Trying new things

Tonight's new thing? Brussel sprouts. Or is it Brussels sprouts? Whatever. It's the same thing when you're eating it. And no, technically, brussel sprouts aren't new, even to me. I distinctly remember hating them as a child. But I saw a recipe for some roasted brussel sprouts the other day in some magazine or on some website...helpful, I know. I can never remember where I see these things. Then I spend ages looking for them again. And end up making something I hope comes close to what I originally saw.

So tonight, I partially thawed some frozen brussel sprouts in the microwave so I could cut them in half. I put them in a glass 9x13 pan and tossed them with some oil, squeezable garlic (love this stuff), and kosher salt. I put them in the oven at 375 and stirred them every 5 minutes or so. I really liked them! I'm impressed with myself! Diva Daughter even ate one half of one!

I bought some polenta at the store today too. That will be a new recipe for later this week. I haven't quite decided what to do with it though. I'm thinking slice it up and pan fry it for something...if the tomatoes had looked decent at the store, I would have made some of my yummy sauteed tomatoes for it. Instead, I'm thinking either melted cheese with marinara or a fried egg and salsa.

And we've got some cooooooollldd weather moving in...it's super windy right now, and I'm pretty sure it's sleeting. We don't get weather like this often. Everyone was going crazy this afternoon at all the grocery stores stocking up on food and gas. I did go to the store, but only for stuff to make chicken noodle soup in the crockpot tomorrow and to have stuff for breakfast and lunch if we do end up not going to school tomorrow.

Make-Your-Own-Pizza

We had such a simple, relaxing night last night. It was make-your-own-pizza night and I let everyone choose or make their own. We used two types of dough (because that's what we had). The first was the Pillsbury thin crust pizza in the can for the kids. Chad and I split some Pete's dough I get in the freezer section. Here's what we ended up with:
Diva Daughter had pizza "rolls" with sauce, cheese and bacon bits.
Mr. Getinsky had cheese only...no sauce or cheese.
Chad had a chicken, bacon, cheese, purple onion and ranch pizza which was really, really good.
I had a buffalo chicken, cheese, purple onion and ranch pizza that really good too.

I had the stuff out for ham and pineapple too, but no one used it.

If we weren't having pancakes at the Pancake Festival for lunch, I'd used the leftover chicken for a buffalo wrap or some chicken salad. I'm guessing that will be either tomorrow's lunch or meals for the week.

Yum!

I tried a new soup in the crockpot today...very yummy, I have to say. I found it online at the Tasty Kitchen website, which is part of The Pioneer Woman's site. Gotta say I love that site. The recipe was called Sausage Corn Chowder, but I made a few adjustments. Here is what I made:

1 pound smoked sausage sliced (the big U-shaped link sausage)
several small red potatoes, quarted (but I should have cut them a little smaller)
2 stalks of celery, sliced
2 carrots, sliced
1 can cream-style corn
1 can cream of chicken soup
15 oz. chicken broth
a sprinkle of dried minced onions (because I didn't have the real thing)
salt and pepper
1/2 cup of half and half
1 1/2 Tbs. corn starch (that's approximate...I just put a big spoonful or so in the half and half)

Put everything except for the half and half and cornstarch in the crockpot and cook on low for 6 hours. I put everything in the crockpot and then in the fridge. My hubby had the job of putting the crockpot on low while he was home for lunch. Then, I mixed the cornstarch with the half and half and added it to the crockpot. I turned it up to high for a little while (about half and hour) to let it thicken up.

I really liked this and am actually looking forward to the leftovers tomorrow!

Crockpot cooking again

I'm so excited that I've got the crockpot out for tomorrow! It's been a long time. I hadn't looked at my Facebook group called Crockpot Cookers in a while. I forgot how many really good recipes we had collected there! I can't wait to try to a few of of them out soon.

The first one I'm trying out is the one I have ready to go for tomorrow. It's from one of my dearest friends. Here it is:

Ham and Bean Soup
1 lb. white beans
1 carrot (or more), diced
1 celery stalk (or more), diced
2 quarts water
2-3 ham hocks (which, by the way, I don't have)
1 lb. cooked ham, diced
1 onion, diced
spices (she suggests salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder)

Soak beans for 12 hours. Rinse and drain. Simmer with 2 quarts of water for 30 minutes. Place in crockpot with the rest of the ingredients. Cook on low for 10-12 hours.

I may change a few things about the recipe, but we'll see. I was thinking of adding a little chicken broth or bouillon. I have a little half-and-half in the fridge, so I thought about adding that at the end to make a creamy soup. We'll see.

Gift ideas

I have to say, I really like being crafty at the holidays. I really wish I thought of these things, oh, say November, instead of the week before Christmas. Here's what I've made so far:

The first 2 recipes come from Woman's Day.
Lemon Sugar Scrub
1 cup Epsom salts
1 cup sugar
zest of 2-4 lemons
1 tsp. lemon juice
6-10 Tbsp. oil
Mix together and store in tight lidded jar or bottle. I used Starbucks Frappuccino bottles and was able to get four jars out of double recipe.

Oatmeal Cookie Soak
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 Tbsp. vanilla
Blend together (I used a Magic Bullet) until a soft powder forms. This smells fabulous. The instructions are to put a spoonful under warm running water as you are drawing a bath. Then relax and enjoy the cookie-scented water.

Then, on tap for tomorrow is to make Cinnamon Toasted Almonds from Taste of Home, a basic spice rub from Tasty Kitchen, and some BBQ roasted nuts from Better Homes and Garden.

Another gift I've made this year are domino necklaces. So easy. I bought a tin of dominoes for $2.95 at Walmart. I think there were 28 of them. Then I cut scrapbook paper to 1"x2" to fit the domino. I tried to use a corner rounder, but it cut too much off. Instead, I just used my scissors to round the corners. For some, I put initial stickers on the paper. For some, the latest, I used glue and glitter to accent parts of the design on the paper. I used ModPodge to glue the paper on the dominoes. Once dry, I used some glossy clear paint (not sure on the name, but it's made to add a glossy effect) to coat the entire surface. While it was still wet, I dropped rhinestones in strategic places. After that dried, I superglued bails to the back of some and large beads to the top of others. I used ribbon on some of them and those steel ball necklaces on others. They really turned out nice.

I learned something new today!

You can make microwave popcorn using a brown paper sack! Oh, yes, you can! Talk about saving some money...and you know exactly what goes into it. No chemicals or preservatives or artificial flavors!

It's easy too...and the kids enjoyed helping. You just add 1/4 cup of popcorn kernels (which I got in a big bag for $1.48 at WM) into a brown paper sack ($1.00 for 50) with 1 tsp. oil and a little salt (or 2 tsp. sugar if you'd rather have kettle corn). I figure it's about $0.15 per bag, which is a savings of about 85% (if I have any clue how to do the math here). Plus, again, you've got the added benefit of no chemicals, flavorings, etc. It was really good too!

I'm really into this idea of making things at home now. Next up is those seasoning and dip mixes.

Good day

Today has been a good day. Not all of it. But most of it.

This morning we weren't able to sleep in thanks to DS waking us up at 7 demanding food. But we were lazy and fixed a big breakfast and enjoyed it. Then we all crawled back into bed :) It was fun to spend some lazy, silly time with the kids.

Then we finally got up and going and got some Christmas decorating done. Tree 1 is up and the living room is mostly decorated. We'll get to the rest later. It was really cute watching the kids help decorate the tree this year. This was really the first year they've been able to do this, so it was neat.

I got to catch up with one of my best friends on the phone and somehow managed to wrangle a visit from her and her family tomorrow! Can't wait to see them!

Then we went to River Bend's ElectriCritters with the kids and my parents. It was cold, but not miserable. We enjoyed seeing Santa, hearing a story, seeing all the lights, having some cider and hot chocolate on the trail, and then having popcorn and s'mores at the end. Then we drove to a house that designs a lights and music show before heading to the house for snacks, cider, hot chocolate and more s'mores (made with French vanilla snowman marshmallows and mini choclate chips because that's what we had).

It was a really enjoyable day. There were parts I'd rather not have had, but that's ok. That's the way it is sometimes.