Home Cooking for the Holidays

     

     Alyssa Richard, Operations Coordinator, for Laraway's Backpack Program had an idea.  She asked staff to share some of their favorite recipes and she created a recipe book for client families.  Her colleagues answered the call and Backpack's first cookbook is being sent home to families along with Holiday Baskets chock full of holiday treats, gift certificates and hats, gloves and mittens.  Backpack staff solicit donations for these baskets each year from area businesses.  Thank you donors!  Thank you staff!  Thank you, Alyssa, for your really cool idea!
      We share two of the recipes below:

Baked Chicken Nuggets

Prep 20 m        Cook 20 m      Ready In 40 m

Ingredients

·         3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

·         1 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs

·         1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

·         1 teaspoon salt

·         1 teaspoon dried thyme

·         1 tablespoon dried basil

·         1/2 cup butter, melted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Cut chicken breasts into 1 1/2-inch sized pieces. In a medium bowl, mix together the bread crumbs, cheese, salt, thyme and basil. Mix well. Put melted butter in a bowl or dish for dipping.
3. Dip chicken pieces into the melted butter first, then coat with the breadcrumb mixture. Place the well-coated chicken pieces on a lightly greased cookie sheet in a single layer, and bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes.

Easy Sausage Gravy and Biscuits

Prep 5 m          Cook 10 m      Ready In 15 m

Ingredients

·         1 (16 ounce) can refrigerated jumbo buttermilk biscuits

·         1 (9.6 ounce) package Jimmy Dean(R) Original Hearty Pork Sausage Crumbles

·         1/4 cup flour

·         2 1/2 cups milk

·         Salt and ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Bake biscuits according to package directions.
2. Meanwhile, cook sausage in large skillet over medium heat 5-6 minutes or until thoroughly heated, stirring frequently. Stir in flour. Gradually add milk; cook until mixture comes to a boil and thickens, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
3. Split biscuits in half. Place 2 halves on each of 8 plates; top with about 1/3 cup gravy.

*Backpack is a public-school-based, behavioral intervention support program.

Gifts for the Season and Beyond

     It’s often said this is “the most wonderful time of the year!” You can also say this is the most EXPENSIVE time of the year! Between gifts and travel and increased costs for heating and electricity, we can find ourselves looking for ways to save a buck or two. To help you with your holiday budgets, I have three gifts for you:

      Gift #1- Breathing.  Life can get busy and stressful; sometimes we need help and support from others. Something we can do with and for ourselves is to breathe. Go ahead, take a deep breath. Feels good, huh? Now try a few in a row. Deep breathing has been shown to have a positive impact on your brain, heart, digestive and immune systems--Wow!

      Gift #2- Five Senses. My son has recently introduced me to meditation and yoga practices. We are fortunate to have many options right here in our local communities--Google the name of your town and yoga. Yoga and meditation are wonderful for bringing you into the immediate moment and freeing you from the worries or sadness of the past or future. A simple way to do this on your own is to think about your five senses. Take a moment to focus on what you hear, see, smell, taste or feel. This simple mindfulness activity can go a long way in bringing your stress and anxiety levels down.

      Gift #3- Appreciating and Celebrating. No matter how tough things get, all of us have many things going well in our lives and much for which to be thankful. Friends, family, pets, a favorite sports team, ice cream, doing well at school or work--the list can go on and on. Because life gets so busy, it’s important we take time to appreciate and celebrate those joys and successes. You can do this as part of your own reflection, or even better, involve others. Begin a meal by asking each person to share some good news from the day. Let a co-worker know about something you saw them do really well. There are many ways we can recognize and celebrate each other.

      I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and Holiday Season!!  Please enjoy these gifts and share them with others.  ~By Greg Stefanski

Poem by AH: My eyes have seen a lot...has yours?

My eyes have seen a lot...has yours?

Where are you as I wait at the top of the stairs for you to return?

March 29th 2016 I needed you

now you message me? what will this lead to?

I remember the bang as I hide here alone and scared

where my life almost ended.....

I pack my own lunch why don't you do it?

music is my escape

school is where I'll always be successful

     AH, a youth in Laraway's therapeutic foster care program, attends a local public high school.  She  plans to become a cosmetologist and is enrolled in an academic program in which she's actively shadowing practitioners as she learns about the field.  She's also part of  a Photo Voice project, funded by a grant from Healthy Lamoille Valley, in which Laraway youth are documenting the impact of substance abuse via photos and text.

     Laraway will co-host an Opening Reception with Healthy Lamoille Valley at Laraway's Johnson Campus on March 13th, 2018.  Stay tuned for details.