More Adventures in Crockpot Cooking

Crockpots are the ultimate kitchen tool. They've been around just about forever (at least in my lifetime) and it wasn't until just recently that I listened to both my mother-in-laws and started using one. I actually got my crockpot free, that was one condition of the deal, I didn't want to spend $30 on a new crockpot when I knew there were likely crockpots laying around in people's cupboards or attics, not getting used, just collecting dust. I thank the nice lady from Dorchester who offered me her crockpot in response to my request on Freecycle . Anyway, back to my latest adventure - "Souper Beef Stroganoff". This recipe was culled from a cook book I received as a gift (from one of my MILs) a few years back when I didn't even OWN a crockpot. So, needless to say, this recipe is untested. Until now. It smells good and I think it might even taste good. As soon as Tm gets home we'll find out, and I'll let you know....

Rating: 7 on a scale to 10
The flavor was excellent, it's not too salty, just right. Very creamy. My only complaint is the texture of the meat (Tm thought it was fine!), but I did leave it on to cook much longer than the recipe recommends. It's very easy to make! It took me about 30 minutes this morning before leaving home to get it going and 10 minutes after getting home. If you want a meatier version just add more meat. We made it with about 1 1/3 lb. of meat and the meat pieces seemed a little scarce. You could cut the pieces up smaller than I did, also. Here's the recipe:

"Souper" Beef Stroganoff
from Crazy About Crockpots by Penny E. Stone

Prep time about 15 minutes, Serves 6, Cost: about 72 cents per serving

1 lb or more beef round steak
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can cream of potato or onion soup
2 teaspoons beef seasoning mix or 3 beef bouillon cubes
1 cup water
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 pkg. egg noodles, prepared according to package directions
1 small pkg. sour cream

Combine salt and pepper with flour. Cut meat into strips or bite-sized pieces. Coat meat with flour and brown all sides in a little bit of oil. Transfer meat to crockpot when beef has browned. Dissolve boullion in 1 cup of water, add beef broth mixture and soups to crockpot, and stir together. Cover with lid and cook on low for 6-8 hours. When ready to serve, prepare one package of egg noodles according to package directions, and drain. Add a small carton of sour cream to crockpot mixture. Serve over cooked egg noodles. (I actually mixed the egg noodles in with the mixture in the crockpot as we like our noodles fully coated in yummy goodness. Also, ours was made with cream of potato soup and I cut the meat in bite sized pieces.)

Enjoy!!

The Fenway Experience

Well, Tm and I finally got to go to a Red Sox game together :) He had gone last season with his friend M but alas, there was no ticket for me then. We bought these tickets from a gal at Tm's work who had extras, so we paid just face value. We're in the right field grandstand, here. I always knew that Red Sox fans were serious fans - but I had never had what I am calling "The Fenway Experience". It was like we were sitting amongst a big, extended family. People were more likely to pick up a chant started at the back of the park, and more likely to carry it on longer - they cheered on the pitcher when he'd gotten 2 strikes on the batter (and 2 outs) and they wanted their team back up to bat. I haven't been to many teams parks - Mariner's @ Safeco Field, and Braves @ Turner Field. The fans at those locations are nothing like Red Sox fans. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm sure they're loyal, excited, cheering fans. But Red Sox fans seem to be a whole different breed. I'm glad I got to experience Fenway, filled with Red Sox fans, during our adventure here in Boston.

Oh, and I ought to say, the Red Sox beat the Devil Rays 6 to 4. It was also Curt Schilling's 200th win. Tm says he's bound for the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Tag

Tagged by formerly paulinechu

1. Four Jobs:
a. File clerk for an independent insurance agency
b. Video rental store worker (with an "adult" section)
c. Front desk supervisor at a hotel
d. X-ray technologist

2. Four Things I Wish I Had Done Earlier In My Life:
a. Traveled internationally
b. Taken a road trip coast-to-coast with no agenda and unlimited funds
c. Learn to speak Spanish (fluently)
d. Bungee jumping

3. Four Places I Have Lived:
a. Glendora, CA
b. Shelton, WA
c. Seattle, WA
d. Boston, MA

4. Four Countries I Have Been To:
a. USA
b. Canada
c. United Nations (well, it's technically an international territory)
d. - - - - - - -

5. Four Countries I Would Like to Visit:
a. Italy
b. Spain
c. Korea
d. Antarctica

6. Four of My Favorite Dishes:
a. cup
b. plate
c. bowl
d. mug

7. Four Sites I Visit Daily:
a. my yahoo site / yahoo comics
b. blogger
c. scrapbook.com
d. iVillage (pregnancy boards)

8. Four Software Applications I Cannot Live Without:
a. Internet Explorer
b. Microsoft Excel
c. Calculator
d. recently, Picasa

9. Four Things I'll Never Forget:
a. My husband's birthday
b. I've forgotten
c. everything else
d. already

10. I Tag: (revised) I tag SKF!

My First Hat

Okay, so I'm not sure how many hours I have been working on this hat - it's 10:30pm now, and I think I started on it around 7pm.. Three and a half hours later, wa-lah! Baby hat! I had a little bit of the burgandy yarn and really felt an all black hat would be inappropriate so I added the stripe - I must say it is also my first project using two different yarns and I think it worked out well. Probably not perfect, but I don't think I dropped any stitches either. It also looks really cute on our Coca-cola bear.

Comics are healthy for you! Read one today.

There are 5 comic strips that I try to read on a daily basis.. They are Fox Trot, Frazz, Get Fuzzy, Pearls before Swine, and Dilbert. I really wanted to put last Thursday's Pearls before Swine up on the blog, but for some reason it won't let me post it here. But, here's a link.. I think you'll enjoy this a lot, I sure did.

I will NOT be held responsible...

... if any of you folks who helped P & DJ move, and ate my chili, are struck with gas! No pointing fingers at me if you start stinking up your own homes! hehe.. And, please get it out of your system before you come over here on Tuesday night (j/k). Honestly, I was so happy to have everyone over today, glad that I could help in the "move" even though I didn't come lift heavy things. Now I'm wishing I had taken a picture of the crockpot before (full of chili) and after (nearly empty). I'm glad everyone enjoyed the meal and if you want the recipe just let me know! I just love my subscription to Cooks Country magazine. I can be pretty much assured that (as long as I don't screw it up) that whatever recipe I pick out of there will come out good. Otherwise I wouldn't have the nerve to serve a brand new recipe I had never tried on 10 of my closest friends. :)

The good news is: I've been feeling a LOT better these past two days (today and yesterday). I just hope that this whole "feeling better" thing will last. I'm feeling like I did before 6 weeks - needing a morning and afternoon snack, but not nauseated at other times, and just really thirsty all the time. I did get heartburn last night, but I attribute that to the raw onion in the chicken salad I made.

I'm also very excited to get started on my very first knitted baby hat. KR was so sweet to let me borrow her knitting needles necessary for this knitting project. Thank you, KR! Now, I just need some yarn!! Perhaps tomorrow.. I may even do a "test" hat with some old yarn I have, but it's BLACK - is that a little too depressing for a baby, to wear a black knit cap? We could just pretend that baby is a cat burglar! Yeah, black is not really a color you dress up your infant in, traditionally. Anyway, we'll see. My first hat will probably be so ugly with knitting mistakes anyway that the black won't make much difference. I'll post pics when I have something accomplished.

Picture of the Day

Here's one good reason why I should keep my camera with me at all times.

Kitty Tongue

Hershey sometimes forgets the tip of his tongue outside of his mouth. We like to call this phenomenon "Kitty Tongue". It's like his super power, that has the ability to cheer up any bad mood or bad day.

Ugh..

Wow, I'm feeling gross.

I'm trying my first crockpot meal today - hopefully I don't burn the apartment building down! I've got a roast, potatoes, carrots & onions (with brown gravy) cooking on high at home. I can't wait to get home to (hopefully) some heavenly smells. I also hope the cat doesn't get too interested in the slow cooker and burn his little nose!

Saturday will be another adventure in slow cooking - I'm planning to make Chili & Cornbread for a gaggle of people helping our friends DJ & P move (into our neighborhood, finally!). While everyone else is down in Quincy shlepping boxes and furniture, I'll be at home cooking up chili and possibly taking a nap while it cooks. What a hard life! P says I can't come because she doesn't want me lifting "anything." Such protective friends! I love you guys!

I want to get to Michael's and buy some yarn so that I can continue my knitting adventures. I'm stuck right now on my project (a baby blanket) because I'm out of yarn! You can tell by this that I am not an experienced knitter. An experienced knitter would have plenty of yarn, the right color and dye lot, at the ready. An experienced knitter would have known what they wanted to DO with the yarn when they bought it! Hehe, not me, though. But knitting is fun! My good friend KR taught me how, and last Saturday we had a fun knitting circle at her place where I not only got to get a few rows knitted, but got to chat with all the ladies and hear some fresh gossip!! :) Hehe, don't ask, I won't tell you what it was!

On another crafting note, I haven't done any scrapbooking at all this month. I only did 2 pages last month and 3 pages the month before. I am really slowing down. I need to organize all of the great papers and stickers my MIL brought me when she came to visit. Really I just need to decide on a project and get going on it. It doesn't help that I feel crappy a lot of the time (especially in the evenings) which is the time that I would have time to scrap. It's hard to be creative when all you want to do is go to bed or rest on the futon. I'm hoping I'll get that 2nd trimester "energy jolt" and get some scrapping done before I have to get rid of my craft desk to make room for the crib.

Updating

As some of my friends have "found" my blogger blog, I suppose I should update it and actually use it :) It's been nearly 4 months since I wrote last so I'll try to update with words now and add pictures later.

February 2006

Had follow up appointment after the negative first try, decided to try again right away, started a new IVF cycle later that month.

March 2006

Church retreat! We were really happy that we got to go to the retreat, because it was questionable whether the timing would work out for us to be able to go. We did get to go, and were so glad we went. I don't think I took any pictures that weekend, but I should get some of the ones that P took cause they look great on her blog.

Finished up IVF attempt #2 this month, last part of month spent waiting for results.

25th - Saw Monty Python's Spamalot at the Colonial Theater. It was so funny!! We really enjoyed this special "splurge". So funny!





April 2006

3rd - took OTC test, came back negative. Had told myself and Tm that it didn't mean anything, only that it may be too soon to test, but still felt depressed anyway.

5th - did blood work and received call in the afternoon, expecting negative result. "It's positive!" I could hardly believe it, I asked her "Really?" as if she would lie to me. Called Tm right away, probably cried.

6th-11th Vacation in Atlanta! We had a blast!

27th - 1st ultrasound @ 7 weeks 1 day. Revealed we are expecting twins! Tm attended the appointment and got to see the ultrasound first hand. Our friend JP at church put it best "Exciting!... Scary!" We do feel doubly blessed and know that God will only give us as much as we can handle. Babies are dubbed the "bilateral blobs" (by MQ at work) or Lumpy & Blobby by Tm.

May 2006

5th - 9th MIL comes to visit, share with her the news that she is finally going to be a grandmother (to human children, instead of just pets). She cries, we go shopping at Goodwill for maternity clothes. Find some great deals after much digging - 5 tops, 5 bottoms & a swimsuit for under $45! Even got a prenatal yoga tape (VHS) for $1.99. I thought it was overpriced! :) Shows how much we think of VHS.

11th - 2nd ultrasound @ 9 weeks 1 day. Babies are growing at exactly the right rate (measured at 9wks1dy), from crown to rump they are nearly an inch long each. Heartbeats 173 and 175 bpm. They have identifiable parts now and resemble tadpoles more than simple "blobs" now. Physically have been feeling pretty good in the AM and pretty cruddy in the PM. Hoping I'll start feeling better soon, but again just feel blessed even in my yukkiness.