Hot and Sweet Chicken...It's Dinner time!

Here I go again with another episode of Nancy's Kitchen!!! Sometimes when I want to take a break from work or at home I like to look on one of my favorite sites thepioneerwoman.com
She has different entries and one was about hot and sweet chicken and it looked so good and simple that I finally decided to make one of her recipe's. It turned out great and just looking at the picture makes me want to eat it right now! So I am going to tell you how to make it. Doesn't it look good?!

The ingredients that you need is any kind of chicken. I used chicken thighs but pioneer woman used chicken drums. Some soy sauce,hot sauce, minced garlic, apricot preserves and ketchup.

One cup of apricot preserves.

1/2 cup of ketchup

1/4 cup of soy sauce, any kind you like but don't use the reduced anything. It will taste weird.

2 teaspoons of minced garlic. Ok here is a confession. I didn't chop the garlic myself. I bought the jar minced at the grocery store and I keep it in the fridge. It's all about convenience you know?!

Hot sauce. And again you can use any kind. This stuff is great but when I took a taste of the sauce when I put it all together in the pan it was not very spicy. So maybe next time I might do as Emeril does..."LET KICK IT UP A NOTCH"!!

Put it all together in a pot and cook it until all of the preserves are cooked down. It's going to look like this. Dark and soupy with a little bit of small apricot pieces that simply can't be cooked down. Don't think you are doing something wrong if it is not all gone. What I did while it was cooking was stick you finger in and taste it. I loved it without the chicken but you simply can't just spoon it into your mouth. (Or can you?)

Next get a pan. I used an aluminum container to cook my chicken but you could use anything. Just remember that you are pouring liquid in, so make sure the sides are tall enough to hold everything.

Put in the oven for 40-45 minutes @ 350 degrees. You can use way more chicken than I did. I was only cooking for 2 but it can easily be used for a family of 8. I even had to throw out some of the liquid. AAHH! Shhh! don't tell anyone I did that.

And it turns out to look like this. (Excuse the shadow. I learned from pioneer woman to use natural light. Darn kitchen lights got in the way)I made mashed potatoes with it and it was the best ever. It tasted a little bit like Chinese food but chicken style. Very delish!!! Don't be afraid to try it.

Baby Shower #1

It's time for a baby shower! I went to my mail box the other day to get my mail as usual and I pulled out two invitation to baby showers. So this and next month will be big in baby things. The first was my best friend from high school's sister's show. Wow that was a mouth full! I was really shocked to get it because her sister is the same age as my sister ( yes younger that both of us). I wanted to call her up and say "um excuse me missy, your too young to be having a baby"! Well I wanted to say that to her too when she got married. But it came out more like "me first,me first". But anyway it was a blessing to still be invited to things like this. The picture above is of all the presents that she received. The room was big even though it doesn't seem to look like it.

Here is the mother to be! Ok I have to say that I am more than happy to become a mom IN THE FUTURE, but I am not looking forward to my body getting bigger. lol Random thought!

My best friend. I think she is getting a little tired of her LITTLE sister bossing her around. But it's her day so she can do that I told her.

This is a baby cake. It is made of diapers and has all kinds of baby stuff attached to it. (Powder, lotion, etc.)

Here is a closer look. The baby's room is lion themed and I thought it was pretty cute to have it on the cake too.

Here are some pictures of her and the gifts.

I didn't know what this was until I asked the girl next to me, in which she asked the girl next to her. It was a training pottie. Um I wanted to say that is not for another year and a half. Duh!

Sleeping jammies!

And now until the next time I will be going to baby shower #2 and #3. To be continued.....

Birthday fun!

It is birthday time. My other aunt decided that it would be fun to have a 3 in one party What that means is my uncle Dewayne, cousin Megan and uncle Rich's birthday is all in the month of July so why not celebrate it in one sitting. But my cousin couldn't come because she is very involved in basketball right now and she is doing a bit of traveling right now for it. So we had a 2 in one birthday:)



The cake that was made was yellow cake with fresh whipped cream. It's definitely not my favorite but my uncle rich loves this kind.


Mu aunt also put on a great display of food. She BBQ chicken, grilled steak and sausage. She had all the fixings to go with the baked potato. Next to the brownies I made crab dip for everyone to eat before the big supper.

Let me tell you about the crab dip. It was really good but I will never make it again unless I get a raise. When I went to the store I picked up a pound of lump crab meat. I went up to do the self check out and I nearly had a heart attack!! The price for one of the 8 ounce tub of meat was 15 dollars!!!! I grabbed two because the recipe called for a pound!! Wholly S#$t!! Well I picked myself off the grocery floor and made my way home, cursing the whole way. So how I made the dip was one of Mrs. Paula Deen's recipe's. It had mayo, lime juice,mozzarella,crab meat and mustard powder. Every one loved it and I guess at the end of the day I was satisfied but never again.

My crazy aunt! lol

I didn't know what to get my uncle rich so I decided a gift card and his favorite magazine. I couldn't help who was on the front cover. ( Borat was naked lol).

My uncle D got a lot of good stuff. A DVD of someone I have never heard of. Probably something funny because he loves the comedy stuff. I bought him WD-40. HAHA He's is always looking for some, so my aunt said, but never seems to go and buy some so I got that for him.

My grandma was there. She never misses cake and ice cream.

My sister and my cousin!

And Junior even showed up to congratulate my uncle on turning another year older!

Fourth of July Fun

Fourth of July was a lot of fun. I received a call from my aunt to go and spend a little time with her and her family at her friends house. It was very very hot. It wasn't the funnest thing in the world but it was something to do. Basically I got there and the food was already cold and the adults were talking in the kitchen. Very borning but it was nice to be around my aunt.



Ladies chatting!

Food!

They also had a pool and it would of been nice if there were no people around so I could take a dip.

As true tradition goes my lovely boyfriend of 4 almost 5 years always takes me to see houston's famous firework display. I love traditions like those. It was beautiful.

Random Thoughts.....

Random thoughts... I haven't had a random thought entry yet so now is a good a time as ever. And random I mean all the things I have been thinking for some while but haven't really discussed it with anyone and also just stuff that pop into my mind. Kinda crazy I know! So I have been having this slight pain in my middle area. I say middle because it tends to be all over and not in one spot. Yes I know that sounds like I'm making it up but I finally went to the doctor and he is sending me to get a ultra sound of my abdomen, gallbladder and pancreas. So here is a random thought.... What if I have cancer?...What if its an ulcer?...What if I'm crazy?... Ha...This is no laughing matter Nancy!!!...Random. I am a little scared about what they will find or won't find. But I will leave it up to God and everything is the way it is supposed to be. I try and tell myself that but sometimes it is hard to remind yourself and believe it. GOD IS IN CONTROL NOT YOU! Well other things that are happening is that my sister has come to visit me before she deploys for 6 months. I was so happy because to me 6 months is a long time and I really missed her when she was away for I think it was only 1 month. The only way to communicate was stupid email. I love to call her whenever I have a problem because she listens and calms me down and she loves me too:) Anyway you are probably wondering what this picture is.. Its my sister!! Well her back LOL! This t-shirt reminds me of her because the little character strawberry shortcake is so her. bubbly and caring.


This is her and Rocky chillin out we were watching some Michael Jackson video's. Oh my gosh!! I forgot to say that I was saddened to hear about him dying!! I have his greatest hits CD and love his music. Random thought... I wish he didn't change his face...It made him look creepy!...

What rocky?...What are you looking at?...

He loves my sister...

She loves him too. But she did tell me that since she has been on her ship that she is not used to hyper dogs lol..."Oh well you'll get used to it". I was thinking about telling her that but I just kept my mouth shut.

After my sis went to meet her old friend Rocky and I stayed home. Well I wish I would of went but since the doctor did tell me to stay home I probably should. Anyway, when my sister is here I put out a air mattress for her to sleep on. Last time she was here she slept with me and it was too crowded for me so I'm glad I had this king of all air mattresses!! So Rocky loved how hi it was and he also likes looking out of the window so here he is "observing the surroundings". Random thought... after watching some of the dog whisper I have a very good dog...

Oh whoops... He knows I'm talking about him.. Quick change the subject... I'm listening to the Red Hot Chile Peppers... Yes, it worked!!! Back to observing..

On last random though/thoughts.... I talked to my aunt this morning and she is planning a birthday party for my uncle D and uncle R. She invited other people and I was excited because since my sister is here she would get to see everyone. But my aunt and sister have some issues so my sister is not going to go. i feel like it is my fault because I was just going to bring her and everything would of worked out. instead my stupid butt told my aunt that i wanted Rachel to come and she was not comfortable with it so i told Rachel that If my uncle wanted her to come my aunt would tolerate it but since my sister is stubborn she is not going to go. I just want there to be no fighting for once. I feel like the mediator of everyone stuff. Not just my sister and aunt bu other members of the family. Always relaying info to others that I hate doing. This is very random but at least I know what I am talking about.. Well more on the ultrasound and party at a later date. So for now randomness stands.... Dang it hot outside!! Random thoughts everywhere!!