Ghirardelli Peppermint Chip Cookies

So this blogging every day thing is going not well, considering that I knew I was going to bed without a post ready and I knew I was getting up without a post ready. Also, I'm sick and I think Wells is a little sick too, and I'm currently on my own with him and it's really cold out with a windchill below zero and so my usual cure of fresh air isn't an option at the moment. I have two very angry dogs because of all of the above.

Also, Wells has been thinking that 5am is his new wakeup time. I want to blame it on the time change, and I probably could, but I don't understand how he's going to bed at the same time, napping at the same time, and eating at the same times, and yet waking up TWO full hours earlier than he normally was. If you have any advice...

Last week, when I was still healthy and (still) sleep deprived, I made these cookies.

I am a sucker for anything peppermint chocolate-flavored during the Christmas season. Since the Christmas season now starts with the new fiscal year (Oct. 1), I picked up a bag of Ghirardelli Peppermint Chunks over a month ago. I was going to, in all honesty, just eat them because they looked good.

They did sit in the cupboard for a few weeks and then on the counter for a few days with the other ingredients while I mustered up the desire to bake with them. I don't know what it is: motivation in the kitchen is a real problem when you have a child. Especially a dependent one who can't talk and can only amuse themselves for 5-10 minute stretches. I used to spend all day in the kitchen messing around. I don't even remember that person. Now it's "dinner" and if I'm going to bake, the ingredients sit piled on the counter for days until I gather my motivation.

It's a real problem as we head into Christmas cookie season.

I haven't gone all out on Christmas cookies for years. Two years ago, I was pregnant and didn't feel like it. One year ago, we moved the day after Christmas so everything was packed for weeks beforehand.

I supposed what *is* the benefit to staying at home this year if I don't make efficient use of the Christmas season?

I made these as an alternative to all the usual cookies. I stuck the bag in the freezer, but I can't say if they'll make it to Christmas. However, it would be no huge hassle to whip up another batch. I also made a batch of sugar cookie dough so maybe I can try my hand at those again this year (for the first time in quite awhile!).

Also, I threw away the peppermint chip bag before I could write down the recipe. Luckily, it's online and easily accessible.

If you need a new cookie recipe to try this year and enjoy peppermint, this one's for you.

Ghirardelli Peppermint Chunk Cookies.

I used semi-sweet chips for the melting chocolate, and I refrigerated overnight before rolling and baking.

And my picture isn't nearly as pretty as the one on the website, but such is life.

Slow-Cooker French Onion Soup

My giant bag o' onions was going bad.  That's why I made this soup. 

Now that I have to buy my own groceries, I'm very particular about what goes to waste.

(wow, kristin, how selfish does that sound?)

I actually freeze jars of spaghetti sauce in smaller tupperware containers to use for pizza and pasta because I know that if that Prego jar sits in the fridge for more than a week, it will grow mold.  I've got black beans, evaporated milk, and sweetened condensed milk in the freezer also.  The freezer is my friend. 

But we really enjoy French Onion Soup.  The Progresso cans used to be $1.00 at the Commissary.  They've gone up to $2.00.  Yeah, I'm not going to buy that anymore.  Especially when I can make it from scratch for free with ingredients I'd be getting ready to throw away anyway.  How convenient.

I made my own croutons and used mozzarella..

Go to A Year of Slow-Cooking for the recipe.  I don't think this can be messed up!  I doubled it by 50% so we'd have leftovers.

Biscuit Puff Pizza

I was in the mood for something new, easy, and different...yet familiar. 

Friday is always pizza night in my mind. 

From the days we would insist on Joey's Pizza for dinner on Friday night...

to making Tomato and Basil Pizza...

to ordering Papa John's online for delivery because I am just. that. lazy. 


Wow.  I miss Joey's. 


But this is good too!  And it has biscuits as the main ingredient!  Such a bonus.

Biscuit Puff Pizza
from Siggy Spice

1 can refrigerated biscuits (I used Pillsbury Grands)
3/4 cup pizza sauce
Toppings of your choice (I went with just pepperoni and mushroom.)
Mozzarella

Use a greased 8x8 pan.  [I don't have an 8x8 pan.  Mine exploded in the oven last year.  Made quite the halibut-y mess.  I use this random purple one that Scott somehow acquired instead.]

Cut each biscuit into quarters.  Place each quarter, pointy end up, in greased pan.  Bake at 375 degrees for about 7-8 minutes, just to get it going and provide a base for your toppings. 

Before the oven

After baking for 8 minutes

Spread your sauce over the top of the partially baked crust.  Add toppings and then cheese. 

Bake for about 20 minutes and then broil for a few minutes to get it nice and golden brown on top.

Slow-Cooker Apple Oatmeal

I love oats. 

Last year, I started eating oatmeal for breakfast everyday (not the pre-packaged, sugary kind).  Incredibly healthy and filling, but after awhile, it got to be boring. 

Restaurant oatmeal is always so much better than the kind you make at home.  They must use a different kind of oats.  I should experiment with this.

Yes, I'm the person who will order oatmeal when I go out for breakfast.  I can't help it.  I've read too many horror stories about the ingredients at Denny's and I-Hop. 

Restaurant toast is also so much better than what I can make at home.  I usually judge a restaurant's breakfast-worthiness based on their toast.  (for the record, Snow City Cafe in Anchorage has the best toast, thus far.  and Denny's in Fairbanks has the worst biscuits ever.  in case you were curious.)

Slow-Cooker Apple Oatmeal

1 cup old-fashioned oats (i imagine any kind but quick-cooking oats would work just fine.)
2 cups milk
1 apple, diced
1 t. cinnamon
1 1/2 t. vanilla
2 T. brown sugar

[if this is for more than 2 people, you should double it]

Add everything into a 4-quart stoneware crockpot.  Stir.  Cook on high for 1-2 hours or low for 3-4 hours. 

This cooked on high for 1 1/2 hours and it was delicious.

I found this recipe at A Year of Slow-Cooking.

*Oh, and I pulled the leftovers out of the fridge two days later.  I put in a tablespoon of milk and microwaved for two minutes.  It still tasted like it had just come out of the crockpot. 

Shrimp Lo Mein

Still trying to use up the shrimp over here (up here??). 

I found a cute (?) little marinade that incorporated my very favorite flavors:  lime.garlic.ginger.

I threw in some sesame oil and it was perfect.  Until I re-read the recipe as I was getting ready to make dinner and it said "marinate".  Darn it. 

It marinated for 45 minutes.  I was hungry. 

It was good.  Scott liked it too.  I bet it would be even better with chicken though.  Hmmm...

Shrimp Lo Mein

(about) 20-30 medium shrimp, uncooked and de-veined

Marinade:

2 T. olive oil

1 T. sesame oil

Zest of one lime

Juice of one lime

1 T. soy sauce

1 t. grated fresh ginger

1 clove grated garlic

1/2 box of whole wheat spaghetti or linguine

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1/2 red pepper, diced

1/4 cup onion, diced

1 cup of sliced mushrooms

1 clove grated garlic

1 cup sugar snap peas

Mix the ingredients for the marinade together and toss in the shrimp.  Let marinate in the refrigerator for a few hours, or even over night. 

Cook the pasta according to the package directions.  Once drained, sprinkle in another teaspoon of sesame oil and toss. 

In a skillet with high sides, heat some olive oil.  Add in the pepper, onion, and mushrooms and cook on medium heat until soft (about 8 minutes).  Add in the marinated shrimp and cook until no longer pink.  Add the sweet peas and garlic and cook for another minute or two. 

Toss with the cooked pasta to combine all of the flavors.

Rainbow Cupcakes

I had this...let's call it an idea.. after I saw this recipe.  I thought, "I must make these cupcakes." I don't know why.  I'm not really a cupcake person.  I was the kid who actually wouldn't eat cupcakes because I thought they tasted weird. 

But what would I do with 2 dozen rainbow cupcakes?  So I decided I'd take them to school for the kids. 

They were good.  They really were.

But.


This was the most labor and concentration that I've put into baking since high school when I tried to make bunny cupcakes with Milano cookies for ears (A cupcake is not sturdy enough to support TWO Milano cookies.  It's against physics!).

There was the mixing.the dying.the scrubbing dye off of my fingers.the cloroxing the counter to scrub off the dye.the spooning of one color one layer at a time.the spreading of the layers by fingertips dipped in hot water because cake batter usually spreads but this batter has yogurt in it which adds favorably to the flavor but makes it oh-so-thick and unmalleable. 

whew.

Then there was the fact that I still (yes, still) only have a six-cup cupcake pan.  That's four batches instead of two, which definitely elongated the process. 

But then instead of making homemade icing (which is a lot more work that I just wasn't willing to commit too), I bought a can of whipped icing and put it in the mixer to "froth" it up a bit.

Then, because I wasn't already exerting enough time and energy on a Thursday night, I pulled out the pastry bag.  Stuffed in the fancy little tip.  Loaded it up with store-bought vanilla icing.  And tried to pipe. 

(You could call the piping "amateur".  I call it "whimsical"  Too much icing is not my thing.)

My verdict is that these would be great for a kid's birthday party.  They are very tasty.  If I were to make them again, I would make the cupcakes.  Freeze them for a day or two.  Make homemade vanilla or cream-cheese icing.  And dip them.  As I did with the oh-so-easy Pineapple Cupcakes I made a couple of weeks ago.

Strawberry Sauce

I said after I was introduced to Crepes with Strawberry Sauce on Valentine's Day that I had found a delicious-looking recipe for a cooked strawberry sauce.  I also said I'd never be making it with fresh strawberries because fresh strawberries, at their cheapest, are $3 for 16 oz. (is one of those little rectangular containers 16 oz?  i think it is.) 

However, this past weekend, I got a Costco membership.
I got 64 oz. of strawberries for $7.  I know, that's not really "a deal", but in Alaska it is perceived as one. 

Then I thought, "Well, I can't just eat them.  That's too easy.  I must make something."  I thought of this sauce immediately.  It was amazing over homemade shortcake biscuits (the recipe on the back of the Bisquick box).

Strawberry Sauce

1 pint of strawberries (stems cut off, washed, and cut in half)
1/2 cup of sugar (I had to use more sugar than originally called for because my strawberries weren't super sweet.  This will work best with really sweet strawberries.)
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Combine all of the ingredients in a saucepan.  Over medium heat, let the mixture cook for about 5 minutes.  Stir frequently.  Take it off the heat and let cool before blending. 

Once it cools off a bit, maybe 30 minutes, blend it up.  I cut up some strawberries to add into the sauce and bulk it up a bit.  It was pretty difficult to not eat this with a spoon!

(I'm also labeling this as "Breakfast" because I think you should make it and eat it with crepes.)

Slow-Cooker Rice Pudding

I've been obsessed with the idea of rice pudding lately.  I don't know why.  We have a rice pudding recipe, but it's more like a custard.  I wanted something more like a pudding than a custard. 

I wanted to do this on Saturday, but the milk that was supposed to be brought back from Wal-Mart took an unexpected trip to Lowe's and Sportsmans' Warehouse.  So...I started this at 3am on Sunday in order to have it for breakfast.  It was worth it. 

Slow-Cooker Rice Pudding from A Year of Slow-Cooking

*just a note...make sure you use all 8 cups of milk.  I used skim.  It seems like a ridiculous amount and I would've cut it in half to 4 cups, but Scott made me use all 8 cups.  I'm glad I did, because the ONE cup of rice soaked up EIGHT cups of milk!

This is a must-make recipe.  It's healthy (ish) and made with on-hand ingredients.  Soooo easy.

Mini Pineapple Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

I've given up baking because my consumption of a tray of cookies twice (or more) a week wasn't helping anyone.  (though as i type, i'm eating peeps...)

But before I gave up baking, I had signed up to take a dessert to a school potluck.  So I had to bake something.

I saw this on SkinnyTaste.com and had to give it a try to see if it actually worked.  It does! I didn't use the exact frosting that is listed with this cupcake recipe.  I kinda just made one up.  That's okay. 

Pineapple Cupcakes

1 box of yellow cake mix
1 20 oz. can of crushed pineapple (don't drain)

Mix the cake mix and pineapple together in a bowl.  (that's it.  no egg, butter, or oil.  wonderful.)

Scoop into muffin tins.  I used mini-muffin tins, spraying with non-stick spray first and then filling each cup about 2/3 of the way full.  Bake for about 12 minutes at 350 degrees. 

Cream Cheese Frosting

(you could absolutely use a store-bought cream cheese frosting.  i would do that next time.  i had extra pineapple and cream cheese to use up, so i did this instead.)

4 oz. softened cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup of crushed pineapple, drained
1 T. pineapple juice

Blend in a bowl with a mixer.  Keep refrigerated.

I froze the cupcakes in Ziploc bags after they were cool, then dipped them in the frosting the next day. 

Thai Peanut Noodles

These are SO good.  And healthy too!  It's a quick and easy dish.  I first tried to make this last summer and it didn't turn out the way I wanted it to.  I had used a different recipe.  I don't remember where I had found it...
Anyway, this recipe works much better, but I did change it a little.  I figured out that I like peanut sauce, but only if it's made with very little peanut butter.  The thinner the sauce, in this case, the better.

Thai Peanut Noodles

8 oz. whole wheat linguine or spaghetti (half a box)
1 T. sesame oil

2 t. honey
3 cloves garlic, grated
2 t. fresh ginger, grated
1/2 t. Sriracha sauce (this is really hot.  taste test before adding more.)
3/4 cup chicken broth
4 T. soy sauce
1 T. fresh lime juice
1 T. creamy peanut butter

4 carrots, peeled and julienned
1 small zucchini, julienned
Thinly sliced bell pepper
Chopped green onion

Cook the pasta.  After draining the water, toss the pasta in the sesame oil.  Then add the carrots, zucchini, and peppers.  (You can also stir-fry these veggies first by themselves in a small pan to add some crispiness.)

Mix all of the sauce ingredients together in a small saucepan and simmer over low heat until it all comes together. 

Toss the noodles in the sauce.  Top with green onion.

Lent and Two Soups

The season of Lent is almost over. 

My grand plan was to give up ice cream and candy.  I was eating both everyday.  I'll readily admit that I have little to no self-control when it comes to ice cream, cookies, or candy. 

I had put on a couple of pounds throughout the process of packing, moving, and getting settled in Palmer.  That's all well and good...I could gain a few pounds without much notice.  But the second the jeans start getting tight...ugh.  You know the feeling...that feeling needed to be squelched. 

So the grand plan was to cut out ice cream and candy, get super toned, and loosen those jeans up. 

But it didn't exactly work that way.  

You see, I replaced the candy and the ice cream with cookies and brownies.  When I say that I've been baking cookies or brownies at least twice a week, it's the truth. 

I completely missed the point of Lent.  You can't replace a bad habit with another bad habit!

As Scott said, at least I'd be getting calcium from the ice cream!  Ridiculous...I can't believe it took me 5 weeks (FIVE WEEKS) to figure this out.

So I've resolved to give up baking for awhile.  I have this thing for cookies with melty chocolate in them.  Straight out of the oven.  Gooey.  Warm.  Buttery.  (And the tray of warm, gooey, melty, buttery, chocolate cookies is most likely what I can attribute the tight jeans to, right?)

I'm going to stop buying stuff to bake with.  I can whip up cookie dough or brownie mix faster than you can blink once I put my mind to it.  I must be stopped.

However, I shall be enjoying candy and ice cream in moderation after this Sunday :)     

SO.  I've made two really great soups this week.  Chicken Pot Pie Soup on Sunday and Creamy Tomato Soup on Wednesday.  Both are also super healthy.  The ladies who created them do such nice jobs with their food blogs.  So I'll just direct you straight to them.  I didn't really change anything.

Next year, I think I'll add something into my routine for the Lenten season.  Maybe amp it up to two vegetables a day or something.  (oh, and i have not had ice cream or candy in over 5 weeks.  nope, not even on sundays.)

4-Layer Brownies

Holy cow.  This is like a big melt-y pot o' chocolate.  Originally from A Year of Slow-Cooking, I took out the coconut, thus taking it from 5 layers to 4.  Oh well.  That doesn't stop me from eating out of the crockpot with a spoon.  And we like to eat healthfully around here, so we used low-fat sweetened condensed milk.  ha  ha

4-Layer Brownie in the Crockpot

16 oz. brownie mix
1 egg
1/4 cup water
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup of oats (not quick-cooking)
2 T. butter

Melt the butter.  Put it into a 4 quart crockpot.  Mix the dry brownie mix, egg, water and butter together.  (I just wooden-spoon stir it in the crockpot.)  Smooth down so it's distributed evenly across the bottom.  Pour the sweetened condensed milk over it.  Pour the oats over that, and the pecans over the oats, and then you have your 4 layers.

Cook on high for about about 3 hours.  A butter knife will probably NOT come out of the center clean, but it will burn if you let it go longer.  At least mine will.  Best to eat a little undone than overcooked.

(Low-fat) Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is a really good cookie recipe to have.  I found it at this website.  It's the absence of 2 sticks of butter that makes it great.  I mean, substituting banana for fat?  That's genius.  Also, I changed the walnuts to chocolate chips (though you could do both!) because I have a weakness for melt-y semi-sweet chocolate chips right out of the oven (coincidentally, Scott prefers them right out of the bag and in order to keep any around for baking, I have to be pretty crafty in where I hide them).  And the sugar?  If I were to make them again, I'd cut down the white sugar and up the brown sugar.  I prefer the flavor of brown sugar to just the sweetness of white sugar.

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

Dry ingredients:
1 cup flour (you could also probably substitute whole-wheat flour)
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt

Wet ingredients:
1 egg
2 T. butter, softened
1 small mashed ripe banana
1/4 cup white sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar (unpacked)
1 t. vanilla

2 cups quick-cooking oats

3/4 cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup walnuts, chopped


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  With a mixer, cream the butter and sugars together.  Add the egg, banana, and vanilla.  Cream until fluffy.

Whisk the dry ingredients together in a small mixing bowl.  Add to the wet ingredients in two batches, combining well.

Stir in the oats by hand, and then do the same with the chips and nuts (if you're using them).

Bake on a greased cookie sheet for about 10-12 minutes until golden brown.


*I really wish I had a picture.  We ate them pretty quickly.  BUT, I did add pictures for Beef Lo Mein and Tomato Basil Pizza. 

Pineapple Chicken and Rice

I'm not sure if I ever actually wrote down why I started posting recipes.


Last summer, I cooked the same thing every week.  Scott was bored.  I was bored.

School started and I found myself still cooking the same thing every week and relying more and more on Wan Chai Ferry.  (You know.  The frozen dinners in a bag?  The Spicy Garlic Chicken is my very favorite.  I could/would eat it every day.)  I knew something had to be done.

I started reading food blogs.  I knew I had to start cooking with more variety.  Since I already loved to bake, this was just the next step.

These days, I have a running list of recipes I want to try and dinners that we have the ingredients for.  I shop based on ingredients now, instead of just what looks good.  Slow-cooker recipes are for the weekends, as well as new recipes.  The stand-bys are for during the week.  If I know how something is going to turn out, I'm more likely to make it on a weeknight.  The blogging of recipes gives me something to do, something to post about, and keeps me accountable for trying new things.  

BUT, I still love Wan Chai Ferry, and we still eat it once a month or so.  I truly love the taste, and I have not yet been able to replicate it.  Actually, this is the first time I tried something that could pass for Wan Chai Ferry.


It. is. a. WINNER.  Please make it.

I found the bones for this recipe here.  But I have trouble following recipes.  I took it up a notch with garlic and ginger.  And because I'm the person who refuses to look in the pantry before going shopping, I ended up using a bit of crushed pineapple instead of pineapple chunks. 

Pineapple Chicken and Rice
4-5 chicken breast tenders, cut into bit-size pieces
1/2 cup flour
1 t. salt
1 T. lemon pepper seasoning
Olive oil

1 bell pepper
3/4 cup sugar snap peas
1 medium onion
4-5 green onions
1 can of pineapple chunk, in juice (use about half the pineapple in the stir-fry)

Sauce:
2 t. soy sauce
1 tsp. grated garlic
1 tsp. grated ginger
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
Pineapple juice and water to make 1 cup of total liquid
2 T. cornstarch
2 t. chicken bouillon


Rice:
5 cups water
1 1/2 cups jasmine rice  (please, please, please use jasmine rice.  you'll thank me later.)

Mix all of the sauce ingredients together in a small saucepan and boil for 2-3 minutes.  Then let simmer until you're ready for it.

Preheat over to 375 degrees.  Mix together the flour, salt, and lemon pepper.  Dredge the chicken in it.  Heat about 8 T. of olive oil in a frying pan and brown the chicken.  Don't cook it the whole way.  Just give it a crispy coating.

Put the now-crispy chicken into a glass baking dish and cover it with about 2/3 of the sauce.  Bake at 375 for about 20 minutes.

In the same frying pan (pour out excess oil), stir fry the vegetables and pineapple.  Then toss them with the rest of the sauce.  After the chicken has cooked for 20 minutes, add the vegetables and bake for another 15 minutes. 

Make the rice and serve the stir fry over it.  Jasmine rice only needs to cook for about 15 minutes.

Creamy Corn Chowder

This is so good.  And healthy too!  It took about an hour from start to finish but that's because I kept re-reading the directions.  I recommend having all of the ingredients ready and chopped before beginning the soup.
This was a nice little success after the last week "of nothing good seeming to come out of new recipes".  I found it on Our Best Bites.  I didn't use the bacon and I ended up with shredded Parmesan cheese on mine because the cheddar was in the freezer. This would probably serve 4. 

Creamy Corn Chowder
2 T. butter
1/4 cup of flour
1 cup of water
2 1/2 cups of milk (I used skim.)
2-3 cloves of grated garlic
2 t. powdered chicken bouillon base
1 small onion, minced (about 1/2 a cup)
2 small potatoes, diced (I used Yukon Gold)
1 1/2 cups of frozen corn or 1 can of corn, drained
1 tsp of each:  salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, Creole Seasoning, paprika
1 cup of shredded cheddar for topping

Melt the butter and then stir in the flour until it forms a ball of dough.  Slowly stir in the water, whisking out all lumps.  Add in milk and bouillon.  Let this come to a simmer, stirring frequently.  After it's simmering, add in the potatoes, onion, and garlic.  Let it cook for about 20 (or until potatoes are tender), but don't let it boil.  Boiling skim milk is never a good thing.  After the potatoes are tender, add the corn and seasonings, letting the corn heat through and the flavors come together.  Top with cheese (and bacon if desired) and serve.
*The website I found this on says that one bowl is only 3 Weight Watchers points.  That makes sense because it's really only vegetables and milk*

Slow-Cooker Risotto

Risotto takes a lot of stirring.  So a crockpot recipe from A Year of Slow Cooking seemed perfect.  And I had one heck of a time finding arborio rice.  The world of the internet said nothing could be substituted for arborio rice in risotto because it has so much starch in it.  So after checking (several times) at the commissary, arborio rice was not to be found.  I got it at Wal-Mart, and I must say that it's not cheap.  However, I really wanted to try this.
It's really not bad, but it wasn't my favorite either.  I think that there's some truth to the tried and true method of stirring and stirring risotto while slowly adding the liquid.  Some of the rice in this was still a little crunchy after 2 hours, while some was absolute mush.  And I hadn't had risotto in so long that I couldn't remember the precise texture.  The flavor was good, but it got kinda dry pretty quick.  Scott didn't have a comment one way or the other.  The leftovers are still in the fridge if anyone's interested!

Slow-Cooker Risotto (adapted from A Year of Slow-Cooking)

1 1/4 cups dry arborio rice
1/4 cup of olive oil
4 cups chicken broth (It called for 3 3/4 c. broth and 1/4 c. white wine.  I didn't have the wine on hand.)
2 large cloves of grated garlic (or finely chopped)
1/2 t. onion powder
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. black pepper
1/2 cup of shredded parmesan cheese

Mix the rice and oil together in the slow cooker to coat.  Add the spices, garlic, and broth.  Give a couple stirs, then cook on high for 2-3 hours.  Stir in the shredded parmesan after you've turned it off and removed the lid. 

Crockpot Macaroni and Cheese

I tried a slow-cooker macaroni and cheese from a recipe book awhile back and wasn't crazy about it.  This one came from A Year of Slow Cooking.  It's better.  Scott liked it.  I liked it too, but it wasn't like the kind straight out of the oven.  I just hate taking the time to make a roux, make a mess (I always make a mess), and then clean up the kitchen.  I mixed all of this together in the stoneware.  Plus, the only days I get to actually use my crockpot are Saturday and Sunday.  I always feel the need to take advantage of that.

Crockpot Macaroni and Cheese
8 oz. elbow macaroni OR shells UNCOOKED
3 cups of shredded cheddar
4 cups of milk (I was almost out of milk, so I actually used half evaporated milk and it worked just fine.  Or maybe it would have been so much better with regular skim milk.  I guess we'll never know...)
1 t salt
1 t pepper
1 t onion powder
1 egg
1 T Grey Poupon

Spray the stoneware with cooking spray.  Mix milk, egg, mustard, and spices in the stoneware.  I used a 4 quart crockpot.  Stir in the noodles (UNCOOKED!) and the cheese.  Cook on high for 2-4 hours or low for about 6. 

I do realize that this is the worst picture.  Of anything.  Ever.  Scott likes to take my camera ice-fishing.  Then he likes to hide it in the garage.  And it's too cold in there and I'm too lazy to look for it.  So I end up using my phone for most of these pictures.  We are looking into buying a fancy new camera.  Suggestions welcome!

Hot and Sour Soup

Dwight  She introduced me to so many things:  Pasteurized milk, Sheetz, monotheism.  Presents on your birthday, preventative medicine.  

Phyllis   It's nice to learn new things.

Dwight   I was talking to myself.

 Phyllis   Okay.

I'm sorry, but I just love that.  Watching The Office is becoming like a security blanket for me.  I watch episodes of it for hours on end when Scott's not home.  

Scott also introduced me to new things.  Like sushi and miso soup.  While this isn't miso soup exactly, it is quite similar.  Since I'm sick, I'm really just after the broth here, but all of it is good. 

Hot and Sour Soup (in the slow-cooker from A Year of Slow Cooking)

1 cup of cubed firm tofu

2 cups of chicken broth

2 cups of water

1 package of sliced mushrooms

1/2 can of bamboo shoots (this was plenty for me and I even chopped them up a bit)

2 T. soy sauce

2 T. rice vinegar

1 teaspoon of sesame oil

1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes (I didn't have these because I'm one of those people who refuses to scan the cupboards before going to the store.  So I used some chili powder.)

green onions for garnish

Combine all ingredients in the slow-cooker and cook for 4 hours on high or 6 hours on low. 

Incredibly Easy Pot Roast and Crash Hot Potatoes

I've been meaning to try a pot roast for awhile.  My new slow-cooker provided me with the opportunity.  I didn't put any vegetables in it because I had to go to the airport to pick up Scott in the last two hours of cooking time.  However, the recipe on Mommy's Kitchen explains how to cook the vegetables.  Maybe next time.  I did make Crash Hot Potatoes to go with the pot roast and I highly recommend them.  Everything that the Pioneer Woman cooks looks amazing though, so check out the site.

Pot Roast
One 2-3 pound beef chuck roast
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 packet dry onion soup mix

In a frying pan on the stove, heat 2 T. of olive oil and sear the sides of the roast for 3-5 minutes each.  Place in the slow-cooker and pour the soup and dry soup mix over the roast.  Cover and cook on low for 6 hours.  Stir the gravy at about the 2 hour mark.  It does make its own gravy, which is really convenient.

Pizza Fondue

Imagine the best breadstick you've ever had, dipped into the best pizza sauce ever.  That's what this tastes like.  I ate the whole bowl by myself.  (Although, I must confess that after losing patience with the not-so-quick heating ability of the Little Dipper I threw it all in the microwave and then put it back in the Little Dipper to keep it warm while I ate it all.)  It came from A Year of Slow Cooking.

Pizza Fondue
1 cup of spaghetti sauce
1 cup of shredded cheese (I used mostly mozzarella and a sprinkle of cheddar)
a dash of each:  garlic powder, onion powder, basil, oregano, and parsley
10 pieces of pepperoni, diced

Combine all in the Little Dipper (or use my speedy microwave method and finish in the Little Dipper).  Plug it in and let heat for an hour or so.
For the bread.  I used the Garlic Parmesan loaf from the bakery section.  Cut it into large crouton-sized pieces.  Brush with olive oil and broil until golden brown on each side.

 Before

After