kirstencan

Ye Olde Crock Pot

I have been trying hard to better utilize this classic kitchen tool.  There are a few nights a week where we don't get home from activities until after we'd be eating most nights.  My goal on those nights is to have something hot and nourishing ready to eat when we get home.  

And I mean READY.  So on those nights I don't put make any of the recipes that call for steps after cooking.  Ready to dish up as soon as we get home.  And I'll tell you, pulling into the garage and smelling a yummy soup or something when you're hungry - that's good stuff.

So, yeah, there are soups.  Soups are good.  The kids have pretty much gotten over their pickiness for soups and will eat whatever.  For a long time (and I know this isn't unusual) they really didn't like soups that weren't blended.  

But we do get tired of soups, so I try to do that only once a week.  The other days I've been trying to use it for other things.  

A few things that've at least been partially successful:

Pasta:  I'll cook pasta (al dente if I'm paying attention - which I'm usually not) and throw it in the crock pot before we leave along with some marinara and cheese.  Meat sauce if we're feeling it. It just keeps everything warm till we get home.

"Enchiladas":  Definitely need quotation marks here, because I just layer corn tortillas with green enchilada sauce, cheese, and beans (refried + black usually).  Tastes delish, but looks like mush when it comes out.

Hot dogs:  This was kind of a fun find, actually.  Right before we leave I dump a big can of baked beans in the crock, and add hot dogs to the top.  Whole, not sliced.  They cooked great, and we just threw them into buns when we got home.  

Baked Potatoes:  Super easy to bake in the crock (my favorite way to bake potatoes in the summer, especially), but we just have to make sure all the toppings are READY and in the fridge before we leave. 

(Obviously most of these have salad or something to go with for vegetables).

So what else?  I have a few good crockpot cookbooks (this one is our fave), but I am always looking for more ideas!

Dinosaur

A few weeks ago we took a really quick trip to see Dinosaur National Monument.  We visited the Utah side of it, and had a wonderful time!  The quarry with the wall of dinosaur bones was amazing, and some of the petroglyphs were simply stunning.  We had a marvelous time searching for fossils in the wild, hiking, and exploring - and did I mention the amazing Fall leaves?

This (was) Halloween

Well, we did do all the Halloween things, even if I didn't document them here (this is where my husband will tease me "Then did it really happen?").

The Redhead went as Adam Savage from Mythbusters.

When you are a redhead that already has chunky dark glasses... there's not much you need to do, actually!  I stencilled a shirt, bought a hat, and borrowed the jacket.

And who do we have sneaking through this shot?  Jamie, of course!

How much do I love that these boys really wanted to be something TOGETHER? 

The original plan was to be the TWO Amigos - thwarted when the hats proved hard to find and wouldn't fit my kids' giant noggins anyway. :)  But I had it all planned - maybe someday!**

Jamie was easy, too - dress clothes, his brother's old wire-frames (lenses popped out), and a I bought him the beret.  We also bought the mustache (which I painted to get closer to the original color).  First time working with spirit gum - it worked great!

Here's a shot in case you don't know how spot-on their costumes were.

We even cut Monkey's hair extra short on the sides!

And here's a shot taken because Monkey really wants me to photoshop a huge explosion in the background. That should be easier with a fairly-solid backdrop, right?

Yeah, that hasn't happened yet.

The girl (Totoro) stayed home for the first time this year!  She and a friend watched Edward Scissorhands and handed out candy.  At first she was kind of bummed to not be going out collecting candy, but she quickly learned that giving out candy is so fun!

And here's our last-minute pumpkins!  Squeezed that in inbetween nutcracker rehearsal and dinner - close!

It was a good one.  So glad my kids have always like dressing up and being creative on Halloween!  I hope that continues for a while!  Or forever...

**I had it all planned out - I should post my sketches.  But really, whenever they watch The Three Amigos and they say something about 'Sew like the wind!' I always want to make a costume, too! :)