{ RECIPE :: Balsamic Chicken, Spinach & Tomato Pasta Salad }

I love pretty food.  But I especially love pretty food that's also delicious!  And this right here is one of those dishes!  I absolutely loved the flavor of the balsamic marinated chicken (who doesn't love balsamic!) and the cheese tortellini was a fun twist to the traditional pasta dishes with sprinkled cheese.  The husband and I loved this meal and plan on finishing it off for dinner tomorrow night too!

INGREDIENTS:
1 (20-ounce) package cheese tortellini
1 pound skinned and boned chicken breasts
1 ½ cup Newman’s Own Balsamic Vinaigrette Salad Dressing, divided
1 teaspoons Dijon mustard
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2 cups firmly packed fresh spinach, chopped
1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped
1 ½ cups fresh cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup yellow bell pepper, diced

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Place chicken in a zip-lock bag and pour 1 cup of balsamic vinaigrette in bag with chicken. Marinate for at least 2 hour, but best if marinated overnight. Take chicken out of zip-lock bag and discard marinade.
2. In a grill pan, grill chicken breasts, about 5 to 6 minutes on each side until cooked through. Place yellow bell pepper slices in grill pan and grill about 2 minutes on each side. Once cooled, dice chicken up in small bites.
3. Whisk together remaining ½ cup balsamic vinaigrette dressing and mustard in a small bowl.
4. Cook pasta according to package directions; drain. Transfer pasta to a large bowl and drizzle with 1/2 tablespoon olive oil. Let cool 10 min.
5. Toss together pasta, chicken, balsamic mixture, spinach, and remaining 3 ingredients in a large bowl. Serve immediately, or, if desired, cover and chill 1 hour before serving

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Servings: 6

{ RECIPE :: Coconut Lime Curry Chicken }

I make a lot of recipes I find off Pinterest and honestly, most all of them are really good. This one however is like AMAZING good! Maybe I'm just being bias because my favorite food in the whole world is Thai food and this dish is very reminiscent of the yellow curry dishes I get at restaurants (maybe even better!)

 But seriously, this dish was SO good. Not at all spicy, although next time I might try to give it a little more kick. I loved the pairing of the coconut and lime. And if I wasn't in such a hurry tonight to get my kid in the bath and into bed, I probably would have sat there and finished off the entire skillet.  Next time.

INGREDIENTS:
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes
3 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 tsp curry powder
1 14 oz can light coconut milk
1 4 oz. can diced green chiles
Zest and juice of 1 lime
1/4 cup green onion, chopped
2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped (optional)

DIRECTIONS:
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken and garlic and cook until golden brown on all sides, about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the curry powder and cook, stirring for 1 minute, until it is fragrant. Add the coconut milk, chiles, lime juice and zest, bring to a simmer, and simmer until the chicken is just cooked through, about 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat, stir in the green onions and cilantro. Serve over rice.

**If you look closely you can see the steam coming off the hot curry!  Mmmmm, I can almost smell it! No, almost TASTE it!  So good.

{ Dear Blair :: 6 Months Old }

Happy 1/2 Birthday my sweet baby Blair!  What a wonderful day it's been.  Mommy was so good to you and let you cuddle in her bed all morning, took you swimming, shopping, and played with you all day long! It was a very Happy 1/2 Birthday indeed!

Your Mommy and Daddy are so grateful everyday that Heavenly Father picked us to be your parents!  We love you so much.  You are such a sweet little girl with so much personality, always making us laugh and smile!  Here's a little re-cap of all the things we want to remember most about our sweet little Blairski...

• We are excited to go to your 6 month check-up at the doctors next week.  We can't wait to find out how much you have grown.  I'm guessing you're about 18 pounds now and have grown another 2 inches or more!
• Your best new trick is sitting up!  You no longer find laying down on your blankets an acceptable position.  You prefer sitting (or standing with the help of mom and dad) at all times.
• Your hair is coming in slowly but surely.  Everyone always asked "What color is her hair?"  I can't believe you're 6 months old and we still don't know.  Some days it's blonde, some days it's brown.  We may not know til you're one!
• Daddy calls you his little Blairski Animal and we find it oh-so-fitting.
• We sleep trained you a couple weeks ago and you were sleeping like a champ! Almost 11 hours a night straight!  That is, until we went on vacation this week.  OH! MY GOSH!  You were such a terror.  You refused to sleep!  But all that changes tonight  because tonight we go back to crying it out!  Yup, time to get back to our good sleeping habits, pretty please!
• You've started teething.  AHHHHH!  As if going on vacation and screwing up your sleep patterns wasn't enough, you had to go and start teething on vacation too?  Oh Blair!  What ever are we going to do with you. ;)
• Shopping for you is just out of control fun.  I can't believe I wanted all boys!  Oh the fun I would have missed out on!
• Meal times have become quite messy around here.  You are now eating just about every baby food out there.  Your favorites still seem to be peaches and mangoes, but there really isn't anything you won't eat.  You like peas, broccoli, sweet potato, blueberries, prunes, squash, bananas, pears, carrots, and more...
• Your naps are totally erratic.
• Believe it or not, you still don't roll over.  But this morning I got an email for your 6 month birthday that made me feel a little better.  It said "Your baby might adopt rolling as his primary mode of ground transportation for a while, or he may skip it altogether and move on to sitting, lunging, and crawling. As long as your baby continues to gain new skills and shows interest in getting around and exploring his environment, don't worry." Oh phew.  We'll stop worrying now.
• You love to laugh!  We can get you giggling playing peek-a-boo, tickling under your arms, and when daddy blows raspberries on your belly.
• The first thing people say about you when they first meet you is "She's so cute!" Second, "She's so chubby!"  And third, "I love her beautiful blue eyes!"  I couldn't agree more...especially the chubby comment.  You're such a little rolly polly!
• You love reading books.  Books! Books!  Books! We just took 2 trips last week to buy you more books!
• There are so many things I love about you, but I think my favorite is your smile!  I could watch your flash those toothless gums all day long!