Crock Pot Palooza!

There was no activity for July, but the activity for June was a “pot” luck dinner.  Sisters were asked to bring their favorite crock pot dish, as well as the recipe.  The RS presidency was kind enough to e-mail some of the recipes from that tasty evening to us:

Cherry Delight for Crock Pot  -  from Vicki

1 21-oz can cherry pie filling

1 box yellow cake mix

1/2 cup butter, melted

1/3 cup chopped walnuts, optional

Pour cherries into crock pot. Mix cake mix and butter till crumbly.  Sprinkle over cherries. Cover.

Cook 4 hours on low or 2 hours on high.

Cool and serve in bowl with a scoop of vanilla ice cream if desired.

 

Peach Cobbler - from Cheryl

1 stick butter

2-1/4 cups flour

2 Tablespoons baking powder

1-1/2 cups sugar

1-1/2 cups milk

1 Tablespoon vanilla

2 cups peaches (drained if using canned)

Cinnamon

Melt the butter in the bottom of a 6-quart crockpot. Mix together flour, baking powder, sugar, milk, and flavorings in a separate bowl and then pour on top of the butter. Drop the peaches on top, distributing evenly over the batter. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Cover and cook on high for 2-3 hours, or low for 4-6.

Buffalo Chicken - from Cheryl

4 chicken breasts

1 cup Frank's Buffalo Sauce

3 Tablespoons Hidden Valley Ranch seasoning mix

1/2 cup sour cream or softened cream cheese (optional)

Arrange chicken on bottom of crock pot. Top with Buffalo Sauce and sprinkle with seasoning mix. Cook on high for 3-4 hours, or low for 6-8 hours. Shred the chicken. If desired mix in sour cream or cream cheese. Use on sandwiches, wraps, or as a dip.

Cheryl gave this info....

This is a good blog for more crockpot recipes:  

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com

Some people were wondering about doing rice in a slow cooker without it turning mushy, and here is a recipe for it.

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/03/you-can-use-your-crockpot-as-rice.html

Pork Roast - from Teressa

1-1/2 pounds pork roast, trim far  

Slice an onion and put it in the bottom

Put salt and pepper and garlic powder on meat  

Place meat on top of onion

1 small bay leaf

2 teaspoons soy sauce

2 Tablespoons water

Cook on low 8-10 hours

This is the cake Cassie made....

 http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/slow-cooker-hot-fudge-sundae-cake/8337ccb8-3d84-4ec6-ba24-0ff38725f762?src=SH

http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/slow-cooker-taco-shortcakes/ab986076-99d3-4f69-a37c-a86913491aff?src=SH

February Activity – Our Favorite Things!

This month’s activity was a “getting-to-know-you” type of activity.  The sisters were asked to bring something they loved – a favorite thing – and be prepared to tell about it.  However, it had to be something that they were willing to let go of because someone else would be taking it home that night.

Here’s how our activity went:  As each sister entered the Relief Society room, she was handed a little piece of paper with a number on it.  Unknown to us, Jenny, our RS president, was writing the name of each individual sister on a small piece of paper and putting it in a cup.  We were told to hold on to our favorite item.

Louise then gave our 10-minute spiritual thought.  It was based on a talk given by Boyd K. Packer in the October 1980 issue of the Ensign entitled, “The Circle of Sisters”.  Here is one of the ideas from the talk Louise presented:

“ Just days ago Sister Packer and I attended Relief Society somewhere in Eastern Europe. There were in attendance twelve sisters. We sang the hymns of Zion from song books—words without music—printed nearly fifty years ago. The spiritual living lesson was reverently given from the pages of a handmade manual.

I told those sisters that they belonged to the largest, and by all measure, the greatest women’s organization on earth….

I then told them about you, and they were strengthened. I spoke of the assignment to speak to you here tonight and asked if they had a message for you. Several of them made notes; each expression, every one, was in the spirit of sending something to you—not of asking something from you. One of them said, “A small circle of sisters send their own hearts and thoughts to all the sisters and begs the Lord to help us go forward.” – Boyd K. Packer

Louise then also talked about instead of just being a circle, we are actually like a pattern of lace – intertwined and interwoven, yet making one large, beautiful pattern.  Louise always gives very inspiring talks!

After Louise gave her lesson, we went into the cultural hall where the chairs had all been arranged in a circle.  After we were all seated, the sister having the number “1” went to the center of the circle where she showed off her item and told us why it was one of her favorites.  Judy loves chocolate and had brought a bag of bite-size Snicker bars.  After she told about her item, she was asked a random question (a sampling of questions is at the end of this post.)  After she answered her question, Jenny drew one of the names from the cup and announced, “Cassie is the sister who will be taking the Snickers home tonight!”  After presenting Cassie with the candy, Judy sat down and the sister with the number “2” stood up and the process began again.

There was a lot of talking and giggling during this activity; everyone seemed to have a lot of fun.  There was a variety of “favorite” items brought:  lots of chocolate, homemade bread, favorite snacks, homemade craft items, books, a favorite recipe, and even some ice cream.  Louise brought some of her homemade granola and I was lucky enough to get the recipe and am sharing it in this post.

I was lucky enough to get some really great sugar cookies – soft and chewy, and presented beautifully (the recipe was included):

Bonnie’s Sugar Cookies

3 sticks (real) salted butter, softened

2 cups white sugar

4 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 tsp. baking powder

4-1/2 – 5 cups flour

Beat butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time and vanilla.  Slowly add dry ingredients.  Refrigerate for 1-2 hours before rolling out – this is very important!  Roll out on clean, dry surface dusted with POWDERED SUGAR – not flour.  Yes, that’s right:  powdered sugar.

Bake at 400° for 6-8 minutes, depending on thickness.  I like them thick so I do 8 minutes.  Do not overcook!  They may not look done, but they are!

Louise’s Granola

3 cups old fashioned rolled oats

1-1/4 cup pecans, halved

1-1/4 cup walnuts, halved

¾ cup slivered almonds

1 cup coconut

2 Tablespoons wheat germ

2 Tablespoons ground flax seed

½ cup raw sunflower seeds

½ cup raw pumpkin seeds

5 oz canola oil

5 oz pure maple syrup

1 teaspoon sea salt

2 teaspoons vanilla

Optional:  Dried cranberries, apricots, dates, figs, raisins, etc.

Preheat oven to 350°.  Mix dry ingredients in bowl.  Whisk together the oil, maple syrup, sea salt, and vanilla.  Pour over dry ingredients and mix.

Line a jelly roll pan with parchment paper.  Spread the granola mix in the pan.  Bake for 10 minutes.

Stir and bake for an additional 10 minutes.  Stir again and pat down with a pancake turner to form a solid sheet, or else leave it loose if preferred, then bake another 10 minutes.  Cool and stir in to an air tight container.

Serving Suggestions:

A small handful in a cup of plain Greek yogurt along with a few dried cranberries and perhaps a teaspoon of honey.

A heaped tablespoon of granola dresses up a bowl of oatmeal.

Goes great as an ice cream topping.

A Sampling of our Random Questions:

What is your favorite smell?

What are your favorite sports to watch?

What was the last thing you ate?

If you were a crayon, what color would you be?

What is your favorite sound?

What is the farthest you have been from home?

What makes you angry?  Do you get angry very soon?  How do you overcome your anger?

If given a complete freedom to start afresh, what profession would you choose and why?

Which is the funniest prank played on you or played by you?

Do you prefer the summer season or the winter season?

Which is the best vacation you’ve ever had in your life?

Which is the one television character that you simply adore?

Are you a convert or have you been a member your whole life?

If you were stranded on a lonely beach, what are the five things that you would want to survive?

What is your favorite lunch meat?

Of course, it could go on, but you get the idea!

Relief Society Dinner 2010

This dinner was the first big shindig over which I had responsibility as 2^nd Counselor.  Luckily I had a committee that helped me plan and execute this event.  When it was time to set up the tables and put out the cloths, dinnerware, food, etc., I would have never made it for sure.

Our original plan had been “A Christ-Centered Christmas” with nativity sets for the centerpieces on the table, but when we learned that the ward party was already going to have that, we had to come up with another idea.  We settled on “The Gifts of Christmas” and focused on the gifts that the Savior has given to all mankind.  Sister McDaniel did a beautiful job of wrapping some boxes and placing tags on them that reflected these gifts:  “Peace”, “The Gift of the Atonement”, “Hope”, etc.  We used these as our centerpieces:

After the meal, but before the dessert, we went into the Relief Society room where Sister McDaniel read a short story about having a simple Christmas.  She then played, “The Nativity” DVD which she had brought.  It showed scenes depicting Christ’s birth and his mortal life, with music from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in the background.  Near the end, Gordon B. Hinckley said a few words (Sister McDaniel told us that this was one of the last “video” appearances he had made before he passed away.)  This video really helped to give the feeling that we wanted to have in our meeting.  Here’s how she had the room set up:

After the video, we presented them with our gift to them:  a loaf of “homemade” pumpkin bread (recipe to be found at the end of the blog).  I baked, wrapped, and decorated 50 of these little loaves and was quite happy to see them finally go:

Here is a close-up of the tag that Sister McDaniel made to put on them:

Of course, anyone who knows me also knows that I will find “decadence” in anything that I am doing, even if it is a church Christmas party.  Well, I found it:  Chocolaty, gooey, sweet, womanly decadence!

This dessert is so sweet, so rich, and so chocolately that a couple of my teeth didn’t even wait for the tooth decay to set in; they just popped out right there at the table.  But let me tell you, it was worth it.  Luckily for me, Sister Hair agreed to give me the recipe for this little creature (also found at the end of this blog).

Well, that’s it.  I survived my first official dinner as 2^nd Counselor, and I think that the sisters had a good, fun, uplifting time.  I can’t lie, though; I am glad that our next dinner is not until March!

Recipe for Pumpkin Bread

Sister  Hair’s original recipe is as follows:

1 Spice cake mix

1 30 oz. can of Pumpkin puree

4 eggs

350 until toothpick out barely moist.  There's no time on the recipe...so I would start out at about 15 or 20 minutes.

I don’t know if I’m just a bad cook, or if it was due to the fact that the thermostat in my oven is slightly off, but I tried a couple of batches and the original recipe didn’t work for me.  So I modified it a bit, and had better luck.  Here is what I did for the loaves we gave out at the dinner:

1 Spice cake mix (I used Duncan Hines, 18.25 oz)

1 15-oz can of pumpkin puree

4 eggs

As I said, my thermostat is off just a bit, so I baked the recipe at 365° and checked it at 30 minutes.  It was almost done, so I let it cook for between 3-5 more minutes (at this stage you just have to watch it like a hawk).  This worked great for me and I was happy to have a recipe that makes something good without too much work.  This makes between 4-5 of the mini loaves (3 x 5 pans) depending on how full you fill them.  I tried to fill them between ½ to 2/3 full of batter.

Now, as promised, here is that decadent recipe for Sister Hair’s great dessert (I can’t wait to try it!):

Recipe for Hot Fudge Bar

Dough:

1 cup butter

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

3 cups quick oats

1 tsp salt

2.5 cups flour

Filling:

2 cups milk chocolate chips

1 cup sweetened condensed milk

3 tbsp margarine

2 tsp vanilla

Mix together dough ingredients.  Pat 2/3 mix in 9 x 13 pan to cover bottom.  Melt filling ingredients on low heat and pour over batter.  Sprinkle remaining 1/3 dough mixture on top.  Bake 350 for 15-20. Do not over bake.

Homemade Granola Bars

At the last RS meeting (my first in awhile) we had a demonstration on how to make homemade granola bars.  They were really good and are a great way to use any oats you mights have stacked up in your food storage.  Here is the recipe that was given at the meeting:

Homemade Granola Bars
4-1/2 cups rolled oats (regular, not quick)
1 cup flour (I like to use whole wheat flour)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed

Optional: 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (raisins, dried cranberries, and other dried fruit, whatever you like!)

Combine all ingredients but the chocolate chips (or whatever optional ingredients you are putting in). Mix and then add the chocolate chips in and mix again. Press into a greased pan (Pam works great!). Bake at 325 degrees for 18-22 minutes. Enjoy!!

**This is a basic recipe. . . if you like other things, try putting them in and make it your own recipe! Nuts, seeds, coconut, peanut butter. . . the options are endless! Note that if you add a lot of optional ingredients, you might want to increase the butter and honey in order for the mixture to be cohesive and not too dry.**