BBQ Chicken and Ranch Salad

Have you eaten at the Cheesecake Factory? If you haven't you should! I love their whole menu. Their BBQ Chicken Ranch salad is my favorite from the salad section of the menu. The portion sizes are ginormous too! (even the lunch size)

However, we always have to wait to get a table unless we get there at a random hour. With two little kids in tow waiting more than 15 min just doesn't always work. So I decided I'm going to start making this salad at home. 

Homemade BBQ Chicken Ranch Salad:

1boneless skinless chicken breast

3 handfuls Frozen corn (this is a unit of measure)

1 can of Black Beans

1/2 Avocado

Bag of your favorite lettuce. (We use a 50/50 mix)

Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese

Ranch

Favorite BBQ sauce

All purpose seasoning

At the Cheesecake Factory you also get:

Cucumber

Fried Onion Rings

Tomatoes

Start with a good size chicken breast and sprinkle your favorite all purpose seasoning on both sides. I'm currently loving Rudy's Turkey Rub that hubs brought home from Austin, TX. (I like to foil the pan so I have less to clean up.)

Pour your favorite BBQ sauce on top of the chick and bake it at 375 degrees for 30-35 minutes depending on how thick your chicken is. About halfway through I always add extra sauce.

Much easier clean up with the foil.

After it's cooled dice up the chicken into chunks. I will sometimes cook the chicken much earlier in the day if we have a lot going on to make it easier.

Cook three handfuls of corn with a little butter and warm some black beans on both on the stove top. Then slice your avocado.

Now all the toppings are ready I go ahead and take my washed and dried lettuce in a bowl and pre-toss it with my favorite ranch dressing.

Then assemble your salad! Hubs doesn't like avocado so I get to eat it all. 

Don't forget to grate the Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese on top!

Doesn't that just look delicious!

One of the perks of this meal is the leftovers (if there are any). I like to stretch foods into other meals. Sometimes I'll make the chicken for dinner the day before and use the extra chicken for the salad or the day after use the black beans, corn and avocado in burritos. 

Hope you enjoy!

Bon Appétit! 

Wall Mounted Beer Bottle Opener

My husband and I love to try new beers. Whenever we have a party everyone ends up bringing over bottled beer. We're constantly trying to remember to bring a bottle opener out to the patio and to find all the bottle caps that fall off tables so the dog and kids don't step on them. 

So when I saw this wall mounted bottle opener on Pinterest I knew I HAD to make one for our patio. 

Luckily I had done several other small wood working projects so I already had several scraps of wood to choose from.  I ordered both the Bottle Opener and the Cap Collector from Amazon. Thanks to my Prime Membership shipping was free with two day delivery! 

So I gathered my supplies and headed outside to get working.

I started by cutting the wood using a circular saw. I cut it to 14 inches in length. The box for the bottle opener said there needed to be 7 inches from the bottom of the opener to the top of the cap collector. 

(photo props to the hubs...thanks for not telling me my hair looked Medusa's on that windy day.)

Then I had my trusty 2 year old rough up the wood a bit with a hammer. 

Then I sanded down the rough edges with a handheld sander.

Our patio accent color is blue so I decided to use Cerulean blue acrylic paint. Again I enlisted my 2 year old assistant for help. (Which resulted in paint on my craft table.)

Once the pain was dry I chose a font I liked on my computer to use for the lettering. I decided on Brush Script and enlarged the font size to 144. 

I then taped on the paper onto the piece of wood and traced the letters and drew in some diagonal lines as well using a ball point pen. This will leave a small indent in the wood so I know where to paint.

I raided my supply of acrylic paints for the white I used for the lettering as well as black for the shadowing.

Sorry for the blurry images. I could have sworn I took a few more pictures.

Eek! Another blurry one...

Once that was dry I went outside with my can of Minwax PolyShades in Bombay Mahogany Gloss (I already owned) to stain the piece of wood over the acrylic paint. I used one of the old t-shirts in our rag bin and just blotted the stain all over.

After I let it sit for about 5 minutes then I used a dry clean rag to wipe off an excess stain. 

Once it was dry I used my handy sander again to sand a few spots back down to the wood around the edges. Then I marked my holes to drill the opener and cap collector onto the wood. And that was all it took to make this beautiful bottle opener for the patio. 

Unfortunately it's too cold outside to sit and enjoy a few beers with our friends but until it is warm enough this baby will be sitting on the kitchen counter.

The total cost of this project:

Bottle Opener: $5.49

Cap Collector: $5.85

Wood: already owned

Paints: already owned

Stain: already owned

Total: $11.34 

Target Score!

I love Target! I have never gone in and walked out empty handed. 

Today I scored big time with my trip! I knew that fabric bins were on sale and I wanted to pick up a few for the cubbies in the kids rooms (purchased on clearance in the spring!). But oh man did I hit the jackpot!

Of course my first stop in Target was to pick up what I was hoping would be at least one more Caramel Brûlée Latte before they disappeared till next year. ANYWAYS....after I got that delicious beverage in hand I rounded the corner and the first aisle I came upon was bins on Clearance! Yes! My husband was at the other end of the store so I grabbed 6 big round fabric bins and then then 4 square cubby bins I originally came in for!

After going for a few other items I wanted to check the actual aisles where the bins were kept to see if there was anything I had missed and my favorite plastic Target bins were also on Clearance! (I'm really hoping they're getting new ones in different colors) So I took the only 4 white ones they had left!

Check out my loot below.

The haul. The 6 fabric round bins were $3.14 each and the white plastic bins were $6.98. Can't forget a new binder for managing bills for 2014. (I have to make it fun somehow)

This is only half full of Duplo Legos it is massive for only $3.41.

Have you found any great deals lately?

Romesco Style Mahi Mahi

I was raised in Florida and I LOVE seafood. I could easily cut out all other meat from my diet and eat seafood everyday. So when I opened my weekly ad for Publix here in TN and saw that Fresh Wild Caught Mahi Mahi was on sale I had to have it! The good thing is that I've gotten my husband on board with eating more seafood and Mahi happens to be one he never complains about.

I actually came across this recipe while I was grocery shopping a few months ago in the Publix Apron Recipes.

Romesco Style Fish via Publix

This is a pretty quick and easy recipe to make. The total cook/prep time is maybe 15 minutes. The recipe suggests serving with mashed potatoes I've done it was roasted potatoes, dirty smashed red potatoes, regular mashed potatoes, but my newest way to serve it is over pasta! There is always extra sauce and I can't let it go to waste.

Romesco Style Mahi Mahi

     2 Medium Tomatoes
     1/3 Cup of slivered Almonds
     1 Tbsp minced Garlic
     6-10 Basil Leaves
     1/2 Cup Roasted Red Peppers
     2 Tbsp of Olive Oil (divided)

     1 1/2 Lb firm fish (We use Mahi Mahi)

     Salt and Pepper

 First up: garlic, almonds in the food processor.

 Add some basil and olive oil.

 Run it till it's finely chopped.

Next up: roasted red peppers and tomatoes.

Roasted Red Peppers and 2 Medium Tomatoes are added.

All Blended together.

Some nice pan seared Mahi Mahi for about 3-5 minutes.

Add the sauce and cook for about 5 more minutes.

Mahi is placed over pasta and the sauce is added as well. Tonight's pasta of choice Penne.

I can honestly tell you we have never had leftovers with this meal. I even like to scrape my bowl with a nice crusty baguette when I'm done. 

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do!

Big Comfy Floor Pillows

I love love love to read. I read as often and for long as I can. I even re-read books more times that I can count. It's one of the things I really want my kids to love too. So when I saw giant floor pillows on Pinterest I knew I had to make them for myself the kids.

Inspiration via Pinterest

More Inspiration via Pinterest

I knew I didn't want to sew a pillow and use batting to fill it (had to be a pillow and pillowcase) because who knows what my kids will spill on it and I want to be able to treat any stains on both the pillow and pillowcase.

One small problem...I can barely sew a straight line so how am I supposed to sew a zipper?!? Well thanks to Pinterest I found this little gem!

Sewing a Zipper via Pinterest

I bought fabric when it was on sale at Joann's I think I paid $3 or $4 per yard (I bought a yard because I like to use scraps for other projects). I bought two 24x24 pillows for half off at Joann's they cost me roughly $24 total. Two 18" zippers (I honestly don't remember what they cost!)

So here's how it went down:

I cut two 25x25 inch squares. I gave myself an extra inch for errors...since I'm learning to sew straight. (I use a disappearing pen I got at Joann's to use with my handy metal ruler to help me sew a straight line.)

I set up in the dining room on my large folding table (leftover from Thanksgiving dinner). I chose to use two different fabrics per pillow. It's the same pattern on both fabrics but different colors.

To start turn the right side of both fabrics so they face each other then make your first seam across the fabric (using a larger stitch) then find your iron and press the seam open. 

The two different fabrics for my sons pillow.

Now you're going to lay the zipper wrong side up with the seam and pin it down so it doesn't go anywhere.

The zipper is pinned down...I can do this! 

Next sew all the way around the zipper and then using a seam ripper from the other side tear the seam open where the zipper runs.

Easy peasy!

Don't forget to leave the zipper open when you sew the rest of the pillow so you can turn it right side out when you are done! (I forgot to open the zipper the second time through and it took me a while to get it open.)

Sew the three remaining sides to enclose remember to make your stitches closer together now that your done with the zipper. 

The fabric from my daughters pillow.

When the remaining sides are sewn cut the corner off just above where your seams intersect so you can get a nice corner in the pillow when you turn it right side out. (I'm sure there's a technical term but I don't know the proper lingo.)  

Turn it right side out and there you go! A pillow case! Now it's time to stuff a pillow inside and Voila!

I'm pretty happy with both of these!

Total it took me several hours to get these done. Caring for two little ones, making dinner and you know the usual stuff that happens when mom tries to do something without interruptions, I was finally finished with my their pillows after they went to bed.