Let It Burn

Approximately 3 lb. apples ( I actually just filled the crockpot, which might've been closer to 10lbs or more) peeled, cored, and sliced. You can also just quarter them if you'd like. My Pampered Chef peeler/corer/slicer does it all for me :) 3 cups sugar 2 tsp. cinnamon 1 tsp. nutmeg 1/2 tsp. allspice 1/2 tsp. cloves Dash of salt Peel, core, and slice apples (sweet or tart, doesn't matter!). Break them in pieces with your hands and place the apples in a slow cooker.  In a medium bowl, mix the sugar and other seasonings. Pour the mixture over the apples in the slow cooker and mix around a bit as you can. Heat on low for about 12 hours, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is thickened and dark brown. Uncover and continue cooking on low 1 hour. Stir with a whisk, if desired, to increase smoothness. If apple butter has too much liquid, cook on high until thickened (uncovered). Stir often as butter thickens to prevent scorching. Store in refrigerator for u...

*Your white chocolate will be chopped and mixed in with the streusel, I was figuring out the best way to do it in this pic :) Pear White Chocolate Blackberry Crisp with Streusel Topping By: Diana Frazier 2-4 ripe pears, sliced (no need to peel) 6 cups fresh blackberries, rinsed and drained 1/4 cup tapioca 3 cups sugar 2 cups flour 1 tsp cinnamon 1/2 cup butter plus 2 Tbsp, room temperature 1/2 cup white chocolate chips, chopped (more if you want it super sweet) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter sides and bottom of 9x13 glass baking dish. Place sliced pears in the bottom of the baking dish, covering the bottom.   Put blackberries in a bowl, sprinkle with 1 Cup of the sugar, add cinnamon, tapioca, and mix well. Pour over the pears.  In a separate bowl, stir together flour, white chocolate, and remaining 2 Cups sugar. Using a fork or pastry cutter, cut butter into flour until crumbly. Cover the pears and berries with flour mixture. Bake for 45 to 50 minut...

Ok friends, THIS is a good recipe! Craig said he wanted to eat the whole darn thing. 4 Cups fresh blackberries, or frozen, thawed and drained well (I used fresh) 2 Cups sugar 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1 Cup all purpose flour 1/2 Cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature Vanilla ice cream or sweetened whipped cream, for serving Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter sides and bottom of 2 1/2 qt casserole dish. Put blackberries in a bowl, sprinkle with 1 Cup of the sugar, add cinnamon, and mix well. In a separate bowl, stir together flour and remaining 1 Cup sugar. Using a fork or pastry cutter, cut butter into flour until crumbly. Pour sugared berries into prepared pan, and cover with flour mixture. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes (I actually did almost an hour). Serve with vanilla ice cream or a dollop of sweetened whipped cream.

Friday night I had this recipe just appear in my brain, so I went for it and it was good! I made it with salmon for a baby shower on Saturday and with imitation crab and salad shrimp for a party on Sunday. The crab and shrimp was definitely the best, but both were good. Seafood Pasta Salad 1 lb medium shell or rotini pasta, cooked according to package directions, drained and cooled 2 cans salmon (I used the good quality stuff from Costco and they are good sized cans), drained OR 1lb imitation crab, broken up and 1/2 to 1lb salad shrimp 3 cups frozen corn, thawed 2 to 3 cups fresh sweet peas, destring and cut in half 1/2 cup Ranch dressing 3/4 cup Best Foods Mayonnaise  1/2 tsp garlic powder 1/4 tsp salt 1/8 tsp black pepper 1/2 cup fresh parmesan Mix all together and adjust the liquids and/or seasonings if needed. If the taste is right but it's just too thick, add some milk. The seafood and pasta will absorb a lot of the moisture, so if you are letting it chill overnig...

A dear friend of mine is welcoming a baby girl into her family in a couple months and we are celebrating this weekend. I am making Parmesan baskets with a cheesy tuna salad :) I made the baskets today, took about 1 1/2 hours and will be making the tuna salad in the next couple days. Here's the how-to on the baskets: Parmesan- I used the big Costco bag of fresh Parmesan and it made about 100 baskets. Use however much you need to depending on how many baskets you need/want. Each basket takes a couple tablespoons of Parmesan. And it needs to be FRESH grated Parmesan, not the powdery ground stuff in the green can. On a non-stick baking sheet put 1-2 Tbsp of fresh Parmesan. Spread it out into about a 3 inch round. I tried making them thinner to see if they'd be more lacy, but then they didn't shape well and wouldn't be thick enough to hold a salad. You'll have to play around with amounts, but this is what you want it to look like. I also recommend doing one cooki...

Alright friends, here's a fabulous recipe to boost your milk supply. It honest to goodness works, too! I probably ate almost a dozen of these a day the week after Evie was born and BAM, huge milk supply. I also lost 35lbs in the first 2 weeks. Life is crazy with a newborn and regular meals don't always happen, so having a bag of these on the counter at least gives you something to snack on :) They are also a wonderful thing to drop off at a friend's house right after they have a baby.  Also, if hubby or your 5 year old daughter chow on these they will NOT start lactating! lol The magical ingredient in these is the brewer's yeast. Get it at Super Supplements or Central Market (in bulk or the natural supplements area). It's the same reason why some people recommend drinking a beer for supply- it's not the alcohol that helps, it's the brewer's yeast! The oatmeal and flax are also helpers for supply. I get my flax at Costco. It's a huge bag of...

This is a meal I make fairly regularly. Very easy and inexpensive ingredients- just about everything is fresh and my family loves it! It also makes your house smell delish while it's cooking and serves great the next day as leftovers. Diana's Potato, Chicken, and Corn Chowder for the Crockpot 1 sweet onion (vidalia, Maui sweet, or walla walla) 2 celery stalks 3 carrots 3-7 russet potatoes, not peeled (amount depends on the size of your crockpot) 2 Cups frozen corn 1/8 tsp black pepper 1/2 tsp garlic powder 1/4 tsp onion powder 1/4 tsp salt 3/4 tsp flat leaf parsley, chopped 3 tsp Better Than Bouillon low sodium chicken bouillon 3 Cups water (that's a Reynold's crockpot liner, available at your local grocer) Chop all fresh veggies and add to crockpot. Add frozen corn. Add seasonings, bouillon, and water, no need to stir. Cover with lid and turn crockpot to low heat for 3 hours. At 3 hours stir the soup and turn to high. Check soup after 1 hour to see if...

This is a super easy recipe. Freezes well, great to make for company, potlucks, etc. 2 C turkey or chicken, cooked and chopped. (To roast: place chicken breast on shallow baking sheet, sprinkle with EVOO, salt, and pepper and bake at 350degrees for about 20 minutes or until no longer pink in the center. Allow to cool and then chop up.) 1 can cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup 1 pint (16oz) sour cream 4oz can chopped green chilies, undrained 1/4 C chopped onion 1 can sliced olives, drained 1 Cup + 1/2 C grated cheddar cheese 1 package large flour tortillas (the bigger size is easier to work with) Combine all except 1/2 C cheese and tortillas. Spread some across the bottom of a 9x13 pan, just to coat it. Roll up some of the mixture in each tortilla and then place the tortillas in the pan. Pour remaining mixture over the top and spread evenly. Sprinkle 1/2 C cheese over the top. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until bubbly. *This is also yummy with swee...

Sweet Potato Pecan Pie (I'll find out tomorrow if it tastes good, but it made my house smell awesome and that's usually a pretty good sign!) Ingredients 1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust 2 cups cooked and mashed sweet potatoes 2 eggs 3/4 cup white sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves 1 2/3 cups light cream (or sub 1 can evaporated milk) 3 tablespoons butter, softened 1/2 cup packed brown sugar 2/3 cup chopped pecans Directions 1.Bake sweet potatoes until tender, peel and mash. Make sure all lumps are removed, straining if necessary. 2.Lightly beat eggs. Blend together eggs and sweet potatoes. Stir in sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Blend in cream. Pour into pie shell. 3.Bake in preheated oven at 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) 45-55 minutes or until knife inserted halfway between center and edge of pie comes out clean. Cool completely on rack. 4.To make Caramelized Pec...

The 'freezer casserole making in prep for baby coming' continued  today. Elly was a good little girl and napped for nearly 2 hours so I was able to make 2 Baked Ziti, 1 Beef and Broccoli Pie (all 9x13's), and a lemon bar. I'm hoping to still make spaghetti pie tonight and also 2 pumpkin loaf cakes with cream cheese frosting. My feet are feeling a tad puffy, so once I finish the cooking I'm planning to sit and watch tv or maybe read, but here it is 8:30 already, so we'll see. When it came time for dinner tonight I was honestly thinking Totinos! They are hardly even edible for human consumption ( I mean, what the heck is even in them?), but I'd be totally lying if I said I didn't love them and could eat them every single day if they weren't a heart attack in a box :) Btw, all pizzas are 30% off this week at Fred Meyer, hehe. So, instead of the frozen gloriousness of Totinos I was a good mommy and made High Protein Pancakes. They are essentially health...

My sweet girl is napping and I'm making a double batch of Cucina Cucina Lentil Sausage soup to freeze for meals after the baby comes. Here is the link to the recipe: http://www.mom-mom.com/lentil.htm  . My friend Tawny told me about it last year and it's probably my favorite hearty soup recipe now. It's one of those that you would eat at a restaurant and wonder what's in it and assume it's hard to make at home. It's really not though! A little time consuming with prep, but not too bad. Here's the actual recipe so you can view it and see pics on the same page: 1 1/2 cups lentils rinsed thoroughly 4 links (1 lb.) Italian sausage (mild is used in the restaurant and I prefer ground sausage- I'm weird about eating casing) 1 TBSP butter 1 TBSP Olive Oil (Extra Virgin) 1/2 cup diced white onion (I prefer Maui or Walla Walla Sweet) 1/2 cup diced carrot 1/4 cup diced leek, white part only 1/4 cup diced celery 1 TBSP salt 1/2 TSP. ground white pepper...

Today was a rough day. The obnoxious neighbor's dog woke Eliana and me up at 6:45am. ARGH! Then we went to a playdate and when we got home for her nap there was a crew from the county literally right outside our house working on the street. It was a parade of loud equipment and the loudest "BEEP BEEP" I have ever heard for 3 hours. I turned on the tv, the radio, a fan, her sound machine, and the space heater and still could not cover up the road work noise. So, after two solid attempts we gave up on a nap. This was tragic being that she was exhausted from the playdate and worn out from cutting 4 teeth at the same time. It ended up being a long and exhausting day for mommy and baby. The littlest things made her mad and she just wasn't herself. We put her to bed around 6pm but she's already been up crying 2x and it's only 9pm. I'm hoping she'll sleep through the night from here on and will let mommy sleep in at least til 8 tomorrow! Blasted teeth :( T...

I made the yummiest lentil soup 2 nights ago. Seriously, so delicious. My awesome, culinary expert friend Tawny shared the recipe with me. Here it is : http://www.cucinacucina.com/recipes.htm . Follow it to a T, it is perfect with all the misc ingredients. I thought the mustard would make it weird, but it's so good. Even my 15 month old has been chowing down :) The only thing I might do differently next time is to take the sausage out of the casing and cook it up that way. I will be making this recipe for years to come!