Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Crock pot love


Shame on me for not posting more often. Moving on. I have this supersonic love for my crock pot and sadly it's home is on my kitchen floor due to lack of cabinet and counter space. It used to be housed on my kitchen shelf in the garage (extension of my cabinets) but I got tired of up and downing the stairs every day or every other. I have a severe affinity for kitchen galore (gadgets, serving trays, plates and fun mania that I can use when I have my pals over) and it never ceases to amaze me at how much stuff I have in this room. Oh well. I love it and don't care. I'm trying a new recipe today and now can't find the webpage. DANG! (winks to Jerm! That was for you mofo) I love all the ingredients here independently and together I thought shazam! This ought to be fantastic! So we're giving it a whirl.

Crock pot chicken

3-4 chicken breasts
1 can Health Valley organic cream of chicken soup
1- 8 oz package fat free cream cheese
1 packet Good Seasons Italian Seasoning/Dressing mix

Place chicken in crock pot and with hand mixer, combine remaining ingredients. Pour over chicken and cook on low 8 hours. Enjoy friends~!

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Chicken Pesto Pasta

This is a staple in our house. It's an easy one pot meal and so tasty! I'm filling in at Darling Diva's daycare this week. Yes I'm a teacher and a classroom full of 25 1st graders DOES NOT intimidate me but a roomful of 6 under 2!? Whoa seriously a completely different universe. Whoa is all I can say. Let's just say at 8:20 pm tonight and I wish I was in bed and I'm a night owl. Trying to be better at blogging and keeping up so here I am, plugging away. I hope you enjoy this as much as we do. Plus it's easy to disguise those veggies in so go ahead and throw them in.



Chicken Pesto Pasta

3-4 chicken breast cut up in 1 in pieces
1 pkg Good Seasons italian seasoning
Cooking oil

In hot skillet, add chicken to oil and season with Good Seasons.

1 pkg fettuccini or linguine

Cook this according to pkg directions while chicken is cooking.

Once chicken is cooked through add

1/2 c pesto
1/2 c sharp cheddar, shredded
1/2 c light italian dressing
couple shakes crushed red pepper
1 can corn drained
1 can diced tomatoes, drained

Stir in pasta and cook an additional 4-5 minutes on low until heated through.

Start swirling those forks folks!

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Crop mania! My very own subway art!

So I'm heading off to a crop in April and I thought I'd try out the whole subway art using scrapbook mania. While it took a while, I'm completely addicted. We'll be wearing these proudly across our backs. I'm sure people will be unconsciously following us trying to read what they say. But hey, it's something fellow scrappers will completely understand. Here's what I came up with:



Enjoy!

PS. If you want this, I'd be happy to email it to you!

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad (homemade!)

So I'm a total sucker for those darn boxed pasta salads. I hate to admit that since we're trying diligently to get away from boxed foods. If I can make it, I usually do. I've been away for some time trying new recipes, some good, some NOT. Well my new venture was to make my own, healthier version of the bacon ranch version of this. It was a success! I had all the ingredients on hand and while the amount of mayo was whew a LOT, I feel that using a fat free version or a much healther mayo will do just the trick.


Ingredients

I box pasta of your choice, cooked, drained, cooled
1 c mayo (I used 1/2 c fat free mayo, 1/2 c grapeseed vegannaise)
1 pkt dry ranch mix
4-6 slices bacon cooked, crumbled
1/2 can peas
2 cucumbers
1/2 bag baby carrots, shredded
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes halved and quartered
1/4 t garlic powder
black pepper to taste
*1/2 c shredded cheddar (I omitted this)
*(I used the veggies I had on hand so you can add or substitute what you like.)

Whisk mayo, ranch and seasonings. Stir veggies into pasta. Stir in dressing mix & cheese if using. Serve. Lovely!

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Nothin' like No Bakes!

So tonight our neighbor is having a party and invited us and the kids over to hang out with their friends. It's the family friendly event! So excited to go-you know why? Because we have the greatest neighbors (and I get to cook of course!). It will be so hard when that day comes when we have to part from them. We've been so lucky to have the kind of neighbors we do. They're constantly calling me...."Hey there, we have Bertie (my 4 lbs yorkie) she must've gotten out again." Lucky me, she just runs to their house. She has identity issues I think and her brain tells her that she's really a doberman and she thinks it's her duty in life to run the neighborhood and well...the whole dog and pony show every day. She has shifts of yard watch where she runs at a full sprint out the back door and once around the entire back yard barking and then she comes in as if to say, "Yeah mom, I told them that I'm still here and I'm still the boss. PANT PANT PANT." This duty is of high importance and if not completed a minimum of ten times throughout the day, I get a little pat on the leg with a semi-shaking (with excitement and anticipation) mini paw. I digress because this is really about my neighbors and cookies but I can't help myself. Look how cute- er um ferocious she is!



So anyway, without my neighbors and their ever faithful phone calls, I wouldn't still have my little peanut around. They're just great. They have great kids who help out all the time. They help shovel snow, mow grass, rent equipment, and the like. You can't beat 'em. So tonight, I'm taking some treats over and they can't just be any treats. They get the good stuff. They don't get leftovers. They get fresh from the oven, still warm, the tedious bakes. I go all out for them because they deserve it. So tonight, they get these little beauts! I happen to know these are one of their fave's.



Here's the recipe if you have a hankering.

Chocolate No Bakes

In saucepan add:

1 stick butter (real stuff)
1/2 c cocoa
1/2 c milk
2 c sugar

Whisk until it's smooth. Continue to heat until it's bubbly. Just watch it because it will boil over. I know from experience. While it's heating put this in a large bowl:

1/2 c peanut butter (I like smooth and creamy but you could also use chunky)
3 c oatmeal

Once the chocolate mixture has boiled (careful not to burn) pour over contents in bowl. Stir until well incorporated. Drop by scoopful onto wax or parchment paper. Allow to cool.

**Note-these do not turn out or harden correctly when it's very humid out. These are great to make in the fall, winter or when it's fairly cool.

Go make some and enjoy with friends!

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Ice (Snow) Cream

Since we're literally snowed in, I thought why not make use of the pretty powder? I knew you could use snow to make ice cream but I've never done it and found the EASIEST recipe! Here's what you need:



5 c FRESH WHITE snow
1 c milk (we use rice milk so our little cupcake could enjoy) but also made a batch for ourselves. Not going to run out of snow any time soon.
1/2 c sugar (next time I'm going to try using agave but may have to cut back to 1/4c)
1/2 t vanilla

Mix milk, sugar and vanilla until sugar is almost dissolved. Slowly add snow. I used a whisk and it worked nicely. While this was thick, it wasn't
quite as thick as ice cream. It's more like a milkshake but still delicious and fun! So go out and make some!