An Improvised Recipe

Otherwise known as "What do with boneless, skinless chicken thighs and tortellini when your husband announces he doesn't want the chicken, spinach, and tortellini soup you'd planned to make for dinner.

My Ingredients:

1.5 lbs of boneless skinless chicken thighs
9 oz pkg of rainbow cheese tortellini
1 can of artichoke hearts, drained and quartered
1/2 jar of sundried tomatoes diced
about 3 tbs of shredded fresh basil (that I froze last summer)
3 cloves of garlic minced
1/2 medium onion diced
1/2 cup chicken stock
pesto (optional)
2-3 tbs olive oil


Here's what I did:

Cut chicken into small bite-sized pieces and browned in some olive oil.  Meanwhile, I minced and diced the onion, and brought a pot of water to boil. When the chicken was browned I added the chicken stock, garlic and onion.  I let it simmer for a bit while the tortellini cooked, and then added the artichoke hearts, sundried tomatoes, and basil.  I drained the tortellini and added it the skillet and then swirled in a few tablespoons of pesto.    It took about 30 minutes in all.

Love Me Those 3-Day Weekends!

I took a personal day from school today so that my husband and I could head south to CT for a mini family reunion.  My Michigan sister and her family came east so that they could visit the financial aid office of a well-known college, and so that my niece could spend a day attending classes.  We have cousins on the CT coast, which is also our home town,  so my husband and decided to join in on the fun.  We drove down late Saturday afternoon.  My sister and I stayed at the same hotel, so we could visit when we weren't with the cousins and their families.

We had a wonderful time catching up with each other.  Our CT cousins are more like our big brother and big sister.  I spend the first 9 years of my life hanging out with them all the time since we all lived just a mile or two away from each other.  And all through this time we've stayed close.  In fact my husband and I have traveled abroad several times with my older cousin and his wife.  So it was a lot fun for the 4 of us to hang out with each other and with each other's spouses and families.

It was also wonderful to be in a place where we didn't see any ice or snow!  We still have glaciers in our yard, retreating ones, to be sure, but glacial piles of snow nonetheless.  We walked on the beach Sunday morning, enjoying the sunshine and temperatures in the 50s°.

We had a lovely homemade clam chowder for Sunday dinner, and then had dinner at a great diner Sunday night.  This morning we reluctantly headed home, but did so in a leisurely fashion.

I think I've taken only one other personal day for pleasure during my entire teaching career.  We are allowed up to 3 days of undisclosed personal leave.  I haven't taken them because I feel way too guilty taking a day off for fun!  But, as my husband keeps reminding me, you are allowed to do so, so why do you feel guilty?  Just the Puritan in me, I guess.  Plus it IS such a lot of work to write sub plans!  I will taking 4 days in a row in May for our son's wedding . . . I am dreading trying to figure out those plans!!

But, wow, I love 3 day weekends.  I am feeling so relaxed that I am actually almost looking forward to work tomorrow!  Just not the 4:45 am alarm clock!