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Category Archives: Recipes

Buffalo Chicken Wraps

Posted on September 5, 2012 by Becki M.

 

Once upon a time, I loved buffalo.

The sauce, that is.

In fact, I loved it so much that when I was pregnant with princess-sparklepants-peanut-butter-cup-cute-face London, it was ALL I had to have. My blood ran buffalo.

My cravings were so bad that I bought a bottle of Franks Red Hot Buffalo Sauce and would dip my finger in it and suck the sauce off. Gross, right? Ah, what the pregnant woman will do.

Until morning sickness set in. I’ll spare you the details, but me and buffalo parted ways for a solid 2 years.

Lately I’ve been reunited with my long-lost love, and I’m so happy we are friends again. I spotted this recipe on Pinterest via Skinny Taste, and it had me at “hello”. It couldn’t be easier! It uses on of my very favorite contraptions, the crockpot. You can get the original recipe by clicking on “Skinny Taste” above, and here is what I did:

4 chicken breasts
1 can chicken broth
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 cup Franks Red Hot Buffalo Sauce
Shredded carrots, celery

All you do is throw your chickens in the crockpot, cover ’em with chicken broth and onion, and cook on high for 4 hours. Then you shred the chicken, reserving 1/2 cup of the broth while dumping the rest out (do goobers in the crockpot gross anyone else out? ICK!). Return the chicken to the crockpot, stirring in the buffalo sauce and reserved broth. Let it all warm up again in the crockpot, and then serve in lettuce cups and top with the shredded carrots and celery.

And THEN! Then I served them with my homemade ranch dressing. I love me some ranch, but don’t love all the junk in it. So, I used 2 cups of Greek yogurt, 1 pkg ranch dressing mix, and 1 cup of milk and whisked it all together. DELICIOUS! Guilt free! Good for you (in a “I’m eating dressing” kind of way)! I didn’t want to feel a bit of guilt as I slathered delicious dressing on top of that buffalo chicken. Yum.

Now I’m hungry again.

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Lemon Butter Shrimp with Broccoli Slaw

Posted on August 1, 2012 by Becki M.

Again, this is one of those “Pinterest has made my life better” moments.

I saw THIS recipe and decided that I had to try it. It was so awesome that I didn’t even get a picture of it…you’ll just have to trust me. Here is what you do:

1. Melt a stick of butter in a 9×13 pan.

2. Place lemon slices on top of the butter.

3. Spread your uncooked shrimp on top of the butter/lemon mixture.

4. Sprinkle 1 packet of Zesty Italian dressing mix on top of shrimp.

5. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

That’s it, and it was LITERALLY the best shrimp I’ve ever had. Like, ever. As a side, I made broccoli slaw. This is how I make it!

Broccoli Coleslaw

1 package broccoli slaw mix (I found it prepackaged at Walmart. If you want to make your own, you just shred broccoli stalks, shred carrots, and shred red cabbage.)
2/3 cup of mayo
3 TB vegetable oil
2 TB rice wine vinegar
1/3 cup sugar

1. Whisk the mayo, oil, vinegar, and sugar together.

2. Pour over slaw and turn to combine.

3. Refrigerate for an hour.

We also served a brown rice/quinoa from Costco (prepackaged), but any type of rice works well. We thought it was particularly awesome to drizzle some of the butter lemon mixture over the top of the rice as well!

This was one of the best dinners I’ve had in awhile! There was NOTHING leftover!

Enjoy!

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Basil Bacon Pasta Salad

Posted on July 26, 2012 by Becki M.

Oh, friends. Bacon. Avocado. Basil. Cherub tomatoes. I mean, how could that be wrong?

That’s simple. It can’t be.

Before I get into the recipe for this, we must discuss two very important things:

1. There is NEVER  substitute for fresh basil. If you want your dish to taste awesome, always use fresh basil. Basil is super easy to grow; I have a blacker than black thumb and have still managed to grow a pot of basil on my kitchen windowsill.

2. Please, for the love of all that is bacon…use real bacon. I had been torturing myself with turkey bacon these past few years until someone (I shall love her forever) informed me that turkey bacon was actually worse for you because of the salt. And the angels sang, I tell ya! They sang!

I saw this recipe on Pinterest and changed it a bit (shocker, I know). It was originally from recipe.com.

{ingredients}

8 oz bow tie pasta
2 medium chopped avocados
8 slices of bacon, crisp cooked and chopped
1 cup cherub tomatoes, halved
2/3 cup chopped fresh basil
2 TB lemon juice
1 TB olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
dash of salt and pepper
1/2 cup parmesean cheese

{directions}

Cook pasta according to package directions.

In a large bowl, combine remaining ingredients except the cheese. Add the pasta and toss to combine. Sprinkle with cheese and serve!

How easy is that?!?! It took 20 minutes to put together, and the kids went crazy for it. Jackson gave it 7 stars. He’s never given anything I’ve made over 5 stars. Mostly Little Mr. Picky gives me 3’s.

Give it a whirl! What’s not to love?

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Making Life Easier, Part II

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Becki M.

I saw this on Pinterest a few weeks ago, and decided that I HAD to do it.

I’ve been planning our menu by the month for a long time now. I find it easier to do; that way I know we aren’t having the same thing every week, and I also can shop sales easier because I can see what I’m going to need in the next few weeks.

But this takes it to a whole new level.

This binder is a meal planner for the YEAR. Now, before you tune out, listen: you don’t have to plan your whole year in advance. It just has it available to you so you can easily sit down once a month, gather all your recipes and write down what you are planning on for that month.


Behind each month are weekly shopping lists, and then behind that are recipe cards for the dishes you are making. Once a month you gather everything, put it in your binder and that’s it! You don’t have to put the recipes in there that you have in books; just the ones you find online or have floating around on a card, that way its all in one place come dinner time.

Best yet? BOLD Turquoise (what an awesome blog name is that?) has this all as a FREE download. To read how to put your binder together and download her template, visit her blog!

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Chicken Noodle Soup

Posted on December 29, 2011 by Becki M.

I love soup.

I love the time it takes to simmer. I love the steam coming off the pot, filling the room with the aroma of herbs. I love the heat on a cold evening (yes, it does get cold here in the desert). I love how it fills your tummy, and there is rarely a need for seconds. I love how they freeze well and you can enjoy them again and again without dishes.

I love soup.

If you love soup as much as I do, you should try this one. And read her blog…it’s fantastic. She lost 135 pounds just being NORMAL. She’s witty and funny and skinny. All my favorite things.

http://www.canyoustayfordinner.com/2011/03/12/healthy-homemade-chicken-noodle-soup/

I made this tonight and it was a HUGE HIT. Even my husband declared his love for my creation, even after he noticed that onions (*gasp! how dare i put onions in something!*) were in it.  I told him to be patient, go away, and let me cook. (Are you reading this, honey? Almost everything I make has onions in it. And you love.it.all.)

A few things I did differently:
1. I only did 1 teaspoon of salt. I don’t like salty soup. I don’t like feeling like I have to drink 4 cups of water after I’ve eaten because I’ve pickled myself. 2 may be just fine, but I stopped at one and it was still delicious.
2. I am lazy and used a rotisserie chicken instead of roasting my own. I have three children. Sue me.
3. I added 2 cups of water. The broth was just too strong for me, so I cut it down. Taste your soup before you add the water; you may like the bold flavor of straight up broth…me, not so much. I knew the clan wouldn’t, either.
4. I left out the peas. Peas and my family don’t mix. Peas and me? Please. Peas and them? Uhhh…nope. (I can’t rhyme).

So, go forth and soup it up. You won’t regret this one.

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