Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Crock Pot Tuesday

So I will post about last weekend this coming weekend but today is dedicated to Crock pot Tuesdays. Last week I was sitting at my desk and telling one of my co-workers about my plan to make a crock pot meal every Tuesday. After a bit of discussion she suggested and then provided the following recipe:

Chicken with Creamy Chive Sauce

Ingredients
6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (about 1 and 3/4 lbs total)
1/4 cup of butter or margarine
1 0.7-ounce envelope Italian dry salad dressing mix.
1 10 3/4- ounce can of condensed golden mushroom soup
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 of an 8-ounce tub of cream cheese with chives and onion
Hot Cooked Pasta (optional)

Directions:
1. Place chicken in a 4 quart slow cooker
In a medium saucepan melt butter over medium heat.
Stir in dry salad dressing mix. Stir in the soup, wine and cream cheese.
Pour over Chickenin cooker.

2. Cover and cook on low heat setting for 4 to 5 hours.
Serve chicken with sauce. If desired, serve with hot cooked pasta and sprinkle with fresh snipped chives

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When I went to the store to get the ingredients most came without a hint of trouble but then I got to the dry white wine. I don't drink wine so I had no idea which one to pick lots and lots of them were white and lots and lots were not. So I whipped out my PDA phone and googled dry white wine. Thank goodness for technology! After reading many suggestions I chose Sauvignon Blanc; whatever that means. I was surprised to read that Chardonnay was not a good choice there were so many of those. Again goes to show how much I know about wine. Also, cooking wine is a bad idea apparently it is too sweet. Who new... Okay so I didn't follow the recipe exactly either. I bought the low fat cream cheese and also got cream of chicken soup instead of mushroom (Josh hates mushrooms). I served it over bow tie pasta. It was magnificent!!! We were able to eat the chicken breasts without a knife they just fell apart. Abigail loved it too. So thank you Jen for a great recipe it is one I will defiantly do again.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

It's Crock Pot Tuesday


Thank You to all of those who have and do serve. Also, Thank You to the families who stand by their loved ones!
Today I made good old fashioned stew with semi homemade bread. I bought frozen dough. :) The recipe is pretty easy. I cut up a roast (cheaper than stew meat). I coated each piece with a flour, seasoning salt, garlic mixture. Meat goes in the crock pot 1st then potatoes and carrots on top. I then put a can of beef broth in a bowl and mix in 2 packs of onion soup mix then added it to the crock pot. It took 2 cans of beef broth to fill the pot. I prefer to use broth as it gives the stew a more robust flavor. If I can't use a full 3rd can I use water to finish filling the top just covering the carrots. Put it in the pot get home and it is done :) Abi, who is a particular eater, loved it and it is a Josh fav. Now just to figure out the next few weeks so I don't make the same dish over and over.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

More Halloween pics as promised.

So here are a few of the good pics we got. Abi was just not ready for this sort of thing. We got to the church and Abi fell apart. Just about every time her feet hit the floor her tears started to fall. All told we only spent about 20 min and most of that was fighting with her. However, here are (unedited) Halloween pics!!



















Saturday, November 8, 2008

Rain Rain Go AWAY!!

It has been rainy and just no fun for about 5 days. I am done with it. Rain makes me feel sad and lazy. We had plans to bring Abi to the park for some good old family bonding but, then we opened the door to find dark scary skies and water pouring down. So sad and our plans so perfectly ruined. In more of a gripe daylight savings is the worst ever! I go to work in the daylight and come home to blackness.

Okay enough whining. Things to be thankful for: Abi is now happily playing with a counting pig and showing me her amazing motor skills. We have had a good afternoon. While Abi napped I watched a movie (Journey to the Center of the Earth), caught up on some blogs, and checked out the posts on Two Peas. Basically Abi and I have been just relaxing and spending some quality time together. She doesn't get enough of that these days.

In the midst of reading blogs I have decided to set forth some themes for this blog. I am not the most creative so I could only come up with Crop Pot Tuesdays. Tuesday's are our one of our busiest days and we are often grabbing a quick fast food dinner on the way to home group. I would like to prevent that slippery slope so I am going to do a crop pot meal every Tuesday... Now to find recipes!!

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Halloween Pics

Here are some pictures (Unedited) before the night got ugly. I will post the story later.








Saturday, November 1, 2008

I'm BACK!!!!!!!!

What it has been 2 months! Oh no it has been almost 4! End of July to November WOW I am horrible. Well let’s see now that we are begining to get a handle on life let's catch everyone up…
August—our friends ran away to New Zealand. Yep you know who you are! So, thus August began the month(s) of adjustment. We moved into a new place, I started a new job, Abi started day care, our friends ditched us for paradise, so on and so forth. Overall, the month is a blur and all I remember is it is over.
September—We took a bunch of students to a conference IT WAS EXCELLENT! It spurred them into some amazing acts (like starting prayer groups at both the MS and HS). As a family took a spontaneous day trip to Walla Walla. It was nice to see family again we have not been there since early July and we won’t have time to go back until Thanksgiving. Ha that is only a few weeks away now!
October—My job sent me to San Diego! It was fun but I got sick the day I left. Diagnosis was strep throat. Yep no fun. I was able to see my Uncle Chuck and Aunt Diane while I was there! Of course that was after I had been on meds for 24 hours. I was thoughtful and caring to my family but those poor people on the plane(s) SORRY. Probably should not have gone but work had already paid for it. I had to go. I was able to meet Aunt Diane’s mom too while I was there. She was amazing. I hope I get to spend more time around her in the future. I told them I am going to work on getting my parents down there. Hint Hint Parents! The conference was good too. Okay kind of an afterthought but it really was a good conference. Before this trip I had never been to CA, never rode on a plane by myself, and I had never had strep so the whole thing was an experience. I can honestly say I don't EVER want strep again. The other new stuff was fine.
Last Wednesday Abigail got a nasty rash! Unfortunately the rash followed a night of her throwing up numerous times. My poor kiddo was just! The worried mom I am I called Abi’s pediatrician immediately and told him Abi was throwing up! He told me just to give her fluids in small amounts and that stomach bugs were going around. Thank you Dr. Mike for taking my calls and for your patience with my moments. The next morning (when she woke with the gnarly rash) we called the Pediatric office and spoke with Dr. A (Mike wasn’t there *sad*). I described the rash and what happened the night before she said that Abi was probably having an allergic reaction and to give her Benadryl. I as mom did not freak out at all… Okay who am I kidding I was freaked! I kept asking “are you sure” “how long do I wait before I rush her to the hospital and when do you need to see her” “what else do I look for” that went on and on for a bit. Dr. A was great and said she is confident it is an allergic reaction but if I want to bring her in I can. We didn’t bring her in and I sent Josh for Benadryl. After 30-40 minutes the rash was lessoned and by an hour it was gone. Josh and I are not sure what got her sick but we think it may be the huckleberry popcorn we fed her Tuesday. I know she should not of had popcorn but she liked it. Looking back on the week I keep thinking I didn't take any pictures of that rash! It looked like someone had poored water on paper only the water was red and the paper was Abi's skin. What was I thinking not documenting this event on film words do not give justice that a picture could have. Oh well. I will post about Halloween later and that should catch everyone up... my fingers are hurting. Maybe if i didn't wait almost 4 months to post. Oh the thoughts to ponder.