BEEF STEW-crock pot

YOU WILL NEED:
(1) Green Pepper Chopped
(1-2) Onions-chopped
(3-4) Carrots-sliced
(3-4) Potatoes diced
(1) Chopped/Crushed Garlic Cloves
(2) Ibs Beef Stew Meat
(1) beef season cube or paste (base measurement on required water as each brand varies)
(2) tsp Paprika
(1/2) tsp Black Pepper


TO FREEZE combine all ingredients on counter top or in large bowl. Seperate into 2 ziplock freezer bags, label and freeze.

TO COOK IN CROCK POT:
*(A) From fresh: combine all above ingrediants into crock pot.
*Add 4 cups water & Cook for 4 hours on HIGH or 8 hours on LOW in a slow cooker.
*(B) From frozen: optional: remove 24hrs in advance to thaw (it will cook fine without thawing, but if you prefer to set & forget its easier to mix everything from thawed to get it all well blended..)

*Add 4 cups water & Cook for 4 hours on HIGH or 8 hours on LOW in a slow cooker.
(i think it would still be ok if you skipped the thaw, because there are plenty of store bought freeze to crockpot meals at the market)


I LOOK FORWARD TO SHARING TIPS, PHOTOS, AND FEEDBACK ABOUT THIS RECIPE ONCE I HAVE MADE IT. CHECK BACK SOON!!

**************************

MEATLOAF-turkey style.

now my family is a fan of my fat and juicy meatloaf with bacon.
a variation I am going to try, that I have never cooked before, is a leaner version.
stay tuned at the bottom of this posting for details on how to freeze and store this meal for cooking another time!
YOU WILL NEED:
-2 lbs ground turkey or chicken (replacing the ground beef)
-1 half package of turkey bacon (replacing the traditional bacon)
*(if you buy a one pound package of sliced turkey bacon, slice or cut it in half down the center and freeze each half separately.)
-2 egg whites (replacing 1-2 whole eggs)
-3/4 cup bread crumbs
-1/2 cup of ketchup or spaghetti sauce.
-dash of salt and pepper to taste.
OPTIONAL: chopped celery, onions and a crushed garlic clove.
(if using the listed optional veggies, fry them up in some olive oil to soften them before adding them to your mixture.)
DIRECTIONS: 
in a large mixing bowl combine all ingredients until mixed thoroughly.
preheat oven to 350 degrees.
in a 13x9 pan you can shape you mixture into a log in the center of the pan, or you may squish it flat to cover the entire bottom. after you have shaped your mix, spoon your sauce or ketchup onto the top and rub it with a spoon to make a thin layer, using just enough to cover your meat mixture.
taking your turkey bacon lay slices of the bacon over your meat mixture, lining up the edges but not overlapping.
cook on 350 for about 60 minutes. meatloaf will shrink and brown. to make sure it is done you may cut a slice out of the center to check that it is cooked full through, or insert a thermometer in the center which should reach 160.
remove from the oven and let stand for 5 minutes, remove from pan or slice onto serving tray and serve.


I LOOK FORWARD TO SHARING TIPS, PHOTOS, AND FEEDBACK ABOUT THIS RECIPE ONCE I HAVE MADE IT. CHECK BACK SOON!!

this meal works as a FREEZE AND STORE:
prepare and mix all above ingredients as stated above. Seal and refrigerate for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 3 months. to cook, remove from freezer 24hrs in advance and move to fridge to thaw, follow above cooking steps. DO NOT cook while frozen.

*******************************
shopping list memo: 2lbs turkey breast, sauce, breadcrumbs, turkey bacon, salt, pepper, celery, onions, garlic, 2 bags for the bacon halfs, 1 freezer bag for prepared meatloaf if making in advance. one 13x9 pan.

30 days of NEW meals

For the entire month of March, Ive decided to try making 30 different meals daily.
For an extra twist I am also going to try NEW meals, new as in things I have never cooked before.

I would also like to try healthy or low-cal variations, I realize this wont be possible with every meal, but I plan on substituting ground turkey for ground beef, egg whites for eggs, and other small adjustments that can make a big difference in the final result. and of course, eatting smaller portions.

This is an experiment I've wanted to try for a long time. It will give my family the opportunity to try new things, that I"m hoping we will like. It will also give us a break from our same meal routines that seem to be on a never ending loop of pizza, chicken, pasta and take out.

I also plan to stay away from fast food of any kind, and frozen meals of any kind.
Hopefully this will give me a good kick in the pants as well, because there are soooo many days that I just opt for heating a frozen pizza or ready to bake meal. the ONLY frozen exception will be my own prepared freezer bags, which I plan to make about 5 of. these bags will consist of all the essential materials needed for a crock pot meal, meat/veggies etc, and they will just require me to add the water or broth at the time of cooking.

I plan on making a list of 30 unique meals that I have planned out. I wont get into specifics as to which day I will make what, but I will compile a list of meals and a bulk shopping list for what I plan to buy, and what meals I will prepare into bags etc.

I also plan to share how items will be stored. for example, if i buy a 12 pack of chicken breasts on sale, having 4 family members that one package of chicken would make 3 meals. I would not just toss the whole package into the freezer, but rather separate it into 3 ziplock bags. Possibly adding vegetables and seasons to one, for a crock pot meal later on. If you have a meal planned for those specific chickens, you can season the other bags as well, as they will marinade into the meats while frozen.

THANK YOU
for reading, and stay tunned to find my recipe list and shopping list soon.

JUICY CROCK POT HAM

YOU WILL NEED
1 shank portion ham
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup water
1 can of pineapples in chunked, sliced or crushed.


slice your ham into half inch slices, or small chunks, gettin as much meat as possible off of the bone.


mix 1.5 cups brown sugar with 1 cup water.


place all your ham in the crock pot and cover with the sugar mixture, then top with undrained can of pineapples


crock pot on high 4hrs or low 6hrs.


give the ham time to warm and warm the liquids before you mix it, as you will keep letting the heat out. after about an hour of cooking you can mix the entire contents and you can also use a turkey baster to move around the liquids as you wish.


this is a really sweat juicy ham that shouldn't require a glaze.
the way you cook it really does make  A HUGE difference mostly in part because before I tried this ham cooked this way, i would only eat spiral ham. shank portion ham was not flavorfull and was always too fatty to me. cooking it this way with smaller slices, longer cooking times, and taking it off the bone have a great effect on the meat.


Enjoy ;)


Variations:
all of the above, but add Cherries!

100% custom birthday parties, JUSTIN BIEBER (applies to other themes)

My daughter wanted a completely custom Justin Bieber Birthday party that was all about HER!
She had games, party favors, invitations, decorations, and even her cake 100% custom made to her liking. 95% of the work was done by me, and you could do it too. (everything except the cakes, which i sketched and a good friend made at our local price chopper, thank you jacey, my wonderful cake lady!)

party hats i spray painted black for the boys.

party crowns i bought in multcolor and spray painted black.

some of the kids at the table, i didnt get a picture before the children arrived.

vip cards for all of the children, paint shop

these were sort of like a place card. i made these using paint shop pro, on a 4x6 image and i  flipped them so there would be one on each side. it basically stated the partie schedule & some information the guests needed. we put two on each table

place cards also made in paintshop

these are her invitations and thankyou cards. both also made with a little bit of TLC and paint shop pro.

her photo cut out, which i made on a poster board.

mentos wrappers, once again a little bit of TLC and paint shop pro, a tutorial is available on my blog.

centerpieces

justin bieber themed party game. made on a poster board with crayons. after this photo was taken i also used fabric doiles to make a pocket on the backs of the holes so we were not chasing balls that flew thru the back.

mini bubbles, i purchase plain bubbles and printed custom address size labels which i double secured with their own adhesive plus a line of hot glue on each end, and a ribbon bow. tutorial available on my blog as well

pins! bought blank pins at about 2/$1 from my local craft store and printed inserts with paint shop pro

purchased plain white favor boxes 12/$1 at my local dollar store and we customized with printed stickers and ribbon, and finished them off with colored tissue paper and candy.

Nevaehs personal cake, made to look like a concert stage. her name was accross the front in the stars, this cake came out awesome on so many levels, she loved it.

A matching game i made with some printed pictures and construction paper

Nevaehs sheet cake, which she sketched out and my friend jacey brought to life. everything she wanted, zebra, stars, different purples and grays, even a small pink cancer awareness ribbon for Nevaehs great grandmother who is a breast cancer survivor and one of Nevaehs favorite people in the whole world.

additionally each table had two purple paper fans to keep the guests cool, 2 purple beaded necklaces, purple/white lai necklaces, a zebra bag with m&ms, 8 favor boxes, 2 mentos, a candle with a photo on it, a bouquet of purple/zebra/black and gray balloons, and a custom centerpiece.

the children all sat at their own VIP table which was complete with justin bieber paper goodies, table cloths, and matching favors. and each child guest got a VIP necklace with their name and a picture of Justin.

Her party in all was a total success, alot of work, but not half the money our guests suspected. everything was home made and dirt cheap for me to make. the biggest cost of all was the hall and food, which i paid/saved for months in advance.

JUSTIN BIEBER THEMED PHOTO CUT OUT-how too

for my daughters 7th birthday she had a justin bieber themed party, but she wanted "carnival" style games, custom favors, and some fun props.
one prop I made was a justin bieber face cut out board

Using a foam project board i sketched out justin bieber and a female friend. I printed a cartoon version of him from google for comparison. once you have it all sketched you will want to color it in. paint works wonders but is messy, so this time i went with crayons. you could use markers but they tend to leave alot of uneven color patterns.
using a razor blade cut out the friends face. this will be where your guests will put their face for photos.

addtionally you can also draw on the other side and perhaps cut out justins face, or a boys face for any boys attending the party.

i also used the same technique to make a game board...

THE CUTEST HOME MADE VALENTINES EVER!

Here is my tutorial for "THE CUTEST HOME MADE VALENTINES EVER!"

you will need:

a digital camera

an empty wrapping paper tube

cute kids (lol)

basic paint program

solid color sheets or a solid color bare wall.

hang up your sheet, and take pictures of your child in front of it, in different poses, holding the empty wrapping paper roll...like this...

then open the photo in your paint program.

(I have corel paintshop pro, but there are plenty of other programs that will do)

In corel, i use the clone tool to replicate the sheet to cover the wall and floor, then you use the crop tool to crop the photo to 4x6 in size. using the color change tool and touchup brush i changed the color of the roll to white. then using the auto shapes you can add a callout cloud with a clever text, and finish the bottom with a "love *** 2012"

in a traditional paint program, you probably wont have all the tools listed above. Your best option would be to zoom in really close to the wrapping paper roll, and using a white paint brush in a small size slowly fill in over the roll. you can then resize and crop your photo. Then using the circle/oval draw tool you can draw a callout cloud of your own size/shape and use the text tool to fill it in. and use the regular text tool to finish the bottom signature.

additionally if you cannot figure out the cropping tools, most photo printing sites such as CVS, Walgreens, Walmart etc offer a cropping tool online that you can crop before sending the photos for printing so you can be sure they are the correct fit.

PRINT & DECORATE:

print the photos out in 4x6 size either on photo paper or cardstock, and use a hole puncher to make a hole at the end of the roll, which will be the stick. by lollypops of your choice and insert the stick into the hole and secure with a piece of tape on the backside.

p.s if you want to skip the editing process you can use a light background and a white pvc pipe, this way you dont have to color change and you can just write on your finished product with a sharpie ;)

SOME OF THE SAYINGS I USED WERE:

"thats a lol'ly muscle"

"im a sucker for love"

"worlds biggest pop for worlds best friend"

"worlds strongest boy"

"say lollypop"

"lollypop, lollypop, oh la, la, la lollypop!"

"sugar sugar, honey honey"

HERE ARE MY FINISHED VALENTINES!

IF YOU MAKE THESE PLEASE SHARE YOUR INPUT! THANKS!!
NEW CREATIVE TIP IM THINKING OF: if you use clear tape to tape two wrapping paper tubes together (width wize not length wize), they will be double the width. then after printing punch 2-3 holes connected together at the end, and insert a chocolate dipped spoon decorated with small candies of your choice and wrapped in clear plastic wrap or a lollipop bag. you could write "spoon" or "candy" themed qoutes instead of lollypop themed. I HOPE TO HAVE AN EXAMPLE TO SHARE SOON!