My husband doesn’t eat raw carrots but eats cooked carrots. The Imaginative One doesn’t eat cooked carrots but eats raw carrots. So it makes it interesting to decide what veggies to cook for dinner. I saw this recipe and decided I needed to make it for Thanksgiving. It fits the criteria of easy, quick, and cooks in the crockpot. During the Thanksgiving parade, I prepped the carrots and let them cook right before dinner. Since my crazy son doesn’t eat cooked carrots, I also made corn for him.
Oh, and the taste! They were delicious. Since it was so easy, I may prep the carrots and have hubby put them in the crockpot one day so we can have them for dinner.
Today is Thanksgiving, and I have much to be thankful for this year.
My family and friends
God showing me a talent. This talent has allowed me to see the beauty of his world in a way I’ve never seen before.
Laughter – Hearing the boys laugh brings joy to my soul.
My students, both current and former
My health – During June, I suffered terrible headaches. For three almost four weeks, I had headaches that were persistent. Luckily a trip to the chiropractor helped relieve them. Then in September and most of October, I had a persistent cough. Fortunately for me, both are better.
God gave me 2 boys who are bright and surprise me with their knowledge and insight about the world around them.
Now onto the recipe. On Sunday, my father-in-law informed us he was cooking a chicken for Thanksgiving. There were going to be only 6 of us for dinner, and he didn’t want to deal with all the leftovers. The family convinced him that he needed to make a turkey. I wanted to help make the dinner, so I decided what to bring. One of the items was going to be homemade cranberry relish. Yesterday I stumbled on this recipe.
Earlier in the week, I had created a list of things I needed from the store. One of the items was an orange for the relish. My husband went shopping but didn’t buy an orange. His reasoning was I had oranges at the house. I have grapefruit and clementines but no navel oranges. So I made a trip to Save-A-Lot to go get the oranges. Boy, I’m glad I did. This recipe is easy, and the end result was delicious.
In my previous post, I listed some of my favorite cookies to bake that is on my blog. Here are some other favorite cookie recipes that are on other blogs. My goal this Christmas season is to post them on this blog so that I have them readily available during next year’s baking season.
Brown Sugar Jumbles – What’s not to love about these cookies, they are oatmeal, and m&m’s cookies rolled into one! Yum!
Orange Infused Snowballs – Different flavor than what you normally have during the holiday season
Candy Cane Snowballs – Crushing candy canes is a good way to get your frustrations out. Or you could put the candy canes in a baggie and let the kids crush them.
Andes Creme de Menthe Cookies – I already have the Andes Creme de Menthe pieces with my cookie baking supplies. The Imaginative One loves Andes mints,s so this is one of his favs.
When I was a teen, I lived with my mother and grandparents. There are several Christmas memories that I treasure. One is my grandma and her trees. She loved teddy bears and would put up several trees with just her teddy bear ornaments on them. Then there, we would put up the traditional tree. I really wish I was into photography then because I would love to have pictures of her and her trees.
The other memory is her baking and making candy. She had a bench in the kitchen that I inherited from her. After baking a batch or two cookies or making the candy, she would put it on the bench. I was not supposed to touch any goodies because they were to be given out as Christmas gifts. My mom helped her with baking and making candy, but I didn’t. I don’t remember if it was because I was a teen and didn’t want to or if she didn’t allow me to. Now I wish I did help her make those goodies, and again I wish I had photographs of all the goodies.
I got married in 1999 and moved out of the college dorms. During Christmas, I picked up the tradition of making goodies for Christmas. And I’ve done it ever since. While my grandma was dying in 2008, we spent days leading up to Christmas in the nursing home, keeping watch over her and praying. When I could not be at the nursing home, I was at the house baking up goodies and then bringing them to the nursing home to share with family members. Grandma passed away on Christmas Eve when the Christmas Eve service started at my church. It was only fitting she died during the holiday season because she loved it so much.
I do most of the Christmas baking myself, but the boys are allowed in the kitchen for some of it. They do help for the most part. But their attention span is of a flea sometimes when it comes to this kind of stuff. Will’s favorite part of helping is cracking the eggs and beating the yolks with a fork. If I’m making peanut butter blossoms, their favorite kind of cookie, they are all about putting the Hershey Kiss on the cookie when it comes out of the oven. I want them to have those memories, so hopefully, they can pass them on to their kids.
So as the Christmas baking season begins, I want to list some of my favorite cookies I’ve made and will make once again.
I’m about simplicity, especially when it comes to baking or recipes. So when I saw this recipe in my inbox, I knew I needed to make these cookies. Fortunately, I had both ingredients at my house.
These cookies did not disappoint me. They were delicious, moist, and easy to prepare.
2 Ingredient Pumpkin Cookies via cookies and cups
Stars of the recipe:
1 box of spice cake mix
1-15 oz. can of pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie mix
Steps:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or spray it with nonstick cooking spray.
Dump the cake mix into a bowl.
Dump the pumpkin on top of the cake mix.
Mix them together until blended. (You might want to use a hand mixer for this step.)
Drop by heaping tablespoons about 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheet.
Last week, I watched the Crockpot Girls’ Crockpot Monday video. They gave different recipes for Halloween recipes. One particular recipe caught my eye, and that was the one for the Creepy Crawly Sandwiches. It was then decided I would make that for our Halloween dinner.
Stars of the recipe:
1 can of Manwich
1 package of hot dogs cut lengthwise and then cut lengthwise again
1 med onion chopped up
hamburger buns (I’m going to be making homemade hamburger buns that I’m going to dye orange in honor of Halloween.)
Steps:
Cut up hot dogs. Place in the crock pot.
Put cut-up onions on top of hot dogs.
Open Manwich and dump it on top of onions and hot dogs.
Cook on low for 2 to 3 hours and then switch to keep warm.
As I have stated before, I like reading Joanne Fluke’s Hannah Swensen mystery series. The books are fun and easy to read. The added bonus is the author provides recipes. I found the recipe for watermelon cookies and pretzel chocolate chip cookies in her book. This is another one of her recipes found in the Lemon Meringue Murder.
I made these cookies once, and I remember people raved about their taste. They couldn’t believe the secret ingredient in these cookies. I do not know where I put my copy of the Lemon Meringue Murder, so I lost the recipe. This week I decided to google the recipe and got lucky.
These cookies are addictive! I don’t know how many cookies I ate after I baked two cookie sheets. (The rest of the dough is in the fridge, waiting to be baked.)
I found this recipe right after my hubby, and I got married. It was in our regular main dish rotation for a few years. The ranch chicken legs were also a go-to recipe for when I entertained family members. During the past few years, I have made it infrequently. So when I found chicken legs on sale, I decided to put them on our menu.
I love how simple this recipe is and how tasty the chicken is.
Ranch Chicken Legs
Stars of the recipe:
chicken legs (I would try to have 2 legs per person)
1/2 cup of Bisquick (More if needed ~ really depends on the number of chicken legs.)
1 package of dry ranch dressing mix
2 Tbsp. butter
Steps:
In a ziplock bag, place Bisquick and ranch dressing. Mix well. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Place butter in a 9 by 13 baking dish. After the oven is done preheating, place the pan in the oven until the butter is melted.
Once the butter is melted, pull the baking dish out of the oven.
Dredge each piece of chicken in the Bisquick-ranch mixture. Make sure each piece is coated. Place each chicken leg in the baking dish, skin side down.
Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Pull the baking dish out of the oven.
Flip the chicken and then bake for an additional 15 minutes.
I had a coupon for the new Philadelphia cooking creme, and they were also on sale this week, so I decided to try them. Since I had never made a pot pie, I decided to try it using the cooking creme. It ended up being delicious. My hubby gobbled it up, which is saying a lot. The Wee One and the Imaginative One did not like it. They ate some of it, but it was not their favorite.
Chicken Pot Pie
Stars of the Recipe:
2 cups of cooked chicken
2 cups of frozen mixed veggies
1 small tub of cream cheese
2 Tbsp. milk
1/2 to 1 Tbsp. garlic powder
1 ready-to-bake pie crust
Steps:
Mix the veggies, chicken, and cooking creme together in a bowl.
Place the mixture in a 9-inch pie pan.
Place the pie crust over it. Score the pie crust.
Place in a 400-degree oven for 30 minutes.
Enjoy!
I’m not endorsed by Philadelphia Cooking Creme. I just enjoyed this product.
Updated on June 21, 2016 – The Philadelphia Cooking Creme has been discontinued, so I looked up how to make the cooking creme. I’ve updated the recipe with the ingredients needed to make the savory garlic cooking creme.
