Broccoli Chicken Alfredo Recipe for Teens

Aidan is my high school son. He made this for dinner last night for us. Cooking is a life skill that every teen should have. Cooking is economical. we call it Frugal Cuisine.

2 Chicken breasts
1/2 bag of Bowtie pasta (8 oz)
2 stalks of broccoli
2/3 cup of cream
1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese
1 Tbs olive oil


1) Start a steamer pot with 3 quarts+ of water of High heat.
2) Wash the broccoli, and trim off the outer thick stem skin (if any) with a carrot peeler. Slice the broccoli vertically, so that it looks somewhat like the broccoli in the photo above.
3) Put the broccoli in a steamer and place it over the pot of boiling water.

4) When the stems become translucent, they are done (about 2-3 minutes). Take one out and test it by eating it. Remove steamer with the broccoli and set aside.

5) Keep the water boiling. Add the bow tie pasta. Cook for about 8-10 minutes.

6) In the meantime, place a large skillet on medium high heat with 1 Tablespoon of olive oil, or enough oil to coat the bottom on the skillet. Make sure that the skillet has a lid.

7) When the oil is hot, you will see wavy patterns in the oil or smoke coming off the top.
Hold the lid as a shield, in one hand.
Quickly put the chicken breasts in the oil and cover with a lid so that it doesn't spatter.

8) IMMEDIATELY turn the heat down to MEDIUM.
Move the lid so that it is not covering the skillet completely, so that steam can escape, and the oil doesn't spatter, leaving about a 1/2" to 1" opening.

9) While the chicken is cooking, get a small 1 quart saucepan out and pour the cream in it. Put it on the stove at Medium heat.

10) Stir the pasta. Take one out and let it cool about 30 seconds, and taste to see if it is done.
When it is done, turn off the pasta and remove it from the stove.

11) Stir the Parmesan cheese into the cream. This is the simple Alfredo sauce.

12) Check the Chicken. When it is brown on the bottom side, turn the chicken over with a spatula, then put the lid back on the skillet, slightly opened to allow steam to escape. If you don't let the steam escape, the chicken will get steamed instead of browned.

13) Stir the Alfredo sauce and check the chicken.

14) When both sides of the chicken is browned, take one out and cut into the middle of it to check for doneness. It should be opaque (not pink) inside.

15) When the chicken is done, remove from skillet and turn off the heat.
Cut the chicken into 1" cubes. Put them into two pasta bowls or on two plates.

16) Stir the Alfredo sauce.

17) Scoop the pasta out of the pot with a slotted spoon, or drain the water then scoop the pasta out of the pot. Place the pasta in bowls on top of the chicken.

18) Evenly distribute the broccoli on top of the pasta.

19) Drizzle the Alfredo sauce evenly over the broccoli, pasta and chicken.
Serve immediately.

Serves 2.

Irish Soda Bread with Blueberries & Orange Zest

My Irish friend Mark made this for us for St. Patrick's Day. It is so wonderfully scrumptous; freshly crusty on the outside and deliciously warm and soft on the inside.


3/4 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 cup golden raisins
1 orange

In a large bowl combine:
3 cups organic unbleached flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 T baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda


Grate the orange peel of one orange (about 1 Tablespoon) and add the raisins (soaked in a tsp of lemon juice or irish whiskey) to the mixture. Blend in 1 -1/3 cup of fresh buttermilk and 4 Tbs of melted butter. Fold in the blueberries, saving a few for the top.

Turn into a greased 2 quart casserole. cut an X on top of the batter. top with remaining blueberries.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 10 minutes.
Serve warm with butter and blueberry jelly or jam.
Serves 8

My kid was hit by a car in Corvallis

My daughter was hit by a car last Monday, Feb 1st. She was on her bicycle. she said she looked both ways before crossing,but a car came around the corner and hit her. She said she landed on the hood of the car driven by an OSU college student. She then landed on the street on the driver's side.
A man came out of a church and offered to call an ambulance. A student came out of his Frat house, and adminsitered first aid. Her head and hand were bleeding. The impact bent the bicycle handle and knocked the chain off, so the bike was no longer ridable.
My daughter suffered a concussion, and is still not able to think clearly.
She could not think, nor could she talk much. She went to class and was not able to understand a thing.
Other students in her class got her to go to OSU student health, where they treated her and bandaged up her hand, putting her fingers in a splint.
The same afternoon in Corvallis, a truck came around a corner, and hit a baby carriage. The baby died.
The driver of the car wanted my daughter to sign a document stating that it was my daughter's fault, and not the driver's fault in this accident. I told my daughter not to sign it, and that it is the driver's fault, and not her's nor was it the baby's fault. It is aways the driver's fault.

I feel selfish, but I thank God that if a kid was to die in a car accident in Corvallis that afternoon, I thank God that my daughter is alive. I feel sorry for the baby. I am so grateful that mine is safe.

Interest free ARC Loans for existing small businesses

There is a special loan for existing small businesses which have been historically profitable, and have been impacted by this latest Economic Crisis. It is called an ARC Loan. ARC loans are interest free for up to 5 years. They are administered through the SBA - Small Business Association for up to $35,000.

What is an ARC Loan?

1. The America’s Recovery Capital, or ARC, loan program is designed to give
   

• viable small businesses suffering immediate financial hardship some temporary financial relief so they can keep their doors open and get their cash flow back on track.

1. The ARC loan program is a new, temporary program authorized by the Recovery Act.
2. An ARC loan is a
   

• deferred-payment loan of up to $35,000,
  
• to be used for principal and interest payments on existing, qualifying debt/loans.

1. ARC loans are 100% guaranteed by SBA and have no SBA or lender fees associated with them (unless the lender must secure collateral as part of the loan).
2. There are no interest charges to the borrower. The SBA will pay the monthly interest at the rate of Prime plus 2% to the lender on behalf of the borrower. The current rate is published in the Federal Register.
3. There is a disbursement period of up to six months followed by 12 months with no repayment of the ARC loan principal. After the 12-month deferral period, the borrower pays back only the ARC loan principal over a period of five years.

Business Grants

Here in Lake Oswego, among the Mansions and modest apartments, we are but a microcosm of Oregon being impacted my the Global Economic Crisis. Stimulus package? If you want your part of the stimulus package, you have to work your butt of to get it. No pain, no gain. Just like tax deductions. If you want them, you have to keep records and work hard to get them.

Here is another site I found for finding Business Loans and Grants. It is simple and targeted. What I like about it, is that it isn't flashy, nor so federal that you can't find anything.
Here is the link to the Business.gov search page for Loans and Grants:
http://search.business.gov/startLoans.html
Here you can search for Grants in a targeted area. I selected Technology as a broader term for Internet Technology. It came up with one granting source
businessownersideacafe.com/small_business_grants
This site is targeted for small business owners and the grants are $1000 each. This way they can give more grants to more people.

Again, will all the grants, you do have to work for them. You have to write a grant proposal.
Hey, where is your Entrepreneurial spirit?

Grants.gov - seriously part of the US government

Okay, so my last post was commercial. There is value in commercial, if they do the footwork for you. If you want to go direct to the US Government for grants, go to Grants.gov
They are a part of the US Dept of Health and Human Services in Washington DC

If you have experience finding and writing grants, you may be able to find your way around this site, and write grant proposals. Many of the grants on this site are for non-profit organizations, government entities, schools, etc.

If you are looking for

• small business grants, this site you to the Small Business Association
• student loans - goes to FAFSA - studentaid.ed.gov

Realize that the government is not the most user friendly environment. Some of the commercial sites will be easier to find your way around in.

Stimlus Package - Federal College Grants for Women

Back to current events. Here in Lake Oswego, many households have taken a financial hit, losing half their financial portfolios. There is a trickle down effect as they cut back on spending. This effects restaurants, house cleaners, and dry cleaners, etc.

One of my friends falls into one of these above categories, and is also a single mom putting her kid through college. She is pondering changing careers. I said I've been seeing blurbs on the Internet about college grants for older women who want to re-train - to change careers, by going back to college.

She thinks this sounds great, and asked me to send her any information that I come across on this topic. I decided to re-focus this blog on this topic, as it is a current concern here in Oregon. We are now at a 14% unemployment rate, second only to Michigan which is at 16%. Both the auto industry and construction are hit hard. Since Oregon's main export is Forestry and Nursery products, the fall in the Contruction industry impacts Oregon pretty hard.

Search on this:
college scholarships for returning students
I found this link on the federal website:
US Government Grants >> Government Grants for Women
"The government has special programs set aside for women that are designed to assist in starting up a small business, providing grants and scholarships for school (including loans for school and Financial aid), and even grants for graduate school including law school and medical school ...
One benefit of the current economic crisis is that there is a lot of bailout money available. Despite media coverage to the contrary, a huge chunk of this money has been reserved for government grants to help women get back on their feet. President Obama has made it a goal of his administration to provide grants to help women in business development through grants and loans, particularly for women entrepreneurs, education assistance through scholarships, and assorted grants for just about everything else.

Am I Eligible to Receive Government Grants?

As long as you live in the United States and are a citizen or resident you are eligible to receive a free government grant. The government is legally required to give away a portion of the tax money it collects each year, in the form of government grants. We are here to educate the public about Government Grants because only about 15% of available grants for women are even applied for!

Get grants from $50,000 - $1,500,000 or more, free, that you never have to pay back whether you’re employed or unemployed."

The above words are right off the usgov-grants.org website. Unlike so many other come on ads flashing on the Internet, this one is serious. This site recommends 3 different other websites to assist seekers in finding the grants best suited foy you, and grant writing software.

• Grants for Citizens - This one has Grant writing software and is the most comprehensive, thus also could be the most overwhelming. They have templates so you just have to fill out personal information, and it will format the rest.
  
• Grants 360 - sortable listings of all the grants, again the list could be overwhelming.
  
• Free Government Money - this one specializes in grants for Women and Minorities and low income people including grants for getting out of debt and paying your medical bills
  

This federal site does say you may be charged $1 to $2 for CDs.

Yes, you do have to work at it to get a grant. Remember that grants from the US government require proper documentation, especially in these days of government transparency. Your local SBA - Small Business Association office may be able to help you find and get started on these grant applications.