December Meal: Salsa Chicken

It's the last day of the year and time for my very last recipe post of 2013!! Where did the time go?!?! 

I know I say this quite a bit, but this was probably the easiest thing I've made. 2 ingredients!! That's it!

You need chicken and a jar of hot sauce! I used 3 chicken breasts and a jar of Hot Pace that I blended ( no me gusta chunky bits). All you do is put your chicken in the crockpot and pour the entire jar of hot sauce over it and let it cook. I cooked mine on low for about 9 hours.

I separated it into 3 containers since there were 3 chicken breasts, but turns out that is way too much for one serving. I'm not even sure how many meals I got out of this since I ended up having to toss some out, but that's what happens when there is only one person eating it. 

I ate it with black bean quinoa chips, sweet potato chips and corn tortillas...it even tasted good on its own. I will definitely be making this again!

Hope every one has a happy and safe New Year's Eve tonight! See ya in 2014!! 

Christmas Crafts 2013: Candle Stick Jars Edition

The last of the gifts I made were inspired by Pinterest...candle stick jars.

When showing Barrett's mom my Pinterest boards a while back she commented that she really liked these jars and would want to make them, but would probably never get around to it. A little light bulb went off in my head...Christmas present!!!!

I showed a sneak peek of this process a few weeks ago with this picture...

I'm missing a few things in this picture...like the letters and the jars...but all of that turned into...

I went with red polka ribbon for the bows since red is in most holidays, but they can be easily taken off. The wooden letters are stuck on using glue dots so they can also be easily changed out. I painted all the wood pieces and the jar lids black and then put a layer of mod podge over them to help keep the paint from being scratched. I glued all parts together using E6000 glue. Between all the crafts I did this Christmas, I used an entire tube of that stuff!

The other letter combos I included in the gift were...LUV (Valentine's Day), BOO (Halloween) and THX (Thanksgiving). Now that I think about it I could have also included 4TH for the 4th of July. Eh...next time.

I also made a single candle stick jar for another Aunt.

I put her initial on the jar using shelf paper I cut with my cricut. Still haven't used real vinyl yet, but one day it will happen. I decided to just make her a single jar since she moved into a smaller house this year and I haven't seen what kind of counter space she has. Oh and you can pretty much put anything you want in these jars which is awesome. I know it looks like there is a candle in the jar right now, but really it's just green paper. It was hard to see the 'L' with a neutral background so that's why I stuck the paper in there.

I think that officially wraps up my crafts for 2013. I already have a craft I need to work on for 2014 that needs to be done by Jan. 18!! Ahhhhh!

Cran-Apricot Cinnamon Quinoa Breakfast Bake

I've been looking for new hot breakfast recipes (since I've been told to stop eating my oatmeal with peanut butter in the mornings) and came across a quinoa bake from Fitsugar and decided to try out my own version since I'm not a huge fan of hot apples, raisins in anything or syrup.

Ingredients...

1 cup uncooked quinoa (rinsed)
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/3 cup Craisins
1/3 cup chopped dried apricots 
2 eggs
2 cups unsweetened almond milk
1/4 cup honey
1/3 cup slivered almonds
splash of vanilla

Mix together the quinoa, cinnamon, nutmeg and ground cloves in a small bowl and pour into a greased 8x8 baking dish.

Sprinkle the craisins and apricots on top of the quinoa

In the same bowl the quinoa was mixed in, whisk together the milk, honey, eggs and vanilla. Pour the mixture on top of the quinoa and fruit. Sprinkle the almonds on top of everything and bake it for an hour at 350 degrees F. 

Let cool a few minutes then serve. If you make it at night and want it the next day, heat it up in the microwave for a minute. This should make 4-6 servings (depending on how hungry you are and if you are adding anything on the side).  Enjoy!

**check out the FitSugar link at the top for the original version made with apples and raisins**

Christmas Crafts 2013: Wreath Edition

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas yesterday!! I meant to post this picture yesterday, but time just got away from me...

Since all presents have been opened now, I can finally share the crafts I've been working on since Thanksgiving!!!

I made two new wreaths and re-made one from two years back that kept falling apart.

First up, a Fall-ish wreath...

My Aunt, who went with me to the ZTA casino night back in October, really liked the wreath I made for the auction and kept saying how she needed a Fall wreath. Of course, by the time I went to get the supplies to make a Fall wreath, all the Christmas stuff was on display. With the help of Elizabeth, I ended up getting this maroon-ish ribbon (I know it looks pink in the picture) and an orange flower and decided it looked Fall enough...ha ha.

Next up, an everyday wreath...

Another Aunt of mine, told me at Thanksgiving that she wanted an everyday wreath to hang on the front door of her new house. Again, with the help of Elizabeth, I decided on this gorgeous black and cream ribbon and cream colored flower. The bow and the flower can be easily removed from this wreath in case my aunt ever feels the urge to seasonalize it (yeah I just made up a word).

And now for the remake wreath...

Two years ago, I made my Mom an ornament wreath by just stringing the ornaments on a wire hanger. It held for about two days before the ornaments started to pop off. So this year she asked if I could work some magic and make the ornaments stay. Well the only way I know of to make the ornaments stay, is to actually glue them. So I took the old "wreath" home with me and decided to make it like the one I made for Barrett's mom last Christmas. I needed a few more ornaments to fill in the wholes, so my Mom chose the colored ones with gold glitter since Hobby Lobby didn't have any regular gold ornaments with a design on them. I actually really like the way it turned out. Now if only she hadn't picked such glittery ribbon, I wouldn't still be getting glitter out of my hair...ha ha.

Pumpkin Sopapilla Cheesecake Fail

I mentioned a few weeks back that the last week of November had lots of birthdays and one special birthday girl had requested a pumpkin sopapilla cheesecake. I searched the internet for a simple recipe and came across one from Six Sisters Stuff that made a smaller cheesecake with pretty much the same ingredients as the regular version I make every year.

It smelled amazing while baking in the oven and looked pretty delicious when it came out of the oven (picture above). I let it cool for an hour and then when I tried to cut it disaster struck and it ended up looking like this...

 

It completely fell apart! I was only able to salvage the 4 corner pieces...I was so mad. I believe I've used a Six Sisters Stuff recipe before and I'm pretty sure it didn't turn out either. To me this recipe had too much pumpkin in it which in turn made too much filling and a very thin filling. Everything tasted really good, but I will never make this recipe again. I would, however, like to try my hand at making a pumpkin cheesecake again, but instead of pumpkin puree I've thought about pumpkin cream cheese or finding a recipe with pumpkin butter.

Has anyone else made a pumpkin cheesecake? Did you like the recipe you used? 

Fall Mesh Wreath

I know everyone (including myself) is in full on Christmas mode, but since I can't share any of the crafts I've been working on (since they are all gifts) and I never shared my fall wreath...I've decided to share it now!

While strolling through the clearance isle in Wally World I came across orange and brown mesh ribbon. Thinking it was on clearance I put it in my cart telling myself I can make a mesh wreath no big deal (yeah sometimes I get craft cocky...ha ha)

Instead of buying one of the expensive already made wreath forms I bought a 16 inch wire form and added the pipe cleaners alternating between top and bottom.

I added the brown mesh first trying to make even puffs along the way. Then came time for the orange which I filled in the empty spaces with...so where the brown was looped at the top I looped the orange at the bottom. After securing all the mesh, I wasn't sure what else to do. I would have loved to add a cute fall sign, but it was two weeks before Thanksgiving and by then all the fall stuff in the stores had already turned to Christmas.

I remembered I had goldish-orange glitter ribbon that I had bought for a different wreath that didn't workout and when I held it against the shiny mesh ribbon I thought it would give the wreath just what it needed. Luckily I had just enough left to loop it through the whole wreath and make a bow.

I took it over to my Mom's house on my day off to surprise her when she got home! For it being my first ever mesh wreath, I think it turned out pretty good.

November Meal 2: Italian Parmesan Garlic Chicken

With my new suggested eating habits, I've been trying to think of different ways to make chicken. My favorite will always be sweet chipotle chicken, but I can't eat that everyday boo. A few Fridays ago I decided to make a recipe similar to one I found on pinterest.

The pinterest recipe called for an Italian seasoning packet, but I didn't have one on hand so I went into my spice cabinet and found a good ol' Penzeys spice jar, Bouquet Garni.

1/2 c Parmesan Cheese
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 T Bouquet Garni (or any Italian-ish seasoning)

I mixed all 3 ingredients together and then coated my chicken (wet with only water) in the mixture.  I then baked it at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes.  I served my chicken with a side of roasted garlic quinoa (I love garlic if you couldn't tell).

I really liked how this chicken turned out...especially that crispy little end you see up there in the picture. Yummy!

November Recap via my iPhone

So I was a little MIA in November (seems to be happening a lot lately, but life gets busy sometimes) so I thought I would give everyone an update of what's been going on according to my iPhone. If you follow me on instagram, you've seen most of these before...ha ha.

A few weeks ago I started working on some Christmas gifts...several people are getting hand made gifts I just hope they turn out ok

I made my usual Thanksgiving dessert for my office's pot luck lunch...

A Sopapilla cheesecake!! I feel a little bad that not everyone was able to get a piece, but some special peeps get VIP access to it first ha ha

To keep warm in my apartment I made a cup of dark hot chocolate! so good!

To make the boyfriend a little jealous I sent him this pic of my new snuggle buddy...Petey the Penguin...that'll teach him to leave me for over a week...ha ha.

The last week of November is a busy one birthday wise for me...one special birthday girl put in her order for a Pumpkin Sopapilla Cheescake...I'll make another post about this disaster later.

Like I said above...I had to try and stay warm in my apartment by utilizing blankets, halloween panda costumes with the tail in tact and hot chocolate all because I refused to turn on my heat. This is the coldest temp reading I saw...who knows how cold it actually got overnight.

Back to birthdays...I wanted to practice making bows and wanted to try out a polka dot technique I saw on pinterest. Polka dots were made using a pencil eraser and pink stamp ink...easy as pie!

My favorite new candle from Bath and Body Works...also the first candle I've burned in my apt! I also recently smelled fluffy towels from Yankee Candle...might have to try that next.

My job the past 3 or 4 years for Thanksgiving is to carry on the tradition of making the chess pie.

Chess pie is such a hit in my family and pretty easy to make. A few lucky people might be getting a piece tomorrow if I can sneak a few pieces out of the house...ha ha.

The night before Thanksgiving we host a turkey injecting party at the house. While the men deal with the turkeys, us ladies sit around the fire and chit chat and some may or may not consume lots of wine.

Ahhh...Turkey Day! Every year we host a turkey fry Thanksgiving morning for friends and family! This year we had 12 birds to be fried! I think the most we've ever fried in one morning is close to 20!

That's everything I have for the last half of November. Let's hope I can get back to posting more frequently in December!

Hope everyone had a great November and a very Happy Thanksgiving!