Sweet'n sour Chicken

This is so easy and fast to prepare, I love my crockpot especially since i have a baby and not alot of time to cook.....

Sweet and Sour Chicken
8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1-8 oz. bottle Catalina salad dressing
1 envelope dry mix onion soup
10 oz jar apricot preserves

Place chicken breasts in your slow cooker. Pour remaining ingredients on top of chicken. No need to mix. Cover and cook for 6 to 8 hours on low.

Oyster Crackers

These are really good. I been eating them all evening. . .Yes, i tell ya the after baby weight is not coming off very fast this way!! What I did/would do different from the recipe is I used 2 packages of oyster crackers that were 10 oz each, used 1 cup of oil and the rest I did exactly like the recipe. It was perfect. I would think 3/4 cup of oil for 1 bag of crackers would be too much oil but thats just me thinking.

Ranch Oyster Crackers

3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 (1 ounce) package dry Ranch-style dressing mix
1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed
1/4 teaspoon lemon pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 (12 ounce) package oyster crackers

Preheat oven to 275 degrees F (135 degrees C).In a mixing bowl, whisk together vegetable oil, ranch-style dressing mix, dill weed, lemon pepper and garlic powder. Pour this spice mixture over the crackers in a medium bowl, and stir until the crackers are coated. Arrange the crackers on a large baking sheet.Bake in the preheated 275 degrees F (135 degrees C) oven for 15 to 20 minutes

Coming up next week sometime. . . . Red Velvet Cake Truffles

Party Mix

This is so good, I have used this recipe for years! I add different items to it each year depending on what I want at the time. . .

Seasoning Mix:
1 Cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup butter
2 T. Worchestershire sauce
1 teas. Garlic salt
1 teas. seasoning salt
1/2 pkg. Ranch dressing mix
mix together and pour over the party mix. Divide into cookie sheets and bake at 250 for 2 hours stirring every 15 minutes.

Now you can add just about anything you want....The original recipe calls for
1 box cheerios
1 box chex
1 bag pretzels
1 small can nuts or peanuts
1 box cheezits or cheese nips
1 box honeycomb cereal

I vary it all the time though. I have added a bag of oyster crackers, or a bag of cheetos, or a box of bugles in place of something . OR if you like one item alot you could do 2 bags or box of something instead of something else.

SHrimp & Rice Casserole

This is really good! I got the recipe from kellys recipe blog and my dear husband made it last night and oh man!! LOVE IT.

Paula Deen Shrimp & Rice casserole

Ingredients

• 1 (8-ounce) package wild rice
• 1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 (10 3/4-ounce can) condensed cream of mushroom soup
• 2 cups grated sharp Cheddar
• Salt and pepper

Directions

Cook the rice according to package directions minus 1/4 cup water. Drain and cool.

Bring 2 cups water and 1/2 tablespoon salt to a boil in a medium saucepan and cook the shrimp for 1 minute. Drain immediately and set aside.

Heat the butter in saucepan and saute the pepper and onion until soft, about 5 minutes.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine the rice, soup, 1 1/2 cups of cheese, shrimp and vegetables. Add salt and pepper, to taste. Mix well. Spray a 9-inch square aluminum cake pan or an 11 by 7-inch glass casserole dish with vegetable spray. Place the mixture in the pan and top with remaining 1/2 cup cheese. Bake for 30 minutes, until bubbly.

Cinnamon Rolls

Today I made some cinnamon rolls from This Cooking site. She has some great recipes and everything I have made from her turns out great.
The only thing I did differently was I made my own cresent roll recipe instead of using store bought. They turned out really good. I made them small like her's and I have to say they baked much better than my recipe did. Mine I always make regular size rolls and they never bake right. They are always too done or too gooey. These baked much more even I think because of the size.

Sausage Gravy

I made biscuits and Sausage gravy tonight for supper. Now most recipes are the same, just a few changes here and there but for the most part sausage gravy is sausage gravy. . .
So I took 1# ground sausage and fried it. DONT Drain the grease. Once its all cooked add 3 or 4 T. Flour. Stir together and let boil for a few minutes. Add Milk a cup at a time stirring it so you can kinda see the consistency. I just dumped! Lol. Then add Season salt, salt & pepper. These all depend on your taste. Just add some and taste. Keep it to a medium low heat so its bubbly and keep stirring until its thickened.
Now for the hint on good gravy! I just learned this the other day from my mom. Add 1 T. Ketchup to the gravy and stir it in. Yes, KETCHUP. It adds some spice to it and you dont taste the ketchup. I was a bit skeptical but I tried it tonight and its really good!

Garlic Cheese Flatbread

I made a big pot of Chicken soup today in my crockpot so I decided to try and make some cheese bread to go with it. I took 2 different recipes, one from my mother in law and one from allrecipes.com and combined them. It was good but I would personally add more Garlic powder or a little garlic salt plus the garlic powder cause it didnt have any garlic taste.

• 1 (.25 ounce) envelope active dry yeast
• 1 cup lukewarm water
• 2 cups bread flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons white sugar
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

I made the dough in my bread machine. If you use your bread machine pour in the water & olive oil first. Then add the flour, salt, sugar and the yeast last. Set your machine to the dough setting and let it go! I had to add a bit of water to the dough after the first few minutes in the machine because it was really dry so just check it after a few minutes.
If you dont have a machine here is the instructions to make the dough by hand:

In a cup or small bowl, sprinkle yeast over the surface of the lukewarm water. Let stand for 5 to 10 minutes to dissolve.In a large bowl, stir together the flour, salt and sugar. Pour in the yeast mixture along with the olive oil. Beat with a sturdy spoon until dough is stiff enough to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Cover, and set aside until doubled in size, about 35 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl and knead briefly on a floured surface. Roll the dough out to 1/4 to 1/2 inch thickness or to the size of your baking sheet.

Once the dough is rolled out onto your baking sheet. I used a round pizza stone. Spread a generous amount of softened butter with your fingers or a spoon whichever is easier for you onto the dough. Then sprinkle the dough with
2 T. Garlic Powder
1 T. Oregano
Generous sprinkling of Grated parmesan cheese
2 cups Shredded cheddar cheese
Like I said earlier it didnt have much garlic flavor so I would add more garlic powder next time or add the 2 T. garlic powder it calls for and then add some garlic salt also.

Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes. I left mine in a little longer until it was golden brown on the edges but I like mine crispy.