Cheesy Cherry Danish

It has been cold here in Texas.  We haven't been above 50 in a week, so, we've been huddled up in the house all weekend.  It would have given me a great opportunity to bake, but I am out of flour.  It would be easy enough to go to the store and buy some, but I don't want to leave my house for work, much less shopping.  I raided the fridge for ingredients.  I found crescent rolls, cream cheese, pie filling.....hmmm that sound like the makings of something good.

I have made this before, but used apple pie filling.  I think the fam likes it better than cherry, but they ate it nonetheless.

Cheesy Cherry Danish

Ingredients:

2 cans crescent rolls

2 bricks of cream cheese, softened

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar, divided

1 egg white

1 tsp vanilla

3 tbl milk

Directions:

Using one can of rolls, press in to the bottom of a greased 9X13 pan.  Make sure you pinch the seams together.  Beat together the cream cheese, 3/4 cup of powdered sugar,vanilla and the egg white.  Spread over the crescent roll crust.  Then, spread the pie filling over the top.  Lastly, top with the other can of crescent rolls.  Bake at 350˚ for 20-25 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.  

Whisk together the other 3/4 cup of the powdered sugar and the milk and drizzle over the top.

  

Yum!  On a side note, how do you separate your eggs?  I prefer the old through the fingers trick, but it's messy.

Quick Lemon Pasta with Chicken

Ok, tell me I'm not the only one obsessed with Hallmark Channel's Christmas movies.  When they announced they would be starting on October 31st, I thought; 'well isn't that early?'.  But, I've been glued to them since they started.  Right now, I'm writing to Let it Snow with Candace Cameron; anxiously awaiting the new North Pole movie!  I need to get a life. Or a hobby. Or both.


Do you ever take the hubster grocery shopping with you and forget everything you need?  I had a great Menu Monday post ready for posting on Sunday.  But, I took Maintenance Man to the store with me.  He was in a small hurry and I didn't bring my list.  ARGH!  So, we had none of the ingredients for the menu.

Luckily, I had all the ingredients for this dish.  It's, just like the name says, quick.  But, I love the way the basil and lemon really combine in this dish.

Quick Lemon Pasta with Chicken

Ingredients:

8 oz pasta, cooked according to directions

6 tbsp unmelted butter

2 tbsp lemon juice

3 tsp dried basil

3 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp lemon-pepper seasoning

2 lbs cubed chicken

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

Cook pasta according to package directions. Melt 3 tbsp butter in a fry pan and saute the chicken until brown.  Then, add 3 tbsp butter, lemon juice, basil, garlic powder, and lemon pepper seasoning and simmer until butter has melted, stirring to coat the chicken.  Add drained pasta and toss to coat.  Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.  

Crock Pot Cranberry Chicken

Seriously,  I cannot believe I haven't blogged this before.  This is an easy mid-week meal; put it in the crock pot and forget about it.

This recipe has a back-story.  When I was pregnant with Riley, I found iVillage.com, a message board site for women.  I joined the September '06 Expecting Club.  We, eventually found our name:  The September '06 Gingersnaps.  Aww, that was a life-time ago.  When the kiddos were about 6 months old, we all decided to have a recipe swap.  This recipe was submitted by one of the mommies.  I made it almost immediately and all fell in love with it. Those babies, are now turning 8!   Sadly, our little board was gobbled up by Facebook.  I lost touch with all the ladies from that board, but I am still Facebook friends with some ladies from a Photoshop board from there.  Now, iVillage, once the go-to site for women, is basically a ghost-town and that is so sad to me.

So, here it is:

Crock-pot Cranberry Chicken

Ingredients:

1# chicken thighs

1 can cranberry sauce

1 bottle of barbecue sauce

1 onion, ringed

1 rib celery, diced

salt and pepper 

Directions:

Salt and pepper the chicken.  Place chicken in the crock-pot.  Cover the chicken with the onion and celery.  Dump the cranberry sauce and onions.  Place the lid on the pot, cook of low for 6-8 hours.  

This chicken comes out of the crock-pot and almost falls off the bone.  We usually have this with mashed potatoes, green beans and some pull-apart bread (also from that recipe exchange).  

I hope you and your family tries it and likes it as much as we do. 

Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup

Ok, folks, I disappeared.  I don't have much of an excuse.  I just left.  I hope there are some readers left to read my blog.

My blog.  I'm having mixed feelings about my blog.

1.  I love blogging.  I love having you guys reading up on my little (somewhat boring) life.

2.  I hate blogging.  My life is pretty boring, so coming up with new content can be challenging.

3.  We moved.  We moved back to the DFW area. I am in my car more than I am home.  Maybe that is an exaggeration, but my drive time has almost tripled.  So, I feel like I'm trapped behind the wheel with many other trapped drivers all around me.

4.  The lighting in my house sucks.  I apologize in advance if the pictures make the food look unappetizing.

5.  I have a very picky family.  If it's not fried or processed, they don't want it.


But, here I am.  Back to blogging.  Or, trying to get back to blogging.

I tried a new crock pot recipe.  Today was dreary.  Rainy and cool.  I thought it was a perfect day for soup.  Now, remember when I said my family doesn't want anything that's not fried or processed?  Well, this was neither, so they didn't. like. it.

Maintenance Man is alway telling me we need to have more soups.  I forget, that, his idea of soup is opening a can of cream of mushroom soup.  BARF.  I tell him every time he does it that cream of anything soup is not a meal, but a filler. He doesn't listen.

So, while the rest of my family was eating Honey Nut Cheerios,  I was enjoying this soup.

Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup

Ingredients:

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed

1 can (15.25 oz) whole kernel corn, drained

1 can (15.25 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained

1 can (15.25 oz) white beans, rinsed and drained (I used pinto)

1 can (10 oz) Rotel tomatoes

1 can (28 oz) whole tomatoes 

cumin

chili powder 

s&p

chicken broth

Directions:

Spray pot of crock pot with cooking spray.  Place cubed chicken in and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover the chicken with the rest of the ingredients and stir.  I don't measure the spices, I sprinkle and smell.  Probably about 3 teaspoons of chili powder and 1 1/2 teaspoons of cumin (give or take).  Plop the lid on the pot and cook for 8 hours on low.  

Serve with tortilla chips, cheese, sour cream, lime or anything else you have.

I hope you won't listen to the rest of my family.  I hope you will try it.  You'll like it.

On a side note, I think it's time for a new layout.

See ya soon.

Pumpkin Spice Bars

Holy snow-balls, Batman, it's cold here in Texas!  Yesterday, we had power outages from all the ice.  It was weighing down the trees and all the power lines.  Luckily, our guys were on the ball, and had it back on lickity-spit.

There is something about cold weather that makes me want to bake.  Especially, here at the holidays.
Maintenance Man has been wanting begging me to make these for about a month now.  I figured that was long enough to make him wait.

Pumpkin Spice Bars

From the Betty Crocker Cook Book

Ingredients:

4

eggs

2

cups granulated sugar

1

cup vegetable oil

1

can (15 oz) pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)

2

cups all-purpose flour

2

teaspoons baking powder

1

teaspoon baking soda

1/2

teaspoon salt

2

teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2

teaspoon ground ginger

1/4

teaspoon ground cloves

Directions:

Heat oven to 350˚, and lightly spray a 15x10x1 pan with cooking spray

In a large bowl, beat eggs, granulated sugar, pumpkin and oil with a wire whisk.  Stir in flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves.

Spread in pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool on a wire rack until completely cool, about 2 hours. 

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 brick (3oz) cream cheese, softened

1/3 cup butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups powdered sugar

Mix cream cheese, butter and vanilla until smooth. 

Gradually beat in the powdered sugar on low speed until smooth and spreadable. 

Spread frosting over bars, cut into rows of 7x7. Store in refrigerator.

Also, in the fridge, as we speak, is dough for Chocolate Crinkle Cookies (my all-time favorite cookie) and Snicker-doodles. BTW, my family thinks I'm a little silly at this time of the year because I love to say snicker-doodle dough over and over again.  Go ahead and try it..it's fun. 

Crock Pot Pesto Ranch Chicken

If Pinterest were a drug...I'd be in so much trouble. PA trouble....Hi, my name is Dana and I'm addicted to Pinterest.  I find more recipes and diy ideas that way.

I found this one over the weekend:



It is from Picky Palate
(when did Pinterest stop allowing me to add photos?)  Anyway.  I headed to town yesterday to buy the ingredients.

Crock Pot Pesto Ranch Chicken

Ingredients:

8 boneless chicken thighs

1 (8oz) jar of pesto sauce

1 pkt of dry Ranch dressing

salt and pepper

chicken broth

Directions:

Salt and pepper the chicken thighs and toss in your crock pot.  Pour pesto sauce over the chicken and smear it all around.  Sprinkle the Ranch dressing over the chicken.  Pour just enough chicken broth to cover.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

That's it!  You let the crockpot do the work for you. 

I questioned the chicken broth even as I was pouring it in.  You don't need it!  The chicken thighs stay nice and moist.  I served it with Oven Roasted Ranch Potatoes and green beans.  Hope you try it!

DIY Fabric Softener

I guess, you can do-it-yourself almost anything.  I have always wanted to make DIY laundry detergent for awhile, now, but always forget to get the supplies needed.  I just love her etched glass containers, too, don't you?

So, you know, how they say out of desperation, comes invention? Yup!  You guess it!  I was completely out of Downy and needed to finish the laundry.  And while I didn't invent it, I did find this diy and decided to give it a go.


I used Suave green apple conditioner that I had it left over from my diy detangler try.  (fyi, it works really well, even on boys hair!)  I also halved her recipe since my Downy jug was 2.3L and not a full gallon.

3 cups water
1 1/2 cup white vinegar
1 cup hair condition or your choice.

Mix together. (oh yeah, please don't shake...it will bubble. Embarrassed to say I didn't listen.)

First load of towels are out.  I used the measuring cap from the Downy bottle in the rinse cycle. They are soft but  I wish they had more scent to them.  I'll finish out the rest of the bottle. Maybe it'll grow on me. I don't know.

What DIY's have you done lately?