Creamy Ranch Crockpot Pork Chops

I love my crockpot. I can never say that enough. This morning on our way to church  I threw this yummy meal together.

Creamy Ranch Crockpot Pork Chops

4-6 Pork Chops
2 cans cream of chicken
1/2- 1 cup sour cream
1 packet of ranch dressing mix

Mix together cream of chicken, sour cream, and ranch dressing mix. Add pork chops. Cook on low for 8 hours or on high 4-6 hours.

Since my family is small and my kids hardly eat anything, I halved this recipe and I also added a little water to make it a little thinner so we had more gravy. It is delicious.

Everyday Oat Bread

I have been making bread now instead of buying it at the store. It is so yummy and cheaper and worth the extra work.This is my new favorite. It is so good.

I found this recipe in a book I borrowed from the library. It was a very random book for a recipe but it sounded good. I don't remember what book it was. I have been meaning to try this bread out for a few months now.

Everyday Oat Bread

2 cups warm water
4 1/2 tsp yeast (2 pkgs)
4 Tbs honey
2 Tbs brown sugar
5 cups flour
1 cup rolled oats
2 tsp salt
4 Tbs butter, softened

Mix water, yeast, honey, and brown sugar until frothy; set aside for 10 minutes. (I get my water as hot as it will come out of the tap, and then I add my honey to the hot water. It makes the honey come off of the measurer a little better)
In a separate bowl, mix the flour, salt, oats, and butter.
Add the yeast mixture and mix well.
Knead for about 10 minutes, adding up to 1 cup of flour to prevent sticking.
Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover w/damp cloth. Let rise 1 hour. Punch down dough and let rise another 30 minutes.
Shape into 2 loaves, put in greased pans. Sprinkle with oats and let rise another 30 minutes. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.

Notes:
It is winter and our place is always cold, so I let my dough rise in the oven. I turn on my oven to warm for about 3-5 minutes and then turn it off. I put a small bowl of water on the bottom rack and then my dough on the rack right above that.

I also like my bread nice and crusty so I butter my bread pans.

This is by far my favorite bread. I still want to do a little tweaking. Next time I will be grinding down some oats and using oat flour in it as well.

Crockpot Beef Stew

Crock Pot Stew

2 lbs stew meat                                      2 bay leafs

1/3 cup flour                                          1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce

½ tsp salt                                                1 onion, chopped

½ tsp pepper                                           1 ½ cups beef broth

½ pkg McCormicks Beef Stew              3 potatoes, diced

Seasoning                                               4 carrots, sliced

1-2 Tbs olive oil                                     3 stalks celery, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced                          

1)          Add the flour, salt, pepper, and beef stew seasoning to a ziploc bag and shake the meat to coat. In a sauce pan, cook meat in olive oil until browned, then add the onion and cook until softened.

2)          Stir in the garlic, bay leafs, Worcestershire sauce, beef broth, potatoes, carrots, and celery.

3)          Cover and cook on low setting for 10 to 12 hours or on High for 4 to 6 hours.

Soft Lime Chicken Tacos

I love this. I do not want to loose this recipe. So here it goes on this blog.

Lime Soft Chicken Tacos

1.5 chicken cut into bite sized pieces
1/8 c. Red wine vinegar
juice of 1 lime
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced

Cook chicken over medium heat for 20 minutes.
Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for 10 minutes. Eat with tortillas. I love the kind that you cook yourself.

Car Seat Tent/Nursing Cover

 

 

 

 

 

I am so excited to have another niece. So excited also that I am now more handy with my sewing machine. I just had to make a nursing cover/car seat tent. I also just had to make some fancy burp clothes. She can't be spitting up on anything that is not all dolled up.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Made the yummiest oatmeal cookies. They stay ooey and gooey and are so yummy!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 cups quick oats
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
*optional 1 cup walnuts


Preheat oven 325 degrees.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt together and then add into the creamed mixture until just blended.
 Mix in the quick oats, chocolate chips, and nuts. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet.
Bake for 12-13 minutes in preheated oven.Allow cookies to cool on pan for 5 minutes before removing.

                                                       My leaning tower of cookies :)

Strawberry Delight

Picked some homegrown fresh strawberries at my sister's strawberry patch today. We made strawberry shortcake and a yummy strawberry lemonade slushy. Found instructions for the slushy here.