With four kids, a husband who travels during the week and a million projects happening all of the time, my crock pot is my best friend.

We’ve been experimenting with chicken recipes. The easier, the better.

So here is the easiest crockpot recipe we’ve created. It’s my go-to recipe when I need something quick. I almost always have the ingredients.

And it’s something that can be used in so many different ways. You can use the chicken for delicious tacos, you can use it to make burrito bowls, you can put it on top of salad for a yummy Cafe-Rio-ish meal, add it to spaghetti for a heartier meal with a kick, you can use it to make enchiladas or burritos too. So many different meal ideas.

Our favoite way to make it is for chicken tacos. It’s something every person in our family will eat – even my child who hates Mexican food.

So here it is. 

4 chicken breasts (frozen or fresh)

1 can of salsa (my favorite is Mrs. Renfro’s) 16 oz.

1 can of sweet corn (drained)

2tsp. Mrs. Dash Fiesta Lime Seasoning

4 limes — 2 limes, freshly squeezed and 2 more for garnishing

1 can Green Chilis (4.5 ounces)

• Place chicken in the crock pot on high, combine the other ingredients and pour over the chicken.
• Cook on high 6-7 hours if the chicken breasts are frozen, 4-5 hours if the chicken breasts are fresh.
• About an hour before serving, shred the chicken with two forks in the crockpot. 
• For chicken tacos, serve with warm tortillas, fresh chopped tomatoes, fresh cilantro, shredded cheese, sour cream and salsa. 

Yum! 

Plus, it’s even better the next day, warmed up. Yay!!

I really like the Mrs. Dash Fiesta Lime Seasoning – it has no salt or sodium. I also use it when I grill corn. I just put the cob in foil, add some olive oil, the Mrs. Dash seasoning and wrap it up and grill it. It’s very good. Plus, it’s great on popcorn too.

What is YOUR favorite easy meal to prepare??

Let us know in the comments. And if you have blogged about it, leave us a link – so we can come over and see YOUR recipe!! 

Have a Delicious Day! 

xoxo

PS — I am over at Riley Blake today – sharing some festive Patriotic Pillows!

When we remodeled our kitchen, I left a couple doors off a cabinet by my sink. I love decorating that area for different seasons and holidays.

And with the warmer weather, it has really got me in the mood for summer. So the other day I decided to change up that little section of my home.

Here’s what I did to change up this little area of my kitchen: 

• I took the shelves out of the cabinet and took the beadboard backing out. 
• Then I took a length of muslin and covered the beadboard with it. I attached the material to the beadboard with duct tape on the back.
• I covered the muslin with burlap and attached it to the board with duct tape.
• Then I put the board in the back of the cabinet and then put the shelves back in.

Once the shelved were put back, then the fun began!

I love using this space to display my white cake plates. They look so pretty against any background.

I found the pie window saying at World Market.

The crate is also from World Market.

I potted a couple of suculents in some small bowls and I put the on top of a piece of wood that I put on top of a cake plate.

The plate and little striped bowls are also from World Market.

I think the burlap really looks beachy. And I love the texture that the burlap gives to the background.

I have a tray that I keep on my counter and I keep my flour, sugar and salt on it. I love the chalkboard labels. I bought those a few months ago at Target.

This space really makes me smile. And I am SO excited for Summer!! 

What are YOU most excited about for Summer?? 

Let me know in the comments!! 

And here are some other ways that I have changed up this space throughout the year:

Navy and Yellow Open Shelves

Aqua and White Shelves

Halloween Open Shelves

Christmas Open Shelves

Have a Beautiful Day! 

xoxo

PS — Don’t miss out on winnning my FAVORITE SUMMER THINGS ($250 value): 

Are you ready for something REALLY amazing??

 I’m teaming up with 20 Creative Bloggers — and we are EACH giving away our FAVORITE THINGS for Summer!!

1. Capturing Joy with Kristen Duke | 2. No Biggie | 3. Tatertots and Jello | 4. The Idea Room | 5. TidyMom | 6. Dine & Dish | 7. Skip to My Lou | 8. House of Smiths | 9. I Heart Faces | 10. Nest of Posies | 11. The Inspired Room | 12. Living Locurto | 13. 30 Handmade Days | 14. Picky Palate | 15. Today’s Creative Blog | 16. Live Laugh Rowe | 17. Snap Creativity | 18. My Baking Addiction | 19. Sweet Sugar Belle | 20. FoodieCrush

(design from Amy Locurto’s new Pool Collection!)

These givaways are amazing. Be sure to click on the links above to go directly to each site and enter!!

Here are MY favorite things:

($250+ value)

The Jenna Bag from Kaboo —  (has a “tech-pouch” is designed to keep any iPad, tablet or e-reader safe and secure. With the included over-the-shoulder strap, this bag works great as a shoulder bag or a satchel. Plus, gorgeous chevron interior — $125 value.

Bright sparkly necklace – perfect for ANY outfit, ANY time of the year – $25 value.

Real Butterfly Ring from Trinkets and Butterflies – REAL butterfly wing, placed inside a silver plated adjustable ring base with glass cabochon over to magnify the beautiful detail and color of the wing. ~NO BUTTERFLIES WERE HARMED~  They lived their full lives(about 1-2 months) in butterfly farms around the world. By buying real butterfly art you are supporting people who otherwise would sell their rain forest land for clear-cutting. This is a GREEN renewable resource! $25 value.

Maybelline Dream Fresh BB Foundation — 8-in-one skin perfector. I love this foundation. It makes getting ready really easy. It has sunscreen, primer, brightener and foundation in one. Plus it doesn’t make me break out. $10 vlaue.

Maybelline Touch of Light — Luminizing Face Glow. This is a great product to wear all year round. It makes your face glow. You can wear it instead of foundation, or over foundation. (sorry I can’t find a link for this one. I bought mine at Walgreens) $7 value.

L’Oreal Colour Riche — The Temptress Shine. I love this color for the Summer. It’s so pretty and sparkly. $8 vlaue.

Tribal Notpad from the Target Dollar Spot. $1 value.

Trendy Washi Tape. $4 value.

5 Colorful Hair Ties. $6 value.

Three Crafty Books $10/each value.

Tendy iPhone Case/wallet.

Hold your cards, cash, ID and smartphone all in one stylish case. Front
flips open for easy access to your phone. Use all the features on your
phone without removing it from the case. You can use the camera, plug in
ear buds and charge your phone…All while it’s safe and snug inside the
case. $25 value.

* * * * *

Isn’t that FUN?? 

Here’s how YOU can win!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

xoxo

Here are some awesome, easy and inexpensive ideas to get YOUR home ready for Summer!!

Be sure to click on each of the links to go to the full tutorial!

Summer Bloom Wreath @ Cheerios and Lattes

Modern Dining Room Before & After @ Nalle’s House

Industrial Chic Throw Pillows @ Design, Dining + Diapers

Wood Shim Pendant Light @ May Richer Fuller Be

Old Doors to New Furniture @ Exploring Domesticity

Ikea Tarva Hack @ Persia Lou

DIY Glitter Cake Plate @ A Night Owl

Potted Garden Wall @ Gingerly Made

DIY Live Edge Desk @ Ashbee Design

Sassy Summer Wreath @ Twelve O Eight

Button Pillow Tutorial @ Adventures of a DIY Mom

Plant Print Paintings @ Twin Dragonfly Designs

DIy Scrap Fabric Pulls @ Revolutionaries

Gold Zig Zag Pitcher @ May Richer Fuller Be

Half-Pallet Herb Garden @ Eyes on the Source

Screened Porch Makeover @ Less-Than-Perfect Life of Bliss

Shallow Open Dining Room Shelves @ Remodelando La Casa

Patio Potplant Table @ With A Blast

Ironstone Chairs @ Daisy Mae Belle

$13 Framed Builder Mirror Tutorial @ Thrifty and Chic

Shelved End Table @ Life Between Potato and Rice

Pottery Barn-Inspired Kids’ Utility Boards @ Inspiration for Moms

Link up your projects to the Wrap-Up Party and check out the rest of the awesome projects linked up this w

 eek!

And don’t forget to enter the giveaway: this week,

two tatertots and jello readers win

one item of their choice from The Chic Orchid!

Two lucky winners can pick any one item from the shop!

Here’s how to enter to win:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Link your ideas up to the party and enter to win!! 

Happy Sunday!! 

xoxo 

and so do all of the happy projects linked up this week!

Here are 20 of my favorites:

Painted Berry Boxes @ While Wearing Heels

Colorful Wooden Magnets @ She’s Crafty

Metallic Mason Jars @ It All Started with Paint

Easy Patterned Pillows @ Teal and Lime

Handmade & Recycled Playhouse @ Exploring Domesticity

Teacher Gift Card Printable @ My Sister’s Suitcase

Berry Basket Pincushion @ A Pumpkin & A Princess

DIY Sunglasses Case @ Grey Luster Girl

Chocolate Chip Orange Sweet Rolls @ Crazy for Crust

Painted Layered Canvas @ That’s What Che Said

Smokey Blue Writing Desk @ The Weathered Door

Envelope Pillow Tutorial @ The Happy Housie

Lemon Coconut Bread @ One Sweet Appetite

Washi Tape Bow Cupcake Bunting @ Shaken Together

Wine Bottle Wrap @ In My Own Style

Adorable Mini Book Tutorial @ Michelle Lea Designs

Dyed Salt Water Sandals @ R & R Workshop

Decoupaged Vintage Apothecary Label Jars @ Simplicity in the South

Flat-Zippered Pouch @ Monkey See, Monkey Do!

DIY Dahlia Flower Decor @ The Happy Scraps

Link up your projects to the Wrap-Up Party and you could be featured on tomorrow’s Great Ideas post!

And don’t forget to enter the giveaway: this week,

two tatertots and jello readers win

one item of their choice from The Chic Orchid!

Two lucky winners can pick any one item from the shop!

Here’s how to enter to win:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Link your ideas up to the party and enter to win!! 

Have a Happy Saturday!! 

xoxo 

This week’s giveaway is from The Chic Orchid!!

I’m excited this week to introduce you to my friend Tam’s store, The Chic Orchid!

Every week,The Chic Orchid brings you special deals on stylish clothes at affordable prices!

And this week,

two tatertots and jello readers win

one item of their choice from The Chic Orchid!

(I love these polka-dot blouses!)

Find out how to enter the giveaway and link up your projects to the Wrap-Up after the break!

Check out these bright blouses — the perfect colors for the warmer months!

These lace maxi dresses are so beautiful, too!

Two lucky winners can pick any one item from the shop!

Here’s how to enter to win:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

  I’ve got two Great Ideas posts coming this weekend featuring your projects!!  

<a href="http://tatertotsandjello.com/" target="_blank">
<img src="http://tatertotsandjello.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/978446890_7b2ZN-O2.png" alt="" />

Please visit and comment on TWO linkups above you and TWO linkups below you — in addition to any others that you want to visit. 
{We all love comments!}

Have fun!!!
I can’t wait to see YOUR ideas and feature YOU!!
xoxo

I’ve been working hard trying to get my yard prettier. Last week I painted my brown and tan resin pots — yellow. And I love the change that made in our yard.

With all of the new pots and cushion covers, it really made my old, faded porch swing stick out. So I thought I would try recovering it.

You know those projects that SEEM like they will be really easy to do?? This was one of those. I didn’t really think it out very well. And it almost became a “craft fail” quite a few times.

But I pushed through and I am SO glad that I did!!

Here’s what I did (and some mistakes to avoid in case you want to try this sometime). Plus, this would be a fun thing to look for in yard sales this summer. You should be able to pick an old swing up very inexpensively.

Here’s what I did: 

The first tip I can give you is — think this project out. 

I thought I could get rid of the old cover and make a new one with ties that tied to the frame, but once I got that made, I discovered it wasn’t going to work. So I had to start all over again. 

What I discovered is that the material that was used in the original cover is made to be VERY strong. It’s criss-crossed the way that duct tape is and that makes it able to bear the weight of several people sitting on the swing. Another thing that I discovered is that the way this swing was constructed, there is very little support in the frame, most of the support comes from the cover fitting EXACTLY to the frame and attached through ingenious straps on the back.

So I went back to the drawing board. I decided to use the old cover, but to make a NEW quilted cover that fits over the old one. That way I still use the strong original cover that fits perfectly with the extra strong material. But it also looks pretty with the new, quilted cover.

For the material, I used OUTDOOR TABLECLOTHS from Target. I wanted to use outdoor fabric and I thought using outdoor fabric tablecloths would cut down on the cost of the project. Plus, I loved the bright colors of the tablecloths.

I used three tablecloths for this project. Two for the cushion – the front and the back, and another for the canopy. But if you want to cut down on the cost, you can use a different piece of material for the underside of the cushion instead of a tablecloth.

So what I did was I laid out one tablecloth and then laid the old cushion on top of the tablecloth as a pattern — I cut the tablecloth to the same size, but added 1 inch around each side for the seam allowance and to leave room for the batting inside.

For the front side of the cushion, I cut the sides the same size as the first, then I added 8 inches to the top and bottom sides of the cushion cover. I did this because I wanted to make a flap on the top and bottom of the cushion cover so that it would fold over the top and bottom of the cushion and hold the cover onto the underlying cushion.

Once those two pieces of fabric were cut out, I folded and sewed all of the edges of the fabric under so there were no unfinished edges.

Then I pinned the cut-out tablecloth pieces together, with the right-sides inside.

And I sewed each side of the cushion cover and flipped the fabric right-side out.

The next thing I did was I inserted the 3-layers of batting inside of the cushion cover and sewed the top and bottom seams shut, holding in the batting.

Remember – the top and bottom flaps of the cushion cover are still open.

I wanted to keep the batting from getting all bunched up inside the cushion, so I quilted the cover with my machine — with straight lines across the cushion to attach the batting to the cushion cover.

Then I folded the open top and bottom fabric onto the back of the top and bottom of the cushion and sewed it down at the edges, creating a pocket at each end.

Then I put the NEW cover on top of the old, existing cover and tucked the top and bottom of the swing into the pockets, to hold the cover in place.

I also decided to make it even more secure by making a tie out of scraps of the fabric to attach to each of the bars that hold the swing seat onto the frame. I sewed those ties onto the back of the new cushion.

The Top: 

I decided to use the existing top too. The fabric tablecloth was a little see-through and I wanted it to be shadier. So I took the canopy top and laid it on top of another tablecloth.

I cut the material out to the same size as the old canopy top, with an additional inch around the whole cover. Each of the edges of the canopy top are notched, so I did the same thing with the fabric.  I folded the edges under so there were no exposed seams.

The original top also had scalloped edges, I decided to make the top square, so I didn’t cut those out.

The canopy top is held onto the top frame with sleeves that are sewn onto the underside of the top. I reinforced those with the same fabric as the new cover.

I pinned the new fabric onto the old cover. I cut off the scalloped edges of the original top and then I sewed around the whole outside of the old top, attaching it onto the new one. I folded the old material under, so there were no exposed seams.

Then I attached the canopy to the canopy frame.

I really love my new little “old” swing. It really updates the swing and adds so much to the yard. This is my favorite place to eat lunch in the summer!

I still need to make a screen for the air conditioning unit that is right around the corner. Maybe I will tackle that project next week!!

What projects are YOU working on at your house? 
Let me know in the comments – I would love to hear YOUR ideas!!

Have a Happy Day! 

xox

PS — It’s Friday! 

My favorite day of the week. 

Why?? It’s the time when I can see YOUR great ideas!

I hope you can stop by for the Weekend Wrap Up Party!

I love to feature YOU!

The party starts tonight at 6 pm MST.

Hey, hey, TT&J peeps! I’m Jessica from Mom 4 Real, and I’m so excited to be back here again! This month, I want to share one of my favorite things to do. I love to take something old that someone is throwing out, and giving it a new life…preferably in my home. My favorite upcycling project ever is turning old mirrors into chalkboards. I have a strange love for chalkboards, so they are everywhere in our home. This one is going in my new office/craft space so I can write reminders and ideas down for myself. Let me show you how easy it is to turn an old mirror into a chalkboard…

First, you will need a mirror. It can be a big one like this one that my friend gave me…it used to be attached to a dresser. Or, you could go with a smaller mirror and make a cute chalkboard to display your family’s weekly menu on.

Step 1 ~ Prime the entire mirror, frame and all. If you want to leave the frame unpainted, only prime the mirror.

Next, paint the frame any color you like. Then paint over the primed mirror with chalkboard paint. Give it 3 coats of chalkboard paint, making sure to let it dry completely between coats.

Let the chalkboard paint cure over night, then you’ll want to season your chalkboard. Just take a piece of chalk and rub it all over the chalkboard surface, then wipe clean with a dry rag.

Tada! You now have your very own unique chalkboard! I hot glued two giant paper clips that I got in the dollar bins at Target to mine so I could clip our weekly menu and a sweet printable that I brought home from SNAP! Conference.

Speaking of Snap Conference, I finally got to meet Jen at SNAP! She is the sweetest lady, and put together the coolest crafting pajama party ever!

Thanks so much for having me again, Jen…I just love it over here at TT&J!!!

So I’m already getting into summer beauty mode … and I’m set to talk about my top 3 summer beauty favorites!

I’m sharing some of my favorite summertime things in the short little video below:

And I am so excited to share that Jergens will be giving ONE lucky person $500 for your summer!

SO fun!!!

Share YOUR favorite summer beauty tips in the comments widget!!

Have a Wonderful Day!! 

xoxo

Jergens makes it easier than ever to glow with the NEW Natural Glow Moisturizers that provides great color, year-round, without the sunless tanner odor.
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Jergens. The opinions and text are all mine. Official Sweepstakes Rules 

I am right in the middle of a few projects. I am working on recovering my old outdoor swing – which is proving to be a little trickier than I thought.

And I also am working on a Summer Mantel idea, Patriotic Pillow Covers and a printable too.

But in the meantime, I thought it might be fun to share some of my favorite DIY Summer projects I have made. 

DIY Giant Bubbles

Free Printable Bucket List Activities 

DIY Recirculating Fountain

Anthropologie-Inspired Nautical Necklace

DIY Privacy Screen 

PVC Summer Reading Teepee

Our End of the School Year Tradition: Summer Glitter Toes 

Summer Rosette Wreath

Here Comes The Sun Stenciled Art 

My Favorite Summer Salad Recipe — Corn Salad 

Beachy Rosette Necklace

Summer Ruffled Shirt 

Spray Painted Outdoor Rug 

Stamped Silverware Garden Markers 

Stenciled Summer Pillows

Outdoor Swing and Trellis Make Out of Doors from the DIY Blogger House

What projects do YOU want to create this Summer?? 
Share YOUR project ideas in the comments – I would love to hear them!!

xoxo

PS — Speaking of Summer Fun — don’t miss out on winning this AWESOME summer bounce house or a Canon Camera.

So fun!!