Tag: vegetable soup

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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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Mums, Pumpkins, and Multi-Colored Leaves, Oh My!

Two days until Halloween! It is hard to fathom that October has flown by so fast. It won’t be long and Thanksgiving will be upon us.

The first thing I want to share is a recipe that was given to me nearly 40 years ago. It was 1979 and I was living in West Germany. (Yes, it was still divided then!) I lived in a little town called Kleingerau. It was right next door to a larger town called Grossgerau. (Klein means small in German and gross means big. I always thought that was sort of cute.)

One morning when I was taking my kids to the school bus stop, down the street and around the corner from my apartment, I met Deana. She had grown up in Oregon and I in Western New York. We became fast friends and in a way, our little overseas family.

We each had a different set of recipes that we were equipped with to face married life. In her kitchen I tried artichokes for the first time. (I really can’t figure out why I hadn’t had them before. My Dad was a produce man and we had tried every veggie known to man, at least I thought.) One of my favorite recipes that she gave me is a super easy peach cobbler. I made it not long ago and loved it as much as I did the first time. I texted her right away and told her I had just made it. We both wished we lived closer so we could share some with a cup of coffee!

Peach Cobbler

2 cups canned, sliced peaches (drained)

1 1/4 cup sugar

1 stick margarine

3/4 cup flour

2 tsp. baking powder

3/4 cup milk

pinch of salt

Mix peaches with 1/4 cup sugar. Put the margarine in a deep cake pan and set in 350 degree oven to melt. Stir the batter consisting of 1 cup sugar, flour, baking powder, pinch of salt and the milk. Pour in cake pan over melted butter. Do not stir. Put peaches on top and again, don’t stir.  Put into oven and bake for 1 hour or until top is golden brown. The batter rises to the top during baking and so does the butter which produces the golden brown crust.

*This recipe was given to me before the invention of microwave ovens. I melt the butter in a casserole dish in the microwave now instead of using the oven to do it. Either method works just fine.

The above picture shows how it looks when you put it in the oven.

This is a piece of the cobbler after baking. Notice the wonderfully golden brown crust.

Recently, we celebrated my twin grandchildren’s birthday. They are 19! Can someone please tell me how that happened?!! My granddaughter, Sierra, wanted an ice cream cake. She is my only granddaughter so naturally she gets what she wants. I have a super easy way to make one!

Ice Cream Sandwich Cake

1 jar of caramel sundae topping

16 ounce container of whipped topping

small bag of your favorite candy (I used peanut butter cups)

24 ice cream sandwiches

Using a 9″ X 13″ pan, unwrap half of the ice cream sandwiches and make a single layer on the bottom of the pan. You might need to cut one of the sandwiches to make the layer. Next, spread half of the whipped topping on top of the sandwiches. Then you liberally drizzle some of the sundae topping on top. Cut up some of your candy in smallish chunks and sprinkle on top. You will repeat the layers once more to make the cake. Put in freezer for a few hours or overnight. Make sure you cover it with foil so that it doesn’t absorb any odors. (For instance, I have green pepper frozen in my freezer and when I open the door that is all I can smell. You don’t want your ice cream to taste and smell like green peppers!)

As you can see I was beginning the process of making the second set of layers.

Voila! The finished product. Sierra loved it!

I was doing some research into foods that have an anti-inflammatory effect on our bodies. One of the recipes I found was a vegetable soup that sounded delicious! I tried it and it was sooooooooo good!

Vegetable Soup *savingdinner.com

8 large green onions, chopped fine, including stalk

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 green peppers, seeded, cut into bite sized pieces

4 cloves roasted garlic, smashed

4 carrots, cleaned, cut into bite sized pieces

10 ounces mushrooms, cut into thick pieces

1 bunch celery, cut into bite sized pieces

1/2 head of cabbage, clean, and chop into bite sized pieces

2 cans diced tomatoes, with juice

48 ounces chicken or veggie broth

Salt and pepper to taste

Curry, to taste (optional)

In a large soup pot, put 2 tablespoons olive oil, add green onion and garlic, saute about 4 to 6 minutes until onion is clear. Add in the rest of the ingredients to the pot all at once. Add water until everything is covered with liquid, if needed. Cover and cook on low heat for about two hours. Season to taste.

As you can see, there are a lot of good-for- you veggies in this recipe. The one thing I did to change it up was to saute the green onion and garlic in a saute pan and then put them in my slow cooker with the other ingredients. I put it on low and let it cook away all day until the veggies were nicely cooked.  The next time I make it I might add another can of tomatoes to the recipe. I really like the tomato flavor highlighted in my foods.

Hacks and All That Jazz!

  • I have had acrylic nails put on for many years. I decided about 3 weeks ago to stop, at least for a while. My nails have always been thing and now that the acrylic is off they are dry and peeling. I was doing some investigation online and found a way to fix it. You put some olive oil in a dish that you will be able to dip your finger tips into. Then warm it for 35 to 45 seconds in the microwave. It is recommended that you soak your finger tips for 15 to 30 minutes. I really have a hard time sitting still so I am doing 15 minutes for each hand once a week while I watch tv. It has helped tremendously. If I had the patience I would do it twice a week until I get on track. If you have dry and peeling nails I would highly recommend this treatment.
  • If you are baking something that requires chocolate chips or any other flavor you should toss them in flour which will keep them from sinking to the bottom.
  • If you have leftover cake you should put a slice of bread at cut end and it will keep the cake fresh.
  • In an effort to keep my chest freezer organized I developed a method using those reusable shopping bags. In one bag I put all of my poultry. Another holds all of my beef and so on. It really is helpful for me so that I can easily find what I need and also tell what I am running low on.
  • Did you know that sticking with the same doctor for many years may increase the length of your life? Linked with this is greater patient satisfaction, fewer ER visits and better adherence to medication. In other words, if you see a doctor who has the big picture of you and your health and then a  specialist when needed your health and ultimately your length of life is better.
  • Along the same vein, keeping your teeth healthy has a lot of benefits linked to it. These are a stronger heart, lower cancer risk, lower blood sugar, clearer lungs and a sharper brain. So the moral of this is find a good dentist and brush your teeth (and your tongue) twice a day for at least 2 minutes.

Hopefully there was a thing or two in this post that is helpful to each of you. I encourage you to leave a comment. They always make me smile!

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