Easy-Peasy Dinners 2: Soup and Rice

  Really tired after a long day and need something more than a microwave dinner? Sick, but sick of chicken noodle soup? Hungry for "real" food but just can't go to the effort of making a "real" dinner? You want a simple, yummy meal? I have the answer!

1 can of soup (we love Progresso's "Hearty Pot Roast & Vegetables" or "Steak & Vegetables")
1/2 cup of cooked rice
Whatever seasoning you want

  In the Franklin house, I cook the rice and then throw the soup in when it's done. I always add a little fresh cilantro, dried minced garlic, pepper and fajita seasoning (a new favorite in my kitchen arsenal, you can find it in the spice aisle at Walmart). Voila! You're done! If I'm making enough for David and me, I double the rice and add a can of soup. It's the go-to for us when nothing else sounds good/easy/we've gotten home too late/we're too lazy to do anything else/it's cold outside/whatever.

  Happy (lazy) eating!

Prayer

  As most of my friends know, almost exactly two years ago I had surgery on my left shoulder to repair a post-labral tear (the tissue that holds the shoulder joint in place). This tear had been undetectable for a year and a half, and so I had just been living in pain until the exploratory surgery. The repair was delicate and the recovery process six months long, and the first couple of months were difficult, but manageable.

  Two days ago I started having loud pops in my shoulder - not particular unusual. I had somewhere between 2 and 4 in two days. And then last night I noticed that I very suddenly had full range of motion back (I'd only had 80-90% until now), and my shoulder felt like it was grinding when I moved it. And then the pain started.

  I think my repair has come undone.

  I am terrified.

  And I am facing two major dilemmas right now.

1. David is about to change jobs, which will mean new insurance. Right now I haven't seen a doctor for my shoulder in a year and a half. If I see one now, our new insurance provider may consider this issue to be "pre-existing" and not cover it. I am already in the level of pain that matches that of my pre-op days. Do I go in right away or do I wait? Will it make a difference for my shoulder? I don't know what to do.

2. If I have undone my repair, and I require surgery again...what do I do? I wouldn't be able to hold my baby for 3 months, possibly more. And I won't be able to nurse anymore because of all the drugs. And with my Endometriosis, we were told to have all the children we want immediately. So do we wait until I'm done recovering from another potential operation to try to have another baby? Will we be able to have another baby then? Sammy was a miracle. Will God give us two miracles? I don't know what to do.

And I guess I have a third dilemma: What do I do about the pain? Before my operation, my pain was constant, I mean truly non-stop. At best, it was a constant, dull "4" on the pain scale of 10. I couldn't do laundry, I couldn't do dishes, I couldn't even make the bed most days because of how much it would hurt me. And I now have a nearly 18lb. baby (who gained two pounds in two weeks). Before my operation, narcotics were the only thing that worked, and I hated it. I was constantly a little high, constantly worrying how much more my body could take... And I'm nursing now. I don't know what to do.

  Please pray for me as I - we - wrestle through these questions. I know that everything at this point is just hypothetical, I know that I shouldn't worry... I just struggled through this pain for a year and a half - two, if you count the post-op time. I am terrified of what this pain will do to my poor baby when I can't pick him up every time he wants me. I'm already struggling through that today, and we're both miserable for it. It's daunting. It's overwhelming. And I don't know what to do.

Easy-Peasy Dinners, Pt. 1: Ranch Rotisserie Chicken Pasta

  This was another Pinterest recipe with which I took some creative liberties. When I had to run through the grocery store last week around dinner time, I decided to pick up a rotisserie chicken, remembering I had seen something online with recipes to "fix it up". I used one of the recipes I found the first night and it was good...But added my own little twist to it when I made it the next night (a rotisserie chicken can last a while between two people when you know how to do it right!). And the best part? Dinner's ready, start to finish, in ten minutes. Here's what I did:

Ranch Rotisserie Chicken Pasta

• 1/2 boxed pasta - I used Barilla's bowtie, but shells or rigatoni would work just as well!
• 3 Tbs butter
• 2-3 Tbs flour
• 1 package dry Ranch seasoning mix
• 2 cups milk or Half & Half (less flour if you're using the thicker dairy product)
• 1/2 cup Swiss cheese, either sliced thinly or shredded (any cheese will work, but the Swiss and Ranch flavors combine nicely)
• 1/2 medium-sized yellow onion, chopped
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 2 cups of shredded rotisserie chicken  (approximately 1 leg/thigh quarter of the chicken)

1. Cook the pasta according to the directions on the box and then drain.

2. While this is cooking, in a medium-sized pot, on a medium-low heat melt 1 Tbs of the butter and then sautee the onion until it's opaque. Lower the heat and then add the remaining butter. Once it's melted, add the flour and whisk until it makes a thick, bubbling paste. Slowly combine the milk until thickened and bubbling. Cook 1 additional minute, then add the cheese. (The original recipe called for "shredded" cheese here, but I had deli slices, so I used about four of those and it was perfect!) Turn the heat to "low" and add the Ranch and pepper and combine. Last, add the chicken and combine. 

3. Combine pasta and sauce and enjoy!* Dinner's done in 10 minutes! David could not stop going on about this recipe, even calling it his "new favorite dish" - possibly even over hamburgers! If you know my husband, you know a person could never receive a higher compliment on their cooking. I hope y'all enjoy this easy meal as much as we did!

*The original recipe called for crumbled bacon to be served on top of the dish, which I'm sure would be yummy! We just don't buy a lot of bacon and I used what we had. I also added a pinch of dried cilantro to the sauce and it was quite yummy, too. Also, this recipe was just enough for both David and I, so if feeding more, you'd want to at least double it.

Crockpot Chicken Enchiladas

  Brought to you by (my own take on) a Pinterest recipe! See, the recipe I found really just called for "chicken breasts, enchilada sauce, taco seasoning, shredded cheese, green onions and some cilantro on top." No other information - no timing instructions, no explanation of what "enchilada sauce" is or where to find it, nothing. So I did what every other great chef of the day does: I took to the interweb.

  After a little while, I found what looked like a good recipe for enchilada sauce - and in a stroke of luck, I had all the ingredients!

Enchilada Sauce

1/2 Cup butter

1/2 Cup flour (for gluten-free, use about 4 Tbs. of corn starch)

2 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. onion powder (I subbed onion flakes)

1 tsp. black pepper

4 Cups broth or boullion

1 8oz. can tomato sauce

1. Melt butter into medium-size pot and then add flour and mix until you have a smooth paste. 

2. Add the spices and continue to stir until bubbly.

3. Whisk in broth and bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute or until the sauce is thickened.

Makes 5-6 cups of sauce, enough for two 9x13 pans of enchiladas. 

Crockpot Chicken Enchiladas

1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts

1/2 the enchilada sauce

1 pkt. taco seasoning OR 1 10oz. can Rotel

Cook the chicken, enchilada sauce and seasoning or Rotel in the crockpot on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 5-6 hours. Serve with rice and/or tortillas, shredded cheese and cilantro.

  I forgot to add the Rotel like I meant to, but the chicken was still really yummy. I actually cooked 2lbs of chicken and used all the sauce (I would have frozen the remainder if I had only done 1lb) and it fed 4 people two helpings each! I also meant to take a picture of how it turned out, but we ate it all too quickly. The chicken was moist, tender and almost fell apart on its own. It was super easy, too! I just made the sauce the night before so I could throw it all in the pot early in the morning and have it ready for lunch after church. I hope y'all enjoy it as much as we did! And let me know if you find your own ways to tweak it and make it yummier!