Crockpot Cheesy Potatoes

I truly believe Sunday is meant to be a day of rest, and could there be anything easier than a Crockpot recipe!? Blake created this masterpiece and our entire apartment now smells spectacular.  This recipe is one that takes you 15 minutes to prepare, but then can be left alone until you're ready to eat it.  We don't use our Crockpot often, but when we do.... it's amazing. 

Jalapeno Stuffed BBQ Meatballs: Chopped Challenge - Tomato Paste

Technically the Radish won the vote for the Chopped Challenge ingredient; however, I couldn't find it at the store today, so I went with the second place Tomato Paste.  The daylight savings time has really thrown off my cooking for the blog.  It's dark so early, it's almost impossible to take any good pictures of my food.  I don't have any fancy equipement or lights, so I rely a lot on the natural sunlight.  I decided to wait and make this over the weekend to ensure I had enough light for my photos.

These meatballs are stuffed with cream cheese and jalapenos, baked, and then dunked into the homemade BBQ sauce.  They are the perfect treat for a Sunday afternoon while watching football.  The great part about this recipe is that you could prepare everything ahead of time, and then bake them right before your guests arrived.  It's also super cheap, and with just a pound of meat you get tons of meatballs.  Be sure not to stuff them too much, or they will explode in the oven. You also don't want them to be too big.  They are meant to be a small treat before supper, not a whole meal in itself.

It's the Little Things: Moving on up

I've been working on getting back into painting.  I was so busy this summer with the wedding and my internship at the hospital, that I didn't have any energy left to put towards being "creative."  I finally finished my painting for a friend of mine, and I got to put my new initials on it!

Healthy Chicken Strips

Everyone loves themselves some fried food, but that feel good feeling immediately disappears with the last bite.  Instead of feeling guilty over a few too many fried nuggets, why not make them at home yourself? Instead of being deep fried, these chicken strips are baked and just as crispy.  Unknowingly,  Blake doesn't like coconut.  I'm not sure what's wrong with him, but whatever.  I think the coconut adds a little bit of sweetness to the chicken strips, and it's perfect when pairing with a Asian inspired sauce.  Above, I served my chicken strips with a honey peanut sauce and some pineapple chutney.  Delicious!

INGREDIENTS:
2 Large Chicken Breasts - sliced fairly thin
1 Cup Shaved Coconut
1/2 Cup Bread Crumbs
1/2 Cup Panko
2 Eggs
8 oz. Buttercream
1-2 Cups Flour

1.  Begin by pre-heating your oven to 375 degrees.  Line a baking dish with parchment paper in preparation for baking.

2.  Mix together coconut, bread crumbs, and Panko in a baking dish.  In a bowl, combine buttermilk and beaten eggs.  In another baking dish, add the flour and season with salt and pepper.

3.  Begin by coating a chicken strip in flour, dusting off excess.  Dunk into the buttermilk egg mixture and then cover with coconut and break crumb mixture.  Place the chicken strips on a  baking dish, being sure not to crowd them.  You don't want them to be too close together, or they may not end up as crispy as you would like them.

4.  Bake the strips for 23-30 minutes or until crispy and cooked through.

PEANUT SAUCE: 
2 Tbs. Peanut Butter
2 Tbs.  Rice Vinegar
2 Tbs. Honey
1 Tbs. Oil
1 Tsp.  Soy Sauce 
1 Garlic Clove - finely minced
Salt & Pepper to taste  

1. Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate until ready to serve.  Making this ahead of time will allow it to meld in the fridge, and it will only make it taste better!

It's the Little Things: Halloween!

 Hot Caramel Apple Cider:  I've been wanting to try these for my Keurig, but I just didn't want to waste $8 bucks if they weren't any good.  So, for the past couple of trips I've skipped on them.  Low and behold, as I was shopping for my Halloween costume, I saw these on sale for $1 a box!!!!! Apparently there was an over-shipment and they needed to get rid of them! AMAZING I tell you!!!!

1/2 off Day-After-Halloween Candy:  My mother and I have made the day after Halloween and Easter a holiday in itself.  Why pay astronomical amounts of money for candy when you can just wait one day and pay almost nothing! Obviously, if you are buying for the trick-and-treaters, you have no choice, but this is ALLLLLLL for me!

String Cheese and Pizza Sauce:  Odd?... no.  How about, the best snack in the world! Blake and I were just talking about snacks that we loved to eat as a child, and somehow this came up.  While at the store today, I couldn't help but to buy these two items.  MMMMmmmmmm.

Halloween Lights:  I found these Halloween lights for next year while shopping for 1/2 off candy.  They were selling for .87 a box! I couldn't pass them up for next year, when Blake and I will hopefully be decorating our own home!
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      
 *** Don't forget to check out Hello Hue 's Blog so that you can join the Little Things Linkup too!