailed me as I am typing this and said, "That salad is awesome!"  It's super easy (took about 15 minutes start to finish) and super good.  Bible.

Part-Time-Stay-At-Home Mama

First, I'll start with an apology for not posting basically all summer.  Second, I tip my hat to those mommies out there who blog their hearts out, make home cooked meals every night, have a clean house and run a small business out of their homes.  You are the reasons I thought I could do it all.  Turns out I can't.  The blog took a backseat to all the summer and new school year activities.  However, I think I am back.

I'll start with a few highlights this of the summer.  Everett and I had an absolute blast!  Our days pretty much went as follows:
Mommy would get up super early for a run or to go to the gym.  The half marathon I am running is in 6 short weeks...AAAAAHHHHH!
E would wake up and we would eat breakfast.
I usually had a few errands to run so we would do that before lunch and nap.
While Everett would nap, I would do a few sewing projects.  I never like to sew when he is awake.  I don't want the time I could be spending with him to be used on my little hobby.
After nap we would go to Blackbob Bay.  Turns out this is pretty much a toddler's paradise.  From the fountains to the lazy river, we spent almost every afternoon soaking up the sun and having snacks by the kiddie pool.  Awesome.
We would usually head home around dinner time to eat with Daddy and then head outside to play t-ball.  Yes, we played t-ball {and still do} just about every single night.  The kid loves it.
Bath, Books, Bed.  Repeat.

Highlights of our summer.  In pictures.

Open gym at Matt Ross.  All he really did was try to play basketball.  We probably could have done that at home. 

Great Wolf Lodge.  This sweet picture is from story time at the clock tower. 

 At the lake with Nana and Grampie.

He LOVED the jet ski.  He actually rode it so much he fell asleep on it.  This is the kids who never falls asleep in the car.  I have a picture of it, but I will spare you the photo of my big white thigh.  Trust me, you're welcome.

This brings us up to the beginning of the school year.  Oh boy, where to begin?  Many of you know that my family had planned on me working a job share this school year.  What that looks like is I work Mondays, Wednesdays and every other Friday.  It is perfect because I like to work both because I love where I work and I like to feel like I am contributing financially to my family.  This also allows me to be home with Everett two or three days a week.  Super.  Great.  Plan approved.  Looks like everything is going to work out.  Yeah, not so much.  It is not something I will go into on a blog.  Just know that the beginning of this school year did not turn out the way it was supposed to and I literally started losing my hair and crying quite a bit.  There are many reasons for this, but just know that once again my family had to make a huge decision and think about my going back to full time teaching again.
Enter a lot of people who did a lot of work for me.  Most importantly my new job share partner and frankly my life savor Whitney!  I will be forever grateful to those people who pulled me out of a really crappy situation and quite frankly put me in a much better position than I would have been.  Whitney, if you're reading this you're a freaking rockstar and I love working with you.  You're the bomb girl.  To those of you that sent or said encouraging words through the mess that was the beginning of the year, thank you thank you thank you.  You're awesome and so sweet and put things in perspective for me and my family.  You're very good friends.

Whew, now that the school year is in full swing, things you can look forward to reading about are:

More cupcakes of the month!

More recipes!  I've been making a lot of fun stuff and depriving you of all its yumminess.

Fluffy Cakes!  Did you know this little bus-i-nass has been around for almost a year?  Look for a birthday giveaway!

My first FC's show!  I actually had a dry-run this summer, but this show is the real deal baby!  Stay tuned.

Last, but not least, HASH HOUSE UPDATES:)  This family is so ready for fall!  It's the best time in Kansas City!  Can't wait for the Plaza Art Fair, Helen Gold 10K, Holiday Mart, Halloween, soups, jeans, chili, comfort food, ahhhhhh.  I can see it now....

Cupcake of the Month

Yes, yes, I know.  You haven't heard from me in a while.  However, I am back on the blogging in a big way.  I have decided to pay homage to my love of cupcakes by starting a "Cupcake of the Month" post each month.  I'm going to finish up August with what else?  Smores cupcakes!  Did you know that August is the home of National Smores Day?  It's only fitting that I post a recipe for these little gems-





Crust:

1 1/2 cups graham crackers (approx. 1 pkg out of the Honeymaid box)

1/4 cup sugar

5 T unsalted butter, melted

2 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces

Marshmallows (you'll need about 100 mini marshmallows)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners. In food processor, pulse graham crackers until they are fine crumbs. Add sugar and melted butter and mix until well combined. Add approximately 1 tablespoon of crumbs to the bottom of each liner. Use a small circle object (I used a shot glass) to press the crumb mixture evenly into the bottom of each liner. Bake for 5 minutes and remove from the oven. Divide the chopped chocolate evenly among the cupcakes. Add approximately 4 marshmallows to each tin.


Cake:

2 cups plus 2 T sugar

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 large eggs

1 cup whole milk

1/2 cup canola oil

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup boiling water

Sift together flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, soda and salt in your mixing bowl. In a small bowl, add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla and whisk together. Add to dry ingredients and beat on low speed until just incorporated. Increase speed to medium and beat 2 minutes. Add boiling water and beat on low until just combined.

Spoon batter evenly into cupcake liners, filling each about 3/4 of the way full. The marshmallows will float to the top but that's okay. Bake approximately 18 - 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center cupcake comes out clean. Cool for about 5 minutes in the pan and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Frosting:

8 egg whites, room temperature

2 cups sugar

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 large Hershey bar

In a clean stainless steel mixing bowl or double boiler, combine egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar. Whisk frequently, heating the mixture over medium-high heat until the temperature reaches 160 degrees. Transfer egg mixture to stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Begin mixing at low speed, gradually increasing to medium-high speed as the mixture becomes thicker. Beat until stiff, glossy peaks form. Add in the vanilla and mix until just combined. Transfer frosting to a piping bag fitted with a large star tip and frost as desired.

Using a kitchen torch held about 6 inches away from the cupcakes on a non-flammable surface, brown the cupcakes lightly as desired. Keep the torch moving so you don't catch any spot on fire. Just like toasting marshmallows by a campfire, slow and steady is a better approach than sticking the marshmallow to close to the fire, you're going for lightly toasted frosting not black and bubbly marshmallow. Garnish with chocolate bar segments.





I found this recipe at homemade by holman

Don't worry, there will be more posts about my new stay-at-home-part-time-mom status soon!