Monday, February 28, 2011

Crockpot BBQ Chicken Recipe + a Giveaway!!

I have been in search of good crockpot recipes to fix for lunch after church. We are normally starving after church and I don't like having to come home and cook something, making it 1 pm or later before we eat. I like having something ready when we walk in the door.

My friend Melanie made some crockpot BBQ chicken a few weeks ago and it sounded like the perfect meal for us! I decided to make it this past Sunday and see how it went. I am used to following a recipe exactly (I am not very creative in the kitchen) so I was nervous that I had no guide to follow for this.

I decided to use this new sauce that I received, Country Bob's. I had been a fan of Country Bob's on Facebook for a while, but never tried the sauce. I am extremely picky about my sauces, usually preferring ketchup on any meat. However, I thought this would be the perfect sauce to try on chicken.


The only things you need for this recipe: Crockpot, chicken, Country Bob's Sauce, and Pam.



First, I put the chicken in the bottom of the crockpot. (Don't forget to spray the bottom with Pam before you do this so the chicken won't stick!)




Then I poured a little over half of the bottle of Country Bob's All Purpose Sauce on top of the chicken. I added a little bit of water, just to keep the chicken moist, making sure all the chicken was covered completely. I let it cook on High for about 3 to 4 hours.


 Once the chicken is done, take 2 forks and shred the chicken up. The chicken should be extremely tender and easily shreds.



Put a little chicken on a bun (we just used plain ole hamburger buns) and add a little more Country Bob's All Purpose Sauce if you want! We had the sandwiches with chips, but you could have it with fries if you wanted. This was the perfect lunch for us for after church. Everybody (including my picky 2 year old) loved it so we will have having this often!!




And now the best part! Country Bob's has been gracious enough to offer 2 bottles to 2 winners! You will love to use this sauce, not only on chicken, but hamburgers, steaks, whatever your heart desires.


To enter the giveaway, just go to Country Bob's website and tell me what you want to make with their sauce!

You can get up to 2 extra entries by "liking" Country Bob's on Facebook, here and "liking" Mommy Working for the Weekend, here.

Leave a comment for each separate entry. The giveaway will run from Monday, February 28th to Friday, March 11th, 2011.

Amanda

*I was given 2 bottles of Country Bob's All Purpose Sauce in exchange for my review, but the views and opinions in this post are mine and in no way influenced.

Menu Plan Monday ~ February 28th ~



Last week was pretty difficult for me to stay on track with our menu. Little N was just getting over the flu, and I was out 2 days with Walking Pneumonia. I am still not back to feeling completely well, but wanted to make sure we had a good menu planned for this week.

Here is our menu for the week:

Monday: Book Club Meeting (so excited!)

Tuesday: Nacho Bake


Thursday: Working @ Melanie's

Friday: Mini Meatball Sandwiches

Saturday: Beef and Bean Burritos


Don't forget to check out OrgJunkie for hundreds of other recipes and ideas!

Amanda

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Menu Plan Monday ~ February 21st


I know I am late with my menu plan. I have been at home sick since Monay with walking pneumonia and just now getting back to work and into the swing of things. Still not feeling great, so posting will be very light this week.

Last week we did very good with sticking to the menu plan. Little N was sick most of the week, so I was at home with him 2 1/2 days. This actually made it easier to stay with the menu because I stayed at the house and didn't leave so there was no temptation to stray.

Big N's favorite thing I made last week was the Homemade Lasagna! It actually turned out fantastic, I was very surprised. Normally when I put the leftovers of something in the fridge I end up throwing it away on the weekends when I clean it out, however within 2 days, Big N had eaten it all up - that is how good it was! I promise to have the recipe w/pictures up soon so you can try it yourself. You will never go back to Stouffers (I know we won't!) again :)

I have several things of frozen hamburger meat in the freezer that I wanted to use up, so that is kind of the theme for this week's menu. Here it is:

Monday: Pizza (I was sick)
Tuesday: Pizza Rolls
Wednesday: Working @ Melanie's
Thursday: Beef and Bean Burritos

Friday: Chicken nuggets, macaroni & cheese, peas
Saturday: Meatloaf

Sunday: Not sure yet - probably something in the crockpot

Don't forget to check out OrgJunkie for hundreds of Menu Plans with delicious recipes!

Amanda

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Sweet Day

On Valentine's Day, we normally don't buy each other presents or go out to eat. We just like to spend time with each other. I wanted to make sure that both of my Valentine's felt special, so I started off the day with something sweet and fun. I got up extra early yesterday morning to make chocolate chip pancakes. I had a heart shaped cookie cutter, so I used that to make them into hearts! They were both surprised and loved them! I also got Little N a new Mickey Mouse DVD (that came with free Valentine's cards for his class!) and got Big N a card (we normally do a sweet and a funny card for holidays).



Little N had a Valentine's Day party at school at snack time with cupcakes, chips, and fruit cups. He also got to exchange Valentine's Day card with his classmates. He said he had a lot of fun!

For dinner, I made Roast, mashed potatoes (Big N actually made this because he makes them so yummy!), English peas and creamed corn. It was all so yummy! Then Big N surprised me and said we were going to The Shops at Grand River to look for me some new tennis shoes. (a little back story on this - I had back surgery in June and the nerves in my right foot were messed up in the surgery and I don't have control over that foot, so I wear a brace. The brace is a little big, so I have to wear certain shoes that will fit my foot and the brace. Right now I am wearing "old people" shoes because that is all that we could find at the time). So we got in the car and went down to the mall. Love having it just a few minutes away! We looked at both of the shoe stores, but they didn't have any in my size that were "wide". We are going to go and look later on this week/weekend to look at other stores.

We came home after that and we got started on dessert. I decided to make homemade chocolate fondue for the first time! I was so excited about it. I got it going and Big N got the dippers ready on a platter. We had strawberries, pound cake, heart shaped marshmallows, and  bananas to dip in the fondue. It all turned out fantastic and was delicious! I think our favorite dipper was definitely the pound cake!






I hope everyone had a fun Valentine's Day and spent it with the people that you love and care about most!




Amanda

Monday, February 14, 2011

Menu Plan Monday - Valentine's Edition!



Happy Valentine's Day to everyone! What a wonderful way to start off the week, with just a little extra love in your heart :). I got up extra early this morning to make my loves chocolate chip pancakes! I love starting off the week like this because it sets the pace and mood for the rest of the week.

Last week, we did not follow our menu plan at all! It was a busy and stressful week and unfortunately we ended up eating out several times instead of cooking. I am working on getting myself a good planner (if you have any suggestions - please let me know!) so I can keep up with things a little bit better and be more organized.

Here is my menu for this week:

Monday: Roast, mashed potatoes w/gravy, english peas, creamed corn (requested by my hubby for Valentine's Day!)

Tuesday: Better than Ever Cheesy Meat Lasagna (new recipe for me - I've never made lasagna before.)

Wednesday: Chicken Casserole

Thursday: Not sure yet (working at @Mel's)

Friday: Pizza Rolls (delicious recipe from SouthernPlate)

Saturday: Homemade Cheese Pizza

Sunday: Steph's baby shower

Don't forget to check out OrgJunkie for hundreds more menu plans and recipes!

Amanda

Happy Valentine's Day!


Happy Valentine's Day to the most important people in the world to me! I love you both very much!!




Amanda

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Fully Charged!









Friday night Little N and I were able to attend Magic Moments pre-party and the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus.

First I want to say a huge Thank You to Birmingham Magazine. They had a contest on Facebook for the tickets and I won! You should definitely check them out - they do lots of giveaways and contests and have wonderful posts and information on our wonderful city and the goings on around town.

The Magic Moments pre-circus party began at 5:30 on Friday night. This event was so wonderful. Magic Moments is a fantastic program in Alabama that fulfills non-medical wishes of chronically ill children in Alabama. It allows these children to forget about their sickness, medicine and doctors for a little while and just enjoy being a kid! You can read more about it on their website.

My little Tiger in front of the Tiger cage at the party!

At the party, they granted 1 special wish for an 18 year old boy living with CF. He was given a new Fender guitar! It was so special to see him get his wish granted. At the circus they had two younger children, 1 boy and 1 girl, who were special guests. The boy was dressed so nice in a tux and was the honorary Ringmaster and the little girl was dressed in clown gear!





There was so much to do at the Magic Moments party. The first thing Little N wanted to do was become a Tiger. So we headed to the face painting line. He was the first "customer" for the clown that did his face, so she gave him a special stuffed frog! She did a fabulous job considering he is a 2 year old and doesn't like to be still. Haha!









Having fun in the bouncy house!

After that, we looked around for a few minutes and he spotted the bouncy houses, so we had to check them out. There were 3 different ones for all ages, but since he is a little one, we decided on the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse one. He loved it and stayed in there most of the time. They also had small carnival games you could play for prizes (Little N got a race car and an airplane!) and a rock climbing wall, as well as a temporary tattoo and hair coloring booth.






By this time, I was starving, so we went to get some dinner. They had so much food available! There were hot dogs, hamburgers, nachos, pizza, and chips as well as cokes and tea to drink. We both had nachos and shared a hot dog - it was yummy! After we ate, Little N wanted to go back and play in the bouncy house again (surprise, surprise!) so we did until it was time to go. Then we headed over to find our seats for the circus!!

The cutest (and yummiest!) centerpieces!

The circus was so much fun! They had everything that I remembered as a kid and Little N loved it. His favorite part was the tigers - there was at least 10 in a cage together. My favorite part was the elephants, but I also enjoyed the tight rope walkers. Little N wasn't too sure about them, he kept telling me that they were going to fall. Thankfully, none of them did, so he was ok. I liked the clown skits, but they didn't seem to keep his attention very long. I was actually surprised that Little N stayed awake the entire time, including the walk out to the car. Overall, we had such a great time and next year Big N and I will take Little N together!


Me and my little man having fun at the circus!

 Amanda



Monday, February 7, 2011

Menu Plan Monday ~ February 7th



I am loving this Menu Plan Monday from OrgJunkie! It's been great having a menu planned out, making out a grocery list from that menu and knowing what we are having for dinner each night. We did very well with our menu plan this week! I think my favorite recipe was for the Honey Glazed Chicken Stir Fry that I made. You can read more about it, including recipe and pics at my post here.

I have decided to start on Weight Watchers to lose some weight and get healthier. I am going to try and cook healthier meals for us now, including fresh vegetables. Here is our menu for the week:

Monday - Creamy Pesto Chicken Casserole

Tuesday - Grilled Chicken w/Lemon Basil Pasta

Wednesday - Better than Ever Cheesy Meat Lasagna

Thursday - Spaghetti & Meatballs

Friday - Savory Cheddar Chicken and Rice

Saturday - Risotto

Sunday - Crockpot BBQ Chicken

I am very excited about Saturday's meal. I have been wanting to try Risotto for so long and I found a delicious-looking recipe at Pioneer Woman that I'm going to try out!

Amanda

Friday, February 4, 2011

Randomness

Ok, so I have been terrible about blogging this week! I am working on two different posts, one being my post about the circus, but the pictures that I need are on my computer at home and I do most of my blogging from work. I am going to work on this and promise I will have the circus post up on Monday!



In other news, our weather has been really crazy here lately. This past weekend was beautiful and spring-like. Then yesterday we had rain/sleet/snow/ice and more rain. The traffic was so terrible that it took me over 2 hours to get to daycare to pick up Little N, when it normally takes me 35 minutes (give or take a few depending on my attitude driving that day).

I am really ready for spring to be here so we can get outside and let Little N run off some of his energy before bedtime. Somehow it seems he never gets tired! Wish I could bottle that up and sell it - I would be a billionaire! *sings* I wanna be a billionaire so freaking bad. Buy all of the things I never had. Great, now I will be singing that song all night :)



And apparently there is a big football game on this Sunday - the Super Bowl or something - but I'm not really sure? LOL! I actually don't follow pro football at all, but we always watch the Super Bowl. Friends of ours from church host a party every year and it's always a lot of fun, with a lot of yummy food. I am making these really cute Jello Jigglers and something else (haven't decided yet). Hopefully I will have some pics and a funny story or two (or at least a review of the commercials) for you next week!

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend and enjoy the big game on Sunday!

Amanda

Chicken Casserole Recipe

This chicken casserole recipe is my favorite and is so easy to make. It also has special meaning to me.

My cheerleading sponser when I was in high school had gatherings and get-togethers with us over at her house several times a year. The first one we ever had together was when I made the cheerleading squad for my sophomore year. I was so excited! Everyone brought a side dish, dessert or drinks, but Mrs. C was making the main dish. She told us that it would be the best chicken casserole we would ever have and she was right. It was delicious and everybody loved it! She made a copy of the recipe for each girl and her family. We have been making it ever since.

Everytime I need to make something for an event or a party, I always bring this and never have any leftovers. I am always happy to share this delicious and simple recipe with anyone. I made it last night and it was perfect since we had some crazy weather!

This casserole is so quick and easy to make! It also is good if you make it ahead of time (just leave off the ritz and butter) and freeze. I hope you enjoy this as much as I have!

Chicken Casserole

Ingredients:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
16 oz sour cream
1 roll of Ritz crackers
1 stick of butter



The ingredients minus the chicken (it's in a pot of boiling water right now!)



Boil the chicken, then shred or cut into bite sized pieces into a medium sized bowl.




Add in cream of mushroom, cream of chicken and sour cream and mix well.



Spread into a casserole dish. The size depends on how much chicken you use. I didn't use as much, so my dish is smaller.



Crumble Ritz crackers on top, then pour melted butter over that.

Bake casserole at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.

Enjoy :)


Amanda

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Honey Glazed Chicken Stir Fry




I decided yesterday that I wanted to try again to lose weight and eat healthier (more on this later). I have never been one for eating any fresh veggies, but lately I have been trying. This recipe sounded like something that we would all enjoy, so I made it last night. I was very impressed at how easy it was and how delicious it turned out! There are a few things that I will change the next time I make it, but overall it got an A+ from the whole family.

This recipe is versatile in that you can use any veggies that you like. We are still working on our taste buds, so we used broccoli and carrots - two that we love already. Next time I believe I will double the sauce because there was just enough to cover the chicken and veggies. I would like to have a little extra next time to pour over everything.

Honey Glazed Chicken Stir Fry

Ingredients:
12 oz. skinless, boneless chicken
2 T honey (I used a little bit more)
2 T vinegar (I used a little bit less)
2 T orange juice
4 tsp. soy sauce
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
2 T cooking oil
4 cups cut up vegetables, such as broccoli, carrots, sweet pepper, onion, mushrooms
2 cups hot cooked rice

Directions:
1. Cut chicken into bite sized pieces; set aside.
2. In a small bowl, stir together honey, vinegar, orange juice, soy sauce and cornstarch to create sauce; set aside.
3. Pour oil into wok or large skillet. Heat over medium-high heat.
4. Add vegetables to skillet; cook and stir until vegetables are bright and crisp-tender. Remove from skillet and set aside.
5. Add chicken to skillet; cook and stir until chicken is no longer pink. Push chicken to the sides of the skillet.
6. Stir sauce and pour into the center of skillet until thick and bubbly.
7. Add vegetables back to skillet and stir all together. Continue cooking another minute until heated through.
8. Serve over cooked rice.



















Amanda

Wordless Wednesday

Please excuse the mess behind him!