Crockpot Chicken

Have you ever watched Robin Miller on the Food Network?  Well she takes a set number of ingrediants and cooks them one night to use them for a couple other meals throughout the week.  So I used Robin Miller's style cooking today!

A Year of Slow Cooking is a great blog if you have not checked it out.  In 2008 she made something in her crock pot every day so she had 365 receipes in 2008 alone!  So maybe she has slowed down and is now only posting one every couple of days but if you have ever wondered by you registered for the crock pot on your wedding registry well she will have something you will love to make!  Today I am using her shredded chicken receipe as a guide.

First I started by taking a package of bone-in chicken breasts.  I removed the skins because my husband hates chicken fat, well I do to when I come to think of it...Anyways, liberally apply salt and pepper.  Throw them bone side down into a crock pot.  Turn on low for 5-6 hours.  I didn't add any liquid this time but next time I may add about 1/2-1 cup of water as my breasts didn't make as much liquid (broth) as I would have liked.

With these 3 chicken breasts I will make Chicken Spaghetti, Chicken Salad Sandwiches, Chicken & Shrimp Eggrolls and Goyza (Potstickers)!

Personalizing a Onesie

I have a 6 month old so personalizing onesies are a favorite thing to make her clothes special!  A friend of mine asked me to personalize some onesies for her twins' first birthday and I was thrilled.  Because knits are a stretchy fabric I was extremely nervous on how I should proceed.  Here are the steps that finally worked for me...

1.  Turn the onesie inside out and iron on 2-3 layers of an iron-on, tear-away stabilizer like Sulky Totally Stable Iron-On Tear Away Stabilizer.

2.  Hoop a single sheet of light weight tearaway stabilizer.

3.  Place you grid on the design so you know where it will sit on top of your hoop.  Spray the tearaway stablizier with a spray adhesive like Sulky Temporary Spray Adhesive and press the design that is facing up in the picture down on the adhesive and hoop.

4.  Insert your hoop and begin stitching.  Roll up the edges of the onesie so that they don't get caught in the way of the needle during the stitching.

5.  Lastly take a piece of Pellon Interfacing Lightweight Fusible and iron it on top of the design.  This prevents the design from scratching or irritating the baby's skin.

Look how cute they turned out!

The Trinity

My Mom is one of the best cooks I know!  She would make the trinity by the skillet full and use it in everything so I started doing the same thing.  I hate, hate, hate to waste food.  So tonight when I was going through my fridge I saw a bunch of celery that was about to go bad and a half full bag of baby carrots that may have expired 2 weeks ago but.....I'm still going to use them!  It was time to make a batch of the Trinity.  I've seen Emeril refer to the trinity as onion, celery and green bell pepper but ours is different.  It's BETTER!

1.  Slice the baby carrots.

2.  Chop the celery

3.  Chop the onion

4.  Add about 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the skillet on medium heat.  Cook the carrots for about 5-8 minutes.  Add the celery, cook for about 5-8 minutes later.  Lastly, add the onion and cook for about 10 minutes.  You will see the celery turn bright green and carrots bright orange.  Continue cooking until the onions and celery are opaque.  Cooking at all stages does not require your complete attention.  I made mine while loading the dishwasher, putting up dinner, etc.  Just check on it every couple of minutes and give it a stir.  The Trinity will reduce by 1/3 - 1/2 when cooked.  When you start with this...

You will end up with this...

I freeze the Trinity in quart sized freezer bags and just break off a corner or two and throw it into spaghetti, stir fry, egg rolls, rice, soups, you name it!  We don't eat enough veggies and this is a great way to disguise them in something my family loves! 

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Grossgrain Ribbon Pearl Necklace

I'm not really into trendy jewelry but the grossgrain ribbon pearl necklaces are just too cute.  My crafty side says don't pay $20 for that necklace when you can make one...Sure enough, I did!

This took me a total of less than 10 minutes, so easy!

Supplies:
5/8" or 1" grossgrain ribbon (about 36 inches)
Black thread
Sewing Needle
Faux Pearl Necklace - cut the necklace to remove the pearls

1.  Pull about 24"+ of thread, doubled and tie knot at the end.

2.  Start the stitch through the center of the ribbon.

3.  String one pearl next.

4.  Mold the ribbon around the circumference of the pearl to find the approximate location of where the hole in the pearl will be placed on the ribbon.

5.  Stitch through the ribbon.

6.  Repeat steps 2-5 until you have enough pearls that you are happy with the length of the necklace.

Shrimp Boil with Corn and Potatoes

It's CRAWFISH Season here in Texas and I HEART the smell of fresh crawfish, corn and potatoes but sometime after my first daughter I just lost the craving for crawfish and it hasn't come back yet.  They say your tastebuds change once every seven years, guess it will be awhile!  So in the meantime I decided to have a shrimp boil with corn and potatoes!

2 lbs. of red potatoes
1 1/2 lbs. of large shrimp
3 ears of corn, shucked and halved
1 medium onion, halved
3-4 cloves of garlic, smashed
1 lemon, halved

1. Clean and scrub the small red potatoes.  Bring 5 quarts of water to a boil with both halves of medium onion, a lemon halfed and juiced, cloves of garlic and seafood boil season package.
2. Add potatoes to the pot.  Reduce heat and simmer about 20 minutes until almost done.  Add corn and continue cooking for 5-7 more minutes.
3. Remove from heat.  Add shrimp, making sure they are submurged and cover to continue cooking for 2-3 minutes. 
4. Drain the liquid.  Serve on a large platter.  Melted butter and some cayanne pepper are extras that always accompany this meal.  Perfect Mother's Day meal!