Recipe of the Month - Jerk Chicken

Ever since we moved back to Washington last year and I had to leave my job in Jacksonville, I've been trying really hard to get better at this full-time house wife gig. One of the hardest things for me to enjoy is cooking dinners. It just seems like so much hard work for only a few minutes of reward. And then what's left after the dinner has been eaten? Yep, more work because now the kitchen is a mess!

Anyway, I didn't want to post just to complain (sure feels good though!). I've been working hard at finding good, simple meals and wanted to post a great recipe I've found each month for those in the same situation as me. Typically, I gravitate towards the recipes that I've found to be tasty and have easy instructions and ingredients (nothing that's not easily found at a normal grocery store, please!) and with minimal cleanup afterwards. So this month, I'm posting a recipe I found for Jerk Chicken. It's absolutely yummy and so easy!

Easy Jerk Chicken

ingredients:
- 1 italian dressing seasoning packet
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper/cayenne pepper
- 1 1/2 lbs. chicken breasts or tenderloins

directions:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Mix all ingredients together (minus chicken).
- Put chicken pieces in a glass baking dish (I use 9x9).
- Pour seasoning mixture over chicken.
- Bake for 30 minutes.
- Serve with white or brown rice and steamed veggies and you're done!

notes:
- I use red pepper flakes, which might turn it a bit spicier than using cayenne. I'm not big on spicy food, but I love this chicken with a little kick.
- The amount of chicken I use varies. The original recipe I found calls for 2 1/2 lbs of chicken, but I found I prefer to have more sauce. And since it's just Mike and me, I just throw in a couple chicken breasts or about 6 tenderloins.
- This meals usually fills us both pretty full, with maybe one serving leftover (sometimes). You could probably increase the chicken amount to 2 lbs and still have plenty of sauce to cover the chicken.
- The original recipe also calls for this to be cooked on the grill. Haven't tried that yet, but I'm sure it's great, too!
- You could marinate the chicken for an hour before putting it in the oven, but I'm usually not that patient.

Get Ready for Lost!

For all you Lost fans out there, don't forget this Thursday is the season premiere! We are totally excited, especially after the awesome season finale last year. Well, that and this unending writer's strike is really getting me anxious for some good non-reality-show TV.

I found a great video recap on ABC's website. It's got all you need to know to catch up with what's happened so far. So watch the video and get ready for Thursday's premiere at 9pm!

Clear skies and a happy Kate

For all those who have been sitting on the edge of your seats wondering how my recovery has been going, this post is for you. :) It's been two weeks now since my daily wound-dressings started up, and hopefully we've made it over the hard part. For the first week, it was just once a day. But then last weekend, we started with the required twice a day, and it was not pretty at first. But thank the Lord, Mike and I figured out a good system and now the pain is down to almost zero! I'm still taking percoset every time, which leads to groggy days sometimes (but a happy Kate!), but I honestly feel so blessed that these twice daily dressings aren't as traumatic as they once were.

I went in for a checkup with the surgeon yesterday, and she said the wound is healing extremely well, and from here the healing should speed up exponentially. Whether or not that means we'll be done with the dressings in another two weeks, I'm not exactly sure. But that's my goal!

On a different note, I don't know about the rest of you, but down here in Vancouver the weather has just been gorgeous for the past 4 or 5 days. I can definitely handle the freezing cold temperatures when we've got clear blue skies the whole day. It's been such a treat! I've been letting the dogs run around in the backyard (unsupervised!) in light of the dry conditions we've had, and it's so fun to check up on them to see what sort of trouble they've been getting into. Nothing too terrible, thankfully. :) But they sure love all the sticks they find!

Totally Rad Video

Here's a great video Mike found about how to dance "The Cabbage Patch" (and no, I'm not talking about those dumb dolls!). If you need any really rad advice on how to master this move, just ask Dancin' Kim... "You know, like you're in a cabbage patch!"



How To Do The Cabbage Patch

Price is Right Link

So, I found another link that might last longer.
http://www.cbs.com/innertube/player.php?vid=176034

The Price is Right!

Mike and I went to a taping of the Price Is Right back in October for our anniversary, and guess what day they decided to air it? Yep, the day of my surgery! So at 10:00 am on Wednesday, the episode I've been waiting to see was being aired at the exact moment I was on the operating table.

Thankfully, CBS also posted it on their website at http://www.cbs.com/daytime/price/video/, episode 4131 (aired on 1/9/08). It might still be up for a few more days if you want to check it out! If not, I was able to get a few screen shots of us sitting in the audience. Didn't make it up on stage, but we got some nice camera time anyway. :)

We're the ones in bright yellow shirts sitting right behind the contestant seats.

Here you can see Mike looking pretty excited. Boy, those guys know how to get a crowd riled up. :)

Yep, everytime contestant #1 or #2 got to bid, we were right there!

Aww, Mike looks so happy!

Orchid

Thanks, Janelle & Ben, for the beautiful get-well gift! It looks great on top of our fireplace and I will love watching it bloom.

I actually recieved it at home the day after my surgery, but haven't uploaded the picture until now. Thank you, and let me know if you have any tips to ensure I don't accidentally kill it. :)

Packing Problems

So I wanted to give an update on my first "packing" experience yesterday, but I was too traumatized to write anything. Mike and my mom came with me to the surgeon's office to get lessons from the nurse on how to pack my wound properly (something that will have to be done at least once a day for the next month!). It was the first time anything's been fiddled with since the surgery, so I didn't know what to expect.

First lesson learned, I should have taken two percosets instead of one. The nurse took out the old dressing without too much drama, but then when she started putting in the new dressing, things really got out of hand.

I realize I haven't really explained myself too well about what exactly I had surgery for. You see, it was an absess, or cyst, at the very base of my tailbone (aka, a Pilonidal Sinus). It's been flaring up and down for about the past year, and the surgeon said the best thing to do is have it removed. But what that requires is that the surgeon completely dig out the infection and leave me with a gaping hole that has to be repacked every day. Too much information yet? Then, please, don't read on.

So once the nurse started instructing my poor mom and husband how to inflict this form of torture, I really started losing it. The pain was a lot worse that I was expecting, especially since my incision goes all the way to my tailbone and I could feel everything. Mike was getting a little freaked out by my crying and couldn't force himself to get in there as much as he was hoping. Poor Mike, I don't blame him. :( But my mom was a trooper and I think got a good understanding of what needs to happen. Good thing she'll be coming over tonight to help with the first at-home packing and will be baby-sitting me until Tuesday while Mike's gone to Las Vegas.

After the packing was done, I basically collapsed on the floor, not knowing how to get rid of the awful nausea. The nurse elevated the table for me and had me lay down right away, which helped a ton. Needless to say, it was pretty traumatic for everyone in the room, and I'm just hoping my two percosets tonight will help me not care what's happening back there.

Side note: The nurse told us an interesting story about a 13-year-old boy who had a pilonidal sinus removed. When the surgeon got in there, he discovered a sack... with hair and teeth inside. It was his twin!! I'm so glad that didn't happen to me!

Success!

The surgery went very well, thankfully! I was feeling very anxious the night before (and probably the whole week before). But all of my nurses were great, and I didn't have any pain or nausea afterward. The worst part was definitely getting the IV, but only because of my anxiety.

After everything was ready to go, they sent Mike out into the waiting room, gave me a hairnet, and wheeled me into the OR. It was a very strange feeling, but the anesthesiologist put me to sleep very nicely. The next thing I knew, I was slowly waking up asking the nurse over and over where Mike was. How sweet, right? :) From there, it was only a couple of hours before they sent me home and I felt fine.

Our Bible study leader brought dinner to our place later that night, and then my parents brought some key lime pie for dessert. I was truly spoiled. Too bad today I'm starting to feel the pressure in my wound. I didn't feel anything yesterday because of all the pain killers. Now I really need to keep up on that.

I feel so blessed that the procedure went so well, and hopefully next time (if there ever is a next time) I have to have surgery, I'll remember there's not as much to worry about as I think there is. Thanks for everyone's prayers!

Medical misery

As Mike mentioned in his post, I'm having surgery on Wednesday, and I am soooooooo not looking forward to it. It's not that big of a deal, really, I just hate medical stuff. Like the time in middle school when I visited a friend who just had knee surgery, and I felt woozey just looking at her wrapped-up knee. Or the countless times I've hyperventilated getting a routine exam or blood drawn. Or, this is a good one, the time I blacked out at the vet's office after the doctor gave my dog some shots. Yep, that was a highlight for sure.

The really dumb part about this whole procedure, though, is that I can't really talk openly to many people about it. You see, it involves an area right at the base of my tailbone. Either God has a great sense of humor, or I mistakenly prayed for humility, or both. Either way, it's not too much fun for me. I'll be under general anesthesia, and it's just an outpatient procedure. So I'll check in around 7:45am and be ready to go home by 1:00pm. The worst part will be recovery, in which poor Mike will have to redress my wound twice a day for a month. A true test of marriage, for sure.

So, that's what's happening in my life right now. Just dreading this surgery, but praying that I keep in mind there could be much worse things to have to endure right now. I'm thinking of my aunt Janis and how strong she's been through chemo. If she can do that, I shouldn't even blink an eye at this.

I'll have Mike write an update post-surgery on Wednesday.

A Blog?

Ok, so I don't know who will read about us, but at least I can post things on here every once in awhile for kicks.

I am working today so that I can get the day off for Kate's Surgery. Later, for now.

Mike

Here we go, 2008

It's a rainy, windy Saturday in Washington. Big surprise. The door to our shed blew off last night, and I'm a little scared to check out if the shingles to our new roof made it through the night. Better left unchecked, I say.

I've got a disaster zone in the kitchen, mostly because we just moved into our first house. The kitchen we had prior to this one was massive, and it spoiled me completely. Now our new kitchen, which is probably a good size one for most people, is just making me depressed. I no longer have a pantry, and it's like I've lost a part of my soul. How I'll cope with keeping my canned goods in the garage, I just don't know.

So instead of organizing my mess of a house, I'm starting a blog. It's something I've wanted to do for a while, as I've missed the writing I used to enjoy so much in college. And you know what, I really owe it to myself to jump back into something I love doing, no matter how rusty I am. So here we go, 2008 - new house, new blog, new resolution. Let's see how long I can keep to this one!

Kate

P.S. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank a few bloggers for really inspiring me to do this for myself - Jeff, Chris, and Sarah. You guys are awesome and I'm loving your blogs!