Last night I hooked up Anna to her IV and then started cooking dinner, Parmesan Garlic Chicken, a favorite in our house. I also made Vesuvio Potatoes, another favorite, but they didn't turn out so great because I was interrupted and then had a slight freak out. (if you just want the recipe click here)

My husband had gone to the store to get some ingredients for the cupcakes I am making for my stepson's birthday party. Before he left he and I had gone through the tedious steps to make sure there was no air in the IV line, not a simple job for lay person. The IV pump is super sensitive and even though you think all the air is out it will not turn on until you have touched your nose three times while turning in a half circle and holding your right foot up in the air. Somehow the pump knows this has been completed because mysteriously after being turned on and off and just after paging the home health nurse it turns on.

Anyway, Anna was hooked up and she was watching TV with her stepsister. I was prepping and cooking. (Onions cooking in bacon grease before throwing in canned green beans smells awesome!) Suddenly I hear my name being yelled. Anna has decided she must immediately go to the bathroom and they had gotten the IV cord tangled up in a plant that fell over onto them as they were pushing the pump to the bathroom. I righted the plant let out a huge sigh and told Anna that I better not have to get air out of the line.

Next thing I know the pump is beeping and I start toward the bathroom with massive attitude and exasperation. That quickly changed into panic. Anna had gotten tangled up in the power cord and blood was flowing from her chest into the IV tube and up toward the bag. I FREAKED! I started yelling what the hell?! asking her why she left the power cord on top of her IV line?! Couldn't she feel it pull on her chest?!

Shaking I called my husband who was on his way home and told me to clamp her line and unhook her. He came in as I was flushing her central line and trying not to throw up. I realize that it was probably nothing and that back flush in an IV is normal but there is just something about seeing your kids blood flowing out of their body that will make you lose your shit,or maybe that is just me.

She got a stern lecture on the seriousness of her central line and how we are no longer in the hospital where someone can come quickly to save the day. I was crying, she was crying, my stepdaughter was crying, and my husband is taking control of the situation. I ended up apologizing and telling them both that moms are suppose to not freak out like that but that I loved them so much and that I was really scared. I think Anna now gets that her central line and IV is not to be treated like a purse. Something to sling around and play with.

Back to the kitchen. My potato wedges had been boiling to long and some of them would have made great mashed potatoes. I drained them anyway and drizzled olive oil and seasoning over all then put them into the oven to crisp.

The chicken turned out great and how could green beans cooked and simmered in garlic salt, pepper, two tablespoons of bacon grease with lightly browned onions be bad?

Easy Parmesan Garlic Chicken (from Good Seasonings ad for Italian Dressing Mix)
printable recipe

• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 envelope Italian Dressing Mix
  
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 cup of Miracle Whip (optional and not included in the original recipe but so good with it)
• 6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 2 lbs)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Mix cheese, garlic powder, and dressing mix together.
Rinse and pat dry chicken and then lightly spread Miracle Whip overall.
Roll and coat in cheese mixture and place in a shallow baking dish.

What a great dish! Sweet, spicy, and my daughter said, a little sour?? (I am sure she said that just because I said it was sweet. The sky is not really blue either, by the way) My husband said he would like to use the sauce as a marinade for brisket and I liked it because it was simple.

The last couple of weeks shook my routine up. I am not sure if it was the twice weekly soccer practice, the ragweed swirling in the air, or the incredibly cumbersome amount of homework and flashcards my second grader has. Whatever it was I found myself letting my husband and daughter fend for themselves for dinner or trying to make them forget that it is dinnertime, that actually worked once. In an effort to get back on a routine, I decided to go back to planning a weekly menu, this means Get Out the Cookbooks and Try Something New. Enter Israeli Orange Chicken from the 1983 Bishop Kelley cookbook, Calling All Cooks.

I switched some things up because I wanted to use my crockpot and frankly I just don't have time to bake, turn, and baste. Be sure to serve this over rice. We had noodles because I mistakenly mentioned I love rice so now my daughter thinks rice is gross and will make her sick. She ended up leaving the table, without finishing her dinner, anyway; for her own safety.

The Ingredients (printable copy here)

2-3 lbs boneless Chicken, I used thighs because I had some but breasts would be great too.
2 tsp Garlic Salt
2 tsp Paprika (I love to use the HOT Hungarian brand)
1 tsp Pepper
1 tsp Dried Tarragon
1/2 tsp Dried Thyme (mine is s powder)
1 1/4 cup Orange Marmalade
1/4 cup Lemon Juice
1/2 can of Orange Juice Concentrate
1/2 cup of Water

Place chicken in Crockpot and sprinkle all the seasonings over all. Spoon the orange marmalade and place on top of chicken in various places. Do the same with the orange juice concentrate. Add lemon juice and water. Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 if chicken was frozen, but note that with all the sugars in the marmalade and concentrate there might be some carmelizing the longer this cooks. But is this a bad thing?

And don't try to make nice by serving with noodles use rice, it will soak up the juice so much better. If I had known this was going to be so good I would have taken pictures but a scratch and sniff webshot would be better. And yes, I do realize that I named myself Crockstar and yet I haven't posted a recipe in a couple of months, but that is because I am just recycling the same recipes. How many times should I post Chicken Burritos or Creamy Chicken and Noodles?

Want to see my Weekly Menu? (September and October)

The best thing about jury duty last week was getting home before 4 p.m. and not leaving the house until almost 9 a.m. It was fantastic! Yes, I had to lick my wounds and practice hooey-balooey positive self talk because I was rejected from two jury panels. The self talk was more along the lines of "you are a freak, you are smart enough, pretty enough, and dog-gone-it people like you". So to boost my self esteem that has sunk to a new low of worrying about what convicts and ambulance chasers think of me I did what I love, I made dinner.

Doesn't that look fabulous?! So good, so rich, and so incredibly pretty--Just like me! well minus the rich part and probably not the incredibly part either but who cares anyway, I am smart, funny, and people really like me.

This is not a dish I could just throw together on my lunch hour. I also wouldn't prepare this before going to work unless I happened to be up at the butt crack of dawn.

The ingredients:

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 2 Red Peppers, sliced into strips
• 1 large onion, sliced into strips
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1/3 cup of whipping cream
• crumbled bacon (about 5 strips)
• Garlic salt and Cracked Pepper
• Minced Garlic (3-4 cloves)
• 5 Tablespoons of tapioca, crushed (you can use 4-5 tbls of cornstarch mixed in water instead)
• Fresh Basil
• Asparagus
• Rice or Mashed Potatoes

In a saucepan melt butter and add the peppers and onion. Saute until slightly wilted but so the crunch is almost gone. Pour into the CrockPot and add the garlic, bacon, and crushed tapioca. Sprinkle with Garlic salt and Cracked Pepper. Pour in the chicken broth and stir. Place the chicken breasts on top and sprinkle with Garlic Salt and Cracked Pepper.

Cook on high 4 hours or low 6 hours. There will be another half hour or 45 minutes after this when the asparagus, basil, and whipping cream is added.

Prepare the asparagus by cutting off the woody part and cutting into 3 pieces. Wash and tear the basil, I used the whole package because we really love basil. Remove the Chicken from the CrockPot and add the whipping cream, basil, and asparagus. Stir until combined (if using cornstarch instead of tapioca I would add it at this time) and place the chicken back in the CrockPot. Turn to high and cook an additional half hour.

Serve with rice or mashed potatoes. We did rice the first night and then I made mashed potatoes for the leftovers. Personally, I liked the mashed potatoes better. Wide noodles would be good too.

And then to celebrate no more jury duty and because I wanted a pick me up since the local ambulance chaser thought I would not make a good juror because I ..........well I don't really know but I am sure it was because I was too fantastic, too logical, too smart, and too many people like me, I made this:

We had these delicious, wonderful, incredibly easy but freaky fattening and gorge inducing Apple Dumplings. TD had seconds! He never has seconds that is how tempting and wrong they are. If I ever just let myself go and know I will be able to live without my pancreas I am having an entire pan of these right after a heaping plate of Chicken Alfredo with a side of Chili Cheese Fries, loaded of course.

Every Thursday Sandra at Family Corner has recipes for Slow Cookers. She calls it Slow Cooking Thursdays and you can find some really good recipes to make in your Crock Pot. Check it out.


Mondays are not the easiest days in our house. If it is after a weekend that we had TD's kids then mine will be whiny when I pick her up because she will be soooo b-o-r-e-d without her playmates. Never mind that she has dance every Monday night from 6-7 p.m. and was an only child for the first 5 years of her life.

Creamy Chicken and Noodles is the 9 year old's favorite and if she likes it then even the pickiest eater will like it.

This will make enough for 4 adult servings and it is 9 Weight Watcher Points per serving (I used my recipe builder)

2 large frozen skinless boneless chicken breasts
1 can Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup
1 can Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 small can of Chicken Broth (the whole can of Swanson makes it a little soupy)
Dry Ranch Dressing Mix
4 oz Cream Cheese
Wide Egg Noodles




Dump the cans of soup into Crock pot, stir to combine and sprinkle 1 tbls of Dry Ranch over soup mixture. Place the chicken on top of the soup. Sprinkle about 2 more tablespoons of Dry Ranch over the chicken. Turn Crock pot on low for 6-8 hours.

My Crock pot is at high Heat for 4-6 hours so I used the Low setting for 8 hours even though we ate within 6.5. I like using the low setting to keep the sides from burning.

When we came home from work even the garage smelled terrific. Anna was immediately hungry.

Every Thursday Family Corner has recipes for Slow Cookers. She calls it Slow Cooking Thursdays and you can find some really good recipes to make in your Crock Pot. Check it out.



Originally posted on 2/12/2008

When I went home for lunch I threw together this meal in the Crock Pot. It turned out delicious and very tasty.

• 3 frozen boneless chicken breasts
• 1 can of Cream of Chicken soup
• large handful of roasted red peppers
• 1 onion sliced
  
• Garlic Salt
• Dry Ranch Dressing Mix
• Wide egg noodles
  

I dumped the can of soup into the crock pot. Placed the chicken breasts on top and generously sprinkled with garlic salt. I had a jar of roasted red peppers so I placed them on top and took just a bit of the juice and poured it in. I sliced up the onion into chunks and placed on the chicken breasts and then I covered it all with a sprinkling of Dry Ranch Mix.

Placed Crock Pot on Low for 6 hours (12:30 and we needed to eat at 5:30).

When I got home I cooked the Egg Noodles per the instructions. I carefully took the chicken breasts out of the crock pot (they tend to fall apart because they are so moist) and placed them on a plate.

I used my immersion blender and blended the soup, roasted red peppers, and onion. Plated it up with noodles, then chicken breasts, and spooned the soup mixture on top.

Delicious!! Everyone loved it and it was so incredibly easy. I completely made this one up.

I think I was able to do it, I took an authentic curry recipe from India and adjusted just a few things to be a successful crock pot dish. The recipe comes from a local Indian resturant, Indian Palace. They published their recipe about year or two ago and I saved it and I made just a few adjustments. I served this with Basmati Rice and homemade Naan. We loved it and the flavors were even more pronounced after marinating in the crock pot for a few hours. When we came home from church the wonderful smell coming from the Crock Pot was a really cool thing to come home to.

I had reserved six balls of dough from my first attempt at Naan and I was able to take the dough straight from the fridge and roll out without a second rise. Perfect. You can find the Naan recipe here. I did not add garlic and I lightly sprayed each side with buttery cooking spray instead of melted butter. Turned out perfect once I realized I needed to roll out the dough very thin.

For the Chicken Curry:
3 Black Cardamon seeds
4 Green Cardamon seeds
4 whole cloves
2 large pinches of Cumin seed
2-3 large pinches of Coriander seeds
1 tbls of Chili powder

**Grind the above ingredients in a coffee grinder and set aside. You will also need Turmeric Powder and Garam Masala after dish has cooked and before serving.

4 cloves of garlic, chopped
4-5 slices of raw ginger, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 green chiles, chopped
2-3 tbls of Canola Oil

** Heat the oil in a saute pan and add the above raw ingredients and half the ground seed mixture. Saute until onions are translucent. Pour into bottom of Crock Pot and leave saute pan on the stove, do not rinse.

1 can of diced tomatoes
4 boneless skinless Chicken Breasts
Garlic Salt and Chili Powder
***lightly brown, until white, the chicken breasts in the saute pan, add more oil if needed. Once browned place chicken in Crock pot. Pour entire can of tomatoes into saute pan, scraping the bottom to get all the pieces, heat through until warm. Pour tomatoes into crock pot on top of chicken. Sprinkle with Garlic Salt and Chili powder.

Cook on high 4 hours or low for six. 15-30 minutes before serving add 1.5 tbls of ground Turmeric and stir then sprinkle with Garam Masala. The turmeric will give the curry a nice yellow coloring that is common in traditional Indian dishes. Add some cilantro for garnish. The chicken just falls apart. Next time I am not going to cut/shred the chicken just let it fall apart on the plate (it will look more appealing I think).

YUM!!! We loved this and I doubled my recipe so we would have leftovers for lunch. Anna wanted more and talked about how good it was today when I took her to school.

This is a family favorite. Some of us could eat this soup every single day. The chicken stays moist and the flavors blend together nicely, making leftovers almost better than the first serving. It can be made spicy and hot or it can be toned down to satisfy even a delicate palate. (I actually used palate, I think that is the first time I have written that word outside of a spelling test)

I should just call this Multiple Can soup due to the simplicity of this recipe, just open cans and dump. It really is that simple.

I use the following ingredients:

• 3-4 frozen, boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2 cans Cheddar Cheese soup
• 1 can Mexican Corn
• 1 can white beans
• 1 can spicy beans, I used Ranch Style with jalepano peppers
• 1 can Rotel, I used the Lime and Cilantro flavored and we loved it!
• 1/2 can Chicken broth
• Generous dashes of Taco Season, if using a packet the whole packet
• Several dashes of Cumin
• Several dashes of Garlic Salt
  

Dump all the canned ingredients into the Crock Pot. Stir and add the Taco Seasoning and Cumin. Before I put the white beans into the mix I rinse them over and over.

See all those bubbles? Yea, if you don't want those bubbles inside your intestinal tract, I found that it really helps to rinse canned beans. Otherwise, enjoy this soup on a night when you are alone or wanting to be alone.

Lay the chiken breasts on top of the soup mixture. Generously sprinkle the Garlic Salt and again sprinkle the Taco Seasoning.

Cook on high 4-6 hours or low for 8. After cooking take the chicken out and cut up into small bite size pieces or shred. Put chicken back into the crock pot and mix with the soup.

Serve with Fritos and cheddar cheese. I love to add a spoonful of sour cream too. TD sometimes adds more salsa but the Lime and Cilantro Rotel was perfect.

This is a quick and fabulous dinner. Add a green salad and the meal is complete. You will need 50 minutes (5 for prep, 45 for cooking) and the following ingredients:

• 4 Chicken breasts. I cut mine in half because the kids can't eat a whole breast and it makes for faster cooking time.
• Stuffing mix for chicken
• 1/2 -1 cup Shredded Parmesean cheese
• Basil, Garlic, and Oregano diced tomatoes
• Garlic salt and pepper
• Italian dressing
• Shredded Mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wash and prepare your chicken breasts that is best for your family. Lay the pieces of chicken in one layer in a baking dish. Season with garlic salt and cracked black pepper. Drizzle Italian dressing over all.

In a separate bowl dump the entire contents of the stuffing mix. Add the entire can, with the juice, of diced tomatoes. Add the amount of parmesean cheese you would like. Stir until stuffing is coated and moist.

Spoon the stuffing mixture on top of the chicken. Spread evenly. Drizzle a little more Italian dressing, just to give a little more moisture. Top with shredded mozzarella cheese.

Bake for 40-45 minutes. Let stand for another five and serve. YUM!!!!

**I would have included a picture of the dish, fully cooked; but we were all too hungry after smelling this for the last 30 minutes.

The kids absolutely love these burritos! The reviews were fantastic tonight. The four year old ate TWO!! The nine year old said, "I love these. This is the best night". The seven year old was overheard saying to her sister, "The chicken was the best tonight, the juicest, moistest, yummiest that we have had".

If only I could get this praise for the meals I actually work on. I made the chicken when I went home for lunch in less than FIVE minutes. Let me show you how.

Take 2-4 frozen, boneless, skinless, chicken breast, Rotel, and Taco Seasoning. That is it!! Easy peasey.

Pour a can of Rotel over the chicken and generously sprinkle taco seasoning over all. Normally I use McCormick or Pace Taco Seasoning but we went to Sam's this weekend and I got this. I noticed no difference.

***If using more than 3 chicken breast add a half cup of water to keep moist.

Set your Crock Pot on Low to cook for 5 hours. Yes, most slow cookers will say 4 hours is high so I set mine to 8 or 10 hours so I get a low setting. You could also start this in the mroning just put it on the lowest and longest setting. Today I only used 2 breasts because I didn't want leftovers.

After coming home put the kids to work. Get the table set and get out the next ingredients: Refried Beans, Tortilla (burrito size for adults, taco size for kids), sour cream, shredded cheese, salsa, lettuce, and any other condiment your family likes or you have on hand.

Refried Beans can be optional but our family likes them and I tend to think it makes the burritos/tacos more filling. I added Taco seasoning to the beans as the seven year old was cooking them.


If you do not own a comal then wrap your tortillas in foil and put in the oven at 300 degrees for 10 minutes to warm them up. (My friend Carol would call me a guera if I put tortillas in the microwave)


Shred the chicken, there should be just enough liquid to make it perfect. Take the tortillas out, put all the condiments out and call them to the table!!


Did I mention he ate TWO??!!

Their burrito folding skills do not stand in the way of devouring these chicken burritos!

Yes, the nine year old was right, this was a pretty perfect night.

Mondays are not the easiest days in our house. If it is after a weekend that we had TD's kids then mine will be whiny when I pick her up because she will be soooo b-o-r-e-d without her playmates. Never mind that she has dance every Monday night from 6-7 p.m. and was an only child for the first 5 years of her life.

Because TD and I are very much wanting to be successful with our Total Money Makeover, we have essentially cut dining out from the budget. This means that on Monday night when it would be soooooo much easier to eat out at the Subway down the block from the dance studio; we eat at home.

Subway is not the only temptation. There is a Thai buffet Right. Next. Door. to the dance studio. Sooooo easy. In order to keep temptation at bay I use my CROCKPOT on Monday nights religiously.

(Wouldn't it have been great if all I had to do as a teenager was lug around a CROCKPOT to keep temptation at bay???)

Last night I made Creamy Chicken and Noodles. This is the 9 year old's favorite and if she likes it then even the pickiest eater will like it.

This will make enough for 4 adult servings and it is 9 Weight Watcher Points per serving (I used my recipe builder)

2 large frozen skinless boneless chicken breasts (FSBSB)
1 can Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup
1 can Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 small can of Chicken Broth (the whole can of Swanson makes it a little soupy)
Dry Ranch Dressing Mix
4 oz Cream Cheese
Wide Egg Noodles




Dump the cans of soup into Crock pot, stir to combine and sprinkle 1 tbls of Dry Ranch over soup mixture. Place the FSBCB on top of the soup. Sprinkle about 2 more tablespoons of Dry Ranch over the FSBCB. Turn Crock pot on low for 6-8 hours.

My Crock pot is at high Heat for 4-6 hours so I used the Low setting for 8 hours even though we ate within 6.5. I like using the low setting to keep the sides from burning.

When we walked in the door at 5:20 last night it smelled so good and all the pouting about not getting to go to Subway (I gave in ONE time and I haven’t heard the end of it yet) before or even after dance went right out the door. She immediately said, “It smells so good mommy.”