Chicken & Noodles over Mashed Potatoes

My friend Shirlene requested this recipe so I thought I would share it with everyone. It is one of the yummy comfort foods from The Food Nanny rescues dinner cookbook!

1 1/2 to 2 pounds, skinless chicken breasts
4 cups chicken broth
6 medium russet potatoes (about 2 lbs), peeled & cut into 2 inch chunks
2 Tbs butter
1/3 to 1/2 cup milk
salt and ground black pepper
6 ounces uncooked wide egg noodles
1/2 cup all-purpose flour (optional)
1/2 cup water (optional)
2 cups frozed peas, thawed (optional)

1. Put the chicken and broth in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Decrease the heat, cover, and simmer 18-20 minutes, until the chicken is tender and no longer pink. Remove the chicken from the pot to cool, reserving the broth in the pan.

2. Meanwhile, put the potatoes in another pot and cover with water. Add a few shakes of salt and bring to a boil. Cover, decrease the heat to simmer, and continue cooking until potatoes are tender, 15-20 minutes. Drain.

3. Remove the pot from the heat and, mash the potatoes in the pot with a mixer or potatoe masher. Add the butter, milk, and salt and pepper to taste. Cover to keep warm.

4. When the chicken is cool enough to handle, tear the meat into pieces with two forks. Stir the chicken pieces into the broth and place over high heat.

5. When the broth boils, add the noodles. When it boils again, decrease the heat to medium and cook the noodles until tender-following package directions.

NOTE: For thicker broth, make a paste by whisking 1/2 cup flour into 1/2 cup cold water in a small bowl until smooth. Pour a little of the paste into the pot after the noodles are cooked. Stir well until blended and boil for one minute, adding more thickening as desired.

6. Optional: Stir in the peas until heated through. Add salt and pepper to taste.

7. To serve, mound the mashed potatoes in the center of the platter and ladle the chicken mixture over it. Season generously with additional salt and pepper.

Crappy Day Lessons and White Chili Recipe

15 hrs grad school + Being mom+ track season= no time for blogging Not that I haven't wanted to blog, but it seems grad school has taken over my life. I was dwelling on the fact that I have missed out on so much of life this year as I have been stuck in the textbooks and behind the computer working on papers and class assignments. I have had to miss lots of church meetings and events, which really makes me upset. I have had to miss my kids activities, track meets, boys scout stuff, everything!! Yesterday I was having my own little pitty party. Man was I dwelling in it! I guess the end of semester action research paper, coupled with the rainy, cold, dreary day was really getting the best of me! I lost two very important pieces of research data. I burned dinner (in the microwave....how do you do that??) and to top it all off I broke my favorite serving bowl that my mom got me for my birthday last year (in the microwave...it cracked with the burned food in it.) So I had a good cry and then started praying. Praying...over a broken bowl, a broken attitude, a broken year. The Holy Spirit welled up inside me and poured on the positive and reminded me of the many blessings that I have been given this year, and just yesterday. I didn't find the missing data, but the Holy Spirit reminded me of the answers and I recreated the missing data. My bowl didn't piece itself back together....but He reminded me that there are 6 other bowls, smaller but still, it wasn't the only one, and my pretty red bowl just has a crack...I can still use it for something, maybe a flower pot? The kids had cereal for dinner..which they thought was super cool...and I punished myself for the bad attitude and ate nothing. I went and put on my fuzzy zebra print pajamas and got back to work on my research paper. You know what? I completed that research paper in record time! I had scheduled at least three days to get that thing done...instead I got it done in a little less than 24 hours! The Holy Spirit reminded me that it's satan that is trying to bring me down but my God is bigger than ANY crappy day that statan tries to bring me down with...and my God has the POWER to end any crappy day with VICTORY! So today I am thankful for that reminder. I am looking at the positives and the blessings, and reminding myself that God has POWER over my life. Nothing satan does or puts in my mind has a chance as long as I rely on God. He has promised never to leave or forsake me....{especially on the crappy days]. —Isaiah 26:3-4 You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock. I woke up today with a fresh outlook and God gave us a gorgeous, warmer, sunny day today! Dinner might have burned last night, but my house smells amazing with tonights dinner in the crockpot (recipe below). I have one research paper completed and only 7 more big assignments left. I only have 103 days until I graduate with my Masters degree! The flowers are blooming and summer is close.

I have a healthy new nephew...Cade Emerson Peters...what an amazing reminder of God's awesome power!

Dwell on the blessings and Pray when satan tries to get you dwelling on anything else! The Holy Spirit will rush to rescue you from the battlefield of your mind!

White Chili Crock Pot Recipe

1 lb great northern beans soaked

1 med onion chopped 3 garlic cloves, minced

2 4-ounce cans green chilies

2 teaspoons cumin

1 teaspoon oregano

1 1/2 teaspoons cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 boneless skinless chicken breast (I threw it in frozen then pulled it apart with form when it was cooked)

6 cups of water

6 chicken boulion cubes

Put all ingredients in crock pot. Stir to mix thoroughly. Cover, cook on low 10-12 hrs, high 6-8 hrs.