It's national scrapbook month!

Hi friends! It's been awhile since I've posted, but now I am refreshed and ready to get creative. And just in time for national scrapbook month! I plan to spend much of my time in my craft room and bring everyone some great ideas and inspiration. So come back and see me for some fabulous papercrafting.

I'll still be spending some time in the kitchen (we have to eat!) so there will be new recipes to come as well.

Here's to having a fabulous May!!!

Thanks for stopping by :)

Crock Pot Italian Chicken Sliders

I created this recipe by accident, and I'm so glad I did! FH thinks this was the best thing I've made since I've been spending more time in the kitchen.

My plan was to make these Chicken Caesar Sandwiches.

Kinda hard to make without Caesar dressing, which I forget to get at the grocery store. So I improvised. And this is what happened...

Yum.

Here's what you need:
2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast
1/2 cup light Italian dressing
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Italian seasoning (to your taste)
Slider buns
Lettuce
Pickles (optional)

How to:
Place chicken in Crock Pot and cover with water. Cook on high for 2 - 3 hours (or low for 4 - 6)

When the chicken is ready, place it on a cutting board and shred it. I used two forks and it looked something like this...

Then, using oven mitts, empty most of the water out of the Crock Pot. (If you don't have too much in there, you can skip this step)

Put the chicken back into the Crock Pot and add all the other ingredients. If the mixture does not seem moist, you can add some more water.

Cook the mixture on high for about 30 minutes, or until hot.

Spoon the mixture onto slider buns using a 1/4 cup. Top with lettuce. I highly recommend adding pickles too ;)

This recipe makes 12 sliders.

Finally, enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by :)


p.s. I linked this recipe to the Newlyweds Recipe Linky. You should check it out for more kitchen inspiration!

Angel Chicken

I <3 this recipe that I found at Kraft Recipes. They have a TON of simple deelish recipes. I did, of course, alter it a bit. But that's the fun of cooking!

With my alterations, I had enough for dinner for me & F-Hubby as well as some for lunch the next day.

Here's what you need:

1/2 an 8oz pkg of cream cheese
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
1/4 cup Italian dressing
1/4 cup dry white wine
2 thawed chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces.
Spaghetti noodles - portion as you please! (I cooked about half a box)

Place the chicken in your crock pot.
Whisk the first four ingredients together until blended, then pour mixture over chicken.

Cook on High for 2 - 3 hours. (or you can cook on Low for 4 - 5 hours)

When the crock pot is almost done, cook your pasta.

You can serve the chicken mixture over the pasta, or you can just mix it all together.
(I recommend mixing it all up)

Heat up some veggies and Ta-Da! Dinner is done :)

*Sorry I don't have a better pic, this is actually of my leftovers*

Thanks for stopping by!

Homemade cleaners

 This weekend I decided to try out some of the natural cleaning solutions I've seen all over Pinterest. I now have a super clean bathroom and toaster oven as a result!

To clean the yucky grime from my toaster oven, I combined cream of tartar with water to make a paste. I dipped a scrubbie into the mixture and scrubbed that grime right off the rack and crumb tray.

For the bathroom, I filled an empty (and clean!) spice shaker with baking soda and a spray bottle with vinegar. Sprinkle the baking soda on whatever it is you're cleaning, spray with vinegar and watch it bubble. Wipe away with a washcloth and give it a rinse. You're done!

I did test this mixture's power against Lysol all-purpose cleaner with bleach (because the vinegar smell was not appreciated by F-hubby's nose) and found that while they both work, the Lysol required more scrubbing than the natural mixture on hard water stains. Plus the vinegar smell doesn't last long.

Now I used a LOT of these products when I was testing them, but that's what happens when you're trying new things. I will slowly decrease the amounts of everything needed to figure out how much is really needed to get my house clean.

I have to admit it was kind of fun to create my own cleaning supplies (and I HATE cleaning!) Maybe it was the bubbly reaction of the baking soda and vinegar that did it for me :)

I hope this encourages you to try some new cleaning ideas at your house. Or any other new ideas you find on Pinterest. After all, that's what it should be used for. Turn those pins into something real!

Thanks for stopping by!