You Say Tomato...

I say...

Holy Cow! What am I going to do with all these?!

My amazing hubby thought... "Why not make spaghetti sauce?" (You should know, our monkeys LOVE spaghetti - they'd eat it for every meal every day...IF I made it!)

So - we looked around online for a good recipe to try and found something AMAZING! Did you know you can make spaghetti sauce in the crock-pot?!?!

Here is what we did... Not so much as rules, but guidelines (name that movie!)

Ripe tomatoes
Onions
Any other veggies you want (optional)
Garlic
Italian seasoning
Salt
Pepper

Chunk up your tomatoes. Chunk up your onion. I have a standard 4-qt crock pot and I filled it to the top. (I know it's hard not to have exact measurements, just go with it!). Just eyeball it and use about 3 times as many tomatoes as other veggies. I also used 4-5 cloves of garlic... Just depends on how many vampires you want to ward off! ;-)

Now, add your salt, pepper and Italian seasoning. You will have an opportunity to add more later so don't overkill it now.

Cook on low for 3 hours.

Your tomatoes are cooked down, so now is the time to blend it together. Transfer it to your food processor and pulse it until it's as smooth or chunky as you like it.

Then return it to your crock-pot and cook for another 3-5 hours. This is when you can taste it and add more seasoning if you want. Also, this is when you can add meat, if you like meat sauce. (If you are making this to freeze or can, DON'T add your meat to the sauce until you are ready to use it!) You can also add a small can of tomato paste if you like thick sauce - again, wait until you are ready to use it to do this.

And... we're done! Each batch makes about 2 quarts of sauce.

Now... Above I mentioned optional veggies. These could be anything from celery to zucchini. Spaghetti sauce is an excellent way for your family to eat their veggies and not even know it! ;-)
(And the movie was Pirates of the Caribbean...The Pirate Code- not so much rules as guidelines.)

Happy slow cooking- love you all!

Rulissa

Yummy Pinterest

Are you like me?  Do you browse Pinterest, only to find delectable recipes that you pin with high hopes and then NEVER make them?!

Well, NO MORE, I say!!  I will make these recipes!  The pictures are too mouth watering not to try...

I started with this one... "Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken."  At last count it had been re-pinned about 900 times!  I guess I wasn't the only one who thought it looked tasty!!  You can find the original post and recipe here, and I just made a couple of adjustments.

I used 5 frozen chicken breasts and still cooked it for about 4 hours with a packet of taco seasoning, a can of cream of chicken soup and 1 cup Pace picante sauce (you can use whatever you have!).  And I did not add the sour cream... I think it's a personal preference. After I shredded the chicken, I returned it to the crock pot for another 30 minutes.

It was so tasty, I even used it as a type of dip for my chips.  My Stars!!!  You have got to try this - soon!!!!

Happy cooking y'all!

Rulissa


You can follow me on Pinterest here, or just follow my "Yummy" board here.

I'm linking up at The Vintage Apple to share my Pinterest find... you should, too!

I {heart} PW...

The Pioneer Woman ROCKS!  I follow her blog...I watch her cooking show on the Food Network...I {heart} the Pioneer Woman!!  She's hysterical and I don't want to be her when I grow up!  With four kids, she still has the time to cook all the time, write cookbooks, star in her own show on Food Network, maintain a daily blog/website, homeschool and crack jokes while she does it.

While I don't want to be her, I do adore some of the recipes she makes.  They are super tasty, yummy, fattening and perfect (sometimes with slight modifications) for my hungry monkeys.  This is the one I made about a week ago to gorge myself nibble on during the Super Bowl.  All the credit goes to PW, here...

Knock You Naked Brownies

• 1 box German Chocolate Cake Mix
• 1 cup finely chopped pecans (I didn't use these - my kids don't like nuts)
• 1/3 cup evaporated milk
• 1/2 cup evaporated milk (additional)
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 bag whole caramels, unwrapped
• 1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar

(Now don't get scared off by all these directions, it isn't that hard...really!)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together cake mix, nuts (if you are using them), 1/3 cup evaporated milk, and melted butter. Stir together until totally combined. Caution:  it will be very thick.

Press half the mixture into a well-greased 9 x 9 inch square baking pan. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Remove pan from oven and set aside.

In a double boiler (or a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of boiling water) melt caramels with additional 1/2 cup evaporated milk. When melted and combined, pour over brownie base. Sprinkle chocolate chips as evenly as you can over the caramel.

Turn out remaining brownie dough on work surface. Use your hands to press it into a large square a little smaller than the pan. Use a spatula to remove it from the surface, then set it on top of the caramel and chocolate chips.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from pan and allow to cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate for several hours. When ready to serve, generously sift powdered sugar over the surface of the brownies. Cut into either nine or twelve helpings, and carefully remove from the pan.

I gotta tell you, these are really rich and you should cut them into small servings...(that way you don't feel guilty when you go back for 2nds or 3rds...)  Enjoy!

Love you all,

Rulissa

A Slave for Chocolate

There is a song on Christian radio by Matthew West called "My Own Little World".  This is how it starts...

In my own little world it hardly ever rains
I've never gone hungry, always felt safe
I got some money in my pocket shoes on my feet
In my own little world
Population me

and this is how it ends...

What if there's a bigger picture
what if I'm missing out
What if there's a greater purpose
I could be living right now
outside my own little world
Start to break my heart for what breaks Yours
give me open hands and open doors
put Your light in my eyes and let me see
that my own little world is not about me

Did you notice the line..."start to break my heart for what breaks Yours..."?  Remember that line...

I LOOOOOOOVE chocolate.  (Especially milk chocolate, even though I know the dark is better for me!)

You can ask anyone - I can eat my weight in chocolate...but then I'd weigh twice as much so I don't actually do that.  And Valentine's day is right around the corner so all the stores' shelves are full of chocolate.

I recently read a blog post here that broke my heart and then did some research on my own.  Every website I visited left me more and more broken.

Did you know that most of the world's chocolate is grown along the Ivory Coast in Africa?  Did you know that many of those cocoa plantations use slave labor?  And, worse than that... what can be worse, you ask?  

Child slave labor.    

The CNN Freedom Project just completed a series called "Chocolate's Child Slaves."  It was eye-opening and heart breaking.  Did you know that the world's biggest chocolate producers have known about this issue for over a decade?  They signed Harkin Engel protocol that promised to end the practice...but they haven't done anything to actually end it.  This latest spotlight on the issue did prompt Hershey to pledge $10 million to improve West African cocoa farming and fight child labor, but what about everyone else?  And what can we do?  I do know that I will never look at a box of Milk Duds the same.

The above picture is of a "Divine" candy bar.  It is certified "Fair Trade."  This is one way I can make sure my family is taking a stand.  It is harder to find and is about 2x as expensive.  The above bar cost me $1.50 at an all natural food store.  But in my eyes, it is worth it.

The Freedom Project told a story of a 10 year old boy who had been working in the cocoa fields for 3 years.  He doesn't know where his parents are, he doesn't have a warm bed to sleep in, he doesn't have a change of clothes and he has never even tasted chocolate.  I see my 7-year-old's face on that little boy.  I can't go back to the way it was...I can't unlearn this information.

So, before you go shopping for Valentine's Day, think about that chocolate.  Will you unlearn what you know now, or will you make a change for good?

Love you all,

Rulissa

Made It To Monday!

Whew!  What a crazy weekend!!  Well, I guess the craziness started Wednesday...school started!  Yeah!!  (I was soooo ready to get back into routines, but I have to say - the Princess and I really missed those boys!)  


I also had my eyes dilated.  I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS if you have anything planned for the rest of the day. I was useless!  Thursday and Friday started a basketball tournament in which the daughter of friends was playing.  We've watched her play since she was in 5th grade (she's a Junior now), so it's kind of a tradition. Saturday heralded our own child's basketball game.  (I'm so excited for these boys - they are playing so well together!!)  


My house is still full of boxes of Christmas decorations so, I'm feeling very claustrophobic.  I don't know if I've mentioned it, but we are in the process of moving (well, our house is on the market, anyway) so, my amazing hubby didn't want to lug all the boxes back up in the attic.  I think we are getting a storage unit in the town to which we will move...just to make it easier and declutter our house as we go.  We just haven't made the time to do it yet!  (Story of my life!!) 

So, with all the clutter and the hangover headache from the eyes (I swear he used too much of the stuff because my eyes are still so tired!) I kicked the kids outside.  Don't worry because even though it's January, it is a balmy 60-something degrees here.  And they seem to have banded together with the other neighborhood hoodlums because I hear extra voices.  (I hope that's just not a sign of my official descent into craziness!)


I did want the kiddos to know I wasn't mad at them and they weren't being punished, so I whipped up this yummy treat I found on Pinterest the other day.  Delish!!! And, I guess the neighbors liked them, too because the boys kept coming in to see if so-and-so could have one, etc.!

The recipe is really easy.  I'm talking less than 30 minutes and your kitchen is back to normal (Unless you just got new cookie sheets for Christmas and the extra crumbs burn onto the surface and you have to soak your pan...just saying!)


Sugar Crumb Crispy (yields about 32 pieces)
1 can crescent rolls
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
dash salt
1/4 cup cold butter (MUST be COLD)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut butter into dry ingredients to make crumbs. 
Separate crescents into 8 triangles on ungreased cookie sheet.  Sprinkle crumbs on top.  Bake for 8-12 minutes.  I cut my triangles into smaller pieces after it cooked.


GLAZE (I followed the recipe but there was too much vanilla for my taste, so this is adjusted)
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbsp softened butter
1/2 tsp vanilla (original recipe called for 1 1/4 tsp)
1 Tbsp milk
Blend together and drizzle over crispies.  


Now, go ahead and eat one (or 12 - because you aren't going to be able to help yourself!)


Love you all!


Rulissa

Advent Fun

I'm am so excited about our Advent activities that I posted here!  The whole family has been having sooo much fun!!! (And I'm not just saying that - we ALL are!)

We've read books

and watched movies.

But, so far, the most fun has been making Christmas candy.  Now, I have to admit, what happened is not what I had in mind when I made this activity.  I was envisioning traditional candy perfected by generations of my husband's family.  However, my monkeys had other ideas.  (Don't they always?)

Monkey Boy decided to create his own candy.  He wanted it to look like peppermint, but not be "hot", so he wanted to use Twizzlers and Marshmallows.  (Can I tell you that I was a little scared because I knew I was going to have to eat this concoction!)

(We didn't have large white mallows, so he opted to use the big Strawberry ones.)

I must say, they weren't bad.  Now - I'm not saying I asked for seconds (kinda sweet & hurt my teeth), but I was able to eat my whole cup.  I'm pretty impressed with his imagination!

My firstborn monkey is somewhat of a cook, so I wasn't as scared of what he would come up with.  He opted for no bake cookie dough that I had found on Pinterest a couple weeks back.

This is what he used (no eggs - so the dough is safe to eat!)...

Ingredients
     1 cup butter, softened
     1 1/2 packed brown sugar
     1 tsp vanilla
     2 cups flour
     6 oz mini chocolate chips


Following the directions, he creamed the butter and sugar together, then added the remaining ingredients.

He then rolled the dough into balls, added some sucker sticks to some of them (just because we had them and he thought they were cool) and let them chill for about 30 min.  Then he wanted to cover or drizzle some of them in chocolate, so I melted some chocolate almond bark and he did just that.  End result?  DELICIOUS!!!  I mean, really...who doesn't love cookie dough?

I hope your December is turning out to be just as scrumptious!

Love you all!

Rulissa

Oklahoma Football

Happy Bedlam, Everybody!

For those of you not from around here, today is Bedlam.  It is the day when OU and OSU duke it out for the the win (and this year, for the conference championship!)  OU has won the last 8, but OSU has their best team in recent history and, if they win, they have a shot at the National Championship game. Nail biter!  And what makes it even more fun is that my brother, sister, mom are OSU fans and the hubby and I are OU fans!  You see that a lot around here...

It is quite chilly and windy here today, so we are going to hunker down, watch football and have some extra tasty chicken chili.  The recipe is SUPER easy (so I have more time for football) and SUPER yummy (I have to make a double batch so we can have leftovers!) Doesn't it look good?!

Here's how it's done!

White Chicken Chili
1 pkg McCormick White Chicken Chili mix
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can white beans
2 chicken breasts cooked & diced OR 1 lg can chicken

Throw everything in the crockpot, add 1 cup water.  Cover and cook on low for 2-3 hours (or longer) or on high for 1 hour.  You can also make this on the stove pretty quickly, but the flavors don't mesh as well.

We serve ours with cornbread.  Enjoy!

Love you all!

Rulissa

Breakfast for Monkeys

[photo credit]

Mmmmm...Monkey Bread.  Do you remember this?  My mom used to make this for us when we were kids and I loved helping her.  She cut up the biscuits and I coated them with cinnamon and sugar and tossed them in the pan.  After forever later, mmmmmmm....tasty.

I was looking for a recipe (I couldn't remember what made them stick together with that gooey deliciousness) and found this from Pilsbury.com.  Looks great, but who has over an hour to make breakfast?!?!  Definitely not me!  So...I was on Pinterest the other day and found this recipe for Monkey Muffins.  Hhhmmm...muffins, you say?  This must try I.  I made a couple of modifications, but this is what I ended up with and WOW! they were A.MA.ZING.

I don't have a picture of them on a plate because the Monkeys ate them straight out of the pan!

They were super easy and delicious and only took about 20 minutes from start to finish!  Here's how I did it...

Monkey Muffins
2 cans homestyle biscuits  (you can use regular or Grands)
1-1 1/2 stick butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 can sweetened condensed milk

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Melt butter and add about 1/2 tsp butter into the bottom of each muffin cup
3. Mix sugar and cinnamon in a large ziplock bag
4. Cut biscuits into quarters and toss into bag to coat
5. Place 4 pieces of dough into each muffin cup (if you are using Grands biscuits, only use three pieces)
6. Top muffins with another 1/2 tsp of butter
7. Bake for 12-15 minutes.
8. Remove from oven and immediately drizzle with the sweetened condensed milk - don't be shy, really slather it on there.
9. Wait to cool...yeah, right!  Who am I kidding?  You'll be lucky to get them out of the pan before people start congregating in the kitchen!

Just a little note...as my Monkeys were eating their second and third muffins, the oldest asked why it was called Monkey Bread.  The middle one piped in with, "I know!  Because we are Monkeys!"  I love those crazy kids!  They make me smile everyday!!

Love you all and have a blessed Thanksgiving Day!

Rulissa