Donations: Day 4 ~ Dog Stuff

Cleaning: Day 4 ~ Dog Cabinet

Yes, my doggie has her very own cabinet in our home. She has quite a collection of all sorts of things in there. I cleaned it out and got rid of the things she doesn't like or we won't use (I'm not a fan of the choke collars).

All off to different doggie friends of ours

The doggie cookies and the brush found new homes but I still have the choke chain and the bones.

Donations: Day 3 ~ Cookbooks

Cleaning: Day 3 ~ Above the Fridge

I do love to cook and over the years I have gained several cook books. There are several in this pile I've never even opened. I'm the type of cook that just hops online and looks for several different recipes for what I am trying to make and then use those as a guide to my cooking. So out with the cookbooks. I just don't use them. I kept a few that are good for reference (being you never know when your internet could just go out).

This is quite a stack.

If anyone needs or wants some cook books, let me know. There are some great ones in this pile for the beginning cook.

Donations: Day 2 ~ Lace Linens

Cleaning: Day 2 ~ My Hutch

After cleaning out my hutch, I discovered in one of my drawers I had several different lace items I had inherited from my mom. I think I kept them in the beginning just because they were my mom's; however, years later, I've never used them so it's time to let them go.

Lace Linens

Table cloths, table runners and doilies oh my!

If anyone has use for some lace...just let me know ;)

Donations: Day 1 ~ Baking Pans

Each cleaning project so has produced items to be donated. Not only are my spaces clean, but there is also less stuff in my spaces! Here's a little post about these donations. Some will be given to friends, family and then to the DAV.

Cleaning: Day 1 ~ My Pantry

I had two different heart shaped baking pans...never used still in the packaging. I'm really not a baker so it's time to get rid of them. I think I've had them for at least three years, not a good sign that they are still the package.

Baking Pans

Crock Pot: Day 12 ~ Salmon & Green Beans

I found this recipe idea from the blog Crock Pot 365.

This was not a total success for us but we thought of ways to improve it.

Totally new recipe as well as a new technic. I've never tried to make fish in a crock pot. I did a lot of research online before I attempted this. I would not recommend this for those new to crock pot cooking.

Ingredients:

-Salmon
-Green Beans
Sauce:
-1/2 c Soy Sauce
-1/2 c Tastefully Simple Pomegranate Chipolte Sauce (link to purchase this item) *this is a new sauce for me to try.
-1/4 c Lemon Juice

I got this at Sam's Club

1 Package of fresh green beans also from Sam's Club

Place beans in the bottom of the crock. Place salmon on top of the beans. Pour sauce over the salmon and green beans.

I used 5 Salmon filets and had to layer them.

Cook on low for 2-3 hours.

All cooked up nicely.

I served this with garlic mashed potatoes that I seasoned with salt, pepper, Tastefully Simple Onion Onion and Tastefully Simple Bacon Bacon.

Dinner was a hit!

I used frozen salmon. It really needed to be thawed before cooking so it took much longer for it to cook. When the salmon was finally cooked, the green beans weren't cooked enough for our family so I cooked them in the microwave with the sauce. (I never microwave food so this was a bit disappointing.)

The family loved this meal and I will make it again with a few changes. I will probably start the beans with the half of the sauce and cook them a couple hours longer on low before adding the thawed salmon and the other half of the sauce to the crock. It was fun trying something new in the crock pot.

Crock Pot: Day 11 ~ Chicken & Potatoes

Chicken & Potatoes

This is a new recipe but I just made it up. It turned out great. The chicken was really soft and tender and the potatoes had a great favor.

-2 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts (this was enough for our family of 6)
-Potatoes (1 per person plus 1...for our family of 6 I used 7 potatoes)
-Salt
-Pepper
-Garlic Pepper
-Basil
-Thyme
-Rosemary
-Oregano
-Olive Oil

Cast of Characters

Drizzle olive oil in the bottom of the crock pot, coating the sides and bottom. Slice the potatoes about 1/2 inch thick and toss into the crock pot. In a small bowl, mix a heaping tsp of each of the spices. Drizzle olive oil over the potatoes and toss 1/2 the spice mix over the potatoes & mix. Use the other 1/2 of the spice mix to toss over the Chicken. (My chicken breasts were frozen so I used a little oil to make the spices stick). Place Chicken on top of the potatoes.

Sliced Potatoes

 Turn crock pot on low for 5-6 hours. Occasionally check to make sure the potatoes are not sticking to the sides or bottom of the crock. Remove chicken and slice.

Hubby thought I should take a picture with his Irish beer being this was meat & potatoes.

Tonight we served this with green beans cooked with Tastefully Simple Bacon Bacon (link to purchase this item) & a pad of butter as well as fresh homemade bread.

Yummmmmm

Crock Pot: Day 10 ~ Teriyaki Beef Stew

Okay this is a new recipe as well. It turned out great.

Ingredients:
-4-5 Celery Stalks (including the leafy tops)
-3 Carrots
-1 Onion
-8 Garlic Cloves
-1 package Sliced Mushrooms
-2 c Broccoli
-2 lbs Stew Meat
-1/4 c Flour
-Salt
-Pepper
-2 c Beef Broth
-3/4 c Teriyaki
-1 tbsp Sriracha (doesn't make is spicy just gives it a nice full flavor)
-Rice

Put the beef in the crock pot on low.

Beef in the Crock Pot

 In a small mixing bowl, mix flour, salt & pepper and then throw the mixture over the beef in the crock pot and stir it coating the beef.

Flour, salt & Pepper coating the beef

 Cut up the veggies (I cut them all on the bias...a diagonal cut) and throw them in the crock pot (with exception of the broccoli).

The Veggies

Stir the beef broth, teriyaki & sriracha together and pour over the beef and veggies. Cook for about 6 hours on low stir on occasion. 30 minutes before serving, throw the cut up broccoli florets in the crock pot. The nice thing about a crock pot is if hubby works late (like he did tonight) it will still be yummy at the 8 hour mark. Serve over rice!

So yummy!

Organizing: Day 4 ~ The Dog Cabinet

My beautiful dog, Lola, has her very own cabinet full of things just for her. I opened the door to get her a treat and noticed once again a place that had gone array. I blame the kids because there is no way hubby or I would ever leave it this way.

What?!?! I'm sure this is not the way I left it.

So I cleaned, organized and got rid of things we didn't need or she doesn't like.

This is it now. Ahhh, feels good.

Clean & organized.

Crock Pot: Day 9 ~ Nacho Meat

This meat can be used for tacos or nachos. Tonight, we did build your own nachos. It was a big hit. The kiddos liked the idea that they were making their own dinner.

Ingredients:
-1 lb Ground Beef
-1 can Rotel
-1 tbs Tastefully Simple Onion Onion
-1 tbs Tastefully Simple Garlic Garlic
-3 tbs Taco Seasoning
-3 c Water

Throw it all in the crock on low for 4-6 hours. You don't need to cook the beef in advance, in fact you can put it in frozen (if you do, you'll need to put it on high and check it after an hour).

Meat all seasoned

Kiddo 1's nacho's

Kiddo 2's nachos

Kiddo 3's nachos

My nachos

Organizing: Day 3 ~ Above the Fridge

So I went to get something off the top of my fridge and EWWW is all I can say. It was D I R T Y up there so that was the next place to clean.

See that dirt...ewww!

My cookbook cabinet...a mess

Needed to go through the cookbooks to see what I wanted to keep.

I just pulled everything out, wiped everything down and then went through items before putting them back.

I spent a couple hours on a Saturday morning going through all my cookbooks to see what I wanted to keep. I ended up with more cookbooks than I thought I had. I kept the tried & true cookbooks, the two 3-ring binders: Better Crocker & Better Homes and Gardens. These books have all sorts of good information regarding cooking. I know you can find it all on the internet, but just incase there is ever an outage while I'm cooking, I want to know I can find the information I need.

I kept my mom's cookbooks. She marked dates and notes on recipes she had tried. I think I may just try some of them based on her little notes. She marked things like "dad's favorite" or "great for company" as well as substitutions.

Then I paged through what I had left and if there were more than 5 recipes in which I was interested I kept the book and tabbed the pages I wanted to try. The rest went into the donation pile.

All clean & shiny & organized!

Having less cookbooks had made it so I use the ones I have more often. I know what I have & what recipes I want to use in the ones I saved.

Crock Pot: Day 8 ~ White Chili

I love this recipe! This is a family favorite in my house. This is a chicken white chili. I've done a white chili before but this is a new twist on an old favorite using a new spice (Tastefully Simple Wahoo Chili).

Ingredients:
-2 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
-2 cans of Garbanzo Beans
-2 cans of Diced Green Chili
-1 qt Chicken Broth
-8 Garlic Cloves Minced
-1 Onion Diced
-1 tsp Cayenne
-1 tsp Cumin
-1 tsp Chili Powder
-1 tbs Tastefully Simple Wahoo Chili (Link to purchase spice...only available till 3.11.12)
-16 oz Sour Cream
-8 oz Whipping Cream

Cast of Characters

Throw all the ingredients (with exception of Sour Cream & Whipping Cream) into the crock pot on low for 6-7 hours.

Throw it all in the Crock Pot

After the chicken is cooked, remove it from the crock pot. Add the sour cream and the whipping cream. Shred the chicken and throw it back into the crock pot. Cook for another 30 minutes and serve.

Yum!

Sometimes we serve this with grated cheese and sour cream. It is not very spicy...my kiddo that can't handle spice eat it all up. The others in the family have to add chili oil to spice it up. It is a nice and hardy dinner.

Reading: Book 3 ~ Mockingjay

Mockingjay

by Suzanne Collins

This is the 3rd and final book to the "Hunger Games" series. Each of the previous books ended with such a cliff hanger that I had to immediately begin the next book. This final book starts with the main character Katniss being pulled from the arena in the Quarter Quell Hunger Games for which she was a tribute.

She is taken to district 13 which was believed to be destroyed 75 years ago but instead it became an underground society. She finds out that her district was completely destroyed by the Capitol but her family was able to get out in time and is also living in district 13.

This district wants to start a revolution against the Capitol with the other districts and is preparing for war. They want Katniss to represent them as a figure head for the movement though she does not want to participate in this. She finally gives into their request and joins the war against the Capitol. 

This books takes you through this journey at district 13 through Katniss' journey to the capitol in war with an interesting cast of characters. I will say that the end of the book was very disappointing and I wished I had not spent a week loosing sleep to stay up late and read these books. The 1st book, "Hunger Games", was outstanding but I felt the 2nd book, "Catching Fire" and this final book "Mockingjay" fell short...far short.

There will be a moving of the "Hunger Games" coming out in March and I am looking forward to seeing how they will depict this book. I always think that books are far better than the movies based on books but enjoy seeing them. I won't go see a movie that is based on a book until I read the book. It is a great incentive to me to continue to read new and different books, maybe even books I wouldn't normally read.

Exercise: January

I didn't exactly jump in on this goal right away. I was probably one of the few that didn't hit the gym of the first couple days of the month. I actually didn't get going till a couple weeks into the month. Even still, now that I have started this goal, I feel very confident I can reach my goal for this year of 30 miles every 30 days.

This is January's Stats:

19.8

Total mi

1,830

Total Calories

I didn't quite hit 30 miles but I'm well on my way.