My First Color Throwdown Challenge — Yellow, Green & Aqua

My First Color Throwdown Challenge — Yellow, Green & Aqua

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color challenge

Here’s a super simple little card I whipped up this morning for the newest Color Throwdown Challenge. This is a first for me, but one of the awesome paper crafters I follow is a guest designer this month so I thought I would give this challenge a go.

This week’s inspiration colors are green, yellow and aqua and a quick survey of my 6×6 paper stash netted me just the right color combination with The Basics Stack by DCWV. This stack is full of geometric patterns in loads of basic colors, so I was able to piece together a very simple design that still has texture and interest. I did create the yellow tag using a paper from Studio Calico’s South of Market stack, because that piece of scrap paper was lying on my work table and just happened to be the right color. I just love it when I can use up some scraps!

I also added more visual interest by adding some green and white baker’s twine, a dash of Stickles and a little yellow hootie-do. It’s a simple but fun creation that’s sure to brighten anyone’s day.

Barbeque Pulled Chicken and Homemade Buns, Hun

Barbeque Pulled Chicken and Homemade Buns, Hun

Posted on by Mama

pulledchicken

Now these are some good buns, hun (it had to be said)! My latest bread machine creation is a winner, so I just had to brag a bit, but I’m also sharing one of my favorite go-to recipes with all of you so please forgive me for being so pleased with myself. I just get super excited when a new recipe tastes like it should when it comes from my kitchen. . . sad, I know.

I made hamburger buns using the dough-only setting on my bread machine and came up with some of the tastiest (fresh and preservative-free) buns we’ve ever had in this house. So a couple of them were a little large, but most of them turned out like. . . well, buns; and when I added my barbeque pulled chicken into the mix a delicious family-pleasing meal was born.

You can print the chicken recipe below; but first, here’s a quick how-to for the buns. I used the Butter Roll recipe that came with my bread machine using the dough-only option so that everything mixed together properly but didn’t cook. I then shaped the buns by pulling apart small wads of dough and making bun-shaped rolls on a piece of parchment paper. I let the buns rise and then cooked them at 350 degrees for approximately 20 minutes. When they were done, I sliced them in half and stored the leftovers in the refrigerator. . . and the tuna salad I had on a bun a couple of days later was also delicious.

Okay, so the buns were a bonus, but here’s the best part of this meal — the barbeque pulled chicken. I discovered this recipe a couple of years ago and have tweaked it a bit along the way. My family loves this stuff and it’s also easy to whip up a large batch when people are coming for dinner. So here’s the recipe. I hope you enjoy!

Barbeque Pulled Chicken
Serves 8
A chicken recipe that tastes similar to pulled pork (the other white meat). 🙂
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Ingredients
  1. 6-8 frozen skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (thawed)
  2. 1 large bottle barbeque sauce (28 oz)
  3. 1/4 c Italian salad dressing
  4. 1/4 c brown sugar
  5. 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Instructions
  1. Place the thawed chicken breasts in a crockpot.
  2. In a separate bowl, mix up all the other ingredients.
  3. Cover the chicken with this mixture.
  4. Cook in crockpot, approx. 6-8 hours on low or 3-4 hours on high. Please use recommended chicken standards when deciding how long to cook this dish.
  5. When the chicken is completely cooked, use two forks to pull it apart.
  6. Serve hot on hamburger buns.
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Blue Ribbon Pickles

Blue Ribbon Pickles

Posted on by Mama

blue ribbon

blue ribbon picklesThis summer has been super busy, but somehow I did find a few minutes to enter some items in our local Platte County Fair (the longest continuously running county fair west of the Mississippi River, mind you) and this year I came home with two blue ribbons. I was so excited!

I entered a jar of dill pickle spears, yup that’s them with their blue ribbon right there, but I was hoping to enter a jar of our yummy hamburger dills also. Unfortunately, when I went to grab a jar I discovered my husband had eaten every last one. Yes, my husband ate my fair entry, but he did apologize and added, “If it’s any consolation, you should have won a blue ribbon. They were delicious.” Okay, so I don’t have a shiny new ribbon to show for it, but I’ll take that vote of approval.

If you want to give your own husband-pleasing pickles a go, you should try the hamburger dill canning recipe here at Small Talk Mama.

I also entered three photos in the fair, one of which brought home a blue. This photo of a female cardinal braving a winter storm is one of my favorites from our back porch. I’m so glad the judges liked it too.

MamaCardinal2

There are so many reasons I love to participate in the county fair, but one of my fondest is that I think my Nannie would be so proud. My grandmother, we called her Nannie, entered her own county fair each year and earned oodles of ribbons throughout her life. Before she passed I consistently ogled her latest blue ribbon projects each fall; so when my husband and I moved to a county that hosted its own fair, I decided to carry on the tradition. My first thought in the exhibit hall this year was that I hoped I made my Nannie proud.

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