Trying New Recipes

I have tried about 15 new recipes in the last 3 weeks.  Only 1 was a keeper.  I have an idea about why so many were not keepers.  And I came up with a new criteria for trying a recipe.  QUIT TRYING RECIPES THAT I ALREADY HAVE A GREAT ONE OF!  (Seems obvious, huh?) 

Some of my failures were chocolate cake and frosting (Remember my crazy cake? mmm),  corn bread (I have a great sweet one and a great corn bready one.), Lemon cream cheese bars (Been there, have that)...

It's a new month and there are lots of new recipes to try.

Crock Pot Cooking...

We have had some really busy weeks.  Some things were planned.  Some were not.

With everything so busy, and a cold/sinus thing that has lingered over a month , I have been reading.  The "series" of books are clean and low key, with characters I like-more or less.  (They are murder mysteries, but are so easy going that I could put 1 down for a week with someone hiding under the bed when the owner comes in.) 
They are a series (Each book tells the complete story.  They are not a continuing story that that make you crazy waiting for the author to write/release the next one so you know what happens.) of culinary mysteries.  So far there are six with food (dessert) titles.  Josi S. Kilpack uses food and recipes as part of her character's personality in LEMON TART, DEVIL'S FOOD CAKE (my favourite so far), ENGLISH TRIFLE...

This week I unexpectedly hosted book club at my house due to illness somewhere else.  I decided to try recipes for lunch from the books I've been reading.  I tried 4.  (Pretty brave to serve untried recipes, huh?)  Two were o.k./fine.  One was definitely not a keeper.  One was a hit and will be made many times.

(SUBJECT CHANGE)  I love crock pot cooking.  I usually crock pot at least twice a week.  I crock pot on Cub Scout day and Sunday (sometimes 2 recipes on Sunday).   I try lots of new recipes (not just crock pot), and have had a lot of crock pot failures the last 3 weeks.  (Back to the recipe.)

For book club I made Southern BBQ Slow Cooked Chicken from KEY LIME PIE by Josi S. Kilpack.       It is shredded chicken that is Carolina style BBQ.  (My husband prefers the more tomato based style of Memphis style BBQ, so he was thumbs down.  He was the only one.

Book Club liked it.  I loved it.  My son came by and said "Primo" (while touching his fingers to his lips).  He later called to see if I would pack some for him to pick up for lunch the next day.
My daughter in law (from South Carolina) tasted it, loved it, and came back with my son and grandson for dinner :)
It was easy, cheap and I had everything for the recipe.
YEA!  Another crock pot recipe.

SOUTHERN BBQ SLOW COOKED CHICKEN - shredded, Carolina Style
from Josi S. Kilpack in KEY LIME PIE (p.112)
I think this would also for pork or ribs :)

1 36 oz. bottle ketchup
6 table. brown sugar
2 table. Worcestershire sauce
2 table. soy sauce
2 table. cider vinegar
1-2 tea. crushed red pepper flakes
1 tea. garlic powder OR 2-3 garlic cloves, minced
6 boneless/skinless chicken breasts  (I used 5 lbs. and it was great.)

Put all ingredients in sprayed crock pot and stir to coat.
Cook on low for 6-8 hours OR  high for 3-4 hours  (I did part high and part low.)
Serve over rice or on rolls.  (I did both.)
I simmered mine on low for an extra hour to reduce the sauce.
Serves plenty.

I saw the idea on Pinterest for shredding your crock pot meats in your stand mixer.  It seems like a good idea.
Then I realized that I would need to transfer the hot meat/liquid to the mixer, hope I did not get splashed, transfer it back. and then wash extra dishes.  I decided to use the usual 2 fork method.
Then I had the idea of trying my pastry blender.  (I like the sharp edges of my Pampered Chef one.).  It worked really well.   Then when I washed the crock pot, I saw scratches on the bottom of my crock pot.  Were they already there?  Who knows. ( Guess that will be one of the things that I will be "Pinbusting" (Hilary's word) next month?)
Don't try this if you are using a crock pot liner.

I think this will be a great summer recipe.  Let me know what you think if you try this.

MYTH BUSTERS - Pinterest Style ;-)

I have had great intentions of posting weekly (but weakly won).

Gotta say I love PINTEREST.  It is an easy and convenient file cabinet.  But I have learned (from MANY sources-cooking shows, blogs, friends, magazines, Pinterest...) that not all that glistens is gold.  (I can not tell you how many recipes have not met the expectation.)
Usually if I try a recipe that is not for us, I delete it or throw it away.  (I do keep a list of Internet recipes-and the sources- so I don' fall for them again.) 

But ideas?  Well, we are "MYTH BUSTERS".  (Actually we tried them with hope.)   Following are a few ideas you WON'T find on my Pinterest boards.  (You can check out my boards/follow my boards here, or by clicking on the Pinterest logo on the right of my blog.)

DISCLAIMER - These are our results and opinions.  We hoped that all the ideas we tried would be successful.

1  Make your own Febreeze/air cleaner.  This is a cheap and easy replacement.  (And I had the correct empty spray bottle.)  I tried it.  It worked so-so.  I usually spray my bed linens in the morning.  After the 3rd day of my homemade spray, I found a problem.  There were dried spots, that were powdery, lots of places.  BUSTED
Note to self - Buy more Febreeze.

2  Hard water cleaner.  We have very hard water where I live.  I frequently end up with white mineral residue in my dishwasher.  Have you read the cheap solution of running an empty dishwasher with a $.15 pack of Lemonade Kool Aid?  For us, it did not work.  My dishwasher looked the same.  BUSTED
I do have have a (more expensive) product that does work for me.  I use Lemi Shine for cleaning my dishwasher. (I use it with dishes and dish soap in it.)

3  Cinnamon scented pine cones.  Ha ha.  First I needed pine cones.  There are plenty in our neighborhood.  But, a big snow storm was coming.  So I paid a daughter ($5.00) to take my grandson (paid $1.00) out to collect some-quick.  My sister was visiting and we went hunting for the cinnamon oil.  We tried health food stores ($$$), craft stores (1 squirrelly brand, 1 sold out brand), and finally found 2 kinds on the cooking row at Macey's grocery store.  We bought them both for about $6.00.  (I can make lots of batches ;)
We soaked the pinecones (to get the bugs out-yuk0, baked them (much longer than the "recipe" called for), were very generous with the (strongest) scent, and waited the 5 days.  (My sister was still visiting :)
They smelled wonderful when we opened the bag.  We put them in the perfect basket.  They still smelled wonderful, if you put your nose in to smell them :(  BUSTED
I bought 2 bags at Winco grocery store (that were soooo nicely scented) for (wait for it) $2.98 each!!!

4  (This was a sad one)  Vinegar spray as window de-icer.  Mix 3 cups white vinegar with 1 cup of water and spray it on your windows at night for a frost free window in the a.m.  (Or spray window in the a.m. to get rid of the frosted windows.)  It never worked for me.  (I even tried straight vinegar.)   I tried spraying everyone's car windows the night before.  :-(  I was picking up my sister from the train station another time at 3:30 a.m..  We got up to frosted windows, which I sprayed.  :-(  I tried again as we were leaving the train station. :-(  
Our cars smelled like vinegar during the week of my experiments. :-(  BUSTED

5  Dry skin cream.  My feet/heels are exceptionally dry.  I wear sandals year round.  They never get better, summer or winter.  They bleed and peel.  UGH!  (I have tried udder creams, bag balms, Vaseline.......)  So I tried a recipe from patchworktimes.  I made a 1/2 batch using 8 oz. of a store brand baby lotion (about $2.00) , 4 oz.Vaseline (already had some), and 4 oz. vitamin E cream (2 4 oz. jars Fruit of the Earth vit. E cream for under $5.00).  (Thank you, Lindsay for picking up my ingredients.)   It said to beat it together, but I just had my husband stir it well.  I liked that that left it creamy, but with teeny beads of Vaseline.
I rubbed my feet (and hands) for about 3 nights, and wore socks to bed.  Done that before.  (See above)  WOW!  It works great.  Now I use it as soon as a problem starts (which is really too late ;)  If I use it regularly I also have far fewer of the edge of my fingernail problems.  CONFIRMED

These are only our opinions and results.  We did not intend any specific pin/pinner or blog post.

I will do another webisode of Myth Busters - Pinterest Style next month.

As a side note, I figured out that I used/made/did a bit over 10% of my Halloween Pinterest Board for Halloween.

WHAT I BUY WEDNESDAY (My grandsons' Christmas gift)

"Traditions are not for keeping.  They're for keeping us close."  A Hallmark print ad

Like everyone else I have been picking my Christmas projects and then trying to get them done.
I decided to make these fun fort kits for my grandsons for Christmas.  I found several different blogs that shared what they had done.
My favourite was Saltwater-Kids.  I started my search by finding great quality twin size flat sheets at a thrift store.  Each "Fort Kit" uses 2 sheets.  I did not want to worry about finding 2 sheets that match, so each boys kit has 1 blue and 1 red sheet.  (We are a blue team family.)  

I found 2 matching pillowcases for the fort contents.  I did not want to worry about drawstring dangers, so I just undid about 2 inches of stitching in the pillowcase side seam and sewed in ribbon ties.  (Remember to quickly burn the ribbon edges to keep the ribbon from unraveling.)

I really liked the idea of using jersey fabric strips for the fort/tent ties.  Cheap and easy.  One shirt made ties for 2 fort sets (6 ties on each of 4 sheets).  I liked Saltwater kids tutorial for the ties, but found it was easier to sew the ties on and then stretch and knot the ends.

Then came finding and collecting all the necessary accessories ;)
In each kit I used

2 sheets, 1 pillow case and 2 yards of ribbon - $6.00 @ thrift stores (Unloading the dishwasher for 1 week got all the ties sewn on for me :)

12 jumbo clothespins (clamps for hooking loops to chair legs.) $2.00 at $ Store (Took about 1 month for me to find them.)

12 wooden clothespins (great for closing gaps, or doors) - $.50 for 1/2 bag from $ Store

Pack of 3 bungee cords - $1.00 at $ Store

Flashlight w/ batteries - $3.00 at Walmart

50 feet of cord - $2.00 at Walmart

6 carabeaners (Is this spelled right?) - $5.00 at Walmart  (I think.)  I just like them.

1 roll of Duct tape - $1.00 at $ Store

1 tube of 50 glow sticks - $4.00 at Macey's grocery store

1 over the door metal hook - $1.00 at $ Store (Great for raising the height of the fort.)

1 shoebox size plastic container for storing the small supplies - $1.00 at Walmart

Fun funnel phone - $1.00 for funnels at $ store (Need to have 2 funnels the same size per fort kit.) + $8.00 for 20 ft. of tubing at Home Depot.  (Be sure to take your funnels to make sure you have a good tight fit.)

Total cost was about $35.00, but the total play value will be priceless.  I will make one for my house after the holidays.

This toy has many hazards and dangers.  It should be played with by appropriate aged children.  Use caution.

CHRISTMAS PHOTO ADVENT CALENDER

It is hard to blog when you have not blogged for awhile. 

My sister came for a fun and busy 2 week visit.

After she left, I started a fun project (that I was slightly obsessed about) that I found on PINTEREST.  The idea came from "Hollyhocks and Honeybees".

I already had a table top flip frame/album that I had found at a thrift store a while ago.  I used that for this project.  I started by unscrewing the whole thing and taking it a part.  The cover said something about friends so I  spray painted it.  Then I "mod podge"d a cover (paper) on the cover and when dry, I distressed it (inked the edges).

Then came the fun part.  And the hard part.  Scrap booking 25 pages.  The hardest part was picking which pictures to use (and I have so many that I feel like I need to make another one).  I collected Christmas scrapbook supplies, and regular scrap booking supplies.  The frame/photo album had photo sleeves so that determined my size. 

I ended up not going to bed at all on Monday, working 1/2 day on Tuesday and all day Wednesday.  So far.  (Only 7 pages left.)

I watched a lot of Christmas movies and got caught up on "Studio 5".

I love this new Advent Calender (not that I needed another one;).   It is personal and it is so fun to look at the pictures.
The pictures are pretty bad.  Still learning my new camera.

I spray painted a cover that had texture,
and then Mod Podged a new paper cover on.

I have a few more posts before Christmas.

Caesar Salad With Homemade Croutons

I have been making these croutons (with a few minor changes) since the summer of 1992.  When I make my own I can use the left over french bread, plus I hate 1/2 a box of anything hidden in the pantry.

This recipe is fast, easy and uses what you have in the house.

HOMEMADE CROUTONS 

#1  In a big microwave bowl/dish, melt

1/4 cup BUTTER

#2  Toss in

About 8 slices of bread - cubed  (I use french bread cut into 1 inch slices and then cubed into 6-8 pieces.

Left over bread works great.)

#3  I sprinkle 2-4 table. of OUR BEST BITES  "Garlic Bread Seasoning" ( I told you we use it a lot.  You can use herbs of your choice.) and toss until the bread cubes are coated with the butter and the seasoning.

OUR BEST BITES
Garlic Bread Seasoning
(This recipe is in their cookbook.)

bread cubes tossed w/melted butter & seasoning
in a microwaveable dish

#4  Microwave, uncovered, on high for 4-6 mins.  (You can stir it once if you want, but then I need to cook a bit longer.  Mine usually take 5-6 mins.)  They will be crisp when they are done.

2 loafs of french bread made 4 batches
and a very full 9x13 pan

#5  Let cool.  Serve or store.

Pretty easy, huh?  My family loves these.  We use them to top salads and soups. 

I use Romaine lettuce, Caesar Salad dressing, grated Parmesan cheese and croutons for a fast and easy salad.  I prepare the lettuce ahead of time because I want it really dry.  (Most of the time we use a spinner.) 
Remember to not dress and toss the salad until just before serving.  And... the lettuce will reduce to about 1/2 the amount that was in the bowl.  (I use a purchased dressing most of the time.)
Easy salad.  Great reviews. 

Winter blew in last night taking October with it

In Utah, fall blew out as we slept last night. "sigh"

October and Halloween have moved on for another year.  We ended the month with a few of our favourite things.

This year our Grandpa (Dad:) really surpassed his past spook allies/haunted houses.  (Even better than the year he had a partially demolished empty house.) 

On Grandpa's  FRIGHT SCALE, he said the basement would be a 5 (with 10 being the scariest).  The yard would be a seven, and the garage, a nine.  Lincoln loved it so much that he declared the whole outside a 15.  (He kept reviewing everything so he would not miss anything as he tells his sisters about it.  The gorilla in the garage, the thrown leaves from upstairs windows (and great use of a leaf blower), rings of fire...)

My scariest part (O.K., I only did this part.  I am afraid of things jumping out in the dark.) was THE BUSH.  Mark borrowed a friend's undercover bush and scared a lot of people.  (I just stayed near Mark to watch people  ;-)

Thank you, Dad.  Your spook alley is one of the big highlights of the whole year. 

THE BUSH (Mark) relaxing after
a "frightening" evening.

Doug's office invites Trick or Treaters on Halloween day.  Logan has gone every year.  He loves walking around with Grandpa.  He loves how much candy he gets in a short time.  (We miss Layne, who lives in Idaho.)

Brooklyn, Grandpa and Logan
Lady Bug, Grandpa and Captain Jack Sparrow

I used my fun BAT sandwich cutter to make a Halloween lunch for Logan.  He said it was so cute. ( "Can I eat the whole apple?  O.K. I will take 1 tiny bite, and save the rest.")

 

I ordered my BAT sandwich cutter at Amazon.  (It came with 2 cutters for $6.69)

With Halloween gone, I have my first Thanksgiving Decor up.
My centerpiece of $ Store pumpkins with their fall/winter sweaters on.

I got the fun idea for sweater pumpkins from Under My Umbrella blog.  I have been buying sweaters (at thrift stores for $3.00 or less) to make an Eddie Bauer inspired sweater quilt.

Eddie Bauer quilt
(It is sold out on their site)

Since I have my sweater collection, I just cut a sleeve off of 3 that coordinated.  (I cut a cuff off of each of my sweaters to take with me for matching, when I go shopping.)  I slide them up from the bottom to the top of the pumpkin, with the raw edge on top.  I tightly bound jute around the top raw edge to form the stem, and used fishing line to sew the cuff on the bottom shut.
 (I can use these pumpkins again next year for Halloween by cutting the fishing line.  When it is time for sweaters again I will just slide the sweater down this time, and restitch the bottom.)

Since I bought the sweaters for another project, my only cost for this centerpiece was $3.00 for the pumpkins at the $ Store.  (I had the basket, and the mini pumpkins were given to me.  The fall leaves were leftovers from a daughter.  And jute to wrap the "stem"?  I ALWAYS have jute. 

Happy Holiday Season.