Hawaiin chicken

Here is another slow cooker dish. It is also a freezer meal that you can have ready in an instant. I did a relief society activity on freezer / slow cooker meals a while back and this is one of the recipes that the teacher provided. It is simple and delicious. You will need the following

2-3 chicken breasts

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup vinegar

3 garlic cloves, minced

2T soy sauce

1/2 can of large pineapple chunks

1/2 cup of pineapple juice (from can)

place all in a freezer bag and freeze.

To cook thaw out the bag in the refrig the night before

place into the slow cooker and cook on low for 6-7 hours

shred and serve over rice.

 You do not have to freeze it if you don't want to.

I also add the whole can of pineapple since we like to have more.

I don't know where she got this recipe so I can't give credit to that person or book.

I hope you like these ideas. I will try to write about other things as well; as I play catch up on what is happening in our lives.  I sometimes get overwhelmed but I keep moving forward and doing the best I can to keep up.

Until I write again hope you have a great day.

Recipe #5

It has been a while since I made this so here it goes on remembering.

This is a spicy pork chop recipe that I got from the cookbook called Fix-It and Forgot-It.

Yes another slow cooker recipe. Like I said yesterday I use my slow cooker a lot even though I am a stay at home mom. It is funny because I am hardly home, I am almost always gone doing something.

To make this recipe you will need

4 frozen pork chops or more to feed your family

1 cup of Italian salad dressing

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup prepared spicy mustard

1. Place pork chops in slow cooker.

2.Mix remaining 3 ingredients together in a bowl. Pour over chops

3. Cover and cook on Low 6-8 hours, or until meat is tender but not dry.

I don't know if you can tell but mine was falling off the bones. Again I just made peas and carrots. The pasta salad I just added frozen broccoli and added Italian dressing to it.

It was a fast and simple dinner.

If you want you can substitute with chicken.

Recipe 3 and 4

This blog will have two recipes. I am trying to play catch up on what I promised to write.

The first one is Tangy Chicken Legs. I got this recipe out of the book Fix-it and Forget-it. It is a slow-cooker recipe. I use my slow-cooker about two times a week.  The second recipe is the scalloped potatoes from the Betty Crocker Cookbook.

Tangy Chicken Legs

8 chicken legs

1/3 cup soy sauce

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

scant 1/8 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 cup water

1. Place chicken in slow cooker.

2. Combine remaining ingredients in a bowl and spoon over chicken.

3. Cover and cook on Low 4-5 hours, or until chicken is tender but not dry.

I let mine cook longer and just kept it warm until dinner time.

Scalloped potatoes

6 medium potatoes

3 T butter

3 T flour

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

2 1/2 cups  milk

1 small onion ( I used dried minced onions)

1T butter

Cut the potatoes into thin slices. Heat 3 T of butter in saucepan over low heat until melted. Stir in flour, salt, and pepper. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is smooth and bubbly; remove from heat. Stir in milk. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute. Arrange potatoes in greased 2-qt casserole in 3 layers, topping each of the first 2 layers with 1/2 of the onion and 1/3 of the white sauce. Top with remaining potatoes and sauce. Dot with 1 T butter. Cover and bake in 325 degree oven 40 minutes or in 350 degree oven 30 minutes. Uncover and bake until potatoes are tender, 60 to 70 minutes longer. Let stand 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

Okay I did make some changes on the potatoes. I didn't precook my potatoes before slicing like the book says and I used dried onions instead. Otherwise I did follow the directions. I did have to cook them longer for two reasons. One my potatoes weren't precooked and I am at a higher altitude, so cooking takes a little longer. We like these better than the boxed stuff.

The vegetables were frozen peas and carrots from the store.

I hope this helps with ideas to fix for dinner. If you want you can add a recipe in the comment section for us to try. We like trying new recipes.

Recipe #2

Here is another recipe for you.

This one is another easy and quick recipe. There really isn't a need to go buy any thing special for this soup. I just used a pound of ground beef and some left over vegetables that I stored in my freezer. I also used beef broth. You can either buy your broth or make your own. Cook your ground beef and then drain if you need to and add your vegetables and broth. Add any spices or herbs you like.

I keep an old ice cream container in my freezer to put all my leftover vegetables in. When the container gets full I make a soup. If I don't have any potatoes in the container I do add some. They can be canned or fresh. It does take longer to cook if you use fresh. This is a great way to use up those vegetables. Also you can add any type of meat. If you use chicken just use chicken broth instead. You can also use vegetable broth instead of the beef or chicken. You don't have to add meat either. I usually add a salad and/or some kind of bread.

I am hoping that these ideas helps you in some way.

recipe

Better late than never, here is a recipe that I said I would start posting.

This is a homemade hamburger helper. I got this recipe years ago when we lived in Del Rio, Texas.

This recipe can be adjusted to fit your family size.

1 pound of ground beef

1 envelope of dry onion soup mix

2 cups of water

1 cup uncooked rice

Brown the ground beef, drain if needed.

Add the soup mix, rice and water. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 20-30 minutes until rice is cooked. Serve with a vegetable or salad.

 I added cooked carrots in the one above.

I don't remember where I got this recipe but it is a quick one for busy nights. You do need to add some extra flavorings because it is bland. I just gave you the basic.

New Mexico trip

Aryan, David and our nephew Kydon

David and Kydon entering into the caverns

Heading down into the cavern

David and Kydon

Aryan

On the way back to the campgrounds after the caverns

entering the caverns. Aryan is barely shown. He had to take off by himself because we are too slow for him.

David and Kydon. Taken with a better camera

Aryan again taken with a better camera

One of my favorite pictures.

We really enjoyed ourselves in New Mexico. It was still warm but it would have been worse in July when we first wanted to go. September was a great time to go. It wasn't to crowded. On Friday the 16th we went to see the bats fly. we were not allowed to take pictures but it was awesome to see thousands upon thousands of bats leaving the cave to go get their breakfast. We took Mike's nephew with us so he could get a chance to have some fun with us. I have a lot more pictures that I can post if you interested. It was fairly inexpensive to go because they didn't charge for the boys since they all are under 16. It is fairly steep so we had to be careful. There are handrails throughout the caverns and it was nice and cool. I would strongly recommend going and seeing the caverns.

canning session

24 pints of salsa

9 pints grape jelly

5 jars of raspberry/blueberry freezer jam

8 pints of sugar-free raspberry/lemonade jam

I had several days of canning. I didn't put the pictures in order but you get the idea. I kind of cheat when I make my salsa I use the Mrs. Wages salsa mix. My family loves it. I also cheated on the grape jelly since our grapes dried out while we were on vacation this summer. I use frozen juice concentrate to make the jelly. David loves grape jelly over any other kind of jam. He will eat the others but he prefers grape. The other two jams I used the fruit from my freezer. I  bought the raspberries and blueberries when they were on sale and then froze them. These are new recipes I haven't tried yet so decided to go for it. You can get them out of the new Ball canning book. The raspberry/lemonade used a lot of honey so ended up being a little pricey. We have actually tried this one. It is okay but I probably won't make this very often because of the cost. I like my jam sweet and this isn't as sweet as would it. I know it is sugar free. Jam shouldn't be sugar free in my opinion. I do enjoy doing this and it really doesn't take all that long.

Jazzy update

Here is an update on Jazzy. If you follow me on Instagram and Facebook you have probably seen these pictures. On September 2nd I took Jazzy into the vets for her routine shots and to have a lump checked out on her right shoulder. If you know Jazzy she isn't the most cooperative cat when it comes to getting her into the kennel to get her to the vet. Once there she actually let the aid take her weight and temperature. That was it before she decided she was done and it was time to go back home. Unfortunately we weren't done because the vet hasn't seen her yet. She became one mean kitty and flatly refused to come out of the kennel, she bite me and scratch me and clung to the kennel. Needless to say we had to sedate her so the vet could check her out. Her lump was removed after her did a quick microscope exam from an example because he said it didn't good. While she was out he gave her the shots and removed some matted fur.

I had to take the kennel apart to get her back into it to bring her home. She was out for almost five hours.

Here is a view of her right shoulder. We did have a biosopy done on the tumor. It took about a week. Unfortunately it wasn't good news. She has cancer. The vet gives her 19 months. The tumor was fast growing. We could take her to the Springs and see a specialist  but it would be to hard on her because she hates the kennel and anyone messing with her without her consent. Besides they are expensive and there isn't a good percentage rate for her survival. We will just keep an eye on her and let her enjoy the rest of her life to best of her ability and when she starts showing signs of suffering we will let her go. It is sad because she is only 6 years old. Right now she is doing great and ruling the roost, since she is the Queen of the house.

baking day

homemade pizza rolls

homemade pizza rolls

homemade white bread

homemade donut holes

peanut butter cookies

I try to bake once a week. Sometimes I have to do it more because it doesn't last.  Mike and the boys love homemade items and eat it faster than I can bake it. I did this baking on Wednesday the 17th and we are totally out of the donut holes, and pizza rolls. I am almost out of the cookies I have just enough for school lunches tomorrow. The bread has a couple of slices left. This loaf lasted longer because I used a longer pan. I will be doing another baking day in the next day or two. I will post pictures of that also.

canning session

peach jam and peaches

pickles

It is that time of year where I am busy stocking our pantry. This year I have already canned apricot-pineapple jam, and the above. We were almost out of jam so I needed to get busy. David is wanting grape jelly but our grapes dried out while we were on vacation, so I will have to do something different. The pickles will last us about a year. The boys take them in their lunches and love to snack on them. I have  also done some peas. We didn't need to do green beans this year because we have a lot left over from last summer. Mike and the boys aren't to fond of green beans. 

I go to one of the many farmer's market in the area to get our produce.  

David's Birthday Celebration

We didn't get to celebrate David's 12th birthday until the 18th of July. Mike had to work on his birthday so we didn't celebrate until now.  We had Mike's sister and her family come over and celebrate with us. We didn't do anything big. We had cake and ice cream. I didn't do much decorating on his cake. Having a July birthday makes it hard for me to do a fancy decorating job with it being so hot. The icing melts faster than I can work with.

Homemade Chex Mix

Gathering the items for the chex mix

Mixing it all together.

Spreading it onto cookie sheets to bake for an hour.

This was made before we went on vacation. We snacked on this while driving.

Here is the basic recipe. I also double or triple this. I think I got this off a box of chex cereal years ago. You can change this up to suit your likes.

1/2 cup butter

4 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 cup salted mix nuts

1 1/4 teaspoon seasoned salt

2 2/3 cups chex cereal

2 2/3 cups corn chex cereal

2 2/3 cups wheat chex cereal

1 cup Pretzels

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Melt butter in 15x10x2-inch shallow roasting pan in oven. Remove. Stir in seasoned salt and Worcestershire sauce. Gradually add cereal and nuts, mixing until all pieces are well coated. Bake 1 hour. Stir every 15 minutes. Spread on absorbent paper to cool. Store in airtight container. I always add more pretzels and nuts. If you get these items on sale it makes for a fairly cheap snack and so much better.

June18th-June24th Last days of vacation

Ground squirrel under the fire pit at stagecoach state park in Colorado

Morning visitor at stagecoach. He was on this rock in our campgrounds every morning.

I loved seeing this old snow plow in Steamboat Springs, Colorado

Fish Hatchery in Vernal, Utah

Fish Hatchery in Vernal. We were teasing Mike about maybe he could catch a fish now.

Not allowed to fish at the hatchery.

We finally came home on the 24th. I am so glad to be able to sleep in my own bed.

David's Birthday

Today David turns twelve. I don't have any pictures yet. We aren't celebrating until Monday when Mike is off work. Then we will have Mike's sister and her family come over for cake and ice cream. he will be in Young Men's now with his Aryan. He is excited because he can now seat in the front seat of my van. The boys have grown so much and no longer enjoy mom hugging them or giving them a quick kiss on the cheek. They actually wipe it off.

June 17th -June18th Vernal, Utah

Vernal, Utah is known for their Dinosaurs. We arrived on the 17th and just relaxed. The boys went swimming. The 18th we went to the Dinosaur National Monument and then to the Museum. Again we took a lot of pictures but I just posted a few. The boys went swimming again when we got back to the camp grounds. this was the first campground that had a pool and they enjoyed it.

June 10th-June16th

Bekah with Sadie. We visited them on the 16th of June.

Took this picture on our last day at Bryce Canyon. Mike thought it was neat to have a sign with all seven's.

This is how Zeus went bike riding with us. We took our own bikes.

Aryan, David, and Caleb playing basketball. They played while we visited inside.

Bekah, Sadie, and Ashley. Sorry bad picture

We went to see Mike's sister, his mom and his sister family on our visit. His nephew Jack plays baseball and we were able to see a game. He is here at bat. The other team walked him. he stole all the other bases to give his team a run.

Jack is the catcher for his team.

We just enjoyed ourselves with family on these days. I didn't get any pictures of my parents.