Crock Pot Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes and Ham Casserole

We made a ham for dinner the other day, a big ham... so we've had lots of leftovers. I've been trying to be creative with the dinners I've made with this week, so that we don't get too sick of ham! Of course, that means turning to Pinterest to see what ham pin-spiration I can find. Luckily there are several different recipes pinned for using leftover ham, so I did a quick search and scrolled through the pictures till I found some dishes that looked tasty! 

Since yesterday was going to be busy I decided that something in the crock pot would be a good option, that helped narrow down my search. I came across several recipes for crock pot scalloped potatos and ham. After a bit of searching I found one that called for ingredients that I had on hand, so the ham-using up began! 

I wanted to get all the ham off of my bone so I started by putting it in a large pot, and covering it with water. When the water got boiling pretty good I put the lid on, turned down the heat so it would just simmer, and left it for an hour or so. That made the rest of the ham come right off the bone. It shredded nicely when I chopped it up which was nice consistency in this dish. The added bonus to boiling the ham bone was that I could also use the broth in place of the water in the recipe.

Unfortunately this pin was only linked to the picture, not an actual site with directions, etc. But, it did have directions in the comments section. I doubled the recipe for my family, and substituted cream of chicken soup for the cream of mushroom, because some of my family have an adversion to mushroom soup, and I wanted everyone to eat dinner! 

And they did eat! This turned out delicious. The only thing I would do differently next time is add some extra salt, pepper, and garlic powder. We just spiced it up a little more on our own at the table this time, but I'll just throw in the extra in the future. 

We paired this casserole with fresh steamed broccoli and some pineapple slices. Yum! 

             Here's my version of

Crock Pot Scalloped Potatoes and Ham

               (already doubled)

10 medium potatos, peeled and thinly sliced

3 cups shredded or diced cooked ham

2 cups shredded cheese, any kind you want, I used cheddar and mozzarella because that's what I had on hand

Sauce, mix all together:
   2 cans cream of chicken soup
   2 cups ham broth/water
   1/2 cup chopped onion
   2 tsp garlic powder
   1 tsp salt
   1 tsp pepper

Layer all ingredients in your crock pot, starting with 1/3 of the potatoes, followed by 1/3 of the ham and cheese, and then 1/2 the sauce. Repeat the layering, ending with a layer of cheese. Cook for 6-8 hours on low, until the potatoes are tender. Serve, and enjoy!

 

Personalized Picture Clock

This is a project I pin-complished quite a while ago. When I first came across this pin I knew I didn't want to wait long to recreate one of these for myself. I love having unique and useful ways to display pictures, so this was perfect. 

I also like easy, and this was really easy. I think the hardest part was gathering the supplies... I probably spent a good twenty minutes in the aisle at Michael's trying to decide which clock hands I wanted to use! 

I bet you could make this too!

Here's what I used: 

1 12x12 wooden board (purchased at Michael's Craft Store)

1 package of clock parts (also purchased at Michael's)

Craft paint to match my picture (I used black)

Foam paint brushes

Texture cream (purchased here)
      *You could also just use Modge Podge, but I love the texture cream because it gives it the look of canvas)

Spray adhesive

A favorite picture 

Here's what I did:

First, I used a photo editing program to crop my picture to a square and to add the clock numbers. To get the spacing just right I googled clock images and used one as a template over my picture while I added the numbers in the font I wanted (then removed the template). 

I had my picture printed professionally (just at Wal-Mart), and got to work! 

I painted the edges and sides of my board black. When the paint was dry I attached my picture to the board with spray adhesive. Then I carefully applied texture cream over the picture. I did a couple of coats of this to give it a nice criss cross effect and make it look like canvas. 

Once that was all dry I drilled a hole right in the middle of the board. I figured out where the middle was by drawing two lines on the back side of the board, each across from corner to corner. The middle was where the two lines met. 

Once I had the hole drilled I just attached the clock mechanism and hands. I inserted a battery, set the time, and had a beautiful way to display a family picture. 

I loved this project so much, and it was so easy, that I made three more of them right away for gifts. 

I wish I had pictures of those to show you too (especially the one I made for my sister with her cute family picture), but unfortunately my camera got stolen before I had transferred the pictures to my computer :(  (a very sad day), so you'll just have to trust me that it turned out beautiful too!  

Mess-less Creamy Corn on the Cob

Happy Memorial Day! Are you barbecuing? What's on your menu today?

My family loves corn on the cob. It's the perfect side for just about anything grilled. And there's something so deliciously refreshing about biting into those juicy kernels and having them burst open into your mouth. Mmmm! 

But, with kids it can be a real mess too. We always open a stick of butter and put it on a plate. Then take the cooked cobs and roll them around in the butter until they are nice and slathered.... and messy!! While it tastes delicious this way, I don't love having buttery hands, and I don't love my kids wiping their buttery fingers all over their clothes, etc. Why do napkins get ignored? 

Well, just in time for grilling season, while perusing Pinterest, I came across a new method (here) for making corn on the cob in a way that still tastes so good, but skips the buttery fingers! 

All you do is fill a pot with water, then add your stick of butter (salted is good) and a cup of milk right into the water. Bring it all to a boil and carefully drop in your ears of corn. Leave it in the boiling water for ten minutes or so (depending on how soft you like your kernels). Then you're done! 

This method made the corn so creamy and tasty. We didn't even have to add any extra butter to the cobs. I think after trying it this way my family loves corn on the cob even more... I didn't think that was possible!  

The Perfect Baked Potato... Really?

I'll admit I was skeptical when I first came across a pin to  blog claiming that it held the secret to the perfect baked potato. How hard can baking a potato be? I thought. But I'm always looking for new things to try, and improvement on the way I've always done things is not a bad thing, so I checked it out (here).

I grew up thinking that to properly bake a potato you need to wrap it in foil... not so, says this blogger. In fact, she was quite adamant that you should NOT EVER wrapped your potato in foil to bake it... hmmm... 

So, I followed her directions, and guess what... she was right! These potatoes are so good, so much better than any of the ones I had ever baked before. So, she made a believer out of me, and I will never go back to my old potato baking ways! 

In fact, since first pinning this pin over a year or so ago I've made them several times just like this, and they do always turn out perfect! 

Here's what you can do to also bake a perfect potato!

Start out by scrubbing your potatoes. Scrub them good, so you get all that yucky dirt off. I like to use the really big potatoes, but I've used smaller ones too, and they also turn out yummy. 

After they are thoroughly scrubbed make sure to prick them several times with a fork. This step is really important if you don't want to take the chance of a potato exploding in your oven. My hus... er, someone in my family, didn't believe me about the importance of this, and well, let's just say he had a nice mess to clean up! Not that I'm complaining that I got a clean oven out of it! 

Okay, then slather them with olive oil. The original blogger uses her hands, but I usually don't want my hands all oily, so I just use a pastry brush to help me get them nice and covered. 

Next, just sprinkle sea salt all over them. 

Then they are ready to pop in the oven (preheated to 400 degrees). I always put an old cookie sheet on the rack under them to catch the olive oil drips... I'm trying to NOT have extra reasons to clean my oven! 

Bake them for about an hour. Half way through you can flip them over. 

After I take them out of the oven I usually roll them in my hands to soften up the insides a bit. Use hot pads for this step. Hot potatoes really are hot! Who knew??

When it's time to eat them I put a shallow slice in them across the top (lengthwise), and push the ends together just enough for the fluffy insides to pop up and out of the skin a bit. A little butter and some salt and pepper later, and you'll also have, yes, the perfect baked potato! 

Try it, I think you'll like it too! 

I always make a few extra when I bake potatoes for my family, there are so many ways to use leftover baked potatoes... Here's a peak at what I made with one of those extras for breakfast the next morning! Delish! 

Creamy Chicken and Rice Soup

Mmmm... comfort food! Summer is fast approaching. With its sunny days and warm nights soon to come, I wanted to take advantage of yesterday's cool, rainy weather and  sneak in one more soup night before we replace warm comfort food for cold watermelon and dinner cooked on the grill. 

I had some chicken left over from last night's rotisserie chicken dinner, so this recipe for Creamy Chicken and Rice Soup sounded like the perfect way to use that up and warm our bellies before the sun makes its full debut.  

As usual, I made some of my own alterations to the recipe. Since I had the cooked chicken already, and could make my own broth from the bones, I replaced that for the uncooked chicken and water with bouillon called for in the original recipe. Don't be afraid of making your own broth, it's really easy and makes a delicious base for your soup.

Here's how I made Creamy Chicken and Rice Soup:
 

First, I dumped my two chicken carcasses into a large pot. I filled the pot with water, just till the chicken was covered. Then I turned the stove to high, and when the water got to boiling I covered the pot and turned the heat down so that it was just simmering. Then, I left it simmering for about two hours before removing it from the heat. 

After letting it cool I drained the broth, and set it aside to be the base of the soup. Isn't that beautiful broth?

Then I separated the meat from the bones. Using the leftover rotisserie chickens gave me a really nice mix of both white and dark meat. I am always surprised how much meat is left even after I'm sure we got most of it off of the bones before boiling. I think I had about four cups this time.
 

Next I cut up the vegetables and put them into the bottom of the crock pot. I took my beautiful chicken broth and poured it over the vegetables, adding enough extra water to make ten cups of liquid. (You could make this in a large pot on the stove instead if you didn't want to wait the couple of hours it will take in the crock pot. Just be sure to stir it up every once in a while while it is cooking, and cook it until the vegetables are soft and the rice is fully cooked.) 

After that I just added the spices, threw in the meat, splashed in the rice, put on the lid, and turned my crock pot to high. 

After about two hours, once the vegetables were soft and the rice was cooked, I added a can of cream of chicken soup. This is what adds the creamy to the recipe. I stirred it up, and let it cook another twenty minutes, then served it up! Yum!! 

I may be able to sneak in another soup night before it's really not soup weather anymore, but if not, this was a good choice to end our soup season with! 

Ingredients: 

10 cups chicken broth/water

4 cups cooked and diced chicken

1 cup sliced carrots

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup diced celery

Salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp parsley

1/2 tsp thyme

1 bay leaf

1 cup rice

1 can cream of chicken soup

Mix everything but cream of chicken soup into crock pot. Stir and cook on high for two to three hours. Stir in cream of chicken soup. Cook another half hour. Serve and enjoy!

Chocolate Dipped Ice Cream Tacos

For Cinco De Mayo this year I made a whole pin-spired Mexican dinner for my family. We had Carne Asada Fries, Mini Seven Layer Dip Cups, and Mexican Limeade... all from recipes I found on Pinterest. It was a delicious meal! To top it off my nine year old son and I made these delicious chocolate dipped ice cream tacos for dessert!

I followed the instructions pretty closely on this recipe. Mine didn't turn out as pretty as hers, but they sure tasted good, and they got a definite thumbs up from all my kids, and even my husband! 

Here's how we made our Chocolate Dipped Ice Cream Tacos: 

First I found the smallest flour tortillas I could find. We buttered each and sprinkled a mixture of sugar and cinnamon on them. Then we folded them over and placed them onto a cookie sheet. As suggested, we crumpled up some tin foil and tucked it inside to keep the shells open while we baked them.

We popped them in the oven (at 350 degrees) for about twenty minutes, turning them over and making sure they were keeping their shape half way through.

After they cooled completely we filled them to the rim with vanilla ice cream, being careful not to break any of our shells. Then it was time to put them in the freezer to harden up. I set mine in 8x8 square cake pans to help them stay upright. 

While they were in the freezer we melted chocolate chips in a bowl by putting them in the microwave for about a minute, then stirring well. We also dumped some Christmas sprinkles, that were just the right colors for Cinco De Mayo, into a bowl.

We took the tacos out of the freezer and dipped them into the chocolate, and then immediately into the sprinkles. Here I wish I had followed the original pinner's advice for dipping the chocolate though, and used a mini loaf pan instead of a bowl... that would have made getting the whole top of the taco dipped evenly a lot easier. We ended up using a spoon to get the coverage we wanted.

Once sufficiently covered in chocolate and sprinkles (both the tacos and us - this turned out to be a bit messy!), we put them back in the cake pan to return to the freezer till we were ready to eat them.

Like I said, these were delicious, and super easy. And so fun having one of my kids work with me making these treats!

I don't think my family will let me wait till next year's Cinco De Mayo to make these again!!

 

Welcome Post and Sign

This is a project that I was really excited about!

One of the first things I remember pinning onto my Pinterest boards over two years ago was this welcome post and sign.

I have been waiting for the right opportunity to make it ever since.

I love to build things, though my anxiety over keeping all my fingers often makes me put off doing things that require using tools with big blades. This project only had minimal cutting so I figured it was something that I could pull off.

We recently moved into a new home and the front porch was bare, and really needing something to spruce it up; so of course, this project came to mind. It was finally time to build my very own welcome post!

I went to my local home improvement store and picked out a nice 4"x4" piece of wood. The original poster made her 4x4 post piece only two feet tall. My son (who I brought along to help carry the wood) convinced me that I should make ours taller. So, I had the nice worker there cut my 10 foot 4x4 into three equal parts, which made my post piece about 3.3 feet tall.

I also picked out nice looking 1"x6" and 1"x4" boards, which I brought home to cut myself.

Out of the 1x6 I cut two 5.5x5.5 squares (a 6" board is actually only 5.5" so these cuts were easy), and then cut two more squares, each 4.5x4.5.

And for the welcome sign I cut a 3.5"x11" piece out of the 1x4.

Since I had decided to make my post taller, I thought that I should make a third level on the base to keep it a little more stable, so I found a piece of MDF board in my garage and cut one more square, I cut this one 6.5x6.5.

When I was ready to put it all together I stacked both sets of squares (one with a 5.5 and a 4.5, and the other with a 6.5, 5.5, and 4.5), and attached each set together. I drilled holes first, then spread wood glue between the layers, and then screwed them together.

If I were to do this project again I think I might attach them straight to the post one at a time. The bottom set ended up pretty thick, and I had a hard time finding screws long enough to get through all three layers and attach them to the post together.

I used wood glue and two long screws to attach each set of pieces to the post.

When I attached the top piece I drilled first and made sure to counter sink the wood before I put in the screws so that none of them would stick out on the top. When I had it all screwed together I filled the holes and let it dry.

Lucky for me I already had an extra hook at home, so I attached that to my post with a couple of screws. Somewhere on Pinterest I read that before painting metal you should wipe it down with vinegar, so I gave the hook a quick vinegar wipe down before moving on with the next step.

I had wanted to try out chalk painting for a while so decided to try that on this project. I used the recipe found here, and mixed one part warm water with one part plaster of paris, and then mixed in three parts of black paint. I only made a little bit because I knew this project wouldn't take much paint. 

I did three coats, and still had paint left over. Next time I may use a bit more plaster of paris in the mix to thicken the paint up a bit.

I probably could have just used regular paint on this, I didn't really notice a big difference, but it was fun to try out something new! 

 

After the paint had dried overnight I sprayed it with a couple of coats of polyurethane sealer. I had actually wanted to put a coat of wax on it (something else I've seen on Pinterest and have been wanting to try), but fortunately realized that it wouldn't be a good idea to wax something that will be kept outdoors and susceptible to the summer heat... a mess of melted wax would not be fun!

Between waiting for coats of paint and sealer to dry I painted the welcome board tan with craft paint, and inked the edges with a black ink pad. Then I used my Silhouette machine to cut out the "welcome," and transferred that onto my board. Afterwards, I gave that board a few coats of sealer too.

 

Then I drilled a couple of holes into it and added some craft wire to use as a hanger for the sign. To top it off, I tied on some raffia, a piece of torn fabric, and clipped on a flower clip that I had laying around. The flower is interchangeable so I have the option of switching it up for different seasons, or just for variety's sake! 

 

I love how my welcome post turned out! It was really fun to do. Now I just need to add a cute set of table and chairs, and a few flower pots and my front porch will be officially spruced--just in time for Spring! 
 

Lemon Blueberry Smoothie

Today's gloomy, rainy day called for something new and refreshing, something to brighten the day. So, of course I turned to Pinterest for some pin-spiration and found a recipe for a delicious looking Lemon Blueberry Smoothie.

If you don't know yet, you'll soon realize that, though I do like to copy ideas, it's not often that I copy them exactly, which was the case when I whipped up a couple of these smoothies. 

You can check out the recipe I found here.

I didn't have any greek, or lemon yogurt on hand, so I used a small container of raspberry flavored regular yogurt (I know, not as healthy... but it's what I had). And instead of using lemon zest (since I find zesting a pain), I just added a few drops of doTERRA lemon essential oil, which comes from the peel, so it's pretty much the same thing as the zest. Instead of milk I used water and a scoop of doTERRA's Slim and Sassy Vanilla Trim Shake Powder. 

My version was delicious, probably not much different tasting than hers, so use what you have and like and whip up yourself a tasty and refreshing treat! 

Here's what I did: 



Even my little sidekick loved this smoothie!

      Lemon Blueberry Smoothie

            1/2 cup oats
            1 small container raspberry yogurt
            3 drops lemon essential oil
            1 frozen banana
            1 cup frozen blueberries
            1 scoop vanilla trim shake powder
            1 cup water
            1 tbsp honey

Grind up the oats in a blender, then add everything else. Blend it all together, pour, and enjoy! 

Smoothies are so great because you can really customize them to your preferences... what do you like to add to your smoothies?

Easy Garlic Parmesan Knots

Last week we were invited to a friend's house for dinner. They served some scrumptious homemade garlic rolls. I'm not usually a huge garlic lover, but these were like an explosion of heaven in my mouth!

So naturally, I was excited when I saw a recipe on Pinterest for Easy Garlic Parmesan Knots (here). I knew I had to try it soon! 

When we decided to have lasagne for dinner the other night they sounded perfect to go with it, so I got to work trying out the recipe.

The recipe I pinned used canned biscuits, which would make the process more simple, but I didn't have canned biscuits on hand (they are not my favorite), so I pulled out my trusty breadstick dough recipe and used that for the rolls instead. I followed the recipe for the butter garlic sauce just as it said (doubled since I was making a bigger batch), and it turned out delicious! 

The rolls were all gobbled up in no time... another successful Pin-complishment!!

Here's the recipe I used (Already doubled):

Breadstick Quick Rise Dough

2 1/2 cups warm water

3 Tbsp sugar

3 Tbsp yeast

3 tsp salt

5 cups flour

Garlic Butter Mixture - whisk together all ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

4 Tbsp grated parmesan

1 1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp parsley flakes

1/2 tsp salt

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees

Mix all of the dough ingredients together, adding enough flour to make a stiff, but still slightly sticky dough

Shape into "knots" by dividing the dough into how many rolls you want*, then rolling each piece into a rope about 5 inches long. Tie each rope into a knot, making sure to tuck in the ends underneath

Place on a lightly greased baking sheet

Cover and let rise for a while (they don't need as long as normal dough, I think I left mine for about an hour total while I waited for the lasagne to be out of the oven, and that was probably more than enough)

Brush generously with the garlic butter sauce

Bake at 500 degrees for eight minutes, or until golden brown

Brush with remaining garlic butter

Eat, and enjoy! 

*this made about three dozen rolls when I did it, but they were on the small side, if you want bigger ones, just divide your dough into less pieces. 

Why I Pin-complish

A few years ago I got introduced to something pretty amazing, something that has become a big part of my life. It all started when a few of my Facebook friends posted fun pictures of food, crafts, and quotations on their walls. Immediately I was intrigued. I like food, crafts, and quotations, and had spent a lot of time searching the internet for ideas. I've never been good at coming up with my own ideas, so over the years I've gotten in the habit of copying other peoples'. So, when I found out that these pictures were posted from a fairly new website called Pinterest, I knew I needed to check it out. 

It actually took me a while to do it though. Even though I like to copy ideas, I don't like to copy people... and at that time in order to be on Pinterest you had to ask to be invited. I was hesitant to ask one of those Pinterest posting friends to invite me. Eventually my desire to see what this site was all about was greater than my pride, so I emailed one of those friends, she "invited" me, and pretty soon I was hooked! 

Pinterest is basically a virtual bulletin board. When you see something on the internet that you like you can "pin" a picture of it to your "board", and when you click on the picture it will bring you back to the original site that you saw it on. 

You can make multiple boards on your Pinterest profile. So, you can have a board just for recipes, or decorating ideas, or even one devoted just to hairstyles you want to try. Whatever suits your interest, you can create a board to pin it on. 

This solved a huge problem of mine. For years I had been "bookmarking" sites with ideas I wanted to copy on my computer, thinking that I would remember what it was, and what I wanted to do with it just by looking at whatever short blurb I named it. Well, this didn't prove to be very effective. Looking at my list of bookmarks, and seeing "puzzle blocks" didn't end up reminding me that if I followed that link I would find instructions on how to make personalized puzzles out of pictures and wooden blocks, and I wouldn't have remembered that I was thinking that they would make a good birthday present for my nephew eight months later.

The other problem I had with my old method was that all of those "bookmarked" pages got lost when we got a new computer. I'm sure there are ways that I could have painstakingly gone back through them all and emailed the links to myself or something, but I didn't even think about that until it was too late. All that time and energy searching for ideas gone the way of cyber space just like that. 

Pinterest solved these problems for me! Not only can I choose which picture from the site that I want to pin, I can also write a description of what I want to do with it, and pin it to an applicable board. Now when I see an idea for puzzle blocks that I think would be a great gift, I pin it to my "gift ideas" board, and label it something like  "puzzle block - idea for nephew's birthday". 

And, since everything is stored somewhere in internet land it won't get lost. This means that I can access my pins from any of my devices. When I'm at the grocery store I can use my smart phone to pull up my pins and see what ingredients I need to buy for a recipe that I have pinned, even though I originally pinned it while using my home computer. It's great!

Now, that all being said, I did run into a few problems over the years with Pinterest. One being that it's easy to spend all my time "pinning" and not actually doing. This problem was easy to solve, I made an effort to actually try and do or use many of the things and ideas that I pin. When I feel like crafting, I go to my craft board and see what jumps out at me that day. And when trying to decide what to make for dinner I check out my recipe boards. 

I took this a little further and recently added a "to do soon" board to my profile. I often pin things that I might want to do someday, but when I find something that I want to do in the next couple of weeks, or find an article that looks interesting that I want to read soon, but not right then, I pin it to both its applicable board, and also to the to do soon board. That way I can quickly access the ideas and instructions .

My other problem is a little more complicated. With nearly 6000 pins now, it sometimes gets hard to remember what things I've done, what changes I made when I did it, and how it turned out. 

A while back I made Chicken Noodle Soup from a recipe I had pinned, and my whole family LOVED it! With a family my size it's hard to find a recipe that everyone is happy with, so I was thrilled to find this one. But when I went to make it again sometime later I couldn't remember which of the several chicken noodle soup recipes I had pinned to my recipe board was the one that I had made. Several attempts at chicken noodle soup recipes later, I still haven't found which one it was that everyone liked. And, it's possible that I made a change or two to the recipe I used that made all the difference, but how would I ever remember now what I did?  

And just last night my son wanted to make a treat. We looked through my "sweet treats" board for pin-spiration and came across a recipe for some scrumptious looking pretzel bark. As I helped him make the treat things started seeming familiar, and by the time we sat as a family to enjoy them, we realized that we had actually made them before. They were yummy, but what I didn't remember was that they are pretty hard on the teeth. It would have been nice to have remembered that before making the treat. For most of the family it's not a big problem, but for my husband and I who want our crowns to stay in place, that treat wouldn't be the best if we wanted something that we could sneak back into once the kids were in bed. 

I did come up with a somewhat helpful solution. I created a board called "Pin-complished!", where I pin things that I have actually tried. Then in the comments section I can add things like "hard on the teeth", "not our favorite", or "delicious - make again". 

This has helped, but I still find that it's hard to really describe what things I altered, or give a very detailed description of how it turned out, or what I would do differently in just the comments area. 

My solution to that? This blog! 

My goal is to report to my blog about the pins I've accomplished so that I have the things and recipes that I copy documented enough to recreate my pin-complishments, or avoid repeating pin-tastrophes  in the future! 

My other purpose for starting this blog is quite simple. I live pretty far away from my family so they can't just pop over and see the things that I've been working on. They (especially my mom) sometimes want to see what I've been up to, and to be honest, it's fun for me to get their opinions... so, with this blog they can do that! They'll be able to check out my projects without me emailing out pictures to them all. And, if anyone else stumbles across this blog and finds some of my pin-tempts helpful, then all the better! 

So, now after that lengthy explanation... let's get pinning and pin-complishing!!