What's for Dinner Wednesday

Need a quick and yummy dinner to feed the fam? Especially when we are all so busy with spirts and sun and camps this summer. But it's great for spring, fall and winter too!

Get yourself some boneless chicken on sale, about 3-4 lbs, although this does work with bone-in chicken too.  I buy a large family pack, and sometimes can find it in the specials section of our local stores meat department.

You'll also need two 14.5 oz cans of diced tomatoes with green peppers, celery & onions and a bag of wide egg noodles. I only used half the bag for my family of 4, but adjust to fit your family.

Line your slow cooker with a Reynolds Slow Cooker Liner (super easy clean up). I recently invested in a new slow cooker and just love how easy this Hamilton Beach one is to use. Literally set it and forget it! And the warm feature is a winner - hot food when we need it is a plus in my book.

Sometimes I'll add onions if I have them. Pretend I did tonight LOL. Thinly slice an onion and add to the bottom of the slow cooker. Next, lay out your chicken and sprinkle with garlic powder and pepper to taste. Pour the tomatoes even over the chicken and cover the slow cooker. If I am able to set it in the morning before work, I'll let it go 8 hours on low. If I am putting it together at lunch time, I'll cook it 4 hours on high. I do prefer the low setting as it makes the chicken nice and juicy.

Serve over the egg noodles. No veg side needed - this is a hearty meal on it's own. If you want some leafy greens, a garden side salad would be a nice balance.

This is also wonderful over white rice if gluten is an issue...I ran out so we used egg noodles instead tonight. (I ate my chicken over gluten-free noodles and it was spectacular!)

Enjoy!

Holiday baking…

…is one of my very favorite things to do. I give away batches of cookies to everyone, family, friends, teachers, my mail lady, my UPS delivery guy, neighbors…just about everyone. And of course I keep a batch just for me {yum}. Here are some pics of us over the years making our fun cookies. From right to left is 2006, 2007, and then 2008 and 2009…yes, my 1 year old at the time is ever so delicately adding sprinkles to the spritz cookies in the last picture!

And silly me, I always try a new recipe. Luckily, they almost always taste good.

What’s luck got to do with it? Well, if you don’t know already, I’m just not a very good baker.

I either over bake, under bake, forget an ingredient, add too much of one…and forget about meringue. Those egg white are the bane of my existence.

But I love to bake holiday cookies. So I do.

And guess what?

People eat them. Not because they have to, but because they turn out pretty tasty.

Holiday magic at it’s best.

Here is a favorite, this is year 2 of making it. It’s gluten-free, so my best buddy can enjoy it, too!

 

(I am hopeful that you can click the picture above to go to a pdf file for the recipe…trying it for the 1st time)

Jodi over at Pleasant Home has been doing a very fun Christmas Cookie exchange. The button is on my right sidebar, or you can link up here. She’s had some awesome guest bloggers post some scrumptious recipes!

Have any favorites to share? Leave me a comment and Let me know. There is still plenty of time for more cookies!

What are we making?

Ever since ever since, I've been making gifts for giving. Especially at holiday time.

Recently, my daughter and I attended the best girl scout event. Older scouts organized a talent show where admission were items to send to our troops oversees. While there, girl scouts of all ages made cards for our servicemen and women and painted flour/salt ornaments for them.

A lightbulb went off.

I painted these kind of ornaments as a child, why not my kids?

Loving Google Search, search I did. Found a zillion links for recipes, one that sounded very good and I tweaked it a bit to work for me.

And Joann's had these on sale for $6.99 down from $24.99 AND I had a coupon for 20% off!

One fun Saturday mornin' we made ornaments! Here's the recipe I came up with:

Carrie's Tweaked Salt Dough Recipe
4 cups flour, and some in reserve
1 cup salt
1-1/2 cups warm water

Mix flour and salt together in a large bowl.

Add warm water gradually.

Knead dough and add more flour if dough is sticky, more water is dough is dry....believe it or not, you'll know it's right when it's right.

 

 
Now is when the fun starts!

Roll out your dough in small batches. I like to roll my dough out between sheets of waxed paper, flouring under the dough and on top to reduce sticking.

Roll it out no thinner than 1/4". If it's too thin, forget about getting them off the waxed paper in one piece. Use your fave cookie cutter shapes and go to town. If my 2 year old can do it, so can you!!!!!

Use a straw to poke a hole for hanging and now it's time to bake 'em. Okay, don't go crazy with the straw like my little guy did, 'kay?

I sprayed unlined cookie sheets with non-stick spray. I experimented a bit and really, the slower you bake them at a low temp is best for me. If you bake them too fast and too high, they puff up and then are too fragile to handle. So, what did I do? I used a 250 degree temperature and baked all 60 for 1-1/2 hours. Checked them and ended up baking them for another 30 minutes. They just need to set a bit more. I did them in batches, not all 60 at once (I just knew you were thinking I must have a huge oven!)

Cool these completely and then it's time to paint.

Now, looks at how much fun-ness we had...

More on our painting fun later - betcha can't wait! Just remember, my wonderful silly kids are 2 and 6, and there were 60 ornaments to paint!

Okay, your turn - bake off some today {grin}.

Using up the leftovers!

Leftovers.

No really my favorite thing, unless we're talking about fabric {grin}.

I'm talking about food stuff leftovers. Specifically, pasta and veggies from last night's dinner. Even my little ones don't care to eat warmed up buttered pasta. What does my son say, even at 2 years old?

Oh yeah, "Yucky Mom. Just yucky." Kinda says it all.

So, this is one thingI do to save a bit of time and money, and USE those "yucky" leftovers.

 Last night we had buttered elbow macaroni, corn and broccoli. The corn was vanquished, but I was left with gobs of mac and broc. What to do? Whip up Cheesy Mac & Broc!

Today, I made up a basic cheese sauce (eek, you say, CHEESE?) No worries, you make it as healthy or not as you'd like. I'm all about easy (and isn't broccoli healthy?)

So, take your leftovers out of the fridge so they come to room temp. While that's happening, whip this up:

Basic Yummy Cheese Sauce

6 tbsp. butter (use the kind you like best)

4 tbsp. flour

1-1/4 cup milk (I used skim)

1-2 cups shredded cheese. I like low-fat half cheddar, half mozzerella

1 tsp.dry mustard

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter on low heat. Whisk in the flour and cook a couple minutes (to get rid of that icky flour taste). Slowly whisk in the milk. Warm through. Increase heat to medium and add the cheese and mustard. I wisk every 2-3 minutes and then switch to a plastic, heatproof spatula. I have so learned that cheese is sticky! Best to use plastic, non-stick pans, utensils and serving dishes whenever gooey cheese is involved. Yield: well, I forgot to measure, sorry. But I think it's about 2 cups, maybe a bit more.

Now, add this to whatever you have hanging out in the fridge! This cheese sauce I had enough for an entire dinner for tonight. It is great over any veggies because it's light and creamy. Note: if you need to reheat the cheese sauce, add a touch of milk to make it creamy again.

This picture tells the story - it is THAT yummy!

~Carrie

Yummy banana crepes

Made my favorite breakfast this morning. Yummy warm and filling banana chocolate crepes.

I am lucky enough to have my stepmom's recipe for her swedish pancakes. I cook them really thin and crepe-like.

After the first flip in the pan, I spread a thin layer of hazelnut pread down the center. Add some sliced bananas and then it's ready to fold. Fold one side over the bananas, then the other side. If I can, I flip the folded filled crepe over to brown a bit more.

Flop it out on my plate ("flop" is a technical term) and sprinkle with powered sugar.

Close your eyes and sniff - my home smells yummy right now.

Pair it with a tall glass of cold milk and dig in!

(Where are the photos you say? This is the veru funny part. Me, the avid almost obsessed picture taker, has a dead battery in her camera. I know. Shame on me. The upside to this? I get to make my favorite breakfast AGAIN soon to take pictures to show you all!)

Here's the recipe for the crepes:

AJ's Swedish Pancakes

3 eggs, room temperature
1 cup flour
2 cups milk, divided
6 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon salt

Beat eggs with 1/2 cup of milk with whisk. Add the flour slowly and beat smooth. Beat in remaining milk, add butter and salt. Heat pan over medium heat. Here is where I make them crepes - I use a small fry or crepe pan and drop just enough to barely cover the base of the pan in. Swirl around pan until bottom is covered. Cook until edges are lightly browned and carefully flip over. Batter may be refridgerated a day or two at most. Can be served as noted above, or with your fave jelly or jams. My dad likes to mix different jams on the crepe and roll up to eat.


Thanks bunches for enjoying breakfast with me.
~Carrie

Mocha Latte My Way

Okay, so I don't really drink coffee.

I am addicted to chocolate.

I love a good mocha....anything.

But I REALLY crave a warm drink in the mornings now that it's getting so frosty outside.

How to come up with a reasonably priced hot mocha drink that I don't have to get into a chilly car and drive to go get?

Improvise, that's how.

And I'm sharing today:

Homemade Mocha Latte

2 cups skim milk

1 heaping teaspoon instant "rich" coffee

1 big squirt chocolate syrup

Warm the milk until just hot. I zap mine in the microwave for 2 minutes on high.

{another picture should be here, but Blogger isn't letting me post it right now...}

Stir in the instant coffee until dissolved. Reheat this mixture until frothy, about 30 seconds in the microwave on high. Add the big 'ole squirt of choclate syrup & stir.

{yep, another photo of my yummy mug of mocha should be here....close your eyes and you can see it, 'kay?}
 Pour into a chunky mug and enjoy this yummy goodness!

~Carrie