Wishing You Happy Holidays!

Cross Stitch design by Blackbird Designs, Loose Feathers series

I'll bet your home is all a buzz with activity for the holidays.  We most definitely have been.  I received an unwelcome gift from my son in the form of the flu, which was short lived, thank God, I expect because of the flu shot we had in October.  A mild cold has stayed on though, but it could have been much worse.

I spend a little time on Pintrest.  Well....perhaps a more than a little some days, and one of my favorite things to hunt for are slow cooker recipes.  I try a lot of recipes in a years time, and boy do I have a winner to share with you.  

This recipe is by far the best recipe I have found all year!!!!  

Slow cooker or otherwise.  Trust me, I can not say enough about this recipe.  Wonderful, tasty, easy, good enough to serve for company!!!  Honestly...this is something you have to try!!

I found the recipe via Pintrest, and that took me to the Six Sisters Blog.  Fun stuff...spend a few minutes browsing their blog as I'm sure they have loads of yummy recipes.  This one, however, takes the cake.  

Their recipe for Three Envelope Pot Roast Sliders is over-the-moon wonderful!  It's made in the slow cooker, has just 6 ingredients, and best of all, all you have to do is dump them into the slow cooker and let it work its magic!!  The house will smell delightful all day....I promise!

The pot roast is everything you'd ever want good braised beef to taste like.  I do make sliders when I make this, and substitute different cheeses to shake things up.  I don't, however, make the creamy chipotle sauce, but I'm sure its good, if you like that sort of thing.  I have shared this recipe with many friends already, whom have made it and served it with mashed potatoes instead of making sandwiches.  I have saved half and popped it into the freezer, and it's just as good the second time around.  

So, after the holiday passes, and life takes on a slower pace, try this recipe and spend the day sewing.  That's what I'm planning on doing.  I hope you like it as much as I do.  It's such a good thing!!

Click here for a printable version of the Three Envelope Slider recipe! 

Wishing you all a very Merry Chistmas!!

Playing With Cottonseeds

I've been working on a new pattern.  Geesh...it feels so good to be sewing because it seems like I do much more paper work than working with fabric!  This little quilt has a bit of applique in it....just a touch.  I've been thinking about this project for many months now, and... finally....I get to make it.

The quilt is called Cottonseeds, and here are the fabrics I've pulled so far.  I'm madly in love with the blue floral print (Vicksburg by Judie Rothermel for Marcus Fabrics).  I found it at Back Door Quilts when I went there several months ago.  They only had one yard left, and oh....how I wish I had much more!!  Anyway...the yard will be fine for my little quilt.  I have to decide which red to use.  Hhmmm.
I'll have to play a bit more...audition them, if you will.  Which red gets your vote?

I will be teaching this project when I visit the Lodi Valley Quilt Guild in Lodi, Wisconsin in April.  This will be a return visit for me, and I'm delighted to go back to spend time with this delightful group of ladies!!  I'll post my progress this week as I work on the quilt.

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On a side note....at the start of the new year, I posted that two of my goals this year were to learn to make wonderful pies, and  great yummy soups.  Well....haven't delved into the pies just yet, but I have made a few soups.

This soup, Tomato Basil Parmesan in the Slow Cooker, was outstanding.  Not surprisingly, I found it on Pinterest !!  It was a teeny bit of work and worth every minute spent making this delicious creation.

Click here for the recipe.  You can find me on Pinterest too!!

Are you getting some time to sew?

Hope sew....Pam

Chicken Tortilla Soup and This 'n That

It's tax time.  Ugh.  Paperwork abounds.  It's boring but necessary.  Millions of us are singing the "paperwork for taxes blues".  Well, I don't want to whine about here, but it serves as my explaination for not having something a lot more fun to blog about!  I think I see the end of the calculator tape!!  I have a beautiful pile of fabrics chosen....just sitting there waiting for me to dive in to begin a new quilt.  My Bernina is calling my name.  Hopefully by tomorrow morning......

I do have a wonderful recipe to share with you.  My friend, Sandy, gave me a Crock Pot recipe for very easy Chicken Tortilla soup a few months ago.  It was delicious, but I wanted more veggies and spices, so I researched several other recipes, took what I liked, and gave the new concoction a whirl last night.  OMG!  I think I have a real winner here!  My husband said it was the best Chicken Tortilla soup he's ever had....and I think I agree!  Best of all, it's made in the Crock Pot and is a "dump it in - walk away" kind of recipe.  Click here for the recipe if you'd like to give it a try for yourself.

Oh.....and last call for anyone who would like to send me a photo of your Quilty License Plate!

Thanks so much for stopping by to visit with me today!  Next time, I should have something a whole lot more fun to share with you!

Pam

(Side Note - if you click on the recipe link and see black lines, you will most likely need to update your Adobe Reader)

In a Pinch Turn To Old Reliable

As Quilt Market preparations continue, I am working a lot more and doing household stuff a lot less.  Hhmmmm.....is that necessarily a bad thing?  Anyway....regular readers of my blog know that I love a good slow cooker recipe, and when my time is limited, I rely on them to get me through.  Here is the recipe that is my family's all time most requested slow cooker dinner.  Truly a delicious meal!  The best part is it couldn't be any easier!!

Chicken Marsala with Linguini

Ingredients:

6 Boneless, skinless chicken breasts – can be frozen

½ cup butter

1 envelope Good Seasons salad dressing mix

2 cans (10oz) Golden Mushroom soup

1 cup Marsala cooking wine

1 large (12 oz) & 1 small (4 oz) can mushroom stems & pieces, drained

8 oz tub cream cheese with chives & onion (softened in microwave until creamy)

1 lb. linguini cooked according to package directions

Parmesan cheese shreds; garnish

Directions:

Place chicken in a 4 Qt (or larger) Crock Pot.  In a medium sauce pan, melt butter.  Stir in the soup, wine, salad dressing mix, mushrooms & cream cheese, stirring until all is melted and combined.  Pour soup mix over the chicken and cook in the Crock Pot on LOW 5-6 hours.  Serve chicken and sauce over hot pasta; top with shredded parmesan cheese.

Serves 6

  Back to work....Enjoy!
Pam

Deck The Halls Contest

Now that Thanksgiving is over, the coming days find us all focusing on decorating the house for Christmas and buying gifts for the special people in our lives.  Needless to say, the month of December is always a busy one!  Not a lot of time for sewing, but good things are happening none the less!

Traditionally, the week following Thanksgiving is when my family begins decorating our house.  This year, because of the mess we're still living with in various areas of our house due to painting and what not, we're not going to do Christmas as usual.  We're just going to deck the halls of the kitchen and family room, the rooms we live in the most, and see how it goes from there.  No doubt, you're doing the same!

When Lynne Hagmeier and I were at the Country Living Fair a few months ago, I picked up another little goodie too cute to pass up.  I bought an extra one!  So....let's have a contest! 





Please leave a comment by midnight, Wednesday, December the 1st, about anything Christmas, to enter the drawing.  That way, you'll have a little something more to deck your hall with!









Now, knowing how busy we all are, we still have to eat!  Time for another easy meal idea!  Here are two very easy recipes for one of my family's favorite meals.  One is for a Crock Pot and the other is made in the oven.  (Just wanted you to know I do cook other things besides slow cooker dishes!)

  

Good Enough For Company

Beef & Mushrooms

3 lbs stew meat, cubed

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 large can mushrooms, drained

1 small can mushrooms, drained

½ cup red wine

1 envelope Good Seasons salad dressing mix

1 8 oz tub onion & chives cream cheese

Directions:

Soften cream cheese in the microwave (1 minute increments on half power) until smooth and creamy.  Combine all other ingredients in slow cooker.  Cover.  Cook 10 hours on low OR 5-6 hours on high.

Serve over noodles, rice, or pasta – optional.

Serve with Beefy Rice!  Yum

 What's Beefy Rice you say?

Well, it's about the easiest side dish in the world to make!  It tastes oh so good and needs only 4 ingredients.

Serve this with any beef dish.  It's a real crowd pleaser!  Whenever I take this anywhere, folks always ask for the recipe.

Beefy Rice

1 stick of butter

1 can Beefy Mushroom soup

1 can French Onion soup

1 cup Uncle Ben’s Converted rice, uncooked

Pre-heat the oven to 350°.

Put the butter in a 2 qt shallow Pyrex dish and melt in the oven.

Once melted, remove from the oven and add the soup; mix well.  Then, add the rice; mix well.  Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour.

Let me know what you think!  Enjoy decorating.....Pam

The Cook of the Family

I like to eat.  I like to cook.  I like to eat more than I like to cook!  I love to sew.  I love to sew more than I like to cook.  How about you? 

I am the main cook for my family.  My husband Ed has been cooking a lot more, and doing a great job, (he makes the best Double Baked Potatoes ever!) but mainly, the cooking is up to me.  Over the years, I find I want to eat a home cooked meal, but don't want to always be the one to cook it.  Nothing uncommon about that.  When Ed's schedule doesn't allow him to cook, and either my schedule is busy, or more to the point, I'd rather be sewing, I turn to my favorite kitchen appliance, the slow cooker! 

I am on a mission to collect as many yummy slow cooker recipes as I can, so, I am asking you, dear reader, to send me your favorite recipes!  In exchange, I will post my favorites.  I'll also do my best to share your recipes with everyone, too!  Please email your slow cooker recipe to pam@heartspunquilts.com. 

To start things off, here is a new slow cooker recipe we recently tried and thought it wonderful!

STEAK & CREAMY MUSHROOMS
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 1/2 Tbl Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp paprika
2 cup onions, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 1/2 cups fresh button mushrooms, quartered
2 lbs. round steak, cubed
1 cup sour cream
cooked noodles
crispy bacon bits, optional

Combine soups, Worcestershire sauce, pepper, paprika, onion, garlic & mushrooms in slow cooker.  Add steak.  Cover; cook on Low 8-9 hours.  Stir in sour cream the last 20-30 minutes.  Serve over hot buttered noodles; garnish with bacon.

What's nice about this recipe is that you don't have to cook anything before it goes into the slow cooker!  I love that...even easier!  Serve with a nice side salad.....dinner!  Those crock pot liners make life and clean-up a snap, too!  Gotta love a good slow cooker recipe!  Look for more recipes in future posts.  More time to sew!  Yea!

Tomorrow morning, my girlfriends and I will be traveling to Columbus, OH, to attend the Country Living Fair!  We are so excited.  I have wanted to do this for years, and this will be my first time.  I'll be sure to take some pictures to share with you next week.  Until then, happy sewing and good eats!