It’s just me and the pup tonight.
Michael left a little bit ago to go to a race with one of his friends. He doesn’t even really like races, but his friend has been asking him to go for like two years, so Michael figured he should probably go. He’ll have fun just because he’s in good company (his friend, and a few beers).
I opted to stay in tonight without any plans. And it’s weird! It’s been a really long time since I’ve had a night alone, without much to do. I’m still adjusting back to having a normal life after the wedding. I don’t know what to do with myself. :)
Tonight, I’m planning on working on a few projects. A banner I’m making for a bride-to-be, and then I might work on printing and framing some of our wedding and honeymoon pics for the house and my office at work. Fun little Friday night, huh?
So who’s coming over? I have wine.
You bring margaritas.
For dinner tonight, we went with one of our favorite standby recipes, a slow-cooked Mexican chicken dish. It’s so simple, but does require a little bit of planning ahead–simply because it is a crockpot recipe and needs to cook for 5-6 hours.
I found this recipe a couple of months ago over on Dinner with the Bickfords. I’m loving on them this week, aren’t I? It just so happened that when I went to her blog to remind myself of the ingredients for this meal (before we went grocery shopping on Sunday), I saw the bread recipe that I posted yesterday. So two Bickford recipes this week. :) I’ve modified her recipe a little bit, basically just to make more food. We enjoy having leftovers.
Anyway, once we tried this, we started making it once every couple of weeks leading up to the wedding. We love pretty much anything served over rice, and this is no exception. It has a lot of flavor, and the chicken ends up very tender. Combine all of that with how easy it is to put together, and you have a winner, for sure.
Slow-Cooked Mexican Chicken
Ingredients:
– 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts (you can even throw them in there frozen!)
– 1 jar (16 oz.) salsa
– 1 can black beans or kidney beans, drained and rinsed
– 1 can corn
– 1/2 large onion, sliced or chopped
– 1 red pepper, sliced or diced
– 2 tbsp. taco seasoning
– Cheddar cheese, shredded
– Green onions, sliced
– Brown rice
Directions:
In your crockpot, combine all ingredients through the taco seasoning. Cook for approximately 5-6 hours on low heat (or 2-3 hours on high).
Prepare your rice accordingly.
Turn off slow cooker and uncover. Remove chicken pieces from crockpot and shred with two forks. Return chicken to the crock. If the sauce is too thin, add flour (a tablespoon at a time) to thicken it up.
Serve chicken mixture over rice, and top with the shredded cheese and green onions.
We got a breadmaker as a wedding gift. A few weeks ago now, we busted it out of the box and gave it a whirl. The first loaf I attempted was a disaster (it rose so much that it was pushing out the top of the breadmaker!), and I had to stop it in the middle of the cycle and trash it.
The second loaf was OK, but it wasn’t the best bread.
And then I found this recipe from Dinner with the Bickfords. I decided to give it a try, and I’m really glad I did. It is really good bread!
When I made it on Sunday, we used it to make really good turkey sandwiches for dinner (turkey with honey mustard, cheddar cheese, and thin slices of granny smith apple). It is perfect for sandwiches. Michael has been making his PB&J lunch sandwiches on it all week. Now it’s gone… I have to make another loaf tomorrow!
Breadmaker Wheat Bread
Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups warm water (about 110 degrees)
1/3 cup olive oil (do not substitute with vegetable oil–use olive oil!)
2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (if you wish to make white bread, substitute this for bread flour)
2 1/2 cups bread flour
‘2 tbsp. and 2 tsp. white sugar
3 tsp. yeast (I used one of the packets)
Directions:
NOTE: This recipe is best suited for a 2 lb. breadmaker.
In the breadmaker pan, combine water, oil, and salt.
Add the flour on top of the liquids. Pour sugar into one corner of the breadmaker pan. Make a well (a dent) in the center of the flour and pour the yeast into it.
Set the breadmaker for a “basic” loaf (and I used the “light” crust setting), and press start. Walk away… in three hours, you’ll have delicious fresh bread!
On Saturday, we went to the wedding of one of our good friends from college. Well, actually, Michael has been friends with him through most of his childhood, too. They were roommates when we met, and I have many fond memories of Mike!
He met his (now) wife through a job he had after college. They planned their wedding on the beach (a lake), with an outdoor reception. The weather on Saturday was touch and go to begin with. The day couldn’t decide whether it wanted to be rainy, sunny, humid, cool, etc.
We walked up to the ceremony site right at 4:00 p.m. (when the ceremony was supposed to start). We waited around for about 10 minutes, and we could hear the thunder rolling in the distance. It was clear we were going to be getting rained on at some point. Everyone just hoped it would hold out at least through the ceremony.
Saying their vows. During this part, this is when it started to rain. The drops kept getting bigger and bigger, and then more frequent.
Someone ran out a big table umbrella to put over them for the rings ceremony. At this point, we were still standing uncovered. Shortly after, however, we all had to make a run for the tent when it started to downpour.
Sadly, we couldn’t see or hear the rest of the ceremony because we were all in a huddle, and the rain was too loud. But we got a clue that they were married when people in the front started to cheer, and we saw Mike and Jess fly up the aisle to go take cover in the house.
After that, it downpoured for a few minutes. Then it got a bit better and Michael and I actually walked back to our car to get an umbrella. By the time we got back? Absolutely pouring again. I’d say the bad weather lasted an hour or so. We were all pretty contained under the tent (we made the occasional outing to go to the “bar” and get another drink).
At one point, the weather got so bad that we thought we were in the middle of a monsoon or something. The walls of the tent were blowing, it started hailing golf-ball sized hail, and the wind and rain were whipping through, sand was blowing… it was a mess. But then, in the middle of all that, we could see sun. And next? A beautiful rainbow appeared. It was pretty amazing.
And after that? It turned into a beautiful evening. The rain took the humidity away, and we had sunshine. Sounds a lot like our wedding day, actually (minus the outdoor ceremony and reception, haha).
Michael and Mike
One thing that people should definitely know about us: We are big football fans. And our team is the Buffalo Bills.
It’s OK. You don’t have to feel sorry for us. We’re really used to the losing by now. ;)
Tonight we went to the kickoff party for the Buffalo Bills Training Camp. We got to enjoy good food, and a meet and greet time with the players. We took my sister-in-law, who is 17 years old and a huge fan, with us. Here are a few of the photos we got tonight.
Cristina and me
Michael and me
Michael and Cristina with Coach Jauron
Michael and me with Paul Posluzny
With Donte Whitner. He was a cool guy and seemed very down to earth.
Cristina with Lee Evans, a wide receiver for the team.
Us with Lee Evans.
Terrence McGee!
About
I'm Heather. I'm 33 and have been married to Michael for seven years. Together, we have two beautiful little girls we love more than anything, and a miniature dachshund who drives us crazy. I'm a full-time working mom who has very little time for my own "stuff" these days, like home improvement, cooking/baking, cake decorating, and photography. Despite the team not making the playoffs since 1999, I'm STILL a Buffalo Bills fan, which I think speaks to my loyalty AND sense of humor. I can't wait to pick up the pace with travel again some day... you know, when we're done being ruled by tiny fists. Welcome to my blog.
