Welcome to Day 4 in Amy’s kitchen. Amy has been very adventurous in her kitchen lately, trying out new things and getting reacquainted with some old favorites. We are very excited to see and share a week in her kitchen. We hope you enjoy this week in her kitchen.

This morning for breakfast we all ate scrambled egg whites and cheese accompanied by toast and smoothies.

I buy my egg whites in a carton rather than painstakingly separating the whites from the yolks (and then just tossing the yolks).

After serving the smoothies, I poured the rest into popsicle molds for a cool breakfast later in the week:

Then I began packing lunch.

In the past I often felt lost for ideas at lunchtime, but this summer I tested a few new things and wrote about it here on Happy to be at Home. The last in the series features my lunchbox cheat sheet, which chronicles a bunch of lunchbox options. If you struggle with the lunch-packing dilemma, it might be worth a download.

For my own lunchtime, I enjoyed a chicken soft taco with lots of black bean and corn salsa and a side of fruit. All items were left over from the birthday party.

Just when the boys came home from school I began making a new loaf of bread. My bread-making mentor Toni had suggested I buy a 12-inch pan to bake loaves of bread that would be the perfect size for sandwiches. So, since she told me to, I bought it immediately and decided this was the day to give it a whirl.

I dumped all the ingredients into the bread machine and selected the dough cycle.

When it was finished, I floured my mat and rolled the dough into three strands which I braided.

I tucked the ends under and popped the dough in my new pan. Then I left it covered for 45 minutes to rise while preheating the oven to 400.

Soon it was time to begin the adventure of dinner prep.

I started to make chicken and shrimp quesadillas. I sautéed the shrimp and chicken with fajita sesoning and a bit of butter. I brushed butter on both sides of all the tortillas and sprinkled on the cheese. And I placed it all in the oven to bubble and bake.

But after the oven time, when I began cutting the quesadillas to serve them, they quickly fell apart. Yikes! I knew that would not work with 2-, 5- and 7-year-old-hands. Fortunately I determined this before I cut too many of the tortillas. I disassembled the quesadillas and instead offered soft tacos for the kids. My husband still got the messy, fall apart quesadillas.

(Perhaps this is why, when making quesadillas, I’ve been told to fold the tortillas in half rather than use two tortillas with the filling in the middle.)

For my Weight Watcher self, I opted for a nice green salad topped by the chicken and shrimp with some salsa for my dinner.

In addition to the quesadillas soft tacos, I served some leftover taco rice and fresh pineapple.

As it was time to serve dinner, it was also time to pop my bread in the oven. Twenty-five minutes later I tapped the top of the loaf with my fingernail (as instructed by Toni) and it sounded hollow… Done!

I brushed it with butter to soften the top. Look how beautiful it is:

Before I went to bed I set out bowls for the next day’s breakfast and supplies for packing lunches.

And I snagged a snack of graham crackers and milk.

Then the kitchen was officially closed.

Make sure you stop in throughout the rest of the week to see what other adventures Amy is up to in her kitchen. And don’t forget to stop by her personal blog, Mom’s Toolbox, for some wonderful biblical encouragement and lots of other goodies. Thank you for your willingness to open your kitchen to us all. We can’t wait to see what you have cooking this week.

If you are interested in participating as a guest blogger for this 3 Moms feature, please leave us a comment or send us an email at 3moms@happytobeathome.net. We are looking for a variety of women willing to open their kitchens for one week to all of our readers. You do not even have to have your own blog in order to participate.

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