Parmesan Chicken Tenders & Sweet Potato Fries

A couple days ago, Kevin asked what my last post in March was going to be about, and I had no idea! As I thought about what I wanted to post, it finally hit me when we were sitting down for one of our favorite meals tonight--Parmesan Chicken Tenders & Sweet Potato Fries!

At one of our wedding showers, one piece of advice that we were given was to do chores together—shovel together, clean together, cook together, do yard work together, etc. It seems silly, but it has made a world of difference in our first year of marriage.

Kevin and I have found that we really enjoy cooking together in our tiny little apartment. We have set off the fire alarm 20+ times over the course of the year, screwed up a ton of recipes, and made gigantic messes; but when we’re doing it together, it makes it so much more fun and memorable! (When I do these things on my own, it’s pretty much awful.)

Parmesan Chicken with Garlic and Herbs & Sweet Potato Fries

This meal is so perfect and so easy, and it works perfectly when you have two chefs in the kitchen!

Sweet Potato Fries:

 Kevin is, and will forever be, in charge of the sweet potatoes. He is amazing at peeling and chopping them into cube fries. (I have almost lost whole limbs trying to cut those suckers! It’s for the well being of everyone if he assumes this role.) We like our fries salty rather than sweet, so after lightly coating them with extra virgin olive oil in a bowl, Kevin lays them out in a single layer across a foil-lined cookie sheet. Laying down a layer of tinfoil makes cleanup SUPER easy. (Please note that parchment paper is not the same thing as tinfoil and is not a good lining choice… Yes, this happened and so did a mini-fire in our oven). Once the potatoes are spread out, this is when Kevin goes crazy adding the sea salt, garlic salt, and pepper. 

similar recipe found here

Ingredients: 

2-3 small organic sweet potatoes or yams 

or

1-2 giant organic sweet potato or yam (you've seen 'em)

a whole lot of sea salt

a lot of garlic salt

a little bit of pepper

3+ Tbs of extra virgin olive oil

Clearly we are not experts when it comes to measurements, but it really is Kevin's art form, and he makes them perfectly every time. Experiment and have fun discovering what you like! We have added cinnamon a few times for a mix of flavor and cumin and cayenne pepper a few times, but we prefer the salty mixture best.

Parmesan Chicken with Garlic and Herbs:

            I found this recipe on Pinterest, and I absolutely love it! There is a lot of room for error, which is why I love it so much! It's really easy to adapt to make more or less servings depending on how many mouths you're feeding, too!

Find the original Recipe from Kalyn's Kitchen here.

Here are a few adaptations & faux-pas of my own:

--Buy fresh chicken that has already been cut into tender size in order to save prep-time

--There have been times where I didn’t warm the ingredients for the marinade before marinating the chicken in a zip-lock baggie.

--I’ve actually never marinated the chicken all day (poor planning on my part). The slits in the chicken, however, are definitely helpful for allowing the flavor to penetrate quickly (good enough reason?) and to help the chicken cook thoroughly.

--I bake our sweet potatoes and chicken at the same time at 425 for 25 minutes

--I use a glass 13x9 baking dish

--I use ½ cup of whole wheat breadcrumbs and ½ cup of grated parmesan cheese and pulse them in our Ninja blender (I don’t have a food processor). The recipe calls for ¼ cup, but I find it annoying to have to go back and make more, so I make more the first time and usually end up using it all anyway.

 Click here for Printer Friendly Recipe

I love that most of theses ingredients are in our kitchen at all times, but I also love that it is seriously so tasty and satisfying; it's an awesome go-to recipe that is relatively quick even if you don't plan ahead like me! Pair this recipe with your favorite dipping sauce, the sweet potato fries, and some fruit and you're set to go for an amazing meal! 

Give this meal a whirl and let us know what you think!

Kevin & Kelly

Lately...

Lately.

Lately, life has been crazy. And being crazy people, this is usually the norm for us, but lately it’s been like a cray-cray kind of crazy. 

Lately, Kevin and I have been thanking the Lord for his faithfulness as we look forward to a major milestone in our marriage—can you believe it’s been almost a year?! As we wait on the Lord and pray for his provisions as we look into the future, we are reminded that His ways are greater than our ways, and we trust the things he is preparing for our family.

Lately, the change of weather and time has taken a toll on my middle school students and their sanity.  Middle schoolers go though enough changes as it is in 7^th grade, why must we suffer the wrath of their sleep deprivation, too?? We have been focusing on state testing and preparing our kids for a change in format along with the wacky class schedules every day in order to accommodate for test times. Pray for me.

Lately, the movie Catching Fire has been playing non-stop at our house; Kevin used our March Entertainment Fund to buy the three-disk extended edition at Target the first day it came out--obsessed much? Yes. Yes we are.

Lately, I have been jamming to this song on repeat in my classroom.

Lately, we have been jamming to this song on repeat at home.

Lately, we have made trips out of town almost every weekend—you should see my planner. Between meetings, teacher trainings, holidays, volleyball tournaments, and celebrating and anticipating our first baby nephew, I have been and will be gone almost every weekend of March and April. Let’s hope gas prices go down, or I might have to start siphoning gas from my fellow teachers… 

Lately, Kevin has experienced a schedule change that has us working very similar hours—yay!! (For those of you who don't know, my man would go to bed around 7:00pm and wake up at 2:30am for work) It’s been amazing having him home and being able stay up later and to go to bed around the same time and wake up at the same time. Errr.. wait. Ideally we would wake up about the same time, but this girl has been flirting with her alarm WAY too much lately. Starting next week (or maybe the next) I will start waking up at the same time as Kevin… 4:45 hold me accountable, people!

Lately, 1 Timothy has been on my heart, especially chapter 4 and especially this: “…train yourself to be godly.  For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come”

Let’s be honest. When life gets crazy (which it currently is), the first two things to get bumped to the back burner would be my time spent in the Word and my time spent in the gym. Lately I’ve allowed myself to slack off in both of these areas, and I am definitely noticing the effect they are having on my already chaotic life.

Without reading my Bible in the morning and throughout my day, I’m a monstar (why yes, that was a shameless Space Jam reference).  Kevin and my students could probably both attest to this. When I go a day, or two, or three without a solid fix of God’s Word, I start transforming into this vein popping, tongue-lashing, malicious disaster of a person. Dramatic? Probably not. When crazy, foreign things start to slip out of my mouth, my eyes immediately bulge out of shock—did that really just leave my mouth in that tone?! Oh my.

“Train yourself to be Godly” This is not something I can really do on my own; I can’t make myself do good things or say the right thing. I can try, but I know I’ll fail miserably. I do, however, believe that this verse is commanding me to coach my heart, my mind, my mouth, and my body to seek and delight in God’s ways and His righteousness. It’s allowing the Holy Spirit to convict me when my words cut my neighbor, when my mind wanders to idle thoughts, or when I find myself engrossed in fruitless activities. It’s responding to that prompting, and it’s actively learning to turn my eyes to Jesus. I know I will never achieve a godly demeanor, but through the continual process of  seeking Jesus and undergoing sanctification, I know that it will hold true value in this life and the life to come if I train myself to be godly.

This is what I’m learning lately.

I found Kevin in Mendards like this--dreaming...
I love his dreams and his spontaneity.