Hey Pink Elephant Sisters....Where Are You?

It's been a little over 2 weeks since we have had an entry here on our blog.  We have been extremely busy and haven't had much time for crafting or cooking.  As you know, Kari had back surgery in July and is well on her way to recovery, however, she can't bend or lift anything so that limits her amount of movement.  She is extremely happy to be able to drive again so she will be crafting shortly.

We have also been really busy helping our Mom move out of her house.  I work full time and have been spending all of my weekends at my Mom's, about an hour north.  I am happy to report she is all moved out and getting settled into her new place.  We had a massive garage sale last weekend.  I forgot how much work a garage sale is.  Between cleaning the garage, getting everything out there, pricing it all and setting it all up, it was 3 days of intense work.

Cleaning out a parent's house brings up a lot of memories and we have been looking at old photos a lot. It also means bringing a lot of stuff home that you just can't seem to part with.  I have a Suburban and I brought 2 loads home.  My husband wasn't really excited but he has been supportive.  I still have one small load to get which includes a bookshelf and a cookie jar.

 Bear with us as we get back into the swing of things.  We both have some great projects coming up for fall and winter.

Smoky Bacon Wrapped Chicken

When I post a recipe on here, I have made it at least twice.  The first time I make it just to try it out.  The second time is usually when I take photos to share on here.  This recipe took 3 tries because the second time was not actually as successful as the first.  It's a super simple recipe and I promise to pass on my knowledge so you enjoy it every time.

Smoky Bacon Wrapped Chicken

6-8 pieces of chicken (I used boneless skinless thighs the first time but used chicken tenders the last 2 times)

1 package of bacon

1/2 cup Runyon Rub (follow the link to the recipe)

2 tbsp brown sugar

Preheat oven to 400.  Add the brown sugar to the Runyon Rub and combine.  Lay out your chicken and sprinkle with the mixture on both sides.  Take each piece of chicken and wrap in 1 or 2 slices of bacon.  You want the chicken completely covered.  Place the chicken in a casserole dish and again sprinkle the rub mixture over the top.  This will help the bacon caramelize.  Cook for 30-40 minutes.  After the chicken is completely cooked, if you want your bacon crisper, place it under the broiler for a few minutes but make sure you keep an eye on it.

The chicken comes out moist and delicious.  When I made it the first time, I skinned and de-boned some chicken thighs and they were the best.  The second time I used chicken tenders and used way too much of the rub.  It came out so salty that we couldn't eat it.  The last time, I used the tenders and added the brown sugar to the rub.  It came out so much better.  It gave the bacon a crispy, smoky, sweet flavor.

Creamy Crockpot Chicken

I am in charge of dinner in our house because if I left it to my husband, we would have cereal every night.  Plus, I love to cook.  However, my least favorite part is trying to think of what to make.  Have you ever asked the people in your household what they want for dinner?  I always get, "I don't know" or "I don't care" or the ever dreadful "Food".  Pinterest has been a great help to inspires me to try new things, including this delicious looking recipe.

The original recipe can be found HERE.  I changed a few things because the first time I made this, it needed something else.  AND, I got my picky husband to agree to let me add in some peas.  He actually liked them.

Creamy Crockpot Chicken

1 packet Chicken Gravy Mix

1 can Cream of Chicken Soup

2 cups Reduced Sodium Chicken Broth

1 tbsp Garlic Powder

3-4 Chicken Breasts

1 cup frozen Peas

1/2 cup Sour Cream

Salt and Pepper to taste

Either in the Crock of your Slow Cooker or in a separate bowl, combine the gravy mix, soup, broth, garlic powder, salt and pepper.  Don't add too much salt because the broth and gravy mix are already salted.  I used frozen chicken breast and just placed them in the bottom of the crock and poured my mixture over the top.  If you mix in the crock, just make sure each piece at least has a thin layer of the sauce.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

When you get home, shred the chicken.  You can do it either in the crock or on a plate and toss that back in with the peas and sour cream.

The peas just need to warm up and the sour cream just adds a nice tangy, creamy consistency.  Serve over rice, noodles or potatoes.

We really enjoyed this dish and it made for excellent leftovers for lunch the next day.  I served with egg noodles this time but the first time, we served over rice.  Both were a good option.  Mashed potatoes will be my next side.

Eggless Edible Cookie Dough

"Don't eat that dough.  You'll get salmonella poisoning."  I am sure you have heard that from a concerned mother at least once in your life.  I have ate my share of cookie dough in my time but that mysterious salmonella steered clear.  Just to be safe, I thought I would make this Eggless Edible Cookie Dough.  It's not as satisfying as real cookie dough but it will do in a pinch.  Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Eggless Edible Cookie Dough

1/2 cup of butter, softened

1/2 cup of brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

2 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup flour

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Cream the butter and sugars together until smooth, then add in the milk and vanilla until combined.  Mix in the flour until smooth and finally fold in the chocolate chips.  You can add more chocolate chips if you want.  I think nuts would be a good addition as well.

Creamy Ranch Chicken

I am a chicken fiend.  I could eat it everyday.  (Except Sunday, that's my steak day.)  So, I am always looking for new ways to prepare it.   I am partial to thighs or whole chickens because I find the breast to become too easily overcooked.  I have been toying with this recipe for about 6 months now.  I started with this Amish Chicken recipe.  It takes a few spices and a mix of heavy cream and water to bake the chicken in.  It was a good recipe.  The chicken was super moist but I was looking for something with more flavor.  I think I finally have it down to a great recipe that you will love.

Creamy Ranch Chicken
6-8 chicken thighs
1 cup flour
1 packet ranch dressing mix
1 tbsp Johnny's seasoning salt
1/2 tbsp garlic powder
3 cups heavy cream (1-1/2 cups heavy cream and 1-1/2 cups water)
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare a 9x13 baking dish by spraying with pan spray.  In a large paper bag or 1 gallon ziploc, mix your flour, ranch mix, johnny's and garlic powder.  Put your chicken pieces in the bag and shake, shake, shake until thoroughly coated.  Place the chicken in the pan, skin side up.  Then, pour the heavy cream over the top of the chicken.  it should cover the chicken about 3/4 of the way up.  You can adjust to your pan size or chicken amount.  Bake for 45 - 60 minutes or until the chicken is golden brown and done.

I usually fish the chicken out of the pan and use a whisk to get all the yummy bits mixed in with the pan juices.  It makes a fantastic gravy for mashed potatoes or pasta.

Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry Glaze (And More!)

It's berry season here in Washington and I love strawberries.  I drove across the river to Rainier, Oregon this week to pick up a flat at Crawford's Berries n' Cream's stand.  They sell the Shuksan variety.  The berries are nice and sweet, meaning you don't even have to add a lot of sugar to them.  I also bought a half flat of raspberries at the same time and made some delicious Strawberry Raspberry Sauce.  (Just add 1/2 a cup of sugar and to about 4 cups of smashed berries, then boil down into a thick, gorgeous sauce.)

I had been searching for something yummy to do with the berries and had a bad day at work, so I decided to bake.  Baking and de-boning chicken are two of my favorite things to do to relax.  (I know it's strange.  Don't give me that look.)  Cupcakes sounded good to me and I had just bought a strawberry cake mix so I decided to kick it up.  

I started by making a strawberry puree.  I just hulled the berries and blended them until really smooth.  I suggest crushing them a little bit before blending, just to make it easier.  Then, boil the puree down for about 30 minutes.  It will get slightly thicker and richer in flavor.  I made the mistake of having too small of a saucepan and boiled it over on my stove.  You don't want to see the mess I had to clean up.  Did I mention I had a bad day?

I took the Strawberry cake mix, added eggs oil and strawberry puree and mixed it all together.  Then I used an ice cream scoop to dish it into my lined cupcake tin and baked.  The smell of the batter was so divine.  It was such an intense strawberry blast.  I decided I was going to make a Strawberry buttercream to top them.  I know a basic buttercream recipe so I started there with butter, vanilla and powdered sugar.  Somewhere after that, everything went wrong.  (That bad day is back!)  I worked at trying to make the frosting fluffier but as 11pm got closer, I decided to just put it in the fridge and go to the store and buy frosting in the morning.  I am actually really glad I woke up late because all I did was dip the cupcakes into the "glaze" and they were delicious.

The glaze was thick enough to stay on top of the cupcake and wasn't too terribly sweet.  It was also kinda beautiful.  The color was so red and shiny.  And the smell again, was phenomenal.  I took these to work and set them on the counter.  Every time the door opened, a waft of strawberry over took me.  My boss said it was like walking into a strawberry field.  (He had 3 but don't tell his wife.)

Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes and Strawberry Glaze

Yields 16 cupcakes

1 box of Strawberry Cake Mix

1 cup Strawberry Puree

1/3 cup Vegetable Oil

3 Eggs

Mix until combined and bake at 350 for 18-23 minutes.

For the glaze:

1 cup Unsalted Butter, softened

1 cup Strawberry Puree

3-4 cups Powdered Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla

Beat the butter with about 1 cup of the sugar until smooth, add the vanilla and strawberry puree.  Slowly add in the remaining powdered sugar until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.  

This is how I made mine, on accident, but I am sure you could leave the butter out and have a delicious glaze.  You can see in my photos that the butter left speckles in my glaze.  Baking and cooking is never perfect.  You go with what you get and enjoy it anyway.

Got some extra Strawberry Puree?  Add a bit of sugar or honey and spread it on a baking sheet lined with parchment.  Bake in a 170 degree oven for 3-5 hours, until it's no longer sticky to the touch.  And there you have your own fruit leather.

Family Blocks

This project "accidentally" started when I went down into the wood shop to clean up and got a little distracted (this is nothing new for me).  I started picking up all of the scrap pieces of wood that were littering the shop and my first thought was "these things have got to go"....but then I thought "I could TOTALLY make something with these...".  This is how a lot of my projects begin.  I don't want to just throw away something I could use, so I make something to prove that I have a reason to keep the item...even if there are hundreds of them!

So I picked out a word I wanted to spell.  My first thought was the spell out our last name but I went with the word "family" instead so that I could later sell this at one of my craft shows if I wanted to.  I grabbed enough pieces to spell my chosen word and trimmed up a couple pieces (I didn't want any to be the same size).

I started by painting the sides and fronts a dark brown.  Since this was intended to hang on a wall, I didn't see a point in painting the back.

After painting them brown I decided that this was WAY too boring for me.  So I decided to add some color.  Next I painted the sides a turquoise color (which I LOVE).

I knew that I wanted to distress these blocks...so I didn't mind that the brown showed through the turquoise a little bit.  Once the paint was dry I went outside and distressed them with my mouse sander and this was the result:

My original idea was to add vinyl letters to the blocks but once I distressed them I knew that I need to use paint and stencils so that I could distress the letters as well...it would just look better.

So my next step was to cut stencils using my Silhouette Cameo and contact paper.

Once the cream paint for the lettering was dry I took the blocks back outside to sand again.  I love how the distressed look turned out...it was definitely a better choice.

Next it was time to assemble the blocks.  I took them back down to the wood shop where this all began.  I decided to line them up across the bottom so the it would look nice hung over a framed family photo.  Once I had them lined up I turned them over to glue and staple a thin piece of wood to the back.  I also used wire to make a hanger.

Then it was all done and ready to hang.  This was a simple and quick project I did in a couple of hours.  I think I may make ones with my boys names to put up in their rooms!