Chicken Bacon Ranch Tacos… Giveaway winners announced!

Thank you so much for all the wonderful comments and suggestions yesterday for the giveaway! I was excited to see that people actually like what I have going on here!

Winners and Gifts Are

Julie Monnig- Lovely Fun Necklace and Bracelet from Groopdealz
Lindsey Tyre-Pampering Kit (including nail polish, hand cream, a fun file, and cuticle oil)
Diana Venable- Kitchen Gadget
Jane Vogl-Shutterfly Gift Card
Tonya Bagnell- Snack Pack (inculding Pirates Booty, and some other faves of our family)

Congrats to each of you!!! I will be in contact soon about the delivery of your items!
The overwhelming suggestion was more recipes and more Charlot (she provided enough material last night for a whole week of blogs!). So today I am going with a quick and easy mom on the go recipe. This is one of those things that you throw in the crockpot early morning and whether you are gone 4-5 hours or eleven like I was the other day it is still going to be delicious!

This recipe makes a large amount, several meals for our family. The meat is great to use in other ways as well quesadillas, enchiladas, taco salad. I find variety is the best way to keep meals interesting in our home. Which isn’t always easy but if I can make one thing that is used in multiple applications it is a homerun in my book!

In the recipe you will see I use boneless skinless chicken thighs just to change it up a bit. Feel free to use breast meat if you prefer.

Chicken Bacon Ranch Tacos

Meat

9 boneless skinless chicken thighs (I normally just use the big pack from the fresh meat case)
1 packet of Ranch Seasoning

1 packet of Taco Seasoning

1 cup of Chicken Broth/Stock



Toppings

Diced tomatoes

Shredded lettuce (I used romaine because that’s what was in the fridge)

Shredded Cheddar Cheese (Pepper jack would be awesome)

4-6 pieces of bacon cooked to crisp and diced

Ranch Dressing

Taco Shells
Put all ingredients in your slow cooker, turn on low allow to cook all day. When you get home take two forks and shred the meat!

After you have shredded the meat prepare your toppings and heat your shells in the oven. Assemble the tacos with meat on bottom, then cheese (it melts a bit that way), tomatoes, lettuce, ranch and sprinkle the bacon on top. Or assemble how you want just ENJOY!

Happy Wednesday!!! And thanks again for reading; it makes this whole thing a bunch more fun!

Awesome Present Idea!!!

Yesterday was my youngest Sister-in-Law’s birthday! Happy B-day RaRa, a day late! I was trying to figure out what in the world I was going to get her for her birthday this year. You see I always try to be super creative with birthdays; I want the recipient to be totally surprised!

RaRa (that is what Charlot calls her so it is now her name) loves when I make salad. It started when I introduced her to Cesar salad probably close to ten years ago. And now she has found a love for pretty much any salad I make, especially my version of Olive Garden’s salad. So I picked up a bottle of the dressing and that is what I was going to give her for part of her present!

Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. Why just give her the dressing when you can give her the whole kitten caboodle! The RaRa is currently student teaching and living on her own, and I am guessing not eating the best. So making her a salad kit ended up being perfect, I even added some seared chicken breasts to make it a complete meal. The girl needs her protein!
Here is a list of what you will need to complete this present for someone special in your life!

Two heads of Romaine Lettuce Chopped (you could just do a couple of the pre-chopped bags)

Two Roma Tomatoes

1 can of Black Olives

1 jar of Banana Peppers

½ red onion sliced very thin

½ cup Shredded Parmesan Cheese

1 bag of Croutons

I did four chicken breasts seasoned with salt pepper and garlic cooked in a hot skillet (mine were pretty little so you could probably get by with two) then I put them in a lovely plastic container.
1 bottle of Olive Garden Dressing

A big bowl to stick it all in

This is an older pic of these two but I love it!

She loved the present and said that would be her lunch for the whole week!