Dinner Planned Ahead, Crock Pot Tacos and Bourbon Chicken Lettuce Wraps

We love our crockpot and it saves us so much pain when it comes to dinner. Lets be honest, it's easy to order pizza if you don't have a plan. This is where my husband and I get into trouble so we know we have to plan ahead. On Sunday we will make a meal plan and we will prep it. That way there isn't any guessing and we don't have to work as hard to eat healthy. Chicken thighs is our choice but you can use what ever you like be it breast, pork, or beef. Take meat, about 3-5 pounds and split it between two ziplock bags,
Chicken Tacos
1.5-2.5 lbs of chicken, beef, or pork
one package of Mexican Fiesta spice mix (you can use taco seasoning or whatever else you like)
one can of Ro-Tel Tomatoes
1/4 cup of vinegar
2TBsp of oil
1 large onion sliced
Day of bust out all of your families favorite taco fixings and pile them on top of the protein of your choice! Just use a fork or spoon to shred the meat in the crock pot.

Lettuce Wraps
1.5-2.5lbs of chicken, beef, or pork
1/2 cup Soy Sauce
1/4 cup of Vinegar
one package of Mongolian Beef, Lettuce Wrap Seasoning, or whatever else you have Asian
2 TBsp-1/4 cup of Chili Garlic Paste or Siracha
2 TBsp oil
1/4 cup mined garlic cloves
1 large onion sliced
Sugar called for on back of packet seasoning
Day of the meal just saute off some brocoli slaw, cabbage, and whatever your family likes. Serve with in lettuce leaves.

Place the ingredients that the marinades call for in the ziplock bag and whatever extras you all like 

Label and you can freeze or refrigerate depending on when you plan on eating them. 

Morning of just dump the whole bag in the Crock Pot and cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4 hours. 

Lunch made easy

 Mass production is something that scares the hell outta people when it comes to food! Don't be afraid!!! I promise I will help you through it and make your life so easy. Sandwiches are something that the kids and my husband love. So the major complaint is that if you make sandwiches ahead they get soggy. Well I have crushed that issue. So lets get started.

My family loves bagel thins so I make many sandwiches on them. Gather your ingredients and lay them out. I use foil for everything! It keeps your sandwiches in tact and will hold your condiments.

Lay out your bagels on your foil, you can do as many of these at a time that your counter allows. I place the cheese down first, this allows you to put on a condiment and no soggy bread. I change it up to what we like so we aren't having the same thing every day.

My kids love tomatoes but lets be honest it can sog out a sandwich before lunch. So take some plastic wrap and lay the lettuce, tomato, and onion on there and wrap it. Later I will show you how to secure them in your sandwich so they are not forgotten.

Construct your sandwiches to your families liking. I grab a variety of meats and cheese so they have variety. 

 Wrap your sandwich with one half of the foil. Then place you wrapped lettuce, tomato, and onion on top of the foil.

 Then just bring the other side over and label. Now sandwiches will be done for the week and all you have to do is toss them in their lunch boxes morning of.

Garage Sale Score!

So we bought this for my step-daughter and realized that it was way to big for her room. It chilled in our basement and finally one day I got a bit crazy. This was a great first project and I have to admit that scraping off purple paint only to reveal beautiful stained wood is a crazy euphoria. No, I was not huffing stripper! Below are the steps and that ended up being my first reclaimed piece. I can't wait for my next, this was awesome.

So when I started I completely spaced that I had started a blog! DOAH! So please forgive me that you missed the pink that the top of this was painted with, I thought it was solid wood but the top and sides weren't so I will tell you later how I blazed that hurdle. I removed the knobs and drawers to make accessibility easy. I also placed a plastic drop cloth under the dresser and where I placed the drawers. I am messy, I admit this. 

So I talked to the trusty paint guys at Home Depot and they suggested this stripper. I read the reviews and they were mixed so I tried a small bottle. This worked awesome for me! I liked the fact I was a bit sloppy and it didn't eat my hands or carpet. It did eat the purple paint off like a champ. I applied it with a super cheap paint brush and let it sit for about 4 hours and refused to peak at the progress. I don't expect this stuff to be a miracle paint remover, I am a realist.

So you brush this stuff on, I suggest a bright lit area so that you can see the areas you miss. You're going to miss some so  be patient with this process. You will know it's time to scrape away; the paint will be super bubbly.

I scraped with a spatula, a razor blade, and a plastic scraper that is for drywall. They all had their own little purpose, had I not had a slew of them one would of worked just fine.

I remember the first pass and I smiled, it revealed this beautiful stained wood. I used a nail file to get into the holes where the knobs went.

 When I got all the paint stripped off I used a cleaner. Just ask those awesome paint guys! They are tons of help!

I turned it on it's side so that I could vaccume out the inside and to make sure I got all the paint off the cross pieces. This took the most time. There was layers on top of layers of paint on those bad boys.

 This was the before and after when I wiped them with the cleaner, I was still in awe of the beautiful wood beneath the paint! How could anyone cover up such beautiful wood?

 This is how I placed the drawers so I could lacquer them. Next I tackled how to deal with the fact the top and sides weren't real wood.

 
 

So I went to the hardware store with an idea but not 100% sure how to execute this one. I knew it needed to be thin, and I wanted wood grain. So I found plywood that had a nice grain and would take stain. I cut them to the exact edge. I used wood glue and clamps, then with a #40 drill bit and followed it with small nails. This worked awesome! The stain looked amazing on it and I was on my way again.

This was after I had gotten the new wood top on and secured. It looked wonderful! I was beyond pleased.
 

Now it was time to lacquer! This is a long and boring process, I won't lie to you. But you have to do it to protect your wood.

Here is a nice little secret for keeping your lacquer or paint from pooling into your can lip. Take a nail or screw and lightly tap a hole into the can lip. I normally do this four times for small cans. No worries the lid will seal and the lacquer won't dry out. It allows all your paint/lacquer to drip back into the can.

When lacquering I used an old Tupperware container. This is done in small processes so I wrapped it in a plastic grocery bag to keep it from curing. Make sure you use the proper brush for this, they aren't cheap but will make all the difference. Make sure that you're generous with this stuff, if not you'll have brush strokes. I started this on a Saturday first thing. It takes 6-10 coats and you let it cure for about two hours in between coats.

To finish the edges I used a molding that I stained and cut at angles with a table saw so that the edges matched nicely. I lacquered this assembled. I loved the distressed edges so I left them. I used a semigloss finish. 

Here is the finished dresser!

Rhubarb Dream Cake

Rhubarb Dream Cake is to die for!

Preheat oven to 325

Ingredients:

3-4 cups fresh rhubarb

One cup sugar

One large package of cherry jello

Two cups marshmallows

Spray glass pan with pan coating and place 3-4 cups of chopped rhubarb in the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle with one cup of sugar, then one cup of strawberry jello, and two cups of mini marshmallows.

Cake Part:

One cake mix, I use French Vanilla

4 large eggs

One cup of cold water

1/2 cup of oil

One package of Dream Whip

Pour all in a mixing bowl and beat for a couple minutes. Pour over the ingredients you have already placed in pan and poke down any unruly marshmallows that float to the top.

Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, till a knife barely inserted into the cake and it comes out clean. 

Cool cake completely. 

To serve cake cut in large slices and invert onto a plate, top with lots of whipped cream and enjoy! 

I may or may not of had two pieces....