Meal time!

I was sitting her sipping on a cup of hot cocoa, and thinking about how I really love to cook.

Husband was given this cute mug as a "thank you" from the previous Secretary of State. (See husband in question lounging in the background =])

Yes, I love to cook. Or, rather, I love the idea of cooking. I'm a fairly adventurous eater. I come from a family of "foodies" and I like to try new things. However, I hate the mess I make when I cook a big meal. Not to mention, by the time I get home from work at 5:15-ish I'm ready to EAT, not spend 2 hours slaving over a hot stove.

SO since I've gotten married, I've been on the hunt for tasty home cooked meals that can be put together and ready in a jiffy. I've found a few that have become staples for us and I'm always looking for more.

I thought I would share some of my favorites. I won't be including pictures, because, let's face it, non-professional food pictures just end up looking really gross! Just take it from me and my not so food-venturous husband, these dishes are super and SUPER SIMPLE!

We'll start with what I fixed tonight.

Baked Chicken (simple enough, right?)
I found this recipe on a Bisquick box, and boy am I glad I gave it a try. It's my go-to when I can't think of what to fix.

Ingredients:
1 tbs butter or margarine
2/3 cup baking mix (I usually have Kroger baking mix on hand at all times)
1 1/2 tsp paprika
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 cut up whole chicken (I use boneless chicken breasts or tenders instead. Never tried the whole chicken)

Step 1: Heat oven to 425°F. Melt butter in rectangular baking dish.
Step 2: Stir together baking mix, paprika, salt and pepper; coat chicken. Place in dish (dish and butter should be hot). 
Step 3: Bake 35 minutes; turn chicken. Bake about 15 minutes longer or until juice is no longer pink when centers of thickest pieces are cut.

I love how versatile this recipe is. There are only 2 of use so it wouldn't make sense to make a whole chicken, but I like to make the mix, coat a couple of tenders and then store the rest of the mix in an air-tight container for later. 

I served this up with some fried potatoes and green beans. Yum!


Chicken Pot Pie (I made this yesterday. We really like chicken)
This is a recipe I learned from my momma. It's SUPER easy and quick, and you can even freeze it, uncooked, to be saved for later! That's great because pretty much all pie crusts come in packages of 2.


Ingredients:
1 can mixed vegetables (I prefer Veg-All. Mainly, because that's what momma used. She thought it had the most equal parts of all veggies)
1 can cream of chicken soup
I can chicken chunks or 1 1/2-ish cups of fresh chopped chicken (Of course, it's best with fresh chicken, but canned chicken is so convenient!)
1 pre-made deep dish pie crust (found in the freezer section)
1 flat pie crust (these come rolled up and are found in the refrigerated section with the canned biscuits)


Step 1: Preheat oven to 350-ish.
Step 2: Mix all your cans together. If you used fresh chicken, throw that in there too.
Step 3: Pour mixture into deep dish pie crust. Cover with flat pie crust and trim off any over-hang. Make sure to pinch the crust down around the edges to seal it. Also, don't forget to cut a slit in the top to vent. (Husband always asks me why I don't cut a fancy design =])
Step 4: Bake until it looks right. I check on mine every 15 minutes or so. Your chicken is already cooked so you don't have to worry about that cooking through. You're basically just waiting for your crust to brown and the inside to be all hot a bubbly.


This is not an exact science (as you can tell by all the "-ish's"). Find the mix that tastes best to you!


Crock-pot Roast (A departure from chicken)
I have this on the menu for tomorrow. You can use any cut of meat, really. I'm using a pork tenderloin that I picked up this week.

Ingredients:
Meat of choice
1 bottle barbecue sauce 

Put the meat in the crock-pot and cover with barbecue sauce.  Cover. Turn crock-pot on low. I turn mine on before I leave in the morning and try to remember to tell my husband to turn it off when he get's home from work. That usually ends up being about 7 1/2-8 hours. 

One Dish Chicken and Rice Bake (more chicken!) 
One dish...need I say more?! Thanks to Campbell's Kitchen for this gem.


Ingredients:

1 can (10 3/4 ounces) cream of mushroom soup

1 cup water

3/4 cup uncooked regular long-grain white rice

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 1/4 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (does anyone actual weight their chicken?)

Step 1: Stir the soup, water, rice, paprika and black pepper in a 2-quart shallow baking dish. Top with the chicken. Season with additional paprika and black pepper. Cover the baking dish.

Step 2: Bake at 375°F. for 45 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the rice is tender.

I love that these recipes offer me home cooked food while not devoting my entire evening to cooking, and I'm always looking for new things to try. Do you have some tasty go-to dishes? Let me know! I'm trying to beef up my cook book before there is more than just the 2 of us to cook for! 

Adventures in Pinterest Land!!

So, like most young ladies now-a-days, I've become completely addicted to Pinterest. I've pinned more projects than I could ever do, but recently I have tried a few, so I thought I'd share my successes (and dismal failures!) with you guys since our system at work went down and I have literally nothing to do for the foreseeable future.

#1 No Heat Headband Curls pinned here

Looped twisted sections of damp hair around an elastic headband

It looked pretty neat when it was all up!

I don't know about you, but I don't call this curl. I call it a hot mess! Not cute.

I had somewhere to be so I had to do some damage control. I've had worse hair days, I suppose.

#2 Sock Bun Curls (I didn't actually pin this one, but I did find it on Pinterest) I tried this once before and it was an epic failure, but I thought I would try again. This time I showered first and then towel dried my hair. I added a little bit of curling product and rolled it on up.

Yes, that is my husband's old sock

and from the back

Finally, some uniform waves!

I wouldn't say it was exactly curly, but it was a fun messy wavy look.
I got lots of compliments!
(Please ignore all the dirty laundry...)

#3 Nail Marbling! pinned here

Here are some pictures of my first try. I didn't like the colors so I ended up re-doing them and tweaking a bit.

Now, for the step-by-step...

Before I started I covered my finger tips and around each nail with petroleum jelly. This made the polish that got all over my fingers peel right off! (Awesome trick for any time you paint your nails!)

First, I painted all of my nails with a thin coat of the lightest color

Second, fill a Dixie cup with water and add the colors!
One drop for each ring of color.
As you can see, the platinum color created a more dense ring than the sparkly pink did.

Third, use something pointy to make a design!
I used the end of a thin paint brush
Once you've got your design, dip your nail in slowly, top down.

You'll end up with polish all the way down to you knuckles.
Make sure to let it dry before you start trying to peel it off your skin.

 And voila!

I finished it off with a clear top coat.

 I  haven't been able to figure out how to keep the polish from being kind of bubbly because of the water.

Give these things a try and let me know how they work for you!

2012

Happy New Year, everyone! I've been a horrible blogger for the past month or so. Just so much going on with the holidays, and I stare a computer screen so much at work that I really don't feel like doing more of that when I get home.

Anywho, I had an awesome time ringing in the new year with my wonderful husband and fantastic friends. As we were waiting for midnight to arrive, the ladies and I were discussing our goals for the new year. Not resolutions, as those seem to be made to be broken, but actual attainable goals. I wanted to record them here as a way of keeping myself accountable.

No. 1: Wake up earlier to actually allow myself time to get ready and to be able to have a time to myself to study the Word (for some reason, I really dislike the phrase "quiet time"). I don't really have an interest in just reading straight through the Bible, and I haven't been able to find a "devotional" book that I really click with. However, on The City (the website our church uses as a social network for members) there is a section for daily Bible reading that doesn't just go verse by verse starting in Genesis. I'm going to give this a try, and what better time to start than January 1st? Today's passages are Genesis 1, Matthew 1, Ezra 1, and Acts 1.

No 2: Be healthier. I'm not going to say that I need to lose a certain amount of weight, but weight loss is a natural byproduct of a healthier lifestyle. And with this, another goal is to try to plan out our weekly meal schedule before the week happens, so we don't end up just eating whatever junk is easily available.

That's really it at this point, but I strive to be constantly bettering myself in all areas, so I'm sure I'll think of more!

What are your goals for the new year?