Crock Pot Beef Roast with Gravy

Don't you love being able to throw something in a crockpot early in the morning, walk away and return at the end of the day to a wholesome filling meal at your fingertips?
                                 I do!

Crock Pot Beef Roast with Gravy

2 1/2 - 3 lb. beef roast
1 (10 3/4oz.) can of cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup Sherry cooking wine
14 oz. can of beef broth
1/4 tsp. onion powder

Grease crockpot with cooking spray.
Place roast in crockpot.
In a bowl, mix the soup, Sherry, broth and onion powder.
Pour over roast.
Place lid on and cook on high all day.
Remove the roast to another dish.
Pour the broth into a saucepan and bring to a boil on the stove.
Continue boiling until it reduces down to gravy consistency.
While gravy is cooking down prepare your side dishes and then ENJOY!

**I started this at about 8 am and let it cook all day on high until about 4 pm and yes it was tender and yummy. While the gravy was cooking down I made mashed potatoes, salad and green beans.
A quick easy meal that only took me about an hour to put together and everyone enjoyed it.**

Nacho & Ranch Baked Chicken Tenderloins

Here's a quick recipe that my SIL passed on to me last week.

Nacho & Ranch Baked Chicken

3 lb. bag of chicken tenderloins
1 cup Nacho Doritos, ground fine in food processor
1 envelope Hidden Valley Ranch Dry Salad Dressing Mix
1 1/2 cups seasoned bread crumbs
1 stick butter

In a bowl, combine crushed Doritos, dressing mix & bread crumbs.
In another bowl, melt the butter.
Dip chicken into butter and then into crumb mixture.
Place on a greased cookie sheet.
Bake 350° until done.

I used tenderloins but you could use this on any cut of chicken or even pork.
If you prefer a lower-fat version then omit the butter all together and just dip the chicken right into the crumbs and place on a greased pan.
Spray chicken liberally with cooking spray and bake.
Nothing fancy but it was a tasty alternative to our usual baked chicken.

It was back to the ol' grind today.
Back to school for us and back to work for my husband. UGH!
But worse....my first day of dieting.
Well I don't know that I should call it dieting because I'm not actually depriving myself of certain foods.
I'm just eating them in moderation and being more conscious of portion size and the even bigger challenge will be to exercise everyday.
I've done excellent today on the eating part but failed (F) on the exercise portion.
I love walking but it gets a bit chilly this time of the year to do that. Plus by the time my husband gets home and can babysit the kids then it's already dark out and not the safest time to be out and walking.
I DREAD using a treadmill. It is so BORING but I may have to resort to it. :(
But not tonight!
My crochet hook is calling me so I'm heading to the couch to work a bit on that before bedtime.
Stop back later and I'll share a crockpot beef recipe 
and tell you about my first attempt at making homemade cranberry juice.

Nighty Night!

Birthday Punch

Actually this punch would be great for any party but it was served tonight at my nephew's birthday. Tyler turns 14 tomorrow but since everyone has school and work we celebrated tonight with a party at his house.
We munched on pizza, veggie and cheese trays, chips & dips, cake and this delicious punch that I just had to get the recipe for.
Katie's birthday is in a few short weeks and this will definitely be on the menu for beverages.

Luscious Slush Punch

2 1/2 cups white sugar
6 cups water
2 (3 oz.) packages Strawberry Jell-O
1 (46oz.) can Pineapple Juice
2/3 cup Lemon Juice
1 quart Orange Juice
2 (2 liters) Sprite

In a large saucepan, combine sugar, water and Jell-o.
Boil for 3 minutes.
Stir in pineapple, lemon and orange juice.
Divide mixture in half and freeze in 2 separate containers.
When ready to serve, place frozen contents of one container in a punch bowl and stir in 1 bottle of Sprite until slushy.
When that batch is gone repeat with second batch and the other bottle of Sprite.
Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Tyler!
I hope your day is great!

Around the Crochet Table

Several of you ladies have emailed and asked me what stitch I used for the crocheted dishcloth so I thought I'd share the site that I got the pattern from.
When I first started surfing the web quite a few years ago I found this site. I loved it because it combined two of my loves...cooking and crocheting. They no longer update the site but they have left many wonderful patterns & links up for all to use.
                           Around the Crochet Table
They also have knitting patterns so all of you knitters should check it out too!
As for the pattern of the dishcloth above, it is called My Favorite Dishcloth and you can find it HERE.
Happy Crocheting!

I'm Slowly Getting Used to It

Look at this color!
Is it a coral, spiced pumpkin or baby barf color?
I'm not sure myself.
We remodeled this bathroom about 9 years ago and I picked out the cinnamon colored wallpaper for the top. The bottom is beadboard that we put in and then painted a shade of cream. I loved the combination of the two but after nine years the beadboard definitely needed repainted.
I thought I'd try to go with a bit more color and something that would hopefully hide dirt and the smudge marks of little people hands.

This is not what I envisioned but it's on and is going to stay for now.

I painted the doors an espresso brown so that they matched the other interior doors in the house. It sure made the room darker but in a way kinda cozy.
The colors are still growing on me. The more I look at it the more I like it.  ** I guess**

I do know that I won't be painting anytime soon. I've had my share of it this week & it's definitely not something that I enjoy doing.

What I do enjoy doing is this.

I dug my crochet hook out and made a few of these dishcloths the other night. I'm also working on a Christmas doily that should be finished soon and then I need to work on that grey afghan that I started on last winter.

Hope you all had a great turkey day yesterday.
Everyone here did!
I think it's safe to say that we all ate way too much food, not only yesterday but again today. After feasting on all that food I just wanted to take a nap.
You know, the turkey induced nap that hits shortly after cleaning up the kitchen dishes.
I didn't but my eyes are getting pretty heavy at the moment so it won't be long. I think I'll go get into my pj's and crochet a bit before I fall off to sleep.
Have a great weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving & a Congrats!

My Thanksgiving Giveaway is over and I thank all of you that entered.

I used the number generator at Random.org and got #5 which is Steph over at The Life of a Farmer's Wife.

Congratulations Steph!
Email me your address and I'll get this out to you tomorrow!

I hope all of you are having a great Thanksgiving Day surrounded by lots of family, friends and food.

Last Chance!

If you haven't signed up for my Thanksgiving giveaway then you better hurry!
It ends tomorrow and the winner will be announced.
Good Luck!

I thought that I would get a little break from my busy  schedule this week since we weren't schooling but that hasn't happened yet. Now I'm just busy catching up on all the things that I never have the time to do.
I've also been out doing more Christmas shopping before the chaos starts on Friday. I used to get up early and go shopping on Black Friday but it doesn't even sound interesting this year. I hate having to stand in line forever only to arrive and be told that the item has sold out. The other issue is the sea of rude & pushy people that will go to great lengths to get an item regardless of who they have to push out of the way to get it. 
I'd rather spend a little extra before the sales start, know that I actually have the item that I need and not have to deal with the sea of people on Friday morning.
However, I know many ladies love to shop that day and to those of you brave enough to go then I hope you find all the best deals!

Santa Came to Town....

....on top of the firetruck!
Our town's annual Christmas parade took place on Saturday and of course I had to take some pictures.
                   **Click on pictures to enlarge**

                                Parade Begins!

          Osiris Hillbilly Clan- Hillbilly to the Core!

                   Our local Jr. High School Band

Followed by the Marching Monarchs of John      Marshall High School

               My favorites ~ Horses....of course!

                              and then these.
I think there were a total of 9 or 10 tractors on display this year.
This poor dog!

I really hope that it was a SHE because if not, then that poor thing surely has no pride left after marching in pink booties and feathers.

The parade lasted about an hour and ended with who else but Santa riding on the firetruck!

Which brings me to this question.
How does Santa arrive in your town before Christmas?
Does he come by horseback, firetruck, helicopter or what?

A Hunter's Treat~ Pepperoni Rolls

It's finally Friday and thank goodness!
We've been working super hard on our schooling this week in hopes of being able to take all of next week off.  No big cooking adventures this past week so I have no new recipes or really anything of interest to share with you all. Instead I thought I would share a few links to some of my old posts. These are all favorites of mine for this time of the year.
The first one is for pepperoni rolls. My husband used to hunt and each year he would request that I make these so that he could have something to snack on throughout his day in the woods.
Click on the recipe titles to go to each post.

Pepperoni Rolls
 
And while the men are in the woods maybe you can sneak a little time for yourself so here are a few quick and easy dinners to throw in the oven or crockpot and forget about. Just come back and make a few quick sides at the last minute and enjoy!

Oven BBQ Round Steak

Crockpot Pork Chops N Gravy

How about some sweet treats?

Cream Cheese Cranberry Bars

Toffee Biscotti

Well that's all I've got for today. If you haven't signed up for my giveaway yet then hop on over to my previous post and do so.

Our town's annual Christmas Parade takes place this weekend and Wheeling's parade is tonight. Also going on in Wheeling is the HUGE Christmas in November Craft show at the Wesbanco Arena. I'm gonna have to see if I can sneak away for a bit over the weekend to check it out.
Hope you all have a great weekend!

Season Of Giving

We are thankful each and every day for all the many things in our lives. But we tend to reflect even more on those things during the holiday season.
                       ~ Thanksgiving ~
The day set aside for just that - to give THANKS!

A few things that I am thankful for are:
~ wonderful family and friends
~health and happiness
~a job (my husband's) that keeps the bills paid, a roof over our head and food on our table

There are many more things to be thankful for but with these basic blessings I can be happy and content.
The little *extras* that I also appreciate are the items that make our life so much simpler.
~Cars (though I'd love to have lived in the simple days of horse and wagon)

~washing machines

~stoves/ovens (my family really should be thankful for this one because if I had to cook over an open fire then OH MY, I'd never get a steady and even heat. We'd be eating burnt everything.

~the technology of today that keeps me connected to you all.
It allows me the chance to meet others from far and wide that I would otherwise never have known. It gives me a glimpse into other regions and the lifestyles of those who live there but more importantly it has given me a new bunch of friends.
Though long distant, each and every one of you brings a smile to my face with the kind words that you leave me or the knowledge that you share with me.
For that I thank YOU! 
I hope that all of you will enter to win my Thanksgiving giveaway.

This giveaway is the first in a series of 3 that I will be doing within the next couple of months.

To enter:
1. You MUST follow my blog. If you don't already then sign up on my left sidebar.

2. Leave a comment on this post ONLY.

3. For a 2nd chance, announce my giveaway on your blog. If you do this, be sure to drop me a line so that I know that you did so.

4. If you do not have a blog you can still enter. Just leave me an email address so that I may contact you if you win.

Good Luck to All!
Giveaway will end and winner announced on Thanksgiving Day.

And the stockings were hung!

Howdy all!
Can you tell how my weekend was spent?
Since the weather was still fairly warm we decided to go ahead and put the Christmas decorations up. It's usually freezing cold out when we decorate and we either have to fight the bulk of wearing gloves or our fingers turning blue due to coldness.
Not this year!

It was quite nice and sunny, sunny enough for sunglasses.
Mark on his ladder and I in my...wait a minute I've got the wrong story. :0)

We started with the outside decorations and by yesterday evening we had the tree and all up.
We also got a big portion of our Christmas shopping done and boy am I pooped now!
Too much at one time...is that a sign of getting older?
Ha...please don't answer that cause I don't think I want to hear it.

I found these candy canes at Big Lots yesterday for $10 and think they are so cute. They match our candy cane striped pillars on the front porch.
I took a picture of our Christmas tree last night but it didn't turn out. It was too blurry so I'll have to try again this evening.
Speaking of lights, do any of you know where I could find the little bell lights that play Christmas carols continuously. Our set isn't working so I went out to look for new ones yesterday and they are no where to be found in this valley. I did find some snowflakes but they play once and then shut off. 
I would really like to find the original bells that play nonstop and have a volume control.

That's about all that is new in my world. I'm not doing a whole lot today other than schooling and cooking. Just trying to rest up a bit.

You'll have to be sure to stop back tomorrow ~ I'm gonna have a GIVEAWAY for you all to enter.

And the Baking Began...

We got the new stove installed the other night and I just couldn't wait to start baking.
(When I say we, I don't really mean me. I actually have my husband, son and Dad to thank for that.)
Anyways, Wednesday morning I was up bright and early and ready to bake. I found these chewy ginger cookies over at Whispering Dreams the other day and thought they looked so yummy and they WERE. If you'd like the recipe you can get it HERE.

I made two batches of these. One for us which I chose to leave the cloves out of because I can't stand the strong taste of them. The other batch was made for my Dad using Splenda instead of regular sugar.
Notice the difference in the two cookies. The splenda version is more like a cake type drop cookie. I prefer the real version but if you are watching sugar then the Splenda ones are tasty too! However, if you are really watching your sugar then you may just want to skip these cookies all together because the molasses itself has a good bit of sugar in it.

Bike trail along Ohio River

In other news, the weather has been beautiful here. They are calling for 2 more days of sunshine before the cold sets back in along with rain. We took advantage of the nice weather today and went for a bike ride with Dad. It is so bare and blaw looking now that most of the leaves have fallen.

Katie trying to catch up with Gage

It's been several weeks since any of us have taken a ride and I think we were all feeling it.
Bike riding is one thing that I will sure miss during the winter. I could go over to Mom and Dad's to use their bike, treadmill or his new BowFlex but it's just not as much fun as being outdoors and exercising.

Happy Veterans Day and a great big Thank You to all who have served or are serving our country.

Still Waiting



 I still can't bake until I get the dang thing off the back of the truck!
It's been a week since my oven died and I have missed it.
I can't tell you how many times I have gone to the oven ready to turn it on to bake a treat or just to heat something up and thought, you big dummy remember it's broke.
Well not for long. I went and picked up the new stove today. Now I just have to wait until Mark gets home  so he can get the old one out and hook up the new.
Can you guess what I'll be doing tomorrow?

          B  A  K  I  N  G

I got a yummy looking recipe from Whispering Dreams the other day and can't wait to make them.
Along with those cookies I think I will put some beef and veggies in to roast all day.

Too funny!
This marks my 400th post today and what a thing to blog about.
A stove!
Hope you all are enjoying the warmth of the sunshine like we are here. I'm afraid those days are numbered with the cold and snowy ones fast approaching.