Balsamic rosemary chicken with foil grilled veggies

Ok so I have to admit I have been pretty lazy these past few weeks after the wedding. I mean putting together a backyard wedding is hard work, thankfully I had the help of family and friends but after months of planning I felt like I needed a nice looooonnnggg break from doing anything productive.

So what have we been eating you ask? Well Chinese food, pizza, and I have made the occasional rice, beans and chicken, nothing too crazy simply because my brain was on vacation but now it's time for me to get back on the saddle. I need to cut out the Chinese and pizza {oh how I will miss thee} and start cooking and eating some real food, and I know Louis will have no objections what so ever, for the past week he has brought lefts overs from a sloppy joe casserole I made last weekend for lunch, it's safe to say he never wants to see sloppy joe again. 

Another thing is that we haven't used the grill much this summer which is a shame because to been a very nice summer, not too hot and not too cold but just right. My mother and law also gave us her grill because she moved to a nice new apartment so we actually had our own grill instead of borrowing my parents grill. I'm still terrified of turning the grill on {I always picture me accidentally turning the propane on to much and a huge plume of fire erupting when I light the grill and me saying bye bye to my eyebrows and eye lashes} so I just put everything together and make Louis cook the meal. Tonight dinner was pretty simple, grilled balsamic rosemary chicken thighs with veggies grilled in a foil packet, nice, easy and pretty healthy compared to the trash we have been eating {sorry body I know I have failed you with all the yucky stuff I have fed you, it was so wrong but it felt so right}.

Balsamic rosemary chicken thighs:

2lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs

1 cup balsamic vinegar 

3/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup rosemary (dried or fresh)

2 tablespoons lemon zest

1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes

2 tablespoons minced garlic 

Salt and pepper to season 

In large casserole dish arrange the chicken thighs so they lay flat. Take a fork and pierce the chicken thighs a few times so that they absorb the marinade better.

In a seperate bowl mix the rest of the ingredients except for the salt a pepper. Pour the marinade over the chicken thighs, making sure most of the chicken is covered. Cover the casserole dish with foil and place in the fridge, let it sit for 1 hour then remove from the fridge and flip the chicken so the other side can marinate for an hour (so all together it will marinate for 2 hours but you can marinate for longer or even better over night, just make sure to flip them atleast once so they will evenly absorb the marinade. 

Preheat the grill on medium heat. Brush the grates of the grill with some olive oil. 

Remove the chicken from the marinade and season with salt and pepper. 

Place on the grill and cook for 6-8 minutes on each side. Remove from the grill and serve while hot. 

Jowell insisted that he was a big boy and wanted to help with the chicken. 

Original recipe from: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/lemon-rosemary-and-balsamic-grilled-chicken-thighs-recipe.html

Grilled vegetables in foil:

1 green pepper

1 large onion

2 yellow zucchinis 

1 cup of baby carrots 

Olive oil

Seasoned salt

Pepper

Garlic powder

Foil

This recipe is super easy can the vegetables you use are interchangeable, these were just the vegetables I had on hand at the moment. Slice the vegetables and set aside. Cut 3 pieces of foil and lay them flat, they need to be big enough for you to put the veggies in the middle and fold both sides of the foil over with out the veggies spilling out. Spray the middle of the foil with olive oil non stick spray. Place the onions down first, then the green peppers, the zucchini and finally the carrots. Drizzle some olive oil over the vegetables and season with seasoned salt, pepper and garlic powder. Fold the foil up the middle first then fold the ends so tree is no way the steam can escape. Heat the grill to medium heat and cook for 20 minutes. Be careful when opening because a bunch of steam will pop out.

Ok let me just say trying to get a picture of this guy is a mission and a half. When I told him act natural this is what he did...yup that's my husband for you. 

Turkey meatloaf

Who doesn't love meatloaf? I know my family could eat meatloaf everyday if they could. To keep things healthy I make the meatloaf using ground turkey, I actually use ground turkey all the time in place of ground beef, I actually don't remember a time when I ever used ground beef, there is nothing wrong with it, so you could definitely use it in place of the ground turkey if that is your preference no judging here. 

Turkey meatloaf:

3 lbs ground turkey

2 eggs

2 cups Italian bread crumbs

3 tbsp worshtershire sauce

2 cups milk

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground pepper

1 onion diced

3 cloves garlice minced

2 tbsp butter

4 tbsp brown sugar

4 tbsp yellow mustard

2/3 cups ketchup 

1 tbsp worshtershire sauce

 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. 

Start off by melting the butter in a pan over medium low heat. Sauté the onions and garlic until the onions become translucent. 

In a large bowl combine the ground turkey, eggs, milk, bread crumbs, worshtershire sauce, salt and pepper and finally the sautéed onions and garlic. Mix together with your hands or with a spoon until all the ingredients are completely incorporated. 

Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with some olive oil. Take the meatloaf mix and form a log on the baking sheet. 

In a small bowl combine the brown sugar, mustard, ketchup and worshtershire sauce together. 

Spread the ketchup mixture over the entire log of meatloaf. 

Place the meatloaf in the preheated oven and bake for an hour. 

After an hour I like to turn the broiler on in the oven and broil the meatloaf on high for 2 minutes just to caramelize the ketchup mixture a bit. 

Remove from oven and let rest for 15 minutes. If you cut into it right away it will completely crumble. It will still be delicious but it won't be as pretty. Slice and serve with your favorite sides. 

Jowell turns 3 today, reminiscing about his birth

Today my little munchkin is turning 3, it's amazing how much he has grown. He is such an amazing little boy, he is funny, witty, sweet, kind, and sometimes a little tough. He has changed so much through out the years but i can still recall the day he was born. 

I remember three years ago after going in for a baby check my OB had a worried look on her face and she told me she would be right back, rushed to the phone and later returned and said I had to go to the hospital in Danville immediately. I wasn't exactly sure what was going on, she said it's ok they just need to monitor the baby to make sure he is doing ok. I had just hit 31 weeks but I felt like part of my body was huge, my feet and ankles had been completely swollen my face and eyes were puffy, I remember that I kept getting headaches and seeing spots of light in my vision. I had heard the word preeclampsia thrown around here and there but I had no idea what it was or how serious it could be for both me and my little baby. Me and Louis didn't pack anything for the hospital since we assumed we would only be there and hour or two, part of me knew something was wrong but I was in denial so I turned to Louis in the car and asked "do you think we'll have the baby today? Or you excited or scared?" He just looked at me grabbed my hand because he knew how anxious I was and said "everything will be fine, god is watching over us."

After driving for 2 1/2 hours we finally got to the hospital we went to where the OB was but they said they didn't get a call from the doctor for us. She made a few phone calls and said "oh you're suppose to go to labor and delivery. Me and Louis froze a bit and Louis whispered to me "shit just got real...why are we going to labor and delivery, maybe we might have the baby today." So we went to the elevator and were welcomed by a nurse who told us to settle in because we had to spend the night. 

We got settled in, I changed into a hospital gown and sat on the bed. My palms were sweaty and they started to shake a little. "I really hope everything is ok" I said to Louis. He told me everything will be ok, our son is a fighter and his mother is even stronger. 

The nurses came back in and they were so sweet to us, they could see how nervous we were, at the time I was only 20 and Louis was 21, we had no idea what was going on. The nurse strapped a blood pressure cuff on me and told me she set it to check my blood pressure every 30 minutes, she said if they look ok we could go home tomorrow but if I get two high reading in a row I would have to stay there for the remainder of my pregnancy. I tried my hardest to relax but I could feel my heart about to jump out of my chest which I assume didn't help much with my BP levels. The first two were high but not in the range that they would be alarmed, but by 10pm that night my BP started to rise, the nurse said she was going to get the doctor so he could talk to us and let us know what was going on. 

He explained that my blood pressure was extremely high and I had preeclampsia, they had to keep me there for the remainder of the pregnancy and hopefully they wouldn't have to deliver me early and that way it would give my baby a chance to develop more. They put me on a magnesium drip which is absolutely dreadful, they put these weird socks on me along with a machine that would massage my legs to prevent me from developing any blood clots since I would no longer be allowed to get up once on magnesium because i might fall since it makes you extremely dizzy. 

The next day they had told us that they were going to give me an ultrasound to check that the baby was doing ok. They also started steroid injections to develop Jowell's lungs incase he did have to be delivered early {those burned soooo bad, it really sucked}. When we finally went for our ultrasound the technician seemed concerned but said that the doctor would discuss it with us. So we went back to our room and waited for the doctor. He had told us that my placenta had stopped giving Jowell nutrition and that has stopped growing so he was on the small side, he said if we would have waited to go to the hospital there was a chance he would have been still born. They said they will wait till the end of the week to deliver him so that he can develop his lungs more. 

The next day we went for another ultrasound and the doctors came back in and told us that we were going to deliver him in two days because he wasn't growing anymore so there was no use in waiting, plus my blood pressure wasn't going down and the only way to cure preeclampsia is to deliver the baby. I was nervous and excited all at the same time. Me and Louis kept praying that Jowell would come out healthy. 

Unfortunatly the next day when we woke up we were greeted by the doctors again, they said they had been monitoring the baby and my BP and they feel that the best course of action would be to deliver him that night. I didn't know what to say of how to feel. Everything was happening so quickly. I wasn't allowed to eat that day because they would deliver him via cesarean. We called our family to let them know and my mom insisted that they come, my cousin who was also my sons god mother also said she was going to come that night. We waited patiently but we were about to have a baby and we couldn't contain ourselves. I was still extremely out of it because of the magnesium so I couldn't fully digest what was going to happen. 

When my parents, cousin and uncle arrived you could tell that my cousin had been crying. She gave me a huge hug. They had been there only a few minutes before the nurse came in and told us we would be going to the OR soon. My mother started to cry now, I knew it was a scary moment but I had to be strong for my baby, I knew everything would be ok. I told them not to cry and that I would be back soon with a newborn baby. I gave everyone a hug and I was carted out of the room. We head into the OR and I see all these nurses and about 3 doctors. My nurse stayed with me the whole time and held my hand while they gave me the epidural. As is set in I felt like my body was freezing, and I started to get nervous. They set up the sheets and we waited for Louis to come in. Dressed in scrubs Louis walks in the room with a camera and gives me a kids on the forehead, he was just as nervous as I was and he kept biting his lip. "Ok Jollette do you feel this?" They were checking to make sure my anesthesia was working. "Ok we are going to get started" I held Louis's hand, we started talking about random things to try and get my mind off of what was happening. Suddenly I felt myself start to trembled and my lips started quivering, it was a reaction the the anesthesia. I slowly started to feel nauseous also and quickly told Louis to tell the nurse I was about to blow chunks, she grabbed me a bowl and I started gagging. I kept apologizing and she said it was ok. It's normal and a lot of people react that way. I started to get sleepy, not because I was dying but because I could hardly get any sleep while I was in the hospital but Louis started to get scared and told me I had to stay awake. I told him I just wanted to sleep, but he refused to let me. At 10:10pm the doctors told me "Ok Jollette you are going to feel some pressure now, this baby pushed himself into your ribcage" and suddenly I felt like my belly had just dropped. The nurses quickly took Jowell to the warming station. I couldn't see anything but I also hadn't heard a cry yet. I started freaking out "how is he, how is my baby...Louis is he ok? What does he look like? Wait why isn't he crying? I don't hear him crying. What's happening, is he ok! Louis tell me what's happening?!" He tried to calm me but right then we finally heard him start to cry. Our little baby boy entered this world and it was the most amazing feeling to know that he was ok. He was 3 pounds 4 ounces and only 14 inches long. 

Louis asked if he could take a picture but as soon as he got up the NICU nurses were rushing out of the room with him. Our nurse told us that he had stopped breathing and they needed to bring him into the NICU to attach him to the CPAP until his lungs were strong enough to breath on their own. I cried a little because i didn't know if he would be ok and I didn't get a chance to see my son before he was whisked off, what if I never get to him him in my arms, what if his lungs were too under developed? I told Louis to go and see if Jowell was all right. 

After they stitched me back up an wheeled me back into the room I felt exhausted. I was still numb so I wasn't in pain but I was so worried for Jowell. Louis, my parents and my uncle went to the NICU to see if they could see Jowell but the NICU nurse said that they were still getting him set up so only Louis was able to go in to see him quickly and snap a photo for me. When he came back to the room and showed me the picture that he took of Jowell. He was so tiny, but you could hardly see his face because he had so many tubes attached to him. Before I had Jowell I pictured meeting my first born as a magical moment, but I wasnt allowed to see him until the next day. 

The next morning I woke up and I could already feel the soreness from my insisson sight. I was told that I still wasn't allowed to get up from bed because I had to still be on magnesium for two more days plus it would be difficult for me to walk because of my c-section. I insisted on trying to stand up anyway, I wanted to see my baby no matter how much pain I was in. So I told Louis to help me up so I could go to the NICU. He knew it was a bad idea but he helped me up anyway. I could feel the dried blood rip from my skin where my stitches were and it felt like at any moment my stitches would rip open when I tried to stand up right but I bit through the pain and tried making my way to the door. The nurse came in and quickly ordered me back into bed. She told me she would cart my bed to the NICU so I could see Jowell. 

As we came to the NICU doors I was so giddy to finally see Jowell. Louis told me Jowell was all the way towards the back of the room. We passed a couple who was holding their tiny preemie in their arms, the mother wasn't dressed in a hospital gown and I wondered how long her baby had been in here or when she would finally be able to bring her home. I wondered how long we would be here, how long before me and my little one could snuggle together in our home. When they pulled me up beside his incubator my heart skipped a beat. He was so tiny, tinier than what the pictures made him seem. He had tubes and wires all around his face and body but he was perfect in my eyes. My little munchkin was beautiful, and precious, and amazing and most of all he was alive and healthy. I was so scared to touch him but his nurse told me he was sturdier than he looked. She told us that he would be able to come off his CPAP by the end of the day and that he was a little fighter. When she placed him in my hands I didn't know what to do with myself, it was so surreal that he was my son, the little baby I had been holding in my belly for 7 months. He was my little miracle baby and I was so blessed to have him. We spent the next 28 days in the Ronald McDonald house near the hospital. I would pump atleast 3 bags of milk a day for Jowell and little by little he grew bigger and stronger. When we finally left the hospital to bring him home he was only 4 lbs 14oz but he was so healthy so the doctors have us the go ahead to go home. 

I am so blessed to have that little man in my life, he has taught me so much about being a good mother and has shown me how to be strong. Happy birthday Jowell Luciano Del Valle, we love you!