Barbecue Chicken Quinoa Salad

I am on a barbecue chicken kick these days. Not only have I been trying to use in various recipes but I got this amazing new barbecue sauce at Costco a few weeks ago (Stubbs). Last night I combined two separate meals into one. In the past we have had barbecue chicken quinoa as well as barbecue chicken salad. When preparing dinner I was going to have a side salad with our barbecue chicken quinoa and then decided to just combine the two.

It was as follows:

-Two chicken breasts, cooked on low all day in the crockpot. Once the chicken was cooked at added barbecue sauce and let it sit and simmer for another 30 minutes.

- 1 cup uncooked quinoa (2 cups cooked)

- Bed of lettuce

-1 can of black beans mixed with 1 can corn, seasoned with salt, garlic powder, and mixed with green onion. Then heated.

- Top as you see fit. As you can see below hubs chose it plan with only addition barbecue sauce and ranch. In addition to that, mine is topped with tomatoes and avocado. Delish.

 

While hubs was a huge fan of the combination I think I prefer the plain and simple barbecue chicken quinoa. No matter what combination you use though...it is SO good!

 

Tuesday Thoughts: Hand-Washing

I will admit it - I don't always wash my hands after I go to the bathroom. While I do the majority of the time, other times I just don't see the need. If I only touch the toilet paper and nothing else touches my hand I don't really see the point. Not only is it time consuming, but it dries out my hands, making them hurt and making them red.

I understand that men, who are required almost every time they use the bathroom to touch a part of their body, should wash their hands each time. But women, who use toilet paper as a buffer between their hand and their own body should not be required to wash their hands after experience. Yes I am sure that every medical professional in the world and probably almost everyone else for that matter would disagree. But unless I am cutting up meat or food, got my hands dirty, or splattered on myself while going to the bathroom or someone else in the bathroom watching me when I leave the stall and will judge me if I don't wash my hands thoroughly I don't believe the benefits outweigh the cost.

Taking a Pause.

I have been counting down to this very day for the past several months. This afternoon marks the start of my vacation. Yes, yes, hubs and I went to Gatlinburg for a long weekend recently. And yes, I did take off a week at work back in June to lounge by the pool and clean my house here in Indiana. BUT this poor body has not seen the beach for a year! If you weren't already aware, I am in love with the beach, with the sun, and with being tan. But more than that this year I am in love with the idea of taking a pause from my life for a whole week!

 

Life has been rough lately. I cannot wait to take a much needed break from worrying about having a baby and planning our next step. Coy and I already decided to take this month off from any kind of fertility treatments, including medication, but we have also decided that this next week will one of baby-free discussion. This doesn't make the issue magically go away but the beach and change of scenery makes it easier to try to forget about it temporarily.

 

I also cannot wait to take a break from worrying about the future. Hubs lost his job almost two months ago. And for anyone who has been without work knows, it's never a carefree time. We have been extremely blessed during this time and have managed to not be strapped for money. But even with that being said it is hard to ever feel relaxed for an extended amount of time without worrying about the next month, the next bill, the next potential job opportunity. This next week will also provide some much needed respite from this stressor. We have been lucky enough to set aside enough cash over the past few months for our trip. I am so thankful for this because it will actually allow us to live financially carefree for a week. We have also been lucky that in the midst of Coy's job loss we have not had to dig into this money.

 

And finally I cannot wait to take a break from work (shocking, I know). Work always seems to fluctuate between stressful and calm. There never seems to be a happy medium. And unfortunately the past few weeks have seemed to be more focused on stressful. One day when I am gone from this place I need to write a book about all of the things I have had to deal with as a supervisor. It really is unreal. And please don't read that as I don't like my job - because I can't imagine myself working somewhere else, doing something else, or working with a different population. But being one of the big bosses comes with a whole new meaning to my day and whole new set of crazy situations that I have to deal with!  

 

Even in the midst of all of the craziness of life hubs and I are so blessed. One of the huge ways we are blessed is that we get to enjoy a week away at this amazing house with this amazing view!

 

Lately (in photos)

It feels like a decade since I have posted last. So, in order to make sure we don't miss out on anything here is a recap of the last few weeks of my life!

 Max, my sister's giant, snuggly, huge, playful, and loud goldendoodle came to visits for a few days. As if our two-dog house wasn't crazy enough!

 My sweet hubby surprised me with some beautiful flowers after some good news at work!

 We attempted/ miserably failed a 7 day Jillian cleanse. We did make it 4 days but after that it was a wash. I also started her new Slim For Life book. So far I'm loving it! (Although that is one of three books I trying to read currently so I haven't gotten very far!)

 Our poor mailbox broke and had to sit in the ground for almost a week until someone could get it fixed! Embarrassing!

 We celebrated World Refugee Day at work with a dinner, entertainment, and refugee stories. It was a great but exhausting night and I can't say I'm not glad it's over!

 This little gem finally came in for me at the library. In case you didn't know I am obsessed with this story. So, despite the poor writing I am already obsessed with the book.

 We spent some quality time with this little angel (well, and the rest of the family).

 We ate some seriously huge steaks to celebrate the Fourth of July.

 I'm obsessed with my dogs. But I guess that is always, not just now.

 I celebrated 31 years with the love of my life! It was a great birthday filled with sleeping in, going to Coy's choice for lunch outside on the patio, and ending it with having the whole fam over for a cook out, bonfire, and smores! I am thankful for his life everyday and was glad to have this day to celebrate him and all that he is!

I won the 'Wife of the Year' award by sitting through hours and hours of a softball tournament. I was torn of how to cheer because I longed to be at home in my air conditioning. While they didn't win (meaning I didn't have to be at the softball field for an extra hour) they got third place and of course hubby was a rockstar at the mound!