Slow Cooker Captain & Coke Pulled Chicken

A classic cocktail is transformed into a delicious slow cooker meal that is perfect for game day (or any day!) in this Slow Cooker Captain & Coke Pulled Chicken recipe...

Post updated 9/5/18- This flavorful Slow Cooker Captain & Coke Pulled Chicken recipe deserved some updated photos just in time for college football season. I did leave one of the originals down below just so you all can see for yourself why this recipe so desperately needed a little face lift. ;)

My husband's go-to drink of choice is a good old fashioned Captain & Coke.  In fact, we always have a bottle in the freezer.  

Not that he kicks back with a cocktail every evening.  In fact, we have had the very same bottle of Captain Morgan in our freezer since we were married almost 2 years ago.  We also have a rather larger bottle of Captain in the cupboard leftover from the reception from the above mentioned wedding.  

Needless to say, I am always look for some ways to help use up a little of that rum.

You know, besides taking shots or mixing up cocktails. ;)

Whipped Captain {Our Signature Wedding Cocktail}

It has been two years today since I married my high school sweetheart (delayed).  I say delayed, because although we graduated from the same high school during the same year we never once dated during our high school careers.  We even worked together at the same restaurant during college and still nothing.  Fast forward about 12 years and we happened upon each other on Facebook. 

Then we happened to be in our hometown at the same time and met up for lunch just to catch up...

And well, the rest is history. ;)

As we started planning our spring wedding, I kept reading about how the trendy thing to do for a wedding reception was to have a signature cocktail available for the guests.  

Being a former bartender, the wheels started turning and  I decided I wanted to combine my favorite liquor with my husband's- Captain Morgan and Pinnacle Whipped Vodka. 

Thus, the Whipped Captain was born.  (Appropriate for a wedding, don't you think? ;) )

The Whipped Captain is pretty simple (much like our wedding reception was) and straight forward (much like how my husband and I both are).

It is just-

1 part Captain Morgan

1 part Whipped Vodka

2-3 parts Coke (or Diet Coke)

Pour over ice and stir.  That's it!  I didn't really give exact measurements.  I usually do a shot of each of the liquors over ice and then pour in Coke to fill a rocks glass.  You could tailor this cocktail to be as weak or as strong as you would like. 

P.S.  My mother was even kicking back a few of these and she NEVER drinks liquor.  ;)

Today I want to raise a glass to my loving, amazing, supportive husband.  The past two years  were not always wedded bliss and rainbows.  We faced quite a few challenges and hard times together, and have also welcomed more joy and love into our lives than either one of us could have ever possibly imagined.  I couldn't imagine a man, a father to my children, a partner in this life that could be more perfect for me.  

After a few of the above mentioned Whipped Captains and a glass or two (or maybe 3?) of champagne. ;)

Please pour yourself a little Whipped Captain some time today and join me in raising a glass to real, beautiful, honest, hard loving marriage. <3

Did you or will you have a signature cocktail for your wedding reception?  Do tell in the comments- I love seeing how creative everyone is with these and the stories behind their cocktails! :)

Spiced Rum Peach-Walnut Crisp

This easy Spiced Rum Peach-Walnut Crisp is the perfect marriage of summer sweet peaches and the warm spices of fall...

Sometimes recipe inspiration just hits me while standing in the produce aisle at my local grocery store.  

These huge gorgeous peaches caught my eye instantly. But I was sold when I saw the price per pound- just 99 cents!  I loaded up a bag of them, giddy with how amazing they looked and smelled.  I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with them right at that moment, but I knew I was going to have make something amazingly delicious with them. ;)

As I was standing in the checkout line ready to make these peaches mine to take home, it occurred to me that I had a huge bag of beautiful walnuts from my friends at California Walnuts sitting on my counter. Before I had even swiped my card, I knew what I was going to bake these peaches into- a warm and comforting crisp.

I combined sweet, juicy peaches with the some of the warm spices of fall- cinnamon and cardamom. And for good measure, I poured a little spiced rum in there. ;) Then I topped it off with a spiced golden and crunchy oat topping brimming with big pieces of California walnuts.  The perfect dessert to segue from the bright, fruity flavors of summer and the warm, spicy flavors of fall...

12 Tasty Mojito Recipes for Summertime

The classic mojito is taken to a whole other level of deliciousness with the addition of sweet summer berries & fruits in these 12 Tasty Mojito Recipes for Summertime...

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When it comes to summertime sipping, my cocktail of choice is a refreshing & fruity mojito.

We have an amazing mint plant in our backyard that comes back summer after summer, so I always have an endless supply of free fresh mint on hand during the hot summer months. I walk outside, snip off a few sprigs, and come back to the house and muddle up a couple of bubbly mojitos for my husband & I to sip on while sitting on the back deck.  

For those of you not familiar with this perfect for summertime cocktail, the mojito has it's roots in Cuba. It is a refreshing concoction of muddled lime & mint with a little simple syrup & a shot (or two) of light rum, all topped off with bubbly club soda. 

The beauty of a classic mojito recipe is that it lends itself very well to other flavors, especially summer fruits & berries.

While I can always go for a traditional mojito, we often like to change it up and add strawberries or blueberries to the mix. And sometimes we swap out the light rum for a spiced rum, like Captain Morgan. 

In my never ending quest to always have a variety of delicious mojito recipes on hand, I decided to browse some of my favorite cocktail bloggers' sites to gather up the very best. 

Each of these 12 Tasty Mojito Recipes for Summertime that I am sharing with you all today take the classic mojito to a whole other level of deliciousness with the addition of the sweet flavors of summer...

Finally Got to #DigIn & Plant {& A Recipe for Spiced Pineapple Mojitos}

I am so thrilled to have this opportunity to work with The Home Depot and to have received product to help make our dream of growing an organic edible garden a reality.

Yes, yes... I know.  That looks tasty and refreshing, right?  ;)  I promise we will get to the recipe for my Spiced Pineapple Mojitos in just a sec.  But first we have to put in a little hard work, sweat just a little to earn one.  I mean, seriously.  This cocktail is the best ever to sip on your deck in the evening after a hard day of yard work or gardening.

And about that garden...

I am sure some of you all are curious as to how our attempts at growing an edible organic garden are going so far.  When we last left off, I was giving you all a glimpse of our shopping trip to the Home Depot to get everything that we would need to get started with our organic vegetable garden.

Since then we have tilled.  (Okay, not we.  The husband did. ;) )

And ended up with a nicely tilled, perfectly sized plot to start planting our garden in.  

Yep.  We were all ready to go.

And then five straight days of rain came.

And then a two night cold snap that made me glad we had not got our vegetables in the ground the weekend before like I had wanted to...

Yes, my entire vegetable garden still in there Bonnie pots are under those sheets.  Temperatures dipped below 30 degrees for two nights in a row.  

Craziness...

But I was able to at least get started on potting our herbs on the deck before the cold snap hit.  You all may remember when I was planning our edible organic garden that I wanted to keep all the herbs potted on the deck since the door off from the kitchen leads straight to the deck.  I love being able to just hop outside for a moment while making dinner or a salad and just snip off a few fresh herbs that I need.

I planted the basil and the parsley together on a deck mounted planter we found at our local Home Depot.  The mint got it's own pot.  I have grown mint before so I know of it's aggressive tendency to completely take over wherever it happens to be planted.  Potted by itself is best. ;)

Now, we did get the garden planted last weekend.  

Finally.  

I consulted The Home Depot Garden Club website to make sure I had the planting times, depths, and so forth correct before we started. 

We have 3 tomato plants in, 4 different kinds of peppers, cabbage, 4 mounds of cucumber seeds planted, 2 rows of carrot seeds in the ground, and we also planted spinach and lettuce from seed.  We reserved the bottom end of our garden plot for a small pumpkin patch for baby girl to enjoy come fall.

There hasn't been a ton of progress as far as growth goes yet.  The tomato, pepper, and cabbage plants look wonderful though, and we are still waiting for the seeds to sprout.  I would say by this time next week we will start see little seedlings popping up in rows. :)

(And why yes, I am wearing the super cute gardening gloves I just had to have from The Home Depot!)

But the one plant that has been doing well (as would be expected) is my mint plant...

And what can you make with fresh mint??

You got it, folks- Mojitos!! 

And not just any mojitos for us...

Spiced Pineapple Mojitos, please!

What you will need:

1 lime, quartered

handful of fresh mint leaves

1/2 cup of fresh pineapple chunks

2 tbsp sugar

1/2 cup of spiced rum (like Captain Morgan)

ice

Splash of club soda

Squeeze the juice from the lime quarters into a cocktail shaker.  Throw the quarters in there and then add in the mint leaves, pineapple chunks, and sugar.  Using a pestle or a wooden spoon, muddle together everything in the bottom of the cocktail shaker very well.  Then pour in the spiced rum.  Place the lid back on the shaker and shake, shake, shake.   Fill two smaller glasses with ice.  Pour the muddled rum mixture evenly into the two glasses.  I go ahead and pop in a little of the mint leaves and the pineapple chunks and lime quarters into each of the glasses.  Then just top off each glass with a little club soda and give it a quick stir. 

And there you go!  Two refreshing Spiced Pineapple Mojitos to cool off and reward yourselves after a day in the garden. :)

Are you growing herbs this year?  Tell me you bought a mint plant, right? ;)

It’s home improvement time, and The Home Depot has everything you need to #DigIn for Spring. No matter what projects you want to tackle, they have great values on all you need. They’re ready to help you with renovation ideas and expert advice, too.

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This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of The Home Depot.