The Brockman's Are Ready To Pop!

I recently threw a baby shower for my friends, Mike and Christy. This sweet family has become some of my dearest friends and they are the most giving, loving people I know. It was an honor to be able to throw this for them. Of course, with everything I do, nothing is traditional. I told Christy that the goal of this shower was to be the "least awkward shower ever." It was an open house-families welcome style, complete with beer and booze. I believe everyone had a good time, so I think it was a success. :)

These were the invites. I created them as postcards which gave the shower a more relaxed feeling and saved on postage.

This was the food table. The whole theme was "POP!" so we had POPcorn, POPcorn Chicken and Cake POPS! 

I made these food signs from corner ceramic titles and chalkboard paint. 

Cheddar popcorn, caramel popcorn, and buttered popcorn.

Can't forget the cakepops!

Drinks included beer and Mexican Breeze cocktails, which was a combination of lemonade, tequila, and cranberry juice. I served them already mixed in canning jars, placed in the ice tub. The signs are made of outlet plate covers and chalkboard paint. 

Of course, I had lemonade for the non-drinkers. Of course, I had to use mason jars. 

For favors, I gave away Tootsie Roll Pops and Blow Pops, with a sign that says "Thank you for POPPING by!" Kids were walking with suckers in their mouth and I'm pretty sure we were finding half eaten ones laying around the house the rest of the weekend!

I used mason jars and baby food jars with yellow and gray ribbon wrapped around them to hold yellow and white flowers. I placed them all around the house! 

And here is the beautiful soon-to-be-a-mom-of-three! Love you Christy!

Crockpot Creamy Fiesta Chicken

I'm sure that the name "Crockpot Creamy Fiesta Chicken" is over used and has been employed to describe many different recipes, but I think "Best Damn Chicken Creation You've Ever Tasted And Not to Mention The Easiest Thing You've Ever Made" probably isn't as easy to remember (although very descriptive).

Ingredients:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast (frozen is okay)
1 can of corn, drained
1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 jar of medium or hot salsa (mild doesn't have enough flavor. Have no fear though, when I used medium, it had no "kick" at all. I think that hot is the best way to go. Just spicy enough for you to know its there, but not so spicy you are running to the fridge for a glass of milk)
1/2 a block of cream cheese (I used the 1/3 less fat and it still tastes fantastic)

Directions:

Place the chicken in the crockpot

Add the corn

Add the beans

Add the salsa (The jar I show in the pic is 16 oz., but I only used about half of it)

Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4

Once the chicken is cooked, it will literally fall apart just by picking it up. I used a pair of tongs and shredded it

Add the cream cheese and mix until creamy

My favorite way to eat it is over some crushed Frito's. SO GOOD! It refrigerates well and makes great leftovers. 

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Baby Shower Brownie Cupcakes

Made cupcakes yesterday for my new dear friend, Robin, and I was so excited with how they turned out! Not only were the cupcakes good, but they were so easy to decorate. I think a little practice and I might be onto something.

I started off making Betty Crocker's Original Hershey Supreme Brownie batter and Betty Crocker's White Cake batter. Make sure that you have two separate mixing bowls when doing this. Some of you may be thinking, "Well duh," HOWEVER NOT ALL OF US THINK OF SUCH THINGS...  Don't judge me.

MOVING ON...

In a muffin tin with liners, I put a spoonful of brownie batter in each cup and used the spoon to kind of "spread" the batter to cover the bottom.

Now add the cake batter. I only added enough to fill the cups 1/2-3/4 full.

The recipes for the brownies and the cake both called for 350 degrees. I wanted them to be flat on top rather than domed, so I knocked the temp down to 325 degrees and baked them for about 20-23 minutes. I used the toothpick trick to make sure they were done.

I ended up with more cake batter than brownie mix so some were made without chocolate, which turned out great since Sarah doesn't eat chocolate! Score!

Decorating them was the fun part! I got this $12 kit from Wal-Mart in the wedding cake isle and I am forever a fan of decorating cupcakes with icing bags and decorating tips. I stuck a pacifier in some of them and added chocolate chips as eyes. They didn't turn out as cute as I wanted, but oh well.

They sure did taste good though and I got a lot of compliments on them, so I think everyone else thought they tasted good, too! Now, anyone want to come clean up my kitchen for me?

Deuces!

XOXO

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A second post in one day?!

Who would have thought this could actually happen?! I wanted to share a recipe that was totally easy and super delish...

No Bake Oreo Cheesecake Cups!

Combine one block of cream cheese, 3/4 cup of sugar, and 1/2 tsp of vanilla.

Crush 8-10 Oreos in a food processor. Add the cookies and a container of Cool Whip to the cream cheese mixture. Mix well.

At this point you could put it all in a single container, OR you could do what I did and put them in 8 4-oz. mason jars. Crush 4 more cookies and sprinkle on top.

SO GOOD! ... In fact, I just ate three of them... Opps. Don't judge me.

These would be perfect for a bridal shower or baby shower! Super cute!

Deuces!
XOXO

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In the words of The Black Eyed Peas, "Let's Get it Started..."

Okay, seriously. I suck at life. I started this blog and have failed miserably at keeping up with it. And for that, I apologize. I'm sure that I put a lot of undue stress on each and every one of you who checked each and every day to see what new and exciting adventures I have had going on in my life. For this first post in a long time, I'm thinking you all deserve an update. So here it goes...

I've moved to Murray, KY for a new job. I've settled into my position as the Marketing Coordinator for TapLogic. I get to be creative just about every day and design ads for our product, FarmLogic. It's crazy the feeling I get every time I see one of my ads in a magazine. It's also crazy the amount of information I've learned about agriculture in the last year.

I bought a house. Crazy. I'll do my next post on my house since it takes up most of my time and money... I think I should give it fair coverage. It's pretty sad when you buy a house simply because you couldn't find a place for your DOGS to live. I searched and searched for an apartment but they were all dumps. The ones that weren't dumps, wouldn't allow pets. And some of you might be thinking, "Well maybe you were just being picky." NO... I have lived in some dumps... The Brickyard, The Golden Nugget... CRAP HOLES!  But they were cheap and fit the bill while in college. ANYWAYS, back to the house... Still has some work to do, but it's coming along. I get adventerous every once in a while and try to replace a light fixture or take the molding down around the laundry room, and sometimes end up up a creek without a paddle, (or rather no light in the bathroom), but it's fun... Mortgage payments aren't fun, but oh well.

I love being closer to my college friends, but I do miss my Alabama friends. Why can't you all just be in the same place? Grr... Once Lindsay get's hitched in August and Erin ropes Derek into getting married (just kidding, love you Erin), then I'll officially be the last woman standing... Literally... All the rest of you are laying up in the bed with your boo. Jealous. It's okay though... While you all have your honey bunches of oats husbands and boyfriends, I've got all the power to the remote control, eat whatever and whenever I want for dinner, all the covers on the bed (minus what MB and CM take up), and have full intentions of painting my laundry room pink. ... That's what I keep telling myself at least... :)

That's enough for now. More to come later.

Deuces.
XOXO