Pulled Buffalo Chicken Sliders

♥ Beginner

First off, this recipe is amazing. It's amazing for more than one reason. It's a slow cooker meal, it's super easy, and tastes so good you'll make extra just to have left overs.  It's perfect for conference weekend too.

Secondly, I stole this out of a magazine at my OB's office when I was in for a visit. By stole, I mean I snapped this pic of the recipe. I would disclose what magazine I stole it from, but I really have no idea. Just consider this, an 8 month pregnant woman comes across a recipe in a magazine and thinks it looks good... you're not going to be questioning the source, you're just going to start gathering ingredients.

This truly has become one of our easy go-to-meals around our house. I'm sure you'll enjoy it as much as we have. In full disclosure: you need a few hours in the crockpot! 


What you'll need: 

* 4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts, about 1 1/2 lbs.
* 1/4 Cup hot wing sauce (such as Franks), plus more for serving (optional) - our family suggests Franks!
* 2/3 Cup of Water
* 16 Dinner-Size potato rolls
* 1 Cup Blue Cheese Dressing (we prefer the chunky kind!)
* Celery/Carrot sticks optional as a side dish!

How it's done: 

1. Coat slow cooker bowl with nonstick cooking spray. Place chicken breasts in a single layer in bottom; combine hot sauce with water; pour over chicken. (For a hotter sauce, which my hubs prefers, omit water.)

2. Cover and cook on HIGH for 6 hours or LOW for 8 hours. Remove chicken to a cutting board and shred with two forks. Return to slow cooker and stir to coat with sauce.

3. To serve, place shredded chicken on bottom halves of rolls and top each with 1 Tablespoon of dressing. If desired, serve with celery/carrot sticks and additional hot sauce.

Enjoy!

Pink Lemonade Cookies

♥ Beginner

A week or so ago, my dad was just RAVING about these cookies that he had made. He made me eat a few of them (yea, force-fed them to me, if you believe that) and agree that they were pretty good. Not gonna lie, they actually were pretty awesome. The hang up? They were box mix cookies! Thanks a lot Pillsbury.  

I know what you're thinking. "Since when do YOU care if something comes out of a box?" Well, I had one of those moments last weeks that changes your mindset on WASTE. The hubs lost his job, and I had to come to the realization that my baking desires take a back seat to diapers, wipes, and actual food. Go figure. (By the way, be prepared for situations like these by building your food storage now.) Anyhow, I knew I couldn't be wasting our precious money on box mixes for cookies, so I had to come up with an alternative. Surely I had enough ingredients from scratch at home that I could duplicate these little lemony angels. 

And so you have it. A Pink Lemonade Cookie from scratch. You're welcome. (Don't judge my one and only photo, they were eaten before I could get any really good ones. Besides, it's the flavor that counts, right?) 

What you'll need:

* 1 Cup Butter, Softened

* 1 Cup Sugar

* 1/2 Cup Powdered Sweetened Pink Lemonade Mix (or regular sweetened lemonade powder - you can add pink coloring later) 

* 1 Egg

* 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

* 1/2 Teaspoon Lemon Extract (or lemon juice)

* 3 Cups Flour

* 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda

How it's done: 

1. Preheat oven to 350*F and grease a cookie sheet. 

2. In a large mixing bowl, or KitchenAid,  cream butter, sugar, and lemonade mix until fluffy. 

3. Beat in egg, vanilla, and lemon extracts. 

4. Add dry ingredients to the batter, beating until thoroughly combined. 

5. Roll dough into 1 inch balls, and roll in sugar. Place them 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet, and bake for 10-12 minutes (or until edges start to brown). 

ENJOY!