Wishlist! Projects & More Projects!

This is an updated list, since I have a few projects that I'd like to attempt in the not-too-distant future.  In doing so, there are a few things I need to save up in order to complete the projects.  If you are able to help me collect any of the items below that would be great!  Here is a short list of things I'm looking for.  I figured it doesn't hurt to ask since a lot of it is stuff you might be throwing out.  I'll keep this list fluid and add/delete as needed.  Thank you, in advance, for any help you might be.

• vinyl tablecloths.  both flannel-backed and non-flanned-backed are fine. 
• flat-bottomed glass gems/gems/stones
• clay pots and drain trays (can also be plastic)
• rocks, river stones (Smooth is what I'm going for.)
• old, used metal bowls of various sizes
• golf balls
• hubcaps
• empty soda bottles, water bottles, Gatorade bottles, Powerade bottles, etc.  I'm looking for sizes 16oz-24oz.; I will take the caps, too, if have them.
• clothespins
• ribbon scraps of any kind
• fabric scraps.  Do you have small, random pieces of various fabrics you want to get rid of?  (any size, pattern, texture) I can use them.  
• Wooden blocks, Jenga games.  Any sizes, shapes, colors.
• EMPTY child-proof prescription bottles, empty film canisters, plastic Easter eggs THANK YOU, I have collected what I need with these items for now.

Chicken Spaghetti

I was given this slow cooker recipe by my friend Holly and it was simple and delicious; even our 3 year old ate it!  It smells so good while cooking and it so easy to make in the afternoon.  

Chicken Spaghetti

2 chicken breasts
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 bag frozen bell pepper/onion/celery blend (Her orig. recipe called for pepper/onion but I couldn't find it at the store.)
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp garlic powder
Salt and pepper
3 cups cheddar cheese (separated 1 cup and 2 cups)
12 oz cooked spaghetti

Cook everything except 2 cups of cheddar and the uncooked spaghetti in the crockpot on high for 4 hours. Take out the chicken and shred it. Return it to sauce and add the other 2 cups of cheddar and the cooked spaghetti. Cook for 15-20 more minutes on low. That's it!

I think this might also be good with a can of peas/cooked frozen peas mixed in during the last few minutes, too.

Sorry for the bad picture.  I didn't remember to take a picture until after we were done eating dinner.

A Spicy Mess No More!

Ok. So, yes, I'm super behind on blogging anything lately.  I have had many thoughts of "oh, I should type up something about that and post it to my blog" but alas, time gets away from me with two little ones these days.  This post is super short, so I had time to post it up quickly.

I was doing some morning reading online and when I was finished I jumped on Pinterest to look for a valentine's craft to occupy my little guy this morning.  (Don't judge the amount of pins and likes I have; I often jump on Pinterest when nursing.) Back to the topic at hand--the shelf I keep all of our kitchen spices is a total disaster. I can never find what I need quickly.  This pin spoke directly to me.  I don't know how I didn't come up with something like this sooner, since I actually do have something similar for boxed pasta and rice in my pantry, but for whatever reason it never occured to me to organize my lesser-used spices! I read this and BAM!  I now have a system for the spices I rarely use.

I took the idea one step further and typed up a quick list of what spices are actually in the basket.  This is helpful when I need something that I think I have, but in reality I probably just thought about buying it at some point.  We also have the amazing, wonderful Dekalb International Farmers Market not too far from our house where I buy some of my spices in bulk.  These containers stack great, but I have to take them all out to get what I'm looking for.  These are also on the list I created.

Here's to trying to organize my life one small step at a time! (My BIG job of cleaning and organizing our Florida room starts this weekend!  Say a prayer for me.)

Slow Cooker Zesty BBQ Chicken

You should know by now that I’m a HUGE slow cooker fan.  You can thank John Shaffer and Stephanie O’Dea for getting me hooked!  John is a guy we know from church.  While riding to a praise team practice together, Joe, John, and I got to talking about slow cooking.  In that conversation he recommended O’Dea’sbooks Make It Fast, Cook It Slow.  I quickly purchased Volumes I & II from alibris for a great price.  I’ve made countless recipes from these books.

This recipe is a mixture of O’Dea’s “Lazy Chicken” and a BBQ chicken recipe I found while doing a Pinterest search.  We were craving some Shane’s Rib Shack chicken, but I wanted to try and make something similar at home.  Behold, this had a lot of the same flavors and was super simple to prepare.  We loved this dinner (even the 3 year old) and will definitely be making it again!  I served it with baked potatoes and green beans.

As prepared, this made 4-6 sandwiches. This recipe can easily be doubled.  

Slow Cooker Zesty BBQ Chicken

3 large frozen chicken breasts

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

1 cup BBQ sauce of your choice, plus more to put on finished sandwich

¼ cup Italian Salad Dressing (I used Kraft Zesty Italian)

¼ cup brown sugar (unpacked)

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Place frozen chicken breasts in slow cooker.  Sprinkle salt and pepper over chicken in crock.

In medium bowl mix all other ingredients.  Wisk for a minute to make sure all brown sugar is well incorporated. Pour over chicken.

Cover.  Cook 3-4 hours in high or 6-8 hours on low.
About a half hour before serving, take chicken out and shred.  Put back in crock and stir with the sauce at bottom of crock.  Cover and let everything cook together for a half hour longer.

Alphabet Letter S

A quick entry to post the letter S printable we worked on today in Preschool.  You simply insert the image into a Word document and enlarge as big as you want. Then, print one copy in color and one copy in gray/black and white (I did this one on colored paper).  Cut the colored sheet into puzzle pieces and the child will glue them to the black and white sheet which is meant to be a guide for the child.  I printed my black and white copy at 35% transparency so it was lighter on the page.

Finished Product:

Breakfast Bake

Although I haven't had a chance to write a lot lately, I've actually tried several new recipes that I've been wanting to post!  Hopefully I can get updated with that in the next week or so.  Today I'm going to post a super-simple breakfast bake we made for a Saturday morning breakfast.  This was kid-approved by our 2 year old and so easy that we'll definitely make it again.  It would also be great for a potluck or brunch!  

Easy Breakfast Bake

6 eggs

1/4 cup milk

16 oz refrigerated breakfast biscuits (I used the Buttermilk Grands.)

4 scallions or green onions, chopped small
1 onion, chopped (This is optional although I use it.)

1-1 1/2 cups shredded extra sharp Cheddar Cheese or Colby Jack cheese* (I used 1 1/2 cups of Colby Jack.)

Your choice of meat, optional (I used a precooked, diced bag of ham.)

9×13 baking dish prepared with cooking spray

Directions:

1. Mix your eggs and milk in a large bowl.  Cut each biscuit into fours and add it to the bowl.  Let the biscuits sit in this bowl while preparing the rest of the ingredients to give it a chance to soak up the eggs.

2.  Add everything else to the bowl with eggs and biscuits.  Mix so the egg coats all ingredients.

3. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.  Just make sure it isn't runny.

*You can use pre-shredded cheese, but if you shred yourself it melts much better and blends together well.  I always try to shred myself when making this dish.

I made a few changes to the original recipe found here.

handprint

I'm simply posting this to share a project we'll be making with some friends of mine.