The Chronicles of the Crock Pot

OK, so FINALLY, I opened up the daunting crock pot box and gave it a try!

(Disclaimer: If you are used to using a crock pot, [read: apparently the entire world, except me] you will laugh in the face of this depiction, but it was my first time, so leave me alone. Just wait until I use the sewing machine for the first time. It'll go something like....wait. so, ....WHAT do I DO with this thing?!)

I have big plans for using it, but I need a basic lesson first, because, literally, I have never used or seen one. Don't worry - my Mom is still amazing - even if she didn't have a crock pot or sewing machine ;) And I want her to teach me how to sew, but she doesn't live that close, so....maybe when the parents visit!!

So, I literally have never seen one in action, so throughout the day I had visions of my house filling with smoke and burning to the ground, leaving something on and hot like that all day - like 12 hours, all day.
But. Through some great miracle, it worked just fine. (Cue your shocked faces...)
I am gone for so long during the day I have to use the 10 hour (low) setting, and then it automatically switches to the Warmer setting once it is done, so it stays....uh...you guessed it. warm, until we get home.

The problem with this is that there are only 2 (sometimes 2 1/2!) of us, so unless I want leftovers for a week, I can barely fill the thing up to the required "Half Full minimum" for proper cooking.
So because of this, the tiny, puny, chicken tenders I used, probably cooked way longer than they needed to, and some of the onions and sauce got a bit too dark (read: burned!).
But, it was a good first try. I give it a B+. (A on taste. Lose points for burning...). It smelled great, the chicken (tiny, wimpy, little pieces that they were) was still tender, juicy, and literally falling apart, and...one more time, all together now, Ladies and Gentlemen...the house did not burn down. Huh! Who Knew?.

I did have to get used to the fact that you need to prep all the ingredients the night before, so that in the morning, when you have NO TIME, you can just dump everything in. But I still had to plan to leave a few extra minutes in the morning to do this. But I get it, yeah, yeah, what is a few minutes, compared to the glory that is: walking in from a long day at work to have dinner completely ready for you? I know, OK? It is cool.

Now, thank you for listening to my wonderful tale. You have now earned a peek at my FIRST EVER CROCK POT RECIPE.

Syke! It isn't even a recipe.  I literally used 3 (OK 5) things. And only used 5 because I felt 3 was just too few, haha.

*We had about 7 leftover raw chicken tenders (the smaller pieces of the breast) that I used.
*About 1-2 cups of BBQ sauce (I poured in a mix of 2 different varieties we had on hand, until the chicken was coated.
*Added about a 1/4 cup of water, because I was afraid the sauce would burn even more without it. But, ideally don't use it, because it didn't evaporate, the sauce stayed watery until I got home. But the chicken still got coated with the sauce, so it was fine.
*1/3 of a white onion, sliced (why not, I figured.)
* a squirt of ketchup (an ingredient in BBQ sauce. I felt I needed more ingredients, haha!)
* a drizzle of soy sauce (why not?.....)

Gave it a quick stir so all the chicken was coated, put the lid on, set it for 10 hours on low, and hoped for the best!

Before Picture:

(oops, forgot to take an After Picture, but....it looked about exactly the same.)

The chicken really was awesomely tender, and really infused with the BBQ sauce flavor. So I guess it was worth doing in a crock pot, instead of just after work on the stove for 10 minutes. (I'm trying, here!!!)
But, next time, I would use much larger pieces of chicken breast, so they don't shrivel up into oblivion.
(Some recipes call for bone-in chicken, which would stay more moist, but I don't do meat with bones or skin, nor dark meat. So. there.

Next, I want to try some soup, and a yummy pesto chicken recipe a friend gave me. And I hear you can bake in these things, too. Oooh, and fondue!!
Don't forget I got a whole Crock Pot recipe book for Christmas, too! So, more to come...hopefully.

Crock Pot 101. So there.

Happy New Year!

Hey everyone!

Well, all the peppermint bark was given out and enjoyed! A friend even liked it so much she made some herself! Hooray! Inspiring others to be homemaker-y!

Well!
For Christmas I was very lucky and received, a crock pot!!! pots and pans, a new double boiler (hello next year's way easier peppermint bark!), and a sewing machine!!!

I can't wait to get cooking and sewing. So there.

I shall keep you posted with my latest experiments!

Willy Wonka...Willy Wonka...

Felt like freaking Willy Wonka over here making peppermint bark for the season...12 batches to be exact! I made it for party favors to hand out to our Christmas party guests, and to bring to two Holiday parties.

So much time, so little to do. Strike that. Reverse it.

It is pretty easy once you get the hang of it!

Peppermint Bark Recipe (Yes, I multiplied this by 12.....I've got a golden ticket....!)

6 ounces milk chocolate, coarsely chopped ( I use chocolate chips, they work fine)

6 ounces white chocolate, coarsely chopped

2 teaspoons vegetable oil  (helps the chocolate melt evenly, and stay the right consistency. Don't use too much, or the two layers won't stick together...batch one...)

4 teaspoons of peppermint extract (NOT MINT. Tastes like toothpaste!!! PEPPERmint only ;)  Candy making is serious business, people.)

1/3 cup crushed candy canes (I crushed these in the food processor. AMAZING. really freaking loud, but it works. Or, the way I used to do it.....plastic bag....hammer.....go.) I didn't need close to 6 cups of candy canes for my 12 batches....anyone need dozens of candy canes?? Much less was about all that I seemed to need - just a good sprinkling on top.

Peppermint Bark: Line the bottom and sides of a 9 inch square baking pan with aluminum foil, smoothing out any wrinkles.

Melt the milk chocolate and 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. (double boiler = amazing. heatproof bowl balanced over a bowl of simmering water = just fine)

Once it is melted and smooth, quickly add 2 teaspoons of the peppermint extract, and stir thoroughly.  (It changes the texture...wants to like dry it out...so stir quickly to bring back original melted texture)

Immediately pour the melted chocolate into the prepared pan and tilt the pan so the chocolate makes an even layer.

Place in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes, or until the chocolate has set.

Then, melt the white chocolate and remaining 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Again, add the other 2 teaspoons of peppermint extract at the end, once melted.

Immediately pour the melted white chocolate over the milk chocolate and tilt the pan so the chocolate is in an even layer.

Sprinkle the crushed candy canes evenly over the white chocolate. (Press down a bit so it sticks into the chocolate, and doesn't all fall right off when you go to break this into pieces)

Place in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes, or until the chocolate has set.

Remove the Peppermint Bark from the pan by lifting the edges of the aluminum foil.

Peel back the foil and break the bark into small irregular pieces.

Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

Makes about 25 pieces.

 double boiler...

 layer one

 layer two

 with candy cane pieces sprinkled on top

 Pulled out of the pan, once chilled

 breaking into pieces

 bark!

....12 batches of bark....!

                                          

Our Christmas party!

We had the best time at our Christmas Party we threw for our family and friends!
We had a white elephant gift exchange, and an ugly sweater contest!
I made Kylie and myself some pretty awesome "ugly" outfits! And Joe wore a Grinch t-shirt that he let me add a bit of glitter puff paint to!

 My sweatshirt!

Kylie's shirt I made from a plain red shirt....this was pre-bedazzling: we added about 50 glitter pom poms and jingle bells to this later!

I also made lots of fun party snacks!
We had pigs in a blanket, stuffed mushrooms, deviled eggs, spinach artichoke dip with bread rounds, ranch dip with veggies, my sister's amazing guacamole and chips, olives, cheese, crackers, brownies, mini-cupcakes, and cookies!!

And warm apple cider with optional (amazing) spiced rum to add! YUM.

Recipe for Stuffed Mushrooms

Ingredients (I multiplied this recipe by three for the party, making 36, and they were gone in minutes!)

12 whole fresh mushrooms - white button are what I used, and some mini-portobello
1 tablespoon vegetable oil (or olive oil)
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (plus, I added more over the top before baking)
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper - i skipped this and added mixed Italian Seasoning instead - basil, etc.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Clean mushrooms with a damp paper towel.
Carefully break off stems. Chop stems extremely fine, discarding tough end of stems.
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
Add garlic and chopped mushroom stems to the skillet.
Fry until any moisture has disappeared, taking care not to burn garlic. Set aside to cool.
When garlic and mushroom mixture is no longer hot, stir in cream cheese, Parmesan cheese, black pepper, onion powder and cayenne pepper.
Mixture should be very thick. Using a little spoon, fill each mushroom cap with a generous amount of stuffing.
(Then, I sprinkled the remaining Parmesan cheese over the tops to form a crust)
Arrange the mushroom caps on prepared cookie sheet. (So much easier to place one mushroom each in my mini-muffin tins - then they don't roll around)
Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the mushrooms are piping hot and liquid starts to form under caps.
Party. check! so there.

...by the chimney with care

I made us three some adorable stockings!
I bought 3 plain stockings at Big Lots for $2 each, with cute little curled up ends at the...toes?, and each in a different color.
Then, I cut our names out in bubble letters (Thanks Momma, this is how she made our family stockings years ago!!) from white felt.
I used spray adhesive to attach the letters to seasonal fabric.  (No sew!) I picked out a different one for each of us: a (manly, ha ha) red and green plaid (with glitter) for Joe, a forest green polka dot for me, and a striped snowflake fabric for Kylie. She was upset hers had less glitter than Daddy's, so I outlined her letters with silver glitter puff paint!
Then, I cut out a bigger version of the bubble letters in that fabric around the white letters already glued on, and attached each of these to the stockings.

AND stockings I made for the kitties!!

Ta da! Stockings!! So there.

Festivity!

I LOVE Christmas! Have I mentioned this? I love all the garlands I put up, and the little outside lights!

 I bought cheap, plain, artificial garlands at Walmart, and glitter ornaments from the Target $1 bin (where I live), and made these festive garlands to go up the staircase banister.

 I hung more of the same garland, with fake Poinsettia flowers from Michael's, above our kitchen area

 View of everything from outside!

Oh, Christmas Tree....!

We got our tree! A real, live, six foot tall tree! Hooray!
Last year I had a real one, but it was about 2.5 feet tall...now we finally have a place big enough, with a little rearranging!, for a full size tree.
I love it!
I got some amazing bird ornaments with feathers and glitter, and made a bow from ribbon for the tree topper we lacked.

 First ornament!