Crockpot Mango Salsa Chicken

This recipe was entirely experimental. I had some foods I needed to use up and I wanted to try an all original recipe that I had never even considered before. Surprisingly, this turned out great! 

What you'll need:

2-3 chicken breasts, frozen

1/2 jar salsa (I used homemade salsa, that was chunkier)

1/4 jar of "super spicy" salsa (also homemade)

1 mango

1/4 cup water

How to do it:

1. In a crockpot, add all your ingredients. Dice mango before adding it to the mixture.

2. Cook on low for about 6-8 hours. Stir occasionally, and poke chicken with a fork during the cooking process to allow chicken to get moist and juicy.

3. Let sit for 20-30 mins on "keep warm", to allow the fruit juice to sweeten and to thicken.

4. Serve and enjoy!

Other Serving suggestions:

We ate it as was with chips. Little Dude loved it that way, but we decided if we were to ever make it again, we'd serve it on top of a salad or with other fresh food items, like green beans or oranges for a real flavor burst.

If you have any other serving suggestions, please add them in the comments below! 

Mani Monday: Purple

I've apparently been playing around with PicMonkey lately...and my backgrounds. 

I couldn't not post it...this is fantastic.
It's an awkward family photo of mani mondays.

BTW, this color is a beautiful color by Revlon. No idea what color it is, half the label is missing, including the color on the bottom.
Thats what you get for shopping at Wal-Mart. 

Fried Pickles Recipe

Over the weekend we had a football Sunday when Green Bay played the 49ers. My husband had requested football food in honor of this game, so I took to the kitchen, making some of our favorites: oven baked fries, chipotle raspberry wings, and then, when discovering an unopened jar of pickles, decided to make fried pickles.

If you've never had them before you may not like them. The first time I had them they were similar to this, and every time after it they were terrible. I'll tell you what makes them disgusting: corn meal or corn starch. Keep the corn away from this recipe kids. 

What you will need:

1 egg

1 cup flour

1 cup beer (I used Pabst)

Pickle Chips - I did both sweet and dill and they were great!

Oil for frying

1. Mix all your ingredients into a bowl. The beer will cause the batter to fizz for some time, so set aside, wait for fizz to dissolve and then stir some more. 

2. Remove your pickles from the jar and start to pat them dry using a paper towel. Set aside until batter is mixed well.

3. In a skillet pour some oil in and start to heat it up- medium heat works best. It will take a few moments to heat up, so you can dry more pickles at this time.

4. You'll need to create your own routine here to limit the mess - You'll dip a pickle into the batter, then drop it into the oil. Continue, doing about 5 pickles at a time. It'll take about two minutes for one side to cook.
5. Flip pickles and let cook for a few more moments. Prepare a plate with paper towels and once cooked, transfer pickles onto the plate. Repeat until all pickles are cooked.
6. Let cool and serve with dill ranch sauce or serve plain, which is just as delicious.

Enjoy!

Jolly Voxbox Review

I feel so lucky to have gotten some goodies from Influenster in the Jolly Voxbox. Let me start by saying - it was a PERFECT treat for me, after dealing with the INSANE holidays! Check out these fantastic treats that were tucked inside that beautiful pink box!

Skinny Cow Divine Chocolates

A chocolate treat I can use to help keep my diet up? YES PLEASE. If you've never had these before you'll want to pick some up and try them out - and better yet, they come 3 to a pack, with 6 pouches in a box. That is a lot of great chocolate! 

Ducktape Duckings

Basically the cutest thing ever, and something that I can use EVERYWHERE. I've already found uses for this adorable tape at home, at work and in our car. I need more Ducklings!

NYC Color Trio in HD.

I needed a new eyeshadow pallette, and this one has not failed me yet! It is perfect for the "subtle" makeup I have to wear to work, and it works great for my day to day makeup, making it more than perfect.
You and I both know I'll be picking up more palettes soon from NYC!

Puffs Plus Lotion

As a mommy these have been a lifesaver when it comes to being on the go during the holidays! We've already used this whole pack and are planning on getting more. They are super soft, don't shred apart and are durable, all things we need!

Rimmel London Show Off Lip Laquer

While it's not my favorite (its actually a pretty dry formula), I do love the color! Its not only pink, but has an orange hue to it, which is such a fun color for spring! You'll be seeing more of this soon! 

Thank you to Influenster for sending me the goodies! I love being an Influenster and testing out these fantastic products! 

I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes.

December IPSY Glam Bag Review

I always love makeup and beauty bags during holiday seasons. December's bag was no different! Come see!

English Laundry Signature scents
The only thing I don't like about these is that they leaked in transit and the whole bag smelled like it. A little bit of perfume isn't bad...but a half a bottle leaked? Yeah, thats stinky. Either way, seperated from the bag, they smell light, and fantastic. 

JCat - the BIG Lip Pencil
In the last few month's I've gotten an insane amount of lip crayons, pencils, and deep red lipsticks. I was bummed at first to see another lip pencil in my bag, until I tried it out and realized it wasn't a deep red, but a lighter, prettier red! I was so excited to wear it and it has been my holiday go-to look since!

POP Eyeshadow Palette
I adore these colors and was so excited to see them in a palette. These are the colors I aim for with my daily makeup for work and errands, so I was really excited to try out this palette this month!

Be a Bombshell Blush
While I usually don't wear blush, I've been wearing this for holiday parties, and I love it! I can't wait to try it out for date nights soon!

Starrily Bzzz Bzzz nail polish

I love this color combo. I ended up layering it with some gold underneath to create a fun look and got compliments for days about my mani. I just love this color combo!

If you love the products you see above and want to also sign up to get some goodies, check out this link and do it! You'll love it!

Jane's Outrageous Chocolate Cookies

I have a co-worker who makes the BEST desserts in the world. She's also probably the skinniest person I know, which makes her dessert making quite ironic. She always knows which recipes are best for cookies, cakes and brownies, and when she brings some into work it gets chaotic because everyone knows, she makes the best. When I asked for her cookie recipe, I wasn't entirely sure she'd hand it over, but sure enough she did! Here it is folks, the best chocolate cookies in the world!

What you'll need:
8 oz semi sweet chocolate - chopped
4 tbs unsalted butter
2/3 cups all purpose flour, spooned and leveled
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 package semi sweet chocolate chunks

How to do it:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a microwave safe bowl, mix chopped chocolate and butter, 20 seconds at a time, stirring in between until almost melted. In a seperate bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt.
2. In a mixing bowl, beat eggs, brown sugar and vanilla on high speed until light and fluffy. Reduce speed and mix in melted chocolate. Then, add flour mixture. Finally add in the chocolate chunks.
3. Drop quarter sized amounts of dough onto baking sheets. Bake, until cookies are shiny and crackly (about 12 minutes, flipping halfway though), transfer to cooling racks to cool seperately. 

This will make about 17 cookies...and you'll only share about three of them.
Serve and enjoy!

Broiled Grapefruit

I had originally seen this as a pin on Pinterest, but it had no link to it. Bummed, I took to the internet to find out how to make these...after all, I had been given a few for the holidays and we need to use them up before they go bad. Come to find out, broiled grapefruit is very popular in the south, and very easy to make.
Here's how.

Cut your grapefruit in half (I did fourths because I was sharing with a toddler). Cover each half in 1 teaspoon of brown sugar. Place in the oven on broil and cook for 3-6 minutes.
Let cool, serve, and enjoy!