First published DIY??

SO We have had this tiny kitchen table (fitting only 4) since we first got married. I know everyone lived in a "tiny" apartment at some point in their lives and we are NO different! This table is beautiful and given to us as a wedding gift from my wonderful Aunt...but the problem is #1 I LOVE to entertain #2 We live in a much larger house now and #3 We have a minimal budget!....

So in comes a A FREE TABLE, 4 extra free chairs and some elbow grease!

The free table was given to us by a friend who was moving and didn't want it anymore. #1 problem with this.. it was totally the wrong finish and didnt come with any chairs.. SO my creative mind starts turning....

My wonderful grandfather pitched in and redid the table. New coating on the top and some fresh paint and we end up with this ::::

I loved how the table turned out... To some this may look acceptable.. but to me there are a few things going on that I didn't like 

1. there are chairs that dont match in the least.. now this is workable and I could deal but Why not have some fun purposefully making them not match. 

2. This is very dull for a kitchen table. One day I will have a dining room with fancy stuff but for now we are realists.. I have a 2 yr old, an open concept house and I love color.. thus lets have some serious fun!

So I decided I will not paint the darker chairs because I will one day use the other smaller table again (possibly) and I dont want to damage them.. 

So painting the "pine" chairs it is..

So to start off I took some inspiration from these bamboo place mats I got for a buck at Walmart... I know a buck.. CANT BEAT THAT!

So in comes the shopping and elbow grease! I decided to pull the green, blue and orange out.. and since my husband could probably faint at the idea of having a pink chair (I mean come on... only a crazy person would decorate with pink.. haha jk) I will just do a bright red. 

So I decided today to venture out and at least do the green to give it a try.

So supplies ??? 

I decided to go with a more lime green (the muted green was just a  little dull for what I was going for).. the brighter green brought up the vibrancy in the placemats!
I also decided since I didnt want to do a thousand coats I better grab some primer too!

Gloves are a MUST!!!! Let me tell you if you spray paint without them be prepared to have funky colored hands for weeks on end!

And a mask.. just cause I HATE the "high" feeling of inhaling toxic fumes.. might be for some people but not this lady! Oh and I am a little attached to my brain cells.. 

Grab the chair.. set up in a well ventilated area.. and in my case cover the ground and give a clean sturdy area to spray... my husband hates when I kill the grass with spray paint...I mean really.. who wants grass??? I was just thinking of him... less to mow right?  yea we fight over the weirdest things!

Oh and wipe down the chair of any grease, dust or grime... or caked on mac -n - cheese, chocolate, dog slobber, child slobber.. oh the list can go on and on

put on your silly looking mask and glasses!! SAFETY FIRST

Spray the primer first!

It doesn't need to be a super thick coat.. just enough to stick and give a base to the main color!

The spray away at the chair.. nice even strokes... I did two coats here and it turned out GREAT! 

So what do you think??

I will post again when I finish the other chairs! Always a work in progress in this house!~

My husbands favorite dip - buffalo ranch chicken

Long time no post huh? Sorry! Life has caught up with me... From now on I can only promise to post once a week! My plan is to try one new recipe every week and post about the outcome and what I have learned. Also I will be posting my all time favorite dishes that we make in this house a bunch such as the one I am posting now!

My husband is a dip fanatic. Though he would probably not admit it but throw anything "finger licking" good in front of him with some tortilla chips and he will go to town! Our old friends introduced us to this dip a long time ago and she had made enough to feed an army. I am all about not wasting so I had to figure out how to make it in a single serving size. I am NOT a fan of anything buffalo but my husband requests this dip almost every Sunday to munch on during football! (GO COWBOYS) I am currently brainstorming on how to make a cream cheese based dip that I would like.. maybe instead of texas pete use enchilada sauce??? hmmmm I will be experimenting but for now.. here is my version of buffalo ranch chicken dip!


Ingredients : (this makes enough for two semihungry men.. or one Alan) feel free to double or triple this for more people

1 can white chicken chunks (or my absolute favorite.. left over chicken or rotissaire chicken.. SO MUCH BETTER)
1/3 cup Ranch dressing (your fav kind)
1 pkg cream cheese (you can use the lower fat kind and we haven't even tasted a difference.. I just had reg in my fridge) oh and make sure it is room temp.. you can microwave it slowly to soften it if need be.. remember slowly..
as much texas pete (chalua, tabasco.. any buffalo stuff) as you can handle.. I counted and used 25 shakes and alan doesn't like it too too hot
1 cupish of mexican cheese


So first off it you are using rotissaire chicken, shred it into very small bites.. remember you will be using tortilla chips to "dip" up the dip so you want it small enough to incorporate into the dip.

grab your softened cream cheese and throw it in a bowl... if for some reason you are like me and forget to set it out.. just microwave it for 15 sec intervals stirring it as you go so you don't "cook" the outer layer of cheese)

Add in your ranch dressing (I took this opportunity to use up some buttermilk ranch that has been in the fridge.. lets see if Alan notices :)))

Add your dashes of texas pete. Just a quick side note. If you are planning on making a large portion of this dip, I recommend buying the kind without the ridiculous top so you can just pour it out verses shaking it like a mad woman (or man.. I don't judge). Or just shake till your arm is so sore you can't stir the darn stuff!

So go ahead and stir that up until all ingredients are well incorporated.

Add some of your cheese (you want to leave some for the top).. I would just add half into the dip.. Stir

Add your chicken very last and just fold it in.

Grease up your pan with pan (or butter.. I mean it really is unhealthy enough)

Add the dip on it...Top with cheese Throw on a few more chugs of texas pete...

Cover with foil and bake at 350 for thirty minutes.. you want it nice and hot and "liquid" throughout

Serve with chips (our fav is tortilla but you can use any I guess)

If for some reason it does not fly out of the pan into your guests mouths before it starts to cool and harden, you can just simply throw it in the oven for a few minutes to warm up or the microwave (I would do oven before microwave.. the microwave toughens the chicken)

Enjoy :) I will let you guys know if for any reason I come up with a less HOT version that is more of a mexican cream cheese dip!

My favorite... chicken chili

Ok so talk about a favorite.. I make this when I entertain all the time (ask our friends)... If you are a friend of this house you have more then likely had this meal. It feeds about 6-8 people for about $20! Oh and did I mention it is SUPER easy.. just looks like a ton of ingredients..well it is but as long as you can open a can, measure a palm full and chop some peppers.. you can make this dish..

So to start out.. here are your ingredients::: (in this pic it shows two of everything.. I made two batches for my hungry crew but this recipe serves anywhere from 6-8 depending on your hunger levels)

2 lbs of uncooked chicken breast (or one whole rotissaire chicken .. meat pulled and shredded)
1 can of fire roasted tomatoes w garlic
1 can enchilada sauce (however hot you can handle)
1 can corn (or frozen)
1 can black beans
1 can kidney beans
1 can chopped green chili's
1 packet of taco seasoning (the packets are easier then homemade because they contain corn starch which is a thickening agent)
1 green pepper
1 onion
1 quart of chicken stock
cilantro (fresh makes it SO much betteR)
cayenne pepper
paprika
garlic powder
bay leaf
cumin
chili powder
red pepper flakes
salt
pepper

toppings and extras ::
frito scoops
tortilla scoops
sour cream
mexican cheese
peppers of any kind
cooked white rice (I have tried mexican but because you will pour the chili over the rice.. white rice is better)
and really anything else you can think of.. maybe some green onions for the top?


Alright so gather all of your ingredients together and start working your can opener... best to do it all in one swoop and work those forearms!  Sorry forgot to mention it is a workout too.. ps for all you automatic can opener people.. curse you.. oh and buy me one please :)

I was making two batches remember.. you only really need one pot!

Grab you trusty crock pot.. and start dumping in the tomatoes, chilis and enchilada sauce

next drain and rinse beans and corn.. so important so you don't have nearly as much sodium or preservatives!

add in your taco seasoning

Ok so with your green  peppers and onion.. you can either a) hand dice them.. I prefer this method because I like to see and taste my green peppers and onions or you can b) use your handy dicer.. I used this method because I was having a rather picky crowd .. two men who do NOT like to see their peppers or really veggies and if they do they will pick every single one out.. this way I am hiding them!!!! so dice away and add

All the pretty colors should start to show:::

Now comes the chicken. If you have just gone ahead an gotten a rotissaire chicken (this I prefer as well but I had this chicken in the freezer and it needed to be used and in all honesty it probably tastes the same because it cooks down so much) take all the meat off of the bone and shred it with a fork into "stringy" chicken and add at this step. For those of use who are using raw chicken breast.. just add them.. once they cook (about 5-6 hrs in the crockpot.. or even just a little bit before serving) go ahead and pull just the breasts out onto a plate and shred them then add them back.. a good point to do this is before serving while the rice is cooking.

This was shredded about 6 hrs into cooking...

alright in goes all the spices.. I am going to hit you again with the palmfuls. The more you make this dish the more you will know how many spices you can handle and how much of each.. the more chili powder and cayenne obviously the more heat. Add 2 palmfuls of each cilantro (if using fresh just dice up a few good handfuls), paprika, chili powder. add a pinch of red pepper and cayenne (these two pack a serious punch so less is more.. you can always add more for heat but you cannot take away once it is in there.. so be careful!) add one palm of garlic powder and a few shakes of cumin. just a little pepper should be fine.. you can add salt later in the cooking process when you taste before serving! add a bay leaf (I totally forgot my bay in this batch.. it gives it a little earthy taste.. I know you are probably thinking I don't want my chili to taste earthy.. but it really makes it better.. really.. trust me!)

ok so all added spices are not photographed.. I figured you got the idea of what a palmful looked like..

Add about 3/4 a quart of chicken stock... sorta add a little at a time because if you add too much it ends up more like soup.. too little and you will have burnt chili... so you want enough to have a good bit in there but not enough that it looks like straight water

turn that crockpot on low and walk away. You can prepare this the night before and just let set it in the crock pot (***edit IN THE FRIDGE... raw chicken sitting out over night :(.. yea way to go becky not clarifying) and turn it on (after removing it from the fridge) in the morning on your way out the door.. by the time you come home from work your ENTIRE house will smell SO good.... like seriously I am with Rachael Ray on this one.. they need to invent a way to capture smells so they can be broadcast across the internet or television.

here I added a little too much stock.. so I thicken it a little with some corn starch later in the cooking process 

To serve this. (yes i was so excited to eat I forgot to get a picture of the cooked version in the pot..) I make some fresh white rice and just put a nice scoop of rice in a bowl then pour the chili on top.. your guests can chose their toppings (we make a little bar of toppings on a lazy susan and it is so fun). We love to use scoops to scoop the chili all up instead of a spoon. Or you have the choice of just crushing your chips into the chili or no chips.. it is all your guests choices! Don't you love it? I love catering to my family and my guests needs!

Our buddy Steven's beautiful chicken chili creation... I was already devouring mine when I realized I forgot a plated picture 

Enjoy down to the last bite! I am telling you this meal is SO good! And a great way to use left over chicken or clear some pantry shelves. Feel free to use different kinds of beans too. Whatever you have on hand...

Now to get some reader input.. What is your favorite go to meal for guests? Comment below!