Dana Burland

Move over any other chicken enchilada recipe. This one is it.  I've made several versions of chicken enchiladas... including multi-step, slow cook the chicken all day, pull it, stuff it, bake it, versions.  And you know what? No matter how you dress 'em up they all come out so similar.  Then I found this recipe for easy cottage cheese chicken enchiladas, and because I'm on the same protein obsession as most of America, I decided to give 'em a whirl.  I made these for my cottage cheese loathing brother as a freezer meal while he's recovering from Achilles tendon repair surgery... he raved about them. I made them for dinner while my in-laws were in town. My 6.5 year old gobbled them up, and my mother-in-law asked for the recipe. These are so easy, they 1000% will be on the menu for our week-long summer vacation next month.  Cottage Cheese Chicken Enchiladas Inspired by AllRecipes Ingredients 1 package of pulled rotisserie chicken  1 to 1 1/2 cups cottage chee...

The week of July 4th I keep the boys home from summer day camp. It's a true vacation week for them, where I put on "Mama Camp".  At almost 9 and 6.5, they play on their own, get ready for the day, and do a quick house clean up in the morning. Then the fun begins. Monday we took a free tour of our county's recycle plant. Smelly, but REALLY cool. Tuesday they both had play dates with friends. Wednesday we had ice cream school. Yeah. Ice cream school. We made an easy, four ingredient, no churn ice cream... complete with the boy's own mix ins. It turned out excellent, and definitely will need to be repeated. 4 Ingredient No Churn Ice Cream Inspired by Nap Time Kitchen Ingredients 2 cups heavy whipping cream 1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk 2 tsp vanilla extract pinch of salt Any mix ins you want (chocolate chip cookies, Oreos, Nutella, sprinkles, M&Ms, health bars, etc) Directions 1. Whip the heavy cream either in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer until stiff ...

Wow, I had a great racing day today. Today was the Grand Rapids Sprint Triathlon, an event I've been training for 8 weeks for. And man did that training pay off. This was my fastest GR Sprint Tri EVER! I had my best swim time by a minute, best bike time by a minute and a half, and fastest run time by about half a minute. PR'ing was not my goal, my goal was to relax and enjoy the race, though focus in and push the bike portion. This was my first time racing with cages on my pedals allowing me to push down and pull up and maximize my cycling, the first time I spent nearly all the race in my highest/toughest gear setting, and the first time I spent nearly all the race in my lowest handlebar hold crouched position. Best of all, this race felt relaxed and fun (mostly). On the swim I wasn't trying to sprint, but was able to relax more than I think I ever have in open water. I wasn't panicked or fighting it. On the bike I tried to stay in the moment and push, focused on gettin...

The sun is shining, chalk stained drawings litter the driveway, and fresh mulch has been laid around the yard. Today is the last day of school, and the official start of summer.  I'm working at my desk with a jar of incredible backyard-cut pink peonies nearby, drinking cold coffee (not purposefully), while watching a huge snapping mama turtle lay her eggs in a hole she dug in that fresh mulch I mentioned.  Everything and everyone is in bloom right now, growing fast and furiously. Like my peonies, I look at my boys and wonder: HOW are they so bold and brilliant? I don't feel like I've done enough to make them this way!  A finished his first season of soccer, and his first year of Kindergarten, with flying colors. My shy guy who once "participated" in a soccer season glued to my leg (as I participated in it for him), who walked into school for the first several days hand-in-hand with his older bro, now confidently runs through life on his own. He loved being on his ...

We’re back from a weekend in Traverse City, for Cam’s first BIG soccer tournament. I’m reliving it all with a box of Kleenex. Cam’s team played four games throughout the weekend–three regular matches and a finals match. They played against an incredibly tough team, a questionably aggressive team, a match with a grumpy ref, and a shortened game in cold rain on a slippery field. Through it all the whole team played with heart and hustle. Cam gave every game his all–never shying away from getting a touch on the ball, trusting when his teammates had it, moving the ball up the field to pass to open team members, and taking gutsy shots when he had to. Coach gives out “man of the match” awards after games, two for these tournament games. After game 2, a teammate who won it immediately turned and awarded it to Cam–an extra meaningful award coming selflessly from a teammate. When Coach gave Cam the award after game 3, he passed it on to another team member of his he felt deserved it. Se...

I just finished week four of an eight week sprint triathlon training plan. We’re halfway, baby! This training plan is broken into four, two week chunks. Each chunk asks more of me than before—increased mileage and speed work. Here’s what my workouts looked like in the last two weeks: Monday : 3 mile run, with 4 sets of 2 min fast/2 min slow Tuesday : 45 minute bike ride, with 4 sets of 3 min fast Wednesday : strength training Thursday : rest day Friday : 30 minute swim, moderate pace Saturday : 30 minute bike ride + 15 minute run Sunday : 55 minutes easy endurance (walk or easy bike ride) I’m finding the first week of each new chunk totally wipes me out. The step up from the week before is so tough. I’m sore and exhausted. The second week though, while still plenty of effort, is much more manageable. Most days I can easily find a time to get my training in, but one day this past week was comical. I needed to be home for an afternoon service appointment. With work and kid stu...

Please join me in giving a warm welcome to the newest member of our household: a 3D printer! The boys wanted this, and worked hard to earn it over the last few months. C specifically picked weeds, washed windows, cleaned bathrooms, vacuumed the house, did the laundry–over several weeks. So far we’ve printed an obligatory little test boat, and 80% of a chip clip (before we ran out of filament). I’ll tell you what, though, that clip is solid. I imagine we’ll be printing LOTS of little knick knacks and do-dads. Pretty cool for the boys to get into this next level of creativity and tech. I’ll report back after we get some more creations under our belt.

I follow “The Rapping Chef” on Instagram. Exactly as his handle suggests, he raps the directions of each recipe he makes. It’s entertaining. The other day he posted a baked chicken recipe that looks really good. I gotta make that. Except, he doesn’t post the recipe text, just raps it. I gave him several views while I wrote it down, and you know what–WORTH IT. Last night at family dinner it was unanimous: MY baked chicken (The Rapping Chef’s recipe, but hey, I made it!) was a HIT. This does take a while to cook. Honestly, it would be a great fall/winter recipe vs spring/summer. I’ll save this one for a bit, but certainly will cook it again. Mama’s Perfect Baked Chicken Ingredients 1 bunch of green onions (5-7) 5 cloves of garlic ½ cup parsley chopped Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning (or salt/pepper/chili powder/garlic powder mix as a replacement) Chicken broth (about 2 cups) 2-4 chicken thighs (skin on, bone in) 4-8 chicken legs (skin on, bone in) Directions 1. Preheat ...

It’s go time, baby! I just finished two weeks of an eight week sprint triathlon training plan, prepping for early June’s GR Tri. I can’t state enough how much I love training. So much more than the race itself. The daily challenge, the discipline of my paper plan coach, watching progress build–it's rewarding. This year’s training plan is in chunks where I repeat workouts for two weeks before building on. These past two weeks haven’t asked more of me on a daily basis than what I’m capable of, but the nature of triathlon training is to do the next day tired from the day before, and boy was I tired after week one. Monday I ran. Tuesday I biked. Wednesday I lifted. Thursday I rested. THANK GOD. Friday I swam. And ok, just to say, middle-aged-Craig tried to recruit me for the YMCA Masters Club team again, so your girl’s still got it! Saturday I biked and ran. Sunday I did an endurance bike ride. Early bedtimes happened. Snoozing morning alarms happened. Foam rolling while wi...

Plz, bring me much coffee and Kleenex today. I am freshly back from Spring Break, with a full heart of great memories and a souvenir cold. But man, oh man we had a great five-day trip. We started in downtown Chicago–the boys’ first time. There was so much “whoa!”ing and “how many levels is that!?” oogling at the buildings surrounding us. We ate deep dish pizza. We took photos at The Bean and raced around the fabulous Maggie Daley Park. We rode the city bus. Shopped at the Lego store. And then, we went to Medieval Times. This is exactly what it sounds like: grown men playing as knights, riding horses & fake battling each other in a ring, while we sit around and eat rotisserie chicken and corn on the cob dinner theater style. While this, admittedly, is not my cup of tea, it’s hard to resist the excitement of it all. The crowd was divided by six color teams, we were on the green team, and our knight WON! Which honestly, I would have paid extra for given how much the boys lost...

Somehow, who knows how, the boys and I got on the topic of where their relatives are from. “Poland!” said C. Which, yes, both my parent’s relatives. I’m less sure about my mother-in-law’s side, but I then asked them if they knew about Grandpy’s family. Grandpy’s family… …so I’ve heard… …comes from European ROYALTY. Boys, you might be related to kings. Imagine for a minute how 8 and 6 year old boys, who already live like certified kings in our home mind you, took this news. Imagine that. And then multiply it. Once the celebration settled, I told them the only person who knows these details is Grandma Kay. Their sweet, 90+ year old great grandma (Grandpy’s mom). No one knows the details like sharp minded, family historian, Grandma Kay. And what happens when she dies? I’m really resisting hard to get on a mid-blog post soap box about how vital it is to record your family history. If you don’t, it’s gone. If you assume there’s nothing to record, you’ll never know what there might h...

Our local YMCA recently upgraded their equipment, and put many items up for auction… including their fleet of spin bikes. I wanted one of these for our basement gym. I mentioned this to my biking enthusiast, mid-70-year-old, Dad, and he really wanted one. There were about two dozen bikes. When the auction started early March, the bikes were around $30 each. Cool, this should be easy. Also, I’m no stranger to an online auction (says the Mom who won twice at her kid’s super low stake school PTO fundraising auction). Nothing truly happens until the last few minutes of the auction–then you gotta get in a serious and high bid. So my Dad/I arranged a time to sit side by side on our laptops, 15 minutes before the end of the auction, to nab our bikes. At this point each bike was up to about $50. Then quickly $60. Then $75. Ok, we decided on our personal highest bids, around $150. We each bid on a bike, and remain the highest bidder for several minutes. Wow! Ok this is definitely goin...

 ...and the last one of the season! This is indoor triathlon 3 of 3 of the monthly races my local YMCA puts in the winter. It's an excellent kick-start to the Sprint triathlon training I'll start soon. My goal at this race was similar to others this year--race strong and steady, but not so fast I injure myself. About a week ago I was suffering from some gnarly hip/butt pain from over use and lack of stretching. I'd been taking time off, slowly rehabbing and strengthening. I didn't want this casual indoor race to back track that work. And, success!  I swam strong, feeling good in the water for 18 lengths. I biked 6 miles in just over 20 minutes, my typical slow/steady leg. I felt comfortable and in control during the 2 mile run. The hightlight, as always, was having my boys there to time me and watch me do it all. They were so supportive, and I love that they get to see Mom do tough stuff.  In 2 weeks I'll start an 8 week training plan for the early summer Sprint tri...

You're 6. It's breakfast time. And have InstantPot steel cut oatmeal in the fridge.  This is how you take your oatmeal: 1 BIG scoop of steel cut oats in the bottom of a bowl. Add a small splash of milk. Microwave for 20 seconds. Food should never be too hot. When it's done, push the oats down with the back of a spoon to make sure there are no clumps. This is important. There must be NO clumps.  Sprinkle a little cinnamon on top, and brown sugar, too. Make sure the brown sugar gets spread everywhere, but not too much brown sugar, or it's too sweet. When that's done, take out a box of cereal.  This is typically Multi Grain Cheerios (in the purple box) but today you surprised me and asked for Honey Bunches of Oats instead. Pour some cereal on top. Yes cereal, on top of the slightly-warm oatmeal. Enough to fully cover the oatmeal.  Then milk. Yes, again.  As much milk as you'd normally have in a bowl of cereal.  Except this isn't a normal bowl of cereal, it'...

There's no actual moment when kids go from little to big. No particular birthday or event. Instead it's like the weather, where kids can seem as small as the sun barely showing in the sky on a cloudy day, or so big and bold it's like a bluebird day. More often than not, it's partly sunny--they're little-ish big or big-ish little. Sometimes though, it's undeniable.  Boy, was that true this past weekend. We were up north to ski. Friday's weather was AWFUL. Cold and snowing. Bad visibility on the slopes and ungroomed trails. I didn't both taking A out to maneuver him around the bunny hills, he would have been miserable. Instead we slid Hot Wheels cars down the ramp behind the stairs of my great aunt's challet. He fell into a deep nap before dinner. Little.  But Saturday was true bluebird day in more ways than one. The sky was clear, it was beautiful, warm, and sunny. And my boys were big. C stayed out skiing THE ENTIRE DAY. Five-ish hours, I think. Beyo...

I should voice-to-text this. It hurts to hold my arms up to type. Yesterday was the second of three winter indoor triathlons at my local YMCA. Where Jan’s goal was to have fun & complete it, yesterday I wanted to go farther in each leg. (This is structured so you swim/bike/run as much as you can in 15 min each.) And I mean, I did that, but also almost passed out in the process. The first half of the swim felt good but hard. When I checked the clock I realized I needed to keep on pace to better my distance. I was COOKED getting out of the water swimming 41.5 lengths in 15 min (up from 38.25 last month). Biking is my weakest leg. I took it easy at the Jan race, and have been doing more spin classes since then, but biking after that swim was so challenging. I completed 4.25 miles (just up from 4.2 in Jan). I was NOT well heading into the run. Thought about sitting it out. Thought about walking it. Thought about disappearing to a local diner for a stack of chocolate chip pancake...

Or alternatively titled: The Triathlon That Wasn’t Supposed to Be. We were supposed to be skiing up north, unfortunately missing the first of three monthly mini indoor triathlons at the YMCA. Instead it snowed with sub 0 temps for nearly 2 weeks, making a drive and ski up north too dangerous. Boy were we bummed to cancel our trip. BUT, a surprise weekend at home meant saying “yes” to a few things we turned down thinking we’d be out of town. Like A’s basketball game, where he spent the entire game GLUED defending his opponent, only occasionally breaking to butterfly swing his arms while running to the opposite side of the court. Six year olds playing sports are truly the best. Also: the indoor tri. At A’s basketball game, my brother and I realized we could and probably should try to sign up late to compete, or we’d regret it. About 16 hours before the event we were signed up and ready to go. Now… I’m not in shape for this. Because… Christmas cookies. The goal was to compete...