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!

Toilet Paper Roll Wild Bird Treat

            Our state has experienced what I believe to be some of the coldest temperatures and received more snow/ice so far this winter than any other that I can remember.  It has been kind of rough.  Sure…not nearly as bad as folks who live farther north, but in our defense—we’re not equipped for large amounts of snowfall and constant below zero (or very close thereto) temps in my area.

            This means that my little family is still holed up in the house and my children are eager to be actively doing something different.  I’ve been searching for simple projects we can do, to help break up the monotony, and Monday ended up being a good day for us to accomplish this.  I decided on one that is very appropriate for the winter—Toilet Paper Roll Wild Bird Treat.  Not only does this repurpose empty toilet paper rolls, which I think is awesome, but also it helps wild birds survive the tough winter.  It is often hard for them to find consistent food sources in the winter, especially when it may be covered in snow and ice.  Personally, I enjoy feeding birds year-around and have a handful of feeders outside with a variety of different seeds…and I’ll be showing you another project for wild birds soon.

            This is what you’ll need for your own project:

Wild birdseed (I chose one with a variety of seeds—sunflower, millet, etc.).

Cheerios…not a necessity, but my daughter had a cup of Cheerios when we were doing this project, and it seemed like a good thing to throw in.            

Peanut butter

Empty Toilet Paper Rolls

You’ll also need extras like a knife, a plate for rolling your TP rolls in, and a pan or some type of container to place your finished product.

Once you’re ready to begin, carefully place seed on your rolling surface.  The old 13x9 pan I used for this project happened to have a lid so it worked great for rolling our TP rolls in.  Throw in some Cheerios if you like. 

With your knife spread a GOOD layer of peanut butter on the toilet paper roll.  This is NOT enough:

The amount of peanut butter I put on the roll  apparently was not enough.  It’s the one on the right, not that you probably needed me to tell you:

Not really impressive.  You’ll see attempt #2 (on the left) looked a lot better.

            Another tip for you:  I didn’t get good coverage with the seed when I just rolled the TP roll in the seed.  Instead, we placed the roll down in the seed, and used our hands to pour seed over the top like this:

            Then gently use your hands to press it in to the peanut butter.  Turn the roll, letting the excess fall off as you continue to cover and press all the way around.

            We ended up with seven rolls, and doing those with the “help” of a 4-year-old and 2-year-old took quite a while, but not a great deal of time.  It was actually a good distraction for us and they LOVED getting their hands in the birdseed.  Speaking of, if you’re doing this with littles as young as mine, just be prepared for birdseed EVERYWHERE.  Although it was in good keeping with all the crumbs I had on my floor from breakfast, and my daughter's Cheerio break while we were working on this, but a quick sweep took care of it.

            Once you’ve completed your rolls you can either put the rolls directly on your tree branches, or you could slip some string, ribbon, etc. through the rolls, tie it, and then hang on a branch.  For now I'm just planning to slip ours on branches.

I wanted to show photos of them hanging outside, but our day filled up and we didn’t get them out the same day.  Planned to do it Tuesday, but we received an ice storm, so I guess it’s a good thing I was delayed or all of our work may have quickly ended up on the ground.  They are waiting for the bird once it is not raining ice and we look forward to watching the birds enjoy them.

This was also a great opportunity for a homeschool lesson about winter, and birds.  We talked about the types of birds in our area, which would most likely visit our toilet paper roll treats, and looked at pictures of those birds.  Hope that you enjoy this project as much as we did!  Would love to hear what types of birds visit your toilet paper roll treats!

Star Stitch Scarf

            I am so excited to share this project with you!  I finished it weeks ago, but it has been a busy month and I’m just now getting around to typing this.

            My little man is 4 years old right now.  He is creative and funny, with a huge heart, and is always happy.  He has many loves-- Lightening McQueen, Thomas the Train, dinosaurs, trucks, puzzles, books, blocks, and loves music and art.  At the moment his favorite colors (yes, colors because picking just one is too hard right now lol) are red, blue, orange and white.  
            Each Christmas (so far) I've been able to make my children at least one crocheted item a piece.  As it approached in 2013, I began to ask him what he would like me to make.  Through many conversations, he finally decided upon a scarf, which was great because I had never made him one.  I ended up with too many projects and didn’t get around to the scarf before Christmas, but a lot of that was due to my search for the perfect yarn.  There are many beautiful variegated yarns out there, but so far, I have not found one that uses all of those colors, without plenty of other colors that I didn’t want. 

            I went back to my little man and tried to get a clear choice on what color he wanted…and hoped that he might even choose a single color.  Instead, after much talk he told me, “Mommy, I just want ALL the colors.”  How can you refuse that request?  I finally decided upon Red Heart yarn color: Heartfelt.  It includes Blue, Light Blue, Red, Light Green, and Purple.  I really fell in love with it and hoped it would please him. 

            Then I had to choose what stitch I wanted to use.  I didn’t have a lot of luck finding a free crochet pattern that I liked.  Many were just too “fancy” for a boy in my opinion, but some, just not special enough.  I decided to do my own thing and choose a stitch I thought would display the yarn well.  Opinions vary on whether a simple stitch shows off a more complicated yarn best or vice versa.  I knew that I wanted it to be special, and different, and in the moment I began the project I was tired of the same basic stitches.  You ever get to that point?  When you just need to make something that strays from your usual bag of tricks?

            I pulled out a book my mom found at a yard sale.  One that I had completely forgotten about until I uncovered it in our second move last year (you can read more about my family’s relocation's in the post Christmas Tree 2013).  Mom is always finding interesting things, and I especially love it when she comes across yarn or books such as this.  She has found several older needlework books that I think are neat, for lack of a better word.  The book I referenced for this scarf is Aunt Ellen’s How-To Book on Needlework, Copyright, 1954, by Modern Handcraft, Inc.  Did you catch the 1954 part?  

            This book is 60 years old, and in great shape for its age.  Makes me wonder how many other women have sat with this book in hand, trying to learn the needle arts.  The book has turned out to be a great little resource.  It contains how-to’s for Crochet, Knitting, Tatting, Netting, Embroidery Stitches, Smocking, Huck Weaving (had not a clue what that was until I Googled it; found some lovely examples) Needlepoint, Rug Making, Hemstitching, and some other miscellaneous skills.  Now that I’m listing all of this out I realize it’s ridiculous that I haven’t used it more, and mastered all of these needle skills.  That would be a good goal to add to my list this year. 

            With my handy Aunt Ellen’s How-To Book on Needlework, I taught myself the crochet Star Stitch.  Turns out there aren’t many patterns that include this beautiful stitch…at least not that many that I could find.  You’ll find it is a pattern that definitely has a “right side” and the wrong side is not that appealing.  However, I LOVE this stitch.  Even though I was not able to find many patterns using the Star Stitch (at least not in comparison to patterns that include basic stitches) there are some good tutorials out there.  Finally, I did find a pattern using the Star Stitch in a scarf, that I liked here: Free Pattern Star Stitch Scarf

            I used a size K needle, and it took me around 47 rows of Star Stitch to achieve the length I wanted.  It takes Row 1 and Row 2 of the pattern to complete one set of the Star Stitch, and that’s how I counted to 47.  If you want to count actual rows it would be 94 rows.  It comes down to his knees, which it what I wanted.  He’ll have room to grow into it.  Isn’t it pretty?

           One of the other things I really loved about using this stitch for a scarf was that it works up thicker than other stitches, so you don't have to double it when wearing it unless you just prefer that.  I'm able to just crisscross it in front of my son's chest and know that he's covered well.  I'm in the process of making another scarf using double-crochet and it is so much thinner.  Another thing you should know--it seems this stitch uses a lot of yarn.  This scarf is about 53" and it used almost the entire skein.  Close up of the stitch work:

            The big question is did he like it?  He loved it!  He seemed happy with it…although he did make a comment about it not having all his favorite colors in it.  ::sigh::  So it is back to the drawing board, to create something he and I both can live with that will have ALL his colors.  For now, he is enjoying his scarf and seems to be proud of it every time he puts it on, which blesses this momma’s heart.

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!

Teaching Little Man to Write His Name

            Realized this week that I have shared that I’m a homeschooling momma, but that so far none of my post have been about our homeschool.  Neither of my children are “school age” yet, so some would say that we are not officially a homeschooling family.  However, since it is our intention that we will not send our children outside of the home for their education, and because we decided to forgo a public or private preschool for our son, I have considered ourselves officially homeschooling.  Additionally, I have used this past school year as practice for our son’s Kindergarten year. 

I will share our reasons for homeschooling at another time perhaps, but we knew soon after our son was born that this was our desire, so I started collecting any free online materials I could get my hands on.  Anything from preschool to high school that I thought there was even a remote chance I could use, because I knew that for now—our resources for buying curriculum for homeschooling would be very limited. 

From my research, I’ve learned some families spend little to nothing per child, per year, to homeschool (around $200 or below).  Some families are blessed to spend quite a bit per child, per year (around $1,000-$2,000+).  According to the HSLDA website, the average is $900 per family.  The reasons for the large price range is because the money you’ll spend depends on many things, including your preference for curriculum, how many subjects you want to cover, and what your homeschool teaching style will be.  For example someone whose method is “unschooling” might spend less than someone who takes a classical education approach. 

Again, at this point in our lives, our budget was zero—a big, fat, goose egg.  There were no extra funds to put towards a beautiful, shiny curriculum.  Therefore, I began to pray.  I prayed that God would show me if this was truly His will for our family, or if it was just my desire and everyone was placating me.  Then I prayed that if this was His will, He would provide what we needed.  As usual, God works in a way that is true to the verse my blog is based on…He does infinitely more than I could ever think or hope.

In spring of 2013 a new, Bible-based, online curriculum came on the market through Dew Learning.  It is available on iPad, or your PC.  I entered a drawing for a free year worth (over $500) of curriculum and never gave it another thought.  A few months later, I learned I had won!  Isn’t God amazing when He shows Himself in such an awesome way?  I was worried how we would pay for homeschooling...worried if I was making the right decision…and then He blessed us beyond what I imagined.  He answered my prayer. 

Kindergarten is the lowest level curriculum they offer (no preschool) so that was another reason I decided to begin my son’s Kindergarten year.  His birthday is in July, and the only thing he lacked at that time to attend Kindergarten (when he was only 4 years old), by the standards of our state requirements (if he were going to public school), was the ability to write his name…which he learned just a few weeks after his birthday.  People are very impressed that he can write so well at 4-years-old and that he can write all of his upper and lower case letters.  We haven’t been focusing on handwriting as much lately as we had been, and I can tell he has regressed a little, but we’re back to doing what has worked for us.  I feel like there are a few things that have contributed to our success that I wanted to share.  I will give you a disclaimer—I’m not claiming to know everything, or saying that this is what you should do for your child…I’m just sharing my opinion and what worked for us.

First, is recognition of the alphabet.  Since I am a musical person, we do a lot with music in our household; however, you don’t have to be a music teacher to incorporate it into your home.  My point is children, and in fact, anyone—retains more information when it’s shared in song.  It involves both sides of your brain…so even something as simple as singing the ABC song with your little one is beneficial, even at a very early age.  A little after my son’s first birthday I was surprised how much of the alphabet he had retained just from that simple act.  Then we began matching the letters we were singing with the image of each letter.  You could use flash cards, magnets, or simply write them out on a piece of paper, which is what I did most often.  We would sing as I pointed to each letter.  Homeschool Creations has some wonderful Alphabet resources, including sheets that you can print on card stock to create your own flashcards.  There are several options to choose from on the website.  It’s a wonderful free resource.  I recently found a website called Reading By Phonics that has some useful free worksheets as well.  If you just Google “alphabet activities” you will have a TON of free resources at the click of your mouse. 

One of the things that helped in Alphabet recognition, and in my opinion helped once he started writing, was tracing the letter with his finger as we talked about it.  There are sheets on the Homeschool Creations website specifically for that.  We also purchased a LeapFrog Printing dry erase tablet at WalMart.  Very inexpensive and great for an “on the go” activity.  We were also blessed to find these Melissa & Doug dry erase mats (one for numbers and one for letters) secondhand:fr Numbers and Letters Again, they are great to occupy him when we’re on the go, or to reinforce what we’re learning at any point in the day.

Probably the most beneficial item for helping him learn to write both upper and lower case letters has been his LeapFrog LeapPad 2.  He also has a Leapster Explorer which we bought first.  We still use it for trips to the grocery store and long trips in the car.  Both include a pet game that teaches writing that my son loves.

Now that my son can identify and write the Alphabet, another tool that I utilize quite a bit is printable handwriting practice worksheets.  This free website lets you type whatever phrase you desire (letters or numbers), up to 17 characters, to print out as practice.  I often use it for his name.  You can make your own here: Practice Writing Printables

Whatever method you choose, as with anything you teach your little ones, having fun is really the key—and finding what piques their interest the most.  For example, on the LeapFrog products, whenever my son writes a letter on the pet game, the pet does a trick or shares something that starts with the letter he has just completed, and he thinks that’s the greatest.  He was learning when he didn’t even realize it.  Therefore, I encourage you to find what it is that motivates your child to learn as well.  It makes the process a lot easier.  Want more Homeschooling ideas?  Visit my board on Pinterest: Infinitely More Than I Think on Pinterest  Blessings!

Slouchy Crochet Hat for Little Boy

          My crochet streak continues.  :)  I have another hat to share with you today, and some more crochet projects coming up!  I wanted a new hat for my 4-year-old son, and while he has a variety of beanie type, fitted crochet hats—he did not have a loose fitting, slouchy hat.  I decided to try my hand at it.  Although, let me share some of my motivation for attempting a “slouchy hat.”  As I mentioned in my post about Baby Crochet Camo Hats, my large pouch of crochet hooks was misplaced soon after our last move—incredibly frustrating.  I had found extras of every size hook I own, except size I and J, which were the sizes I needed for several of the projects I’ve wanted to start lately.  I have this thing…where I HATE to buy something again, that I know I own but cannot find; therefore, I had been putting off buying new hooks.  I know…they are very cheap, but again, it’s just the point to me.  This week, I just gave up and decided to replace my size I and J hooks.  Guess what I found the NEXT day?  My large pouch of hooks.  Isn’t it funny how that goes?  I’m very relieved I found them, but irritated I bought the others.   Turns out the size J hook purchase was warranted.  My original J hook has a place in the tip that is snagging my yarn so it needed to be replaced.  How the tip of the hook was damaged is a mystery.  Back to the hat:

So, again, part of my motivation for the hat was due to the fact that I still couldn’t find my pouch of crochet hooks at this point, and K was the only size hook I could find that came close to making sense.  I used a typical fitted hat pattern, with double crochet stitches.  

I did some extra rounds, and finished with two rounds of single crochet stitches.  I’ve shared my appreciation for Red Heart With Love yarn before, and that is what I used for this hat.  It’s Red Heart With Love Yarn, color: True Blue. 

It is SO soft!  It is definitely the type of yarn you want on your head, and touching your face.  The final product is not quite as slouchy as I was intending for it to be, but it will be something he can wear for years to come because it has plenty of room.  Besides, the purpose of a hat is to keep your ears covered, and your head warm, and that, it will do.  

You can see from the back it’s not as loose as most slouchy hats, but it does have some give to it and a very relaxed fit:

He is pleased so that is what truly counts!  To see more of my crochet inspiration, follow me on Pinterest: Infinitely More Than I Think on Pinterest

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!