Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Chicken

Yep, it's as mouth watering as it sounds... I actually heard about this dish at a party and decided to try to replicate it blindly. I made it as an appetizer, but you could obviously leave the thighs whole and serve as a main dish. I also just made it ahead of time, put it in the fridge, then threw them in the oven an hour before my guests came over... Make ahead meals are the best for me because I can make them during D's nap, and then don't have to fumble around with raw chicken or miss any time with her when she is awake! I also had some leftover cooked quinoa I added to the stuffing, it made for an awesome texture and made each bite well rounded! I ended up making this the other night for game night with my sis and her BF. It was a huge hit and super simple!! 

So here it is!

Ingredients:

2lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1lb thick cut bacon
1tsp olive oil
2Tbs mayo
1/2 bag fresh baby spinach (about 2c)
1c cooked quinoa
4oz crumbled Feta
fresh cracked black pepper



Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°, lightly oil a 9x13 inch glass baking dish.

2. Heat olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat, quickly stir in spinach until wilted remove and set aside to cool.

3. Lay out chicken thighs face down and pound lightly to slightly to flatten. In a medium mixing bowl, mix mayo, spinach, quinoa and feta. Evenly distribute the mixture among the chicken thighs, and season with fresh cracked black pepper. (NOTE: I found the bacon to add plenty of salt to the dish, so I don't recommend adding any extra!)

4. Roll each of the thighs up like a burrito, and wrap each roll in 2 pieces of bacon. Put 3 toothpicks in each roll to hold together. Place in oiled baking dish. (NOTE: If you are making ahead, at this point you can just cover and refrigerate. Then an hour before your guests arrive, preheat oven, uncover and bake as described in step 5.) 

5. Bake uncovered in preheated oven until bacon is brown and chicken is no longer pink, 50-60 minutes. Then turn the oven to a LOW Broil, and cook for just a few minutes more until the bacon is crispy. Remove and let cool 5-10 minutes.

6. If serving whole, remove toothpicks and serve. If serving as a starter or appetizer, leave toothpicks in and with a sharp knife, cut between each toothpick, each roll will be 3 pieces, and put on a serving plate.

And Voila! You have a quick, easy and delicious dish your friends will surely talk about!

Curb Appeal: Year Round Wreath

When we bought our house 4 years ago, it had been a college rental for 10+ years. So needless to say, it needed ALOT of work. We have been chipping away on the little remodels and updates we can do ourselves and I have been chipping away at making it as homey as possible. So this weekend I decided to work on a little 'curb appeal'. Now don't get me wrong, the outside of our house has been neglected for far too many years to be able to fix it with a couple DIY projects; but I am trying my damnedest to hide the years of neglect under a few cute projects!

I'll admit, have become slightly obsessed with Pinterest (check me out here). And this project is one that I found there, but I altered it slightly. I purchased all my materials at Hobby Lobby, I have heard these wreaths are hard to find, I had no trouble and it was only $2.50! When it was all said & done I spent a little under $15 on the whole project!

Materials:

Wreath Hook

Twig wreath 

Wooden letter

1/4 yard of fabric (I used grey/white chevron)

Ribbon

Hot glue gun & glue

Directions:

1. Heat hot glue gun & Tear fabric into 1" strips.

2. Starting at one end of your letter, glue one end of a strip of fabric and begin wrapping. Gluing the fabric along the back every inch or so as you wrap, glue the end to the back and trim any extra. Then at the other end of the letter do the same (it is easier to cover the ends this way), so the strips of fabric meet in the middle. Glue the end of the last piece to the back and trim any extra.

3. With the remaining strips of fabric roll them into fabric flowers (if you dont know how to make Rolled Fabric Flowers, just google search it, there are tons of tutorials!). For smaller flowers cut the strips in half. 

4. Decide which way is up on your wreath, and hot glue the flowers in place. Then use the ribbon to make a loop to hang from your wreath hook for your letter.  

And Voila!! Your front door has a forever wreath!!

ABC Wall Art

A few months ago I bought these gorgeous eeBoo All Around the Land, Wall Art - Alphabet Cards, but was at odds on how to hang them in D's room. Well, last week I finally settled on how to do it, and this weekend I tackled the project. And they turned out amazing!!

I know you want them too... So here is how its done:

Materials:

Box of eeBoo ABC cards
5' piece of moulding
Hot Glue Gun
White paint & Paint brush
11 eye hooks (I used #14 "screw eyes")
5 colors of ribbon
lighter
double sided tape
pencil
ruler and/or measuring tape

How To:

1. First lay out your cards and decide how you want your rows to look. You must have: 2 rows of 5, two rows of 6 and 1 row of 4 for this to work. I chose 5, 6, 5, 6, 4... I also considered starting with 4, but thought this looked best. Keep in mind if you choose a different pattern #7 in these instructions will be a little different for you.

2. Paint moulding and set aside to dry.

3. Cut ribbon into strips 5'2" long and burn each end with a lighter to prevent fraying. I used 5 colors; blue, green, gold, orange & purple, and two sizes; 1/4"x18' & 3/8"x15'. Four of the colors will have two strips and one will have three, equaling 11 pieces total.

4. Using a small bead of hot glue, fold the end of each ribbon through each eye hook and press tight. Be sure that you dont glue the ribbon to the eye hook, you want it to move freely.

5. Now, this was the hard part: Figure out how far apart each eye hook needs to be so that they are evenly spaced...
I started in the middle on the bottom of the moulding 1/4" from the back edge (side touching the wall) and using a pencil made a small mark; then made 5 marks in each direction measuring 4 15/16" apart and 1/4" from the back edge. So I had 11 small pencil marks on the bottom of the moulding each measuring 4 15/16" apart.

6. Now gently screw in each of the eye hooks where your pencil marks are (the marks are hard to see in these pics, sorry). The order I used for my colors were: blue, orange, purple, gold, green, purple, blue, orange, purple, gold, green.

7. To hang the cards: Turn the moulding over so the back side is facing up. 

First Row, 5 cards: Turn the cards face down and apply 2 pieces of double sided tape on the top & bottom of the middle of the back of each card. Then, starting with A on your right, put each card underneath the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th & 10th ribbons. Measure 2" from the bottom of the eye hook to the top of the card and smooth the ribbon along the pieces of tape. 

Second Row, 6 cards: Repeat tape and, starting with F on your right, turn face down underneath the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th & 11th ribbons. Measure 14" from the bottom of the eye hook to the top of the card and smooth ribbon along pieces of tape.

Third Row, 5 cards: Repeat tape and, starting with L on your right, put each card underneath the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th & 10th ribbons. Measure 14" from the bottom of the First Row to the top of the card and smooth the ribbon along the pieces of tape.

Fourth Row, 6 cards: Repeat tape and, starting with Q on your right, turn face down underneath the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th & 11th ribbons. Measure 14" from the bottom Second Row to the top of the card and smooth ribbon along pieces of tape.

Last Row, 4 cards: Repeat tape and, starting with W on your right, turn face down underneath the 3rd, 5th, 7th & 9th ribbons. Measure 2" from the bottom Fourth Row to the top of the card and smooth ribbon along pieces of tape.

And Voila! You now have a beautiful, fun piece of artwork for your cute little kiddo!!

Leftover Breakfast Tacos

This week I made Cilantro Lime Shrimp Tacos with cabbage and feta and Cuban Chicken with slow cooker black beans and rice. And this weekend my husband made amazing breakfast tacos with some of the leftovers.

Ingredients:
eggs
ground turkey
leftover beans & rice
corn tortillas
avocado, sliced
tomato, diced
cheddar cheese
tomatilla salsa
cilantro

Directions:
Cook ground turkey, scramble eggs and add cheese. Reheat beans and rice, and heat tortillas. In the tortillas add beans & rice, ground turkey, scrambled eggs, tomato, avocado, cilantro and smother with tomatillo salsa.

Great Job Hubby!

Cuban Chicken with Slow Cooker Black Beans & Rice

I adapted this recipe from two recipes. The first is Cuban-Spiced Chicken from epicurious.com, and the second is cuban black beans and rice from a cook book I have called Crock-Pot Busy Family Recipes. The best thing about this meal is that it all can be prepped ahead of time, and then only takes less than 20 minutes to throw it all together!

Ingredients:
3 3/4 c chicken broth
1 1/2 c uncooked brown rice
1 large white onion, chopped
1 large jalapeño, seeded and chopped (half for rice & beans, half for chicken)
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp ground cumin
fresh ground salt & pepper
2 cans (15oz) black beans, rinsed & drained
2 limes zested and juiced (half for rice & beans, half for chicken)
2 Tbs olive oil
1/4c fresh cilantro, chop stems and set aside leaves for topping
1 Tbs thyme
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp allspice
fresh ground salt & pepper
6 boneless skinless chicken thighs
Optional toppings:
avocado, sliced
sour cream 
cilantro leaves
tomatillo salsa

Directions: 
1. In slow cooker, add chicken broth, uncooked rice, onion, 1/2 jalapeño, garlic, cumin and salt & pepper, mix well. Cover and cook on low for 7 hours, or until rice is tender. Don't over cook or rice will be mushy.

2. In a tupperware or freezer bag; add olive oil, 1/2 lime juice, 1/2 lime zest, 1/2 jalapeño, cilantro stems, thyme, paprika, cumin, allspice and salt & pepper, mix well.  Add chicken thighs and coat thoroughly with marinade. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours and up to 24 hours.

3. After 7 hours, check the rice, when it is tender turn the slow cooker off and stir in black beans and 1/2 lime juice & 1/2 lime zest.

4. Heat a large skillet on Medium-High heat, add chicken thighs and all marinade. Cook thoroughly, rotating with tongs periodically, until chicken is cooked through and browned on the outside. 

4. To serve, scoop rice and beans onto a plate and top with chicken thighs. Add avocado, a dollop of sour cream, cilantro leaves and a few teaspoons tomatillo salsa. And ENJOY!!

Cilantro & Lime Shrimp Tacos with Cabbage and Feta

My husband loves mexican food. So we tend to eat a lot of mexican inspired dishes, but I like to add a little twist, to change it up. We had these Monday night and they were AWSOME!!

But what mexican meal is complete without Margaritas. Right!?

Ingredients: (makes 6-8 tacos)

1lb shrimp                                                                  

1 Tbs olive oil                                                          

2 cloves garlic, crushed                                      

1/4 tsp chili powder                                             

1/4 tsp cumin                                                           

1 lime, half zested and juiced, half cut into wedges                                                                      

1c fresh cilantro                                                   

1/4c sour cream                                                      

1 avocado, sliced                                                  

6-8 soft corn tortillas
8oz feta cheese                                             

salt & pepper

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl add Shrimp (thawed and drained if frozen), olive oil, garlic, chili powder and cumin and set aside.

2. In a small bowl add sour cream, lime juice, lime zest and salt & pepper to taste. Mix well. 

3. Turn on one burner to med-low. One tortilla at a time, toast directly on the burner.

4. While the tortillas are heating (watch them so they don't burn).Heat a medium frying pan to med-high heat. Add shrimp to the pan, sauté about 2 minutes on each side, carful to not over cook. 

5. Line heated tortillas on a plate and add a spoonful of sour cream mixture, then cabbage, then shrimp, then avocado. Top with fresh cilantro and feta cheese.

We also added some tomatillo salsa, because we love it!! Enjoy!

This Week's Menu: Feb. 25th

Monday: Cilantro & Lime Shrimp Tacos with Cabbage and Feta
Tuesday: Simple Chicken with Quinoa and Steamed Broccoli
Wednesday: Cuban Chicken with slow cooker Black Beans and Rice
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Date night out!
Saturday: Chicken & Feta salad
Sunday: My Sisters Birthday Dinner

This weeks baby food: Quinoa, Broccoli and Apple

Grocery list:
1 bag shrimp
4 limes
bunch cilantro
lg white onion
sm red onion
2 jalapeño
garlic
sm red cabbage
avocados (4-5)
head lettuce
broccoli
feta cheese
sour cream
corn tortillas
brown rice

In the Cupboard:
Chicken thighs (split into pairs and frozen)
chicken broth (I use organic 'better than bouillon') 
olive oil
hot sauce
Salad Dressing (Annie's Organic Goddess)
cans black beans
quinoa

Spice rack:
salt
pepper
cumin
thyme
paprika
allspice
chili powder
cayenne