Musings of a Louisville St. Louisan

This isn't a new recipe to me, but it is too delicious and simple for a chicken recipe not to share my interstitial cystitis friendly version.  The original recipe, which I have been told is divine, came from The Shiksa in the Kitchen blog.  However, I can't have smoked paprika and never follow anyone's directions word for word, so I made a few slight alterations.  The worst part is cutting the raw chicken in half (my remix of the recipe), but after that it gets much better...especially when you let your 2 1/2 year old assist in it's preparation.  Now before you bring up the obvious objections:  What about salmonella?  Should you really give your child a meat tenderizer?  The answers are:  Eh, don't worry about it (okay, maybe just a little bit) and what child doesn't love playing with a metal hammer (supervised of course). One of my favorite memories as a child was hanging out with my mom in the kitchen while she made dinner.  A...

We all have those moments.  The moments when our child is acting like a possessed demon from the ninth circle of Dante's Inferno .  The moments when we want to literally dig a hole and bury ourselves in it.  The moment when you look at the sky and shout to God, "Why me?"  Every parent has been there.  If they haven't had that moment with their first child, they just need to wait.  It is inevitable.  It will happen.  So, why is it, if every parent has these moments do they still they tend to look down their nose in judgement at another parent when they are having one?  To be quite honest, I am not proud of it, but I have done the same.  Most often it was when I was married without children and thought, "My child will never do that."  Or "I will never talk to my kid that way."  Now, when I think of my pre-child self I just laugh.  (One piece of advice for parents or non parents-never say never.  And I hope that you ha...

One of the things I love most in the world is art.  When I was a little girl I wanted to be an art teacher.  I remember my art teacher in my sophomore year in high school told me I was too shy to be a teacher.  He would be quite surprised to find out that this year I am co-leading the organization of the third creative event at Revolution Church of Kentucky .  In 2012 we had an Art Show in May and a Craft Fair in December.  This year we decided to combine the best of two worlds into, "Have Yourself a Crafty Little Christmas!"  It is on Friday, December 13, 2013 from 6:30 to 9:00. Our past events have been filled with some EXTREMELY talented artists and craftspeople. Here are some of the awesome items we had at last year's craft fair: Handmade Jewelry Decorative Journals Wreaths More Wreaths!! The Lovely Em Dash Designs Graced Us with Her Presence And the Art Show in May 2012 Liz Richter (Right) Sculpture Watercolor...

It's that time of year again.  When pumpkins are carved, pies are made and butternut squash isn't so ridiculously expensive.  There is much rejoicing!!   I will share with you my secret to buying butternut squash as long as you try these muffins out.  Most stores sell butternut squash by the pound.  They are not on sale the entire fall season, so you have to keep checking the ads each week to find out where it is cheapest.  One time I ended up buying $9.00 of butternut squash because I did not realize how big the squash I was purchasing was.  Grocery stores do not tend to keep very many scales around so you can know how much your produce weighs anymore.  (When I was a kid and walked up a hill two miles in the snow to get to the grocery store there were two scales on every produce aisle.  Now you have to walk in circles trying to find one).  Stores like Aldi and Trader Joe's (who are owned by the same company) do not use scales...

There have been several blogs written recently about who does it better: the stay at home mom or the working mom.  Who is more important to society?  Is a mom being neglectful if they do this, this and this.  Is a mom babying a child if they do this.  Breastfeeding, formula feeding, jarred baby food, homemade baby food, co-sleep, Ferber method, and the list goes on and on and on and ON.  Veteran moms are overwhelmed and new moms are overwhelmed.  In the mommy world, it makes it very difficult to breathe. As a mom, from the minute we wake up to the minute we lay our heads on our pillow we are bombarded with messages on how we should raise our children.  From the Today Show  to Parenthood to Maury Povich, everyone has an opinion.  Even the Pampers and Toll House commercials think they know the best way we should raise our children. And then there are other moms.  You meet them at the play ground, at the mall, in the grocery store, a...

There are very few things in the world that are worse than dry corn bread.  In my quest to find a corn bread that does not crumble if you look at it funny, I have found all sorts of things that aren't that great for you.  Butter and a lot of sugar.  Both of these things aren't bad in moderation, but if you are like me you have a hard time with moderation when it comes to anything in the "bread" category.  Especially if it is of the sweet and corny kind.  Last week I had a few friends over for chicken chili and wanted to make a special corn bread that was different and more importantly moist without the added fat and calories.  On a whim I googled pumpkin corn bread and found this recipe. I changed quite a few things in the recipe and was pleasantly surprised with the outcome.  The texture mimicked your traditional cornbread recipe.  The muffins were definitely not dry, thanks to the pumpkin, which added a bit of a fall kick.  Next ti...

Mark 4:35  That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” 36  Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37  A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38  Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” 39  He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. 40  He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” 41  They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”  I have heard this story about a gazillion times (I have literally counted), but in a rare moment when I was up this morning before my daughter was I was reading it and saw it in a new light....