Happy Birthday, Jackson!

Jackson turned 9 years old today! It's hard to believe he's 9 already. We had a pretty low key birthday at home, but he got pancakes and bacon for breakfast, cake and ice cream, and didn't have to do any extra chores. I think he had a good day. Here are a few pictures from birthdays past:

Recipe Time

Sometimes when I get in a rut for meal time, I go through cookbooks and recipes I've collected looking for new things to cook. Tonight we had Teriyaki Chicken Packets.
You need:
4 chicken breasts
4 green onions, cut into 1-inch pieces
1-20 oz. can of chunk pineapple
1 medium red pepper cut in strips (I used a small red and a small orange)
1/2 cup teriyaki sauce
2 T. brown sugar
1 tsp. fresh ground ginger (I didn't have fresh and used ginger out of a spice jar)
Use 4 sheets of aluminum foil, 12 x 18. Put a chicken breast in the center of each one, top with green onion, peppers and pineapple. Mix teriyaki sauce, brown sugar and ginger and spoon over chicken. Fold the aluminum foil at the top and sides, leaving room for heat to circulate. Cook at 450 for 18-22 minutes. You can also cook these on the grill.
We ate this with brown rice and some (cooked) frozen peas.
By the way, if you've never tried brown rice, you should! It's really easy to cook (1 cup rice, 2 cups water, 1 T. butter or oil, bring to a boil, reduce heat and cook for 35-45 minutes) and is better for you than white rice.