Vicks Vapor Rub... ON FEET??

I grew up a Vicks kid.  I think most of us did.  My mom swore by the stuff.  If I had a cough and a stuffy nose, it was pretty well guaranteed that it was going on my chest that night.

I HATED it!  It felt weird.  It was sticky... it made my jammies stick to me.  It was just... Ewww.

Now I'm all grown up and have kids of my own.  When they have a cough and a stuffy nose... Yep... out comes the Vicks.  Especially for Little Man who cannot take a decongestant for medical reasons.  But, just like me, he and Little Diva despise the Vicks.  They want NOTHING to do with it.

A couple of years ago I took Little Man into Urgent Care for a horrible cough.  He was SO sick.  The nurse told me that the sure fire way to ease his cough was to put Vicks on his feet with a nice warm pair of socks.

Wait... What??  On his FEET??  What good was THAT going to do??

I totally blew her off.

Then, not too long ago I saw it on Pinterest.  Vicks on the feet.  Guaranteed to relieve a cough 100% of the time.  Really now.  Well, it was on Pinterest, so it HAS to be real, right?  ;o)

It got me to thinking, though.  I discovered a while ago the wonder of a ionic foot detox session.  By doing that, I learned just how much toxins and pollutants come out of the 4000 or so large pores on the bottom of your feet.  So, maybe... just maybe those same pores can absorb the vapor created by the Vicks and distribute its healing power through your body??

Well, Monday night I was getting ready for bed and had a HORRIBLE cough.  I decided to give it a go.  I mean, really... what could it hurt??

IT WORKED!!

Within 10 minutes of applying the Vicks to my feet and putting on a nice warm pair of socks I was done coughing.  I am a believer... try it... you will be too!!  And it sure beats an icky sticky chest!!

Diva Dish of the Week!

Every once in awhile a recipe bumps around in my head and I just have to get it out on paper & then cook it up!  :) 

I hope you love this Italian take on Chicken Cordon Bleu.  This recipe also boasts only 6 carbs per serving, so if you are on a low carb diet, this is a great dish for you to add to your list of low-carb friendly recipes.  I made it with Italian Roasted Asparagus (another Diva recipe - inspired from some of the recipes I have seen on Pinterest here and there...).  I went ahead and included that one for you too.  If you create this dish in your own kitchen, let me know how it turned out! 


Diva-lish Italian Stuffed Chicken with Parmesan Cream Sauce

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 T olive oil

3 T butter, divided

½ c sun dried tomatoes

4 oz mozzarella cheese, cut into half circles

8 slices thin cut prosciutto in large strips

½ T minced garlic

1T flour

1 c chicken broth

2 T italian dressing mix

¼ c parmesan cheese

¼ c heavy cream

Chopped parsley to garnish each chicken breast

 

 

 

 

Preheat Oven to 350.  If you are preparing the asparagus recipe listed with this one as a side dish, go ahead and prepare it first, and set it aside.  You can then put it in the oven to cook with the chicken at the same temperature for the same amount of time.  If you are preparing the chicken alone, disregard this step.

In large skillet, pan sear chicken breasts on all sides in olive oil and 1 T of the butter.  Remove from pan and transfer to a cutting board where you can work on the next step.  Set skillet aside.  Be sure to remove it from heat.

Cut slits in sides of the partially cooked chicken breasts so they can be stuffed.  Divide the sun dried tomatoes and mozzarella cheese among the four breasts and generously stuff each one.  Using two slices per breast, tightly wrap the prosciutto around the stuffed chicken breasts.

Place a cooling rack inside of a jelly roll pan or cookie sheet. (any shallow baking dish is fine, really as long as it can accommodate the cooling rack sitting inside of it.)  Put each wrapped breast on the cooling rack.  Bake for 30 minutes.

When the chicken has about 10 minutes remaining, return the skillet you seared the chicken in back to the stove on med-high heat and add the other 2 T of butter and the minced garlic.  Allow the butter to melt and get slightly brown, being careful to not scorch the garlic!

Add in flour and combine with the melted butter & garlic until the butter and flour forms a smooth thin paste.  Quickly add in the chicken broth and the italian dressing mix.  Let the sauce come to a boil while constantly stirring.  This won’t take but a minute or so.  Once boiling and slightly thick, remove from heat.  Stir the parmesan cheese and heavy cream into the sauce. 

At this point, the chicken (and asparagus, if you prepared it as well) should be about ready to come out.  Plate it up, top each breast with the sauce, garnish with chopped parsley to make it even prettier and serve! 

 

 

Italian Oven Roasted Asparagus

 

1 lb fresh asparagus*

1 c italian dressing

¼ c parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350.
 

Clean and trim the asparagus. (To trim, take one of the asparagus stalks and holding it firmly at each end, bend until it snaps.  Where it naturally breaks off is where you want to trim the rest of the asparagus.  This is the woodier part of the stalk.  You can either discard that portion or you can keep it for up to a week to use in making your own homemade vegetable stock.)

In a large Ziploc bag, combine the asparagus and italian dressing.  Close the bag, and move the contents around to ensure the asparagus is completely coated in the dressing.  Allow the asparagus to marinate for at least 5 minutes, but this is a step you can do earlier in the day, and just store in the refrigerator if you would like for an even bolder flavor.

 

Once marinated, using tongs remove the asparagus from the bag and arrange in a single layer on a shallow baking dish. 

Bake for 25 minutes. 

Top the asparagus with the parmesan cheese and cook for 5 minutes more. 

 Enjoy!

 *You won’t want to use really thick asparagus for this recipe, as it won’t roast as nicely as a thinner or medium stalked asparagus.

 

Enjoy an absolutely diva-licious meal!!

 

Valentines Day 2013

Valentines Day preparation actually started the night before... at 10pm the night before, actually. 

I was tired.  Exhausted, actually.  It had been one of THOSE days. 

So, I got on Facebook.  It was time to unwind with a glass of wine.  And that is when I saw it.  My dear friend Laura from Houston We Have A Problem had posted their preparations for Valentines Day.  She and her S.O. had decked out the breakfast table for their littles with construction paper hearts.  She had hand-written valentines to each one of the kids and taped them to the back of their chairs.  Oh man.  That totally got my Diva up.  I'm suddenly inspired.  And shamed... into starting a project at 10pm.

I'm kind of thrilled that I did... It came out SO cute!!!  And I still got my glass of wine... I drank it while working on the project at the kitchen table.  ;o)

The kids LOVED waking up to their Valentines Day surprise.  I decided that something special was in order for breakfast.  Mornings around our house are super hectic... usually they just get cereal for breakfast and then we are out the door to school.  Not on Valentines Day, though... nope... mama pulled out all the stops with heart shaped and Mickey shaped pancakes!! :)

We got the kids off to school and then returned a few hours later to have lunch with them.  They had requested sandwiches from Subway.  We also surprised them with heart shaped donuts from Dunkin Donuts for dessert.

We no longer eat a lot of sweets in our house... so on this day, that was made for sweets, my kiddos thought they scored pretty big!  :)

We finished off the day with dinner... with special guests Grandma & Grandpa. 
I was so busy enjoying the evening I forgot to pull out my camera.  But rest assured... a GREAT time was had by all. :)

On a diva personal note... I am quite pleased with myself that I didn't touch a single sweet today.  My journey continues... One day at a time.  <3

Baked Tilapia With Balsamic Browned Butter Glaze

Today is Ash Wednesday... and if you are Catholic, you know what that means:  NO MEAT!  :)  Luckily my family, kids included, loves fish!

This is an absolute favorite recipe in our family, and I made it for dinner tonight.  I originally got the recipe from watching 30 Minute Meals with Rachel Ray.  Since I first made it, I have made some adjustments to it, and will give you the recipe as I made it today.  The beautiful thing about this recipe is it is SO simple!  And only has 5 ingredients.  Perfect for a quick, easy, healthy weeknight dinner!

Enjoy!

Baked Tilapia With Balsamic Browned Butter Glaze

4-6 large Tilapia fillets
garlic salt- to taste
black pepper - to taste

2T butter
1/2 c aged balsamic vinegar


Preheat the oven to 425.  Arrange tilapia fillets on a shallow baking sheet that has been sprayed with non stick spray.  I use a jelly roll pan.  Season the fish to your liking with garlic salt and black pepper.
Bake for 15-20 mins.

While the fish is baking, melt your butter in a shallow sauce pan.  When butter is melted, and just starting to turn brown, add the balsamic vinegar.  Give a quick stir to incorporate the two and then lower your heat to simmer until the vinegar is reduced by half.

Top the fish with the glaze and enjoy! 

 

It started with a thought...

Doesn't it always? 
You have this thought.  And it blossoms into an idea.  And that becomes a nagging voice.

You should do that.
When are you going to do that?
Oh, come on! You know you want to!!

OK!  I did it.  I started a blog.

This will be my place.  My place to let my diva out.  Let her flip her hair and cock her hip and show some 'tude.  Let her brag a bit.  Because she's pretty cool, and she has some pretty fun ideas.  Ideas that I will share, and show off.  Ideas that I will put out there and see what comes back.  Ideas to let soar. 

This is gonna be fun.  :)