Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Slow Cooker Chicken

I love to use my slow cooker. I don't always love the way the recipes turn out but I appreciate my meal being ready at the end of the day with a small amount of fuss. I am currently cooking a whole chicken in the slow cooker. It only cost me $2.96. What a deal! I cleaned the chicken and sprinkled it with Lawry's seasoned salt and put it in the cooker for 8 hours on low. It will be tasty and moist.

I found 2 more recipes that I can't wait to try for a whole chicken. I will share them with you. If you try them and like them, please let me know. I will be trying them this month. I have to space them out or my husband will get tired of whole chickens and won't want to eat them for a long time.

Kathy's Delicious Whole Slow Cooker Chicken

Ingredients
1 (3 pound) whole chicken, skin
removed
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons minced garlic

DIRECTIONS:
1.Remove skin from chicken, and empty inner cavity of contents within. Pat chicken dry with a paper towel, and place inside the slow cooker.
2.In a bowl, stir together the chicken broth, soy sauce, olive oil, honey, Worcestershire sauce, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, sesame oil, and minced garlic. Pour mixture over chicken, and cover.
3.Cook chicken on low setting for 8 hours, or 4 hours on high setting.

Thanks Kathy- whoever you are!

Mexican Whole Chicken- slow cooker
Ingredients
· 3-4 lbs broiler chickens
· 1 teaspoon salt
· 1 teaspoon pepper
· 1 lime
· 1/2 cup fresh cilantro stems
· 2 garlic cloves , peeled
Directions
Wash & dry the chicken.
Reserve the giblets and neck for another use.
Season the chicken inside and out with salt & pepper.
Place in the cooker breast side up.
Squeeze the juice of the lime over the chicken.
Put the remains of the lime, the cilantro and the garlic inside the cavity.
Cover and cook on the low setting for 6-7 hours or until an instant read thermometer reads 180F in the thickest part of the thigh.
Transfer the chicken to a platter.
Pour the liquid from the cooker into a separate container and refrigerate for another use.

Go ahead- get slow cooking!

Friday, February 22, 2008

Llama, Llama

Llama Llama Red Pajama

We LOVE this book. I even enjoy reading it-over and over! We have checked it out many times from the library because the girls manage to find it amongst all the shelved books.

Betsy likes this book. She likes the pig and anything with syrup. Betsy is almost 2. Nina is 3 1/2 and doesn't care about this book as much. It is too simple for her.


We read this book every night almost. It is Psalm 23 written for a child to understand. It is such a sweet book. It is a comforting book to read before you go to sleep.


Sunday, February 17, 2008

Sweet Land

I have to recommend this movie- Sweet Land . It is rated PG and is just so sweet. My mom told me that I had to see it, and once again, she was right. I seem to say that a lot lately-heehee!

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Just Smile

This is for you Mom- the smiliest person I know!

Fun Facts about Smiling

  • A smile is a universal expression of happiness and recognised as such by all cultures
  • A smile is the most frequently used facial expression It takes as few as five pairs of facial muscles and as many as all 53 to smile
  • Regardless of the precise number of muscles used, smiling causes far fewer muscles to contract and expand than frowning
  • Smiling releases endorphins and makes us feel better
  • Even ‘faking’ a smile can lead to feeling happier
  • People are born with the ability to smile (They don’t copy the expression, even babies who are born blind, smile)
  • Babies reserve special smiles (Duchenne smiles of joy and happiness) for their loved ones
  • A newborn shows a preference for a smiling face over a non-smiling face
  • Women smile more than men
  • Younger people smile more than older American males with high testosterone smile least of all
  • There are 18 different kinds of smile used in a variety of social situations
  • Human beings can differentiate between the ‘felt’ (Duchenne) smile (of joy and happiness) and the social smile – ‘it’s in the eyes’ (literally)
  • A smiling person is judged to be more pleasant, attractive, sincere, sociable, and competent than a non-smiling person
  • A person who studies laughter is called a ‘gelotologist’

Happy Valentine's Day

I am really into embroidery right now. I tend to bounce from one thing to another- and I am okay with that. It isn't work- it is for fun so I am allowed to do as I please.

I have found a wonderful book to learn and re-learn some stitches:

Colorful Stitchery by Kristin Nicholas
I found it at the library. I like to test drive my books before I buy them for my collection. Otherwise I end up with all these books that I don't use. I like this book and it might be on might list of things I would like to own.

While researching for the book, I also found some amazing blogs with embroidery transfers. I am so excited! Here is one of them:



http://mytransfers.blogspot.com/ Vintage FREE transfers! I am always excited to find something for free, who isn't?