Time to Sparkle Tuesday Link Party #1

Hello friends!  And welcome to the party!  I am so {excited} for my first ever link party. Link parties have been such a awesome part in helping my blog grow and meet new blogger friends.  It is also so fun to be able to share what you have been working on.  I love being able to see all of the talented blogs out there and I am so excited to see yours!  

Welcome to Time to Sparkle Tuesday Link Party, where you can find all the newest creative ideas from around the web! Stop by every Tuesday, link up your posts, and check out what others are sharing! You'll discover some amazing new blogs and find inspiration for projects, recipes, and more! This party is hosted by four lovely ladies, so your projects will be shared on ALL FOUR blogs! Each week we will pick our favorite links as features, and share them on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest! 

- Make sure to follow our Time to Sparkle Pinterest Board to see all the amazing features starting next week! -

Let's see what your hosts have been up to this week:

Stacked Egg Floral Arrangement by Love Grows Wild / Dessert in a Jar: Chocolate Mocha Pie by The Gunny Sack / Banana Cream Fudge by Inside BruCrew Life / Mini Key Lime Pie by The Recipe Critic

Since this is our first Time to Sparkle Party, there are no features this week. But I cannot wait to see what you link up to feature here next week!

<center><a href="http://lovegrowswild.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Love Grows Wild" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhydSFcJrxcv3ITnAqWteL7z75u5ZnjQoGTkDkMae9JRR7fmEqrJuGYrIpyzj2Z1cvcwr-v1m72N7mHtFoosJh2a779fUI-22YHN0WZw-NyZvpMnDMgkovneGQvFFA8BPkRKuPidGhL1lgA/s1600/Feature+Button.png.png"/></a></center>

Now let's party! It's Time to Sparkle!

BBQ Chicken Salad with BBQ Cilantro Lime Dressing

When I was growing up I hated salad.  I would totally gag if I even would taste it.  It wasn't until I had had my first baby that I forced myself to start liking it.  I would wrap chicken up in a lettuce leaf and then hurry and eat it!  I knew it was good for me and I wanted to start eating better.  So, if I like a salad, then it HAS to be amazing!  If you are ready to experience the best salad ever, then start with this one!  Since I made this a month ago, I have made it every week.  It is the most delicious mouthwatering salad, and with the salad dressing on top it is out of this world.  I promise.  This is amazing!

Rating: 5 stars  Difficulty of Recipe: 2 stars
Review:  I absolutely loved this salad.  All of the ingredients combined were so fresh and delicious.  The salad dressing is definitely a must to make with this.  It is truly amazing!

Ingredients:

• 3 cups cooked and shredded chicken
• 2 cups BBQ sauce, homemade or storebought (Highly recommend Sweet Baby Ray's)
• 2 romaine hearts, chopped
• 1/2 red onion diced
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 1/2 cups corn
• 1 can (15 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained
• 4 ounces sharp cheddar cheese (cubed or shredded)
• 2 ounces Monterey Jack Cheese (cubed or shredded)
• tortilla strips

Salad Dressing:

• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1/3 cup buttermilk
• 1 tablespoons fresh cilantro, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 1 garlic clove, finely minced
• 1/2 tespoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 cup BBQ sauce

1.  Cook and shred your chicken.  I always throw it into the crockpot with some chicken broth and let it slow cook all day.  Then I will drain the juices and shred it.  Once you shred your chicken, add the 2 cups of BBQ sauce to the chicken.  Set aside until ready to use.

2.  If you are making the salad dressing, whisk together the mayonnaise, buttermilk, chopped cilantro, lime juice, white vinegar, sugar, garlic, salt, cayenne pepper, black pepper, cumin and BBQ sauce.  Set aside until ready to use.

3.  In a large bowl, toss the romaine, red onion, cilantro, corn, and black beans.  You can either add about 1/2 cup of the salad dressing to this, or serve it on the side.

4.  Top salad with the cheese and tortilla strips.  Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from: Mel's Kitchen

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Thin Mint Muddy Buddies

Hi.  My name is Alyssa and I am addicted to Muddy Buddies.  Ok phew.  The first stage is admitting it.  Unfortunately I have also accepted the fact that I will always be addicted! What is it with these that are so delicious?  I even had to get a bag on our most recent road trip.  They weren't the same as a fresh batch made at home, but they still were great! Someone told me a few weeks back when I posted the last muddy buddy recipe that I should make a mint kind.  I gladly took on the challenge.  Holy yum!  I loved the mint flavor in these!  And the tiny thin mint cookies that coated the outside made them extra amazing!  So fun for St Patricks Day, girl scout season, or really any time of the year!

Rating: 5 stars  Difficulty of Recipe: 2 stars
Review:  I made this with mint chips but wonder if using white chocolate chips with some mint extract would work as well.  I loved the minty flavor in this and the fact that they had my favorite girl scout cookie in them made them a win!

Ingredients:

• 5 ounces Guittards Green Mint chips (or green candy melts, the thin mints will still make them minty)
• 5 ounces milk chocolate chips
• 5 cups Chex Cereal
• 1 tsp shortening
• 9 Thin Mint Cookies or Keebler grasshopper cookies
• 1 cup powdered sugar

1. Divide the chex cereal into two bowls.  2 1/2 cups in each.  

2.  In a food processor crush 8 thin mint cookies until fine.  You can also crush in a gallon size bag with rolling pin.  

3.  In two gallon size bags, add 1/2 cup powdered sugar into each bag with 1/2 of the crushed thin mints into each bag. (It was about 1/2 cup of crushed thin mints.)  Set aside.

4.  Melt the mint chocolate chips (or green candy melts) and milk chocolate in separate microwave safe bowls.   Melt 30 seconds at a time with 1/2 tsp shortening in each stirring after each 30 seconds until melted.  

5.  Once melted, stir in the chocolate into the separate bowls with Chex cereal until the Chex are coated well with the chocolate.

6.  Add the mint chocolate and milk chocolate separately to the gallon sized bags with powdered sugar and crushed thin mints and shake until they are coated. 

Recipe Adapted from another recipe that I did that hasn't been posted. :)

You might also enjoy:

Skinny Muddy Buddies

Funfetti Muddy Buddies

Pumpkin Spice Buddies

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White Chocolate Snickerdoodle Pudding Cookies

I am obsessed with snickerdoodles and white chocolate.  So when I found this recipe on pinterest I had to try it right away!  This is taking snickerdoodles to a whole nuther level my friends.  I am not even kidding when I say that these were probably the best cookies that I have made to date.  Have you ever made a pudding cookie?  They are the softest, chewiest, most tasty cookies created.  And these had all of my favorite things rolled up into one!  This is a recipe that I hope that everyone tries.  When I was taking pictures of these, I originally had a cookie leaning on the side.  But then bite by bite, it suddenly disappeared.  They were amazing!

Rating: 5 stars  Difficulty of Recipe: 2 stars
Review:  I had to give these away because I would have eaten all of them.  Everyone absolutely loved them and the hubby agreed that these are the best.  This is one of those recipes that you never want to lose and make over and over again!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3.4 oz package white chocolate instant pudding mix
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups white chocolate chips
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Cinnamon Sugar Mixture:

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1.  Preheat your oven to 350 and prepare baking sheets by lining with parchment paper.

2.  In a large bowl mix together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and white chocolate pudding mix. Set aside.

3.  In your mixer cream together butter, sugar and brown sugar.  Add eggs and mix together.  Add your bowl of dry ingredients.  Mix together and lastly add the white chocolate chips.

4.  Mix in a small bowl the cinnamon sugar mixture.  Scoop out cookie dough and roll into balls.  Roll the balls in the cinnamon sugar and place two inches apart on baking sheet.

5.  Bake for about 10 minutes or until slightly golden.  Let cool and enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Something Swanky

You might also enjoy:

Snickerdoodle Bars

Cinnabon Cinnamon Roll Cake

Snickerdoodle Blondies

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Slow Cooker General Tsao's Chicken

Remember when I had that recipe fail {here}?  Well I was determined to get it right!  I found a great recipe and adapted a few things and it turned out just the way I thought it should.  The sauce was delicious!  It was thick and dark and gave the chicken a great flavor!   It had a hint of sweet to it and it was really unique to the other chinese dishes that I have made.  Because we all know that my family is obsessed with Asian inspired meals!  This turned out great!

Rating: 4 stars  Difficulty of Recipe: 2 stars
Review:  I used a crockpot liner to cook the chicken in.  It made the cleanup so easy and made the chicken so tender and full of flavor.  You can also make this recipe on the stovetop if you don't want to make it in a crockpot.  This was great and I will be making it again!

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1/2 cup water
• 3 T hoisen sauce
• 2 T soy sauce
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 3 T ketchup
• 1/4 tsp dry ginger
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper (more or less to liking)
• 1 T cornstarch

1.  In a mixing bowl, mix together water, hoisen sauce, soy sauce, brown sugar, ketchup, ginger, and crushed red pepper.

2. If you aren't using a liner for your crockpot, spray crockpot with cooking spray and add chicken.  Add sauce on top.

3.  Cook for 4-6 hours on low.  Remove chicken and cut into chunks.

4.  Whisk cornstarch in the sauce to thicken it up.  If it isn't quite to desired thickness, slowly add more cornstarch teaspoon by teaspoon.  But be careful because it can thicken up fast.  

5.  Add chicken back to the crockpot and allow to heat through for another 15 minutes.

6.  Serve over hot rice and garnish with toasted sesame seeds if desired.

You might also enjoy:

9 five star slow cooker Asian Inspired Meals

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Mini Key Lime Pie

Since visiting The Keys on our cruise, I have been CRAVING key lime pie.  Since being home I have been searching for a good recipe that would cure my craving for it.  Since I like things in mini individual sizes, I thought that I would create them just like my mini cheesecakes.  I was shocked at how delicious and close these tasted to the key lime pie in Florida.  They were amazing!  They were perfectly moist and had the perfect amount of lime in them.  I took them over to my parents for dinner and they couldn't even wait to eat them.  My hubby isn't even a huge fan of key lime pie and loved it!  It was so fun being able to remember all of the fun memories we made in the Keys with one delicious bite!

Rating: 4 stars  Difficulty of Recipe: 3 stars
Review:  Loved everything about this recipe and it is surprisingly easy.  The only thing that I would change is the graham cracker and better ratio.  I misread the original recipe and put in 3/4 cup butter instead of 3/4 stick of butter!  Oops!  Although still amazing I will definitely be reducing the amount next time I make them! :)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs, crushed (about 12 squares)
• 3 T Sugar
• 3/4 stuck butter (about 1/3 cup)
• 3 egg whites beaten
• 2 (14 oz) cans sweetened condensed milk
• 3/4 cup lime juice
• 1 T Lime zest
• 1/3 cup nonfat greek yogurt

Instructions:

1. Crush the graham cracker squares in a food processor or place in a gallon size bag and roll with a rolling pin.  

2. Add sugar and butter and mix into the crushed graham cracker.

3. Press 1 tablespoon graham cracker mixture into the bottom of a cupcake liner.  I put 1 T in and then pressed down with 1/4 cup measuring cup.  You have the option to bake this at 350 degrees for 8 minutes so that it can harden.  I skipped this part and it turned out great!

4.  In a sperate bowl, mix together egg whites, condensed milk, lime juice, lime zest, and greek yogurt.  Mix well.

5.  Fill the cupcakes about 3/4 of the way full with the mixture.   Bake for 12-15 minutes and cool.

6.  Top with whip cream and garnish with lime if desired.  Store in the refrigerator.

Recipe adapted from 3 pastries a day

The famous Key Lime Pie Factory!

You might also enjoy:

Skinny Mini Cheesecake

Mini Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake 

Skinny Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake

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