Sunday, October 30, 2011

Hot Chocolate - Peppermint, Dark and Orange

What a FUN experiment today!  Home-made hot chocolate is WAY more delicious that anything you can buy in the store!  And the best part about it, you can really create it any way you want!

I bought some delicious Dark Chocolate, Orange Chocolate and Peppermint Bark Chocolate!  Each were extremely delicious!

Please feel free to choose any type of chocolate or milk you would like.  I used Lactaid Milk since I'm lactose intolerant, but you can use any kind you would like.  I even thought about using my Vanilla Almond Milk.....I think that would ROCK with chocolate!

Also, I will give some suggestions on ADULT versions! :)  Thought you might smile when you read that! ;)

For more versions of Hot Chocolate, check out Ginger from Crock Pot Recipe Exchange's Nutella Hot Chocolate and White Hot Chocolate.


Peppermint Hot Chocolate

Ingredients:
6 cups Milk (I used Vitamin D, but use whatever you would like)
3.5 ounces Peppermint Bark (I used Ghiradelli Squares....and they were awesome!)
1 tsp. Vanilla
OPTIONAL ADULT ADDITION: Shot of Peppermint Schnapps

Directions:
Pour the milk and vanilla into your crock.
Cook on LOW for 2-3 hours or on HIGH for 1 1/2 hours.

Chop up your chocolate and whisk it into your milk.

Continue to cook on LOW for another 1 hour, or on HIGH for 1/2 hour.
Top with whipped cream and a square of peppermint bark.
Enjoy!


Dark Hot Chocolate

Ingredients:
6 cups Milk (I used Vitamin D, but use whatever you would like)
3.5 ounces Dark Chocolate (I used Godiva)
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla
OPTIONAL ADULT ADDITION: Shot of Irish Cream Liquour or Godiva Chocolate Liqour

Directions:
Pour the milk and vanilla into your crock.
Cook on LOW for 2-3 hours or on HIGH for 1 1/2 hours.

Chop up your chocolate and whisk it into your milk with the brown sugar.

Continue to cook on LOW for another 1 hour, or on HIGH for 1/2 hour.
Top with whipped cream and shaved dark chocolate on top.
Enjoy!




Dark Orange Hot Chocolate


Ingredients:
6 cups Milk (I used Vitamin D, but use whatever you would like)
3.5 ounces Dark Orange Chocolate (I used Godiva)
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla
OPTIONAL ADULT ADDITION: Shot of Frangelico or Triple Sec

Directions:
Pour the milk and vanilla into your crock.
Cook on LOW for 2-3 hours or on HIGH for 1 1/2 hours.

Chop up your chocolate and whisk it into your milk with the brown sugar.

Continue to cook on LOW for another 1 hour, or on HIGH for 1/2 hour.
Top with mini marshmallows.
Enjoy!




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Friday, October 28, 2011

Easy Peasy Greek Chicken

When I say easy peasy, I MEAN easy! Chicken, Greek Seasoning and Greek salad dressing.  That's it!  This was amazingly flavorful!  You could use boneless skinless chicken like I did, or use bone-in chicken.  All I had in my freezer was boneless, but I would have preferred bone in.  Luckily, my chicken had lots of juices, so I was able to pour lots of juice over my chicken.  It made all the difference in the world!

I used Pampered Chef Greek Rub (which is only $4.50 by the way!!!!).  If you don't have it, just use a mix of oregano, garlic and mint.  Add a little bit of lemon zest as well.  :)  However, you should order the Rub because you can use it on your salads and make yummy dips with it as well!  So versatile!

The Night Before, I assembled all ingredients into my Crock.  I just stuck it in the fridge overnight, and the next morning, I took it out, put it into my slow cooker and started it!

Easy Peasy Greek Chicken

Ingredients:
1.5-2 lbs. FROZEN Chicken (I used boneless skinless, but bone-in would work great as well!)
2 tsp. Pampered Chef Greek Rub (or use mix of spices as mentioned above)
3/4-1 cup Greek Salad Dressing

Directions:
Place your chicken in the bottom of your crock.  Sprinkle with your Greek Rub on both sides.

Pour your Greek salad dressing over the top.

If using Boneless Skinless: Cook on LOW for 6 hours or on HIGH for 3.
If using Bone-In: Cook on LOW for 8 hours or on HIGH for 4.
Enjoy!
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Sunday, October 23, 2011

Better than Lasagna Soup

Every once in a while, I'm incredibly proud of myself!  This is one of those times!  LOL  This soup was seriously amazing!  I mean, there's not a whole lot else to say, except this soup is BETTER THAN LASAGNA!  Hence, the name!

This soup could easily be turned into Vegetarian Lasagna by replacing the beef and chicken bouillon cubes with vegetable broth and replacing the ground beef with zucchini, carrots, spinach and peppers.  So, don't let the meat here deter you!  I think you'll still find this soup amazing!

Oh, and please don't be deterred by the longish list of ingredients!  It assembles itself extremely quickly!  Best of all.....you don't have to cook the ground beef ahead of time!!!!  Whoo hoo!

Ok, I'm getting right to it!!!!

Better than Lasagna Soup

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1 10 3/4oz. can Condensed Tomato Soup (If you are gluten-free, do not use this!  Instead, use the cream of soup base from my cookbook to make Cream of Tomato Soup)
1 14.5oz. can Petite Diced Tomatoes
1 15oz. can Tomato Sauce
2 chicken bouillon cubes (If you're gluten-free, make sure these are GF)
2 beef bouillon cubes (If you're gluten-free, make sure these are GF)
4 cups water
1 1/2 tsp. oregano
1 1/2 tsp. basil
1 tsp. parsley
2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
8 oz. Ricotta Cheese
8 lasagna noodles, broken into small pieces - UNCOOKED (If you're gluten-free, use gluten-free noodles)
Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Directions:
In your crock, combine onions, tomato soup, diced tomatoes and tomato sauce.

Add all of the spices and bouillon cubes.

Next, add the water.

Crumble your RAW ground beef evenly all around!

Cook on LOW for 7-8 hours or on HIGH for 4-5 hours.
The last half hour or so, stir in the Ricotta cheese and sprinkle your broken up UNCOOKED lasagna noodle pieces all around.

Serve with Mozzarella Cheese sprinkled on top.
Enjoy!

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This Week's Plan 10-23-11

Well, the last two weeks were kind of a wash!  LOL  What I had planned 2 weeks ago, I finally got around to finishing....today.  LOL  Well, that's what happens when you're a BUSY MOM!

This week was so much fun!  Many of you participated in our Fall Virtual Crock Pot Party with Ginger from Crock Pot Recipe Exchange, but even if you didn't, there are 94 recipes posted there for you to try! That's amazing!!!!

A little update on my family (since it's been a while!).....Gavin is now 7 months old.  He started crawling a month ago.  He's everywhere!  He's also pulling himself up to standing.  Yeah, I know.  He's not supposed to be doing all of that yet, right?!  Yeah.......  We brought him for his 6 month check up a couple weeks ago and the doctor told us he's passed his 9 month well-visit!  LOL  He says "Mama" and can wave (backward) and uses sign language for milk sometimes.  We did Baby Signing Time with Ella and we never experienced the frustration of her not being able to communicate with us.  She could always just sign what she needed.  It was awesome!  We're working on the sign for "more," "food" and "all done" right now too.

Ella is saying the cutest things to us!  She's so "grown-up" these days.  She goes back and forth between wanting to be Belle and Cinderella for Halloween.  We'll see what she decided the day of I guess!  She loves her brother and is so proud to tell people she's his big sister!  About a month ago, she all of a sudden started coloring in the lines.  Isn't it amazing how that happens all of a sudden!?!!  Ella has taken up running with me!  I got her some "running shoes" so she wouldn't have to run in her pink sparkly shoes anymore!  LOL  (Not that she was complaining, but hey, I felt like a bad mom!)  So far, we've run/walked 1.5 miles together!  I'm so proud of her!

Now, on to this week.....my husband has his first band concert of the year this Thursday and next Sunday, I run a race through "Hell" (Hell, MI) with my best friend, Mandy (whom I met in first grade btw!)!  Excited to see all the crazy costumes.....on everyone else.  I will stick to running!  LOL

So, here is this week's plan:

Sunday: Lasagna Soup

Monday: Leftovers

Tuesday: Easy Peasy Greek Chicken

Wednesday: White Chicken Chili

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Leftovers

Saturday: Dinner out


Happy Slow-Cooking!
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Friday, October 21, 2011

Fall Virtual Crock Pot Party WINNERS ANNOUNCED!


I would like to thank EVERYONE for partying with Ginger and I today. What an awesome collection of crock pot recipes we all have to choose from now. Go here for all of the crock pot recipes that were shared at todays party.

Here are the winners of all the prizes that were given out during the party today:

The winners for the Slow Cooker Liners were:
The Winners for the McCormick Slow Cooker Seasoning Packets were:
The Winner for the Dove Chocolate Discoveries Baking Mix was:
~Drum Roll PLEASE~

The grand prize winner for the Orange Party Crock and Cook Set is:
And the grand prize winner for the Double Dip Warmer Crock is:
If your name is listed above, please go here to claim your prize (if you haven't already).ONLY people with their name listed above are prize winners for todays virtual crock pot party. I really wish we could give a prize out to everyone, but we can't. Please stay tuned for future virtual crock pot parties and giveaways. There will definitely be more!

We have thoroughly enjoyed this crock pot party today and we're already discussing co-hosting another one around the holidays. 

Keep those slow cookers warm folks!  There will be more to come.......
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Thursday, October 20, 2011

Fall Virtual Crock Pot Party!


Alright Slow Cooker Fans.... it's PARTY TIME!!

**Please read very carefully**

Ginger (from Crock Pot Recipe Exchange) and I are very excited to be co-hosting this virtual fall crock pot party. We can't believe it's finally here. We're also very excited to see what you all have to share with us today. You can never have TOO many crock pot recipes, right? RIGHT! Here is how it's going to work:
  • Starting at 12:01 AM EST on Friday, October 21st you will be able to share your crock pot recipe links here. There will be an active inlinkz widget that will allow this until 10 PM EST (this is a one day event ONLY)
  • Then starting sometime on Friday morning Ginger and I will begin selecting winners at random for the prizes. Since this will be totally at random throughout the day, make sure you continue to add your crock pot creations for your chance to win.
Okay, now let's lay down some party guidelines.
  1. You will be able to share your crock pot recipe link below in the provided inlinkz widget to be eligible for prizes. As always, you can add a crock pot recipe to the facebook fan page (as we all love seeing them there (o: ), but to be eligible for a prize you must share them here. If you don't own a blog or website don't worry.... go here to see how you can easily create a URL that's shareable in the inlinkz widget below.
  2. Make sure that it is your very own crock pot recipe that you're submitting. We just want to make sure that everyone is partying nicely :o)
  3. The prizes are for US and Canadian residents 18 years of age and older.
Qualifying submissions for prizes is on Friday, October 21st ONLY!

Now that we've got the party guidelines down pat let's talk about the prizes. OH YEAH BABY!!!! Lots of great prizes. Ginger and I have chosen some of our favorite crock pot related things to give away. Here is the breakdown:

Ginger's prize picks:
Hope's prize picks:
The right is reserved to substitute a comparable prize if necessary









The DCD Baking Mix was given and sponsored by Ginger, an Independent Dove Chocolate Discoveries Chocolatier. The other products were gladly purchased by Ginger with her own monies to give away as prizes during this virtual crock pot party and are not representative or affiliated of any company the products are made by.


The Purely American Mixes were given to Hope to give away at her descretion. The other prizes given away by Hope were purchased with her own monies and are not affiliated or sponsored by companies they are made by.

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Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Stuffed Zucchini

I've been staring at this giant zucchini on my counter now for like 3 weeks.  Yes, I said 3 weeks.  Don't judge.  LOL  I'm pretty much zucchini breaded out......so, I had to do something else with it.  Hence, the stuffed zucchini was born!

I'm so happy my garden grew me a giant zucchini!!!!  Want to know how many ingredients this recipe calls for????  THREE!  That's right, I said three!!!  (Ok, well, there are technically 4 when you count the cheese you put on top, but it's not part of the prep process, so I'm not counting it!  LOL)  And nothing goes to waste here folks, I didn't throw out the zucchini I scraped to make my little boats.  Nope!  I chopped it up and put it back in as stuffing!  Mmmmmmm!!!  These were really delicious!  And because you can eat the skin of the zucchini, unlike squash, there is literally no waste!

There is so much you could do with these to make them suit your family.  I used milk pork sausage, but you could use the spicy kind, or, you could use ground beef or ground turkey.  I used Pork stuffing to go with my pork sausage, but you could use chicken stuffing, turkey stuffing, etc.  Make it your own!

My husband actually had a BRILLIANT idea for our leftovers tonight!  (I'm so proud of him!)  He thought it would be awesome mixed in with scrambled eggs.  You know what?!  He was SO right!  He scrambled some eggs with onions, chopped up our leftover stuffed zucchini, added it in, melted some cheese on top and made a delicious new dinner for us!  He even cooked potatoes and onions!  Love that man! <3

I hope the step by step pictures help ease your mind when it comes to stuffing these zucchini!  I don't want intimidation to keep you from trying this!  Your family will be so impressed with your mad kitchen skills!  And yes, you can tell them...."I did it in the Crock Pot!"

As always, I did all the prep work the night before.  In the morning, all I did was take the Crock out of the fridge and plug it in! :)

Stuffed Zucchini

Ingredients:
1 box Pork Stovetop Stuffing (prepared according to directions on the box)
1 16oz. pkg. Mild Pork Sausage, browned
1 GIANT, 2 Large or 4 Medium Zucchini (Remember, I had a mammoth 1.5 ft. Zucchini from my garden)
Mozzarella Cheese

Directions:
While you are browning your pork sausage and making your box of stuffing (which literally takes like 3 minutes), make your zucchini into little boats.  You want to scoop out the insides by leaving a nice border around the edges like so.
I just used a teaspoon, so you don't need anything special to do this.  I scooped the guts into a bowl.

Roughly chop up your Zucchini guts...
And then add them in with the browned sausage, along with your cooked stuffing.

I sliced just a tiny piece off the bottom of my little zucchini boats so would sit flat in my crock.

Stuff your mixture into your zucchini boats and place them into your crock.

Cook on LOW for 6-8 hours or on HIGH for 3-4 hours.
Zucchini has a high liquid content, so you do not need to add any liquid to these.  They will be ok, I promise!  
To get them our of your crock, well, I used tongs and a slotted spoon, working in unison!  It takes patience and skill!  LOL

Place your Stuffed Zucchini onto a baking tray and sprinkle with cheese.  Put under the broiler for a couple minutes.

Serve and Enjoy!
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Monday, October 17, 2011

Attached to My Baby - The Baby Bundler Wrap Carrier Review

I seriously don't know how I could survive my busy schedule without my wraps!  I absolutely love them!  Gavin (who is 7 months old now) loves to be right with me.  I love that he wants to be with me, but it's so hard to get anything done with one hand!  Wraps provide you with the freedom of both hands while your baby is snug and secure with you!

I started with a Sleepy Wrap that a friend of mine gave me.  I absolutely loved it once I got the hang of it!  I started hearing about the Moby wrap, which is said by most to be better for older children since there is less stretch, so I got one of those.  It took a lot of getting used to after the Sleepy Wrap, but I've come to love it!

Lately, I've been using my Baby Bundler, which I received from Attached to My Baby at the Tummy to Toddler Expo.  I can honestly say, I love it!  It's a happy medium between the Sleepy Wrap and the Moby Wrap.  It's not as stretchy as the Sleepy Wrap, but has more give than the Moby Wrap, which I really like.

If you've never used a wrap carrier before, it can be very intimidating!   There is a lot of fabric!  Have no fear!  Hope is here!  I've taken a few videos below to show you how I put my wrap on and 2 different ways that I carry Gavin in my Baby Bundler.  I just know they will help put your fears at ease!
The Baby Bundler comes with picture instructions AND a DVD to help you become a successful wrapper.  If that's not enough, Attached to My Baby gives classes on how to wear your baby!

The Baby Bundler comes in 5 different colors.  I have the Red Baby Bundler.  It's going to be great for the Holiday Season! :)  Here's a picture of my son and I in the Baby Bundler.  

Now, here are a few videos to help you feel more comfortable with The Baby Bundler!
The first video shows you how I put my wrap on the majority of the time.

This video shows you how I wear my baby facing me.

And this video shows me wearing my baby facing out.

I hope these videos encourage you to give baby wearing a try!  

Please visit www.attachedtomybaby.com to get your Baby Bundler!

*The opinions expressed here are solely my own. I was provided with a free Baby Bundler in exchange for an honest review.

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The Posh Pot Review

When The Posh Pot first "liked" me on facebook and introduced themselves, I knew I had to find out more about them!  I'm so happy I did!

The Posh Pot has such a great idea!  They sell beautiful covers for not-so-beautiful Slow Cookers!  They have two different sized covers to fit just about any sized Slow Cooker.  BEST of all, each cover is reversible!  How cool is that?!

As of right now, The Posh Pot has 54 different covers for you to choose from!  WOW!  Can't find something you totally love?!  No problem!  They take custom orders!  It doesn't get much better than that!

I chose a music-themed Posh Pot Cover!  (Of course!) It debuted two weeks ago at our September Birthday Luncheon at work!  I cooked some rice pudding in my classroom and then brought my Slow Cooker up to the lounge with my new Posh Pot Cover on it!  Everyone was impressed!  Here's what mine looks like:


Isn't that super cute?!

The Posh Pot has the right cover for everyone!  They are very reasonably priced, so why not pick up a couple for yourself?!  Head on over to The Posh Pot and place your order today!  

P.S.  They offering FREE SHIPPING right now!  Hurry though, the sale ends soon! (This was published Oct. 17, 2011)


*The opinions expressed here are solely my own. I was provided with a free Posh Pot wrap in exchange for an honest review.

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Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Avery® Sticky Notes Mark the Spot

When Avery contacted me about their new see-through sticky notes, I was extremely excited.  First, because who doesn't love sticky notes?!  Second, they are running a campaign that is contributing to schools!

Avery See Through Sticky Notes are very cool because they are transparent, which allow you to write on them without covering up other important information.  This really comes in handy when looking through recipes in your cookbooks.

I found MANY ways to "Mark the Spot" with my Avery See Through Sticky Notes!  They are great for marking pages in cookbooks!  I have recently been asked to review two different cookbooks.  The Avery See Through Sticky notes really came in handy.  I was not only able to mark the recipes in the cookbooks with the sticky notes, but I was also able to stick them right over the top of the ingredient lists and make any notes I needed to make as I was making the recipes.

 


As I create recipes, I can also write my list of ingredients on my Avery See Through Sticky Notes as I go.  Then, I can take that sticky note and stick it right to my computer screen as I type in my latest recipe.
(This may secretly be my favorite way of using the Avery See Through Sticky Note!)

I'm also able to use these at my day-time job, as a Music Teacher.  The MEAP started this week, which always brings changes in the specials schedule at our school.  I was able to take my Avery See Through Sticky Note, stick it to my lesson plans and write in the schedule changes as they occurred.

As I mentioned above, Avery is contributing to schools.  The “Avery® Sticky Notes Mark the Spot” sweepstakes launched on October 3, 2011.

Twenty-thousand people who register for the sweepstakes will randomly be selected to win a FREE pack of Avery® See-Through Sticky Notes. Five of those winners will be randomly selected to receive 100,000 Box Tops coupons (valued at $10,000) that will be applied to a school of their choice. The selected schools of the “Avery® Sticky Notes Mark the Spot” promotion will be presented with credit for the 100,000 Box Tops for Education®.


All anyone has to do is go to the Avery Facebook page (facebook.com/avery) and sign up to win a free pack of Sticky Notes and then choose the school they’d like the money to go to should they win. Pretty simple and it’s a great cause!




So, Imagine what you could do with Avery Sticky Notes and what schools can do with 1/2 million box top coupons!

I have 3 packages of Avery See Through Sticky Notes to give away to two lucky readers!  

To Enter, leave a comment below by answering this: Imagine what you could do with Avery Sticky Notes and what schools can do with 1/2 million box top coupons!
*Be sure to leave your email address so we can contact your if you're one of the winners!


Contest Ends Wednesday, October 19 at 11:59 EST.

Good Luck!




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Picante Queso Chicken

If you lika da spicy, you're gonna lika dis!  LOL  In all seriousness, this was very spicy, but even my husband, who doesn't like spicy, had 2 servings!  Winner!  For just a few ingredients, this was packed with seriousness deliciousness!  Best of all, it was incredibly easy to put together!

The slight crunch of the crushed tortilla chips, next to the creamy spicy sauce and gooey cheese made each bite the perfect bite!

I would like to thank my friend Tracy for stopping by the other night and giving me the complete inspiration for this dish!  It was just what I needed this week!!!

A word of warning......if you have young kids, this would be too spicy for them.  We did not make my daughter try this tonight.  If you left out the jalapeno's, it would be totally fine ;)

Getting right to it tonight.....

Picante Queso Chicken

Ingredients:
4 (1.5-2 lbs.) Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
1 10 3/4 oz. can Condensed Campbell's Cheddar Cheese Soup
1/4 cup sliced jalapenos (the kind from the jar)
1/2-3/4 cup salsa (I used mild)
2-3 cups crushed tortilla chips
2-3 cups shredded Mexican Blend Cheese

Directions:
Chop your chicken into bite sized pieces and place them in the bottom of your crock.

In a bowl, mix together the cheddar cheese soup, jalapenos and salsa.

Pour it over the chicken and spread it out.

Cook on LOW for 6-7 hours.
1/2 hour before serving, top with the crushed tortilla chips and the cheddar cheese.


Switch your slow cooker to HIGH for 1/2 hour, or until the cheese is melted.
Enjoy!
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