Tag: Crockpot

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March Comes In Like a Lion and Goes Out Like a Lamb……….Maybe

Recipes

Crockpot Chicken Dinner

This is one of my toss it all together, taste test along the way, and have dinner recipes. All ingredients are “approximate”.

3 skinless chicken breasts

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 cup of white rice

2 cups of frozen mixed vegetables

Water and chicken broth (1 part water to 2 parts chicken broth) enough to cover all ingredients.

Salt and pepper to taste.

I cooked on low for 5 hours

It was delicious and made its own gravy. I ate it just like it was but you could put it over biscuits or potatoes, whatever sounds good to you.

Crockpot Vegetable Soup

4 cups vegetable broth

1 bag of mixed cauliflower and broccoli

1 small bag of mini carrots

1 russet potatoe cut up

1 T. garlic minced

1 onion diced

1 small can of stewed tomatoes, not drained

1 can of tomato paste

2 stalks of celery diced

1 bay leaf

salt, pepper, Italian seasoning to taste

I put everything in the pot and cooked on low overnight. I adjusted the seasoning by added a little more of each and it was lunch! It is always better to start with a little seasoning and then add a little at a time. Once you put it in, you can’t get it out again! LOL

Bacon Wrapped Crackers (peartreekitchen.com)

  • 54 buttery crackers , like club crackers, about 1 ½ sleeves
  • 16 ounces thinly sliced bacon , cut into thirds
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • Take bacon out of the refrigerator and allow to soften slightly.
  • Preheat oven to 275 degrees F.
  • Prepare a baking sheet with sides by lining with non-stick foil or parchment paper. Spray foil or parchment with baking spray.
  • Cut bacon slices into three pieces if using regular bacon, or cut slices in half if using center cut bacon.
  • Wrap one bacon piece around one cracker. Repeat with all crackers.
  • Lay on the baking sheet with seam side down. These can be placed close together, but not touching. Repeat with all crackers.
  • Sprinkle the top of each wrapped cracker with brown sugar. Do not use too much or it will run off and create a hard caramel layer. Repeat with all crackers.
  • Place into preheated oven and cook for 30 to 45 minutes. Longer may be required for crisper bacon.
  • Remove from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes.
  • Move to serving tray and enjoy!

Praline Candied Bacon (giftofhospitality.com)

I have not made this but looked up the recipe after I had it at a local restaurant, Music For Your Mouth. It is amazing! This is not their recipe but I am sure it is similar. I am buying bacon today!

INGREDIENTS  

  • 1 lb thick cut bacon
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons maple syrup
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • ½ cup very finely chopped pecans INSTRUCTIONS 
  • Preheat oven to 400°F.
  • Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and top with a wire rack. Lay the bacon in a single layer on the wire rack (it can touch slightly but not overlap).
  • In a small bowl, stir together the brown sugar, maple syrup, and Dijon mustard. Use a pastry brush to brush the half the brown sugar mixture over the bacon.
  • Bake the bacon for 20–25 minutes, or until the bacon is mostly cooked through.
  • Remove from the oven and flip the bacon onto the other side. Brush the bacon with the remaining brown sugar mixture. and sprinkle the chopped pecans over the top, pressing gently with a spatula to adhere if necessary.
  • Return to the oven and cook until the bacon is very crisp, about 5–10 more minutes.
  • Remove from the oven and let cool slightly. Serve immediately.

Hacks

*I am cleaning pennies for a 50th anniversary gift and this works great. Just put the pennies in a dish and cover with any citrus juice like lemon and add salt. Allow to sit for 15- 20 minutes and then scrub with an old toothbrush to get off all the gunk! Dry with a soft cloth. This works with any coin.

*When reheating leftovers, create an empty circle in the middle of the food. This empty space will help the food heat up more evenly.

*Taking something apart to fix it? Take a photo before you start. This will give you a visual reference when putting it back together.

*Ever get a ring stuck on your finger? Spray some Windex around the area. It will slide right off.

*When making any toasty sandwich like BLTs, place two slices of bread together in a single toaster slot. This way, the bread gets toasty on the outside, but stays soft and chewy on the inside.

*Need a quick measurement but don’t have a ruler? Use a dollar bill. It is 6 1/8 inches long. You can get a rough length measurement that way.

* There’s a trick to keeping your refrigerator clean. Line the shelves with plastic wrap, waxed paper, etc. When there are spills just replace the liner.

*You can take the crumbs left in the bottom of a chip bag and save them in a jar. Just puree them in a blender and they can be used as a coating for fish or chicken.

*Don’t have an apple corer? You can use a winged corkscrew instead. This works great! Try it with baked apples.

*Amazon return bag trick, what you say is this? My hairdresser sharedn this with me. Thanks, Kim! Just watch, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG5M9S56LDM

Craft Cache

It’s been a bit of a crafty time. I either have to give more away or get a bigger house!

Several years ago in a ceramics class did these bird houses. The base they were on broke but I saved them for future use. I finally found a use! I hot glued them to the bottoms of some small clay pots I had and put some moss around the base. I haven’t decided if I want to to any embellishment to the pots or not. I kind of like the plain look. What do you think?

This banner is Dollar Tree (more accurately, Dollar and a Quarter tree but I am not bitter at all! Grrr) all the way! I started with the plain banner and then added some pastel little bunnies that I painted. I had this adorable plaid pastel ribbon from DT too, so I just added a little bow. It is cute and was super quick to make. Painting the bunnies took the longest and that wasn’t too long at all.

This cute little bookmark is made from a square of scrapbook paper. Watch the video to see how simple it is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEwl0fvqo18

This adorable carrot was all Dollar Tree too. I started with the wooden carrot cutout from which I removed the jute hanger. I painted the carrot orange, the raised part of the carrot top white and the trim was painted lime green. I then used a dollar tree napkin (that I took the top decorated ply off bottom plain ply) and decoupaged it too the raised carrot top. I used orange burlap ribbon to wind around the carrot, securing it with hot glue. Finally, I added that sweet little bit of carrot ribbon to the top of the carrot. The jute hanger went back on and there you have it!

Isn’t this bunny adorbs?!! 3 of us got together and made these wreaths. The form was a bunny head and ears from DT. First, I wrapped bulky pink yarn that my friend, Shelly, shared with me, around the entire form. You can either tie a knot to anchor the yarn or use hot glue. Next was the black and white check fabric in the center of the ears. I cut two rectangles of the fabric that were slightly larger than the ears and glued them to the back of the ears. After the glue dried I cut the excess fabric off so you couldn’t see it from the front. I fashioned a messy bow using four pieces of ribbon, two black and white check and two pink. The bow was then glued to the wreath slightly of center. The final touch were some flowers in a deeper pink. I took the larger flowers off the stem and hot glued them, centering more toward the left ear. To finish it off, I added some stems of smaller flowers. You can make a jute hanger that will be hidden behind the ears.

The egg wreath form was from, you know where (DT). The rope and embellishments were purchased there as well. I anchored the rope with hot glue and wrapped the entire form with it. The embellishments were added and I made a messy bow from ribbon I had on hand which was glued slightly off center, at the top.

I hope this post finds all of you doing well and that you saw something of interest in it. Share your thoughts, etc, in the comment section and see you next month! Thanks, as always, for reading.

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It’s Me!

I’m back! Here’s the scoop. I was on a grand adventure to Alaska, The Last Frontier, with my oldest son, Jess. We were gone 11 days which included travel time. I didn’t want to say online that I was going to be gone so long. Everyone would then know my house was empty. Well, nearly empty. I was lucky enough to have my grandson, Dakota, and his girlfriend, Shawntai, stay to take care of the dogs. They have to work though so the house was empty quite a bit.

Anyway, it was wonderful! I had never been on a cruise before and have always wanted to go to Alaska. I don’t really know why but I have. We were on the Star Princess for 7 days and on land at Denali and McKinley lodges for 3 days. The scenery was awesome. We visited, while on the ship, Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway and Anchorage. If I had to pick out some highlights I would say that meeting people from all over the world on board the ship, seeing Denali, visiting the Husky Homestead (owned by Jeff King who is a four-time Iditarod winner), and flying in a seaplane over glaciers were just a few.

                                                                          The photo doesn’t do Denali justice.  She is grand, beautiful and I saw her! Only 30% of the people who go to Alaska get to see the peak.

Now, onto regular business.

I have recently joined a thing called Ipsy. You get 5 cosmetic samples per month for $10. I enjoy checking out the products as I am a makeup junky. This month I received a foundation primer, a blush, 2 facial masks, mascara, a nail polish and a cosmetic bag. Some of the items are not sample size. The nail polish this month and the blush were full size products. All of the items are from companies that are well-known. I used to do something similar through QVC but it was at least twice as expensive. If you are interested you can check it out at www.ipsy.com. You fill out preferences on colors and things about your skin care and skin tone, etc. so that they have an idea of the products that you might enjoy receiving. It is very easy to join and you can quit at any time.

The fruit stands are open and brimming with fresh fruits and vegetables in our area. On a recent trip I bought some red sweet peppers and wanted to do something slightly different with them. We were also having an Indian Summer heat wave here and I wanted to use my Crockpot rather than turn on the oven. In in my search I found the following recipe and it was a winner! I will definitely make it again.

Mexican Stuffed Peppers (Recipe courtesy of Chef Savvy blog)

  • 5-6 (depending on size) tri-color bell peppers, tops cut off and seeds and ribs removed
  • 1 pound lean ground beef or turkey, uncooked
  • 1 cup rice, cooked (mexican, brown rice, or white rice)
  • 1 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1 cup frozen corn, thawed
  • 1 cup red enchilada sauce
  • ¾ cup shredded Mexican cheese, plus more for topping, if desired
  • ½ tablespoon chili powder
  • ½ teaspoon ground cumin
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • Spray the bottom of a slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray. Place the peppers inside.
  • In a large bowl combine ground beef or turkey, rice, black beans, corn, enchilada sauce, cheese, seasoning and a sprinkle of salt and pepper.
  • Place the filling into the cavity of each pepper.
  • Cook on high for 2-3 hours or on low for 4-6 hours or until the meat is cooked through.
  • Serve immediately with some of the optional toppings, if desired. Goes great with a side salad!

    Optional Toppings

    1. cilantro
    2. sour cream
    3. shredded Mexican cheese
    4. salsa
    5. enchilada sauce
    6. avocado
    7. lime wedges                                                                                                                       Usually, I do try to follow a recipe exactly the first time I make it and then tweak it later. However, when you find yourself without a couple of ingredients or maybe you don’t like what is in the original recipe, then you need to make substitutions or changes. I used red peppers instead of the tricolor. I do like the tricolor and they make a pretty dish but as you remember, I bought red. They were also the long peppers so instead of cutting the tops off and filling them I cut them in half-length wise and filled them. When making enchiladas I make my own sauce. I was conserving energy and time the day I made these (yes, maybe lazy) I didn’t feel like making my sauce. I had a can of diced tomatoes with peppers that I used instead and it worked very well. Also, I didn’t have frozen corn and used a can of corn which I drained instead. The recipe was a success. We used salsa, sour cream and cheese as toppings.                                                                                                                                    This picture was taken just before I put the lid on the Crockpot and turned it on high for 2.5 hours.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  I very recently made another kitchen gadget purchase. This one I had been contemplating for a long time. Welcome to my kitchen, 6 quart NuWave Air Fryer! The purchase was made from BonTon. Here’s what was involved that helped make my decision to order it; a $10 birthday coupon, two $20 bonus cards (BonTon lets you double stack the reward cards) and free shipping! How could I not?                                                                                                                              So far I have only tried it once and that was just to make frozen french fries. It was so easy to use. The fries came out pretty good. I would say better than putting frozen fries in the oven but definitely not like deep-frying french fries. Of course, I wasn’t expecting that. There are many recipes to try.  Some examples are twice baked potatoes, roasted brussels sprouts, home fries, air baked eggs, buffalo wings and Cajun shrimp. Also included, is a divider so that you can make two different foods at once.                                In future posts I will let you know the other foods that I make in my NuWave. If you would like to read about this appliance you can go to mynuwavebrio.com.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     My birthday celebrations have extended beyond my birthday month into October which is why I refer to it as my “birthday season”. During the season my friend, Linda, made me an absolutely wonderful banana cream pie. She gave me permission to share the recipe with you.                                                                                                                                                                                            Banana Cream Pie with Cake Mix Crust (one of my two favorite pies)                                                                                                                                                                                1 pkg. yellow cake mix, divided                                                                                                1 large egg, lightly beaten                                                                                                           3 Tbsp. butter, softened and divided                                                                                    1 cup cold 2% milk                                                                                                                          1 pkg. (3.4oz) instant banana cream pudding mix                                                          1 medium banana, sliced                                                                                                              1 carton (8 oz.) frozen whipped topping, thawed and divided                                  1/3 cup creamy peanut butter                                                                                                  Additional sliced ripe banana to decorate.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 inch pie plate. Stir together 1 3/4 cups cake mix, the egg and 1 Tbsp. butter until combined. Turn onto a floured surface and knead until smooth dough forms.  Roll dough to fit pie plate. Flute edge. Prick bottom several times with a fork. Bake until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.                                                                    Whisk milk and pudding mix 2 minutes. Fold in banana slices and 1 cup whipped topping. Transfer to cooled crust. Top with the remaining whipped topping. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours.                                                                            Meanwhile, mix remaining cake mix, peanut butter and remaining butter until crumbly. Transfer to a parchment paper lined rimmed baking pan. Bake until golden brown, 14 to 15 minutes, stirring once. Cool completely.      Top pie with the additional sliced banana and the crumb topping.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                That’s all for this week, folks! Be kind to each other over the next week. Spread kindness and compassion wherever you go!
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