Orange chicken in the crock pot!!

I found this recipe on examiner.com and put it in the crock pot a few seconds ago. Its so freakin cheap and easy I really hope it also turns out tasty. Sorry for the uncooked chicken, which is NEVER appealing, but here is a before picture:

Orange chicken in the crock pot

Ingredients:

• 2 large carrots, peeled and sliced about 1/2-inch thick
• 2 large red or green bell peppers, cut into 1/2-inch chunks
• 3 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (about 2 pounds)
• 2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 8 ounces orange juice concentrate
• 2 cans Mandarin orange segments, undrained
• 2 green onions, chopped (whites and greens)
• 2 cups hot cooked rice

Directions:

Put carrots, bell peppers, garlic, then the chicken, ginger, salt, pepper and frozen orange juice in crock pot. Cover and cook on LOW 4 to 6 hours. Serve chicken on hot cooked rice on platter. Top with orange segments and green onions. Serve chicken liquid in gravy boat, if desired.

Yield: approximately 4 servings

Recipe Notes:

The original recipe calls for the chicken breast halves to be left whole, but this Examiner has found that you can reduce the chicken from four chicken breast halves (about 2 pounds) to 2 or 3 chicken breast halves if you cut the chicken into 1 to 2-inch cubes. If you cut the chicken into cubes, you'll only need 1 to 1-1/2 pounds of chicken.

Boneless, skinless chicken breast thighs may also be substituted for the chicken breasts, if desired.

Some like to use about 3 tsp. fresh ginger, finely minced, but if you don't have fresh, use the ground. If you don't like ginger, leave it out.

Thicken up the sauce with a cornstarch slurry (2 Tbsp. water + 1 Tbsp. cornstarch; mix until cornstarch is completely dissolved. Mix into sauce and let sit for a minute).

You can also make some stir fry Chinese veggies to go with this. Like baby bok choy, baby corn, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots and broccoli.

.:My neighbor's trash is my treasure:.

Almost a year ago my husband and I saw a neighbor with 2 dressers they were tossing out. Since we have a bunch of kids we decided that, "Of course we need more furniture too!" So we basically garbage picked their dressers before they could get hauled away. I was so excited that the first one got done in the first couple of days that we had it.

Before

After

But after the initial excitement of crafty furniture re-do's, I ran out of steam. So we've had this ratty old dresser/shelf thing in the garage for quite some time. I had begun to think about just putting it on the curb for some other person to pick up with excitement and high hopes of turning it into a treasure of their own. But then I came across this wonderful little website called Pinterest. *happy sigh* This has become my new addiction. If you don't know about it, or even if you do, click on the Pinterest link on the right to check it out.

Back to what I was saying: I was on the brink of giving up on this project when I started seeing other peoples crafty ideas on my favorite website and I got inspired. Everything I saw that I loved I thought, "I can do that!"

And do it I shall.

I pulled out that old dresser and dusted it off. It used to have 4 drawers but the previous owner took out the top two and slapped in a piece of wood as a shelf. If I had done it the quality of wood would have been better and it would have fit perfectly with no gaps. But I can't blame them. Perhaps they just aren't as crafty as I.

This is the way the thing looked when we acquired it.

I had to prime the whole thing to cover up the hideous pink and brown. I decided to just leave it white because I kind of wanted to go for the shabby chic look. Then I was inspired again and decided to go with a pop of color. That color happened to be Tiffany Box blue. This color makes me so happy I hug myself. While I was at Lowes getting my paint mixed up I found the perfect drawer knobs to go with it.

So here is my finished project, almost a year in the making:

Shabby Chic Tiffany Shelf Dresser

Felting Fun

If you read my previous post you would know that I just purchased a bunch of felt from my local craft store for making cute little hand warmers. Last night my daughter found an old stuffed bunny that had a hole in it and she came to me and asks if we could pull all the fluff out and make something new with it. I asked her what she wanted and she said, "A panda."
I googled panda templates and found a blog with some good pics of a felt panda and the choice was made.

I didn't have black felt for some reason it must have slipped my mind while gathering all the wonderful rainbow colors. My daughter told me that pandas also come in red. Which works great since her favorite colors are black, white and red. Here are the directions to a quick evening project.

First I made templates on paper of ears, arms/legs, a body, and eyes. Then I cut 4 ears, 8 legs/arms, 2 bodies, 2 eyes and 2 small circles for the inner eye part.

Next I stitched the eyes on using black embroidery thread and I stitched on a nose and mouth.

Then I stitched around all the arms, legs, and ears.

Next I sandwiched the arms, legs, and ears between the body pieces and pinned them in place. I stitched around the body attaching it all together leaving it open between one of the arms and legs so you have room to cram in all the fluff-n-stuff. I thought about filling it will beans or rice or some thing that would give it some weight, but by this time it was late and I just wanted to go to bed.

Finally I stitched the hole closed and gave him a couple of good hugs to be sure the fluff was well dispersed.

Voila! Panda!

In the morning when I gave him to Jillian she was so happy with it. The first thing she said was,"Why did you make him sad?" I told her that if you think he is sad you will always give him more love <3

.:Cutesy Pocket Warmers:.

Its that time of year again. Everyone I know is starting to brag about how they have finished their Christmas shopping. I haven't bought a single thing. As a mother of 4 this could turn out to be a bad thing for me. If I disappoint Im grossly outnumbered.

I decided that since I'm oh so crafty and I also don't want to break the bank, I am making Christmas gifts. My first project is going to be pocket hand warmers. They can also be put in boots and slippers if you don't mind walking on a lump. So I went to Michael's and stocked up on every color of felt that they had. I left the store quickly so I wouldn't just randomly spend $400 on crafty things that will surely keep me busy for the next couple months. Today I spent a whopping $6.40 ($4.15 on felt and $2.25 on a new pack of embroidery needles)

Here's how to make these ridiculously cheap and easy pocket hand warmers:

I made a basic heart template out of card stock and traced 4 of them onto pink felt. You could also use cashmere or wool, but once again Im trying to be frugal. I guess you could also do more than one color two but I didn't think about that til after I started. Put 2 of them together and blanket stitch all the way around with embroidery string leaving about 3/4 inch open. I filled the warmer with rice since thats what I had on hand. You could also fill with some lavender or cloves etc. Don't fill it too full because you want the warmer to form to your little cold hand. Finish stitching the rest of the way and tie a knot. then take your needle through the middle and out the other side so that when you cut the string the end of it is inside the warmer and not left out dangling.

Then just pop these little cuties into the microwave for 30 seconds and slip them into the pockets of whoever holds your heart.

Super easy s'mores bars

Every night right about 8pm, Matt and I decide its the best time to get the munchies. Never fail, especially if we are trying to eat right and diet. We MUST have sweets. Most of the time we wait for the kids to go to bed so we don't have to share tho. :)

Tonight I decided that I didn't want to make something elaborate cause I needed my goodies NOW. Tonights snack is going to be S'mores bars. The website actually called them Holiday S'mores Bars but there is really no 'holiday' to it. Its not green and red. Its not glittery. There are no fireworks. I think I might rename them 10 Minute Monday Night S'mores Bars. Yep.

Here's the recipe:

10 Minute Monday Night S'more Bars

Ingredients

1 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup white sugar
3 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
3 cups miniature marshmallows

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish.
• In a medium bowl, combine butter, sugar and graham cracker crumbs until well coated. Press half of crumb mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Top with the chocolate chips, then the marshmallows. Sprinkle the remaining graham cracker mixture over the marshmallows and press down with a spatula.
• Bake in preheated oven 10 minutes, until marshmallows are melted.

• Cool completely before cutting into squares. (which I didn't do because I'm impatient.)

Ps. If they turn out delicious tomorrow you can make 10 Minute Tuesday Night S'mores Bars.

*Family Fun*

After spending the whole day Saturday baking, making goodies and decorating, I was piping frosting onto my mini cupcakes until the first guests arrived for our Halloween party. These were basically the cutest little cuppycakes I had ever made.

Other than 2 different cupcakes I made peanut brittle, reeses, caramel apples, chex mix and kool-aid in dry ice (for cool foggy effect) Everyone was dressed up in their costumes and we had a good time with friends playing corn hole until it was too cold outside and we had to turn in.

Halloween is always a treat here in southern California. You never have to plan your costume with a matching coat or umbrella. Every year we get dressed up and meet up with our friends from around the neighborhood and take our kids around. its like in the movies. I say that every year, but it still blows me away. There are so many kids and so many great costumes.

Jillian: Gypsy, Penny: Pumpkin Princess, Me: School Girl, Matt: Mobster, Lola: Bumblebee, Brian: Phantom