Baby Jonah will be here for christmas – in fact he will be here in about an hour! I am tweeting using #jonahwatch if you want to follow along.
I will be back soon with pictures!!
What’s Cookin’ Wednesday: Win a ScanPan Professional Non-Stick Wok!
This is the fourth and last installment in the What’s Cookin’ Wednesday series. I know, I am sad too! But don’t despair because this is a great giveaway, and I also have ANOTHER cooking/baking giveaway to post later in the week that I am SO EXCITED about, and I know you all will be too.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Back to the giveaway at hand!
Today’s What’s Cookin’ Wednesday features the ScanPan Professional Non-Stick Wok.
Isn’t it pretty?
Here’s some info about it:
–Manufactured PFOA free.
–Cooking surface is safe for use with metal utensils.
–Requires little to no fat for cooking.
–Distributes heat quickly and evenly with superb heat retention.
–Great for stir-frying, steaming, deep-frying, sautéing, braising and smoking.
–Nonstick surface is easy to clean and dishwasher safe.
To tell you the truth, I was slightly intimidated by the wok to begin with. I had never cooked in one before, and the only thing I knew about woks is that they’re used to make stir-fry. And I had never cooked stir-fry before! Also, here’s a little secret – I am not into Chinese food. This is yet another thing Jenny and I differ on – she loves it! But, I LOVE Mexican food, and it occurred to me that I could use the wok to make fajitas. It worked beautifully!
Here’s the recipe I used, from KitchenScoop.com:
Copycat Chipotle Chicken
4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds), defrosted if frozen*
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 Knorr chipotle cubes*
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Put the chicken in a gallon-size, zipper-top plastic bag. Add the oil to the bag, seal it, and toss and turn the chicken pieces inside the bag until they are well coated.
Mix all of the spices in a small bowl, crushing the chipotle cubes with the back of a spoon. Add the spice mixture to the bag, seal it, and toss and rub the chicken through the bag to coat well with the spices. Refrigerate the chicken in the bag for at least 4 hours and up to 24 hours.
Heat a grill to about 400 degrees F. Grill 5 to 6 minutes per side, until the chicken is cooked through but still tender. Remove from the grill and serve. (The chicken may be cut into bite-size chunks for use in burritos or other recipes.)
* NOTES
Chipotle uses thigh meat, which is higher in fat but more flavorful. If you can’t find skinless thighs without bones, substitute boneless, skinless chicken breast meat or tenderloins and test for doneness when cooking.
Knorr’s chipotle cubes look like bouillon cubes and are sold in a small box. If you can’t find them, check out our shop. Or substitute 2 teaspoons chili powder.
I stir-fried onions and green peppers, and then the chicken. It was SO GOOD. I made a double-batch and froze the rest. YUM!
Want to try it out yourself? Here’s how you can win the ScanPan Professional Nonstick Wok:
Required entry: Leave a comment on this post and tell us your favorite thing to cook.
Extra entries:
— Tweet about this contest & leave a comment with a link to your tweet. Here’s an example: “Win a @scanpang wok from @momminitup & @jennyitup!”
— “Like” us on Facebook and leave a comment telling us you did.
This contest will end at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 7. Good luck!
Just Do It
This month, I’ve been trying hard to create experiences for our kids so that they really get the most out of the season. Cortney is trying to do the same thing, and we are both having a similar struggle with balancing the pressure we put on ourselves to make everything perfect with just doing things that will be fun and special for the kids.
As I wrote a couple weeks ago, I made an Advent calendar for the kids. This is something that in and of itself stressed me out beyond belief because I had to make a PERFECT Advent calendar, but after a ridiculous amount of internet searching and at least three trips to the store, I made one. It didn’t turn out exactly how I had pictured it, but it’s cute and the kids love it. Because after all my anxiety over doing it right, I just did it and it worked out fine.
So, every day I put something in there… they’ve found Silly Bandz and Hot Wheels, but for the most part I’ve been putting little pieces of construction paper tied up in bows with an activity written on it. Baking Christmas cookies, going to the library to pick out Christmas books (on the day the library closes early, which I didn’t realize because I am The Awesome), that kind of thing.
On Monday morning, they ran to the Advent calendar and found a slip of paper saying we were going to go to dinner and to see a light display with my grandma. They were super excited – we go to the same light display every year and we all really enjoy it.
So anyway, we had everything planned out. Andy was working late so Grandma was going to pick up Kate from school, and then Sam and I would meet them after work and we’d go to Frisch’s and to see the lights. Except by the time I picked Sam up from daycare, I was totally not feeling it. I was late leaving work, it was incredibly cold and windy, I was going to have to swap cars with Andy before we could go, it was already dark… I thought it sounded much more appealing to stay at Grandma’s, order pizza, and get to bed early.
But I knew how disappointed the kids would be, so I sucked it up. We went to Frisch’s, where the kids ate spaghetti and hot fudge cakes and had a ball, and then we went to the light display. We ooh’d and ahh’d over the pretty lights and we all enjoyed it so much that we drove through three times. It was lovely.
The next morning, my grandma called me and said not to bring Kate over as usual because she was seeing double and having trouble walking. After a quick ambulance trip and a long day in the ER, we found out she had had a stroke. It was minor and she is going to be ok, but there was a time span on Tuesday when we weren’t sure she would be ok at all. During that time, I was so thankful we’d had such a great evening the night before. I was thankful that despite the fact that I just didn’t want to, we had done it.
So, friends, my advice to you is this. Just do it. You’ll be glad you did.