This Blog Has Moved

Hello all! So I have decided to merge my two blogs together. I am doing this because (to be completely honest) I'm a little lazy and I am tired of maintaining two separate blogs, and I have decided I am more of a Wordpress fan than Blogger.

Click HERE to go to the new blog.

Now I know that this blog is about recipes, crafts, and other ramblings, and those topics really do not have anything to do with our youth ministry, which is the focus of the other blog but I thought I would at least give it a try.  I will set up categories to separate them so that at least it will be a little organized.

Thanks!

Walk For LIFE

When Lyle and I first moved to Utah, one of the first youth group activities we did was the Pregnancy Care Center's Walk For LIFE. Click HERE if you would like to see the post about that year's walk.

Anyway, I loved it and I have decided that this year I am going to participate again.

I would really appreciate your support for this year's Walk For LIFE. Through your support you can change the lives of women and their unborn children.

This Walk For LIFE will raise support for the Pregnancy Care Center in Ogden, UT.

The Pregnancy Care Center is a local, Christian, life-supporting ministry that serves women and families across Weber, Davis & Morgan counties. Their aim is to provide compassionate help and support as women discover positive alternatives to abortion, and as they cope with post abortion stress. In your support of this year's Walk for LIFE, the funds you give will make a generational impact by helping many women decide to give their unborn baby LIFE!

$200 will provide services for 3 women
$300 will provide services for 4-5 women
$500 will provide services for 8 women
$1000 will provide for an entire week of services at our center

Let's work together to save lives and support the Pregnancy Care Center!

Click HERE to give your support for this wonderful cause.

Chicken and Dressing Casserole

Last night I made a Chicken and Dressing Casserole. I have seen several different versions of the recipe and pieced together the parts of those recipes I like and came up with a delicious, super easy recipe that I will definitely make over and over again!

Chicken and Dressing Casserole

Ingredients:

3 cups cooked shredded chicken (I used shredded chicken from a rotisserie chicken I had purchased, deboned, and frozen in 1 cup bunches.)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 cups (1 can) chicken broth
1/2 cup melted butter
1 package herb-seasoned stuffing mix, (6 to 8 oz)
1 cup shredded cheese, Swiss or Cheddar (optional)


Preparation:

Combine soups and chicken broth; add shredded chicken to the mixture. Add butter to dressing mix. Combine chicken mixture with the dressing mixture. Place in a 2 to 2 1/2-quart casserole and bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Top with shredded cheese during the last 5 minutes if desired.

Slow Cooker Taco Chili

Tonight I made this wonderful taco chili. It maybe one of my favorite chili recipes I have ever tasted. What makes it even better is how easy it is to make!

Here it is:

Ingredients:
1 pound lean ground beef
2 15-ounce cans seasoned tomato sauce with diced tomatoes
1 15-ounce can chili beans with chili gravy
1 15-ounce can whole kernel corn, drained
1 1.25 ounce package taco seasoning mix

Directions:
1. In a large skillet cook ground beef until meat is brown. Drain off fat.
2. In a 3-1/2- or 4-quart slow cooker combine the meat, tomato sauce, beans with chili gravy, undrained hominy, and taco seasoning mix.
3. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 4 to 6 hours or on high-heat setting for 2 to 3 hours.

This makes 4 to 6 main-dish servings (8 cups).

Worry Wort

I tend to be a bit of a worry wort. I worry about everything - money, work, the youth group, and pretty much everything else in my life. Today I came across the above quote at Design For Life.

In Matthew 6:25-34 Jesus teaches, “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 'So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own'."

Chicken and Rice Casserole

My sister-in-law has a blog about coupons and meal-planning.  Click HERE if you want to check out her awesome blog. Anyway, back to the main reason for this post...one of my favorite recipes she was kind enough to share on her blog is her Chicken and Rice Casserole.  This casserole is one of my favorite meals, and it is so easy to make!

Chicken and Rice Casserole:

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 cup water

3/4 cup uncooked white rice

1/8 tsp black pepper

4 chicken breasts

paprika to taste

1. Mix soup, water, rice, & pepper in a 2 quart shallow baking dish. Top with chicken. Sprinkle with paprika. Cover.

2. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes or until chicken is done and rice is soft.

Winter Rally 2012

Check out what Lyle and I have been up to this weekend at the Teen Pioneer Bible Camp Winter Rally.  Click HERE to see our post about our most recent adventure in youth ministry.

Smothered Stew Meat

This recipe is wonderful!  It is so warm and filling.

1 to 2 lbs. of stew meat
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 pkg. Lipton onion soup mix
Season salt

Cut stew meat in bite size pieces. Put into 1 1/2 quart casserole dish. Season meat with season salt. Add soup and Lipton onion mix to meat. Bake at 350 degrees for 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Do not check on until 2 hours are up. Serve with white rice and peas.

If you don't have time to cook in the evening, this recipe can also work well in the slow-cooker.  Just throw in all of the ingredients into the crock-pot and cook it on low for 5-6 hours.

DIY T-Shirt Infinity Scarf

Lately I have been very interested in DIY projects that use old t-shirts, because Lyle's t-shirt drawer barely closes anymore.  About half of his shirts no longer fit or he just doesn't wear them anymore, so I decided that I could clear out some space in his drawer by up-cycling his old t-shirts rather than this tossing them.  I have looked at several ideas for DIY headbands, bracelets, and scarves made from t-shirts on Pinterest.

Tonight I decided to make a cute t-shirt scarf, and it only took about 15 minutes.

Step 1:  Find an old t-shirt or buy one if you want. 

Step 2:  Cut the shirt just under the arm pits and cut off the bottom seam.

Step 3:  Cut 1'' strands from seam to seam.  Depending on the size of the shirt, a t-shirt will make approximately 17 strands. Be sure to set 1 strand aside for a later step.

Step 4:  Once you have all of the strands cut stretch the strands.  The more you stretch them, the more they curl.

Step 5:  Bunch all of your strands together.

Step 6:  Now it is time to use that strand that you set aside earlier.  Cut your strand in half at the seam.  Use the half-strand to wrap around the other strands.  To do this, tuck the strip into the loops and start wrapping tightly to cover the seams. At the end of the wrapping, tie a tight knot to tie it off. Use the other half of the strip to do the other side...

And ta da! You have yourself a cute, soft, infinity scarf!

The Best Mashed Potatoes Ever!

Growing up in the south I learned that the best cooking was always found at church potlucks, and  the best recipes tend to reside in church cookbooks.  The recipe I wanted to share is found in the Family Treasures cookbook from the First United Methodist Church in Marion, South Carolina.  This recipe, The Best Mashed Potatoes Ever, truly is the best mashed potatoes ever.  Here it is:

Ingredients:
4 Idaho Russet baking potatoes, peeled and cut into small pieces (red potatoes work good to)
4 oz. cream cheese (more if desired)
1/2 cup sour cream (more if desired)
2 T. salt

Place cut and peeled potatoes into a pan.  Cover with water and add salt.  Cook until potato pieces are soft.  Drain the water from the pan.  Add the cream cheese and sour cream to the potatoes; cover the pan.  After a few minutes, mash the potatoes.  Serve.

Although these potatoes are not the healthiest side dish, they are extremely delicious.

Chili Coke Roast and Garlic Green Beans

I love crock pot recipes!  I mean, a meal cannot get any easier than preparation in a slow cooker.  Recently I found one of my favorite slow-cooker roast recipes ever.  I don't remember where I found this recipe, but this Chili Coke Roast only has 4 recipes and tastes delicious!

Chili Coke Roast:

1 beef roast, 3-4 lbs.
1 can Coca-Cola
1 package onion soup mix
1 bottle chili sauce

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients in crock-pot and cook on low for 7-10 hours depending on size of roast.
2. The meat will flake apart when done.

This recipe makes a lot of juice so I decided to serve it over rice, but mashed potatoes would work good as well.

This roast also goes well with some garlic green beans.  Here is the simple recipe:

Garlic Green Beans:

2 cans regular green beans, drained
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 Tablespoons butter

Directions:

1. Heat green beans in saucepan with garlic powder and butter.

Brilliant Breakfast Burritos

A couple of weeks ago I found a fabulous breakfast burrito recipe on Pinterest, and since it happened to be grocery time for the month I decided to pick up all of the ingredients to make them.


This wonderful recipe came from HERE, a blog titled Mom On Time Out. 

These burritos take a little time and effort to make, but in the end you end up with about 24 homemade, frozen burritos for a quick easy breakfast later, and trust me they are extremely delicious.

The burrito recipe called for 2 pounds of red potatoes, but I bought 5 pounds of potatoes.  After I used the 2 pounds for the burritos that the recipe called for, I decided to cook another pound of the potatoes in the exact same way the burrito recipe called for.  After snacking on the potatoes while assembling the burritos, I became addicted to the flavor.

Here is the recipe for the potatoes:

Roasted Red Potatoes:
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Dry cubed potatoes with a towel to eliminate any extra water.
3. Toss the potatoes with 1/3 c olive oil, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper.  Use additional seasoning (such as Emeril's or Seasoning Salt) if desired.   [I used Seasoning Salt]
4. Roast for 30 minutes until golden brown.  Start checking at 20 minutes.

For the last 2 pounds of red potatoes left over after the burritos and wonderful roasted potatoes I decided to cube them and freeze them for another time.  I frozen potatoes before and they worked wonderful for mashed potatoes.

Here are the steps I used to freeze the potatoes:

• Peel two pounds of potatoes. (or whatever amount you want to work with.) Cut the potatoes into 1-inch cubes.
• Simmer the diced potatoes in salted water until just tender.
• Spray a sheet pan with non-stick cooking oil and spread cooked potatoes in a single layer on the pan.
• Place the pan of diced potatoes in the freezer until frozen solidly.
• Transfer the frozen potato cubes to freezer bags or containers to use as needed.
• When ready to use, reheat diced potatoes in simmering water and use in your potato recipes

I let the day go by

One of my favorite songs is "The World Spins Madly On" by The Weepies.  Of course, I am not really sure why it is one of my favorites, because to be honest it is a little depressing.  If you have never heard it here are the lyrics:

Woke up and wished that I was dead
With an aching in my head
I lay motionless in bed
I thought of you and where you'd gone
and let the world spin madly on

Everything that I said I'd do
Like make the world brand new
And take the time for you
I just got lost and slept right through the dawn
And the world spins madly on

I let the day go by
I always say goodbye
I watch the stars from my window sill
The whole world is moving and I'm standing still

Woke up and wished that I was dead
With an aching in my head
I lay motionless in bed
The night is here and the day is gone
And the world spins madly on

I thought of you and where you'd gone
And the world spins madly on. 

Though it may be a tad bit of a downer, I still cannot help but love it!  Anyway, on to its relevance to my new blog - this song always makes me think about using your life to do something rather than waste it away with "laying motionless in bed" (or on the couch - my personal favorite place to waste the day away). 

In this blog I hope to document (and motivate more) productive uses of my time.  As someone who is not predisposed toward either craftiness or culinary genius, I am also using this blog to try to develop these talents.  

I hope you enjoy my new blog and feel free to visit mine and my husband's blog, Our Ministry Journey, as we share our work as youth ministers with the Summit Chapel Youth Group.