Crockpot Wednesday & More!

Hello all!
Few things. I have two recipes. 
Two re use type topics
And tomorrow is a Mom post about what we don't always think of with our first child...Going to be a interesting read!

Oh right and one more..a giveaway!!! I will have two coupons up for winning. I rather wait to tell you what for. It will be two winners.






Slow cooker-Turkey Breast.

Sometimes I like Turkey not just at Thanksgiving time. I pick up a Turkey breast and slow cook it all day!

  6 lb Turkey Breast
   Salt
  Pepper
 A dash of Onion powder

Place in the crock pot put the seasonings on and rub in.
Cook on high for about an hr. Then cook on low for another 6-7.
Baste it when its been in for about 4. If you can't then that is fine,mine have come out moist either way.



Crock pot salsa dip!

1 Small jar of salsa,I use mild.
1/2lb of Valvetta cheese,cut into cubes.
1/4 cup of shredded cheddar,sharp.

Get slow cooker on and ready. Put in all ingredients,leave on low and stir often.  This is met for a small crock pot. 




Re use!
Old Windows!!!

• Take the glass out and replace with chalk board. Make for your kitchen for list or dinner plan. Small window turn into a welcome sign. Place window onto a box like,turning it into a jewelery holder with opening doors. The beauty is you can google all of this. Get ideas from magazines,pinterest etc...They are all over. It beats filling up our land fill.

•  Fish tanks!!!!!

1. Make a scene inside for decoration
2. Start a garden inside. Indoor herbs.
3. If leaks,use for another small animal.
4. Try your own thing,as many people know how to convert other objects into fish tanks but not fish tanks into other things.

  

Recipe:Egg Topper and mom tips!

So as a mom,my biggest thing is my kids eating real healthy food...Also right front he start I cooked different things..it was never just cereal or just waffles...Of course it is now because cereal happens to be my kids all time favorite food it seems. This means I try and come up with little tips and recipes to not only cooking well but involving my kids in the process.

First is something I made my kids one morning for breakfst. At 4 and 5 they are okay with a sandwhich but not the greatest so I decided to make what I call Egg Toppers.

Its easy.

English muffins
Bacon (We use turkey bacon)
Cheese (shredded)
Eggs (depends on how much you want to make)
Frying pan
Spatula
Spreadable butter

Cook up your bacon first. Set aside. Get your eggs going at the same time you are toasting the English muffins.
Scramble your eggs, I add a bit of seasoning. Mrs.Dash is my go too season. Tomato and basil to be precise. 
When english muff is done,butter it,not to much then place bacon on,then eggs top with cheese and ta da. NOW in this house we add on top of the egg before the cheese,some veggies. Sliced color peppers,baby spinach...etc.

These are 5 tips that help my not scream when I am having my kids help me cook. It can get a bit crazy.

1.Prepare it all before hand.
2.If it says pour slowly,give your child small bits to pour in instead of the full amount and hoping they pour slowly...
3.Kid safe knives. It makes them feel so grown up.
4.Slow down. Speed is not needed. =)
5.Perfection is not needed. =)

Have kid size items as well. Most stores carry little rolling pins and kid aprons etc. Kids love to cook and teaching them now is fantastic for the future and some awesome bonding time!  

I asked a few other  moms what they would give for tips for when our kids insist on helping. =)


 1. "Be consistent,if they know the oven and the knives are off limits it makes it go better." 

2. "Reward them by letting them test the food after its done!!!"

3. "Never let a 2 yr old crack an egg" =p

4. "Splatter splatter...Don't assume because they are stirring something on the stove and know its hot that splatter won't come up and get them"

5. "Make it fun!!!"


 

Winner has been notified!

The winner of the L'Oreal giveaway has been contacted and verified! Thank you all who entered. I have been working hard to be able to give away more items...and its working!! So stay tuned. I do reviews on everything but am not real awesome with taking pictures lol. so bare with me.

Again thank you all! I hope you continue to read the blog even when there is no current giveaways.




We would also like to mention that everyone in OK and any other areas that were effected by the Tornadoes,twister Etc. Are in our deepest prayers and thoughts. Our hearts go out to everyone out there. Being from Vermont I have seen a few minor things. Hurricane Irene and a few deadly blizzards but nothing like what I see on the news. My brain does not wrap around what the people must be going through. Again you are all in our hearts.


 

L'Oreal Paris GIVEAWAY

So after many attempts to contact L'Oreal to make sure they were okay with me doing a giveaway of their products. Products I happen to love. I never recieved a response back so what do I do when no one answers me? I DO WHAT I WANT! Which leads us to a giveaway. The blogs first.

Lets discuss the items first. I obviously have reasons for loving these. 

1. Miracle Blur.  I love this product to pieces. It has a spf of 30 which is awesome but it also "erases the look of wrinkles,lines and pores" <---they are NOT kidding!!! I loved it. It got rid of my wrinkles I have along my cheek bones,odd place for them I know but technically I am not old here. Lol. 

2. L'Oreal Nail polish!!! When I was a kid I always made up names for make up and nail polish that I would one day design and sell...never happened but with L'oreal they have the neat fun names! I'm giving away a gold named "because you're worth it" and a pink named "I pink I'm in love" how cute are those names!?? They go on smooth and last. I have bought many more of these nail polish's. Huge fan here!!!

Down to the nitty gritty. Rules: Enter with honesty. I am not a person that works for L'Oreal Paris. This is a FREE giveaway so no returns!!!,My opinions are just that they are MINE so realize your might disagree. Read products before using. When winnter is picked you must claim the winning in 24hrs,if not claimed I will pick another winner. There is only one winner.

*I will check to mack sure all entries are valid!*

This give away starts 5/15and ends 5/21 at midnight. I will choose the winner on the 22nd. Allow 2-4 weeks to be shipped. 

FOLLOW my blog for a extra entry!!!!!!!!!!!!

  a Rafflecopter giveaway

Slow-Cooker Cheeseburger Meatloaf

photo by:kraft

time

prep:

15 min

total:

4 hr 15 min

servings

total:

8 servings

  add your photo

What You Need

2

lb.  ground beef

1

pkg.  (6 oz.) STOVE TOP Stuffing Mix for Chicken

1/2

cup  water

2

 eggs, beaten

1

 onion, chopped

1/2

cup  ketchup

1/4

cup  yellow mustard

4

 KRAFT Singles

Make It

MIX all ingredients except Singles just until blended. Fold 2 (30-inch-long) pieces of foil lengthwise in half twice. Crisscross pieces on work surface. Top with meat mixture; shape into 8-inch round loaf.
USE foil handles to gently lower meatloaf into slow cooker, letting ends of foil hang over top edge of cooker; cover with lid.
COOK on HIGH 4 hours or until meatloaf is done (160ºF). Top with Singles. Let stand, covered, 5 min. or until Singles are melted. Use foil handles to remove meatloaf from slow cooker before slicing to serve. 


My favorite recipe! Now I add 3/4 cup of oats instead of the stuffing and a 1/2 cup of applesauce instead of the eggs. (My boyfriend is allergic to eggs) This recipe is from Kraftrecipes.com. You can log on and order a subscription for their magazine!
  

A everything kinda Friday.

Here it is Friday and I didn't do a blog post all week. That means I have a few things I want to address.

• I have a recipe to share.
• Schools and how they have changed. Oh yes,this mama is going there.
• A update on the ant and chalk tip.
• A tip that I feel does not work,so do not waste your time.

• And a few tips on spring cleaning because most of us are tackling that.

Now of course it will not be in that order because I am difficult and a mom with a thousand things going through my head right now.
With mothers day around the corner,I am trying to get stuff ready for my mom. Lunch at my place and a gift...the gift would be easier if I could stop being picky. Lol.

So lets start with schooling. No worries this is not a rant really this is more of a WOW...things have changed. I of course know things changed. I watch the news. I know to keep kids safe we needed to step it up but that does not mean that when I was thrown back.

I sat in my truck after leaving my sons soon to be school and I just let my mind drift a bit to when I was a kid. No doors were locked. You ate in a cafeteria. There was no sign in. You could walk to the classrooms if needed be. No one needed to know if you were walking or being picked up. Etc. I know the new ways are well intended but to walk up to a school A ELEMENTARY school and have to wait to be let in then wear a Visitors pass then go by the rules of having to wait the foyer for my son and etc was just kinda mind boggling. Smart. Especially after Conn. sadness. but in hindsight you can not prevent it all.

Now with that said I got to meet some of the most awesome teachers. They will be my sons teachers and they are just awesome. I couldn't help but sit there and stare at them and stare at how much they have to do and do do,and how sweet they were and know they don't get paid as much as they should. I know that's a random thought. But these woman are going to be helping,teaching,tolerating and giving my son experiences that will carry him on and they get paid so little for it all. They put up with us crazy parents. They might even live in a small fear every day not knowing if their school might be the next one on the news. I will be honest, I could never be a teacher.
You can bet I will be that parent that tries to help out as much as I can and gives gifts when appropriate. Teachers deserve it. The good ones...which brings me to..
Has everyone seen the teenager that told off his teacher for not teaching well enough?  Stating "You need to reach into the students hearts".. "Not throw a packet at them". I know not all teachers deserve a pat on the back. This teenager got it,the teacher seemed to have missed the whole part about teaching a class. Thats sad.

Now onto something everyone might enjoy a recipe! I make this in summer and everyone seems to love it. You can revamp it your way. Which I will give a few ideas of how to change it up.

But first my way. Chicken Ranch Trifle.

2 packages of Perdue short cuts-Grilled chicken breast. 
1 cucumber,Sliced.
Lettuce,shredded. I just take it and run a knife through it.
1 1/2 Fresh Tomatoes.Diced.
Cubed cheddar cheese (I use Cabot extra sharp) 
 Ranch Dressing

All you do is in a bowl take the chicken and mix it with ranch dressing. Then layer some of the chicken,then Lettuce,tomato,cucumber and cheese and repeat till all is gone. Then pour a bit more ranch dressing on the top and ta da. 
Now you can bacon,peppers,broccoli,change the dressing,take out the cheese,add strawberries...there is a million ways to make this. But its cool and refreshing on a hot afternoon and its nice to take to a BBQ.




Ant and chalk..Ants do not like crossing chalk...This might be true...but unless you know everywhere they are coming in...keeping them out is not that easy. I think it might work in a sense but again if you don't know where they are coming from..then your out of luck.

Now ants and cinnamon. They say put some cinnamon out and ants all of a sudden do not come around?  Not sure the sense on this one but I have had a few people say it does not work. I say maybe over time it does something but from what I have seen and heard it does not work. 

Now I have 8 tips to Spring cleaning. I have many more but if you start with these 5 you can get through it!! 

1. Do one room at a time.
2. Move everything in that room out and clean it. Walls,behind fridge,under couch..etc don't just half do the job.
3. Wash everything. Curtains,blankets that cover windows or just lay on the back of the couch,dog bed etc.
4. Work your way around the room. Start on one side and make your way around the room.
5. Organize,de clutter and straighten up. Clutter can make a room seem harder to tackle. So get rid of the clutter,get the stuff where it needs to go and get stuff organized before attempting to wash,dust and clean that room.
6. Think about what you do not need.
7. Basic things you need. Bucket with hot water and soap(I use Ajax,but other times I poured in some Grease Lightening),rag and a vacuum.  You can take the bucket around with you. 
8.  Take things that can be washed and throw it in your sink. Then wash them and put them back. Everything can get dirty. Don't think the nick knacks are clean. Don't assume the curtains are clean.Etc.

So that is about it for now,I am hoping to do a giveaway some time next week so make sure you follow this blog. I hope to get up and running a bit more so that people can also enter giveaways. 
Stay tuned.

I also have a picture of the trifle. Sadly it will not upload so look for it.

  
 

A interesting trick?

I have to share this tip/trick or what may you call it. 
On a show last night,I believe Extra? Not sure
 They claim that..Get this...they claim that put a out line of chalk around where you think ants are coming in...will keep them out. 

So this mama,of a older style house and a hater of ants...TRIED IT. Yes I was the crazy lady in the window,outlining it with chalk, I was the crazy lady outside my house with my chalk...

Now I am not sure if it works yet so stay tuned to see my "review" but accoring to people. They just will not cross chalk.

My art work in my daughters room lol.
Stay tuned. And let me know if you know it works or not.

CROCK POT applesauce.

 Another recipe that I have tried and love. This is not mine. I do not claim it to be mine. It is from someone on Allrecipes.com.

Spiced Slow Cooker Applesauce!

 Ingredients.

Original recipe makes 8 servings

• 8 apples - peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup water

• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

  Directions

• Combine the apples and water in a slow cooker; cook on Low for 6 to 8 hours. Stir in the brown sugar and pumpkin pie spice; continue cooking another 30 minutes.
•  

End of the Month Recipe

So if you are anything like us...End of the month is a bit scarce in the food department. So I tend to create meals. The other day I made what I call Trailer Trash Casserole. Now I do not mean any disrespect with the name. Just having some fun with it.


Trailer Trash Casserole

1 can of Re-fried beans

About  a half a lb of hamburg (Outs was left over from tacos so it had the seasoning. If you want to make a bigger dish just make the hamburg up right then and there. And have more)

1/2 can of Diced tomatoes.

1 1/2 cup of cheese. I used Mexican mix.

Shredded Lettuce

Other toppings like Olives or anything like that. I used just the lettuce for mine though. 

And sour cream if you like it.

Pre heat oven to 375.
Mix the COOKED hamburg with diced tomatoes:In a 8x8 pan then layer it evenly.
Then Layer the refried beans. Top with half of the cheese. 
Place in the oven and let cook for about 15mins.
Take it out and let cool for a few minutes then top with toppings and remaining cheese. Add sour cream. and eat! 

NOT crock pot Wed.

 The next post is a crock pot one but I wanted to do a few blog posts today since I have been behind. I have not had this recipe but it was recommended to me. Its from Allrecipes.com.

 

Swedish Meatballs!

 

Ingredients

Original recipe makes 6 servings Change Servings

• 2 slices day-old white bread, crumbled
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon butter
• 1 small onion, minced
• 2/3 pound ground beef
• 1/3 pound finely ground pork
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar (optional)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger (optional)
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/4 cup chicken broth
•  
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour, or as needed
• 2 cups beef broth, or as needed
• 1/2 (8 ounce) container sour cream

Check All Add to Shopping List

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Place the bread crumbs into a small bowl, and mix in the cream. Allow to stand until crumbs absorb the cream, about 10 minutes. While the bread is soaking, melt 1 teaspoon of butter in a skillet over medium heat, and cook and stir the onion until it turns light brown, about 10 minutes. Place onion into a mixing bowl; mix with the ground beef, ground pork, egg, brown sugar, salt, black pepper, nutmeg, allspice, and ginger. Lightly mix in the bread crumbs and cream.
3. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Pinch off about 1 1/2 tablespoon of the meat mixture per meatball, and form into balls. Place the meatballs into the skillet, and cook just until the outsides are brown, about 5 minutes, turning the meatballs often. Insides of the meatballs will still be pink. Place browned meatballs into a baking dish, pour in chicken broth, and cover with foil.
4. Bake in the preheated oven until the meatballs are tender, about 40 minutes. Remove meatballs to a serving dish.
5. To make brown gravy, pour pan drippings into a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk the flour into the pan drippings until smooth, and gradually whisk in enough beef broth to total about 2 1/2 cups of liquid. Bring the gravy to a simmer, whisking constantly until thick, about 5 minutes. Just before serving, whisk in the sour cream. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Serve the gravy with the meatballs.