Simply XSBaggage

Easy Delicious Crock Pot Chicken

I wanted to share this recipe with you because it is so easy, and so delicious! I use my Crock Pot a lot and I'm always looking for new recipes that me and my cute hubby would like. I call it 'Italian Chicken'. I used a recipe that I found on Food.com, but then adapted to work with ingredients that I would have on hand. 

I first made this in December, and we loved it so much, we decided it was what we would serve to our friends and family on Christmas Day. I love a meal that I can prep early in the day and forget, so I can enjoy family time.

Lay your Chicken Breasts (I use boneless skinless) in the bottom of the Crock Pot. Cover with sliced mushrooms.

In sauce pan, melt butter. Then add Italian Seasoning, cheddar cheese soup, wine, cream cheese and onion.

Stir and bring to boil.

Pour over chicken and mushrooms.

Put the lid on it and try to forget it for the rest of the day. I say 'try'' because if you're home to smell this cooking, you'll be very anxious to eat it!

We've served it with either brown rice, wild rice or garlic mashed potatoes. You'll have lots of the yummy sauce to pour over whichever one you choose to serve with this.

Italian Chicken

Boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Fresh mushrooms, sliced

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup Italian Seasoning

1 can Cheddar Cheese Soup

1/2 cup dry white wine

4 oz. cream cheese

1/2 cup minced onion

 

1. Place chicken & mushrooms in Crock Pot.

2. In a sauce pan, melt the butter. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil over medium heat. 

3. Remove from heat and pour over chicken and mushrooms.

4. Cook on low 4 - 6 hours. (I put my chicken in the crock pot frozen and let it cook on low for 8 hours.)

Enjoy! I'd love to hear what you think if you try this yourself.

Welcoming Fall

We had such a late summer here in the Paciific Northwest that I almost hate to see it go. August and September brought us the warmest weather of the year. Here in the Orting Valley, the late summer crops are just at their peak. My favorite late summer crop is CORN! Just up the highway from our home is a small country farm where you can buy home-grown corn. It's 'Self Serve' here, just leave your money in the bucket.

Just a little country farm at the end of a dirt road.

Pick out your fresh-picked ears, husk them, leave your payment in the bucket.

And if you need pumpkins or squash, you can get those too!

There is nothing better than fresh corn for dinner!

Banana Bread, Belts and Benjamin Button

I spent most of Saturday making new Belts to put up in the shop. I hadn't made any in awhile and it was fun making something besides purses and pouches. 

Something else I haven't done in awhile is make banana bread. I can eat bananas when they're pretty ripe, but when they get to the point of being 'slimy' when you peel them, it's definitely time to make bread.

I use the recipe from my favorite, most used cookbook (as you can see from the stained and torn cover) The Overlake School Cookbook. Mine is copyright 1984, the listing on Amazon is copyrighted 1993 and I don't know if it will have the same recipe in it. So I thought I'd share it with you.

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Banana Bread

2 ripe bananas

1 1/2 cups sugar (I use a little less than a cup)

2 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 3/4 cups flour (I used wheat flour)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon buttermilk (you can substitute regular milk and add a little lemon juice, this is what I do)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In large mixing bowl, mash bananas. Beat in sugar, eggs, and oil. Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix into batter with remaining ingredients.

Pour into greased, 9X5-inch, loaf pan. Bake 1 hour and 20-30 minutes, until golden brown and top splits. Cool on rack 20 minutes before removing from pan.

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I actually make two smaller loaves with this recipe, reducing the baking time to about 50 minutes. And you can easily double it and make 3 nice sized loaves. 

This makes a nice, pound cake-like loaf that's still moist. And it's so easy to make there's no way you can 'goof'. 

After I took my banana bread out of the oven, I picked up my [very pregnant] Daughter-in-law and we went out to lunch. Sort of a last effort at some 'girly-time' before she's completely surrounded by boys. We also caught a movie in the afternoon, 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'. We both enjoyed it, Cate Blanchett and Brad Pitt played incredible parts. I did have to chuckle at a statement in a review I was reading about the movie this morning, 

"For the most part, unfortunately, it’s little more than a nearly three-hour reminder that we begin and end our lives in diapers." 

um, okay.

Festival Hangover

What a beautiful weekend we had! The weather could not have been better. But I am feeling pretty exhausted today. A four day festival is really tiring. So I'll just post a quick photo of the delicious smoothie I told you about, and then I think I'm off to take a little nap.

Mmmm...strawberry-banana!

I'll be back tomorrow with photos from the festival. And hopefully I'll have more energy, because I am sold out of almost everything and really need to get the sewing machine humming. 

Juan de Fuca Festival of the Arts

I meant to post this yesterday, but ran out of time as I was getting ready to start my weekend at the Juan de Fuca Festival of the Arts. Yesterday was the first day of the four day event. 

We had a little rain at the start in the morning, but the rest of the day was perfect. Not too hot, not cold, and best of all NO wind!! I've got a great location this year and can actually enjoy the outdoor music. Hours today are 11:00 am - 7:00 pm, same hours Sunday, and Monday will be 11:00 am - 6:00 pm. 

They have so much great entertainment lined up! You should come on down if you're in the area. Oh, and there's a nice selection of food vendors too. I had a Strawberry-Banana Smoothie for lunch yesterday that was to die for! They swirl chocolate (!) inside the cup before they pour the smoothie in. yum!

Enjoy the long weekend! 

That 70's Child

I love cake. And I love small things. And I love cupcakes because they are cake + small! And because it is my Birthday today I am going to indulge in some of my favorite flickr cupcake photos! I also want to share this super 'Child of the 70's' list that I discovered over on one of my favorite daily blog reads, Sommer Designs. Carrie is the owner/crafter behind the fabulous Sommer Designs, and I wrote to her and asked if I could borrow it for my blog, and she very graciously agreed. So many things on this last rang so true for me! It cracked me up and was really fun to read! Enjoy!

If you were a little girl in the 70's:
You had that Fisher Price Doctor's Kit with a stethoscope that actually worked.
You owned a bicycle with a banana seat and a plastic basket with flowers on it.
You learned to skate with actual skates (not roller blades) that had metal wheels.

You thought Gopher from Love Boat was cute.
You had nightmares after watching Fantasy Island.
You had either a "bowl cut" or "pixie", not to mention the "Dorothy Hamill".
People sometimes thought you were a boy.
You had rubber boots for rainy days and Moon boots for snowy days.
You owned a "Slip-n-Slide", on which you injured yourself on a sprinkler head more than once.
You owned "Klick-Klacks" and smacked yourself in the face more than once ! (Yes! I wonder if my Mom remembers those annoying things?)

Your Holly Hobbie sleeping bag was your most prized possession.
You wore a poncho, gauchos, and knickers.
You begged Santa for the electronic game, Simon.
You had the Donnie and Marie dolls with those pink and purple satiny shredded outfits, or the sunshine family.
You spent hours in your backyard on your metal swing set with the trapeze.
You had a pair of Doctor Scholl's sandals (the ones with hard sole & the buckle)
You wanted to be Laura Ingalls Wilder really bad; you wore that Little House on the
Prairie-inspired plaid, ruffle shirt with the high neck in at least one school picture;
and you despised Nellie Oleson!
You wanted your first kiss to be at a roller rink!
PONG! ("video tennis" ) was the most remarkable futuristic game you've ever heard of !
Your hairstyle was described as having "wings" or "feathers" and you kept it "pretty"
with the comb you kept in your back pocket. When you walked, the "wings" flapped up and down, looked like you were gonna "take off".

You know who Strawberry Shortcake is, as well as her friends, Blueberry Muffin and Huckleberry Pie.
You carried a Muppets lunch box to school and it was metal, not plastic; with the thermos inside, which was glass and broke the first time you dropped it.
You and your girlfriends would fight over which of the Dukes of Hazzard was your boyfriend.
It was a big event in your household each year when the "Wizard of Oz" would come on TV. (Ummm, no. Actually, I would fake a stomach ache each year, I was just too terrified to watch it and didn't want to admit it. Bet you didn't know that about me, Mom! :D ).
Your mom would break out the popcorn and sleeping bags!
You often asked your Magic-8 ball the question: "Who will I marry. Shaun Cassidy, Leif Garrett, or David Cassidy?"
You completely wore out your Grease, Saturday Night Fever, and Fame soundtrack record album.
You tried to do lots of arts and crafts, like yarn and Popsicle-stick God's eyes, decoupage,
or those weird potholders made on a plastic loom.
You made Shrinky-Dinks and put iron-on kittens on your t-shirts!
You used to tape record songs off the radio by holding your portable tape player up to the speaker (oh yes!)
You had subscriptions to Dynamite and Tiger Beat
You learned everything you needed to know about girl issues from Judy Blume books. (Are you there God, It's me, Margaret.)
You thought Olivia Newton John's song "Physical" was about aerobics. (?? its not??)
You wanted to be a Solid Gold dancer.
You drowned yourself in Love's Baby Soft - which was the first "real" perfume you ever owned.
You glopped your lips in Strawberry Roll-on lip-gloss till it almost dripped off.

Are you a child of the 70's? Did this bring back any fond (or maybe, not so fond) memories for you?

Muffins as Medicine

I can't believe it, I've come down with another cold. I swear I just got over one 2 1/2 hours ago! When I felt the first symptoms, (swollen throat) I started sucking on the Cold-Eze lozenges hoping to ward off or at least lessen the duration of another *$%#@ cold. Well, nice try. Now not only do I have a cold but the whole inside of mouth is one big sore. Niiiiice. (Note to self: limit to one lozenge a day for me).

So I was needing some comfort food this morning, and looking in the cupboards, I found this muffin mix that I bought on sale a while ago.

This is nothing like making them from scratch with fresh blueberries, but for today, I'm happy with these fresh, hot little muffins. Mmmmmm I believe I feel better already.

For anyone who's local, I plan on being at the Port Angeles Farmer's Market again tomorrow. (Unless it's raining, or my cold takes a turn for the worse). We'll be in the County Courthouse parking lot between Peabody and Lincoln Streets. Come on by and say Hi!

Have a super weekend!!

Kick Start

It's a very rainy Saturday and so I am getting kick started with a good strong cup of coffee. I bought a French Press Pot shortly after I started working from home full time. If you've never had coffee made in one, you really should give it a try. You can make it as strong (or weak) as you like. Mine is just a little 8 oz. size, perfect for me. I put 3 heaping teaspoons of ground coffee beans in. I buy organic beans at a market near here and grind them at the coarsest (is that a word?) setting.

Pour in the hot water. And I love the irridescent bubbles on top.

Put the lid on it, and let it steep for 2-4 minutes. Push the plunger down and pour into one of your favorite coffee cups. I highly recommend adding a little Coffee Mate Cinnamon Vanilla Creme flavoring to it! I am seriously hooked on this stuff!

Then, because it's St. Paddy's Day, go ahead and treat yourself to a wee little cookie!!