Father's Day DIY gift ideas

Father's Day is just around the corner so let's get creative!!
I have found quite a few inexpensive and fun Father's Day gifts on Pinterest that you Mommas can do with your kids to show dad just how loved and special he is.

1.Daddy Coffee Cup

You can find the tutorial here.

2.Rustic Frame

You can find the tutorial here.

3.Paperweight

You can find the tutorial here.

4.M&M Bow Tie Card

You can find the printable and tutorial here.

5.Father's Day Tool Craft

You can find the tutorial here.

6.Printable Father's Day Book

You can find the tutorial here.

7. "I'm Nuts About You"

You can find the tutorial and printables here.

Amazing Pressure Cooker BarBQ Chicken

So when you are craving pulled pork, but don't have pork....you improvise. I made do with chicken and it wasn't bad at all. Amazingly it turned out a lot better than I had expected. And of course with the pressure cooker.....simple and quick!

Amazing Pressure Cooker BarBQ Chicken
















4 boneless, skinless frozen chicken breasts
2 tbs olive oil
1 small onion (diced)
1 cup  BBQ sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
salt to taste

 Place your 4 chicken breast in the pressure cooker on the "Brown" setting with the onion and olive oil. Cook on each side approximately 3-5min on each side.  Then place all other ingredients in the pressure cooker, stir it to mix it together. Place your lid on and lock in place. Set the cook temp to high and set the timer to 15 minutes. And your done! Once the timer goes off you can carefully release the pressure until it is safe to remove the lid. I removed the chicken breast and shredded and then returned to the cooker with the sauce. I then heated it for about 5 minutes to just let the flavors cook in to the shredded chicken. Then you are ready to serve. ENJOY!

Chicken Tacos

Happy Saturday everyone!!!

Last night I made Chicken Tacos in my pressure cooker and the outcome..................WONDERFUL!!!! I have never in my life had any other kind of taco other than regular taco meat made with beef. I have a big bag of chicken though in my freezer and no ground beef on hand so I went out on a whim and boy am I glad I did!!

I can tell you that I so thoroughly enjoyed it that I don't think I will ever make greasy beef tacos again. (or not as often anyway)

Chicken Tacos (my version)



4 frozen boneless/skinless chicken breast
1 onion (diced)
2 tbs of olive oil
1 can of black beans (drained & rinsed)
1 can of stewed tomatos (drained)
1 pkg of taco seasoning (or fajita seasoning....I used both)
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup salsa

On the "Brown" setting saute your onions in the olive oil. Add in the frozen chicken and cook about 3min on each side.



Add all other ingredients



Stir all ingredients together just to mix them all up before putting your lid on.



Now put your lid on and lock it. Set the cook setting to high, set your timer to 15 minutes and press start. Now you just wait for the beep.



Once the cooker is done, release the steam pressure in small burst until it is safe to remove the lid. You will remove the chicken from the cooker and shred it. Once you have all the chicken shred, return it to the cooker with the sauce. Stir it all up together again now that the chicken is shredded. On the "Brown" setting just heat your chicken for about 5 min so that the shredded chicken can absorb the flavor. Now you're ready to serve. Enjoy!!



Tonight we are trying another chicken variation and doing barbecued shredded chicken (since I don't have pork to make pulled pork...but that too is on the menu!!)

Check back soon for more recipes!!

A New Journey Begins....

I have been blogging off and on for a few years now and honestly sometimes I find I get so busy with that thing called "life" that I lose track of blogging. Well I finally found my passion!!!! Ready for it!?!?!?!?

PRESSURE COOKING!!!



If you have never pressure cooked, you are in for a journey. I made my first meal in my pressure cooker a couple nights ago and let me tell you.....I've been missing out and so are you!!! (if you don't already pressure cook) The cook time was amazing for frozen....yep FROZEN food. I always hate when I am planning to cook something and forget to set it out to thaw. You know I am not the only one that does that....you know who you are if you do the same thing as me. Now no worries if it isn't thawed. It won't take forever to cook...I promise!

Lets start out basic. I was interested, yet slightly terrified of using a pressure cooker. They've come a long way from the ones your grandmother or mother may have used when you were growing up. I decided to give it a shot and man am I IN LOVE!!! So let me get you going with something super basic....that's what I did...lol.

I wanted to cook with it but thought "I don't want to have to go to the store to buy a bunch of ingredients to make something fabulous." (I have 4yr old twin girls so going to the grocery store with them is always an adventure that honestly I dread....lol) So I decided to just look and see what I had that I could throw together for a pretty basic starter meal, just so I could try it out and see if I even liked cooking with a pressure cooker. Here is what I did....

Chicken & Rice (this is my own made up version)

4 frozen skinless chicken breast
2 tbs olive oil
1 small onion diced
2 cups of chicken broth (or you can use water...I like to use stock instead for better flavor)
1 can cream of chicken
1 cup of uncooked rice
and add your own seasonings to your liking....(I used garlic, onion powder and just a little steak seasoning for flavor)

First you will put the olive oil in the pressure cooker and put it on the "Brown" setting. Then you will add your onions and chicken breast and just saute the onions with the chicken. I did the chicken about 3-5min on each side. (The idea is not to fully cook the chicken but to get it going) Then I put in the broth/stock, cream of chicken, rice and seasonings. Put your lid on and lock it down. Put it on high cook setting and set the timer to 20 minutes. That's it....20 MINUTES!!! Walk away! It was that simple.
(it does take a few minutes for the pressure to build up and the timer to start counting down)
 

                        

The house smelled amazing while it was cooking and honestly I was quite hesitant that it would turn out without the rice all burnt and stuck to the bottom. The timer went off and I released the pressure with the pressure release valve in small bursts until it was safe to remove the lid (mine has a button that depresses to let you know the pressure is at a safe amount to open your cooker). I removed the lid and to my surprise....it was BEAUTIFUL!!! The rice was just perfect and the chicken....OH...let me tell you....falling apart and so juicy! My husband was super impressed....and he doesn't even like rice hahaha. But he does now!

What will I cook tonight???? CHICKEN TACOS!!!!
Check back tomorrow for the recipe and my review on how well it cooked up in the pressure cooker.


Special shout out to my friend Amy Cassels who loved cooking with her pressure cooker so much that her videos of her using it made me want to try this wonderful gadget!!