Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Chili

I must thank Pinterest for this recipe, as I often do. I love getting recipes off there. Slow cookers make life so much easier and keep my husband happy. This recipe was no exception. I will definitely be doing it again.

I added sour cream and cheese to the top, and it was incredible!

Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Chili
Servings: 10

1 onion, chopped
1 16-oz can black beans
1 16-oz can kidney beans
1 8-oz can tomato sauce
2 cans whole kernal corn
2 14.5-oz cans diced tomatoes w/chilies
1 packet taco seasoning
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp chili powder
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
chopped fresh cilantro

Combine first 9 ingredients in your slow cooker. Place chicken on top and cover. Cook on low for 10 hours or on high for 6 hours. Half an hour before serving, remove chicken and shred. Return chicken to slow cooker and stir in. Top with fresh cilantro. For added flavor (but also added calories) top with sour cream and cheese. It may be more fattening, but it tastes so good!

Organizing: Kitchen Storage Boxes

This is another project that I did using unfinished craft wood from Hobby Lobby, but if I did it again I would have my husband make the boxes. These were quick and easy creations, but they far beat the cardboard boxes that each of these items are packaged in at the store. I painted them to match my accent colors, added a little ribbon, and cut three layers of letters out of cardstock with my Cricut. Stacking three layers on top of each other gave them a more 3-D look.

Organizing: Coffee Container Boxes

My craft post yesterday showed the containers I made to store my coffee. Today I'm showing the boxes I made to house my coffee jars. I bought these boxes in the unfinished craft wood section at Hobby Lobby during a week they were on sale, but if I made them again I would just have my husband build them. I painted the inside and trim with the colors I use as my main accent colors in our great room. Then I decoupaged scrapbook paper onto the outside. I'm still working to perfect my decoupage technique as it is an artform, and I do not have enough experience with it. But I did the best I could. Then I took a sponge applicator and dabbed brown paint onto the edges in an attempt to make each side fade into it's edge. I hung them on the wall and placed my coffee jars in them. Bonus... the top one hides our thermostat.

From the side you hardly even notice the thermostat. It used to stick out on that wall like a sore thumb.

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Notice on the decaf jars I flip-flopped the colors. That way we don't mistakingly grab the wrong one and end up staying awake all night. I recently got a new Cricut cartridge that has coffee on it, so I will add a coffee dye cut under the words "decaf coffee" to complete the look.

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Here is a close-up of the sides and edges:

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Organizing: Coffee Containers

Hi, my name is Whitney, and I am a coffee addict.

Yes, it's true. My education is in exercise science and kinesiology, and I have an addiction to coffee. Not just coffee... coffee with cream and sugar. For the most part, we use organic coffee beans that we grind ourselves (although I do like Dunkin Donuts coffee from time to time). I sweeten my coffee with organic evaporated cane juice, and I cream it up with a bit of organic 2% milk from grass fed and finished cows. Better? This particular post is for my craft section of the site, though, so that's enough talk about the nutrition side.

I get tired of the ugly bags of coffee sitting around. If there's one thing I don't like in the kitchen, it's some of the ugly packaging that food comes in (or in the case of organic coffee, the brown bag you put it in when you buy it in bulk at Whole Foods, Fresh Market, or straight from a farmer). There's no point in throwing away (or taking to the recycle bin) jars you got from store bought items. You can always use them for something, and I ALWAYS do. I never, ever get rid of them! These coffee containers came from spaghetti jars. I used scrapbook paper, ribbon, and letter stickers to give my coffee some cute containers worthy of setting out for all to see. Bonus... it keeps your coffee fresh for much longer!

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Breakfast Banana Split

This has become one of my favorite breakfasts. It is so quick and easy to make, it tastes really good, and it's good for you!

Ingredients:
1 ~ Banana
1/2 cup-ish ~ Cottage Cheese
2 tbsp.-ish ~ Strawberry Preserves (or any preserves of your choice)
Dash of Sea Salt
2 tbsp.-ish ~ Peanuts
2 tsp.-ish ~ Flax seeds

Take one banana and slice it in two lengthwise. Put the pieces in a dish as shown. Drop a couple of dobs of cottage cheese on it (the amount may vary depending on your taste). Dabble some preserves of your choice on top of the cottage cheese. My favorite is strawberry. Grind a bit of sea salt on top. Sprinkle a few peanuts and flax seeds on the top.

Super yummy, easy, healthy, and the flax seeds add some much needed fiber. Enjoy!

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Tilapia Roll-Ups

I found this recipe in a magazine (unfortunately I cannot remember which one) that specializes in natural, whole, organic foods. My husband and stepson both used to eat very healthy, but they had gotten into a rut of eating very unhealthy. I decided I needed to find some recipes that would be healthy, yet taste good enough to make them want the healthy meal over the unhealthy one. This was the perfect recipe for that! They both loved it!

If you're seeing this shortly after I originally post it, I will not have the recipe on here yet. I am redoing my office, and some of my recipes are under a pile of things that need to be refiled. I'll get it on here soon, though. For now, here's the picture to wet your whistle.

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Monkey Cupcakes

To go along with the monkey theme of the baby shower from the past couple of days, I made some monkey cupcakes. The first couple of them didn't turn out how I hoped, but they got better with each one I did. I was happy with the end result.

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