Mini Chicken Pot Pies

One night while listening to the TV from the kitchen, I heard a commercial for Campbell's Recipes online. While I had some free time a few nights later, I logged on to their website to check out some of the recipes - one of the featured ones that night was their recipe for Mini Chicken Pot Pies. They seemed easy enough and I had all of the ingredients except for the biscuit dough, so I figured why not?! They ended up being delicious and so easy!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups cooked chicken, cubed

1 can condensed cream of chicken soup

8 oz. frozen mixed vegetables 

(carrots, green beans, corn, peas), thawed

1 package (12 oz) biscuit dough

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Instructions: 

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Spray your muffin-pan cups with cooking spray.

3. Combine all of the ingredients above in a large bowl, except for the cheese.

4. Slightly flatten the biscuits with a rolling pin or by patting them with your hand.

5. Press the biscuits into the bottoms and the sides of the muffin cups.

6. Fill each muffin cup with the chicken mixture and lightly press the mixture down into the cups.

7. Top each mini pie with a pinch of shredded cheddar cheese.

8. Bake for 20 minutes or until the biscuits are golden brown and the cheese is melted.

9. Let cool on a wire rack and enjoy!

Slow Cooked Bacon-Wrapped Apple BBQ Chicken

The pictures don't do this dish justice! I tried this crock pot meal last year, and Eric & I loved it! 

When I came across it again last weekend, I was anxious to try it again. 

Ingredients:

- 3 boneless chicken breasts

- 1 cup BBQ sauce

- 1/4 cup brown sugar

- 1/8 cup fresh lemon juice

- 4 small apples, chopped

- 6 slices bacon

Instructions:

In a small bowl, combine the BBQ sauce, brown sugar, lemon juice and chopped apples.

Wrap each chicken breast with two slices of bacon and place on the bottom of the crock pot.

Pour the BBQ/apple mixture over the chicken breasts.

Cook on low for 4 hours and enjoy! :)

Pretzel Buttons

I love making this quick and easy treat for the holidays! 
They are so easy to pack up/wrap to easily send them somewhere -
I recently sent a bunch to work with Eric.

You can always pick up the different colored M&Ms for each holiday
(I'm planning on making another bunch for Valentines Day) - 

and they're cute as a button! See what I did there? ;)

Ha! Okay okay... enough with the corny jokes. 

Ingredients:

- Square Pretzels 

- Milk Chocolate M&Ms

- Hershey's Hugs

Directions:

Line your cookie sheet with wax paper, and spread the pretzels on top.

Add a hug on top of each pretzel.

Bake for 7 minutes on 200 degrees.

After 7 minutes, pull your cookie sheet out and press the an M&M on the top of each hug. 

Let them cool for 10 minutes and enjoy!

DIY: Vanilla Brown Sugar Body Scrub

Lorna, this post is for you! :) 

Thank you to my sweet friend, Alison for finding this recipe! 

I made this scrub as a favor for my girlfriend, Bree's baby sprinkle and 

Bree actually made this scrub for our girlfriend, Sara's bridal shower. 

Everyone was so happy with the scrubs and it truly works wonders! 

Here's the easy recipe - if you give it a try, let me know how you liked it! :)

Ingredients:

- 2 cups brown sugar

- 1 cup granulated sugar

- 1 cup sunflower oil

-1 tbsp pure vanille extract

- mini mason jars or sealable containers

- ribbon

Three easy steps:

Mix all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl. 

Scoop the desired amount into your sealable container. 

Add a ribbon for decoration and you're done! :)

This scrub can be used for your entire body - it's great exfoliate for your heels, knees and elbows. 

You will feel so silky after using it!

Here is the cute little mason jar that we used for Bree's sprinkle:

Here is the cute little mason jar that we used for Sara's bridal shower:

Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Bacon

I recently tried brussel sprouts for the first time (haha I know, I know... 26 years old and I'm just now trying brussel sprouts?!) Well - I'm glad I got suckered into trying them because they are amazing! I'm a picky eater and never like trying new things, but brussel sprouts are so easy to make and there's a million ways to dress them up! I used this recipe for my first stab at making them (thank you Pinterest!) and they were amazing!

Ingredients:

- 1 lb brussel sprouts

- 1.5 tbsp olive oil

- 2 slices of bacon, uncooked

- salt and pepper

Clean and trim the brussel sprouts, peeling away any loose or discolored leaves.
Toss your brussel sprouts in a large mixing bowl with the olive oil, coating the brussel sprouts well. 

Slice your bacon into half inch pieces.

Place your olive oil coated brussel sprouts in a baking dish.

Add the pieces of bacon and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Roast at 400 degrees for 30 minutes, turning the brussel sprouts over half way through.

Enjoy! :)

Crock Pot Shrimp Jambalaya

While flipping through a bunch of my cookbooks a few weekends ago, I came across this Shrimp Jambalaya recipe. This is from the Crock Pot Slow Cooker Bible. It looked like something we would enjoy and I'm really happy we tried it - it was great!

Ingredients:

- 1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes, undrained

- 1 medium onion, chopped

- 1 medium red bell pepper, chopped

- 2 stalks celery, chopped

- 2 tablespoons of minced garlic

- 2 teaspoons dried parley flakes

- 2 teaspoons dried oregano

- 1 teaspoon hot sauce

- 1/2 teaspoon thyme

- 2 pounds cooked shrimp

- 2 cups uncooked instant rice

- 2 cups fat-free reduced sodium chicken broth
- Optional: For those that prefer spicy jambalaya, I recommend adding additional spice. (I used 1 tbsp of cajun and 1 tbsp of "Slap Ya Mama" spice from Louisiana).

Combine tomatoes, onion, bell pepper, celery, garlic, parsley,
oregano, hot sauce and thyme in crockpot.

Stir and cook on High for 4 hours or Low for 8 hours.

If cooking on low, stir in the shrimp for the last 30 minutes of the 8 hours. If cooking on high, stir in the shrimp for the last 15 minutes of the 4 hours.  (Tip: Seafood is delicate and overcooks easily, becoming tough and rubbery - so watch your cooking times!)

Drain some of the juice from the jambalaya.

Prepare your rice according to package directions, substituting the chicken broth for water.
Combine the rice with the jambalaya and serve immediately.

Recipe yields 6 servings. 

Homemade Chocolate Chip Muffins

I love chocolate chip muffins! I usually have one for breakfast at work or a mid-day snack at work - they are quick and easy to grab and take with you on the go. I came across this recipe online from another blog and made a few tweaks to it. They are delicious - hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:

- 2 cups flour

- 1 tbsp baking powder

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 3/4 cup sugar

- 3/4 cup milk

- 2 eggs

- 1 stick of butter, softened

- 2 tsp. vanilla

- 1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

- In a large bowl combine flour, salt and baking powder.

- In a stand mixer, blend the softened butter, sugar, vanilla and milk. Once blended, mix in the eggs.

- Add the dry ingredients to the mixture in your stand mixer and continue to blend.

- Add the chocolate chips. 

- Add the completed muffin mix to well-greased muffin tins (or use cupcake liners instead). Tip: Put the muffin mix in a measuring cup to easily pour the mix into your tins. 

- Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, until tops of muffins are slightly brown.

Enjoy! :) 

Make Your Own Pizza (while cheating a little)

We love making pizza every once in a while - it's an easy dinner and we have fun making it together. For those with kids - this would be a great and fun dinner to make that they can actually help with, and enjoy!

I say "while cheating a little" in my title because we use pre-made pizza dough. You can absolutely make the pizza dough yourselves (adding even more fun to the experience) - there are plenty of recipes out there; 

but - I'm all about simple and haven't yet tackled that yet! 

Maybe a future try that I'll one day get to share with you too!

Ingredients:

- Shredded mozarella cheese

- Jar of spaghetti sauce

- Roll of pizza dough (we love the Pillsbury brand)

- Desired toppings - we love broccoli, bell peppers, onions and pepperoni

Directions: 

First, roll out your pizza dough on a baking sheet or pizza stone if you have one. If you want thick crust, you can opt to use two rolls of pizza dough, instead of one. [Note: There are always coupons for Pillsbury pizza dough - be sure to check here for coupons!] Bake at 350 for 8 minutes.

When your 8 minutes have passed, pull your pizza out of the oven and you're ready to start building it!

Start with your pizza sauce - coat your dough to your desired preference of sauce level.

Next, you're ready to start adding your toppings!

When you're done, continue baking for 15-20 minutes until browned and done!

That's it! Extremely easy and it was fun to make :)

Shrimp Pasta with Vodka Sauce - in only 15 minutes!

My sister-in-law, Susana gave me this recipe while we were still in college (minus the onion). She had made it one night while I was visiting them in Virginia Beach for a weekend, and I loved it! I remember seeing how easy it was to make and I've been making it ever since!

Four simple ingredients:

- Box of pasta

- Bag of frozen, cooked shrimp 

- 1 jar of vodka sauce

- 1 onion, diced

First, thaw out your shrimp by running them under cold water. 

Once they're soft, you can pop off the tails and rinse them again.

Dab the shrimp dry with a paper towel and place them in a skillet with your diced onion. Cover and simmer on low heat for 5 minutes. Once this is on the stove, you can start cooking your pasta (boil your water + add in your noodles). I used whole grain angel hair pasta, so it only takes a few minutes to cook once the water starts boiling. 

Add the jar of vodka sauce and some Old Bay seasoning (if you like it) and simmer on medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

That's it! Easy enough and you're ready to enjoy!

This recipe yields 5 servings. 

Maryland Crab Cakes

I grew up on the water and around blue crabs all of my life. I learned to pick them when I was between the ages of 3 and 4, and ever since then, I've been obsessed! (My Pop Pop and Dad deserve all of the blame... but I'm not at all complaining!) :) 

Crabs have and probably always will be one of my favorite things to eat. If you ask my Grandmom toward the end of each summer - she will be the first to tell you that after the numerous crabbing trips per week that Dad and Pop Pop make, she's hit her crab maximum for the summer. We've always been spoiled - we were always use to having them at home to enjoy, surrounded by friends and family.
(Again - no complaints here!) 

Some of my favorite memories are from sitting around the table on the
screened-in porch at my parents, picking crabs.

For obvious reasons, I love incorporating crab meat into as many dishes as I can. Crab cakes are one of the things that are extremely easy to make. I love making them to put on top of salads, to eat with chicken and steak dishes - there's a ton of endless pairs that you can serve them with - or you can make them a meal themselves!

For New Years Eve this year, I made caesar salads with jumbo lump crab cakes for my girlfriends and I. They were delicious! Here is the easy recipe that I used. 

The recipe yields 7 large crab cakes or about 14 small crab cakes.

Ingredients:

1 lb. crabmeat

1 large egg

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1.5 tsp. dijon mustard

1 tsp. fresh lemon juice

1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 1/4 cups fresh breadcrumbs

2 tbs. butter, melted
Old Bay Seasoning

1. Drain the crab meat and dry thoroughly.

2. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients except for the melted butter.

3. Begin rolling your desired size crab cake and place on a cookie sheet. 

4. Brush melted butter on the tops of the crab cakes.

5. Bake at 375 for 20-30 minutes. 

When they're done - enjoy! :)

Slow Cooker Pot Roast

This was the first meal that I ever cooked in my crock pot two years ago! When you're looking for an easy stew to make in the crock pot - I highly recommend this recipe! :)

Ingredients:

- A 4-5 pound Pot Roast

- 2 cans of Cream of Mushroom Soup

- 1 1/4 cups of water

- 1 (1 ounce) package of dry Onion Soup Mix (I like the Lipton brand)

- Veggies - Baby Carrots, Chopped Onion and Diced Potatoes

Start with placing a few of your diced onions on the bottom of the crock pot, 

and then place your roast on top.

Next, add your veggies!

Pour your two cans of soup and water over top your veggies, and top it with your dry onion packet.

Cook on high for 3-4 hours or Low for 8-9 hours (until meat is 160 degrees). 

When your roast and veggies are done, separate your veggies and your roast.

Slice the roast in thin pieces. To make eating your stew easier, I'd recommend cutting the roast slices into cubes. We used our electric knife and it was so easy!

That's it! Combine your roast pieces and your veggies/sauce, and you're ready to dig in! :)

Remembering 2015

It's incredible looking back at 2014 and reflecting on all of the great memories and moments that we had and that we shared with friends and family, along with the personal achievements that we had in 2014.
For 2015, I'm trying something new! 

I came across this idea earlier this summer and I wish that I would have started it then
(but at the time I had decided that it should probably be something for New Years,
so that you could do it for an entire calendar year). 

I made this mason jar for 2015. For all our favorite memories, positive moments, celebrations, achievements, etc., we will write them down on a little piece of paper and place it in the mason jar. You could also put pictures or other memorabilia in the jar too (ticket stubs, concert tickets, etc.) 

On New Years Day 2016, it will be so much fun to open the jar and pull out all of the pieces of paper with our favorite memories on them and reading over each of them together. 

I think it'll be a great and fun way to reflect on the year! :)

Happy New Year!!