Shredded BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

This is definitely a favorite dinner around our house!  This is simple to put together, and can easily be made for a large group as well.  My husband had a 'milestone' birthday last year, so we had a party and fixed a large amount of chicken in no time!

Cook the chicken how ever you prefer.  We prefer to smoke it, but on this particular night we were a little tight on time so we just grilled it.  While it is still hot, throw it into your stand mixer and use the flat beater to shred it.  

Then I add in our favorite BBQ sauce.

Some of my kids like it lighter on the sauce, so I add some to the top of mine at the end. You can use any type of bread, but our favorite is the Kaiser rolls, which I warm up just slightly in the microwave. 

And that's it!  Super simple!  Enjoy!

Organizing Cookware

I am so lucky that our house has two pantries!  One for food and a smaller one that I use to store all of my cookware (you can see how I organize my food pantry here).  I spent many years battling lower cabinets and trying to fit everything in them just right.  And then when I wanted to get something out, it was a whole new battle!  I am so grateful for this space in my house! 

Now I will say that this space is definitely in need of some TLC....I guess the previous owners decided to add the top shelf at a later time and didn't match it up to the other shelves.  There are nail holes, bad dry wall spots, and a whole lot of painting that needs to be done!  I wrestled with whether or not to share this with you before I got all of those things repaired or not, but what the heck, here it goes (just don't look too closely!)

 Here's a look at each shelf:

Right now I have 2 different sets of cookware, and yes, it drives me crazy that they don't all match!  But they have to work for now.  I dream of the day when I will open this pantry and everything will match :)

I must say that two of my favorite organizers ever are in this pantry.  The skillet and lid holders are amazing!!  You NEED them if you don't already have them :)  You can find them almost anywhere and they are usually only a few dollars, but make such a HUGE difference!

Here's another look at the whole thing.  The right side is just where I hang aprons.

So there you have it.  I absolutely love having this pantry and can never have another house without one!  Do you have a good spot to keep all of your cookware, or have you found a good solution for those dreaded lower cabinets?! I would love to see how you keep everything organized! Thanks for stopping by today!

-Emily 

Stand Mixer Milk Shakes

This past weekend I was let in on a little secret that will change my life forever-milk shakes made in the stand mixer!  It might sound crazy, but this is seriously exciting to me!  Making milk shakes for a family of 6 takes a long time when you have to do each one by hand.  We love shakes, so finding out that I can make an entire batch in one swoop is fantastic!  So, thank you to my friend Jana who has introduced me to this life changing process ;)

All you need is ice cream, milk, and whatever you want to add to it (that night we made some with chocolate chip ice cream and melted peanut butter mixed together-YUMMY!!!)

Here's how we made just a basic chocolate shake:

We put a half gallon of vanilla ice cream in the mixer with the wire whip attachment and slowly let that begin to mix.

 Then we added in 2 cups of milk and let it continue mixing.

 We just drizzled in the chocolate until we had it to the flavor (actually went more by the color) that we wanted it. 

And that's it! So good and so easy!  I can't wait to make them again and experiment with different flavors! 

Enjoy!

-Emily