Honey Mustard Chicken Flake Bake

Well...that's not really the name, but since I can't call it "Weight Watchers" (we botched that part) that will just have to work. It's another chicken recipe, and Patrick made the comment that we should probably cook something else or that's all you guys will think we eat. Spoiler: it is.

I almost shouldn't link to this recipe because we only followed one step out of the entire recipe mostly correctly, "Place cornflake crumbs in a shallow bowl. Dip chicken into dressing mixture and then cornflake crumbs; place in prepared pan." 

We previously bought the regular honey mustard dipping sauce (not "lite dressing" as the recipe suggests); used tenderloins, not breasts; forgot to spray, aka: prepare, the pan; and pretty much winged the whole thing. So, it wasn't as healthy as we hoped, however, it was really good and we used way less sauce than the recipe called for. Trade off? We think so.

"Tasty-looking Things" Pin No. 41,681,413,813 - Honey Mustard Chicken

     

Crushed cornflakes and honey mustard sauce + pepper
(leave some aside for a little after-cooking-drizzle)

baked honey mustard flake chicken (um?)

Oh, and I realized last night I've never made mashed potatoes from actual potatoes before (without supervision). How ridiculous is that?! Well, now I can say that I have:

   

Boiling (the water looked cool, so I had to post)

 

Then, Mix n' Chop to mash and a little butter, milk & low-fat sour cream

Here's the finished meal! 

Patrick said his looked better (lol), so this is his plate

When we run out of the honey mustard sauce we have now, we'll get some low-fat and attempt the weight-watchers version. We're about to start working out and eating better, so I'll post on the new one when we try it. What Weight Watchers recipes do you love?

Sweet + Spicy Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Goodness

On Monday I saw this recipe on Pinterest I immediately decided it would be our dinner. Turns out it was later than sooner and by-God we were going to eat this delicious-sounding meal!  

Patrick, being the awesome hubs he is, called me from the store to see what we needed. Seriously - this recipe is super easy. It only has four ingredients - brown sugar, chili powder, bacon and chicken. We always use tenderloins because they cook faster and we like to eat when we get home - pronto! First step, mix the chili powder (2 T) & brown sugar (2/3 c).

yes, my creamer container upcycle is another pinterest pin

The next step is to roll in bacon and coat with the above mixture. We didn't have any little sticks to hold the bacon on, so we coated the chicken first and then rolled the bacon up around it. It held just fine. Note: spray the aluminum foil with non-stick; we I forgot and it stuck a little. Also, for the love of all things, do not move them to a paper towel unless you want to eat paper towel (Patrick v. Sticky Chicken = not fun).

raw, sticky chicken & bacon

 cooked, sugar-spice-bacon-chicken happiness

If left up to me, we'll make this again for sure, but the last-minute madness Patrick had at the innocent strips will probably take it down a notch or two in his book. I can't wait to try out some more Pinterest recipes. I'm making a recipe binder of all the ones we like (thanks for the idea, Elyse!). Anyone else try any Pinterest recipes? 

Rudy the red-nosed Reinbeer

As soon as I saw this on Pinterest, I knew two things: 1) I had to make these because they are freakin' cute, and 2) I knew exactly who I was going to make them for - my boss. I'm pretty sure Guinness is his drink of choice (well, after tea and Dr. Enuf).

To make a long story short, I procrastinated a bit and it was the night before our Christmas lunch and I had to get these little reinbeers done! Walmart, K-Mart and Big Lots were all out of antlers (aka: brown fuzzy bendy-sticks), so in a last-minute effort we risked our lives to go to the Walmart in Rivergate, and sho-nuff they had some! I dragged Patrick all over Hendersonville for fuzzy antler pipe cleaners. I also went out a limb and got the sparkly red poofs for noses (although you can't really tell from the photo).

Anywho, here is the finished result:

I love Christmas craft-gifts. I think they make gift-giving so much more enjoyable because you and the receiver know you put effort and time into the gift rather than just swinging by the store on the way to the party (guilty). Anyone else make any of the gifts they gave this year?

ps - He loved them! But, I think you're supposed to take the antlers off? haha

Gimme a B!

Going into this one, I was pretty stoked. I was going to re-purpose something from the wedding - yay! I saw this on Pinterest and figured it'd be easy enough... what I didn't count for was how tiny the holes were in the middle of the B. So 3-4 hours later (over a week or so), this was my end result:

(please excuse the dish-mess in the background)

I was so happy when this little guy was done. It took me much longer than I thought because I wanted the yarn lines to look right AND be symmetrical. Side note: I am slightly crafty-challenged in that I have to have symmetry...everywhere. Anyone else ever do a yarn-wrapped letter? I've read that flat or cardboard letters are easier (this one is the 3D paper-mache-type).

Getting This Going!

In an effort to get off my booty and actually complete some of the pins on my DIY board, I am going to post some of the ones I've finished so far and in the future, post the ones that I actually do do (heh).

Numero Uno: Wedding Invitation Ornament

I found this and pinned it (26 weeks ago.. so by my calculations, pre-wedding). I mentally told myself I'd do this for THIS Christmas. Most of my crafty projects get done when Patrick is out of town and I remember talking to him on the phone explaining that I'd cut a couple of our invites into strips and had spent the past hour or so wrapping said little strips around a pencil to make an ornament. He had no idea what I was talking about. Moving forward a day or four, here was my end result:

I'm not sure how it happened, but it was a pure accident that my new last name was visible, but however it happened - I was/am a fan! Has anyone else made this? I love how it turned out!