3 cups water
1-1/2 pounds stewing meat, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 medium onion, diced
4 carrots, diced
14-1/2 oz can tomatoes
2 tsp salt
10-oz package frozen mixed vegetables OR your choice of frozen vegetables
1 Tbsp dried basil
1/2 cup dried vermicelli (We couldn’t find vermicelli, so we used orzo instead.)
1 tsp dried oregano
Added 1 15-oz can cannellini beans, because minestrone should have beans in it
grated Parmesan cheese

1. Combine all ingredients in slow-cooker. Stir well.

2. Cover. Cook on Low 10-12 hours or on High 4-5 hours

3. Top individual servings with Parmesan cheese

Also, we don’t add that much salt to our food.  We have sea salt in a grinder and I probably just added a couple turns of that.  I’m sure it wasn’t 2 teaspoons.

The 3 of us (Gary, Emily, and me) all loved it!  It was gone in a matter of days.

California Chicken

3-lb chicken, quartered
1 cup orange juice
1/3 cup chili sauce
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp molasses
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp garlic salt
2 Tbsp chopped green peppers
3 medium oragnes, peeled and separated into sections  OR
1 13-1/2 oz can mandarin oranges

1. Arrange chicken in slow cooker.

2. In separate bowl, combine juice, chili sauce, soy sauce, molasses, dry mustard and garlic salt.  Pour over chicken.

3. Cover; cook on Low 8-9 hours

4. Stir in green peppers and oranges. Heat 30 minutes longer.

Variation:

Stir 1 tsp curry powder in with sauces and seasonings.

Stir 1 small can pineapple chunks and juice in with green peppers and oranges.

Plus, I made Chunky Cinnamon Applesauce in the crockpot, from Two Peas and Their Pod.

I love using my crockpot, because you can set it up with a minimum of work, then go about your day, and supper’s made when you come home at 5 or 6pm. I made the applesauce during the night, then transfered the applesauce to a container to go in the fridge, washed the crock, and got the California Chicken all set to go.  I’ve used it 3 times in the past two weeks.

Today, it’s been snowing all day!  There are probably 7-9 inches on the driveway and it was very much NOT done snowing yet.  The snow is almost up to Jasmine’s belly.  I need to measure from belly to end of legs, to find out how many inches that is.  Emily did not get a snow day and my clinic hours went on, as scheduled, so no slacking for us! I’m glad I had nowhere to go tonight!

Participating in Wordless Wednesday

• February – Kiss Me (hot purple in Bernat handicrafter yarn on US 7 needles – Lisa Millan of Digknitty)
• Mid-February – Circle Cloth (Tan Sugar’n Cream and Fiesta Peaches & Creme on US 7 needles – Hakucho)
• March – Pot O’ Gold (Yellow Peaches & Creme on US 7 needles – Emily Jagos)
• Mid-March – The Windmill Dishcloth (Aqua Mist Peaches & Cream and Teal Sugar’n Cream on US 7 needles – Sew-Funky)
• April – Illusion Egg Hunt (White Peaches & Creme, Light green Peaches & Creme, Hot Purple Bernat Handicrafter on US 7 needles – Deborah C. Tilley)

Also, since we happened to be driving through Fond Du Lac today, and stopped at Animal Outfitters to buy some Sam’s Yams sweet potato treats.  Jasmine’s Gotcha Day is in 2 weeks and we wanted to get her a special treat.  You can see that she enjoyed her slice of dehydrated sweet potato.  It is crunchy and has ridges, so it’s supposed to help keep teeth clean.

Sarah got a new cellphone today.  It’s an LG Banter.  It looks pretty neat and takes awesome pictures.  She will have fun with it.

It’s so cold out today. We did reach the 40′s, but that chilly northeast wind took away any semblance of warmth, that that temp might have had. Brrr. DH had to shoot pictures at a soccer game and was just complaining how cold he was. Standing out at recess was no fun, either. I wonder when spring will actually come.

The tulips keep getting bigger and the grape hyacinths are getting more purple by the day. Just imagine the leaves and the green grass we could have, if it would only warm up. Emily and I have planted a whole slew of things to go outside, in May: Zinnias, Cosmos, Coleus, Fennel, Parsley, Oregano, Basil, Lettuce, Poppies, and some others. We also bought some dahlias (pinkish/purple and white) and some Centerfold Lilies, also to go outside, when it’s a bit warmer. I can’t wait!

Since we did have a warmer day today, meaning one where you don’t mind being outside so much, I thought I’d better get a move on picking up after the dog. January was so cold and snowy, that I never really wanted to be out there long enough to pick up the messes. So, today, it got done: 2 grocery bags full, because poop and snow take up a lot of room. The flat area along the driveway looks so much better now. It was hard work, since I kept having to get my shovel into the frozen snow, so I could get the messes picked up.

Back in December, when it started snowing, I never got all the previous “muffins” picked up, so they’ll be waiting as the snow melts. Ugh. Wish I could get to them now, but the snow’s way too deep.

Poor Jasmine. Gary had to snowblow some paths for her, to use for her bathroom, since the snow is much deeper than her 18 inches. I sure can’t wait until that snow starts melting. I barely remember what my yard looks like, without snow.

Since we did have a warmer day today, meaning one where you don’t mind being outside so much, I thought I’d better get a move on picking up after the dog. January was so cold and snowy, that I never really wanted to be out there long enough to pick up the messes. So, today, it got done: 2 grocery bags full, because poop and snow take up a lot of room. The flat area along the driveway looks so much better now. It was hard work, since I kept having to get my shovel into the frozen snow, so I could get the messes picked up.

Back in December, when it started snowing, I never got all the previous “muffins” picked up, so they’ll be waiting as the snow melts. Ugh. Wish I could get to them now, but the snow’s way too deep.

Poor Jasmine. Gary had to snowblow some paths for her, to use for her bathroom, since the snow is much deeper than her 18 inches. I sure can’t wait until that snow starts melting. I barely remember what my yard looks like, without snow.

My family was very happy that Obama won the election and that it was a done deal even before we went to bed on November 4th. We look forward to the Inauguration now!

We had a great Thanksgiving and a wonderful Christmas, although I was so busy I barely got to enjoy it. Had fun at Christmas celebrations on both sides of the family. My family did a White Elephant gift exchange. Parameters were that the gift had to weigh about a pound and cost $10 or less. I ended up with some Charmin’ Ultra Plush toilet paper and while my sister thought toilet paper would be the ultimate gag gift (and we did laugh about it!), my family was in desperate need of toilet paper, at that precise moment, so we were glad to get it! LOL! Gary got a bundle of bungie cords, Sarah got some fancy hot chocolate mix, and Emily I can’t remember anymore. Gary almost got candy, but that was stolen away by a candy-hungry nephew! Bungie cords are more useful for him, anyway.

I didn’t get to open Gary’s present, until we were together with Gary’s family. He had it shipped to their house and then had my SIL wrap it in 3 different boxes, each one completely wrapped with ribbons and bows, too. It turned out to be an 8G iPod Nano in turquoise blue! So, I’ve been busy uploading music and getting that all set up to my specifications! Also, we had to delete a ton of music from my iTunes library that even Sarah wouldn’t be listening to anymore.

Emily earned all but $20 towards a Nintendo DS. She got Polar White and is enjoying it very much. Sarah was doing some video work for my nephew Ryan and got paid nicely for that, so she went out and bought a Wii. We’ve all been having fun with that. I bowl better on the Wii, than I do in real life! The cow racing game on Wii Play is hysterical. It’s also hard to play the game, when everyone is laughing really hard.

I’m way behind on posting pictures of finished knitting projects, but I was finding time to get them photographed.

Dots within Stripes is the name of the Mid-April 2008 KAL for the monthly dishcloth group. It’s a pattern from Knitting on the Net. I’m thinking this one would look pretty in lots of different color combinations!

Oh yeah. It’s still cold out and supposed to get down into the 30′s tonight. Oh joy.

Jasmine’s delicates looked less red and swollen today. She also isn’t scooting and licking down there anymore, too, so I’m guessing it all feels better. I’m glad we took her in yesterday.

Jasmine had to go to the vet today. Her sensitive female parts were red and swollen. He said she had a dermatitis and gave us some powder to put on. I think she already feels better. The vet said it was a good thing that we brought her in, when we did, because once the skin gets too irritated, the dog won’t let you do anything to it, because it hurts! We had to pay extra, for them to squeeze her in today, but I don’t think it could have waited for the Wednesday appointment we’d already made.

I finished my market bag yesterday and actually used it twice today! I need to catch up on taking pictures of my finished objects tomorrow. We’ve just been so busy! I also need to get pictures of my last 2 finished dishcloths, so they can be posted on the Monthly Dishcloth Challenge blog! With 2 weddings and 2 confirmations, in a 3-week period, it hasn’t left much time for play.

I went to the laundromat today, to wash the comforter that goes on my bed, because it’s too much quilt to throw in the washing machine and the filling got all messed up, even more than before. Today, I really look at the quilt and realize it has NO STITCHING to keep the batting in place, so everytime I wash it, from now on, it’s going to get EVEN WORSE.  Actually, I seem to remember that it had little ties, here and there, but I think they are giving way, under use and going through the wash, etc.  It still isn’t like a seam that goes from the top to the bottom of the quilt, or the horizontal length of the quilt.

I was shopping tonight and I think I like this one, because I’m a lighthouse nut!!

Harbour Comforter Set

I like printed comforters, since we live in our bedroom sometimes, since there is a TV in there, and we share the bed with the dog.  It just doesn’t show each individual sin, like a solid color would!  LOL!