It's a Spiegel Crock Pot!

(Bonus points if you got the title of this post)

The rest of my week is going to be crazy. I'm running here and there and I'm working on top of everything else. Weeks like this I like to pull out my crock pot and let someone else do the cooking for me. To that end, this morning I was Googling some chicken recipes and came across a fantastic site. It's called "That's My Home" and besides having sections on conversions and substitutions, they have a big section of recipes. Tonight we're going to have Crock Pot Chicken Italian and Potatoes. I'll let you know how it goes.

Crock Pot Italian Chicken and Potatoes

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts


• 1 C. Italian salad dressing


• 2 t. Italian seasoning


• 1 C. grated parmesan cheese
  

5 to 6 potatoes; peeled, cut into wedges

Place chicken in bottom of crock pot. Sprinkle with half Italian dressing, spices, and the grated cheese. Place potatoes over chicken. Sprinkle with remaining ingredients.

Cover; cook on low 6-8 hours.

Crab Corn Chowder

I'm so proud of myself! Sometime last month (I think) we had dinner at the Canal Street Pub where they have the most awesome Crab Corn Chowder on the planet. I found a recipe for Corn Chowder and I played with it a little. I think I managed to make something very similar to what they served at the Canal Street Pub. Even if it's not exactly the same, it was very good and my family liked it! Now I need to play around and see if I can still get a good flavor out of a less fattening version.

Here's the recipe:

¼ cup chopped green pepper
2 Tbsp. chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbsp. butter
2 cans (10-3/4 ounces each) condensed cream of potato soup, undiluted
1 can (14-3/4 ounces) cream-style corn*
2 cups milk
1 package (3 ounces) cream cheese, cubed
1 can (6 ounces) crab meat**
Cajun seasoning to taste***

In a large saucepan, sauté the green pepper, onion and garlic in butter until tender. Stir in the soup, corn, milk, cream cheese and pepper. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce the heat; simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes or until the cream cheese is melted. Serves 4 – 6. Prep. 30 minutes or less.

* I also added about ¼ cup frozen corn because we like corn.
** I used canned crab meat because I didn't want to spend $15 on crab and have the soup end up tasting terrible.
*** I think next time I will also add a little Cayenne Red Pepper. It was spicy enough for the kids but I would have liked a little more bite to mine.

Our Favorite Gifts

Look Ma, I'm upright! The Wednesday before Christmas I'd worked and one of my residents coughed right into my face. I should have known I was in for it. Yesterday I was starting to feel better so we went out and today I finally uploaded Christmas pictures. Took me long enough, hey?

S3 asked my mom and dad for a new skateboard for Christmas this year and the little stinkhead found the receipt from CCS a few weeks before the big day. I told my parents and my dad emailed that he had something evil planned for boys who sneak around and figure out their presents. So the day we celebrated Christmas with them rolled around and my nephew opened a tall thin package with his custom skateboard inside. S3 and Ty opened their tall thin pacakages and found old scooters inside. Shortly after I heard Steve say to Ty, "Try not to pout," and Ty reply, "I know but I just really wanted a skateboard." After a while my dad brought out two more tall thin packages. When Ty opened his this time he found his custom skateboard inside but S3.... Well this is what he pulled out of his package:

Later my dad relented and gave S3 his actual board. Poor Ty was more upset over the whole gag anyway since (as S3 put it) S3 was sure he'd get his board eventually. Brat.







Steve gave my dad some disgusting looking gummy eyeballs.










My children gave me Elvis for Christmas. It's one of those glass blocks with the three-dimensional picture inside. It sits on a base that alternates between red and blue lights.

Steve surprised me with an auto detailing package for my van which is absolutely perfect since I have become the clean van nazi ever since we bought the new one.












Chef E is going to cook us all sorts of meals.






















G pulled out the pottery wheel today for the first time. I don't think she did half bad for her first attempt.














And of course, the ring that I knew I was getting. It's such a shame to put such a pretty ring on such ugly fingers but hey, something has to be done to make them look better.







I gave Steve a money clip with his initials engraved on it since he doesn't like to carry a wallet anymore and a new golf bag. Ok really, I think my dad should get the credit for the golf bag. Sometime in November he emailed me and said, "Hey remember when we were talking about that gift idea for Steve?" I was totally baffled. Even after he reminded me of his idea (he'd noticed Steve needed a new bag one of the times they went golfing together) I still didn't remember the conversation. Anyway, Dad picked out the bag, hid it at his house and then when Steve was in Italy he even delivered it to my house with a large plastic bag to "wrap" it in. Pretty much all I did was stuff it behind my tree for a few days and then pull it out and say, "Ta-Da!" If you ask Steve what his favorite gift was this Christmas he'll tell you the bag but I know really it's the bluetooth headset my parents gave him for his cell phone.

I think it's going to take a whole different post to tell you about the DDR that Ty got...

Strangers with Candy

Well I'm strange and I made candy... That counts doesn't it?

Yesterday I began the candy making phase of Christmas. I usually make a little box up for the bus driver, the postman and my neighbors and I try to make different candies every year with one exception. Peanut Brittle. I always get lots of compliments on my brittle and I really think it has everything to do with the Watkins Vanilla that I use. In any case, here is my recipe and photo guide for making 10 Minute Peanut Brittle.


10 Minute Peanut Brittle
Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar


• 1/2 cup light corn syrup


• 1/8 tsp. salt


• 1 to 1 1/2 cups peanuts


• 1 Tbsp. butter


• 1 tsp. vanilla


• 1 tsp. baking soda

Combine sugar, syrup and salt in 2 qt. casserole or mixing bowl.

Microwave on high for 5 minutes. Be VERY CAREFUL whenever you remove the brittle from the microwave. Both the bowl and the candy is very hot and will leave a nasty burn.

Stir in peanuts and then microwave 2 to 5 minutes, stirring after 2 and 4 minutes until syrup and peanuts are lightly browned. This is the most important step! You do not want to under or over cook the candy.

In the mean time mix butter, vanilla, and soda together in a prep bowl.

Stir in butter, vanilla, and soda until light and foamy.

Spread to 1/4 inch thickness on large well buttered cookie sheet.

Break into bite-sized pieces once cooled.

Once you've made it with peanuts, get brave and experiment with other nuts. I love cashew brittle!

C is for Cookie

Today is Election Day and the place we go to vote is my grandfather's assisted living home so we always stop in and visit a little while after filling out the ballot. Today is also "C" day for E - she learned the letter "C". Ok, ok, you're right she knew the letter "C" already but today we reinforced it and she practiced writing it.

In honor of "C" day and the visit I knew we would make with my grandfather, we made COOKIES! My friend V found a recipe that suited all my particular needs (easy, one bowl, no eggs and cookie press) and we set to work. I've had this Pampered Chef cookie press for about five years and I think this might be the first time I've ever used it. It was pretty cool. E picked the butterfly shaped disc but sometimes it wouldn't stick to the stone so I had to kinda scrape it off. We have a few misshapen butterflies but they still taste good!

He Thinks He's So Funny

Last night I had a total panic moment. G and E were outside playing with the neighbors, S3 was upstairs messing around, Ty was at the table working on his Math homework and I was in the kitchen trying to simultaneously cook dinner and Navajo Fry Bread. Suddenly I remembered SOCCER PRACTICE! As if we haven't had soccer practice every single day for nearly two months, I completely forgot. Worse than that, it was the second day in a row I forgot.

I left S3 home to keep an eye on my hot oil and drove like mad to get Ty to practice. He was late but I couldn't stay because I had both S3 and hot oil at home. So I went back home to finish the Fry Bread and realized when I got home again that I needed to turn around and go pick Ty back up. Ugh. Anyway, you can guess by the time I got done running around like a headless chicken, I was feeling a little overwhelmed.

I ended up working last night and as I left I asked Steve to please, please, please make sure Ty took the Fry Bread to school with him today because I was going to be really unhappy if I'd gone through all that just for the bag to sit on the dining room table. Of course it was the first thing I asked when I got home (the kids are all off on the bus by the time I get home in the morning). Steve looks at me with the correct amount of horror and sorrow on his face and he says, "OH NO!"

I got about two seconds into my freak-out when he started laughing and told the truth. The Fry Bread was safely in Ty's bag on it's way to HPBA. Thanks for the adrenaline rush hon.

Visit with Mamaw and Papaw

Yesterday we had a nice day visiting with Steve's grandparents, Mamaw and Papaw. They're snowbirds and early next month they'll be heading to Florida for the winter. Mamaw made Chicken N' Dumplins and Papaw pulled out the tractor and wagon. S3 was thrilled to have wheels, even if they'd only go 2 mph.

(Cell phone photo, sorry for the poor quality)

Mamaw gave me a "cheater's" version of chicken n' dumplins knowing that I am not much of a cook. I'll share it with you:

First take chicken on the bone and boil it in just enough water (you can also use broth) to cover the chicken. Once it's cooked (about 30 minutes usually), take the chicken out of the water but don't throw away all the water. When you drain some of the water out, try to keep the fatty parts. Debone the chicken and dice it up into chunks. I make them bite sized since I still have little kids. Keeps me from having to cut them up later at dinner time. Throw the diced up chicken back into the pot and then make dumplins. Now Mamaw doesn't make bisquick dumplins but she knows I don't cook so she decided this would be easiest and be the most like what she makes.

Bisquick Dumplins:
3/4 cup milk
2 cups Bisquick

Mix milk and Bisquick thoroughly with fork. Drop by spoonsful onto chicken. Cook over low heat for 10 minutes or until dumplins are fluffy. The starch in the dumplins thickens the water in the chicken into gravy. You can also add potatoes but I prefer them without. Season to taste.