Updates & Crock Pot Peanut Chicken

This week hasn’t been too exciting for us here in IN. My Monday did start out horribly though, as you know if you are friends with me on FB! If you aren’t friends with me on FB, you should be! Anyways, I am so thankful that Monday was the only rough day and the rest of this week has not been too bad!

We tried another new recipe and ended up loving it. We wanted to have it on Monday, and should would have had it on Monday had I remembered to turn the crock pot on in the morning. Thankfully the chicken was frozen, so during the day Monday (when it was NOT cooking) it was just thawing, so it was still safe to cook and eat on Tuesday! We ended up cooking it Monday night while we were home and then all day on Tuesday on low…not ideal I tell you, but it worked! I will share the recipe at the end of this post!

In other news: Louie needed a haircut. His fur around his face was getting so long that I was afraid it was interfering with his sight. I thought about taking him to a groomer, but since we need to keep him calm and as stress free as possible for a month post his heartworm treatment we decided that leaving him for a day with a stranger would just be too much for him. I talked to my friend Brooke who grooms her dog herself for some tips and convinced myself that I could do this. Stephen held Louie still and I trimmed away. He was just a good boy, AND he looks so different post cut. I really think that trimming him up made him look so much younger.  We love our little puppy child! Also, he is showing signs of playful activity and It is just precious. He still shows no interest in his puppy toy, but he does run around wagging his tail and jumping playfully when I get home from work each day. It just melts my heart! Oh, and he gave me my first Louie kisses yesterday! He just started licking my hand and it was so sweet!

Yesterday at work we had a carry-in party to celebrate all the September birthdays in our department. Since I am in charge of planning and organizing these events, I decided this one would be a football themed party, complete with tailgate style foods and dips. I scoured the internet for cute cupcake ideas and decided to make these cupcakes:

Honestly, I was not totally overjoyed with how they turned out and they were kind of difficult. Well, not really difficult-just time consuming and I did not plan ahead well. I was up pretty late decorating cupcakes after they cooled from baking. Next week I will be making rock star microphone cupcakes for our nieces birthday party, and I will plan ahead better!

I almost forgot to mention Pinterest! I finally joined, and after only 3 days I am totally, utterly addicted. This site is so cool, but so bad for me! Stephen is already concerned with the amount of DIY and craft projects I have on my radar to complete! I can’t wait to get started on things like: a unique headboard out of an outdoor seating cushion, making a daybed out of old doors, ribbon wreaths and so many more things, too! I will be sure to share our projects and whatever we complete!

I am looking forward to this weekend…wait, who isn’t!? We plan on working in the yard some more and getting the flower beds ready for fall bulb planting. We also have some grass seed to spread, too. I hope that we will have nice, full, green grass like our neighbors do! Seriously, their grass is beautiful. I keep praying for some of their grass to spread into ours and take over. I might ask them what seed and fertilizer they use!

Here is the new recipe:

Crock Pot Peanut Chicken

Ingredients:

·        4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

·        1/3 cup peanut butter

·        1 cup chunky salsa

·        2 tablespoon lemon juice

·        1 tablespoon soy sauce

·        2 teaspoon finely minced ginger root (optional; we left this out)

·        1/4 cup chopped peanuts

Directions:

In a 3-5 quart crockpot/slow cooker, mix all ingredients except chicken and chopped peanuts. Add chicken and stir to coat. Cover crockpot and cook on LOW for 8-9 hours or until chicken is no longer pink in the center. Sprinkle with chopped peanuts as a garnish.

We served this with white rice and it was very yummy. It will be on our menu meal plan again next month!

 

Let me know if you try this recipe and how you like it, I would love to hear your feedback! Bon Appetite and Happy (almost) Friday!!