The Best of Intentions

Dinner today was a PBF classic. 

BBQ Pulled Chicken

Two-ingredient crock pot chicken + BBQ sauce = BBQ pulled chicken! 

And on the side, broccoli tossed in olive oil and sprinkled with garlic salt. 

Roasted Broc

BBQ Chix Sandwich

Dinner is Served

(Sorry about the not-so-hot quality pictures above. I wanted to try taking pics inside to see if daylight really makes that big of a difference and clearly it does. Outside pics whenever possible from here on out!) 

Moving on… 

The Best of Intentions 

I went to Marshalls today with the best of intentions. 

I planned on picking up a pack of Jelly Belly sport beans (I’ve seen them on sale there a billion times), to use as fuel during my 8-mile run on Saturday. 

(Why do I want the beans? I am trying to incorporate some kind of pick-me-up, whether it be Gatorade or sport beans, into my longer runs so my body doesn’t cramp up if I decide to drink Gatorade during my half marathon.) 

Anyway, I go to Marshall’s to try and find the Beans… 

No dice. 

Instead, I picked up these: 

BCBG Pumps

Not Exactly Sport Beans...

Aaand, as if spending $40 on new pumps isn’t bad enough, I swung by Starbucks for this: 

Iced Coffee

What was supposed to be a $2 trip to Marshall’s ended up being a $42 excursion. 

Oops. 

Please make me feel better and answer “YES!” to the following question… 

Are you an impulse buyer? 

I typically stick to a list, but sometimes I can’t resist trying that new flavor of gum… or buying a pair of super-cute pumps. 😉

Rutabaga Fries!!!

Fun fact: When Ryan was growing up his dad used to call him Rutabaga. Reason: Unknown.

Dinner

When Ryan and I were browsing around the farmer’s market on Sunday, I picked up two gigantic rutabagas.

I asked the woman running the vegetable stand how most people typically prepare rutabagas and she said she likes them raw. She said rutabagas are “disgusting” when they’re cooked.

Hmm… I like raw veggies, but really like roasted veggies, so I ignored her little warning and set out to make rutagbaga fries after later reading that you can basically prepare rutabagas the same way you prepare turnips.

I figured that since I loved the turnip fries I made in April and again in May, why wouldn’t I love rutabaga fries prepared the same way?

My logic didn’t fail me, my friends.

Rutabaga fries are flippin’ phenomenal!

Rutabaga Fries

Eat Me!

They’re easier to make than turnip fries because rutabagas are a slightly softer veggie, which makes them easier to slice into thin fries.

To make the fries:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees
• Peel rutabaga using a vegetable peeler
• Slice the peeled rutabaga into fries
• Spray cooking sheet with cooking spray and add fries
• Spray fries with cooking spray (or toss fries in olive oil) and season with salt, pepper and chili powder (or seasonings of your choice)
• Flip fries several times to coat before baking for 15 minutes
• Flip the fries and bake for another 10 – 20 minutes until desired doneness is achieved

Ryan’s first thought about the fries? “They really look like fries!”

For all of you mamas out there, maybe you can pull a fast one on the kids with these babies?

When I Dip, You Dip, We Dip

We enjoyed our rutabaga fries with ketchup for dipping and BBQ pulled chicken sandwiches.

BBQ Pulled Chicken

BBQ Pulled Chicken Sandwich

All Together Now

Next Time

I think I will be making this recipe for maple glazed rutabaga for my next attempt with the veggie… but I think Cooking Light didn’t select the correct picture to correspond with this recipe. Pasta = rutabaga??? 😉

The Test

Today’s test: Will Ryan and I survive the night having eaten chicken that was one day past the expiration date? Only time will tell… 😉 

When I arrived home from work, I checked on the chicken before heading out to take Sadie to the dog park with Ryan. 

Checkin' on Chicken

Some of you have asked about the liner I use in the crock pot in the past, and it’s awesome and makes clean up a breeze. It is a slow cooker liner made by Reynolds and I buy them at my local grocery store (Publix). Highly recommended! 

Dog Park 

Our trip to the dog park was full of fetch! 

"Throw the Ball!"

Playtime

Dog Park Kisses

Smile!

Sadie could play fetch for hours. Ryan and I always wonder exactly how long we’d have to play for her to stop. We’re thinking three hours. (Seriously. If you have a vizsla, or know Sadie, you understand. 🙂 ) 

Pretty Pup

I purposely saved this picture for last, because I think it’s super cool: 

Speedy Sadie

After an hour or so at the park, we headed home to brave the expired chicken. 

Dinner 

Good news! Our expired chicken dinner smelled and tasted great and oh-so-fresh. 

BBQ Chicken Sandwich

“Sell by” date? What “sell by” date? 😉 

I didn’t want to take any chances wasting fresh or expensive ingredients on potentially bad chicken, so I stuck to the old stand by of throwing chicken in the slow cooker with chicken broth to cook all day. 

We had tasty BBQ chicken sandwiches that didn’t taste the least bit old. Let’s call them mature BBQ chicken sandwiches, shall we? 😀 

My Sandwich

On the side we had some green goodies. 

Zucchini

My Plate

No Ice Cream???  

It’s nights like tonight that I am very thankful we don’t keep ice cream in our apartment because I’m reallllly feelin’ like I could go to town on a pint right about now. Ryan and I both cannot be trusted around ice cream. Between the two of us, we’ve been known to polish off a half gallon in one day… without feeling sick. It’s a gift, I know. 

What food can’t you be trusted around?  

Aside from ice cream I cannot be trusted around jars of peanut butter. Truth: Ryan hides them from me.

BBQ Pulled Chicken

Oh my gosh, you guys cracked me up with your professions of love for beanie weenies. I have the best blog readers ever! 😀

Mellissa even said she won a beanie weenie t-shirt a couple years ago. I had instant beanie weenie envy, and did an immediate Google search for a t-shirt of my own. No such luck! Wear that shirt with pride, Mellissa!

Evening Activities

When I arrived home from work today, Sadie’s demeanor told me that a simple walk around the lake just wouldn’t do. Today was a dog park kind of day!

Sadie the Nut Job

We leashed up the pup and headed out to Baldwin Park for an hour of doggie merriment.

“I Love My Ball!”

 

Smilin' at the Park

Don’t we look like Christmas in the above picture? Every time I see red and green, I always think of Christmas!

Also, check out this cool picture we took at the dog park today. We didn’t realize the camera was zoomed, but I love how it focused in on Ryan and blurred me in the background. Neat! (Sorry Ryan for posting such a mega close-up. I think you look cute! 🙂 )

Blurry + Focused

What is your pet’s favorite activity?

Sadie loves playing fetch, but I think her favorite game is “keep away.” She runs around like a crazy dog with a ball or stick in her mouth and we chase her until we’re about to die or have an asthma attack. It’s great fun!

Dinner

I’m so happy I made a grocery store pit stop before work today because our apartment smelled wonderful thanks to the chicken chillin’ in the ol’ crocker.

Tendin' to the Chicken

Ryan pulled the two ingredient chicken using two forks while I got the veggies ready.

Just like last Monday, I added BBQ sauce to my chicken and enjoyed it on a whole wheat sandwich thin. BBQ sandwiches are so darn delicious.

BBQ Saaaauce

My Plate

BBQ Pulled Chicken Sandwich

Stay tuned tomorrow morning for an exciting giveaway! Hooray!

Two Ingredient Crock Pot Chicken

I adore the crock pot. What I do not adore is crock pot recipes that are intense, comprised of a billion ingredients and require cooking before using the crock pot!

To me, the point of the slow cooker is to throw everything into a pot and “fahgettaboudit.”

Ryan and I think our slow cooker pulled pork is one of the best around and the recipe only requires two ingredients: pork and beef broth. Tonight we decided to replicate that recipe using chicken.

Before leaving for work, I threw two very large chicken breasts into the slow cooker and covered the meat with chicken broth. I let the breasts cook on low all day (about 8 hours).

While I prepped the veggies for tonight’s dinner, Ryan (aka my meat man) got to work shredding the chicken with two forks until it was pulled apart and lookin’ fine!

Pulled Chicken

I topped my chicken with BBQ sauce and ended up enjoying it on a Arnold whole wheat sandwich thin. I looooove BBQ pulled chicken sandwiches.

My Plate

BBQ Pulled Chicken Sandwich

Two Ingredient Crock Pot Chicken

Ingredients:

• Chicken breasts
• Chicken broth

Directions:

Remove any unwanted fat from chicken breasts and place the breasts in the slow cooker. Pour chicken broth over the breasts until covered in broth. Cook on low for 6 – 8 hours. Remove chicken breasts from crock pot and shred with a fork.

Wicked Good Dessert

For dessert I enjoyed a cup of Jello dark chocolate decadence mousse. These lil’ babies are so darn delicious.

Jello Mousse

…And I’m off to read Wicked! A woman at the gym offered to bring me the Wicked soundtrack to listen to before I see the musical. She said she’d bring it for me tomorrow and I hope to give it a listen soon. I love musicals and showtunes. They make me smile! 🙂

Goodnight!