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!

So, here are some pictures from a short while ago.

Jasmine in the snow

Looking down my street

The backyard

Bush next to the house

Across the street

Neighbor's trees

I finally found my Lands End sweatpants.  I haven’t known where they were, for months and with the cold weather upon us, I wanted an extra option to wear to my school job, to keep me warm, since we are outside with first graders, for 20-25 minutes.  I’m so happy!

I need to get caught up on my dishcloth pictures.  Some on my camera need to be downloaded.  I”m so behind.

July 2009 – Beach Umbrella – Andi Worthy
Mid-July 2009 – Fishy Tawashi – Rhonda White
August 2009 – Thank You – DigKnitty Designs
Mid-August 2009 – Little Lattice Cloth – Debbie C. Tilley
September 2009 – ABC – Andi Worthy
Mid-September 2009 – Rhomboid – Annika Lindqvist (Anklicka on Ravelry)
October 2009 – A Dish Monkey – The Cotton Crafter
Mid-October 2009  – House
Mid-April 2006 (but knit in May 2009) – Smocked Cloth – Judith
Darrell Waltrip (DW) – Rhonda White
Little Lace Kitchen Cloth – Carol Bristol

I loved making all of these.  Every 2 weeks, we do a new mystery cloth.  It’s so much fun!

Participating in Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday