Bacon-Covered Chicken Tenders!

Bacon cures everything! You can do this recipe as a main dish or as an horderve. If you make it in the smaller portions, you can just cut the strips smaller (almost into fourths) and cook each side for 10-13 mins (or until the bacon is crispy). Enjoy! 

BACON-Covered Chicken Tenders

Ingredients:

• 1-2 pounds of chicken tenders 
• A regular-sized pack of bacon
• 2 tablespoons honey mustard (you can also use Dijon mustard)
• Fresh lemon juice - about a tablespoon (you can also use lemon pepper seasoning)
• Seasoning salt/Cajun seasoning/Garlic & Herb seasoning (optional)

Directions:

1. Sprinkle (optional) seasoning over top and bottom of tenders. Wrap tenders with bacon slices.
2. Place tenders in baking pan ...I suggest covering the pan in tin-foil first to help with clean-up.
3. Mix honey mustard (Dijon mustard) and lemon juice (lemon pepper seasoning) in small bowl. Brush tenders with half the mixture. 
4. Bake tenders in preheated oven at 425 degrees for 20-25 mins (or until bacon is crispy). Removed pan from oven, turn tenders, and brush remainder of the marinade on the bottom of tenders. Put pan back in over and bake for 20-25 more mins (or until bacon is crispy on that side as well).  

Lovin' the Cookin': Awesome Beef Stew!

I LOVE my crock pot ...and would use it for every meal if I could, haha! My fiance makes the BEST roast in the world, and I tried my own version of it today! It's a great, hardy meal guaranteed to leave leftovers! Enjoy!

Beef Stew in the Crock Pot 

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds beef stew meat
• 2 cans beef broth
• 2 cans chicken broth
• 2 packets beef stew seasoning mix
• 1 tablespoon seasoning salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• 4 medium to large red skinned potatoes, washed and chopped
• Baby carrots, chopped 
• Celery, chopped

Instructions:

1. Heat the olive oil in a skillet; add the stew meat to the pan and brown on all sides. Season with seasoning salt and pepper and place in the bottom of the slow cooker. 
2. Saute the diced onion in the same skillet for about 2 minutes. Transfer the onions into the slow cooker. Add the potatoes, carrots, celery, and garlic to the slow cooker.  
3. Pour in the beef broth, chicken broth, Worcestershire sauce, and beef stew seasoning into the slow cooker. Add the rest of the seasoning salt and pepper. Cover; cook on low for 8 hours.

Keeping It Moving!

It's been a rough week! I'm sick (that congestion, headache, nausea crud), Joseph has tonsillitis, and Anna's teething. So, we haven't been sleeping much, to say the least. I feel like I'm losing energy to get the housework done, and I think I finally need to get that eye exam... It's getting hard to see and focus on things, especially the computer screen... 

In other news, we're moving right along in our life. We have finally decided to apply for a mortgage loan and finally buy a house of our own. We realize that we may not get our dream house right away, but this gives us a starting point. We're going to make sure we have a house in Columbia County, so that our babies have a good home and a good school system to grow up in. We plan to get the mortgage payed off in ten years instead of 30 after the babies get into school and I go back to work. It's crazy that we can actually do this. We actually have the resources to own a home of our own! 

Anyways, enough rambling about me, how has your week been? XOXO, Kyrstie. 

The Love Dare!

I don't know if any of you guys have heard of "the Love Dare" or the movie, Fireproof, but it's a 40 day dare to improve your marriage (or relationship).

Anyways, the Love Dare just came out with a FREE Love Dare Marriage Evaluation that has the potential for helping you focus on your specific strengths and weaknesses and what you really need to work on when it comes to you and your mate. Whether you have some relationship issues, are falling apart, or have the perfect marriage, I recommend everyone do this, only to make their relationships better and more successful. I testify to it, and it has done wonders for myself and my relationship. Check it out!

For more info on the Love Dare, check out my Relationship Bootcamp!

It's All Good!

Yesterday was an amazing day with my sweetheart and my sweet baby girl! We had our doctor's appointment, and our little avocado is doing great! The heartbeat was 146, and everything sounds great! We just hung out at home for the rest of the day, and I love and feel blessed every moment I get with them both! 

I am excited to report that I felt a few of the first flutters last night!

16 Weeks!

I know I haven't been religiously updating the whole second pregnancy process thing, but it hasn't really been that different than last time... other than the blessing of not much morning sickness, but the increase in weight-gain and fatigue (but hey, I already have an infant, haha). We do have a check-up tomorrow for the tiny avocado, and hopefully we will be able to hear the heartbeat on the monitor this time... last time they had to use a mini-sonogram machine that looked like a Nintendo DS or something (it was so neat!) to be able to see his/her heartbeat. We will know whether it is indeed a he or a she in just four little short weeks. Joseph's sister, Mistee thinks it will be a boy, while Joseph and I both think we're having another little girl. We're so excited! 

Check out more on Week 16 or your week of Pregnancy at Mommy's Corner!

We're Planning A Wedding!

Joseph and I have been engaged since December 9, 2011, but with all the moving, over-working, and baby-having, we just haven't found the opportune time to have a wedding. We have finally made the choice! We have Set the Date! We will be having our civil ceremony this October 25, 2013, and we will be planning our actual wedding ceremony and reception to be October 25, 2014 (on our one-year wedding anniversary). I'm so excited! I'll have time to look my best again and get off some post-baby weight... And we're finally planning our wedding! We're finally going to make it legal and official! I will officially be Mrs. Kyrstie Leigh Scales Boyd. 

Easy BBQ in the Crockpot!

So, we don't have a smoker as of yet, and I'm not really a griller (that's Joseph's foray), but yesterday was the 4th, and I thought we should have some BBQ. This is a great recipe that will have the guys come back for seconds, thirds, and even fourths...

Slow Cooker Texas Pulled Pork

 

Recipe makes 8 sandwiches

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1 (4 pound) pork shoulder roast
• 1 cup barbecue sauce (if you want, I didn't feel the need to)
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar 
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard (you can also use regular yellow mustard)
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon chili powder 
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme

Directions:

1. Pour the vegetable oil into the bottom of a slow cooker. Place the pork roast into the slow cooker; pour in the barbecue sauce, apple cider vinegar, and chicken broth. Stir in the brown sugar, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, chili powder, onion, garlic, and thyme. Cover and cook on High until the roast shreds easily with a fork, 5 to 6 hours. 
2. Remove the roast from the slow cooker, and shred the meat using two forks. Return the shredded pork to the slow cooker, and stir the meat into the juices. 
3. Spread the inside of both halves of hamburger buns with butter. Toast the buns, butter side down, in a skillet over medium heat until golden brown. Spoon pork into the toasted buns. 

Note: You can also cook the pork on Low for 10-12 hours.

Fourth of July!

Wow, yesterday was SUCH a great day! I was able to spend the whole day with my sweetheart: we went to North Augusta to have lunch and go fireworks shopping (since fireworks are illegal to buy in GA), and we came home to dinner and the rest of the family. After dinner, we waited until it got dark to set off the fireworks, and literally as soon as we got outside when it was dark enough, it started pouring. We ran to the house (thank goodness Anna was already asleep and wasn't outside with us), and waited on the porch for a break... while Joseph ran under the tree a few times and set off rockets, greeting us with clouds of smoke, haha! We finally got a break and rushed out to the circle. We all set up rockets and mortars... the first one my dad set off went off really quick, and I never knew that man could run so fast! We were all laughing and cheering, like a bunch of big kids! We had such a good time! Then, Joseph ran off to the store to get ice cream and peaches in the middle of the night because we had a craving. I have such an amazing man! 

Happy First 4th of July, baby girl!

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