4-Ingredient Italian Chicken Bake

Two years ago I posted this recipe. Several friends said that it has now become a "go to" dinner because it's so simple and you usually already have all the ingredients in your pantry.

So, I thought I'd re-post it in case you're new to this blog and you're looking for a economical, simple, healthy weeknight recipe.

Ingredients:

• Chicken breasts (or any cut of chicken that you prefer)
• Can of diced tomatoes
• Can of large black olives
• Envelope of Good Seasons Italian Salad Dressing & Recipe Mix (it's in the salad dressing aisle)

 

 Directions:
1. Spray baking dish with non-stick cooking spray and place chicken in dish. Sprinkle chicken liberally with the Italian dressing mix.

2. Dump the cans of tomatoes and black olives into the baking dish and arrange around the chicken. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes (check to make sure the center of the chicken is no longer pink).

3. Sprinkle liberally with Parmesan cheese and serve with veggies and a side dish. I usually serve the chicken on top of a bed of orzo or rice pilaf.

And for my picky eater in the family, I just scrape off the tomatoes and olives and serve the chicken plain, and he loves it!

I hope you'll try this recipe sometime and let me know how your family likes it... or try it again if it's one of your family favs.

1st Day Back to School

One child down, one to go.

Parker starts school tomorrow, but Payton started school today with a bang! Literally.

We were riding our bikes to school this morning, in an attempt to avoid the chaos of cars that bottleneck all the way around the entire building, when we slowed down to stop at the cross walk and "POP!" Payton's back tire popped!

Fortunately, the crossing guard said, "Just leave your bikes here and I'll watch em until you come back." So, I went on ahead with Parker on the back of my bike, and Brian and Payton walked the rest of the way.

In the end, we all arrived safely at school and that's what's important.

Here are a few obligatory "1st Day of School" photos...

We couldn't convince Parker to get dressed. He said, "But I'm not going to school today, so I'm staying in my PJ's!" Can't argue with that.

By next year, I fear he'll be almost as tall as me.

Proud Daddy

Payton's sweet teacher

So, to wrap up my back-to-school post, I want to share some great pics from the last couple weeks of summer. We crammed a lot of fun in to those last few days!

Brian took the boys to two baseball games:

I don't know what Parker likes best at baseball games: the food or the mascots?

 We also hosted a little pizza and ice cream sundae party for the boys and some friends.

Puttin' my Baskin Robbins skills to work!

Payton & his buddy Macklin before...

...and after. (I love the pure joy on his face!)

Nothing like a little whipped cream on the nose to make for a good laugh!

Of course we also swam... a LOT! Both in our neighbor's gorgeous pool, and in our own plastic blow-up pool (I'll spare you the redneck images). :)

 And the last weekend night of summer wouldn't be complete without s'mores. The perfect ending to a super fun summer.

 And, somehow, the day before school started, I got talked into baking a "Back to school" cake. I seriously don't even know how this happened. But it did.

I won't end this post with all of those cliche sayings about how the summer went by so fast, or how time passes so quickly as my kids get older. I will just say that I'm savoring this time with them. I'm learning how to love the great moments, and learn from the tough ones.

I'm happy with the growth that our family experienced this summer - both mentally and spiritually, and I'm very excited for this fall... our first trip to Disney as a family of 4, a new job opportunity for me with Brian's company, my brother and his family are moving to Orlando, and many other fun things to share. Stay tuned... it's gonna be a wild ride!!

 

I'm Back!! Back-to-School Ideas {FREE Printables!}

Hello out there!

Hopefully I haven't lost every single reader that I had by taking my summer hiatus the past month or so. But even if so, it was well worth it to spend all of that time with my boys sucking the marrow out of the last few weeks of summer vacation.

But... we're headed back to reality in just a few short days. School starts for us on Tuesday, August 19th, so we're in full back-to-school planning mode around here.

The boys got their hair cut, got new tennis shoes, I finished all the school supply lists, ordered new lunchboxes and water bottles, now I can sit back and enjoy the final week of summer vacation and just do some fun back to school things like create teacher gifts!

I may be in the minority on this one, but I like to start school off with a special gift for the teacher. Not to "brown nose" them, but just to say, "Hey...we really appreciate you and we think you're a super valuable person in our child's life this year."

So, with that said, here are some fun ideas that I collected from other talented bloggers so you don't have to do the research yourselves!

I love this play on words from the blog, Simply Kierste, and really, who doesn't love Andes Mints, or you could use the travel tins of the mint Altoids, or any kind of mints for that matter! Click here for the free printable.

Here's another adorable free printable from Simply Kierste available here:

 

You could attach it to a number of items such as the mulit-colored stack of Post-It notes, or a package of multi-colored Sharpies, or pens. Her idea was to attach it to a container filled with candy, which is a tasty option.

I love this idea from The Rachel Berry Blog if you have access to a Cricut or Silhoutte machine, this could easily be created for just a few bucks by purchasing the glass containers and pencils at the Dollar Store.

 

A popular gift for the first day back is a "Teacher Survival Kit." Some of the ones I've seen on Pinterest look like they cost upwards of $20, but I liked this simple one created by Triple Nap that she made out of a $1 pencil box.

Inside, this is what she included:

Again, this could be replicated with less items if you wanted to spend less. But I like the idea that you can personalize it for each teacher.

If you like to bake, this free printable available here from It's Overflowing, would be an wonderful gift:

 

 So many options, so little time.

I can't believe this summer is almost over. I know it's so cliche to say that, but I truly feel like this summer went so fast. I have really enjoyed the relaxed pace of the mornings, and no homework! But I am also looking forward to a really great fall with new teachers, new schedules, new activities, and of course the holidays! I'll try to restrain from putting out my pumpkins for a few more week... but I make no guarantees. :)

Hope y'all had a fantastic summer too! Now go enjoy those last few lazy, beach-filled, no scheduled, relaxing days.