6 Awesome things to do with a Rotisserie Chicken

I love to cook and I love to bake. My husband works a rotating schedule so I only really have to cook dinner 50% of the time. And, when I do, I try to make wholesome, balanced meals pretty much from scratch.

But then sometimes life gets in the way and I don't have time to make something that takes more than 20 minutes. Enter the Rotisserie Chicken.

They're a staple in our house. Our local ShopRite sells organic ones for around $6. They're such a quick, tasty option that we end up eating them, in some form, very often.  When I first started buying them, we'd have rice and veggies as side dishes every.single.time. Jon got sick of that really quickly and so I got creative. I googled looking for ideas but many were things that involved curry or some fancy ingredient that I neither had nor liked. (Like this recipe which calls for hominy. What the heck is hominy!?)

So, here are my favorite, realistic, easy things to do with a rotisserie chicken.

1. Make a knock-off Thanksgiving dinner with it. Have stuffing, veggies and serve with cranberry sauce. YUM!

2. Chicken Pot Pie -- Shred the chicken, mix with 2 cans of creamy soup (I like cream of celery and cream of potato) and 10-12 oz of frozen veggies. Pie crust on the bottom and the top...bake for an hour at 350 and you've got yourself an easy and awesome meal.

3. Chicken Quesadillas -- Get your favorite tortilla. Shred the chicken, throw in some shredded cheese and anything else you like (olives, tomatoes, green chiles) and put it in a hot frying pan till it's browned on each side. (I don't add any olive oil to the pan, but you can.) Serve with sour cream!

4. Apple Cranberry Chicken Salad -- Shred the chicken, cut up the apples, sprinkle some cranberries and your favorite crumbly cheese over a bed of lettuce. Add some balsamic vinaigrette and you've got a really tasty, really healthy meal.

5.  Chicken Tacos -- Shred the chicken and prepare tacos as you normally would. We like avocado, lettuce, tomato, cheese, and sour cream with ours.

6. Spinach & Chicken Pasta Bake  This is one of our favorite recipes. Someone gave it to me on at my bridal shower 4.5 years ago and it's become a staple. I use 12 oz of pasta instead of 8 so we have more!

So tell me...what else do you do with Rotisserie Chicken?

Holiday Shopping...with kids

I absolutely love Christmastime. (Yup, Christmastime is, in fact, a word.)  I love baking, decorating the tree, putting up lights outside, and driving around to look at other people's lights. I also love starting our own family traditions with Gia. More on that later!

I also love to shop, but it's really difficult to do that with a  two year old. Gia will only sit in her stroller for about 30 minutes at a clip. That's barely enough time to stand in the long lines to pay. Add work and my husband's rotating schedule into the mix and that doesn't leave me with much time to shop. So, I do a lot of it online.

I've been a member of Amazon Prime for a few years now, and it's been a godsend. And, the other day a Facebook friend of mine posted about the site Ebates.  I'd heard of it before but never used it. My friend said that she was getting quite a bit of cash back for stuff she'd buy anyway, so I thought I'd try it.

I clicked her link (she gets a bonus because I signed up "under" her) and signed up in a jiffy. And then I started to shop. I made 3 qualifying purchases within an hour. And, I just got an email from them with my total; I'm on my way to making a decent amount in cash back. That check is going to be great come February, when we're still feeling the burn from the money we spent on Christmas.

So, check out Ebates. Click HERE, sign up, and then pass it on to your friends.

In February, let's all compare notes and see who got the most back!

Potty Training: Part 1

Although I'm not in a rush to potty train Gia, I've been looking forward to the moment when my diaper changing days were over. Last week Gia developed horrible diaper rash on her bum. It was red, scaly, itchy and was definitely bothering her. She's very aware of the bathroom and of her bodily functions so I thought I'd try the Three Day Potty Training Method. ** 

So, let me tell you what we did and how we did it.

1. We've been talking to Gia about it potty traning for a while now. We have a potty book that she loves. She knows that pee pee and poopy go in the potty and not on the floor.

2.  About a week ahead before we were going to start, I told Gia we'd be taking off her diapers for good. Every day I reminded her that her diapers were soon going in the garbage and that she was going to wear big girl underpants and go on the potty.

3. On the morning of our first day, I took all the diapers out of our diaper caddy and Gia said good bye to them.  I asked her to throw them away (she loves to throw things in the gaaaa-bage). She was a little sad to see them go, so I had to throw them out for her, but she did give the stack of diapers a farewell kiss.

4. Gia went pantless all day. No diaper, no undies--totally bare-bottomed. We also kept the potty near us, in the playroom. (We have the potty seen below. It's by Fisher Price and it sings songs when the child pees in it. The music function has been awesome because it let's us know if Gia went or not.)

5. We loaded her up with water, seltzer and whatever else she wanted to drink.

6. We had her sit on the potty at regular intervals (every 20 minutes or so). I used the timer on the microwave to make sure I didn't get distracted and forget to put her on the potty.

7. About 1 hour and 20 min after her first drink, she sat on the potty and woulnd't get up. I think she had to go but wasn't sure how to do it yet. So, I sat with her and read books until she peed in the potty. It took about 10 minutes.

8. After that 1st success, we started a potty reward ritual. We cheered, gave hugs and kisses and had Gia help us dump and flush the pee. We also gave her 1 candy corn as a reward. (My kid is really motivated by candy, k?) She was so proud of herself and loved saying bye bye as she flushed her pee away.

The rest of the day went really well. Gia caught on really quickly.  About 35 minutes after her first success, we were upstairs in my bedroom and Gia was standing with her legs open rather wide. I noticed one drop of pee dripped out. She said "Uh oh! No pee pee on the floor!" I grabbed her and we ran downstairs to the potty and she promptly peed again.

And after that, it all clicked. She understood the sensation of having to go and she hightailed it to the potty every time (pun intended).

Days 2 and 3 were more of the same. Bare-bottomed at home, with quick trips out. She did great. On day 2 she even pooped on the potty, which was a huge accomplishment and earned her 2 candies.

I wasn't really sure what to do after Day 3 was over. How was I supposed to get her into underwear? The method says bare bottomed for 3 months and only loose clothes when we go out. (The theory is that underwear feel too much like diapers, thus causing them to have more accidents.) I wasn't sure that was realistic for us though. Would she have accidents? What would I do when we went out for long periods of time?

For the answers to all these questions, stay tuned for Part 2!

You can read Part 2 HERE

** It's worth mebtioing that this method won't work unless both the parents and the child are ready. We've tried potty training before (right after Gia turned 2) and it didn't go so well. Also, like the article says, if you know your child is ready, it's important to have a 'no turning back' attitude. Yes, potty training is messy and no, it's not easy. But if you stick with it, it will work.