New post - This one's an original by me! Crockpot Chicken soft tacos

I figured I would share one of my originals since I have found some many great things by "copying" others on pinterest! :)  This meal is a family favorite in our house.  I came upon it just trying out new ideas for getting more veggies in my family's diet.  I use a core list of basic ingredients each time but change up some of the extras each time, including the color of bell peppers that I use each time.  I love this crockpot meal because prep is fast and easy, and I love coming home in the afternoon to the smell of a yummy already cooked meal!  This feeds our family of four, each of us having about 2-3 tacos, and I usually have meat and sauce left over to have chicken nachos the next day. 

Prep time takes about 15 minutes.

Ingredients:
~1 lb chicken breast
3 bell peppers ( I usually use a mix of colors)
2 vine ripened tomatoes
small amount of water or chicken broth
avocados
soft tortillas (I like the fresh tortillas from our local Kroger)
sour cream
shredded cheese (the queso cheese mix is really good with this)
lime wedges
Add ins:
onion
minced garlic
fresh cilantro
~ 1tsp cumin

I first chop the peppers, tomatoes, and any other fresh ingredients that I may be using(onion, garlic, cilantro, etc.) and put them into a blender with a little bit of water/chicken broth.  I add more liquid if the veggies don't blend down well.  I blend until it reaches a thick sauce consistency.  I pour half the mixture into the crock pot then put the chicken in and pour the remaining half on top.

Here comes the best part.  I put the lid on, set the heat (low for ~8 hours and high ~6), and WALK AWAY!  Love it!  I did come back at about 5 hours to break up the chicken with some tongs to let the juice sink into more of the meat.  It should fall apart when you poke at it.  I also added a little more water to mix to keep the sauce from getting too thick.



Once done, just load up your tortilla with some meat and scoop some of the sauce on top (for your veggies serving!), then top with avocado, cheese, sour cream, etc.  One of the best additions that has become a staple for us is squeezing a lime wedge over the taco one done.  Yum!!

I am not a great photographer, and the pictures really don't do it much justice, but it is really good!!  Hope you all enjoy this one as much as we do!

Week 14 - Pillow Mat

This may have been one of my (and my kids') favorite projects so far.  I saw a pin that showed a blog with instructions to make a pillow mat.  It looked so cute that I couldn't resist trying it out!  The pillow mat instructions came from the blog Southern Disposition.  The instructions were super easy to follow, and this project took me about an hour the first time, but only 45 minutes the next.

I started with a shopping trip to IKEA to get the duvet cover and the pillows.  The duvee cost me about $16.99, and, after some searching, I was able to find the $.99 pillows.  I got to work with the duvet when I got home cutting it into half and stitching it per the directions.

I measured the same way she did by laying out the pillows, then I marked the spots to stitch with pins.  It was overall pretty easy, although I did mess up some of the measurements creating some pillow pockets are little bit bigger.  The mat worked out well though, I am just going to add some velcro to avoid the pockets opening and allowing the pillows to come out.  She loved it!

We found that you can even fold one pillow on top of the other to create an elevated pillow for extra cushion under her head. :)  My son wanted one once he saw hers, but I couldn't find a duvet that looked boyish enough for a 7 year old, so we went off to Target to look for a flat sheet.  We found an entire sheet set for the same price that I got the duvet at Ikea in a space print, so we got that.  I figure that I can use the sheets one his bed with a different flat sheet.  It was not hard to convert the instructions to a sheet.  I first cut the sheet to the length of the four pillows since I knew it would be longer than the duvet.  I sewed the raw edge to clean it up.  I folded the sheet in half and pulled out the bottom half of the sheet until the tops half matched the width of the pillows.  I then cut the bottom half about 5 inches longer in width to create the pocket.  I sewed the bottom and top together then sewed up the raw edge and completed it the same as the duvet.  I think that this actually did better b/c the length was created exactly for the pillows making the pillow pockets just right.  The sheet was also a little thicker fabric, not stretching as easily either. 

End result, they both love them!!

They use them for mattresses when they do "slumber parties" in the playroom, and they have actually started using them on top of their real mattresses in their bed b/c they are so comfy!

Week 13 - Not so triumphant

Along with my successes this week, I also had a couple not so successful moments.  We can start with the Chicken Parmesan Bake from the blog Food Wishes.  This pin looked so good that I actually repinned in 3 times without realizing it! :)  This picture looks great doesn't it?

The blog features the list of ingredients then a video to go over the recipe.  I prefer to follow a written recipe as opposed to a video, but it was pretty easy, so I didn't mind.  I bought chicken breast cutlets from sprouts, so they would be thinner to start with and take less time to bake.  The recipe calls for 35 minutes to bake, but mine took closer to an hour to make even when the thinner cuts.  The only problem with baking it longer is the cheese on top gets a little burnt.  I scooped some out for my kiddos and some for me.  I ate a little, and unfortunately wasn't too impressed.  The croutons got pretty soggy and mushy and didn't get that crispiness that he described in the recipe.  Both kids ate about two bites and were done.  My husband, the chicken parm fanatic, didn't even try the leftovers I put for him in the fridge.  Oh well, don't think I will trying this again.  Too bad, it looked really good!

Our other attempt was started off really cool, so it wasn't a total fail!  We attempted to make the puffy paint for the bathtub. 

 We tried the Ivory soap in the microwave from the blog Toys in the Dryer.  This part was a success.  The kids and I both marveled at how the soap puffed up like a cloud in a matter of seconds.  You quarter a bar of soap then stick it in the microwave.  I put a paper towel on a plate then put the soap on top of the paper towel.  It says to set the microwave for 3 minutes, but it took less than a minute to get all the puff we needed from the soap.  It was pretty cool, and it made the kitchen smell nice and soapy clean!  Bonus!! :)

Soap before

Soap after

For the next part I referred to the blog, Housing a Forest.  I followed the directions, and blended the puffed soap with water until it reached the yogurt consistency.  I poured it into cups and mixed in the food coloring. 

I knew something probably wasn't right when I saw the liquid at the bottom separating, but I tried to just remix it and keep going.  When I poured it into the baggies, I tried to pour out some of the liquid that had separated again before putting it in the baggies.  The continued to separate in the baggies, so I just squished them around to remix.  By the time we got around to trying them that evening at bath time they had gelled up pretty good. 

What was supposed to be puff paint more turned into congealed, dyed soap.  The kids enjoyed smooshing on the bath walls (they had looked so looked forward to using it all day, that I couldn't tell them no), but it was not so fun to clean up out of the bottom of the tub. 

Not sure what I did to mess this up, but if anyone has suggestions, let me know!

Week 13 - Triumphs

Well this week I tried a couple different things from pinterest.  Some things turned out great, and others I will not try again.  Live and learn!  This post with contain the success stories, and I will put the learning experiences in the next post. This will be a longer post, so hopefully you don't get bored!  :)

Starting off with one of the successes!  I was invited to a shower last weekend that was put together by my church's associate pastor and his wife for a pregnant woman in their apartment complex whose husband is serving overseas and family lives out of state.  When they heard that she was about to deliver and had not yet had a shower, they threw together a fantastic shower for her and invited everyone in our church to come by to congratulate the mom to be and "shower" her with gifts. :)  I thought this was the perfect opportunity to try out the diaper trike that I had seen on pinterest!  The pin lead me to the link, Maiden D'Shade.  It gave very easy instructions to follow.  The whole thing took about maybe 30 minutes start to finish.  Very easy! 

I started with the wheels.  I didn't have rubber bands as the original blog called for, but I had some stretchy ribbon that I used instead and just pinned it.

I then connected the wheels with the first rolled receiving blanket.  Instead of using yarn to connect the blanket, I just pinned it together.  I looped the second rolled receiving blanket through the front wheel and tied it together with some coordinating tulle.  I stuck a pacifier in to serve as the head light. :)

 To finish off the trike, I folded up the last receiving blanket into a small rectangle and pinned it to the top of the "tires" to serve as the seat. 

SUPER EASY!!  I would definitely do this again!  I would try and get the rubber bands for the tires next time to hold them a little tighter and just go over them with ribbon.  That is really the only change I would make.  Totally recommend this for a quick and cute shower gift. :)

Next success:

Chalkboard paint!  This was awesome and will be a regular part of our summer entertainment.  I am guilty of not going to the blog on this one b/c the pin had the directions listed, but I wanted to list the blog anyways to give credit where credit is due.  Plus, I like to go back and visit the blogs later as they usually have lots of other great ideas!  Domestic Charm served as the inspiration for this pin!

You simply mix 1 cup of cornstarch with 1 cup of water.  I did this in a Pyrex measuring cup.  I then poured it into a large 6 opening muffin tin.  One mixture of the solution filled 3 openings in the tin, so I made two batches.  Once in the muffin tin, I added the food coloring.  We took it outside, and the kids went to town.  They loved how it went on wet, but dried to look like chalk only seconds later, especially my science-nut son!  They stayed busy for about 45 minutes painting the driveway.  I even joined in on the fun! 

I had been worried about it possibly staining their clothes, but instead of absorbing into their fabric it seemed to bead up instead (not sure if b/c of the corn starch).  It also did not stain their skin either!  Great paint!!  It washed off the driveway easily with the hose a couple days later when I was watering the plants.