Crock Pot Buffalo Chicken Wraps - Toddle Along Tuesday

I'm pretty much in the drop zone now; this baby could come at any time! So, I'm on the lookout for some quick and easy meals to add to my list. Because hey, what new Momma (or Dad!) wants to spend hours slaving away over the stove? Here's one of my favorites. So good and so easy. It has been one of my top pregnancy cravings throughout this whole 9 months.

Crock Pot Buffalo Chicken Wraps 

Printable Version


Ingredients:
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup buffalo wing sauce (we use Ken's Marinade)
3/4 cup ranch dressing
sprinkle of salt
tortillas
shredded lettuce
shredded cheddar cheese (optional - I lurve me some cheese)
diced tomatoes (optional)

Place chicken in crock pot and sprinkle with salt. Cover and cook 5-6 hours on low. Sometimes we use smaller chicken tenders and these usually only take 3 hours or so. Basically, you want it tender enough to shred with a fork. After discarding the liquid in the crock pot and shredding the chicken, put it back in the crock pot and add the buffalo sauce and the ranch dressing. If you like yours really spicy, you could add more buffalo sauce.

Mixing chicken with ranch dressing and buffalo sauce

To serve, place an amount {to your liking} of the chicken mixture, lettuce, and cheese on the tortilla and wrap it up. Sometimes we add fresh tomatoes, too.

YUM

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This week's Toddle Along Tuesday co-host is Victoria from Smiles 'N' Snuggles and the topic is easy go-to meals! Victoria and I are due just a few days apart and are looking for some quick & easy recipes we can make when baby is here. There are no rules here, except that you link up a relevant post (old or new) rather than your whole blog.


Next week's topic is Mommy and me! Show off some cute photos of you and your little one, and/or write about your relationship!

If you like advance notice for TAT, check out the bottom right of my blog - topics for the next couple months are listed. Would you like to submit a topic idea and/or volunteer to co-host one week? E-mail me!

Deep Fried Awesomeness: Mozzarella Sticks

I see you there, wanting me.

Don't try to resist.

::drool::

Mozzarella sticks are one of my {many} weaknesses. Growing up I would take the money I saved from babysitting and head to the Friendly's Restaurant in my town for their $3.49 Mozzarella sticks on a regular basis. So.freaking.good. This recipe is as close to them as you can get, in my opinion.

Mozzarella Sticks - Printable Version!
Ingredients:
12 cheese sticks (or cut up chunk mozzarella, if you prefer)
1/4 cup flour
2 eggs1 tablespoon milk
1 cup Italian Style bread crumbs
oil for frying

Ingredients

If deep frying, heat the oil in your deep fryer or pan to 365 degrees as you prepare the Mozzarella Sticks. Cut string cheese in half (or chunk mozzarella into about 1/2 inch by 1 1/2 inch rectangles). Whisk milk and eggs together in a bowl, and put flour on one plate and breadcrumbs on another.

Cheese and other ingredients ready to go!

Coat each stick in flour, then dip in the milk/egg mixture, and then roll in breadcrumbs. Then here is the secret - dip each stick (already covered in breadcrumbs) BACK in the egg/milk mixture, and in the breadcrumbs once more. This extra layer means that less cheese will escape while frying.

Coat well in each ingredient

Put the sticks in your fryer basket being careful to give them some space. I find that 7 sticks fit perfectly in my Cuisinart Mini Deep Fryer. Fry for about 1 minute, but check them around 45-50 seconds and take out if the cheese is escaping. OR if you pan fry, use about a cup of oil and cook for about a minute on each side. Drain on paper towels.

My deep fryer - aka my second lover

Ummm....yum? Enjoy with marinara or just shove them into the ol' pie hole plain, like I do ;)

Heavenly cheesy goodness

Since you need quite a bit of oil for this, I always recycle mine. I put a coffee filter inside a funnel in the opening of an empty vegetable oil container. The oil filters through (sans breadcrumbs and gunk) and you can use it again and again. My only exception is seafood - it smells too awful to save in that case ;)

Good news! I have added Printable Versions of my recipes to all of the recipes I have published (which isn't many...as I fail at cooking most of the time). If you're interested, here's what I've got:

Onion Rings

Easy Stuffed Shells

Apple Crisp

Cinnamon Twists

Mushroom Gnomes

Cheesy Chicken & Stuffing

Don't judge

This happened yesterday, and is happening again right now. There was only about an inch left in the bottom of the frosting can and it would be a travesty to just throw it out, right?

Come on people, it's RAINBOW CHIP. It's like the Holy Grail of frostings.

Happy Saturday, folks ;)

God's gift to women: Velata Fondue - Review & Giveaway! CLOSED

Mike and I received one of those fancy electric fondue pots as a wedding gift. We've used it maybe three times in as many years. It's not that I don't LOVE chocolate fondue (because I do), it's just that there is too much work involved. You have to fill it with enormous amounts of chocolate, it takes forever to warm/melt to the right consistency, and then cleaning up is a pain in my currently-rather-pregnancy-enhanced-behind.

When my friend and Scentsy consultant, Sandy, told me that Scentsy was launching a brand new line of products for delicious and oh-so-easy chocolate fondue I knew that it was meant to be. I can sum Velata up in just a few words: melty, easy, amazing chocolate. ::drool::

Chocolate pouch, warmer, and food for dipping!

This is how my nights have looked since receiving my Noir Velata warmer: plug in warmer, melt chocolate, pour into silicone dish, enjoy, rub super-full belly, put silicone dish in dishwasher, DONE. No waiting for an hour for chocolate to melt, and no annoying clean up.

So far we've tried both the Milk Chocolate and Caramel Chocolate and I can't decide which I like better; they are both excellent. We've dipped apples, marshmallows, strawberries, graham crackers, and when we ran out of all that? Possibly a few other random things that I just happened to find in the pantry. And since I don't believe in wasting even a drop of chocolate, I may or may not have scooped up the rest with my finger ;)

::tries to eat computer screen::

If you don't use all of the chocolate in the dish, you can simply take it out once it hardens, put it in a plastic bag, and refrigerate until you use it again! Each pouch contains about 6 servings of chocolate. Each warmer comes with 4 fondue forks. The forks and the silicone warming dish are dishwasher safe.

I love that my Velata warmer makes it easy (and fun!) for me to enjoy something I love. I think I know what my friends and family will be receiving for their next birthday/holiday gift...

The Velata Story
People said it couldn’t be done. How could you take something as complicated as fondue and make it simple? In a flash of brilliance, it struck them. A small group of clever, chocolate-adoring Scentsy folks had a dazzling idea. What if we served scrumptious chocolate fondue in a plug-and-play, fun-to-use warmer worthy of such fine chocolate?

We set out in search of the world's most perfect, blow-your-mind chocolate. Our journey took us to (where else) Belgium — the world capital of fine chocolate. We found the perfect chocolate with the purest ingredients and the velvetiest (sometimes you have to invent a word) consistency. The kind of chocolate fondue you want to dip into, heart and soul.

Perfect chocolate needs a perfect melt! So we invented a patent-pending silicone dish heated by a light bulb in a hip, fun, smart fondue warmer. Who else but Scentsy could find a hip, fun, smart way to use a light bulb? Whether you are a foodie, a trendsetter, or just someone who thinks of chocolate as its own food group, Velata fondue products are for you.

Shop
Check out the fun warmers and to-die-for chocolate at Sandy's Velata website! With milk, dark, caramel, and white chocolate options, there is something for every chocolate lover.

Noir Velata warmer

Win

I am personally teaming up with Sandy to offer a Noir Velata warmer (the one that I have) and one pouch of chocolate (you can choose either Dark or Caramel) to one of my readers!

How to Enter:

This is a Rafflecopter giveaway. Click "Read More" below and then follow the instructions on the widget. Make sure to click "Enter!" after you complete each entry. All currents count! The giveaway is open to US Residents only and ends at 11:59 PM on Wednesday, June 27th.

The first entry is mandatory - Visit Sandy's Velata website and leave me a comment telling me which warmer you like best and what chocolate you'd like to try! Once you complete this entry, the widget will give you the option of completing the rest. Complete more steps for more chances to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway  

I was not compensated for this review. I received the item(s) free of charge for reviewing purposes. All opinions are honest, and my own.

Toddle Along Tuesday - Mubbins's Famous Apple Crisp

I'm sort of cheating, here, as I have not actually given this to Carina yet. I planned on it a couple weeks ago, but it was so freaking good I ate the whole pan the night I made it. Oops. I know she is going to love it, though. The apples come out so soft and warm, and the brown sugar and oats add just the perfect amount of sweet and {sort-of} crunchy.

And if you're wondering who "Mubbins" is, that would be my Mom. We love ridiculous nicknames in my family ;)

Mubbins' Apple Crisp - Printable Version!
Ingredients:
6-7 medium tart apples
¾ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup flour
½ cup oats (not quick-cooking)
¾ tsp. cinnamon
¾ tsp. nutmeg
1/3 cup butter, softened (or melted)

Ingredients

Preheat oven to 375° and grease a 9x13 pan. Mix everything but the apples in a bowl.

Pre-mixing

Pare and slice the apples. Place apple slices in pan.

Apples in pan, and the rest of the ingredients post-mixing

Sprinkle the topping over the apples.

It's best to break up the topping in your fingers as you go so it doesn't get too lumpy

Bake 30 minutes or until apples are tender and topping is golden brown. Serve warm, and if desired, with ice cream or whipped cream.

NOM

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My co-host for Toddle Along Tuesday this week is The How To Mommy, and this week's topic is baby/toddler recipes! Share your favorite recipe for your little one. There are no rules, except that you link up a relevant post rather than your whole blog. Find some recipes you like? Feel very free to pin them on Pinterest!



Next week's topic is your child's favorite activity! Whether it's a toy, game, craft, or thing to do...let's share some fun stuff with each other. Would you like to submit a topic idea and/or volunteer to co-host one week? E-mail me!

Pregnancy craving: the best Onion Rings recipe ever

I get some pretty intense pregnancy cravings and usually nothing can make them go away until my belleh is full. A couple days ago was no different. Onion Rings popped into my head and I had to have them. There was no stopping me.

Amazing Onion Rings - Printable version!
Ingredients:
1 large onion
1 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3/4 to 1 cup milk
1 cup bread crumbs
oil for frying

Ingredients: the metal canister is flour

Heat the oil in your deep fryer to 365 degrees as you prepare the onion rings. Cut the onion into 1/4 inch slices.

Slicing the onion

Separate the slices into rings.

Rings!

In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Flour mixture

Dip the onion slices into the flour mixture until they are well coated, and then set them aside.

Coating with flour mixture

Whisk the egg and milk (slowly - you might not need a full cup) into the flour mixture until the batter is smooth, but don't let it get too drippy. You want it to be able to coat the rings well.

Egg and milk in flour mixture

Dip the floured rings into the batter to coat.

Coating rings with batter

Place the battered onion rings on a wire rack. I put my rack in the sink so all of the excess batter just drips into the sink. Makes for easy clean up.

Dripping off the excess batter

Spread the bread crumbs on a plate. I prefer to use unseasoned bread crumbs, but we only had Italian Style this time around. The onion rings will taste fine either way. When the batter has finished dripping, place rings in the bread crumbs and coat them well.

Getting all breaded up

Since the rings aren't sticky, you can pile them up in the deep fryer basket (like below). Fry for about 2 minutes, and voila! NOM.

Fryer time!

Enjoy. Hopefully you won't realize you ran out of ketchup right before finishing these, like I did. I dug through drawers for 10 minutes until I found 5 rather dilapidated looking packets of ketchup. I don't even want to know how old they were.

Perfection

This recipe makes a lot of onion rings. The picture above is one of about 6-7 batches. If you're pregnant and hungry (like me), it might only be one serving, though ;)

Since you need quite a bit of oil for this, I always recycle mine. I put a coffee filter inside a funnel in the opening of an empty vegetable oil container. The oil filters through (sans breadcrumbs and gunk) and you can use it again and again.

Recipe adapted from AllRecipes.com

This is just the first of my pregnancy cravings recipes. Stay tuned: I will share my to-die-for Mozzarella Sticks and Oreo Truffle recipes in the near future.