Creamy Chicken and Veggies

Today's guest post comes from Roz of A Little R & R. She is a work-at-home missionary mom living and serving in Croatia. She and her husband are raising two little boys while trying to navigate the world of shift work. She has decided to share a yummy recipe with us today. Enjoy!

Creamy Chicken and Veggies

This is one of my favorite dishes to make.  It's easy, yummy, and fast to make.

You'll need:

• A plastic cutting board (you'll be cutting up chicken, so something you can wash and sterilize easily)
• Olive oil
• Onion
• Garlic
• Chicken breast
• Mixed veggies (I like broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots - sometimes I also add mushrooms)
• Half and half
• Cream of mushroom soup
• Basil
• Salt
• Pepper

Saute the onion in olive oil until it is slightly golden.

In the meantime cut your chicken breast in cubes.

Add the chicken and minced garlic.  Continue to saute.

Add basil.

Add veggies.

Cover and let simmer.

In the meantime you can catch up on dishes.

(oops flash)

Once your veggies are done simmering, and a few minutes before you plan to eat, you can add your Cream of Mushroom Soup (concentrate) and about 1C of half-and half.

Let this simmer on low for 2-3 minutes.

I served this with Gnocchi, but you can serve it over rice or your pasta of choice.

I also served this with a tossed green salad, seasoned with olive oil and lemon/lime juice.

This looks like a great meal for me to make when my Hubby's working at dinnertime!  Quick, simple, and the best part to me--kid-friendly!


Thanks, Roz!

The Debt Snowflake Challenge :: Week 6

I'm a day late, but I am determined to stick this challenge out for the year!  Here's what our debts look like as of this morning:

Hubby's 'Large' School Loan - $5,587.xx (-$XX.xx; not sure at the moment)

My School Loan - $6,091.46 (-$109.75)

Hubby's 'Small' School Loan - $4,012.06 (-$65.35)

Hospital bill - $285 (no change) PAID OFF!

Credit Card - $2,419.10 (+$50.10)  PAID OFF!

Familial Loan - $1000 (no change)  PAID OFF! 

As I expected, I was able to pay off that pesky hospital bill...just in time to wait for another one from this baby's birth!  (But we now have savings ready for that one--so we'll be able to pay it immediately!)


I haven't taken the time to get on the phone to check the exact amount of Hubby's bigger school loan, so I'll leave it as is for now.  For now I plan on taking the $25 we were spending on the hospital bill each month and adding that to what we pay on Hubby's smaller loan.  I also plan on adding what we would have paid on the credit card to that, but it will vary month by month.


After talking with Hubby we have decided that we will use the cash I make weekly through after-school baby-sitting (anywhere between $5 and $30 per week) for our trip to Fort Wilderness this summer.  That won't help eliminate these debts any faster, but it should give us a nice cash base for gasoline and meals on the way there.  And that will free us from the temptation of using the so-called convenience of our credit card. :o)


I think we had a pretty good week and I'm looking forward to another decent one, especially since I know I've got some PayPal cash to use coming in on Valentine's Day!  My dad has also suggested we look into refinancing our house (apparently interest has gone down to about half of what we're currently paying), so we'll be checking into that this week as well.  If we go for it, that should give us a bunch of 'extra' money to throw into  our snowflakes! 


How has the Debt Snowflake Challenge been going for you? 

Walgreens Prescription Savings Club

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Walgreens for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Have you heard about Walgreens Prescription Savings Club?

Our family's prescription coverage is very good, (even if we are tied to one pharmacy) so I've never had to worry about prescription costs.  I can even say I've never gone a single day uninsured--period, and we get most of our prescriptions for $4 or less.  I know I have been very, very blessed in that regard.  Unfortunately, I know that is not the case for most people.  Walgreens can help!  Individuals can purchase an annual membership to the Walgreens Prescription Savings Club for just $20.  Have a family? No problem--the cost for a family membership is just $35.  In case you're wondering, a family membership covers your entire immediate family: spouse, dependents (age 22 and younger), and pets.  Where else can you find prescription coverage for pets?  I think this is a great deal, especially if you have little ones that tend to get sick all.the.time.  (Guess what we've been dealing with lately...)  

There are many other benefits to the Walgreens Prescription Savings Club as well.  Members receive savings on more than 8,000 brand-name and ALL generic medications.  As if that's not worth the membership cost, discounts on flu shots, nebulizers, diabetic supplies, and pet prescriptions.  And there's more: members earn bonuses for buying Walgreens brand products and photofinishing services.

You can support Walgreens and stay up-to-date with all sorts of information by following Walgreens on Twitter and "liking" Walgreens on Facebook. 

How do you save on your family's prescriptions?

The Debt Snowflake Challenge :: Week 5

Yippee! Our tax refund found its way to our checking account, so that's been a major helper in getting rid of the smaller bits of debt here.  And--Hubby found a way to check the balance of the loan taken out in his dad's name, so we have an almost-official total for that loan--the largest of them all.  Here are the current totals for our debt as of this morning: 

Hubby's 'Large' School Loan - $5,587.xx ($1,413 LESS than my estimate--sweet!)

My School Loan - $6,201.21 (+$5.75)

Hubby's 'Small' School Loan - $4,077.41 (+3.49)

Hospital bill - $285 (no change)

What? Does it look like I'm missing something?  I am! Here's the best part about today's update:

Credit Card - $2,419.10 (+$50.10)  PAID OFF!

Familial Loan - $1000 (no change)  PAID OFF! 

Woo hoo!  Good riddance to those debts!  As of next week, that paid off list should also include the hospital bill. I goofed with one of the due dates for something else and I need to make sure I don't overdraft--and get socked with a big ol' fee!  We've also set a large portion of our remaining tax refund aside for (a) our emergency fund and (b) most of Hubby's trip to Swaziland this summer.  It feels sooooo good to have that "buffer" in place again!  

In other snowflaking news, around mid-February I should have about $60 PayPal cash to snowflake on our next debt thanks to SwagBucks and SocialSpark.  Stay tuned for more happy updates from me!


Unlike the non-winter weather we've been experiencing, it's been a blizzard of "snowflakes" around here.  How are you doing?

What a difference 4 weeks can make...

...my belly has definitely dropped from where it was in these photos, but according the the doctor he's pretty darn sure he'll see me next week--at the office, not the hospital.  Bummer. :o(


Whether he's right or wrong, this baby will be here (hopefully) sooner rather than later, so I think it's about time I "showed off" some maternity pictures I had taken by a friend--before it's time to show off the newborn photos she's going to take for us.  


And now I've found a nice line-your-photos-up-nicely-in-blogger tutorial on another blog written by a woman from our church.  Score! :o)


Here they are, taken and edited by Kylee Sue Photography!


First we've got the cute "all belly" shot along with a beautiful collage.  I absolutely loved the tag she made for my belly; it reads "To: Josh & Pam, From: God".  It's a beautiful reminder of a beautiful thing!  



Next up, I'm going to show you my personal favorite portion of the session: teaching Hubby how to make a heart with his hands.  And him telling me not to look at his boogers when Kylee told us to look at each other.  Yep, we're that mature (sometimes).



And the final result:

The last picture I'm sharing today...

{Reminder of something we want all of our kids to know--in Daddy's handwriting}

Thanks for the great work, Kylee! (Make sure you check her out if you're in the area; you won't be dissapointed!)


What do you think? Am I crazy for having maternity shots taken--for a fourth pregnancy?

The Debt Snowflake Challenge :: Week 4

Here are our debt totals as they stand today:


Hubby's 'Large' School Loan - $7,000-ish? (still a big ol' question mark...grrr!)

{One of these days I WILL figure it out! I think I can get it done if I find the account number...hopefully that's possible!}
My School Loan - $6,195.46 (+$5.35)
Hubby's 'Small' School Loan - $4073.92 (+$14.54)
Credit Card - $2,419.10 (+$50.10)
Familial Loan - $1000 (no change)
Hospital Bill - $285 (no change) 


The bad news is that interest stinks, especially on big amounts like these.  But the good news is I finished our taxes online via TaxAct and our refund should be in our main checking account by February 8.  There will be some BIG changes to this list after that--including at least 3 of these debts performing disappearing acts.  I can't wait! :o)  


I had made a little bit of cash through after-school babysitting, but we opted to go out on what we're pretty sure will be our last "real date" before baby makes an appearance instead of applying it to the hospital bill debt.  I'm pretty sure we'll be thankful for that tiny little getaway once we're "trapped" at home by a newborn.


Oh well...still a little disappointed this week.  Check for an update to my D-Day page later today, and watch out for week 6's update--it'll be a good one for sure!


Have your snowflakes been more like scattered flurries or blizzards?    

The Debt Snowflake Challenge :: Week 3

This week I haven't managed to actually snowflake anything, unless you count the fact that I haven't spent the $10 I earned through after-school babysitting.    


Here are our debt totals as they stand today:


Hubby's 'Large' School Loan - $7,000-ish? (still a big ol' question mark...grrr!)
My School Loan - $6,190.11 (-$113.29)
Hubby's 'Small' School Loan - $4059.38 (-$1.16)
Credit Card - $2,369.00 (no change)
Familial Loan - $1000 (no change)
Hospital Bill - $285 (-$65.00)


{Yes, that's exactly the same as last week.  I really really really want the rest of our 2011 tax info!!! :(}


So we really did make no headway this week.  At all.  Oh, well.  That $10 I mentioned earlier will be added to whatever I am able to come up with for next week's snowflaking.


How do you deal with discouragement as a participant of the Debt Snowflake Challenge?