Slow Cooker Chicken Caesar Sandwiches

While I was wasting time on Pinterest again this week, I stumbled upon a recipe that sounded pretty tasty. The slow cooker chicken tacos were a success, so why not try another recipe. This one comes from Chef-in-Training and features a recipe called Slow Cooker Chicken Caesar Sandwiches. Sounded yummy to me.

Don't they just look delish! Well they are. I like a Caesar Salad, but these were marvolous and super easy too!
Here's the recipe:

2 lbs of Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
1/2 cup - 1 cup of your favorite Caesar salad dressing
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons of dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon ground black peppper
2 cups shredded romaine lettuce
4-6 regular hamburger buns

Place chicken in a slow cooker with about 1-2 cups of water. Cook on high for 4-6 hours. Remove he chicken from the slow cooker and shred it with forks. Empty the slow cooker of the remaining water and fat. Put shredded chicken back in the slow cooker and add caesar dressing, paremsan cheese, parsley, and black pepper. Stir until mix evenly. Serve on hamburger buns topped with romaine lettuce.

Enjoy!

Crock Pot Chicken Tacos

I will be the first to admit that I am by no means a cook. My husband, Nick, actually enjoys cooking way more than I do, but I decided that if I'm going to be home with the babes until the end of November then maybe I should try to be a little domestic.

I found this great recipe on Pinterest for Crock Pot Chicken Tacos. The full blog post can be found here at Raining Hot Coupons blog. The recipe was super simple and delish. It actually made me feel a bit accomplished as a cook.

Ingredients:
6 frozen chicken breasts
1 package of taco seasoning
1 package of ranch dressing
1 can of chicken stock
1 can of chicken or turkey gravey

Recipe:
1. Place frozen chicken breasts in the crock pot. YES...Frozen!
2. Add taco seasoning, ranch dressing, chicken stock, and gravey.
3. Cook on High for 3-4 hours.
4. Shread chicken and place back in crock pot to soak up juices.
5. Make yummy chicken tacos with flour or corn tortillas and your addition of cheese, sour cream, tomato, lettuce, and salsa.
6. Enjoy and look like a professional cook!

Birthday Cupcakes

As I said before, my birthday was not on the first day of school, but I did still have to be there. I decided to make a special birthday treat...CUPCAKES! Are you surprised? I made my favorites...Carrot Cake with Maple Cream Cheese frosting and a new flavor Pink Lemonade. They both turned out wonderful and were all gone by the time I was ready to leave at the end of the day.

Do you love my little display? By the way, I made the cupcake pedestal. So cute and easy!

Banana Cupcakes

Last week I hepled with registration at school. I watched earlier in the week as our two wonderful secretaries pulled everything together for these crazy and long days. As a treat of appreciation, I decided to make some mini cupcakes for them. They always support the staff and students and I figured it was the least I could do for them. Plus it gave me an opportunity to test out a new cupcake and frosting flavor.

This recipe consisted of banana cupcakes, which tasted a lot like banana muffins, and honey cinnamon buttercream frosting. The sweetness of the frosting balanced the mild flavor of the banana cupcakes. I was really happy with how this turned out.

Tomorrow I'll share the egg carton revamp I did for this thank you gift as well as a cute and simple card that accompanied the cupcakes.

Happy 30th Nick

Today is my hubby's 30th birthday. I believe that birthdays shouldn't be forgotten or glanced at as "just another day," but celebrated and enjoyed. Approaching 30 is scary and I will be doing it in September so you can hear more about my feelings about turning 30 then.

My husband, Nick, has been a part of my life since I was 17. It is both scary and funny to think that we have known each other for so long. Anyone who knows Nick well, knows that he is quietish, has a smart (most of the time pretty darn funny) comment for everything, and is mostly a car guy. We argue a lot, but I think that's what makes us... well us. I love him very much and I am glad that he has been a part of so many of my almost 30 years.

Enough mushiness...here's the card I put together for Nick. I cased it from Tessa Wise, as she is a brilliant card creator. She has an eye for layout and I love her simplistic style.

If you've been reading my past blogs entries, then you are well aware of my cupcake love and obsession. For Nick's birthday I am making Carrot Cake cupcakes with a Maple Cream Cheese frosting. These are to die for and one of the definate cupcakes to make it on my must-have list for the someday cupcake shop. He loves carrot cake, so these are an easy choice! I hope my hunny has the best birthday ever! Mwah! I love you Nicky!

Making Jam Requires Protective Gear

Strawberry picking is a favorite activity of mine. Usually my mom, sister, and I make a trip to the fields in late June for the sweet smell of strawberries. I love those little red berries. I am kind of a berry-a-holic. Love em' and that's no lie.

This year my sister and I decided to go. We took my two year old nephew, Austin, with us for his first berry picking trip. He was so sweet. We weren't sure if he would be content or if he would be bored after 5 minutes. It's a toss up. He was surprisingly good. Typically he ate two berries for every one he picked. Unfortunately, the berries we picked were small and rather tart. See we had a really terrible spring... cold pretty late and lots of rain.

We decided to try another berry farm later in the week. I love spending time with my sister. This was a fun trip with lots of laughs, a new nickname for me, and getting lost (but not really lost.) I have to give it to my sister. She is 8 months prego and she was picking with the best of them.

I never really decided what I wanted to do with my flat of strawberries. My sister suggested making jam, which I've never made before. I agreed and we set off to make our first batch of jam. First of all, do you know how much sugar is in jam? It's crazy! Our first batch was just strawberry and it was a double batch. I couldn't understand why it took so dnag long to get the berries to come to a rolling boil. Duh...the burner was not on high. It took a bit, but we were successful. All the lids popped! Yeah!

The second batch was strawberry-blueberry. This one boiled rather quickly. It popped and I think the berries gave me first degree burns. I didn't realize I needed special protective gear to make jam. This is my scared face...not my best picture!  

After we finished the jam, we decided to decorate up our jars to give as gifts for birthdays and Christmas. To make the tag we used the Tart & Tangy stamp set by Stampin' Up for the strawberry, scraps of fabric I had on hand, and cardstock from Cosmo Cricket Garden Variety pack.

We even tried some of the jam today (just to test it out) and it was delish! We just followed the directions on the Sure Jell recipe! I feel like a bad, but good mama "jam"a. He he!

Cupcakes for Gary

It was my father-in-law's, Gary, birthday this last weekend and I decided to whip up some cupcakes for him. I'm getting better I tell you. Since Gary doesn't like anything too fancy or weird, unless he is the one making it, I decided to do a plain chocolate cupcake. This special part was the frosting. I made a Nutella fluffy buttercream. It was delish! I could have downed the entire bag of frosting. It was smooth and creamy, almost like a dream in a bag.

For those of you that don't know, Nutella is a chocolate hazelnut spread that many Europeans use instead of peanut butter. If you've never tried it, you are missing out. I'm not a big fan of hazelnut, but this stuff will rock your socks.

The cupcakes were good, but not great. They were tasty, but the cupcake part ended up drying out a bit. Boo! I guess that means I'm on the hunt for a new (more moist) chocolate cupcake recipe. The hunt begins! The frosting recipe though, is a keeper!

Cupcakes for a Friend

My dear friend Kiley just had her 27th birthday on the 17th and I decided to make her some cupckes. In past posts I have mentioned someday wanted to own a cupcake shoppe. I don't think I'm the best cupcake chef every, but practice makes perfect right?

Kiley loves Amaretto & Coke when we go out so I tried a variation of that as a cupcake. I tried to make a chocolate and coke flavored cupcake (didn't really taste the coke, but it made it super moist) and amaretto buttercream. I loved the flavor of the frosting, but it didn't set right and it started to seperate. Boo!

 The second cupcake flavor I tried were Butterbeer since she and I have a desperate love for Harry Potter. These cupcakes incoporated butterscotch, cream soda, and butter flavoring. They were by far my favorite and the best cupcakes I've made so far. So exciting! Kiley loved the cupcakes!

Rain, Rain Go Away

It has seriously been raining in NE Wisconsin for almost a week. It is ridiculous. I thought summer was a time for sunshine, swimming, and getting a tan. Well as I was wrapping myself in a sweater the other day I decided to make some Banana Bread to warm me up. I love bananas, but I would prefer to eat them almost green to slightly overripe. When bananas get brown I stick them in the freezer until I have enough to make some delicious bread. This recipe was given to me by one of my best friends, Kristy, for my bridal shower almost 7ish years ago. It is still hands down the best Banana Bread I've ever had. Yummy in my Tummy!

Banana Bread

6 bananas

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

Set oven to 350 degrees. Mash the bananas using a fork. Add the sugar, vanilla, baking powder, and salt and mix together. Add the flour and mix together making sure all ingredients are incorporated. Grease a loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray and pour mixture in. Place in oven and bake for 1 hour. Eat warm!