Kid Friendly Chicken "Marsala"

Ok, so I'm fully aware that Marsala is a wine, and because this recipe does not include the wine, then really it can't be called Chicken Marsala! Right? True, but it reminds me of a kiddie version of Chicken Marsala, so thats what I'm going to call it; wine or not.

You basically coat and cook the chicken like you would for chicken parmesan (which is why its SO good)(also the secret is the dusting of flour before dipping in eggs and then the breadcrumbs)
but instead of making a wine sauce or using tomato sauce you use chicken broth and top with sautéed mushrooms, onions and garlic. I kinda threw this together so Im guessing on the amounts for everything, but exacts aren't important in cooking, only in baking, right? :)


Enjoy!


Kid Friendly Chicken "Marsala"


4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

salt and pepper to taste

2 eggs 

2 cups Italian bread crumbs

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 TBSP flour, or more if needed

1 cup EVOO, plus 2 TBSP 

1 package sliced white mushrooms

1/2 diced yellow or sweet onion

1 TBSP minced garlic, or more to taste

1 cup chicken broth

Mozzarella or Pepper Jack Cheese for melting on top

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. 

Begin by warming 2 TBSP of EVOO in a pan for sautéing. Add sliced mushrooms and onions and cook over medium heat until onions are almost translucent, then add garlic and cook for another 2 minutes. Take off heat and set aside. 

Place chicken breasts between two sheets of heavy plastic (resealable freezer bags work well) on a solid surface. Firmly pound chicken with the smooth side of a meat mallet to a thickness of 1/2-inch. Season chicken thoroughly with salt and pepper. 

Beat eggs in a shallow bowl and set aside

Mix bread crumbs and 1/4 cup Parmesan in a separate bowl, set aside

 Sprinkle flour over chicken breasts, evenly coating both sides

Dip flour coated chicken breast in beaten eggs. Transfer breast to breadcrumb mixture, pressing the crumbs into both sides. Repeat for each breast. 

Heat 1 cup olive oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat until it begins to shimmer. Cook chicken until golden, about 2 minutes on each side. The chicken will finish cooking in the oven.

Place chicken in sprayed 9x13 pan and top with mushroom and onion mixture. Pour chicken broth on top of chicken and place in oven for 15 minutes. 

Top chicken with shredded or sliced mozzarella (or pepper jack for adults) and heat in oven for 5 more minutes or until melted and chicken is cooked through. 

Serve with cooked rice or mashed potatoes and veggies of your choice! My kids gobbled this up and they normally complain about mushrooms :)

Let me know if you make it and how it turned out! 

~Susan

Be Still And Wait

Yesterday was a big stepping stone. I gathered our completed application, a check and a copy of our homestudy and headed to the post office. All our hopes and dreams of what the future addition to our family will be like was in that envelope. Once this packet arrives at their office (in FL) we will be on their active waiting list, which means at any time we could receive a call. I'm realistic; I know the estimated time is 12-24 months, but I also know that our God has His own timing. Because we are estimated to move in a year, time is of the essence in this process.
Without going into too many specifics; we did open ourselves up to either gender, any race and age up to 18 months old. One thing I have wanted to do was leave it up to God. We want the birthmother to read our profile and pick us because she wants her child to be in our family for who we are, that she sees us and just knows that are THE family for her child.
We have had discussions on who we imagine our child will be, but ultimately it's up to God. He knows the desires of our hearts, His plans might be different then ours, but that's why we trust Him as the final decision maker. We are praying that because we have a broad spectrum of check marks on our application that we will be matched sooner then later.
We also know that this might not be God's plan for us at all either. The foster care offices in Alaska still have our homestudy on file, we could receive a phone call from them any day. We are also still open to a private adoption, like if a friend has a friend who is looking to place her child for adoption locally but not through an agency. We know that God works in many ways, which is exciting!
 I just felt like we needed to get our foot in the door elsewhere if we wanted something to happen before we move. I'm happy that we are being proactive and getting the ball rolling somewhere.  Now I feel like we are at a place where we can be still and wait.

~Susan

Southwest OK Newborn Photographer | Baby L

My sweet friend recently welcomed her first baby into the world! We were able to get some fun shots of him at 8 days old. He was such a little trooper and a fantastic sleeper! Thanks baby for making it easy on me :) He is one blessed little boy because you can tell just how much mommy and daddy are in love with him through these photos!

Here's some of my favorites!

Susan Wetlesen Photography specializes in newborn, birth, family and lifestyle photography in Southwest Oklahoma and surrounding areas including but not limited to Lawton, Wichita Falls and Altus.

Now What?

The fingerprints have been rolled, our backgrounds have been checked. Our finances have been picked through, and we have answered over 12 pages of questions about ourselves. We've submitted over 60 pages of paperwork, made it through two house visits, and endured nerve wrecking one on one interviews about our reasons for adopting.

This microscope we have been examined under is called the homestudy; and it is DONE!

So now what? Where do we go from here? I feel like because we are in the military and we are on track to move in a years time (or sooner or later...really, who knows!) we are at a huge disadvantage in this whole process, because adopting, in general, takes TIME! Of course there are circumstances where it can happen sooner then you'd think, but for the most part it's months if not years worth of waiting before being placed with a child. Originally we had thought we weren't  going to use an agency, but now we are opening our options to that as well. I have submitted our homestudy to a few of the foster care offices in Alaska; I've asked them to review it and keep it on file just incase there's a child who is in the age range we have submitted that becomes legally free and needs to be adopted. I was told they don't have any children they can think of right now that would fit that bill, and that they try to keep their once-foster-care-children in the state of Alaska so they can have some security and be close to relatives (if there are any), but that they would "keep us in mind."

We have been talking with a few agencies, getting all their details and weighing our options. The local agency here won't accept our homestudy (since we didn't originally sign up with them and use their choice of a social worker to complete our homestudy), so that is pretty much out of the question. There is another agency in Fairbanks I am talking with too and have been compiling their information as well. Right now we are considering working with an agency in Florida. To me Florida is a great idea because we have family and friends there. We would have the moral support, as well as rides or a car we could borrow and a place to stay, which would be a huge blessing during the placement process.

We thought we had a lead with an agency in a particular state, but after some research and some scary findings, we decided that wasn't the route for us; even though they promised a baby in just a few months (talk about pulling our heart-strings and playing with our emotions). Ethics are huge to us and this agency, and state as a whole, seems to lack in that department. So on to the next route I guess...

We are also open to private newborn adoption as well, but have yet to encounter any leads in that area.

Since we are open to any path I feel like we are making it harder on ourselves. We can't decide exactly which way we want to pursue a child thus we haven't picked a plan and gone 100% in. I know research and decisions are important, but I wish we knew which way we were headed. It's all a blur right now and I'm ready to put my glasses on and see the clear picture. But, I know that God has it under control. His timing is perfect. Just because people (like me, stated above) don't think it's possible to be placed before we move doesn't mean we won't get a child soon. God has no timelines. He has no limits. He knows our situation, and He knows that we started this process when we were 100% ready. We didn't jump into it right away; even though we have talked about it literally for almost 10 years. We made sure we were ready in every aspect, and because of that, I know the timing is right. Even if it takes longer then I'd really want it to, it will all come together when it's supposed to.

My verse for this season of our lives is Philippians 4:6:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

I AM anxious (I am working on that)....but I am excited, I want to get this show on the road and add to our family! I would love to bring a child home yesterday! The Lord knows this. He knows the desires of our hearts (Psalm 37:4). He knows about the child we've dreamed about welcoming into our family. He knows that we, as a family, have prayed for this child. He knows every word we will speak to each person involved in this process. He knows every thought of excitement and doubt that will go through our mind. He knows the path we will ultimately venture down in receiving this child, and He knows exactly which child that will be; and this is what makes the whole tiring and taxing process ultimately....perfect! 

~Susan

Southwest OK Family Photographer | Botanical Gardens

This past Sunday I had the privilege of meeting a (fairly) new-to-our squadron family! What a pleasure it was to work with them! Very sweet and kind people for sure! We both had conflicting schedules for a while but thankfully they waited it out and we were able to get together and get these photos done!

Their main focus was their active and adorable 18 month old boy. Let me tell you he is quite the cutie! He warmed up to me quickly and towards the end was taking my hand and showing me the way!

What a great family; easy to talk to and super laid back! Thanks for the fun time and choosing me to capture your handsome little man's adventurous personality!

The Botanical Gardens in Anchorage was the perfect place for a session! If you are interested in booking that location, please email me at susan.wetlesen@gmail.com.

Here are some of my favorites!

Happy Weekend Ya'll!

~Susan

Susan Wetlesen Photography specializes in newborn, birth, family and lifestyle photography in Southwest Oklahoma and surrounding areas including but not limited to Lawton, Wichita Falls and Altus.

Home Study Update

March 4th we got our fingerprints done and dropped them off at the Department of Public Safety to be processed for state and federal backgrounds checks. Normally the background checks take about 6 weeks; so when May came around and the checks still hadn't been sent to our homestudy writer, I made some phone calls to DPS to see what was going on. The lady on the phone assured me the checks had been send off on March 10th, but our writer said she hand't received them. So, two weeks later when she STILL hadn't received even the newly sent ones, we knew something was wrong!
That brings us to today; I just received an email from our homestudy writer and apparently our fingerprints and background checks were processed in March, but sat on someone's desk at DPS and were put into a file of prints that were submitted with missing or partial information and were just never put in the mail!

So finally, she has all our paperwork (about 60 pages we worked on!) and our fingerprints and background checks. Next up she will come and do a home visit where we will do an interview as a family; then the following week she will come back and interview us individually; and that should be it!

Hopefully in the next 2-3 weeks we will have a completed homestudy that we can submit to the foster care offices in Alaska; and then we wait! (We are also open to a private newborn adoption too.)


Since the child has to be in our home for 6 months before we can go to court to officially sign the adoption papers; we would need to be placed with a child by Dec or Jan time frame (because we are most likely moving June or July of next summer). I'm praying for His perfect timing, and I ask that you pray along side with us too.

Honestly, I have no idea what's going to happen in the next few months; but I know God has a child or children already hand picked for us, and knowing this brings peace and ease to the whole process :)

Scaling It Back

I've been thinking a lot lately about how I am spending my time; and honestly I am not happy with the answer. I am wasting precious moments I could be spending engaged with my kids in a craft, a project, a recipe, a game, a book, a Bible verse or story or helping with homework. I could be investing this time in their interests and ultimately their futures.

I love technology and think it's amazing that we can keep in touch with people at any second of the day and in so many different ways; but this can be dangerous. Mom's (and Dad's), I'm sure you can relate to this: how many times have your kids said your name and you don't even look up but automatically say "just a second" because you are too intent on checking Facebook on your phone? Or they ask you for help on their homework and you say "hold on" because you are texting someone the details of your day? When did keeping informed about the outside world every-other-breathing-second become more important then being there for our kids when they so desperately need our attention (especially at such a young age)? Our kids pick up and learn from every one of our actions.

So, what is it that you want to be teaching your children? What do you want to input into their hearts and minds that will eventually come out in their actions as they grow up? For me, I want my kids to know how important family is; and I think they already do (thankfully). I want them to know they are much more important then when my phone is dinging. I want them to know that I want to spend time with them. I want them to learn that investing in others and leading people to Christ is much more important then how popular you are. I want them to know that real relationships take time and energy; that they are hard yet so rewarding.

So how do we implement these values into our children's everyday lives? We evaluate where we as parents are struggling, failing or maybe even drowning. We pinpoint what we can scale back or maybe even get rid of all together. It's different for everyone. Some might spend too much time on Facebook, texting, emailing (or their phone's in general) a game they are trying to beat, a set of books they can't put down, slaving themselves at the gym for that perfect body, putting in overtime at work to get to the top instead of going home and having dinner with your family, investing more time in growing your business then spending time with your kids on the weekends, putting all your extra time and energy towards that personal record, that really in the end, is just a title. Any area in your life that exceeds time spent with God or with your family, could use some cutting back.

With all this said; I've decided to deactivate my Facebook account and also scale back on my photography marketing. Obviously, Facebook just takes up time-too much of it. Photography on the other hand is exhausting. Starting a business in a new area is going to take time; that's a given. But when marketing and worrying about branding, trying to find new client's and always searching for new ideas becomes more of a focus then spending those after-school hours with my kids, then it's a problem.  I'm not saying I'm straight up ignoring my children, not feeding them or changing diapers, but there are definitely times where I am on the computer working on photography related things when I could instead just shut the laptop, hang out with the kids and let the business worry for itself. I am not completely shutting down the business. I still want to gain new clients, learn more about my camera, and keep the business growing, but I am going to scale it back a bit. I'm not going to waste time worrying about when my next client will come along, or how I can gain new "likes" on my page. I'm not going to constantly be trying to come up with ideas or ways to "get my name out there". There are enough people now that know I have a business, and can pass along the word for me. I am still going to keep my photography business page and remain active on it; but I'm not going to worry about my admin stats and post a photo to my page "just because it's been a few days". I want to spend all this extra time investing in my children who are our future. I want them to be secure in the fact that they are more important then any job title I hold, or any comment I receive on Facebook.

I don't know if you are struggling with this as well, and if you are then I encourage you to take a look at what you are spending most of your time on. If you find that more time is spent on a certain area of your life then with your children/family, then you need to ask yourself how you can cut back to make more room and time for the more important things. After all, your children are our future. What we teach them today will affect how they react tomorrow (or years from now). All these other things that seem important now, really aren't. We can't take our phones with us when we die, we can't have a Facebook account in Heaven, we aren't going to be worried about having the biggest most booming business when we are dead, and being popular won't even exist because our eyes will be fixed upon Jesus. But, our children's actions and relationships will live on after we are gone. So spend time focusing on them and what/who God wants them to become. After all, this is our greatest calling as a parent.


*On a side note; I am not saying it's bad to a Facebook account or to have a business and a family. If you can balance both, then more power to ya! I however have lots of time in the future (God willing) to spend on this business, so for right now, I am putting more focus on my kids (and future kids as we are trying to adopt:)
 Like I said, I am not closing up shop. I am still booking sessions and working on growing as a photographer, I am just scaling back the time I spend on the business and putting forth more time towards my children. 

If you want/need to get a hold of me, my email is suzychapstick1@gmail.com. You can email me and I can send you my phone number as well, I also LOVE to get snail mail :) I'll also be keeping up with my blog; so be sure to "follow" it, and you can also follow on Instagram; username: suzychapstick1

~Susan