Kid's Bike Shopping, AWESOME Family Dinner Recipe, & Slap-Yo-Mama Rotisserie Chicken

Today was a BEAUTIFUL day in Tulsa!  75 degrees and sunny...felt like Spring and it's the middle of February.

Here I am basking in the sun in the backyard as the kids played after school!

What are those?  Oh yes, those are my legs in shorts with flip flops...in February!  This time last year we were covered in so much snow!

I have to say I'm not complaining about this Spring-like weather.

So, we are less than a month out on our 8 y.o.'s birthday and we knew that we were going to get her a new bike, remember our last family bike ride disaster?  Well, Addy's bike is too small and she was complaining the whole time about how small it is for her.  So, we decided today that since it was such a nice day, we would shop for a new bike for her and give it to her as an early birthday present.  We shopped all around:



Stop 1 was the Trek store on Riverside.  We checked out the bikes.  They have lots of options but for the 24" size with speeds that we thought Addy needed, it was $300.

Here is the one were looking at there, and it was the cheapest 24" girls bike with speeds.  We weren't 100% sure about it and Addy wasn't with us so we couldn't fit her on it.

Stop 2 was Target.  They had a Schwinn 24" with speeds and it was more up our alley on price, at $179

But again, we weren't 100% and we didn't want to make a snap decision on a bike that she would hopefully have for years to come and even pass down to her younger sister.  And, I am a believer that most of the time, you get what you pay for.  I always like a "deal", but I didn't want to go cheap on a bike since I knew were going to be getting a lot of use out of it.

Stop 3 was Dick's Sporting Goods.  We went in and walked back to the bike section only to find out that they had no girls 24" bikes in stock at all!  This was extremely disappointing.  But, the kids always have fun in there, so after playing for a while, we left.

Stop 4, we decided to try Bicycles of Tulsa, on 47th & Mingo.  Mike called ahead and they had a 24" girls bike on sale, which was last year's color for $279 (originally over $400), all aluminum frame, very nice quality.  Well, once we got there and had her sit on a couple bikes, we realized that the 24" was too small for her!  Baby girl has LONG legs...actually if you really want to know, her legs are as long as mine and she's 8!  I was just so thankful that we didn't go out and buy a 24" bike, she would have needed a new bike in a year!  So, they had a 26" adult women's bike with a small frame.  The fact that it had a small frame made it perfect for her.  Otherwise, a 26" women's bike would have been too big.
This bike was GIANT brand and was specialized with the small frame, has gears, shock absorbers, and looked pretty cool.  This is not exactly it, but this is similar to it:

It was originally $375 and he discounted it down to $300 plus discounted some trail tires my husband needed to buy for his bike.  So, we decided on this bike!  I am very excited because I know that this bike will last for a long time and hopefully we won't need to buy her another bike....it is a women's bike after all!! It is GREAT quality, aluminum frame so it's lightweight, and lots of great features.  Plus, the guys over at Bicycles of Tulsa were VERY nice and helpful with answering all of our questions.  And I know that if we ever have an issue, they will take care of us!

So, of course after we bought the bike, we came home and hooked up all our gear and decided to give our family bike ride another shot!

 Here she is on her new bike!  It was getting kinda late, so we just rode across the street and around the park 4 times (1/2 mile around) and came home.

Now on to dinner....  As you may remember, I bought 5 whole organic chickens from Whole Foods last week and I've been wanting to cook some up for recipes this week.  I used a recipe I found on allrecipes for rotisserie style roast chicken.  I liked this recipe because unlike all the other whole chicken recipes I found, it didn't include loads of butter and sugar!  I must tell you....this is probably some of the best chicken I have EVER had in my life.  And it was SO easy!!  I had a recipe from eMeals for dinner which called for 3 cups of rotisserie shredded chicken, so I figured it would be the perfect time to test it out.  Here's my recipes and pics:

Rotisserie Style Roast Chicken (adapted from Allrecipes)

•   2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon white pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
•   1 onion, quartered
•   1 (4 pound) whole chickens

1. In a small bowl, mix together salt, paprika, onion powder, thyme, white pepper, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and garlic powder. Remove and discard giblets from chicken. Rinse chicken cavity, and pat dry with paper towel. Rub each chicken inside and out with spice mixture. Place 1 onion into the cavity of each chicken. Place chicken in a resealable bag or double wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight, or at least 4 to 6 hours.  (I refrigerated mine for 6 hours)
2. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C).
3. Place chickens in a roasting pan. Bake uncovered for 4 hours, to a minimum internal temperature of 180 degrees F (85 degrees C). Let the chickens stand for 10 minutes before carving. 

Here is my little taste-tester:

 She couldn't stay away...she said it was the best chicken she ever had.  And it wasn't chicken nuggets!!!  That is a SCORE in my book.  
After it cooled, we shredded it:

**I might add that the allrecipes originally was for cooking 2 whole chickens.  I only cooked 1 today and so I modified the level of spices for you.  Also, with the 2 chickens, cook time was 5 hours.  Mine cooked to 180 internal degrees in about 4 hours.  I would recommend just setting the timer for 3 hours 45 min and start checking the internal temp then and then every so often, depending on where the temp is at.  You don't want to cook it too long...mine was PERFECTION and was falling off the bone.  But, it is easy to overcook chicken (trust me, I know).**

Roasted Chicken and Pasta Soup (eMeals)

2 t canola oil
1 c chopped bell pepper
1 c chopped onion
32 oz box chicken broth
4 c water

1 t Italian seasoning
2 c whole wheat penne pasta

2c shredded rotisserie chicken (from above recipe)
2 c frozen mixed vegetables 

1 T lemon juice

 

In a lg soup pot, heat oil over med heat. Add bell pepper and onion; cook until tender. Add broth, water, Italian seasoning and salt. Bring to a boil; add pasta and boil 7 min. Add chicken and vegetables; simmer 5 min. Stir in lemon juice. 

SRSLY???  This was SO simple to make!  Here is Addy and me, she was helping me with dinner. 

She was totally in on it until I dumped the 2 cups of mixed veg in there..  Ha!  But, she still ate plenty of chicken, pasta, broth, and green beans.  And all the other kiddos LOVED it.  They scarfed it right up!  I served it with some leftover homemade artisan bread we had from the other night. 


So after dinner, I shredded up the rest of the chicken, peeled the wings and drumsticks off and put it in the fridge for another recipe later.

 
I had a little over a cup left of the chicken breast, since I only used 2 c on the recipe tonight.

I will put up pics and recipes on my Facebook page, there are some more dinners that I have on there I haven't included in a blog, so you must go "like" my facebook to see them!  Click here to go to Fit n Busy Mama Facebook.

Thanks for reading!!!