Hey, I just made this.

Hey, I just made this. And it was crazy (delicious) so here's the recipe. So make it, maybe?

Click Here: http://www.food.com/recipe/snickers-salad-62855

Here are some more delicious chicken themed recipes I've tried lately

The World's Best Chicken (not quite the best)

Slow Cooker Chicken Caesar Sandwiches

Rotel Chicken Spaghetti

You're welcome.

wifed up wednesday: DIY "glittering landscape"

I found this project on apartment therapy. I saw it awhile ago but the other day I FINALLY got the last of our wedding gifts and left over decorations in mail from my dad. I found a couple of strands of Christmas lights and remembered this project.

So I went at it.

Here's what you need:

Mini Christmas lights
stretched and stapled Canvas
Hot glue or craft glue
Awl
Pencil
And optionally, you can paint the canvas before working with it.

This took me about 5 hours. Which, as you probably guessed, I was watching Mad Men so I didn't even realize how much time had passed.

First you need to mark where your lights are going to go. You can do this with a pencil on the back of the canvas.

Once you know where your lights are gonna go punch the holes in through the back with the awl (or whatever you have to punch holes). Then stick the lights through and secure them with glue (I used hot glue)


It's a pretty simple process, just time consuming.

 If I were to do it again (and I think I will) I would be a little more careful about where I put my lights AND I would have painted the canvas beforehand. Mine kind of looks abstract and random, but the lights still add a cool ambiance to whatever room you put it in.

wifed up wednesday: TREAT YO SELF!

This week I don't feel very wifely. My husband is gone and I am "vacationing" so to speak in Atlanta. 
So I decided to write about something that I feel very strongly about.
I think that all people should set some time aside in their lives to TREAT THEMSELVES.
You don't have to spend money. Even if treating yourself means dropping your kids off at someone else's house for a few hours while you have a gossip girl marathon in your underwear. TREAT YO SELF.
Kids or no kids, married or not, male or female, everyone needs to make time for themselves. Not only for your sanity but to keep in touch with WHO YOU ARE. 
I had a real sucky week last week, so this week I am TREATING MY SELF in the ATL.
My first treat this week was meeting Liam Hemsworth at the Hunger Games cast event at the Lenox mall:

How do you TREAT YO SELF? With fine leather goods?

wifed up wednesday: because glitter.

Happy leap day!

Glitter has nothing to do with being a wife but today that's what we're talking about.

I am coming out of the closet: I LOVE GLITTER. I can't really pin point when my love for glitter happened but I know I suppressed it for many years. The first reason was because I spent a good chunk of my life trying not to do things that other girls my age did. Because I am stubborn and also because I am awesome. The second reason was; many years ago, I loved Nsync with a fire of a million exploding suns. I read just about every teen mag article they were in. Mostly my main Nsync squeeze was Justin Timberlake which I am not ashamed of in the least bit because I still love JT. BUT unfortunately, there was a  dark time period in my tween years where I did love Lance Bass. I was 900% sure that we would be married.
Once, I was reading an article where they interviewed the heart throbs of Nsync and asked them some simple questions and one of which was "What is your least favorite make-up product that girls use?" and Lance said, "Glitter! It gets everywhere! It's such a mess." (In retrospect, now knowing he is gay, this seems weird. Gay guys love glitter, don't they?) His answer really hit home for me, I knew I had to throw out all my glitter products  in order for my marriage with Lance to go the distance.

Fast forward 12 years, turns out Lance Bass was gay the whole time and I don't have to care about what he says anymore! Thus my love for glitter is rekindled.

Enough about me though, this week I wanted to share with you some projects involving GLITTER. Most of which I found on Pinterest, one of which I am bringing to you exclusively with my very own tutorial. Starting right now

DIY GLITTER TOES

There are a couple of ways to achieve this look.

The first is to go to the Salon, have a nail tech drill into your toe nails and apply acrylic glitter, and spend upwards of 30 bucks.
PRO: Lasts long

CON: Costs money and Damages your nails.

The second is to apply several coats of a glitter polish.

PRO: Easy, Quick, Cheap

CON: Peels and chips quicker.

And the the third, is the way I am going to share with you today.

PRO: Lasts long, Cheap, Looks pretty

CON: Kinda messy in the process

Here's what you'll need:

Toes (any number of them)

Newspaper (or just any kind of paper to work on and catch rogue glitter)

Glitter (what ever color you desire)

Solid color polish (try to match the color of your glitter as close as possible)

Like so.

Nail polish remover

Q-tips

OPTIONAL: Clear Gel Top Coat; it helps the glitter last longer.

It looks like this, and you can get it at Sally's for like 5 bucks or something.

UNFORTUNATELY, this weekend when I did the toes pictured below (my sister-in-law so graciously let me use her toes while we were visiting them) Taylor forgot his camera and we had a 1 year old trying to get into everything so I didn't get to take step by step pictures. but it's pretty simple.

First, make sure sure your toe nails are clean and without polish. Then take your solid polish and paint your toes (you can either do them one at a time-which I do, or paint them all then apply glitter) All you need is one layer and then take a small amount of glitter (I like to pinch it with my fingers) and sprinkle on to the painted toe. Then, pack the glitter on making sure it covers the entire nail.

Once you have completed your first round of glitter, apply a regular clear top coat and repeat the glitter coating process. Remember to pat it down to make sure it sticks good. After you're finished with glitter round 2,  if you have the gel top coat, apply it now. Then wait for it to dry a little. Then just for extra shininess, I add another coat of regular clear coat (if you don't have a gel coat it is a must that you add a final clear coat). 

Wait a few minutes for nails to dry. 

Now at this point in the process you might have noticed that you have glitter all over the place. Take your butt to the bath tub and gently rinse your feet with COLD water. Don't use soap and don't touch your toe nails. (Fun fact: Cold water helps nail polish dry quicker. Ice water works the best.) Once you are finished, if you notice that there is still glitter on your toes (on the skin) you can use the q-tips and polish remover to clean up the edges. And TA-DA! You have glitter toes. 

(You can also do this for finger nails.)

and no, Jen those aren't my finger toes.

As promised, here are some links to some other fun and easy projects involving glitter:

Glitter keys (I did this and it worked really well)
Glitter bottom heels
Glitter vintage christmas lights
Glitter candles

If you have any fun glitter projects, share the wealth!

wifed up wednesday: the two A's of an ideal homemaker

this week, I present to you, a lesson in homemaking.

You may find yourself scoffing "WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT HOMEMAKING?" Well, I know what I've learned from reading this book.

You see, I found this book several years ago at the D.I., I saw the title and I saw the year it was published (1967) and I knew it had to be mine, because I knew it would be filled with sexist gems.

Since then, I haven't been able to get past the first chapter, but I've decided that from here on out I will pop in every now and then on wifed up Wednesday with a lesson in homemaking which I will learn from this book, which will require me to read it.

In the beginning of the book, she compares homemakers like unto a diamond. "Perfectly cut so as to bring out countless beautiful highlights. In both homemakers and diamonds, certain qualities must be present if each is to sparkle brilliantly and thereby be valued and cherished."

She then goes into listing a the twenty "facets" of an ideal homemaker....

Today, I am going to teach you about FACET NO. 1: "the two A's" that have the ability to completely change your world (assuming that your are a "real" lady and your whole world only exists within your home, as it should.)

The first is "A" is ATTITUDE

Your attitude can MAKE or BREAK your homemaking experience. You should not simply view your housework as a necessary evil that you must complete each day in order. If you don't enjoy your housework but complete it anyway, this is not good enough. You must love those dirty dishes, the skid marks on the toilet, the cooking, and the mountains of laundry. Otherwise, no one is going to appreciate what you do, and no one will like you. If you're struggling with this, it might help you to take your wedding picture and remind yourself of what a "SWEET" bride you were. Strive to be that sweet girl that your husband married, EVEN while cleaning the litter box.

The second "A" is APPEARANCE

BEAUTY IS A DUTY! Every morning you should get dressed VERY first thing in the morning. Getting dressed includes putting on comfortable clothes, combing your hair, applying make-up (EVEN A BARN LOOKS BETTER PAINTED), and putting on shoes. The reason most husbands are unhappy is because their wives have neglected their appearance. They find their wives slopping around in housecoats and curlers in their hair! CAN YOU IMAGINE? (Oh, don't forget about perfect posture!) 

Remember, if you LOOK THE PART of a perfect housewife, you will ACT THE PART.

Are you still confused about what you should look like right after waking up?

Let me help you:

or actually, prettier than this.

wifed up wednesday: best pizza dough ever + DIY Fat Sticks!

yo yo yo. so today i am bringing to you a fail-proof pizza dough recipe which I found on pinterest from the website  "Lauren's Latest".  Unfortunately this blog post will not help you lose weight and it's really long but I've got TWO recipes up in here and I promise it will be worth your time. If you're into this sort of thing.

She has a pretty awesome and easy tutorial to follow if you click that link above, BUT I made you a tutorial too. They really aren't that different except a couple of things. FIRST, her tutorial is using a kitchenaid stand mixer, which I am poor and do not have, so mine involves a hand mixer with dough hooks. SECOND, her recipe on the tutorial for the garlic cheese breadsticks, is different from mine, I made some adjustments as I don't really love garlic or handling things such as garlic or onions.

Here is what Lauren said you need to know about this pizza dough:

"{1} I use warm water-not hot, not cold. Pleasantly warm. Yeast likes warmth. And I don’t ever use a thermometer because thermometers are annoying for this kind of stuff. Don’t over think this step. If it feels nice and warm like baby bath water, then you’re good. {2} I use honey- I seem to get better results with honey. I don’t know why. You can use sugar if you prefer. {3}Bread flour- you must must must use bread flour. Bread flour means more gluten. More gluten means chewy crust. Chewy crust = good. The end. {4} Knead, knead, knead. Kneading means gluten! And we all know what gluten means. Knead  your dough for 6 minutes pretty please. {5}Use a pizza stone if you have one. Put it in your cold oven, and then crank that baby up to the hottest temperature it will go to. For me, it was 500 degrees. That will really give you a crispy bottom, like you get at the restaurants"


So, this is the third time I've made this recipe. I want to tell you that I know for a fact that it is the best. I know this because 1) Taylor loved it, and he is SO particular, and he never likes homemade pizza dough. 2) April and I tried a couple other recipes and none beat this one.

Let's get started, first, here's what you'll need:
[this makes about 1lb of dough. which is enough for two 12-inch pizzas]

Ingredients:

1 cup warm water
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (You have to use active dry and not fast rising, it makes a difference)
1 tablespoon honey (or sugar, like Lauren I also used honey)
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons  olive oil
3 cups bread flour (give or take 1/2 cup depending on head and humidity)

In a large bowl, add the yeast and honey (or sugar) to a cup of warm water. Let it sit for about 5-10 minutes until the yeast starts to bubble and foam so you know it's alive. Pour in the salt and oil then add about half of the flour.

This the part where if you have a stand mixer you can use it to do all of the work. Other wise, pull out your dough hooks for your hand mixer. (Just so you know the first time I made this, I didn't realize that I had dough hooks so I just used the regular egg beaters to initially get the flour incorporated then I hand kneaded it to avoid burning up the motor. It was a pain in the butt, but it worked.)

Then gradually add the rest of the flour until the dough is at the right consistency. It should be slightly tacky but it shouldn't stick to your fingers when you touch it. When you get here it's time to KNEAD!! Knead for 6 minutes with either your hand mixer or stand mixer or your hands. After I discovered my dough hooks, I kneaded with those and then kneaded for an extra minute with my hands, just to cover my bases.

Once you are done, the dough should be smooth (like a baby's butt!) and easy to work with.  Lightly grease the bowl so the dough doesn't dry out and cover it with plastic wrap and let it rise 1-2 hours.

While you are waiting, clean up your mess right away. It makes life easier. it also makes you seem like an awesome wife. ...or husband.

Then you're done and you can do whatever you want with the dough. You can also keep it in the fridge for a few days until you're ready to use it and I haven't tried to, but I'm sure you can also freeze it.

Today, we're going to make what I like to call "Fat Sticks" fat sticks are cheesy bread sticks that they serve at the pizza place (Roy's Pizza, formerly: FAT JACK'S) in my hometown. Sometimes when I'm homesick and reminiscing, I think of them and drool. This recipe is pretty close, and I kind of made it up.

Ingredients

1/2 of the pizza dough you just made
1/4 pound of grated mozzarella cheese (let's be honest, you can be much more generous w/ cheese if you want)
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder (or more if you like garlic, or you could use minced garlic if you want)
salt and pepper to taste.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees with your pizza stone in the oven. (If you don't have a pizza stone, you can just flip a cookie sheet upside down.)

Prepare your dough on some parchment paper (makes it easier for transferring to stone or cookie sheet) and flatten it out to about 12 inches (if can be a circle, a square, a heart, a misshapen blob, it doesn't matter.)
*Here's a fun tip, if you're a poor newlywed without a rolling pin, you can just just use a round cup instead. That's what I do, because every time I go to buy a rolling pin the cheap ones are out of stock and then only have the 20 dollar ones.

In a small bowl melt the 2 tablespoons of butter in the microwave. (about 10-15 seconds on high should do it) once butter is melted add the oregano, garlic powder, and salt&pepper to butter and stir. then dump the butter mixture onto the flattened dough and spread it all over that baby. (i recommend doing this when you make pizza too, it makes the crust better)

 

Then sprinkle the cheese all over and pop it in the oven for about 9-10 minutes or until bubbly and golden (I think you'll know when it's right.) Let it cool about 2 minutes before serving. Serve with marinara or my personal fave, ranch.

So, I accidentally bought reduced fat mozzarella (don't do this! gross.) and it did not cook pretty. I refuse to show an unappetizing picture of this. So I'll so what it's supposed to look like instead.

                             

Let me know how you like it!

wifed up wednesday: sigh, tissue pom poms.

today i realized it was wednesday. i came home from work and i got distracted by video games. because i'm not really a good wife, i just pretend.

i was going to do a picture tutorial like last week but then some other things happened so i made this video. i realize that probably everyone on the planet knows how to make these.

sorry that i look disgusting and sorry that i'm so large. and sorry about my weird hair. and sorry about my dog. but really i'm not sorry about any of it. but i'm truly sorry for the aeropostale hoodie, I don't even know where it came from. i think my friend's exboyfriend. awkward.

here you go! enjoy. next week will be better, i swear.

Tay edited this video for me. I am grateful but I wasn't supervising so weird things happened.

Also, I took way too long and the camera cut off so there's no ending. but here is the end result, in my mouth:

i really hope i don't make a habit out of this video thing or it will defeat the purpose of a blog...

wifed up wednesday: reusable dryer sheets

are you ready for wifed up Wednesday round 2? I hope so, because I put a little more effort into this one.

This is something I actually learned about long ago, and something we have [kinda] been doing since our entire marriage. (A WHOLE 10 MONTHS!) 

A while ago when we were still dating Tay bought me this craft book at Urban Outfitters. I must confess that I have done next to NONE of the crafts in the book yet (but I marked the ones I would like to try. That's what life was like before pinterest.) Except for this one thing.

reusable dryer sheets.

So, here's the run down. Basically, dryer sheets are made of the same stuff as fabric softener. Therefore, all you need is some kind of vehicle to get the softener up in there with your clothes while they're in the dryer. To do this, most people just go to the store and buy dryer sheets. Does this sound like you? Because it was me. But we can change that! Wouldn't you like to save money and help the environment just a smidgen? (It's really a win win.) You would? Then keep reading.

To do this, here's what you'll need:

One yard of cotton fabric

or random pieces of fabric that are big enough to cut out 8X8 squares.

Scissors, or rotary cutter

or laser cutter, whatever, just some way to cut the fabric.

Sewing Machine or Serger 

Don't get discouraged, this is actually optional

Bottle of your favorite fabric softener

or the cheapest, or whatever kind you have.

Empty spray bottle 

They can be found for like 99cents in the travel sized item section at Target

Choose your fabric.

Cut your fabric into 8x8 squares (don't worry if they're not perfect.)

This step is optional, but I ironed my squares, to make sewing easier.

rather than just leaving the squares as is, like in the book, I chose to double up on the squares. I did this because reasons. You don't have to do this, and obviously you can't if you're not sewing.

Then I sewed the edges for two reasons, 1) to sew the two pieces together. 2) to keep the edges from fraying over time. You can also use your serger on them. If you have one.

I have a serger, but it's in the garage, so I just tried out some of my different sewing patterns.

Then, you fill your spray bottle up with softener, keep the sheets and sprayer near your dryer. Right before you start drying a load just moderately spray your sheet and toss it in with the clothes. Pretty simple right?

*WARNING: if your laundry room has tile or hardwood floor, careful where you're spraying because the softener WILL make your floor slippery. I learned this the hard way.*

I actually came across a blog where they posted about the reusable sheets but instead of spraying they soaked the fabric in softener and water for like two days. I'm sure it works but that seems like a unnecessary amount of work. Whatever floats dat boat, I guess.

When we first got married and into our first apartment in South Carolina, I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get all of our household items under control. I had remembered the reusable dryer sheets idea, but I didn't have any random fabric so I decided we could try to use some cheap wash cloths  instead. It actually worked pretty good for awhile until the wash cloths started to be used for other things like cleaning. So I think if you wanted, you could just use cheap wash cloths, or even cut up an old t-shirt. Get creative. I just felt like making something pretty.

A lot of people ask if this also eliminates static like dryer sheets, I can't really say YES IT DOES! But since we've been doing this, we haven't had any problems with static. So.

Try it out, and tell me what you think!

wifed up wednesday: drywall screen

Just so you know, I'm writing this blog from the car, on my phone. So please excuse any typos in advance.
I've decided to start doing what I have cleverly named, "wifed up Wednesday". In these posts, I will pretend like I'm a real good housewife and share some kind of cleaning tip, delicious recipe, crafting project, etc. Doing this makes me feel kind of lame, BUT I want to somehow contribute to the lives of the people who so kindly waste their time reading this blog. So let's carry on.
For my first wifed up Wednesday, I wanna share with you an item that I just discovered recently. 
(This might be something everyone knew about but me. But whatev.)
Drywall sanding screens

Yes, these are used for sanding drywall. But did you know that you can use them for a common dreaded household task?
The other day I was in the store with my sister-in-law, April and she picked some up and she told me that drywall sanding screen can be used to get rid of the ring around your toilet.
And it works! If you're like me and ended up in a super old slightly run down home, you may have inherited a unsightly ring in your toilet bowl(s).
All you have to do is go buy a pack of drywall screens (they're only like 2 or 3 bucks), and cut them up into about 4ths (give or take depending on the size). Get some gloves (I prefer the serious yellow dish gloves) and get up in that toilet and scrub away. It comes off super easy and I didn't use any cleaner.
I should have taken before and after pics but that's gross and I didn't think about it.
If you're immaculate and you have a squeaky clean pee bowl, fear not, the use for drywall screens doesn't stop there. My mother-in-law also shared with us a couple of weekends ago that she used it to remove dead and rough skin from her feet. She said it worked even better than a ped egg. I mean, the price is right so you don't have much to lose do ya?
Anyway I hope this was beneficial to you in some way, if it wasn't I hope it least didn't take you too long to read. Also, sorry I have no cool pictures.