Happy Fourth of July and a fun Summer Recipe

 

Hello Friends! 

Happy Independence Day to my Friends in the USA. ❤️💙 I hope you have a fun day planned ahead. We were invited to our bestie's, the C's, cabin...but Matt and I are having a mellow fourth because we both work tomorrow. And I'm kind of thrilled because June went by in a blink because we were so busy! So chilling sounds great. 

One of the reasons we were so busy was because our Annie graduated high school. She graduated in early June. Then we went on our big Europe trip...so we had her grad party late in the month. For those that didn't see about it - we did a Hawaiian theme as Annie dreams of going there one day, and because she loves pineapple flavored anything! As you can see, we had fun getting into the theme including a photo op spot with palm tree and basket of lei's and pineapple sunglasses. :) 

One of her favorite pineapple related flavors is pina colada flavored things (she's not old enough to drink yet 😉). So I found this recipe for a pina colada dip and it was a hit and went fast! What was left over, Annie ate up the next day. Lol

We had a separate extra big fruit tray - but we kept a smaller one next to the pina colada dip, and the strawberry cream cheese dip...along with nilla wafers and cinnamon graham crackers too. The nilla wafers were especially delish with the pina colada dip! 

I toasted some coconut to garnish the top and I highly recommend that extra. The recipe is pinned on my pinterest board labeled "Annie grad party" It came from diprecipecreations.com 

The only thing I didn't do was the coconut cream because we couldn't find it. We only found cream of coconut, which is not the same thing. See the note below. So I instead added some extra coconut extract. But the rest I kept the same. It turned out great! 

Here's the recipe:

I'm off to play some ladderball with my fellow, take Ruby for a nice walk, BBQ, enjoy my book on the deck, and hopefully go watch the local fireworks tonight. 

I hope you enjoy! xo

Air Fryer BBQ Chicken

 

How's your Thursday going Friends? And by the way happy leap year! 

Life here is humming along. Looking forward to more warm weather in the forecast as today is overcast and chilly. I sure hope this early Spring is a thing, because I have cabin fever in a bad way already! 

But that aside, I wanted to share this recipe with you today. I found it on pinterest and it's pinned under my "air fryer" board. Which you can go directly to by clicking here. Do you have an air fryer? It has become something I can't live without. It was a gift Matt got me for Valentine's Day 2 years ago and I love it and use it for so many things, besides just reheating things. It has several modes - like bake, roast, and even dehydrate. I think I may need to do a "things I can't live without" post in the future, and my air fryer will definitely be on there! 

Recently I made this air fryer BBQ chicken for dinner and it was so fast and easy and juicy and yummy. 

This was the only pic I caught of it - but I basically took chicken breasts and rubbed a spice mixture on them. Air fried them. And then towards the end brushed BBQ sauce on them and fried them some more. I will definitely make them again until we're back to grilling season. Not only because they were so tasty, but they were also so fast and easy. 

Here's the recipe:

If you don't have an air fryer, I hope you get one and love it as much as I do. And then I recommend trying this recipe. :) 

Enjoy xo

Happy Homemaker Monday

Hello and Happy Monday! ☀️ 

I hope you had a lovely weekend...and that those that celebrated Father's Day enjoyed a wonderful time with the men in your lives. We took my Dad out to dinner and caught up with him and my step Mom. It was so nice. 💕  And we dropped off some goodies for my step Dad. We're headed up to Matt's lake property to celebrate his Dad this week. 😊 

On Sunday morning I gave Matt some goodies too. As he is Bubba and Ruby's Daddy. 😉 And he truly is already kind of a stepfather and wonderful male role model in my kiddos lives. We are so grateful for him and the goodies were from all of us. 💗 

We also had my gf over on Friday night for a BBQ. We did some grilling. Ate out on the deck amid the birdsong. And then sat around the fire talking in the evening and making s'mores. Her crew has been out of town in FL for a big national volleyball tourney...but due to her job she couldn't go. So I made her come spend time with us. Matt and I do a lot with her and her hubby and we've become fast friends. We were talking about the plans we want to do as a foursome this summer too. 

Now on to this week...

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

yogurt with granola, iced coffee

ON MY TO DO LIST THIS WEEK:

errands, overnight trip to see Matt's folks, home projects, hospice work, helping a friend with a project, go to a friend's pizza party

THINKING ABOUT:  

going on a pontoon ride up at Matt's lake 💕 

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE

Sun finally came out. It was gray all day. I hear birds singing outside

CURRENTLY READING

??

ON THE TV TODAY:

  HGTV and cooking shows, AGT,some vlogs on youtube, Outlander, And Just Like That starts back this week

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

    MONDAY - 

TUESDAY - 

WEDNESDAY -  

THURSDAY - 

FRIDAY -  

*menu all up in the air this week due to little trip, pizza party at a friends one night. Out late for a project for a friend another night - so not sure. Tacos one night at the lake and next day his Mom said fried chicken dinner

TO RELAX THIS WEEK I WILL:

play in the lake, pontoon ride

TIPS OR SOMETHING TO SHARE:

FROM THE CAMERA:

tackle box season

getting used to kitty time over here

PRAYER LIST:

 For an end to the conflict in the Ukraine and other areas of the world living in war & fear. For peace and unity in this country, especially from hate and shootings or violence.  For anyone sick, suffering, in pain or fear... that God bring them comfort and peace. For His Light and Love to cast out the dark everywhere. 🙏 

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

Have a blessed week! I'm sharing with Sandra of Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.

Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

Hello Friends! 

For those of you that had asked me for this recipe I'm finally sharing it.  I don't have any pics of it unfortunately so I'll share a fun bbq scene, as I think these sandwiches are perfect for a summer bbq. 😉  I got this recipe from my good friend Billie Jo from the blog Afternoon Coffee and Evening Tea. You can find her here.

pinterest image

Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

6 boneless chicken breasts

12 oz bottle of BBQ sauce

1/2 cup of Italian salad dressing

1/4 cup of brown sugar

2 TBSP worcestershire sauce

Spray your slow cooker with cooking spray. Layer in chicken breasts. Mix other 4 ingredients and pour over chicken. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours until done and then shred chicken breasts with a fork. Serve on buns and enjoy! 😋 

*I have also doubled the sauce of this recipe and poured over 8 to 10 chicken breasts for a bigger crowd. 

BBQ Chicken Tenders

Hello Friends! 

I thought today I would share a fun recipe that's especially great for kids. I think I have mentioned before that when I make baked parmesan chicken breasts I coat my chicken with some light mayo. I use that instead of flour, eggs, breading kind of thing. I coat a little of the mayo on the chicken and then roll it in italian bread crumbs with some shredded parmesan mixed in with it.  It makes for a more moist, but still some crunch kind of crust. 

Well I had pinned this a while back and thought it sounded good, as my kiddos love honey mustard:

It basically involves using pretzels as a coating for chicken nuggets (or tenders) - as pretzels taste so good with honey mustard for dipping. You can find the recipe for this on my pinterest board "favorite recipes" which you can find here.  However, I make something like this with the light mayo and mix in a little honey mustard with the mayo before I put it on the chicken. And then roll the chicken in the crushed pretzels. Get that honey mustard flavor in there right away, besides just dipping.

Anyway, where I was going with this is that this recipe inspired me to make a BBQ version, as my kiddos like BBQ a lot too. 

So for this one I did the same method. I coated chicken tenders in some light mayo mixed with a little BBQ sauce and then rolled them in....get this - CRUSHED UP BBQ KETTLE CHIPS! Yep, I did that. And boy were they yummy and very....well.... BBQ-y. ;)  For those that like a more specific recipe here's what I did:

BBQ CHICKEN TENDERS

1&1/2 - 2 lbs of chicken tenders

seasoning of your choice (salt, pepper, garlic powder etc)

1/2 to 1 cup light mayo (I like Kraft)

1-2 Tbsp BBQ sauce 

BBQ kettle chips (about 2 cups)

Directions: Put mayo and BBQ sauce in bowl and mix well. Season chicken tenders if desired. Due to salty chips - I just peppered mine a bit, but feel free to add some garlic powder or whatever flavors of your choice. Coat chicken tenders in mayo mixture. Crush potato chips into a large shallow dish - or onto large flat plate. Roll coated chicken tenders in chips. Place chicken on sheet tray with wire rack insert. Bake in a preheated 375* oven for approximately 25-30 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. Serve with extra BBQ sauce on the side for dipping. 

I think there a lot of fun possibilities for cooking chicken with this method. Think sour cream and onion chicken - with a little onion dip in the mayo to coat the chicken and roll in sour cream and onion chips. Or I've even seen recipes for chicken coated with different cereals - like Captain Crunch!  Here's a photo of that:

And this is from a recipe from the Pioneer Woman which you can find here.  Really the possibilities are endless. Use your imagination - along with your own favorite flavors! 

Annie and I have been working on her cooking skills and she is now making dinner for us one night a week (with a little help yet). And I think one of the best things I can do is teach her to have fun with it all! So go on and play with your food! ;) xoxo

Tuesday Happenings

Hello Friends! 

I hope you had a lovely past weekend. I feel all messed up with my week already, as we had a nice long 3 day weekend with Memorial Day.  So today feels like a Monday, not a Tuesday.  Memorial weekend is always a wonderful time to stop and reflect on the wonderful men and women of the military that have served our country. Past and present. I continue to be so proud of my baby brother Steven. He has been in the military his whole adult life and is a medic in the green beret special forces. God bless all of our military people and their families for the sacrifices they make!!  xo  

I thought since yesterday was basically a day off for reflection and fun time too - I would do a mini version of Happy Homemaker Monday today - since it feels like Monday to me. Lol 

First of all I was late getting to this post as we went and toured a facility that could potentially be where we would have my MIL move in the near future. It was a really good visit and very lovely place. I think my FIL was impressed too -which is a wonderful. It was a beautiful place, as well as it seemed they had wonderful staff! Fingers crossed we will all find peace in a plan that will be healthy for everybody... and find it soon.  

Next I thought I'd give a mini version of a weekly update - like HHM: 

*THE WEATHER TODAY:   unfortunately windy and rainy. At least it was nice for most of yesterday for Memorial Day. I see puddles in my driveway as I look out my office window. I'm sipping my water and listening to some praise and worship on pandora.  

*ON THE MENU THIS WEEK: 

Monday - BBQ leftovers 

Tuesday - hasbrown and ham & cheese breakfast pizza and mini pancakes, fruit 

Wednesday - sandwich roll-ups, french fries, salad, fruit 

Thursday - get groceries -maybe tacos? 

Friday - leftover tacos or out for dinner

SHOWS: I was able to catch up on Outlander and Game of Thrones. I still have some cooking shows taped. I see America's Got Talent will be starting back this week. That's always a fun one we watch as a family.

READING: I'm not sure what I want to read next. I have several books written down my friend Carrie from Anniehow has recommended. However, I kind of want to read You Before Me as well. I've had that on my list and I see they've now made a movie out of it.

FROM THE CAMERA:

 Planted more fairy gardens this past weekend. We had beautiful weather among a few raindrops.  I like adding little solar lights to some of my pots. The darker photo above is one that changes colors!

I'm loving all of my baskets and blooms this year!

We had some nice - just chillin' time too.  ;) 

I made a very tasty triple berry cobbler & ice cream for dessert for yesteradays BBQ. I'll share the recipe soon!

There were some badminton games on the hill.

And we were able to get our pontoon ride in before the rain!

We need to get Ruby a captain's hat, as she is queen of the pontoon when we go! She loves it so much - it's just pretty darn adorable. 

We spotted a bald eagle on our trip.

And some Mommy & Daddy geese with their babies. 

INSPIRATION:

Wishing you a wonderful and blessed week ahead! xoxo

Easy Slow Cooker BBQ Ribs

I love just about anything BBQ. Especially in the summer time when something is cooking on the grill and then you baste it all over with barbeque sauce and have it with fresh corn on the cob, watermelon, a nice salad and iced tea. Does it get better? Now I'm longing for a lovely summer day and my grill, and I still have SOOO long to wait. Sigh.

Anyway, I love cooking BBQ ribs even in the winter and it couldn't be easier when I just throw them in my slow cooker. And of course I think it's always nice to use seasonings and things that you like or have on hand, so use what you have - this is just the easy way I get them cooking.

First of all I chopped up about 1/2 an onion. If you want more onion feel free. Also, if you like garlic you can chop up a clove of that too - I just didn't have any at that moment. Then start heating up some oil and butter in a pan at medium high temp. You want to get it hot to sear the meat.

I often like bone in country style ribs, but this time I went boneless (I think they were actually on sale). Liberally salt and pepper ribs (you could use seasoned salt, garlic powder, onion powder - whatever makes your ribs happy). But I just use plain old salt and pepper. Place in hot butter/oil seasoned side down and liberally season other side. Sear until nice and brown on each side (only couple minutes each side).

While the ribs are browning put some BBQ sauce in the bottom of your slow cooker. You could do a favorite already bottled sauce or a homemade one. Here's a yummy homemade BBQ sauce by one of my favorites - Ree Drummond the pioneer woman.  Remove ribs from pan. Then take your chopped onion (& garlic if you like) and brown for a bit in the bottom of the pan you seared the meat in. Make sure you scrape up all the yummy brown stuff from the bottom when you toss the onions around to get all the yummy flavor.

 Then put your ribs on top of the BBQ sauce in your slow cooker. Place the browned onions all over the top. Top with more of your sauce.

Cook on low for about 7-8 hours for boneless and at least 8 hours or so for bone- in ribs. I was a dummy and didn't take the after pic, but these are always so good and just fall apart because they're so tender when I take them out. That's the wonderful part about a slow cooker - when you cook low and slow your food usually will stay moist and get really tender.  We had ours with corn on the cob (of course had to be frozen) and green beans and an easy pasta side dish.  And I had peach iced tea!! A little taste of summer in the middle of winter!