Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie

          Lately I have seen recipes for skillet cookies everywhere, so I've been dying to try my hand at one.  I absolutely love my cast iron skillets.  They will be a work horse for you in the kitchen.  I adore the fact that they can do double duty for you—meaning you can use them on your stovetop as well as in your oven.  For years I have used my cast iron skillets for baking cornbread, but never something sweet.  So here is my experience baking a cookie in my skillet:

          The recipe I used gave the suggestion of using chocolate chips and toffee chips, which I loved, but if you’re not a toffee person, you can just use more chocolate chips in place of the toffee chips.

          First step is melting the butter in your skillet. 

          Add the sugars and vanilla extract, and let it rest for about 5 minutes.

          Add your egg and stir well.

          Add dry ingredients. 

          Here is where I began to have a problem.  This recipe suggests doing everything right in your skillet, which I think is great—in theory.  However, I am apparently a messy cook who doesn’t have the time or patience required to mix all of this in a skillet without making a huge mess.

          Once the dry ingredients are combined, stir in your chips and/or toffee pieces (insert more messiness on my part here).

          I made sure the dough was spread evenly throughout the skillet, then placed it in the oven. 

          Recipe said to bake for 15-20 minutes.  That’s when I snapped this picture:

         

          However, when I cut into it, I felt like it was just way too gooey for my preferences, so I put in back in the oven for five minutes.  It was still pretty soft in the center when I pulled it out but I didn't want my edges too dark so I went with it.

          I served it up warm with vanilla ice cream, and it was delicious!  It is so much better than a plain, ordinary cookie.  I was a little disappointed when I saw this recipe was for an 8” skillet because I didn’t think that would be enough, but a little slice goes a long way.  This is very rich. 
          The one thing I would change is mixing everything in the skillet.  I don’t know if that is supposed to have some special effect, or if its just to save you from having a bowl to clean up—but I’d rather clean the bowl than to try to neatly mix everything in the skillet again.  It wasn’t good.  Next time, I’ll whip this up in a bowl, and spread it out in my skillet.  I see many more skillet cookies in my future.  Enjoy!

The Comfort of Banana Bread

          So, if any of you have been checking back to my blog regularly and have noticed my incredibly long absence, I apologize.  To say life has been busy is an understatement, and I just haven’t been able to get myself back in the swing of writing.  Summer has come, and almost gone now, in a flash it seems, and we have been busy soaking up the glorious weather we’ve had.  This is one of the mildest summers, temperature wise, that I can recall.  We have thoroughly enjoyed it, especially after the long, long winter we had.  On to deliciousness: 

One of my favorite go-to foods for quick comfort, is Banana Bread.  Although, not just any banana bread.  The recipe I use is from a great-aunt of mine who passed away, and I have to admit that every time I make it, there is a quiet satisfaction in my heart, knowing that her hands went through the same motions in her kitchen.  Do you have family recipes like that?  Plus, it’s literally the best banana bread I’ve put in my mouth!  It could be the addition of a simple glaze over top when the bread is still hot, that puts it over the top for me.

          Whatever recipe you choose, quick breads, such as banana bread, are a great addition to your recipe rolodex.  If you don’t have several to choose from in your recipe box, I suggest you remedy that quickly.  They will serve you well.  I use them constantly—for breakfast, snacks and gifts.  A loaf of bread comes in handy for a house warming gift, or get-well wishes, especially since you can throw them together in a jiffy.  Or if you want to be super organized, make a few loaves and freeze them to be ready at a moment’s notice.  I make my own baking mix that I keep on hand, and if you do that, you can whip up a loaf with even greater ease.

          Anyone will tell you though, the secret to GREAT banana bread, is ripe, and I mean RIPE bananas.  You want them to look black, or pretty close thereto, without being rotten, of course.  If you don't have ripe bananas on hand, there is a pin floating around on Pinterest about how to ripen them.  Let me add a side-note here…my husband loves this recipe.  As in—when I make a loaf, all four of us almost take it down in one sitting.  We “fight” over who is going to get the last piece.  He loves it, and it’s one of the things I make that I know blesses his belly, which blesses my heart.  I encourage you to find what does this for your husband as well.  So, whenever bananas in our house are approaching the desired ripeness, he knows banana bread is to come, and on this day, I came into the kitchen and found this:

          His cute way of hinting, and helping all at the same time.

          I use three bananas for my bread.  I mash them up with a fork until they look like this:

 

          You could leave bigger pieces if you wanted to, I guess, but this is what works for me, plus this is the way my mother used to do it.  When the bananas are ready, I place all my dry ingredients in my mixing bowl. 

 

 

          You won’t need a mixer unless you’re using butter or shortening.  I use vegetable oil.  Add in your prepared bananas and remaining ingredients and mix just until everything is moist. 

 

 

          Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake.  Since I use a glass loaf pan, I drop the oven temperature from 350F to 325F. 

 

 

 

          55-60 minutes creates the perfect loaf for me. 

 

 

          When still warm, mix up a simple glaze of powdered sugar and milk or water, with a little vanilla extract, and pour over your bread.  Once you take a bite, you'll have trouble stopping on it.  Its delicious!  Blessings!

Crock Pot Stuffed Peppers

            Have you ever tried a recipe that didn’t turn out very well the first time, but you felt like it had potential so you gave it another go?  That is what this recipe has been for me.  I love the idea of doing stuffed peppers in the crock pot, however, I have good and not-so-good things to share about this recipe.  My first experience with this recipe didn’t go as planned.  All of the ingredients were in the crock—I started my timer and about one hour into the 8-hour cooking time, our power went out.  There was no storm or terrible weather—it just randomly went out.  The power stayed off for about an hour before it came back on so I wasn’t sure if my results were accurate and felt like I needed to give this recipe another chance.  I found it here: Recipe

            Although as it turns out, the power outage had nothing to do with some of the problems I had the first time, because they were still an issue this time.  Before I continue, some of you might be thinking, ‘if this wasn’t a complete success why are you sharing it?’ and to that I would say—first because I’m just honest like that, and secondly because I think this could be even better with a little tweaking.  Lastly, because I’ve seen this all over Pinterest and thought some folks might appreciate an honest opinion.  Back to the review:

            First, how to put your peppers together:  Prep your peppers by washing them, then cutting off the tops, and removing the seeds/ribs.  You’ll need a 5-6 quart crock pot for this recipe. 
            You can use whatever color bell peppers you prefer.  I already had three red ones on hand, and bought a three pack that had a red, yellow, and orange, but green or any combination will work.  You'll want at least 6 peppers.

Prepare your filling:

I used my stand mixer for this—makes it a breeze to put together.  Mix until well incorporated, but not too long.  Stuff your prepared peppers with filling and place in crock pot:

Now, we come to one of my problems with the recipe.  It makes WAY too much filling for 6 peppers.  Not all of my peppers were huge this time, but the first time I did it, they were all very large, and I still had too much filling.  Here is how much filling I had left over:

I didn't know if it would stick together well enough to form meatballs, so off the top of my head, I decided to form some masses of filling that would hold up my peppers and keep them from floating around when I put in the liquid.  I put one large chunk in the center, and one on each side:

          The recipe says to cook these for 8 hours on low.  The first time I did these, one of my issues was that the peppers seemed to be mush... they completely fell apart when I tried to get them out and I had filling swimming around in liquid.  I thought it might be due to the one hour delay during my power outage the first time.  Turns out, I think they just cook too long or maybe this is just the texture you get when you do them in the crock pot.  Personally, I like my peppers to have a little bite, so I would like to try not cooking them as long (as long as the filling is done of course).  The recipe calls for vegetable stock, which I used the first time.  It was okay, but I used beef stock this time, and liked it better.  Back to the filling issue--the recipe calls for 1.5 lbs of ground beef--I think 1 lb is probably the better choice because it appears that I had about a half pound left over.  Or, if I had two or three extra peppers, I may have been able to stuff them all in my crock (the one I used was either 6 or 6.5 quarts, FYI).

Over all, I did enjoy the filling.  It was a little bland for me, so I plan to add some more seasoning next time as well.  The recipe needs to be adjusted a little for my taste, but I still think its a great recipe and plan to continue to use it in my rotation.  Hope you enjoy!  Blessings!

Sipping Chocolate

            Have you ever indulged in this decadent drink?  I had heard of sipping chocolate, but never experienced it until recently.  I made a run to Trader Joe’s this week to replenish my stock of Cookie Butter, among other things, and saw this product:

            Chocolate was pretty much the only word I needed to suck me in, but sipping chocolate?  Oh, yes.  The name alone suggests something you get to spend time with and enjoy slowly.  My family is aware of my passion for hot chocolate.  I enjoy a cup of cocoa no matter what the weather—rain or shine, whether it is cold or hot out, it is one of my loves; therefore, it wasn’t a hard sell for me to pick up a container of this.

            After viewing some photos online, it seems sipping chocolate from scratch is probably a lot thicker than this mix turns out, although some photos did appear to look more like hot chocolate.  Maybe this is simply about preference.  No matter what is “standard” for sipping chocolate, this mix from Trader Joe’s is delicious. 

I used 1/3 cup whole milk, and the 3 Tablespoons of mix the directions call for to make Sipping Chocolate.  It also gives instructions for hot chocolate. Doesn't it look delicious?

           

            It has inspired me to make it from scratch in the near future.  Until then, I’ll be enjoying a cup of this every once in a while.  Today I am linking up with Time Warp Wife.  

Give it a look.  Blessings!

Crock Pot Chicken Fajitas

            Here is another wonderfully easy dinner for you to whip up in the Crock Pot!  Now you can have delicious fajitas waiting for you at dinnertime without all the work.  I merged a few recipes I’ve seen, and there are a few things I want to try the next time I make this, but for now, this is a good starting place.  Here is what you’ll need:

            Crock Pot Chicken Fajitas

            Ingredients:

            2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast

            2 packages fajita seasoning

            ¼ cup prepared salsa

2 bell peppers, sliced

1 large onion, sliced

1 tsp minced garlic

½ stick butter

            ¼ cup water (optional)

            Directions:

            Spray crock lightly with nonstick cooking spray.  Place butter in crock.  Arrange sliced vegetables around butter.  Slice chicken breast in half, lengthwise.  Place chicken on top of onions and peppers.  Add remaining ingredients.  Cook on low setting 6-8 hours.  Shred chicken and return to crock.  Dip using a slotted spoon.  Serve with your favorite fajita fixin’s—tortillas, cheese, sour cream, lettuce, etc.

            As for the success of this—it really was delicious!  However, I would make some changes.  I didn’t think the seasoning was strong enough, so I plan to leave out the water next time, and/or add some more seasonings.  Also, since I cut my chicken breast in half (I read in a crock pot book that putting whole chicken breast in a crock can put you at risk of the chicken setting at an unhealthy temp for too long) I probably didn’t need to cook it 8 hours.  It was probably done more around 4 or 6, but with the day I had I didn’t get to it until it had been in there 8.  Two things I plan to add next time—little chicken bouillon and a little lime juice.  I think that will give it a little more of the flavor I want.

            It doesn’t look very appetizing, but I assure you it will be one of your new favorite meals:

            Today is Titus 2sday Link-up Party over at Time Warp Wife.  

           Give the page a look and find help and encouragement from other ladies.  If you're a blogger, link up with us!  Towards the bottom you’ll see my link to my Mushroom Meatballs.  You can also connect with me on Pinterest at: Infinitely More Than I Think on Pinterest

            Blessings!

Cinnamon-Honey Butter

            I love when simple, and delicious comes together!  Quick is another good thing in my life.  You can pull this little goody together in a blink.

            There are some popular restaurants that serve this with their rolls…and you can even find some popular butter companies who sell it at your grocery market, some times only in certain seasons.  However, to me, nothing compares to making it yourself.  I love knowing exactly what is my food.  Several versions of Cinnamon-Honey Butter are out there, but I’ve experimented several times, and this is the recipe that works best for me, and our preferences.  You can play around with what you like...with a little more honey, or less powdered sugar, or cinnamon.  This is the perfect combination to me:

            Cinnamon Honey Butter

            Ingredients

            2 sticks salted butter (NOT margarine), at room temperature

            ¾ cup honey (I use local honey)

            1 cup powdered sugar

            2 tsp ground cinnamon

            Directions

            Place butter in bowl of stand mixer with whisk attachment.  Mix for about 30 seconds.  Add remaining ingredients. 

When you get everything in the bowl, it will look like this:

Mix until desired consistency.  Give a good stir to make sure everything is incorporated well.  Place in your favorite dish and store in refrigerator.

You can see that I just placed my ingredients in a mixing bowl, and I used my hand mixer.  It works as well, but I will probably stick with using my stand mixer in the future…or I will use a deeper bowl if using my hand mixer, because I got a big cloud of powdered sugar when I turned the mixer on. Don’t you love those?  You know…the kind that shoots powdered sugar EVERYWHERE.  :)  Moving on…

Your finished product should look something like this:

This deliciousness will make a wonderful gift, or a special treat on your biscuits, muffins, waffles, pancakes, etc.  After I made this, I baked some banana muffins, and used the cinnamon honey butter on them.  SO good!  I also use it on top of pumpkin pancakes…again, SO good.  I’m sure you’ll find plenty of uses for it and I would love to hear what you use it on!  Enjoy!

Brown Butter Sauce

          Want to try something simple that will give you many savory and sweet cooking options?  Then learn the simple art of making Brown Butter.  It will take you about 5-10 minutes start to finish and you’ll be so glad you did. 

            My first experience with Brown Butter happened when I wanted to recreate one of my favorite dishes from The Old Spaghetti Factory: Spaghetti with Brown Butter and Mizithra.  Mizithra is a type of Greek cheese, made from sheep and/or goat’s milk.  I was pleasantly surprised to learn how easy it was to make this at home.  My first task was trying to find a place that I could purchase the cheese.  It is not carried in any of the grocery stores I frequent.  I finally found it in a specialty food/liquor store.  Since that time I’ve also been told that any of the ingredients The Old Spaghetti Factory uses in their restaurants are able to be purchased from them—but please don’t quote me as correct on that—I’ve just heard that from a friend and have never checked it out for myself.  If you are having trouble finding it in a store near you and have access to a OSF it would be worth asking. 

            After you’ve located your cheese, it’s time to make the Brown Butter sauce.  You’ll need one stick of butter (NOT margarine or any combination thereof).  I use salted butter.  Place your butter in a small saucepan on medium heat.  You will want to stay with the pan until you’re finished.  Let the butter melt and begin to bubble like so:

            Let it gently simmer (I gently stir mine as it is cooking) for 5 minutes, or until the butter turns caramel in color.  You should be able to tell immediately when the butter is done, because it will become darker (the caramel color I mentioned) and will smell wonderful.  It will look like this:

Let cool for a few minutes…then strain.  Often I will make some and use it on pasta, then keep leftovers in the fridge, in a covered plastic container.  It will keep at least a week or two—none I’ve ever made has had the chance to stick around longer.  If you want to recreate the dish I mentioned above, use some of the butter sauce on your cooked pasta, toss, then use a grater to put your desired amount of Mizithra cheese on top.  Simple, and oh so good. 

You can also use Brown Butter in sweet recipes.  Have you ever tried it in frosting?  Such a wonderful flavor!  Be sure to add it on your list of things to try!  Want some more ideas for the kitchen?  Follow me on Pinterest: Infinitely More Than I Think on Pinterest
I've linked up with Hope Studios Tutorial Tuesday's and Moms The Word today.  Give it a look!

Mushroom Meatballs

           After my post about Crock Pot Candy a few days ago, I was in the mood to share another one of my favorite crock pot recipes:  Mushroom Meatballs.  When I hosted my immediate family for our Christmas gathering a few weeks ago, I brought out this recipe and doubled it so I could be sure we would have enough, and is what I'm sharing below.  I usually serve it as an appetizer, but often I make this for my little family, and serve it over egg noodles because the gravy it makes is incredible!

            Mushroom Meatballs (for a crowd):  

            Ingredients:

            2 (2 lbs each) bags frozen meatballs

            2 envelops dry onion soup mix

            2 cans Cream of Mushroom soup

            1 lb fresh sliced mushrooms

            Directions:

            Lightly spray your crock pot liner with non-stick cooking spray.  Pour meatballs into crock (you can thaw them beforehand if you like).  In bowl, combine dry onion soup mix and both cans of cream of mushroom soup.  Pour over meatballs. 

Arrange sliced mushrooms on top. 

Cover and cook on high setting 2 hours.  Stir meatballs and cook on low setting for 2 more hours.  Serve as an appetizer or over egg noodles or rice.

            As I’ve shared before, it is recommended that your crock be at least ½ full, but no more than 2/3 full for optimum results.  Obviously, my 6—6 ½ quart crock (can’t remember which it is) is filled to the brim here, but it turned out great!  The mushrooms will really shrink down.

            Everyone goes on about how wonderful the gravy is on these meatballs, and I have to agree. It is so good, you’ll want some wonderful bread, noodles or rice to soak up every—last—drop!  I would have taken a photo of what they looked like when they were finished, but didn't have the chance.  They were gone in a blink!  Enjoy!

           

            

           

            

Crock Pot Candy

Those of you who know me well, know that I have much love for the wonderful invention we know as a Crock Pot/Slow Cooker…whatever you may prefer to call it.  If you hang around long enough, you’ll see that I use it a lot.  If you are not utilizing one you are missing out on such convenience!  I love putting ingredients in the crock pot and knowing that in most cases I do not have to touch it again until hours later when it has dinner ready for me.  It is especially useful if you are a person who is gone several hours in the day or a busy homeschool momma like me, who is chasing kiddos all day.  With a little organization, you can put everything in your crock before leaving for the day (or before you begin your homeschool day) and then return to a hot, home-cooked meal.  Also love it when I’m cooking for a crowd.  Okay, I’ll stop singing its praises and get on with it.  I’m just always surprised when I run across people who do not have at least one in their kitchen arsenal.  I have a use for at least 3-4.  :)

                During the holidays I do a lot of baking…candy making, etc.  I feel like there are SO many recipes I want to try, and not enough time to try them all.  I also have those tried and true recipes that I return to each year that have become a must for me.  Crock pot candy is one of those.  I make it most often around Christmas and really look forward to it, because believe me when I say it is DELICIOUS!  It is essentially chocolate-covered peanuts, but they will be the best chocolate-covered peanuts you've ever put in your mouth!  :)

                You can gleam from my earlier comments that I use my crock pots a lot so once-in-a-while I wear one out.  Such was the case on Christmas Eve.  I usually put the crock pot candy in my 5 quart slow cooker.  It bit the dust that day.  In its defense, my husband and I received it as a wedding gift, so it was 9 years old.  It saw A LOT of action…. Oh, the meals it saw.  This recipe makes a ton of candy, and I had intended to give most of it away as gifts—but there was a hiccup.

                With my 5 quart crock pot out, I only have my 6 quart left (one of my sisters is borrowing my 3 ½ quart which would not have been big enough anyway).  I put everything in and went about my day.  Realized right before it finished the recipe actually calls for a 4 quart crock… and to my disappointment a lot of the peanuts had burned.  It is recommended that your crock be at least ½ to 2/3 full for optimum results, and it looked okay to me, but maybe the 6 quart was just too big.  The other issue could be…that there have been complaints from other people about my particular crock pot cooking too fast.  Thought that was crazy at first, but now I’m thinking maybe they were right.  I’ve NEVER had something burn in the crock pot until that day!  Don't let that discourage you from a crock pot...like I said, out of hundreds of meals, this is the first time something like this happened to me...and it was probably user-error on my part.  Should have known better.

                So, what do you do when you’re looking at $15-$20 of “ruined” candy?  I knew either way it had to come out of the crock pot so I decided to try to salvage what I could.  I dug out all the blackened peanuts I could get to and stirred it all up, and portioned it out on wax paper as I normally would.  It probably would have been fine to give away, even though you run across the occasional burnt peanut, but I couldn’t bring myself to gift it out.  Instead, I served it to my immediate family lol.  I gave the burnt peanut disclaimer and no one seemed to mind.  See...even with burned peanuts this is still the BEST crock pot candy.  haha

                Here is the recipe I use:

Trisha Yearwood Crock Pot Candy

                As I mentioned before this makes a TON of candy, so be prepared for that.  You could put the candy into cute cupcake liners, but I just put spoonfuls out onto wax paper and let them set up.  Here is what it looked like:

                The recipe says it makes 30-40 pieces but I got much more.  Some of my pieces are smaller, but most are mounded into huge chunks, and I still got 70 pieces of candy out of this! 

                So other than my rare crock pot malfunction this was a success.  Word to the wise—you should always give it a look if you’re able.  The recipe only cooks 3 hours so I should have glanced at it before it was finished.  Upside is, I got my crock pot candy fix, many times over.  What are your go-to convenience recipes?

Christmas Gatherings 2013 and a Happy 2014

              Christmas for my little family, like many of you, consists of several gatherings, with different groups and sides of the family in addition to our own Christmas morning traditions that we’re trying to establish.  We have had three gatherings so far, and have one more to go.  Do you find that it is hard to fit everything in?  Do you feel a pull in your heart to be all things to all people during the Christmas season?  To unknowingly spread yourself so thin trying to get to everything that it almost takes the joy out of Christmas?  Just me?  This has been us in the past.  We are trying to correct it.

              For the majority of our marriage, my husband and I lived in between our families—about 2 ½ hours from his, and 1 ½ hours from mine.  Merging our holiday traditions did not go so well.  His extended family does Christmas Eve, in the evening.  My extended family does Christmas lunch—in a different time zone that was an hour ahead of us.  Let me paint the picture:  We would leave our house in the early morning on Christmas Eve, and many times we left his area of the state (after completing 3 gatherings/visits) around 1 or 2 AM on Christmas morning, to drive the 2 ½ hours home.  We would get 3 maybe 4 hours of sleep before we had to be up and ready to walk out the door to make it the 100 + miles to my granny’s.  When did we have our Christmas you ask?  Usually had to happen Christmas Evening, or before we left for his family’s house on Christmas Eve morning...it was almost an afterthought.

The Christmas season became stressful to us, and a very sore topic, when a few months before December we had to begin discussions about our plans, and how we were going to coordinate all of it…how we were going to survive the somewhat epic two-day event that would total around 500 miles, all within a little over 24 hours.  We met the Christmas season with dread instead of joy.  

Then in 2009 we became parents.  The pressure we felt before then to try to get to everything to see everybody for Christmas pales in comparison to what it felt like once we wore the title of Mommy and Daddy.  Everyone wanted to see our little man, which we were so thankful for—but we were beginning to see at that point in our lives that something had to change.  We saw that saying ‘yes’ to being everywhere wasn't working for us…and to each their own.  Some people enjoy the hustle and bustle of it all.  They would rather go through the crazy rush to say that they were present at each of these gatherings than to skip it.  For us, it’s not that our families are any less important to us, it’s just that our priorities have changed now that we’re parents. 

To us, the most important thing is Jesus…celebrating His birth.  For me, it was hard to focus on Him being the reason for the season when I was stressed about getting all the gifts wrapped, food made and in our vehicle and to make sure we left one place in time to get to the next, and so on.  We couldn't even focus on truly enjoying our time with our family, much less thinking on Jesus.  

Our next priority is our children…and their Christmas experience.  We want to have Christmas Eve traditions in our home, and want our children to wake up in their house on Christmas morning to open gifts.  We want to read the Christmas story from the Bible as a family, have a wonderful breakfast, and if we make it to my granny’s for Christmas lunch (we live about 30 minutes from her now), great.  If we don’t, that’s okay too.  Each year since 2010, I've been employed by a church that has a late evening Christmas Eve service, so we've not been able to attend my husband’s family gathering since then.  Part of me is disappointed by that and it hurts my heart that my husband has missed it.  Part of me is thankful that we aren't rushing around as we used to.  For the past few years, we do Christmas with them the week or so after, and it has worked well. 

Maybe things will change in the future, and we’ll be able to attend Christmas Eve with my in-laws or we’ll stay in completely and not go anywhere.  I don’t know.  I do know that whatever we decide there will be zero stress involved.  I don’t want my children feeling that holiday pressure or to get the impression that Christmas equals anything but Jesus—not gifts, not food, not traveling and running around batty.  It’s not a bad thing to see family, and next to God, my husband, and children, my immediate and extended families are the most important things in the world to me.  Don’t get me wrong—I LOVE to see each of them during Christmas and making the decision to dial back what we do during the holidays has not been an easy one, and goes against my nature, especially since it is usually the only time we’re all together during the year.  However, I believe what I’m teaching my children is more important, and will shape the way they look at the Christmas season in the future.  We may have close to the same number of gatherings during Christmas—but they are more spread out, and definitely a lot easier to get through.  I know that we definitely enjoy this time of year a lot more now than earlier in our marriage. 

We were able to have my immediate family in our home for Christmas on the 28^th, and I LOVED the feeling of them being here.  I did a double batch of Hot Chocolate in the crock pot, which was a huge hit with the kiddos!  Want to try it?

Casey’s Crock Pot Hot Chocolate

Ingredients:

15 cups water

2 large cans Sweetened Condensed Milk

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

3 tsp vanilla extract

1 cinnamon stick

Marshmallows, whipped cream, or whatever you like to put in your hot chocolate.

Directions:

In a 5-6 quart crock pot combine water, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla.  Add cocoa powder and cinnamon stick if desired.  Stir.  Cook on low setting 4 hours, stirring every hour.  Serve hot.  Can hold on warm setting for an hour.  Top with marshmallows, whipped cream, or any add-in that you desire.  NOTE:  the cinnamon stick is optional, but I highly recommend it.  It gave a great depth to the hot chocolate. You could easily cut this recipe in half and prepare it in a 3-4 quart crock pot.  There were 11 of us and most of us had 2 or 3 mugs, and I had some left over, which I have enjoyed. :) 

We rang in the New Year pretty mildly—home together on the couch.  2013 wasn’t the best year for us…it was down right ROUGH at times.  It contained a lot of good—but a lot of things I’m ready to forget about and move on from.  It is my hope and prayer that 2014 is much better.  If 2013 wasn’t a great year for you, trust in the Lord for, “…we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose,” Romans 8:28 (NIV). Whatever the new year brings for you, remember that putting Him first is always the way to start.  Matthew 6:33 (NIV) says, “But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”  Love and blessings to each of you!

Winter Weather Is Here

We've had a few cold days here and there, but thus far our winter had been mild.  Until yesterday that is!  Temperatures in the teens and 20's arrived and have stayed, along with ice, snow, and more ice.  Yikes!  High for today is going to be an "amazing" 28 degrees, with more wintry weather on the way, I believe.

So, whenever the weather is like this, and I'm holed up in my home (after asking the hubby to make the all important milk and bread run before this weather came in), there are two things I overwhelmingly have the urge to do:  

1.  Make a huge pot of soup
2. Crochet until I can't crochet anymore

To address my first desire I am making a simple, comforting pot of Potato Soup today.  There are many wonderful potato soup recipes out there--and there are days when I'm feeling like lots of extras in my potato soup.  However, there are days like today when I'm confined to the house and all I have on hand is the small list of ingredients I need to make this soup, and it does the trick in a pinch.  Here is what you'll need:

Casey's Simple Potato Soup:

5-6 small whole Russet potatoes, peeled and chopped
3 stalks of celery, diced
1 small onion, diced (opt)
3-4 cups whole milk (more or less to achieve your desired thickness)
1/2 stick butter
1 Tbsp flour
1-2 cloves minced garlic
Salt and pepper to taste

Add any or all of these delicious toppings, or whatever else your heart desires:
Bacon bits, or chopped and cooked bacon
Cheese
Chives
Sour cream

Directions:
Clean and peel potatoes, cut into pieces; chop celery. Place both in salted, boiling water; cook in medium rolling boil until potatoes are tender when pierced with fork (not falling apart). Drain and mush with potato masher, leaving small chunks for texture if desired.  Return to stock pot or transfer to slow-cooker. In separate bowl, mix milk, onion, flour, water, garlic and butter.  Add to potatoes and celery.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Bring to boil uncovered in stock pot, or bring to simmer in 5-6 quart slow-cooker.  If in stock pot on stove, bring to boil, then reduce to LOW heat and simmer until thickened. Simmer in slow-cooker approximately 3 to 4 hrs on HIGH, or 6 to 7 hrs on LOW. Serve with your favorite toppings.

For my second urge, I am finishing up a few crochet projects.  A poncho for my daughter, and a cowl that I will probably keep for myself.  I'm using a variegated yarn for the cowl and I'm very pleased with the results so far.  I look forward to sharing pics of both when they're done!