Ingredients:

• Chicken
• Baby Potatoes
• Spice Mix
  • Smoked Paprika
  • Garlic
  • Onion Powder
  • Salt
  • Pepper
• Olive Oil

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Make a spice mix from the smoked paprika, garlic, onion powder, salt and pepper.
• Rub the chicken with olive oil and the spice mix.
• Put the potatoes on a pan and drizzle with olive oil.
• Place the chicken on the pan.
• Bake for an hour or until the internal temp of the thickest part of the breasts are at least 165 degrees.
• Remove from oven and let items rest for 10 minutes.
• Serve & Enjoy!

Notes:

• I love a good one pan meal and this is no exception.
• You can use whatever spices you want to create your spice mix.

Now that we have everything plated up, I let the boys in on a little secret…we are going to eat with our hands! They totally flipped and I may have just become the coolest mom ever!! As a reminder…make sure you have LOTS of napkins ready to go! You are going to need them!

Next up, I made a delicious spiced wine for the adults. This is super easy to make and a tasty adult beverage to SPICE the fun fare up a bit!

Ingredients:

• Red Wine
• 2 Cups Pomegranate Juice
• Orange Zest
• Sliced Oranges
• Knob of Ginger
• Cinnamon Stick
• 1/4 – 1/2 Cup Sugar (optional to taste)

Directions:

• In a large stockpot, combine all ingredients.
• Simmer the spiced wine for 30+ mins.
• Pour into your favorite wine glass.
• Enjoy!

Notes:

• You can let this simmer all day as it smells amazing!!!
• I LOVE my Rachel Ray stockpot and I know you will too!

We had a blast eating dinner with our hands and laughing our heads off while going through a TON of napkins. Maybe next time we’ll add some good old fashioned jousting after dinner. So, to all me Lords and me Ladies, we hope you will all enjoy this savory fare with your family and friends!

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Ingredients:

• Dark Chocolate Cake Mix
• Cream Cheese Frosting
• Edible Silver Spray
• Red Food Coloring

Directions:

• Mix the Dark Chocolate Cake Mix batter according to the directions on the box and use a cookie scoop (or two tablespoons) to measure out even cookies.
• They took about 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees.
• Once they’ve cooled completely, the fun part can begin!

• I used a tiny round cookie cutter and two straws to give some shapes and dimension to our Death Stars.

• Using the Edible Silver Spray, give them a quick coat and move on to the next whoopie pie top.
• I made 24 pieces, and decorated 12 tops.

• I added some red food coloring to the store bought frosting because the Death Star is the epitome of the dark side, after all.
• You could certainly flip the cookies so they’re flat on the outsides, but I thought the rounded tops would make for a great Death Star shape.
• Spread the frosting on the bottom and top with the decorated tops.

• Come to the dark side.
• We have Whoopie Pies!

• That’s no moon!

We certainly love to geek out and watch Star Wars shows and movies at any time of the year, but especially for Star Wars Day! We hope the Force is strong with you and your family!

Find Out More with MyMilitarySavings.com and Food & Drink!

Crockpot Applesauce

• 3 lbs of your favorite apples. We used Fuji apples
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
• 2 cinnamon sticks

Peel and core your apples and then place them in the crockpot. Add the lemon juice and cinnamon sticks.

Cook on low for 8 hours, stirring occasionally. The apples will break down. Your house will smell amazing. AMAZING.

The applesauce will keep in the fridge for at least a week, but I guarantee it won’t last that long! You can serve it cold or slightly warmed and it is so delicious. So much better than store bought applesauce! It’s naturally sweet and slightly cinnamon-y and perfect. Serve it with your coffee in the morning. Dish some up for a healthy afternoon snack, or add some brown sugar and it becomes apple pie filling! Top it with ice cream or make it into a cobbler. The possibilities are endless.

Bring your kids into the kitchen and try some today!

Start off with 1-1/2 pound of chicken breasts and about half a bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce. I also added garlic powder and a little smoked paprika. If you’re starting with frozen chicken, cook on low for 6-8 hours. If they’re thawed, they should only take 4-6 hours. This recipe will serve 4-6 people.

Let them simmer away in the Crockpot all day while you’re busy with life! Shred the chicken with two forks and let it soak up all that wonderful BBQ goodness.

Gather your salad toppings. My kids love the toppings more than the actual salad so I make sure to have a good mixture of veggies and proteins. I used cucumber, tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, crumbled bacon (store bought to save time!) and shredded cheese.

Layer your toppings with the shredded chicken on a bed of mixed greens. How pretty is that? You can use extra BBQ sauce as your dressing or your favorite salad dressing. I’m a ranch girl myself! Even better, you can mix a little BBQ sauce in the ranch for an all new salad dressing. YUM!

By letting your Crockpot do the work, you can have dinner on the table in 20 minutes! Serve with a crusty french loaf or even garlic bread and you’re good to go! Enjoy!

I like to use two long sheets of foil placed on top of each other to make a “t.” This way you have enough room on each side to roll it up with spillage. Starting with your veggie (or veggies) lay those on the bottom with a drizzle of your favorite cooking oil (tonight I used avocado oil, but olive oil works great too!) A sprinkling of salt and thinly sliced lemon go on before your protein.

I had some frozen wild caught salmon fillets that I thawed and were seasoned with garlic, onion, paprika, salt and pepper. You can choose your favorite fish and your favorite seasonings. Even a marinade or sauce would work great in these! I topped the salmon with two more pieces of thinly sliced lemon.

Four packets ready to go to the grill! Preheat your grill and cook over medium heat.

These bad boys took TEN MINUTES! That’s it! Depending your protein, of course, it may take longer. If you’re using chicken or pork, check on it periodically. It was so nice to have dinner out on the picnic table in 30 minutes!

Happy grilling, y’all!

For the first little snack, I used vanilla wafers, peanut butter, and sliced bananas.

Some of the banana sandwiches I rolled in sprinkles, which the boys loved! They’re sweet and creamy and crunchy. Perfect combo!

The next snack is super simple and really delicious! Salty ritz crackers topped with cookie butter (YES, I said cookie butter!) strawberry jam, and fresh strawberry slices. This sweet and salty combo is a WINNER!

The boys were very excited for some new and different after school snacks. I think this we’ll give us the boost we need to get us through these last few weeks! I hope your kids enjoy them just as much as we did! Perfect for feeding a crowd of hungry kids! These would easily work as a quick dessert as well!

One of my other favorite things (besides raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens… ha) is simple craft projects that look chic and trick you into thinking that it took a lot more effort than it really did. It’s like finding a fantabulous outfit from the thrift store that cost you $10 but you wear it and feel like a million. Ya know?! This Birch Tree Canvas is exactly that… an insanely easy craft that I think looks store-worthy once it’s finished. I’m pretty sure I would have bought this if I found it at my favorite craft spot and didn’t know any better, that it can simply be recreated! So. The cat is out of the bag. Save your moola and craft this up yourself!

The trick to EASY birch trees is an old credit card. Or ID card. Or whatever card you don’t need anymore. You use this to scrape black paint along the edges of your trees. Bam. Whoda thunk?? Stay with me here… I’ll explain it all.

This is what you’ll need for this project:

• A canvas (I used an 18″x24″)
• Painters tape or masking tape
• An old credit card
• Acrylic paint in colors of your choice (for the background) and black (for the trees)

The how to:

1) Place tape down to create your tree trunks. Stick two pieces side by side to create thicker trunks, place some at a slant, and even crisscross one or two to add a little depth to the picture. Turn your canvas over once this is done and smooth it out firmly to make sure the tape is adhered completely at the edges.

2) Paint the background of your picture. You may choose to use bold colors, a pigment that matches the color scheme in your room, or a neutral tone. I chose a very light grey but decided to do a reverse ombré at the bottom with darker grey colors.

I had grey acrylic paint but decided that I wanted a much lighter shade for my background so I added white to the grey to create the perfect color. To create the reverse ombré I added black to the plain grey acrylic paint to mix the darkest shade that I wanted to have at the very bottom of my canvas. I dabbed this dark grey color at the very bottom and blended it upwards with a dry paintbrush. I then added a touch of white to that dark grey paint to lighten it a bit and I painted this color right above the dark grey on my canvas, again blending upwards with a dry brush and blending down as well. I added a touch of white twice more and repeated that process until I had created the look I wanted. This reverse ombré reminds me of peering through the forest and seeing the sunlight pierce the sky towards the top of the canvas, but as you look deeper into the forest and lower towards the ground the light diminishes and it is more damp, cold, and earthy. Man, I can almost smell it. Tree hugger here, I told ya!

3) Once your background has dried, remove the strips of tape. If you crisscrossed any, only remove the top strip at this point.

4) Begin painting with your credit card! The fun part Before attempting this on your canvas I would suggest a few practice strokes on a piece of paper to understand how exactly this works. It all depends on how hard you press, how much paint you apply, how far you smear, etc. It’s simple, don’t get me wrong, but practice never hurts. As you see in the photo below, apply paint to the edge of your card and then place the card straight down on your canvas at the edge of your tree trunk. Then turn the card sideways and smear inwards.

Play around with the paint. If you add a lot to your card, you will end up with thicker smudges. You will want to alternate between both thick and thin paint to get a realistic birch tree look.

5) If you had crisscrossed any tape to give the appearance of a tree resting behind another tree, you should still have that last piece of tape on your canvas as I described in step 3. Once all of your tree trunks have been painted you will then remove that final tape strip and paint it as well. This will become the tree trunk that is farthest in front.

Step 6) Once your paint has dried, you will have a beauty similar to this! Now you can stop here or you can choose to add a little decorative heart like I did, perhaps with your name or your and your spouse’s initials? You know, like a carving in a tree that young sweethearts tend to do.

I actually already have a tree painting with my husband’s and my initials (but it isn’t a birch tree… aha!) so I decided to add a heart with our anniversary date instead. I traced it with pencil on the largest area of tree trunk that was unpainted and I used a small paintbrush and gold acrylic paint to cover it.

NOW my masterpiece was finished!

Let’s be honest – I never would have thought to paint trees with a card until I came across Angela Anderson’s blog (view it here). I know artist knives exist for similar reasons of just slabbing paint on a canvas (like, to add dimension to a mountain or something… google Bob Ross, you’ll see what I’m sayin’!) but this handy dandy card technique had me in awe. Now the possibilities are endless… I have so many ideas fluttering through my head! Stay tuned and perhaps I’ll be sharing more soon!

For more DIY projects and fun family crafts, visit MyMilitarySavings.com!

This recipe is REALLY easy and super cost effective! In the Crockpot add 4-6 boneless skinless chicken breasts and 1 cup of Caesar dressing. That. Is. It! I used 6 breasts and it made dinner PLUS lunch tomorrow for my family of four! It’s super easy to customize the size to your needs. The chicken was thawed so I cooked them on low for about 5 hours. If you’re starting with frozen chicken, cook them for about 7-8 hours on low.

Shred the chicken with two forks and let it sit for about 5-10 minutes to thicken up a bit. If you’re watching your carbs, serve the chicken on a bed of veggies for an awesome Caesar salad! We wrapped ours in large flour tortillas stuffed with romaine lettuce, sliced cucumber, shredded cheese, and a little extra caesar dressing.

Fill them with your favorite fillings, wrap ’em up and serve them with some tasty chips for a new family favorite dinner! These wraps will definitely be going in our weekly meal rotation.

Some variations: Use ranch dressing and fill your wraps with bacon and cheese for yummy Chicken, Bacon, Ranch wraps! Or you could add buffalo sauce and bleu cheese for some Kickin’ Chicken wraps. Let me know how you decide to dress up your wraps in the comments below!

The Stacey’s are leaving North Carolina shortly and I am finding food in my freezer that needs to be eaten. I found sausage, clams, and shrimp and my daughter decided she wanted soup. We decided to make BBQ packets instead. Soup would have been good, if not for the 100* weather happening. BBQing means that the kitchen stays cooler with no oven running. This new recipe will certainly stay on our monthly menu!

Ingredients Needed:

• 8 Sausage Links
• 1 Pound Raw Shrimp
• 1 Pound Clams
• 2 Cups Sliced Mushrooms
• 1 Onion
• 1/2 Cup Sauteed Garlic
• 1 Lemon
• 2 Ears of Corn
• 10 Small Red Potatoes
• 4 Tablespoons Creole Seasonings
• Tin Foil

Start by cutting up the onion.

In a large bowl, add the onions.

Slice each baby potato into four even chunks.

Add to the bowl.

Shuck the corn.

Break each ear into two. Set aside.

Slice the lemon into eight equal parts. Set aside.

Slice the sausages into bite sized chunks.

Add to the bowl.

Add the mushrooms to the bowl.

Add the garlic.

Add the shrimp.

Add the clams.

Sprinkle the seasonings evenly over the mix.

Mix well.

On a large sheet of foil, add four scoops of the creoled mixture. Top with two lemon slices and one piece of corn.

Fold the tinfoil into a packet form. Making sure to close the sides well.

Continue with the rest of the bowl. It will make four foil packets.

Pre-heat the grill to 450*.

Add the packets to the bottom rack.

BBQ for 25 minutes.

Wait for five minutes before opening.

Finally, plate the mixture in a shallow plate, so you can enjoy the juices.

All three kids ate seconds!

Enjoy food and enjoy cooking Y’all!~

O

Our family loves Friday night meal time. We love fun, fast, flavorful meals that have a crunch. It is perfectly ripe avocado season and the tomatoes are growing like wildfires on the vine, so this meal almost made itself. Thanks to my friend Jewel, the bacon is weaved so every bite gets bacon. There is no better BLT. At least not in this household. I promise there is a science to how the sandwich is layered. The kids love it and could eat two or three sandwiches a piece. Plus, adding a dash of California to our meal never hurt anyone!~

Ingredients Needed:

1 Pound Bacon

12 Slices Thin White Bread

1 Large Heirloom Tomato

4 Thick Iceberg Lettuce Leaves

2 Haas Avocados

1/2 Cup Mayonnaise

Pre-heat the oven to 400*.

Place the bacon in a large dish.

Slice down the middle.

Get your largest, most sturdiest baking sheet. (Mine is so well loved, but I will not part with her!)

Wrap it is tin-foil.

Start with three strips of bacon, horizontally.

Take one single strip, along the bottom, weave it in and out.

Do the same with another strip, in the middle.

Finally, finishing with a third strip across the top.

You will have enough bacon from a pound of meat to do four weaves.

Invert a baking rack over the top of the weaved bacon. Bake for 20 minutes.

Let cool for 5 minutes on paper towels.

Prepare your tomatoes. Slicing them paper thin.

Grab the avocados and one bowl and one plate.

Slice one avocado in half. Slice into thin strips.

With the second avocado scoop out the meat into a bowl.

Mash with a fork.

Take the bread and toast all twelve slices.

Take one slice of bread and smear one slice with mayonnaise and one slice with mashed avocado.

Add the bacon weave to the avocado smear.

Top with the untouched toasted slice of bread. Top with tomato.

Top with avocado slices.

Top with lettuce.

Invert the mayonnaise side down toast.

Slice diagonally.

You can pair it with a soup, chips, or have it alone.

Enjoy food and enjoy cooking Y’all!~