Pinterest Made Me Do It.

It's not that often that I see something on Pinterest and am absolutely in need of buying it.

But in my hopes for weight loss through low carb living I've been uninspired. I've been bored with meat and cheese. I don't like vegetables that much, so its a huge chore to find a recipe that is all veggie that I will enjoy. 

Enter the GEFU Spiral Slicer.

Weird name, I know. It's German. It's like fully german, the box and directions and everything. 

As soon as I saw the picture of it on Pinterest I knew I had to have it. For a girl that grew up on pasta every night, I miss the crap out of pasta. I miss how easy it is and how versatile the recipes are. I don't miss how much weight it kept on me though, and in comes the Gefu.

Heres how it works: Cut off the end of your cylindrical veggie, and turn counter clock-wise against the blades inside the Gefu. I like zucchini and squash best. You can also try carrots, cucumber, radish...there's a lot of options. 

Next: Be amazed at how much 1 squash and 1 zucchini can produce when they are cut in this way. 

Yes people, that is 1 of each. Granted, they do shrink when they are cooked..but I was still surprised at how much they produced!

Next: sauté to your liking. Or leave raw if you can stand to eat veggies that way. I added some left over ground beef and vodka sauce. It was my favorite low carb lunch ever. 

The texture definitely mimics spaghetti. I am so happy that I found this contraption on Pinterest. It was definitely worth the $29.95 price tag. I will be enjoying low carb "pasta" for a very long time thanks to it!

I got mine on Amazon but there are plenty of other online retails to buy from. 

Disclaimer: This post is not sponsored. My blog is not that cool yet, and I really just wanted to tell you how much this has changed my life. 

Happy Tuesday, friends!

The Best Chicken of Your Life.

Happy Monday friends. I'm snuggled by the fire on this frigid morning, watching our new little kitten, Penelope, sleep as close as she can to the fireplace. I'll tell you all about her soon, we hope she becomes a little less shy in the next few days.

What I really came to tell you today was this amazing, phenomenal chicken that BM made on Friday evening. It's a party in your mouth. A really awesome party.

I'm a little bummed that I didn't discover this recipe myself. BM has a habit of looking at what we have in the fridge and googling those ingredients to try and make a recipe, where I prefer to find a recipe and then go get the ingredients! This recipe is called "Aussie Chicken", and you should probably make it for dinner tonight. 

Here is what you'll need:

4 Skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - pounded to 1/2 inch thickness

2 Teaspoons seasoning salt

6 slices bacon, cut in half

1/2 cup yellow mustard

1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup light corn syrup

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1 tablespoon dried onion flakes

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms (BM took these out for me!)

2 cups shredded colby-monterey Jack cheese

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley 

I don't have an ingredients photo...well..because I didn't make it :) This is a benefit of working nights, BM gets to do the cooking! (sometimes)

Here is what you do:

1. Rub the chicken breasts with seasoning salt, cover and refrigerate for 30 mins.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place bacon in large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until crisp, set aside. 

3. In a medium bowl, combine the mustard, honey, corn syrum, mayonnaise, and dried onion flakes. Remove half of sauce, cover and refrigerate to serve later. 

4. Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Place breasts in the skillet and saute for 3-5 mins per side, or until browned. Remove from skillet and place the breasts into a baking dish. Apply the honey mustard sauce to each breast, then layer each with mushrooms and bacon. Sprinkle to top with shredded cheese. 

5. Bake in preheated oven for 15 mins, or until cheese is melted and chicken juices run clear. Garnish with parsley and serve with the reserved honey mustard sauce. 

Here is what you get:

A happy wife & ...

Who doesn't love a good honey mustard sauce?

This chicken is seriously so dang good, I could eat 3x a week.

Also, stay tuned to hear about this fur ball that we welcomed into our home yesterday! We are most certainly in love. 

Ok, now go to the grocery store, get those ingredients..and make this chicken tonight!

You will not regret it!

Crock-tober: Crockpot Pumpkin Chili

Yes, you read that correctly.

PUMPKIN chili.

Today I'm really really really excited to eat pumpkin chili,  and I've never even heard of it until this morning.  Which means I don't really have good pictures of yummy looking chili, but I promise to update later.

All I know is that there is a whole can of pumpkin and a good amount of pumpkin pie spice.

You see, I'm very very new to this whole crock pot thing. I've never seen my mother use one, ever. So the only things I've made in it were these AMAZING ribs, courtesy of Mel's blog post last Crock-tober.  I also made beef stew last weekend, it was very yummy too. All that being said, I think I'll stick with this whole crockpot trend!

Here is the pumpkin:

And here is a crap load of beans and tomatoes.

Also, it doesn't have that much meat. I just decided to buy a lot more than the recipe called for so we could eat it later :)

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 Pound Ground Beef

1/2 Teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 Teaspoon minced garlic

1/2 large onion, diced

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 (15 ounce) can Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained

1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce

1 (4 ounce) can tomato sauce with garlic and onions ** I couldn't find this 

2 (14.5 ounce) cans petite diced tomatoes 

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree

2 Teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

2 Teaspoons chili powder

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon salt

PHEW. That is a lot of cans.

Directions:

1. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat; cook and stir the beef in the skillet until crumbly and no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Stir in the red pepper flakes, garlic, and onion; continue cooking until the beef has browned and the onion has softened and turned translucent. Add the green and red bell pepper and cook 5 minutes more.

2. While the beef is cooking, combine the kidney beans, black beans, Great Northern beans, tomato sauce, tomato sauce with garlic and onions, petite diced tomatoes, fire roasted diced tomatoes, and pumpkin puree in a large slow cooker. Season with pumpkin pie spice, chili powder, cumin, and salt. Stir in the ground beef mixture.

3. Cook on Low until the chili is hot, 1 to 2 hours.

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I will be updating later today after we try it.

I can't wait!

I wish it cooked longer so I could get started on it right now...

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UPDATE:

GO MAKE THIS CHILI NOW!!!

Ok, this recipe really lived up to the AllRecipe.com Reviews, it was super super super good.

Seth was eating it out of the crockpot late last night and proclaimed

"This chili is awesome!"

When Seth uses the word "awesome" you know it's good.

On our wedding day, when I got to the end of the aisle and saw him for the first time, he told me... "you look awesome!"

That to me, was better than him telling me I looked beautiful..and if you know Seth, you know exactly what I'm talking about!

I would chop the onion a little less finely next time, just because I like a chunkier onion. 

And you could always add more spice, without the red pepper flakes it had close to no spice -- just how I like it!

Thanks Mel, for posting such a fun link up! I'm already enjoying reading other peoples favorite crock pot recipes :)

PinterTest Kitchen: "Best Shrimp Ever" and "Bacon Wrapped Chicken"

I've been pinning a lot of food lately. Now that the wedding stuff is done, I have more important things in life like cooking for a hungry, hungry husband.

Seth and I have been on a low-carb diet for a while, and while its contreversial...it has been the only diet that has ever worked for me. I've never felt healthier and I haven't had stomach pain associated with my IBS in 10 months. That being said, most of the stuff I make is low carb!

I don't usually touch anything from the ocean, but I recently started eating more shrimp, so this easy sounding and yummy looking pin caught my attention:

Source: amazon.com via Jamie on Pinterest

The caption says this: Whoa... Melt a stick of butter in the pan. Slice one lemon and layer it on top of the butter. Put down fresh shrimp, then sprinkle one pack of dried Italian seasoning. Put in the oven and bake at 350 for 15 min. Best Shrimp you will EVER taste:)

Best shrimp ever is a BIG promise. So I decided to try it as an appetizer for Seth and I.

The prep was easy enough...defrosted the shrimp with running cold water and sliced some lemon. 

I have no idea which italian is best, so I just grabbed the one that looked good!

Melted my butter in a bowl..much easier cleanup. Not to mention the bowl is cute :)

pour it over..

Add the seasoning..

15 mins later..voila!

I hate that shrimp shrink so much. We ate all of these in less than 5 minutes.

Now they were GOOD.
But not quite the best shrimp I've ever tasted. I don't know if I have tried enough shrimp recipes to gauge what is best, yet!

But, I would definitely make them again, in a larger quantity :)
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Next pin for my hungry, hungry husband:

Source: artsyfartsymama.blogspot.com via Jamie on Pinterest

Now this has Seth written ALL over it. I like recipes with pictures, easy ingredients, and easy directions. I'm not super experienced in the kitchen, so easy is key.


Obligatory ingredients shot:
Chicken Breast, Shredded Cheddar, Cream Cheese, Bacon!

Arrange your bacon strips 3x2.
Place chicken breast on top, add cream cheese.  

Add Shredded Cheddar! 

Wrap the bacon around the chicken, covering up as much surface area as possible.
I didn't have toothpicks, which would have been really helpful because the bacon shrunk and warped as it cooked. 

While it cooks, hire your husband to sauté the vegetables!

Wait 45 mins...

Done!

Ok, I know it looks a little greasy and gross.

But I promise, it is MIGHTY tasty!

I would season the chicken next time before adding the cream cheese, but that is just about the only thing I would change!

This recipe was relatively easy, and majorly delicious.

Jess, thanks for hosting such a fun link up! I love making recipes from Pinterest!