Yummy, Yummy, Chicken in My Tummy!

Hey Y'all!

Well, most of y'all know I love to cook. I love to read blogs about cooking, collect yummy recipes from magazines and websites, and of course watch The Food Network. One of the blogs that I read everyday is The Pioneer Woman. Ree has a great site and she posts yummy recipes almost every day. I printed a few out over the past few months with intentions of getting to them this summer. While I was visiting my Mom last weekend, we visited the farmer's market that is right down from her house. We left with fresh corn, squash, butterbeans, cantaloupe and watermelon. We even left with some yummy blueberry desert! I knew that only one main dish could do all of these yummy, fresh veggies justice. Barbecue chicken! Luckily, Ree posted a great barbecue chicken recipe back in April. I used this recipe for a good basis. I have never made barbecue chicken before! Ree makes her own barbecue sauce, but for the sake of time and a hungry tummy, I just went with some Honey sauce from Kraft. Yes, I know. And I call myself a cook! I plan to make my own sauce soon, but y'all. The Kraft was on sale for 99 cents!!!!

You want to start with some chicken drumsticks. The weekend I happened to make this Bilo was having a sale on chicken drums. So for 14 drums we paid about $4!

You want to make sure you have a roasting pan. If you are like my Mom and only had part of one, take a trip to your local Big Lots. You will find what you need!

Start by taking out as many legs as you think you will need. For our dinner, since it was just me and Mom, I took out six legs. I put the rest in ziplocs to freeze and use later. And, no Pitty Pat did not get any table scraps!

You want to preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Y'all. I live in the south. It was hot and muggy on this day. I was not going to slave over a grill!!! It can be done, but why torture yourself???

I lightly salted and peppered my legs. Then put them in the oven for about 25 minutes.

After about 25 minutes, cut on your broiler for about 5 to 7 minutes. This will give the chicken skin a golden brown color. And also, make it a wee bit crispy!
After broiling, take out your chicken. Go ahead and cut down the oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl place your intended barbecue sauce. With tongs, dip each leg in the sauce. Let it really get covered in sauce. YUM.

Place the sauce covered legs back onto the baking pan. I went ahead and cooked my legs for about 8 more minutes. Yes, I know. But y'all, I have a sensitive tummy and I don't like pink chicken meat!! When you feel your chicken is done, remove it from the oven. Take the remaining sauce, that you did not dip the chicken in, and brush it over the finished chicken. Let your chicken sit for about 5 minutes while you fix your plate.

This was a fantastic meal! We had plenty of left overs and the chicken was great the next day too! I can't wait to try this with homemade sauce, but the bottle worked well too. This would be a great meal if it was too hot or too rainy to use the grill. And it was nice to have time to do other things and not man the grill! :)

I have another barbecue chicken recipe that I am going to try next week. This one is made in the crockpot. I will let y'all know how that one goes!

I will probably be MIA this weekend... I have my 20th!!!! High School Reunion tomorrow night! Tonight I am going to a dinner with all of my best friends from high school. Some I have seen through the years, others I haven't. I am looking forward to catching up with everyone! Keep an eye on my Twitter feed, that will give you the scoop!
See ya soon!
:) JKP

Getting Fleecy With It!

Hey Y'all!

Let me say how much I LOVE SUMMER VACATION. I took a little road trip to see my Mom over the weekend, and when Pitty Pat and I returned, we were quite tuckered! I always forget that at the beginning of summer I spend about 3 days just taking it easy and SLEEPING. For the past few days I have been doing that, along with some reading and some crafting. Even Pitty Pat is starting to get in on this summer vacation thing! He is a bit older now at 2, and he knows that afternoon naps are the best!
You may have noticed on my reads from the beach chair box, I am reading A LOT of the Elm Creek Quilting novels by Jennifer Chiaverini. I have really gotten addicted to them! I am reading The Union Quilters now, which is a follow up to The Runaway Quilt. These books are so great because they are not just about quilting, but the author also does a great job of using the backdrop of American History to weave throughout these novels. Also, they have made me feel my crafty roots too! You don't have to read these in order, but I would visit The Elm Creek website to see where you want to start. Because of these books I have started to cross stitch again, and if I quilted, I am sure that I would be doing that too!

Since I am not a quilter, I did have the bug to make something useful for my house! While my best friend was here visiting, we made it a habit of watching a movie every night. It was such a great way to end the day! So I have kept up the tradition every night too! Since there are so many good movies that I have missed lately,  I have been paying the Redbox a visit every few days. So each night, Pitty Pat and I hunker down on the sofa and we partake of a movie!

Now, I don't know about y'all, but while I watch movies I love to have a blanket over me. Since Sunday will mark the two year anniversary of Pitty Pat coming home to live with me,  I decided that he needed a little prezzie. Right before I went and picked up Pitty Pat two years ago, Mom and I made a stop at a Joann's Crafts and Fabrics in Columbia. I picked up some fleece to make him a No Sew Fleece Blanket. These were very popular a few years ago, and are still quick and easy to make! Little did I know at the time, I would not be able to make it until almost two years later! Because he was a silly puppy (still is) and he would have probably eaten it by now! So last night at 7:00 just as Young and the Restless was coming on the Soap Network, I began my task. I was done by 8:00!

These blankets are great to make because they require NO SEWING!!! Check out what you need below...

I have one yard of fleece in two coordinating patterns. Usually, if you were making this for a bed or an adult, you would use 2 yards of fabric. But, this is a Pitty Pat sized blanket, and he doesn't need a bigger head! You will also need a rotary cutter, a quilting mat and a fringe guide. You can pick these up at any fabric store and at The Evil Empire, if yours still carries fabric.

Now I just lay both fabrics out on my floor. It is the only place in my house that I have room to do this project. This would work well if you have a large dining room table. I don't. If you do use a table, make sure you use the quilting mat so you don't make cut marks on your pretty table! . Next you want to start by cutting off the selvage ends of both sides of both fabrics. These are the sides with printing and the rolled edges. It is so much easier to use a rotary cutter than scissors for this project. Trust me, your fingers will thank you!
Finally, you lay your fabric you want on the bottom down first, then you place your top layer right on top

Then you want to cut a four inch square off of each edge of your blanket. The fringe you cut will also be four inches. You can be all mathy and use a ruler. I was techie and made a 4x4 square on my computer. :)

Pitty Pat says "Can you go a little faster? I am not getting ANY younger here!"

Now for the fun part. You get to use your fringe guide and cut  your fringe on each side. I cut my fringe part way and then tie. You can come up with your own system!

WARNING: This part goes faster if you don't have a silly monkey who thinks he can help!



This lap blanket took an hour from start to finish. Even with silly monkey business. Pitty Pat is just THRILLED with the results!

And since my 10 year old couch gave up the good fight and finally gave away with a hole in one of the seats last week, I have a feeling the fleece with the flip flop pattern hibernating in the craft closet is going to be made into a No Sew Fleece Blanket for the sofa very soon!

If you would like to make your own No Sew Fleece Blanket, and need a little bit more guidance, check out this video from You Tube. It teaches you how to make a blanket without any silly monkey business!

Happy Crafting!!
:) JKP

Wallk With Walgreens!

Hey Y'all!

I am on a little road trip right now, so regular cooking and knitting content will return when I get home! And boy, did I make some yummy barbecue chicken last night! Pics will come soon!

I wanted to hop on this morning to share a little program that I joined this week. You may remember back at Christmas time my best friend Marie introduced me to America on the Move. Well, this is the same concept, but y'all... you earn coupons for steps that you walk! Walk With Walgreens is a new walking program promoted by Walgreens. All you do is log your steps everyday! With every step you earn free stuff and a chance to win a $100 Walgreens gift card. I registered Wednesday, and before I even took a step, I had earned a $5 off coupon for a new pedometer (which I bought yesterday!), a$1 off coupon for Sprite Zero and other coupons too! What I really like about this application is the ability to share it with all of your social media... so facebook and twitter can be updated as you log your steps. And let's face it, we all need a little motivation and accountability!!

Anyhoo, I thought y'all might find this interesting. I am off to log my steps today at the Tanger Outlets in Bluffton!

Enjoy and stay cool!
:) JKP

Having a Blast!

Hey Y'all!

Well, y'all know that my best friend has been visiting over the past few days. We have had lots of fun acting like tourists here in Myrtle Beach. Except for one hiccup yesterday... I missed going to the beach because my downstairs air conditioning unit decided to have a temper tantrum and the big air conditioning guys had to be called and then a check had to be written... We have been having a blast!

Yesterday afternoon we found ourselves walking on the new boardwalk on the boulevard. One of my favorite memories from my childhood involves tons of skee ball games and tons of tickets! I would collect those tickets all summer and turn them in to get the biggest prize I could. Yesterday, I had a flashback moment!

We played a couple of rounds of skee ball and ended our last game in a tie! I had forgotten how much I love skee ball and how much fun it is! It was also nice to throw a ball and not have Pitty Pat take off with it!

Every night we would come home from our daily adventures and put in a movie. We had the best time just chilling out!

Marie left this morning, so now I have turned my thoughts to some cooking and some crafting. I found a fantastic crock pot barbecue chicken recipe that I can't wait to try! This recipe is a two-fer which means you can also make barbecue enchiladas with your left over chicken. I can't wait to try it!

I also have to have my hair cut and colored today. My 20th!!! High School Reunion is next weekend. I can't wait to see everyone. My close friends and I are actually having a get together the night before, so I am really looking forward to that!

Pitty Pat and I also have a wee bit of packing to do. We are taking a 3 day road trip. Hmm... wonder where we will end up????

Tootles!
:) JKP

My Summer Vacation So Far.......

Hey Y'all!

Well I am two days into my summer vacation, and so far it has been great! My best friend and I have a tradition that we follow every year. She always comes and visits the first week that school is out. Yesterday we pretty much pretended that we were tourists!

We went to the beach! We looked for SHARKS! And, they did not disappoint! We saw several shark fins yesterday and we stayed out of the water!

We headed up to Calabash last night for a yummy seafood dinner, shopping and ice cream. Ahhh... SUMMER!

I also found the time to make a new friend! He was very nice, but had a bad habit of mooing while I was talking!

There's no telling what summer vacation will bring today!

Tootles!

:) JKP

Strawberry Summer Pie!

Hey Y'all!

WAHOOO! School is out and I am on summer vacation! Whoop, whoop! I worked my last workday today. And, I will be spending my day on the beach tomorrow! Ahhh.....

I would also like to give a shout out to the fans of Friendship Bread Kitchen on Facebook! The FBK gave a little mention of this blog on their Facebook page tonight. So welcome if you are new here! We are glad to have you! :)

Now, last night I promised a little write up of a recipe that I made yesterday. I was invited to a luncheon at a fellow second grade teacher's house today to help celebrate the retirement of two dear members of our second grade team.  Now, being southern and all, I know that I can't show up empty handed. My baking has become LEGENDARY.. so I knew I had to pull out the WOW factor. So I started to think about summer pies and summer fruits. And then bingo. It hit me. STRAWBERRY! Also, does anything say summer better than strawberries? For this occasion, I just knew that a strawberry pie was needed. But not any ordinary strawberry pie, something with a surprise to it!

Enter the Black Bottom Strawberry Cream Pie. Thanks Pillsbury! :)

To begin with you will need the following ingredients:

 A pint of strawberries (two cups), 8 oz of cream cheese, strawberry pie glaze, hot fudge sundae topping, ready made pie crusts (yes, I CHEATED!), confectioner's sugar (aka powdered sugar), and whipped topping of your choice. You can even whip up some heavy cream. Our humidity right now is hotter than hell, so I opted for the can. :) Also, this is double the ingredients. I made two pies! One for my luncheon and one for my best friend's visit. Yes, I am nice.

The first thing you will need to do is bake the pie shells for about ten minutes. Now, it is confession time here. This is the FIRST pie I have EVER made! A quick video check from You Tube showed me how to flute my pie crust! Watch that video and you will know the secret of all mankind. Not really. But you will feel very empowered! I am WOMAN. See me flute AND bake a PIE CRUST!

While the pie crust(s) are baking, you need to wash and quarter 2 cups of fresh, yummy, juicy, sweet strawberries. I did four cups due to the two pies. :)

You will also need to mix together 1 cup of confectioner's sugar with one 8 oz package of cream cheese. Do not judge my choice of cream cheese. I am a poor teacher who loves to bake and eat. I must budget!

By now, your pie crusts should be done. Let them cool for about 20 to thirty minutes. Then add 2/3 of a cup of the hot fudge sauce to the bottom of the pie crust. I placed the jar in the microwave for about 25 seconds, and it poured right out! Now, put your crust in the fridge for an hour. I also put the strawberries and cream cheese mixture in there too.

Now, go Facebook. For an hour. Especially Friendship Bread Kitchen! Or me!

After about an hour, take out your cream cheese mixture, your strawberries and your pie crust that has the hot fudge on the bottom. Take the cream cheese mixture and spread it carefully over the chocolate sauce.

 Before and after shot! Good thing I was making TWO pies! How handy! At this point you want to take  your 2 cups of strawberries (4 if you are making two pies like me) and combine it with 1/2 cup of strawberry pie glaze (1 cup if you are making 2 pies.)  Now my strawberries were sweet, so I didn't add much. Also, if I make this pie again, I plan to make my own glaze. Yes, I am such an overachiever!!

                                          No strawberries were harmed while making this pie!

Finally, add the strawberries on top of the cream cheese layer. This is such a yummy part of making this pie!

Then, if you wish, add your whipped cream or heavy whipped cream. Be decorative or free form. Just put the cream on the pie! Then put the pie in the fridge for about another hour. Then dive in!

In the south we have a saying. I you make something really good you say "I put my foot in it!" Now, of course, your foot DOES NOT GO IN THE PIE. It is just a saying that means something is GOOD!!!!

Y'all, I put my foot in this pie!!!!

There wasn't a spec left at lunch today!

Make this for your next lunch or dinner. You won't be sorry! And, I hope you put your foot in it!

Tootles,

JKP

Recent Reads From the Beach Chair

Hey Y'all!

Well, my last day with kiddies was Friday! I have one more day of work tomorrow, and then I am a FREE woman! This past weekend we celebrated the retirement of my principal. It is very bittersweet, because he is one of the best that I have ever worked for. But, I keep telling myself that change is good! Here's a pic from the event! This is me with my girls from work!

Also, I have been reading A LOT! I spent some time on the beach today just to finish a book. But, it turned out to be quite the adventure and not a lot of reading was done! Believe it or not, the water had to be evacuated due to some rather large SHARKS! After seeing those fins, I knew there was no way my toes were even going to see the water! So, I left about 1:30. Our shark sighting even made the evening news!

Since I blogged last I have read two great books. One book I started and I didn't know if I could make it through due to the topic. But, I kept reading and the story actually turned into a little mystery with some action adventure thrown in! Save Me by Lisa Scottoline is a nail bitter. It starts off with an explosion in an elementary school cafeteria. Immediately a Mom is thrown into a moral choice of saving other children or her own child. I almost didn't make it through this part, but I promise keep reading! It is a good book, but as someone who works with children everyday, that part was hard to read! But, it is a good book! And, none of the main characters dies. Sorry if I just ruined it for you, but I kind of need to know those things up front! So check this out at your local library!

The other book that I have really enjoyed is part of Jennifer Chiaverini's Elm Creek Quilters series,  Cross Country Quilters. You can read these books in order, or not. I started this one because I read a review about it and thought I would enjoy reading it since I am crafty! This book is great. It also made the long dormant cross stitch bug come awake in me again! I have already pulled some DMC thread, Aida cloth and a pattern for a project this week! Wow. This blog may turn into JustJulia knits and cooks, and cross stitches! Anyhoo, this book centers around four women who meet at a week long quilting retreat and how they face obstacles in their lives. This is a great beach read! I have already checked out several more Elm Creek Quilt books from my local library!

I have also been baking, and I will have a recipe up for y'all tomorrow! This is a quick desert that is a nice ending to a great dinner! Let me run... lightening and thunder are right out side my window!

Tootles!
:) JKP