Recipes to Share

I've mentioned before how much I enjoy trying new recipes and love sharing a good recipe! I've tried a couple new recipes in the past few weeks and have been meaning to share them.

Picture Source

Homemade Chick-Fil-A Nuggets - I LOVE Chick-Fil-A! Who doesn't?!? I was excited to try this recipe and it did not disappoint! They were super easy to make and the flavor was so close to Chick-Fil-A. I couldn't stop eating the cute little nuggets. They are especially good with a little honey mustard to dip 'em in. Yummy!

Picture Source

Slow Cooker Jambalaya - - I didn't actually cook this in my crock pot. I also didn't use shrimp in it because I'm a cheapo and didn't want to spend the money on the shrimp. I used chicken and sausage. It was a little spicy, but I loved it. It was very easy to make on the stove top. This could also make a good dish to take to church.

Picture Source

Slow Cooker Bacon-Apple Chicken- - I was a little suspicious of this recipe at first, because I usually don't like sweet barbeque flavored dishes. But, it had bacon, so I had to try it. I was pleasantly surprised with the flavor. I used a chipotle flavored bbq sauce, so it didn't get too sweet. The sweetness of the apple was a nice compliment, but not overwhelming. The recipe says to cook it on low for 8 hours, but I felt like that was a little long. The chicken fell apart as I was trying to get it out of the crock pot. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it would have been fine after about 6 hours.

Picture Source

Cheddar Bacon Dip or "Crack Dip" - - Ok, so there's a reason this is called Crack Dip! I made this for Friday night supper for our annual meeting. There was a lot of it left to bring home. Once I had it at home, I couldn't stop eating it! I ate it with broccoli, carrots, and pita chips to make me feel a little healthier. :) Using the bacon bits from a bag makes it super easy to throw together. Just be warned that the whole bowl might be empty before you know it!

Let me know if you try any of the recipes and what you think!

Photography Challenge: Week 10

I've been missing the Photography Challenge for the past several weeks, but I wanted to be sure to make it this week.

The assignment for this week was hands. I couldn't pick a favorite, so I'll post a few.


One of Grandma's favorite things to do is to look through her old hymnal. She likes to find the songs that were her husband's favorites.

Sadly, her eyesight is failing and she's not able to read the words as well as she once could. This causes her a little frustration, but she still seems to enjoy thinking back on the memories.

Dried Herbs

Earlier in the summer, I blogged about my herb garden. As with most other vegetation in this part of the world, the ridiculous heat did a number on my herbs as the summer went on. About a month ago I gathered up what was left of my herbs that I hadn't used or hadn't been fried by the heat.

I did a little research as to the best way to dry them. I prepped the herbs by washing them and tying them in bundles. They needed a relatively cool, dry, and not dusty place to hang for a few weeks. Finding a place that matches all of those requirements is quite a task! I read somewhere that over the water heater is a good place to hang the herbs, so that's what I did.

Fresh herbs hanging over the water heater

They hung out for about 4 weeks and I finally got around to jarring them up this week. The smell as I was crushing them up and putting them into jars was yummy!

4 weeks later...dried, crispy, and very aromatic!

I bought the jars at Ross for $2.99 for the set! I used dry erase marker to write the name on the lid.

Thyme, sage, oregano, parsley

I now have dried thyme, sage, oregano, and parsley to enjoy through the winter!

Oops...broke the corner of the parsley jar!

Side note: As true to my typical form, I managed to break one of the jars in the process. No surprise there!

When the husband is away...

...the wife gets to play....with craft projects, that is.

Chris was gone on a preaching trip a few weekends ago and I needed something to keep me entertained. This mirror was hanging in our office and I had been wanting to do something with it for quite some time.

Here's how it started:


Thankfully the mirror part came out so I didn't have to worry about covering and taping it. I spray painted the wood black. I am a horrible spray painter and the end result isn't great. I really need to go back and put another coat of black. Perhaps I'll get back around to that one day.

In between coats of spray paint, I got the mirror cleaned up and ready to go. I cut the "Welcome" out of black vinyl using my Silhouette. Adhering it to the mirror was a bit tricky to do as a one-man show. I did my best, but it still ended up a little crooked. As I mentioned in this post, I have trouble with straight lines.



Here is the finished product hanging on the wall.


I really like how it turned out...other than the letters being crooked and needing another coat of paint. I'm planning to fix those things soon. It also needs to be hung in a different place. Where it's hanging now is in front of the door, but it's hanging kind of low. When you walk in the door, you see the reflection of your waist down to your feet. Not all that helpful!

Card Making

One of my latest endeavors is attempting to make cards. I'm still learning how to use my Silhouette SD to do all kinds of neat things. This includes learning how to use it to make cards. I really enjoy thinking of ideas, figuring out how to get the Silhouette to do what I want (well, that's not always fun), working to put it all together, and seeing the end result. The best part about this crafty hobby is that a card can be made in one sitting. I have a little bit of a problem with attention and keeping focused on one task for very long. So, a project that can be done from start to finish in one time block is perfect!

Here are a few of the cards I've made recently:



Perhaps I need to try something with colors other than purple and green?

Did you miss me?

I'm sure you haven't missed me all that much! Thanks to my computer not letting me on Blogger, taking it to the computer repairman, and being out of town, I was forced to take a little sabbatical from the blog. But, the computer is fixed and life can continue as normal!

Meal Planning Monday - Aug 22

Reviews:

I made this tilapia recipe a couple of weeks ago and it was really good! I'm not a huge fish person, but I like it occasionally. This recipe has a dill sauce that goes over the top of the fish. I wasn't sure how it would be with the spices of the fish, so I didn't serve it on top of the fish. I did add it on mine to see how it was and I was pleasantly surprised by the flavor combination! I will definitely be trying this recipe again!

This week:

Monday: Smothered chicken (search for "smothered chicken" at bottom of page), rice, broccoli

Tuesday: Roast, potatoes, carrots

Wednesday: Stuffed peppers, salad

Thursday: Skillet tacos

Friday: Grilled chicken, grilled potatoes, salad

Saturday: Chili dogs or turkey club

Sunday: church - taco salad, vegetable; supper - to be decided


Find more great menu ideas here!

DIY Laundry Detergent

Thanks to my obsession with Pinterest, I recently discovered a tutorial for making your own liquid laundry detergent. I'm all about trying homemade recipes, learning new skills, and saving a penny, so I wanted to give this a shot. We go through tons of laundry detergent and the price always kills me. This gave me extra momentum to try this.

After checking out the tutorial, I set out to gather my supplies. Here's what I needed:

I had the bar of soap on hand, so all I had to buy was the Borax and Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soap. Those were easily procured at Wal-mart, for less than $6. (Just a note here: I detest going to Wal-mart. However, this particular experience was evidence of a miracle. I was able to get from my car, pick up 3 items, through the check-out, and back to my car in 6 minutes!!! 6 minutes, folks! I'm telling you, if they still had that Supermarket Sweep show, I would definitely win!)

Anyway, back to making the laundry detergent. I decided that since I only had 2 small containers saved up, I would make 1/2 the batch that the tutorial makes. It was super easy. It took me about 25 minutes, not including letting the detergent cool before putting it in the bottles.

Detergent mixture cooling and waiting to go into the bottles.

All finished and ready to be used! (I had a blonde moment while making the detergent. The directions called for adding 2 gallons of water to the mixture to make 2 gallons of detergent. Well, I was only making 1/2 the batch, but my containers weren't 1/2 gallon each. Not thinking, I added 1 gallon of water anyway, thus it wouldn't all fit into the bottles. Duh!)

I used my detergent today to do 3 loads of laundry: towels, sheets, and a vintage tablecloth. I am quite impressed with how well it cleaned. The vintage tablecloth had some set-in coffee stains on it, but when it came out of the wash it was spotless! It took me a while to get over the fact that it doesn't have a strong scent. I loved the scent of the store-bought laundry detergent I usually use, so it was a bit of a shock when I pulled the clothes out of the wash and they didn't have that scent. They definitely smelled clean though!

Since I only used 1/2 cup each of the Borax and washing soap, I have plenty to make more batches. I'm going to keep track of how many loads this current batch does, so I can better gauge the savings. I think I'm definitely sold on it and can't wait to use it more!

Photography Challenge: Week 4

Dinner is the subject for this week's Photography Challenge. At first, I was really excited about this assignment. I love cooking and I love taking pictures. So, what better than taking pictures of what I've cooked!?!? Come to find out, we have HORRIBLE lighting in our kitchen and I didn't want to fool around with trying to get a good picture when I'm starving! So, I took pictures of the food I took to a church fellowship supper Wednesday night. I carted everything into the laundry room, which has the best natural light, and went to town snapping away!

Mixed greens, strawberries, pecans

Strawberry Balsamic Vinaigrette

Stuffed Jalapeno Pepper Dip

Dark Chocolate Covered Strawberries
(Half of the strawberries were left after church and I ate all of them today!)

Photography Challenge: Week 3

The assignment for the Photography Challenge this week is BOLD colors! This one was a bit challenging for me to think creatively. There aren't many bold colors this time of year in west Texas. Everything is brown, brown, brown!

1/750, F4.0

This is a lap quilt that a dear friend from church made when we got married. I love so many things about it. It's just the perfect size, I love the bright colors, some of the squares have Bible verses, and just thinking about the sweet sister who made it always brings a smile to my face.

Just another note about this picture....it's hard to tell, but the quilt is blowing in the breeze just a bit. At the time I was taking this picture, a little cold front was blowing through! The temperature dropped from about 102 to 97!! I could hear thunder in the distance! We're praying hard for some rain and cooler temperatures.

Crouse Family Vacation 2011

We went to the Metroplex this weekend to celebrate Chris' birthday and our 2nd annual Crouse Family Vacation. It was a busy, busy weekend and so much fun!

We arrived in Arlington around 4:30 Friday afternoon, got settled in our hotel room, and headed out to supper with the family. We enjoyed a nice steak dinner at Trail Dust Steakhouse and did some catching up with the family.

After supper we headed to the Ranger's game. Now, I am a Cardinals fan at heart and always will be, but the Rangers are pretty high up there. I just love baseball and especially love going to games. I love the fans, the excitement of seeing and hearing the game first hand, and the smell of stadium food. We had amazing seats for the game and really had a good time.

The game was intense and exciting! The Rangers won in extra innings! Woohoo!

That's a winner! Rangers win!

We watched the firework show as we walked back to our hotel after the game.


Saturday morning we headed out to Hurricane Harbor. It was a good way to enjoy the 100+ degree temperatures we've been so thoroughly loving this summer! We all had a blast swimming and going on the water slides. I was excited that the whitest person in Texas didn't become the reddest person in Texas! I was diligent to apply lots of sunscreen throughout the day!

After spending most of the day at Hurricane Harbor, we all worked up an appetite and were ready for some good food before heading to the Ranger's game again. This time we enjoyed a seafood supper at Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen. I tried fried calamari, frog legs, and fried alligator bites. I loved the calamari and alligator, but wasn't such a fan of the frog legs. The taste wasn't so bad, but when I picked it up off the plate it just dangled there. It was just like when I would pick up frogs as a kid, except the body and the rest of the legs weren't there. It totally weirded me out!

It was at Pappadeaux that I experienced one of the best meals I've ever eaten. I ordered the Jumbo Shrimp Brochette. It was jumbo shrimp stuffed with Monterrey jack cheese and jalapeno, then wrapped in bacon and grilled. Oh. my. heavens. We all know how much I love jalapenos, but cheese and bacon are two of my other favorite foods. I also had a loaded baked potato, which I love. I wasn't able to eat everything and it killed me! I wanted to keep stuffing my face, but knew I would face serious consequences. We were getting ready to sit out in the 104 degree weather watching a baseball game after all. Please do yourself a favor and find the nearest Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen and order the Jumbo Shrimp Brochette. It will change your life. Seriously.

My amazing meal....yummmmmmm!

After our lovely supper, we headed out to the game. We enjoyed the same seats that we had Friday night. Chris' dad and sister wanted shirts to celebrate our family vacation and I was assigned the job of shirt designer. I think some of the guys thought it was ridiculous, but I thought it was so much fun! There was no denying that we were together.

A Dad and his sons.

Rangers Ballpark in Arlington

At one point in the game, most of the family left to go get drinks or do some shopping. Chris' niece, Katelynn, and I were left to have fun together!

Katelynn and her foam finger.

Showing off the back of our shirts!

Showing my enthusiasm for Josh Hamilton!

Katelynn told me to have a serious face.

C+L=love (I know, I'm cheesy!)

Me and the Birthday Boy!

The game was exciting, but sadly the Rangers lost. It could have been a better ending to our weekend, but it was still a lot of fun!

Meal Planning Monday - Aug 8

Reviews:

Well, I didn't exactly follow our meal plan for last week. Not at all actually. I only made 2 of the meals I planned, and only 1 of those was on the right day. That's just how some weeks go!

Skillet chicken - - I still haven't found exactly where I got the recipe, but it's super easy. It was basically sauteeing vegetables (I used carrots, onion, green and red pepper), adding in chicken chunks and cooking until done, then dump in a can of crushed tomatoes and spices. I used garlic, basil, oregano, salt and pepper, but you could change the spices around to whatever flavors you would like.

We had a great time in the Metroplex for Chris' birthday and I ate one of the best meals of my life this weekend. But that will be another post.

This week's plan:

Monday: Crock-pot Lemon Chicken and noodles, carrots

Tuesday: Tilapia, rice, broccoli

Wednesday: Taco salad/tacos, guacamole

Thursday: Chicken tortellini, green beans

Friday: Spaghetti

Saturday: Brats, potatoes, vegetable

Sunday: Church - Chicken spaghetti, Oatmeal Butter Tart Squares; Supper - leftovers from church or burgers

***Check this page out for more meal ideas!***

Photography Challenge: Week 2

The topic for this week of the Photography Challenge over at A Step in the Journey is what makes you smile.

I'm thankful for many opportunities to smile throughout the day. I captured a few things that have made me smile throughout the week:

1/10,F4.0
Fresh strawberries for breakfast

1/500, F5.6
Pottery Barn catalogs...total eye candy!

1/180, F5.6
Laundry blowing in the breeze

1/10, F4.5
Beating my brother at Words with Friends :)