Easy BBQ Chicken Salad, Tea Party & a Child's Thought

Recently the Hubs has taken on some extra stuff at work.  While I know it is only for a season, it is sometimes hard to remember that it won't last forever when the day seems like it will never end. (I know there are some of you who can really feel me on that one!)  In the last couple of days I've tried some different things to see if I can help our family experience a more peaceful evening.  Here's how it went down:

YESTERDAY - Strategy: give them something productive & calm to look forward to after nap.

I told the kids as they went down for nap that when they woke up we'd have a tea party.  This was actually motivation for them! They slept well and actually woke up well too.  I told them to wait on their beds until I called them upstairs to the balcony for tea. (Bonus points to me for thinking of a cool place to have a tea party on a rainy day!)

I made some caffeine free blueberry tea, put some berries and graham crackers on plastic plates and took it all upstairs on a silver tray.  When the kids saw the tray, they were beside themselves.  We sat and sipped tea and looked at the rain together.  I don't know about you, but my kids are usually starving when they wake up from nap - which makes for a miserable time between nap and dinner.  And who can cook anything under all that stress?! This little tea party made a great transition to play time and gave me some peace and actual quiet to get dinner ready.  Genius, right?!


TODAY - Strategy: get a simple, healthy dinner ready with minimal mess.

I've slacked off at working on my weight and realizing that the baby is going to be 2 in a couple of weeks has reminded me that I really want my body back.  Whatever that means.  Just not what it is now.  So I've been trying to make dishes with a lot more veggies and a lot less carbs.  I want to share with you a dish that I've made twice this week that meets my "healthy choices" standards and requires so little prep and clean up that I can actually enjoy a peaceful meal.  It's my BBQ Chicken Salad!

Not in the picture since it was already in my bowl when I
thought of taking a picture: lettuce, cilantro, avocado. 

Here's what you need:
- Lettuce (I use anywhere from a few leaves to a whole head of romaine - just depends on how many you feed)
- BBQ Sauce (I got my Sweet Baby Ray's for $0.99 a bottle before Super Bowl - stocked up!)
- Chicken (Earlier this week I shredded up Costco rotisserie leftovers, today was Costco canned chicken)
- Can of corn
- Can of black beans
- and whatever else sounds good from veggie drawer or pantry (cilantro, red onion, jicama, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, olives, avocados)


I shred (or open) the chicken into a bowl, squeeze a little bit of BBQ sauce in and mix it up.  I microwave it for about a minute.  I don't know why... something about it being hot before I eat it seems right, but I suppose if it is already cooked, you could just eat it?  Next, I chop/tear and wash the lettuce and throw it in a large bowl.  Rinse and drain the corn and black beans; throw them ontop of the lettuce.  Chop any veggies you might want to place in the salad; throw them on top.  Toss in the chicken and toss the whole thing together.  You can leave out the bottle of sauce for folks to add more to their liking. Just remember that it does contain sugar... so be careful not to indulge too much if you are trying to watch your weight ;)

Simple, right?

Since it was sooooo easy, I decided to make a soothing ambience to see if that would make for a peaceful dinner.  I set the table and made the kids wait in the living room.  I turned off the majority of the lights and lit some floating candles in a bowl for the table.  And I turned on some peaceful worship music.  Can I tell you what a difference that made?!  I don't know if the kids were more calm because it was new or because these things actually worked, but I am willing to find out.  Dinner still had messes and sibling quabbles, but it was far more pleasant than usual.  I even had a pleasant conversation with kids about the candles.  I asked questions about what they looked like, what they did, how they would feel, etc. (Very educational of me!)  Here's where the biggest blessing of the night came in.  D$ said, "Dios hizo todo la luz. Y el nos dio todo la luz que tiene." [Translation: God made all the light. And he gave us all the light that he has.]

I don't think my son realized what he was saying (though I am impressed that looking at a candle made him think about God making light and giving it to us out of his goodness). What really struck a chord with me is the idea of God being creator of all light, all good, all hope and God giving us ALL that he has.  What a profound privilege it is that we are given his light, his goodness and his hope.  And what an awesome responsibility we have to give it to others - as freely as he gives it to us.  We were created for this.

How humbling is it to us that we are the bearers of HIS light?  I don't know about you, but I often feel like I am the worst vessel that God could choose to carry his light.  And what is more humbling is that somehow others can see how amazing his light, his hope, his goodness is - through my facades, through my messiness, through my humanity.  God is so good that his light, his goodness, his hope can be seen, even through someone like me.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
 2 Corinthians 4:7