Friday Favorites

I love my crockpots. I have two of them. They cook most of our meals. I thought that today I would share a couple of the recipes that we are very happy with right now...

Hot Chicken (Miss T)
One package of chicken thighs (you can use any chicken cut. Miss T uses wings.)
One bottle of Red Hot Hot Sauce (I don't like ANYTHING hot. This is perfection.)
One package brown sugar

Stir the hot sauce and brown sugar together. Put the chicken in the crockpot. Put the sauce over it. Cook it on low all day. Done.

This is delicious. We love it. I have served it with red potatoes and carrots. I've also served it with just brown rice. You could do potato wedges. SO easy. So good!

Chicken Chili
Five large chicken breasts (skinless, boneless)
One can diced tomatoes (I just use a quart of my stewed tomatoes)
One can cream of chicken soup
Two cans white beans
Two cans black beans (I've used pinto beans, too)
One package chili seasoning mix
8 oz. cream cheese

Place the chicken on the bottom of the crock pot. Pour everything else, except the cream cheese, on top. Cook on low all day. About an hour, or so, before you serve it, cut up the cream cheese and put it in there so it melts. Shred the chicken at the same time. De-freaking-licious. Serve with sour cream, grated cheese, etc.

Roast
There are so many different ways to cook a beef roast in crock pot. This one was new to me and it is delicious.
Beef roast
Red potatoes
Carrots
-Any other vegetables you want in there-
Two cans of brown gravy (I just use two packages of brown gravy mix and mix them up)

Put it all in the crock pot on low for all day. This is so good! I feel like this kept the roast really moist.

Home Cookin'

On Saturday, I pulled out my baking goods and made two homemade loaves of white bread. It took all flipping day, which I was not expecting. The raising, then the kneading, then the mixing, then the cutting, then the raising. I was getting a wee bit impatient, but I made it through and so did the bread and it was SO good!!! Josh and the kids were quite proud of me. I was too! Then, Sunday I made a loaf of banana bread. It was gone in minutes. I am becoming domestic, People!

Christensen Thanksgiving 2014

Thanksgiving was at our house this year, with our little family of seven. And, I made it all myself. This was both terrifying and exciting for me. I roasted a turkey, which I stuffed with homemade stuffing. I made a ham. I made real mashed potatoes. I made cranberries. I made homemade rolls. We also had pumpkin pie, banana cream pie, and homemade cherry cream pie. Josh added in the canned cheese and chips... whatever! And, we had some raw vegetables. I pulled it off. I was so exhausted at the end of the day after cooking, baking, cleaning, and cleaning some more. This morning, as I type this, I am so grateful that I did this. I have had many years of watching my mother, my maternal grandmother, and my paternal grandmother cook, bake, clean, and serve. I am grateful for the lessons they have passed on to me. I am so thankful for the food that I had to feed my family. I am so thankful for the appliances I had to cook with. I am most thankful for my family of seven. Gosh, I love my family. My kids are amazing. Every single day. They are amazing.