Crock Pot Cranberry Chicken

I was making Thanksgiving for one this year. Our son is still in Iraq via the Army and our daughter was busy with her little family. Hubby wanted lobster, but that is not appealing to me, so we decided to cook for ourselves. Turkey seemed like a lot of work for one person (even though I would have loved the leftovers!)

I wanted something in the crock pot, something new, and something "Thanksgivingly". This recipe seemed like a good fit:

Crock Pot Cranberry Chicken

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 can whole berry cranberry sauce

1 package dry onion soup mix

8 oz. Catalina or French dressing

Cook chicken in crock pot on high for 3 hours; drain and return chicken to crock pot. Mix the other ingredients in a bowl; pour over chicken and cook on high for 30 minutes.

I had chicken tenders, so used those instead of breasts.

I followed the directions as instructed.

It was very yummy and festive! But you know what I discovered? It was even more tasty the second day, and even better the third day!

I feel the onion soup mix didn't have enough time in the 30 minutes to "cook" and all the flavors didn't have time to simmer.

Next time, I will put all the ingredients in the crock pot at the same time. I think that will help it taste wonderful on the first day.

This post is being linked to:

• Monday Munchies at OuR kRaZy KiTcHeN
  
• 'Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays at Blessed With Grace
• Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
• Tuesdays at the Table at All The Small Stuff

• Crock Pot Wednesdays at Dining With Debbie

Pamm's Sweet Potatoes

Is Monday too early to start cooking for Thanksgiving? I couldn't wait to try a sweet potato recipe. I figured I needed to give it a try and if it didn't work out, I'd know before Thanksgiving and if it was good, it would already be done and I will just heat it up on Thanksgiving.

I adapted this recipe from Recipe Source for my crock pot:

Pennsylvania Sweet Potatoes in Tangy Sauce

6 ea Large sweet potatoes
1 c Sugar
1/2 c Lightly packed brown sugar
1/4 ts Ground ginger
2 tb Cornstarch
1 c Unsweetened pineapple juice
1 ts Lemon juice
1 tb Low fat margarine

Place sweet potatoes in a large kettle and add water to cover. Cook over
medium heat until barely tender; drain. Peel and cut potatoes into fourths.
Arrange in a medium size casserole. Preheat oven to 350F. While potatoes
are cooking, combine sugars, ginger and cornstarch in a small saucepan. Add
pineapple juice and lemon juice. Stir over medium heat until sugars are
dissolved and mixture starts to bubble; stir in margarine. Pour sauce over
potatoes. Bake uncovered 50 to 60 min or until sauce is thickened.

Pamm's directions--omit the 1 cup of sugar!!! Peel and cube sweet potatoes and put in crock pot. Toss with the other ingredients. Cook until fork-tender. I cooked on low for 6 hours.

That big frozen thing in the middle is the juice from a can of pineapple chunks that I had drained, put in a Ziploc container and put in the freezer. I didn't know what I was saving it for, but it sure came in handy for this recipe. I'm going to save more juice I drain from fruit cans.

I stirred it about three times during cooking, but I don't think that was necessary, other than once to get the melted juice moved all around.

It turned out great. I did feel there was something missing, though, and it wasn't the cup of sugar. I looked through my spice cabinet and found some garam masala I got for another recipe and sprinkled some on, then gave it a quick stir. It was just right, so I decided to sprinkle the garam masala over the big pot of potatoes and stir it in.

I packaged up some of the potatoes for Thanksgiving Day and I put some in meal-sized containers and into my freezer for future meals.

This post is being linked to:

• Monday Munchies at OuR kRaZy KiTcHeN
  
• 'Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays at Blessed With Grace
• Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
• Tuesdays at the Table at All The Small Stuff

• Crock Pot Wednesdays at Dining With Debbie

Santa Came Early.....

This is the photo of the crock pot cereal mix I took last week with our Samsung Digimax S600. I tried a few times to get a better shot, but that was the best photo, and the one that got published.

This is the photo I took today of the same tub with the same cereal mix with the present Santa brought last night: Canon Power Shot SX120. With just one try, I could tell a huge difference! So clear and easy to photograph.

I didn't know how hard upgrading a camera could be. There are so many options and so many things to consider: brand, mega pixels, optical zoom, what type of battery power it uses, time between photos, portability, screen size, price, and so much more!

Since I mostly take photos of toddlers, the delay from when you push the button and the photo actually takes was one of the important features I looked for. Although this camera is not rated as really speedy, it's a lot faster than the old Samsung.

We spent quite a long time looking at cameras online and reading reviews and comparing features and prices. Finally, we took a trip out to our Super Wal*Mart. (I say it like that because they moved ours eight-miles out of town!) It really helped to hold the actual cameras in our hands and look at the physical cameras. They even had them where you could take photos and get an idea of how long the "camera-lag" actually is. Also helpful was holding each model in your hand. Some of the really small ones (about the size of a fat credit card) seem like they could be dropped easily.

So, after looking them all over, the Canon Power Shot SX120 was the winner because it was more than a point-n-shoot camera, but is very easy to use, a good name brand, and seemed like the right fit. (Oh, and it was on roll-back, too).

Since I don't have toddlers until Monday, I've been taking photos of our pets. (I think they're getting tired of the "flashy thing" going off, lol).

I'm impressed with the details of the photos, even very close or with pets who won't sit still. I've never been able to get a decent shot of our fish, Flipper, before this camera. Our Chihuahua-mix, Carlos is often hard to get a good close-up of, but not any more, likewise, our cat doesn't like to pose. The last photo is my new favorite shot of our Beagle, Tillie, who gladly poses for lots of photos.

Now you can look forward to much better photos of the food I make here on LOP. Thanks, Santa!

This post is linked to:

• Simple Saturday at tHe KrAzy kItChEn
• Simply Made Sunday at Raising Itty-Bitty Bookworms

Pie Plate Pizza

I'm always trying to find ways to make things into individual servings.

I finally found the perfect size for an individual pizza--a pie plate!!!

I make my own unleavened pizza crust:

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 T. olive oil
  
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk

I divided the dough into four and put two-fourths into the freezer for another time.

The other two, I rolled out thin and put into two pie plates that were sprayed with cooking spray.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Top with what you like. My favorites are:

*Leftover spaghetti sauce and shredded cheese.

*Leftover spaghetti sauce and shredded cheese. If I have pepperoni or hard salami or cooked ground beef I will add those.

*Leftover spaghetti sauce and shredded cheese, Canadian bacon, pineapple tidbits.

*BBQ sauce, shredded cheese, cooked shopped chicken.

Bake for 10 to 15 minutes.

On this day I made two individual pizzas, ate one, and put the other one in a Ziploc gallon-sized bag and into the freezer. It made a great lunch for later!

This post is being linked to:

Food On Fridays at Ann Kroeker’s

Family Recipe Fridays at Vanderbilt Wife

Recipe Swap at The Grocery Cart Challenge

Friday Feasts at Mom Trends

Foodie Friday at Designs By Gollum

Freezer Food Friday at What A Crock!

Ultimate Recipe Swap at Life As A Mom

Healthy Helpings at tHe KrAzy kItChE

Crock Pot Cereal Mix

I love dry cereal! I love, love, love cereal mix. I also love my crock pot.

When Chex cereals go on sale this time of year, I get some and make a mix in my crock pot. Here's what I did this time; each time it seems to come out different, using what ever I have on-hand.

1/2 box each of Corn, Rice, and Wheat Chex
1/2 box of cheese crackers (I used the store version of Cheese Nips)
1/2 bag of mini pretzel twists.
1 stick butter
2 T. Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp. seasoning salt
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic powder

In large crock pot, dump cereal, crackers and pretzels.

In a small bowl, melt butter in microwave. Add Worcestershire sauce and spices; stir well. Pour over dry ingredients and toss to coat.

Cook with the lid off on high for two hours, tossing every half hour. Turn to low for two more hours, tossing every half hour.

Store in an air-tight container.

This post is being linked to:

• Crock Pot Wednesdays at Dining With Debbie

Ripe Bananas

I don't know about you, but it seems every week I have one or two bananas that go past the edible point. They just get too ripe before someone eats them. I've tried buying one or two less bananas each week, but then we run out. Go figure.

Anyway, those extra ripe bananas are still good for baking and cooking. I just don't cook them right away. Some people put bananas in the freezer in their peels. I prefer to peel them and put in a sandwich baggie then in the freezer.

They don't come out pretty. It seems like a yucky mess:

I usually put two bananas in sandwich baggie and find that's just enough for a loaf of banana bread. Here's how I make mine:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In Kitchen Aid mixer, with flat beater, beat 1 1/4 cup sugar with 1/2 cup butter or margarine. Stop, scrape bowl and add 2 eggs, 1/2 cup milk, and 1 teaspoon vanilla, beat and scrape. Add the defrosted baggie of 2 bananas and let the mixer do the mashing. Add 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt, and 2 1/2 cups flour. Scrape the sides of the bowl a few times and mix until blended.

Pour into a loaf pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/4 hours or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

I made a double batch. One, we ate for breakfast and snacks, the other I cut into toddler meal-sized slices, put in sandwich baggies, then into the freezer. It will be easy to defrost for snacks or to add to a meal.

The frozen bananas can be added to smoothies or used in banana muffins or pancakes, or other recipes.

This post is being linked to:

• Monday Munchies at OuR kRaZy KiTcHeN
  
• 'Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays at Blessed With Grace
• Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
• Tuesdays at the Table at All The Small Stuff

Stretching Dollars

Have you ever bought a store brand or off brand of dishwasher soap, then realized it wasn't going to work? I'm sure the Sun-Sations brand of dishwasher soap (photo below) works for someone somewhere, but when I put it in my dishwasher the dishes came out spotty and it seemed like some residue was left everywhere.

I have made homemade dishwasher soap before out of baking soda and borax, so I was hoping I could make the Sun-Sations work with the soda and Borax. It couldn't hurt to try.

I dumped all three into a bowl and used a potato masher to mix it up.

I then put into the containers I had (photo above). Pictured below is my "coffee scoop" which is 2 tablespoons and just right for a load of dishes.

Guess what? It worked! The dishes are coming out just fine. I didn't waste the soap, I 'boosted' it and now I have enough to last a few months!

This post is linked to:

• Simple Saturday at tHe KrAzy kItChEn
• Simply Made Sunday at Raising Itty-Bitty Bookworms