I’ve been quite the adventurer the last couple of weeks when it comes to trying new meals. I don’t typically like to cook. Not really sure why. It’s just not my thing. But this week I’ve just been bitten by the Martha Stewart bug, I guess. 🙂 It may have something to do with us moving to a new apartment last weekend. There’s something about moving that makes you feel like you’re getting a fresh start. I’ve been very productive all week, getting stuff unpacked and organized. The dishes and laundry have stayed caught up all week. It’s been a good feeling. 🙂
Mom came up yesterday morning to help hang stuff on the walls and unpacking the office and guest bedroom. She was planning on coming up Friday night, but with the predicted storm-pocalypse that was coming, she decided to wait until possible next weekend. We did get some pretty rough storms in the area and got to hang out in the bathroom for fifteen minutes or so, but the worst we got at our place was some hail, thankfully. Then Saturday morning, she was like, hmmm, maybe I’ll come up today after all…
She got here around noon and we went to grab lunch at Burger King. Then we decided to run to Goodwill to see if we could find anything useful. I’m needing a few little shelves and such for the new place, so we thought we’d give it a shot. Well, we didn’t find anything practical, but we did find a pretty awesome side table. The finish looks kinda rough, but it’s nothing a little sand paper and paint can’t handle. It’s got really good bones, so it’s a good sturdy table. And wouldn’t ya know, we caught Goodwill on their 50% EVERYTHING Saturday. The table? $7.50. Yep. We were excited. 🙂 So keep an eye out for that makeover project!
We ran around town a little more, looking for some plastic containers for the pantry and for the animal food. Found all of that, plus ACE Hardware was giving away FREE quarts of paint with an online coupon!!! So yeah, we definitely took advantage of that. I got a dark gray. I’m thinking I’ll probably use it for my new table.
One of the biggest things I needed Mom’s help with was arranging my “wedding wall.” I’ve got several picture frames and such with wedding pictures that I always cluster together on a wall. And everytime I fiddle with it for forever until I get it just right. But we finally got it looking good. I’ve got a couple of little things to add to it, but once I do, expect a post about it. 🙂
In the midst of all this, I had planned to try a new crock pot recipe for supper last night. This might be the easiest recipe I’ve ever done. Prep time was maybe 5 minutes.
Crock Pot BBQ Chicken (Find the original source here)
4-6 boneless skinless chicken breast (can still be frozen! love that!)
1 bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce.
1/4 c. vinegar
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/2-1 tsp. garlic powder
(The great thing about this is that I keep most of this stuff stocked in my pantry anyways. We always buy chicken breast in huge portions b/c 9 out of 10 meals I cook are chicken. I had some BBQ sauce from a BOGO deal a while back. All I had to buy were the red pepper flakes, and now I’ll have that from now on too.)
Throw the chicken breast in the bottom of the crock pot. Mix the rest of the ingredients together. Pour it on top of the chicken. Bam. Done. Cook 4-6 hours on low. I uncovered it with about an hour left and shredded the chicken up. I would definitely recommend that. It really helped with the tenderness, and it really saturated the flavor.
For the rest of the meal, I threw a corn steamer bag in the microwave and some Sister Schubert’s rolls in the oven. Super duper easy. And very tasty!
Livin' On Love 