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“A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.”
George Moore

The hoopla before a trip is so disheartening. I hate making sure the trash is empty, the plants are watered, the fridge doesn’t contain milk that will spoil – why is it that we clean before we leave for a trip? I also dislike returning from a trip – I feel I live out of my suitcase for the next 3 days… But, I love going home.

What is home to me? Is it Cincinnati? Is it Wyoming? Is it Holmes County? Is it the house I grew up in for most of my life? Is it a place at all?

Prior to finishing my residency, we moved to Cincinnati. While Cara was living down in Cincy, I had to finish my residency. So, I moved back home to my parents’ house and commuted about 80 minutes to Akron Children’s Hospital for 2 months. It wasn’t exactly ideal, especially since I was senior in the NICU for one of those months – leaving home at 430 am wasn’t something to look forward to. However, I found myself enjoying the drive home immensely. I usually took Route 21 and then 62 home. It was May and the days were long enough that the sun was still out and warm enough for the windows to be down… Driving through the rolling hills looking at the landscapes – I felt like all these years I had been taking it for granted, so I did something that I rarely do – I would slow down…

For me, home is a place – I will always call Holmes County home – but home also consists of people – my family. Mom, brother, his wife (congrats to the newlyweds!), grandmas, uncles, aunt, cousins, Ya-Ya’s, the list goes on… Mark Twain once said, “to be good is to be lonesome” – that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Mother’s day dinner for Cara:

Homemade Mac and cheese (baked)

Chicken Roulade with prosciutto, spinach and goat cheese.

The Macaroni and Cheese:

This will have to wait until tomorrow as I have a meeting soon… however, see my chicken recipe below…

The Chicken Roulade: set oven to 400 degrees

Pound three standard fresh chicken breasts flat (careful not to rip them)

Season with a dash of kosher salt and pepper

Place one slice of prosciutto (a dry-cured ham from central and northern Italy) on top of flattened chicken breast

Place 1 ½ TBSP frozen spinach (that has been defrosted and squeezed dry – this is important – needs to be as dry as possible) on top of prosciutto closest to widest edge of chicken.
Place goat cheese next to spinach (amount – well, eyeball it, I did around 2 tsp, but don’t go hog wild)
Grab widest end of chicken and proceed to roll the whole breast onto itself
(If you want to secure the roll with toothpicks you can now, I didn’t have toothpicks…)

In an oven proof pan, place 1 – 2 tbsp of olive oil over high heat.

While that is heating up, I breaded the chicken roulades with panko breadcrumbs (Japanese style that are coarser)

After breading I fry the chicken breasts on each side for about 4 minutes (until golden brown) then I stick them in the oven (400 degree) for another 10-12 minutes.

Serve with mac and cheese!

A bonus video below of the little one performing a play – Sheepy’s play – in our backyard.