blueberry pie

This is by far one of my favorite pies and this recipe is so easy and sooooo yummy!

Ingredients


3/4 cup white sugar (plus a little extra for sweetening the crust)

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

4 cups fresh blueberries

1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie (I often just buy a double pie crust from the store's refrigerated bread area)

1 tablespoon butter

Directions


1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).

2. Mix sugar, cornstarch, salt, and cinnamon, and sprinkle over blueberries.

3. Line pie dish with one pie crust. Pour berry mixture into the crust, and dot with butter. Cut remaining pastry into 1/2 - 3/4 inch wide strips, and make lattice top. Crimp and flute edges.

4. Brush top if crust with a little water and sprinkle some sugar evenly over pie crust.

5. Cover edges of pie with aluminum foil to prevent burning

6. Bake pie on lower shelf of oven for about 50 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.

slow cooker chicken & dumplings

A good friend of mine asked that I share some more crock-pot recipes so that she can have some new warm meals for winter.  Here is a personal favorite that I found and modified to my liking from all recipes.  The picture is from their site as well.  My chicken & dumplings never looks like this but do taste FANTASTIC.

The recipe calls for 2 packages of biscuits but that was too fattening much for my family so we added only one.

Ingredients:

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

2 tablespoons butter
2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of chicken soup
1 onion, finely diced
1 package refrigerated biscuit dough, torn into pieces
1 cup of veggies-carrots, peas, potatoes (whatever you like)
1 can of chicken broth

Directions:
1.Place the chicken, butter, soup, broth, and veggies in a slow cooker, and fill with enough water to cover.


2.Cover, and cook for 5 to 6 hours on High. About 45 minutes before serving, place the torn biscuit dough in the slow cooker and cover them with some liquid. Cook until the dough is no longer raw in the center.

a nameless fish & a recipe

With all the chaos of this past month (where did January go?) I have just managed to get back into the swing of things now that we are home again. I haven't had the time to craft anything great to share with you and I am alright with that. My family always comes first and crafting is more like a sport for me. It's a challenge to see when I can squeeze it in and how much sleep I am willing to give up to have a new scarf or bag completed. I am really just happy to have my son back in school and his activities after all our medical traveling and to be eating home cooked meals again. I know, I know...I was so excited to eat out and now I want to eat at home but I am burned out on restaurants and fast food.

We do however have a new family member. He is a Beta fish and has no name. Well, he has a name but it changes so frequently that by the time I hit the publish button here it will have changed yet again. Yes, he is my son's fish.

We have a very nice aquarium that used to house some beautiful Oscars that we had to give to friends when we moved up here. The aquarium has since been empty and waiting for us to find a permanent home where we can bring it back to life. I find an aquarium so peaceful and serene. So we decided to go ahead and let our son get a low maintenance fish. My goal is to eventually put the fish in one of these.

I was thinking it would look really cool in the bathroom. I actually posted about this wall tank about a year ago and since we were getting ready to move (as we are again now) I decided to pass until we could put down some roots. Well, here we are AGAIN. I think I am just going to have to buy it for our next home regardless.

This has turned into quite the post and all I have to share is a picture of a fish. lol I will go ahead and leave you wish something more. Here's a recipe for a soup that I will be making tonight for dinner. It's fantastic and super easy. Gotta love a crock pot recipe. Remember that you can add or remove what ever you wish.

Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

Ingredients
1-2 frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 can of Rotelle
1 (10 ounce) can enchilada sauce (I like Mild)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups water
1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 bay leaf
1-cup of frozen corn
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
1 cup of cooked black beans

ingredients to add after the soup is done
tortilla chips
shredded cheese
sour cream
avocado

Directions
Place all the top ingredients into a slow cooker and stir. Cover, and cook on Low setting for 6 to 8 hours or on High setting for 3 to 4 hours.

Now for the good part...add a spoonful of sour cream, and a few slices of avocado to each individual bowl of soup. Add the shredded cheese and a handful of tortilla chips. I like to mix it all up and then eat it up but you can do it however you wish.

the picture is not of my actual soup because mine is still cooking. It looks like it though. The photo is from Tractor Supply.

our 1st blizzard

We are currently experiencing our 1st North Dakota blizzard. This info is from wunderground.com and was update Sunday Morning around 9am. I circled our temps in case you missed that. Brrr!!! With the windchill it's -41 degrees out and we're expecting -48 to -53 still. Until I moved here only Eskimos crossed my mind when I thought of people actually living in anything below zero degrees. This is only the beginning of our winter weather. Luckily I don't mind being indoors.

The storm should pass by Tuesday so until then I will stay busy cleaning up the house, baking, watching some Christmas movies, and hopefully get some sewing in. I just made some great applesauce. I had a ton of apples so I doubled the recipe. You should try it.

the best slow cooker beef stroganoff...ever

Ok, so it might not be the best ever but it is really good and easy to make. I am not a stroganoff gal but I love this recipe and after trying some others I always go back to this one. An added bonus is that my picky toddler also loves it.

Ingredients:

1. 2 cans of gold mushroom soup
2. 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
3. 1/2 cup of water
4. 1/2 packet of dry onion soup mix
5. 1 lb. of cubed stew meat (or whatever cut you have)
6. 4 oz. of cream cheese
7. 6 oz. of sliced mushrooms (or around that much)
8. a bag of extra wide egg noodles

Directions:

1. In a slow cooker, combine the meat, soup, onion mix, Worcestershire sauce and water.
2. Cook on Low setting for 5-6 hours.
3. add the mushrooms about an hour or less before serving
4. Boil egg noodles and stir in cream cheese just before serving
5. Serve over wide egg noodles

If you must have sour cream on your stroganoff then by all means add it on right before you eat but it isn't necessary in this dish.