Shredded Chicken {Slow Cooker Version}

So, I have been on a journey to find...

the perfect shredded chicken. 

Yep, ya heard me! I feel like shredded chicken can be a bit intimidating compared to baked chicken or grilled chicken. 

I always worry about if the chicken will be cooked through enough, which ALWAYS results in me overcooking it. And then my poor hubby has to eat dry chicken. Yuck.

But this recipe. 

Oh this recipe. 

So simple. And the chicken was perfect. 

Shredded Chicken {Slow Cooker Version}

Shopping List

1. Chicken breasts {fresh or frozen. Frozen chicken breasts will not need the water}

2. 1/4 cup-1/2 cup of water

3. Salt and pepper to taste

Recipe

1. Set your slow cooker to low. Place your chicken breasts in there. {I like to wash and pat dry mine first if they are fresh}.

2. Sprinkle on salt and pepper.

3. Cook for 4 hours.

4. Get fancy! Enjoy!

I can't wait to hear what y'all use this simple recipe for! Tomorrow night, we are using it for Pesto Caprese Chicken Flatbreads {Don't worry, the recipe is coming!}.

I also use this for tacos/burritos/enchiladas, chicken salad, chicken bowls, and everything in between! 

Hooray for an easy dinner! 

Have a great dinner with your tribe :)

Chicken Fajitas

You guys... make a double batch of these. You'll thank me later when your neighbors, and friends, and coworkers come knocking on your door because they can smell the goodness from miles away!

We ate on these leftovers for 5 days. It was that good! I originally put them in tortillas and topped mine with sour cream (my man likes salsa instead). But then for leftovers, I made breakfast burritos out of them (warmed them in a skillet, poured in some scrambled eggs, topped with crunchy bacon in a hot tortilla with a little bit of sour cream and salsa), and I also made a yummy salad out of it (greens, heated chicken fajitas, southwest dressing, southwest tortilla strips, mexican cheese).

So, now that you got the low down, let's get onto this winning recipe :)

Chicken Fajitas

Shopping List

1. 1 lb. of chicken breasts (we do organic)

2. 1 onion, sliced

3. 1 green bell pepper, sliced

4. 1 red bell pepper, sliced

5. 1 can of rotel

6. 3 cloves of garlic, minced

7. 1 tbs. of chili powder

8. 1 tsp. of cumin

9. 1 tsp. of onion powder

10. 1 tsp. of garlic powder

11. 1/2 tsp. of cayenne pepper

12. Salt and pepper to taste

Recipe

1. Wash and pat dry your chicken breasts. Set them aside. 

2. Turn on your slow cooker to low and layer in half of your bell peppers, half of your onion slices, half of your garlic, and half of your rotel.

3. Mix together all your seasonings (7-12) and coat your chicken breasts on both sides generously with them. 

4. Layer in your chicken breasts in your slow cooker. Cover them with the rest of your bell peppers, onions, garlic, and rotel.

5. Cook on low for 4 hours, shred your chicken, and then cook it for another 30 minutes. 

6. Enjoy!

Seriously one of the best meals we've had to date :)

Friday Favorites

I have a LOT of favorites this week. And for that, I am so excited!!!

Wait till you hear these! They're so fun. And you may get some ideas to try during this next week!

Friday Favorites!

One

This may sound like a silly favorite, but the post I wrote yesterday (it's a bit of a long one) has seriously improved my heart. 

Just being able to get the words out on 'paper' really is helping heal me. Please let me know if you have any questions on it (I will answer them!) or if you are going through a similar situation, let's help each other heal!

Healing is exhausting. But it is so worth it. 

So worth it.

If you haven't seen the post, you can find it here. 

Two

Just along with the whole post thing... I must say, we have some pretty interesting posts that went up this week over here at The Fashionista Housewife :)

Especially because I've started a new series. Called Makeup Mondays!

Makeup Mondays will be about anything and everything makeup! I have some detailed makeup looks coming your way, as well as some tips/tricks and how to's! I mean, come on. Who doesn't love makeup? And if you don't, I promise, you can still find something useful in these posts. 

Can't wait to hear what y'all think of these!

Here's the new posts of the week. 

I'll link them for you here. 

Monday: Makeup Monday: How To Clean Your Makeup Brushes

Tuesday: Cookie Dough Hot Chocolate

Wednesday: Polar Express Night and Polar Express Hot Cocoa

Thursday: Dealing With Grief

Three:

Sweet Cole comes home tomorrow!! And can I express to you how excited I am?!!! 

No I cannot :)

He's such a little nugget! 

Cole is the smallest of the bunch by 3 pounds (that's a lot in puppy world!)

This pic was taken right after he decided to go swimming in his breakfast food! 

He can literally step into the bowl with all four paws and walk around. That's how tiny that little cutie is. 

I cannot wait to pick up our baby!

Four

These lipglosses!!! Hello!!!

Gorgeous! 

I will be doing an in depth Makeup Monday post on them this coming monday. Keep a look out for that fun post :)

Can I just say obsessed?! 

These are from a gift set by Anastasia Beverly Hills. It's 8 full size lip glosses that retail for $16 a piece. 

The gift set sells for $40 making each lipgloss only $5! You really can't even beat that! 

Just take my word for it. You need these!

You can find these at Macys in the Impulse makeup section, or on her website here.

I'm wearing the shade Weekend Barbie.

Five

My favorite songs for the week! I just love jammin' to these beats. Mainly what gets me to love a song is when the voices harmonize, a catchy beat, and when the artist gets really passionate about the song (about 3/4 of the way through a song).

Check out some of these fun songs :)

1. Forever Like That by Ben Rector

2. Break Up In a Small Town by Sam Hunt

3. Roses by Chainsmokers

4. My House by Flo Rida

5. God Blessed Texas by Little Texas

We used to line dance to that last one in college all the time. I still have my dancin' boots too. Not to toot my own horn or anything...

But I was good ;)

Six

I have some AH-MAZING recipes comin' your way this week!

Are you ready for 'em? 

Here's a sneak peek...

... and that's about all I can say. Because otherwise my mouth will start watering, and I won't be able to keep any surprises!

Just check back if you want the BEST dinner to make your family :)

Seven

Okay... Have Y'all been in Bath and Body Works lately?!!!

You must know that yo' girl loves candles. 

ESPECIALLY Bath and Body Works candles. 

But I have never seen these types... WITH THE ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS SPARKLY LIDS?!!!

This mama likes her some sparkles :)

I mean can these get any cuter?!!

Eight

Just wait. Until you see. This scarf. 

I scored. I really did. 

I found this full and voluminous cheetah print scarf at Ross. 

For $6.99.

And it's Vince Camuto!

#allthehearteyes

I'm showing you below the couple of ways that I like to tie it up. 

My jeans in the pic are SO comfy and soft. They are Rock and Revival jeans. Expensive, but worth it. They're stretchy, they're long, they're skinny. Can you get any better? These have already lasted me hundreds of wears throughout 3 years and still look just like new. They wash well too!

My shirt is from the So brand from Kohls from ages ago!

I just tie it in 2 knots. One of top of each other. 

 Just let it hang. No ties or anything. 

The famous wrap around. Just hold the scarf in front of your neck.

Cross the two ends behind your neck and bring them back to the front. Play with it until it looks just right!

Then you go from this...

To this! It's automatically an infinity scarf just by tucking the ends into the scarf. Easy peasy!

 I paired this outfit with my Sperry Rain Boots. They're sparkly up top on that quilted pattern!

It was raining buckets today! But these don't leak at all :)

Well, y'all... my goodness! Let's take a deep breath. Cause I feel like that was a lot...

But it was fun, right?! 

Let me know if you find any inspiration for you and your fam in the comments below! :)

Have a great week you guys!

Polar Express Night and Crockpot Hot Chocolate!

Okay you guys. This is one of our all time favorite Christmas traditions. I know I mentioned it in my post that you can check out here. This is so fun!

It's such an easy going night, and it doesn't take hardly any preparation (except for the hot chocolate, and if you wanna build a fort to watch the movie in ;) 

So stick around to see our most loved tradition in the Fashionista Housewife Home :) 

Polar Express Night

Time for fun!!! Just watch as this night unfolds years of memories for you guys to share! 

First, we get into our most comfy jammies! 

I choose some fleecy jammies with some fuzzy socks. I love to be warm and toasty, and I usually run cold anyways. 

My man chooses shorts and a T-shirt #oppositesattract. 

I make some crockpot hot cocoa, and put it into our Starbucks cups. You know, the ones they sell for $1? I honestly just use them because they have tops on them. Makes it easy to drink in the living room!

We love to bring out our inner kid and build a fort to watch the movie in. It's so cozy and it really gets everyone in the mood to settle in for a night at home! 

We turn on the fireplace. Ours is not real in any case, but that's alright with me! You just press the on button ;) We found this media console (its gorgeous in person too!) at Walmart, of all places! 

I grab a fleece blanket #canyoutellilikefleece that we got from Costco. We love these! I believe they're called the Sherpa lined ones? We have a tan and a maroon one. If you can't find these, Cole has his own blankie from Costco too. But his is just plain fleece and in a dark brown color. His is super soft too! 

The tan sherpa blanket is the one I'm cuddled up in!

Turn on The Polar Express, it's time for the main premiere! 

Enjoy staying cuddled up with your most favorite people on the planet :)

We do this every Christmas Eve!

Crockpot Hot Cocoa

Shopping List

1. 6 cups of 2% milk

2. 1 can sweetened condensed milk

3. 1 1/2 cups of heavy whipping cream

4. 1 1/2 cups of bittersweet chocolate chips

5. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

6. A dash of salt

Recipe

1. Pour all of these ingredients into your crockpot and cook on low for around 40 mins. Just until your  chocolate chips have melted. 

2. Stir everything to mix together and keep your crockpot on warm to keep it hot for seconds!

3. Ladle these into the mugs of your choice. Fun mugs make it way more interesting!

4. Enjoy!

Super easy peasy! Feel free to top with whipped cream and chocolate shavings, peppermint crushings, or marshmallows with some caramel sauce drizzled on top! 

Let me know what your traditions are down below for Christmas Eve. Did you guys add this one to your list?

Cozy, Comforting Chili

Cozy, Comforting Chili

The fall days are upon us ladies!! Hooray! That means scarves, boots, snuggling up by the fire place.... AND CHILI! My man loves chili.. like LOVES chili. It probably places in the top 3 on his list of favorite foods, and that's saying something ;) I love getting the thumbs up from him on this meal. Because its SO EASY!!

This recipe was adapted from Andrea at Momfessionals. Love her recipes! Thanks Andrea :) 

I adapted this to make less chili (since there are only 2 of us), and added a couple more spices. But it's still easy! This recipe made us at least 4-5 servings. But you are going to want leftovers of this! So if there is more than 2 of you, just double everything in this recipe. 

Shopping List

1. 1 lb of ground beef

2. 1 red onion, chopped

3. 1 can of tomato soup (I ended up using 2 to have a little more sauce)

4. 1 can of diced tomatoes

5. 1 can of dark red kidney beans, drained

6. 1 can of light red kidney beans, drained. My grocery store was out of these so I just picked up a can of chili beans and did not drain it. It worked just the same!

7. Splash of Worcestershire sauce

8. A small spoonful of brown sugar

9. A spoonful of garlic, minced. I get the big jar from Costco and just keep it in the fridge. So handy to have!

10. A dash of chili powder

11. A dash of garlic salt

As you can see, this recipe is all about *to taste*. Nothing is really measured, just keep tasting it and adding things until it tastes good to you!

Recipe

1. Brown your ground beef and drain it. Put it back in the pan with a spoonful of minced garlic and chopped red onion. I just stir it around until the onions are cooked a bit. 

2. Line your slow cooker. No clean up! Set it on low. 

3. Add in all of the ingredients above, stir, and let it simmer on low for 2 hours. I honestly did not have time to let it sit for 2 hours, so I only let it sit for 30 minutes, and it was fine! I totally forgot to take a pic of the end product, because thats how excited we were to eat it :)

I added a box of cornbread stuffing to put on top of the chili. And it was a fun mix up! Some of the other things we love to add to our chili is actual cornbread (I just feel it takes so long to make!), fritos, sour cream, and melted cheese on top. 

Have fun making this ladies (and impressing your family in the meantime ;) Can't wait to hear if you like it!

Crockpot Mac and Cheese

Crockpot Mac and Cheese

Ever tried to cook noodles in a crock pot? Ever had them come out like total mush?!! Yeah me too! And it's frustrating! But, this batch of Crockpot Mac and Cheese came out cheesy and not overcooked. Perfect in my book. And it got a thumbs up from my man! Win-win. Try this out for your fam. Easy and crowd- pleasing :) Lets get started!

YUM!

Shopping List

1. 6 cups cooked* elbow macaroni noodles

2. 2 tablespoons of butter

3. 24 ounces of shredded cheese (I used mexican shredded cheese because I had it on hand)

4. 4 cups of evaporated milk

5. Salt and pepper to taste

I adapted this recipe to make it for 3 people. (2 for us eating lunch and 1 for him going to work with food). I used 4 cups of noodles, 4 cups of cheese, and 2 1/2 cups of evaporated milk. 

Recipe

1. Cook elbow noodles in boiling water (with a dash of salt if you prefer). 

* Only cook noodles for 3 minutes. No longer.

2. When you drain your noodles, toss them in a bowl with the butter, melted. 

3. Line your crockpot with a slow cooker liner (THE BEST!) and turn it on high. 

4. Mix in the noodle and butter mixture, cheese, evaporated milk, and your salt and pepper. 

5. Cook on high for 2-3 hours (the recipe says that). I only needed to cook mine for 30 minutes. Keep an eye on your noodles and turn off your slow cooker when everything has melted together and your noodles are cooked, but not mushy. 

I only needed a little bit, because it was so creamy! Filled me up so fast. 

ENJOY!!

Easy and I'm sure your group will love it. This could also be a great dish/side dish that you could bring to your Thanksgiving table!