Pulled Pork, Using the Aldi Fresh Meat deal


Ingredients:
  • Pork Roast (I used a 10lb one)
  • 1 Jar Leftys, plus refill the bottle 3/4 full of water, shake well, and add it 

I set the crockpot to cook on high for 4 hours. Before I went to bed, I  switched the crockpot to cook on low for 10 hours. In the morning before I left, I switched it to warm.  At lunch time I shut it off completely, but let the roast sit.


At 4pm, roughly 24 hours after I started cooking the pork, I pulled the meat from the juices in the crockpot.  It looked a lot like soup- the liquid came almost to the top of the crock.  The meat fell apart as I pulled it from the crockpot into a large bowl.

The Longer Version - 

I'm transitioning to shopping more at Aldi, now that we don't always need the bulk amounts from Sam's club.  So of course I started this week by buying a 10lb pork roast.  Because everyone scaling back on the amount of groceries they buy should buy a 10lb pork roast....

But it was $1.49 a lb!  How can you pass that deal up?  I looked it up online to type up this post, and found this:


"Every Wednesday, look for our incredible Fresh Meat Special Buy* item. When you see the sign, you'll find an extra-low price on one of our very best cuts of meat. But hurry…because at these low prices, our weekly supply is extremely limited. "

I usually shop on Wednesdays, because I'm already in this area for BSF on Wednesday mornings.  I can't believe I've never noticed this before?  I really should be more observant.  :-)

A few months back I had made this recipe, from Kevin & Amanda.  It's called Perfect Roast Pork.  And it was good.  But I didn't think it was perfect, or really worth all of that effort. Ok, so it's really not THAT much effort, but it involved mixing spices, and brining the pork...  basically, more than 3 steps, so it exceeded my attention span. :-)  If it has truly been our idea of perfect (Did you know that 40 years ago students were taught never to use the word perfect when writing? Because nothing is truly perfect, therefor it was an improper use of the word.   some older women in my BSF group shared that they were taught never to use that word.  My, how times have changed...)  I'd have repeated the steps. But although it was good, we just weren't wowed by it.  (It's apparently one of the most popular recipes on their site, and they have a LOT of great recipes, so my opinion is obviously different than that of many others.  Nothing new there.


I put my 10lb pork roast in my crockpot, dumped in a jar of Lefty's BBQ sauce (I found it cheap at Wengers, but apparently Wal-mart carries it), refilled the bbq sauce bottle 3/4 full with water and shook it up good, then dumped that into the crockpot too.

I set the crockpot to cook on high for 4 hours. Before I went to bed, I  switched the crockpot to cook on low for 10 hours. In the morning before I left, I switched it to warm.  At lunch time I shut it off completely, but let the roast sit.

At 4pm, roughly 24 hours after I started cooking the pork, I pulled the meat from the juices in the crockpot.  It looked a lot like soup- the liquid came almost to the top of the crock.  The meat fell apart as I pulled it from the crockpot into a large bowl.

Using two forks, I "Pulled" the pork.  

It was so moist, so flavorful, and so good, that I really didn't have to do anything else.  For me, this came out SO much better than the brined recipe.  

It made a LOT of pork.  I filled one gallon bag, and one half gallon bag, for the freezer, and still had about half a gallon or more that I added Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce to to make Pulled BBQ Pork sandwiches for dinner.  (Served on Ciabatta rolls, also from Aldi)

This is really, really good. I won't call it perfect. But it will be my go to recipe for pulled pork from here on out.  :-)





How to Make a Chalkboard Graphic


I'm going to assume you already have a basic knowledge of some sort of graphics program.  Gimp is free.  I use Paint Shop Pro - because I have used it for many years, and I lack the attention span (& budget!) to keep up with photoshop.  

First, The Background.
  Thank you google image search....


These sites also offer free downloads - 


Next The Fonts:

This site has links to all of the fonts on the poster above
(most of my favorites are on her list, so I didn't see any sense in replicating it. Plus, she did it better than I would have.)

I personally recommend going to Dafont and downloading just about everything ever created by Kimberly Geiswein.  I can't believe all of these gorgeous fonts are free.  
http://www.dafont.com/kimberly-geswein.d1468
Some of my favorites:

Installing new fonts is super easy.  In most cases, you can unzip them, open 
Control Panel\Appearance and Personalization\Fonts 
or in your windows start menu, search "fonts"
Then copy the fonts and paste them in the font folder
If you have a graphics program open, you'll probably have to close it and restart it for the new fonts to appear.
If you need more detailed instructions:


Then, The Dingbats:
All those banners & frames?  Even mustaches and animals, or cars, or whatever... they can be found in dingbat fonts.
I'd start with:

KG Flavor & Frames
That will give you all sorts of banners and buntings to work with

But the options are pretty endless.  Use google and search for things like "snowman dingbat font", etc.  KG has several varieties of frames. I've downloaded them all.

Those who are pretty serious about this stuff use software to organize their fonts, or they print them into a binder. Me? I google the dingbat font I'm using to remember which letter/number = which graphic.  Probably not the best way, but it really is the easiest.  :-)

Organize with Software:
http://fudgeandjoy.com/crafting-2/how-do-you-organize-your-fonts-download-available/

Organize In a Binder:
https://thefrugalcrafter.wordpress.com/2010/09/13/dingbats-for-dummies/

The graphic above, for KG Flavor & frames, does not show all of the options - just a good sampling of them.  


Some Examples:

(Have I gone 10 minutes without mentioning that I have a gorgeous new grandson?  Let's rectify that quickly!!)





Not A Pinterest Baker Makes Lemon Blueberry Cake


Working from the recipe found here:
http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2014/02/09/lemon-blueberry-layer-cake/

Isn't it beautiful?? And it's lemon and blueberries, two of my favorite things!
 Lets be clear - that's the picture from the original recipe.  Not my photo.
But surely someone with a limited attention span  and complete disregard for exact recipes can make this, right?  Uhm..  kind of.  

Step 1 - Check the Ingredients

1 cup (240ml) buttermilk.  Check.  Well, kind of.  I don't actually have buttermilk, but that's easy to make.  I do have fresh from the dairy milk, and a bag of lemons.  

1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature. Who buys unsalted butter?  Not me.  But I pulled the salted butter from the fridge, optomistic that it will be at room temperature by the time I need it.  (No.  Not it will not be.  Do that sooner.)


4 large eggs, at room temperature.  This is when I remember that we just gave away all the eggs.  Go out to the hen house to collect the eggs (by the way, there's 3 inches of snow on the ground.  April 9th, 2016, in Central PA.)  Feed the chickens & peacocks while I'm out there, throw some scratch grain for the ducks and guineas.  So the eggs are "fresh from the henhouse" temperature.  Which since there is 3 inches of snow on the ground, might be slightly colder than "room" temperature...




1 and 1/4 cups (250g) granulated sugar.  I come back inside from collecting the henhouse temperature eggs,  &find that both the sugar and flour canisters are empty.  Refill them from the huge sam's club bags of sugar and flour that I keep in the pantry.  I wonder if I could start buying smaller bags now that the kids are pretty much grown?  How much money am I saving, especially when you calculate how much I spill all over the counter while refilling the canisters from these huge bags?  Thoughts for another day.

The oven was preheating, I set the plastic lid to the flour canister near the back burner of the stove while refilling the canister, and melted the lid. Just a little.

This cake is TIME consuming. And I don' t even have all of the ingredients together yet.

1/2 cup  packed light brown sugar - Yes, I have this!

1 Tablespoon vanilla extract - The good stuff, from Sam's club.  I buy the big bottle, we're all set!

3 cups  sifted all-purpose flour, (spoon & leveled)  - I may have completely ignored the part about "spoon and leveled".  It's possible I'm not completely sure exactly what that means.  But I have a good guess, so it will be fine.

1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

2 Tablespoons lemon zest I have a bag of lemons! & a pampered chef zester.  This makes me very happy.

1/2 cup lemon juice (3 medium lemons)  - I appreciate the amount of lemons being given. I suspect that I will need 4 minimum, I am probably not doing the "squeeze lemons" thing quite right.

1 and 1/2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen (do not thaw)

1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour

Check the pan cabinet.  I own a collection of stack able wedding cake pans that I bought for $1.50 at a yard sale.  I have never used them.   None of them are the same size.   I have two wilson cake pans from a cake decorating class my daughter and I took for fun 7 years ago.  I know it was 7 years ago, because facebook just showed me the reminder photo this week.  I didn't need facebook to remind me that we really, really sucked at cake decorating.  And that these pans probably have not been used in the 7 years since we took this class, because I really didn't like them.  And yes, I bought a set of stack able wedding cake pans AFTER learning I suck at cake decorating.  They were $1.50.

It may be time to re-evaluate my idea that I am not a hoarder, and that I'm really good about getting rid of things we do not use.  Another day.  Today I am thankful for the pans, and that my cheesecake pan is roughly the same size.


I wonder if pie pans would work in a pinch? Do normal people have 3 cake pans? 


Step 2 - Mix the ingredients

Zest the lemons.  I like zesting lemons.  I don't like squeezing the juice from lemons.  Especially when I don't think this through, and attempt to squeeze the juice right on top of the zest.  Its harder to find the seeds in the zest.

So I squeeze the rest of the lemons into a second bowl, separate from the zest.  Find cheesecloth, find the scissors that belong in the kitchen drawer, but are not in the kitchen drawer.  Attempt to strain lemon juice, with seeds, into the zest.  The cheesecloth slips, seeds go in the zest.  I kid you not, I'm that bad at this.  I think I got all the seeds out, but there's  possibility my version of this cake will include at least one lemon seed.

I do manage to mix all the rest of the ingredients without any real incident.  Although I should have softened the butter a bit more.

Toss the frozen blueberries in flour. Gently fold into the batter, using a spatula.  Huh.  She's right, my batter isn't blue.  (Don't worry, I'll screw that up later)

Step 3 - Prep the pans, Pour the Batter, Bake.

The instructions say to lightly grease and flour the pans with nonstick baking spray.  Huh?  Grease and flour OR baking spray, I understand..  is there a nonstick spray that comes with the flour in it?  Or do I grease the pans with the nonstick spray, then flour them?  That's the choice I went with.  It is easier, faster, and less messy then greasing them with crisco then flouring them.

Pouring the batter evenly into 3 pans was not fun for me.  It is really thick.  I find it highly unlikely I poured evenly.  And when shaking the pans to cover the bottoms with the batter didn't work, I used the spatula, and turned the batter blue.  (Told you I screwed that up later)




I put the pans in the oven, and then realize I should have taken a photo of the blue batter in the pans.  Take one back out to take a photo.

Spend the 21 Minute baking time typing this post.  How can it take that long to type this?  I haven't even added any photos  yet.

When the oven timer goes off, look for toothpicks. When did I buy these?  Never-mind, just be happy I have them.  They come out clean.  Cake is done.



Pull pans from the oven - this does NOT look right.  Tiny,super thin, dense layers. Read over instructions.  I obviously over mixed.  Apparently it does not take much to over mix.  I should have read this recipe with a little more care before beginning.  Especially the part at the end where she says this cake could be made in a 9x13 pan.  (Of course she's never made it that way - she always makes it in layers. But theoretically, people like me could learn to mix it a LOT less and pour it willy nilly in a 9x13 pan.  If we ever master the lemon juice straining through cheesecloth)

The Icing

8 ounces (224g) full-fat brick style cream cheese, softened to room temperature.  This is when I find that our daughter does not like the super cheap cherry cream cheese I bought for on her bagels, she she used some of the plain cream cheese I bought for the icing.  Eh.  There's close to 8 ounces.  We'll make it work.

1/2 cup (115g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature. Pull another stick of butter from the fridge.  This one also is salted.  And also not really room temperature.

3 and 1/2 cups (420g) confectioners’ sugar

1 – 2 Tablespoons (15-30ml) heavy cream.   1-2 T of heavy cream.  What would you do with the rest of the carton?  Heavy cream is expensive!  We have milk straight from the dairy, it's about 5% fat - and it will have to do. 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract


pinch salt

 Honestly, after seeing how the cake turned out, I wasn't going to stress over the icing.  Had the layers been all nice and fluffy, I may have pulled out the cake decorating supplies and piped the icing and made this pretty..  but today, a spatula was good enough.




The Verdict:
It has a good taste. The icing is a bit much, but that might be because my layers are so thin.  I've made crepes (poorly) that were almost this thick...

 If I make it again, I will not use the kitchenaid at all - and hopefully that will solve the texture issue.  Honestly, I'd be tempted to make this with a boxed cake mix.  And I'd definitely use a 9x13 pan.  


Footnotes:
1. I know it's terribly hard not to confuse us, especially after seeing this cake, but I am NOT the family member who is featured in wedding and cake magazines, and competes  on  (and WINS!) baking shows on tv.  That's my husband's cousins wife.  We don't share the same last name, but we're both married to descendents of the same set of grandparents..  so I don't know why I didn't inherit her cake decorating skills.  Life's just not fair.  :-)

2. My baking process does in no way reflect on the quality of the recipe.  It does however, accurately reflect my attention span and attention to detail.  Unfortunately.

3.  I'm really not completely incompetent in the kitchen.  I cook pretty well. I made things like pasta and pierogies from scratch. I even bake regularly. Really.  But I'm better with things that do not require precise measurements and exact detailed instructions.  See note 2 on my attention span.

4. Yes, I do know how footnotes are supposed to work.  No, I don't particularly care that I used them improperly here.  See Attention To Details under note 2.


==========================





Nine Books I could Not Put Down

Recently [March 2016] I saw a list shared to facebook, repeatedly, that was 20 Books You Can't Put Down.  I clicked on the link, read the list, and was slightly dumfounded.  They were all books I had read, and none of them kept me up to finish them.  Some of them I didn't even care to finish, they just were not that good at all.  It was another reminder that my taste in books is far from the New York Times Bestseller list.  

In no particular order, these are a few of  the books that I had a hard time putting down [in 2016]:




The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell

This book, more than any other I have ever read, still sticks with me.  For no discernible reason.  It is probably the only book I have ever read where I truly don't know "who did it", and I'm ok with that.  Normally I like clear endings, with everything wrapped up. But this time, it was better left open to interpretation.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16158600-the-other-typist


This is my review at goodreads:

Not since reading The Room by Emma Donaghue have I been so completely pulled into a novel. This was a riveting read, near impossible to put down.

This book is set in the prohibition era, and at times you expect Rose & Odalie to run into Gatsby himself. It is delightful to read, with the speakeasies and the clothing so vividly described without being tedious. (I've recently read Inferno & The Kill Room, Brown & Deaver could take some notes from this on how to set a scene without being so tedious that the reader forgets why anyone is in that scene to begin with.)

The narrative is fantastic. The early reference to The Wasteland by TS Elliot hints at the depths and twists in this book, which are at once so clear, and so unclear, that at the end you may wonder what this book was really about. Normally I cannot stand that in a book, I like clear endings with everything wrapped up neatly, but in this book I simply do not care that I don't have all the answers. It's truly that well done.
If you like to think more deeply about plot lines and inferences that the author quite likely never intended be sure to read Odalie by Alice Dunbar. It is very short, not really much longer than this review, and free to read online.
(a side note - I read through some of the reviews at goodreads, and many seem to think there are only two options for the ending. I see a third. Not one or the other, but a blending of the two. I'm not prone to over thinking things though, and allowing for the blending allows me to take the text pretty literally as the author wrote it. ) 

Room - By Emma Donoghue
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7937843-room
Ok, so ignore my comments about the New York Times Best Seller List for this one.  I'm sure they will ruin it with the movie, but this book is gripping.  I read it in one sitting, and was haunted by it long after I finished it.  Definitely one of my favorites of all time.

From GoodReads: "To five-year-old Jack, Room is the entire world. It is where he was born and grew up; it's where he lives with his Ma as they learn and read and eat and sleep and play. At night, his Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe, where he is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits.

Room is home to Jack, but to Ma, it is the prison where Old Nick has held her captive for seven years. Through determination, ingenuity, and fierce motherly love, Ma has created a life for Jack. But she knows it's not enough...not for her or for him. She devises a bold escape plan, one that relies on her young son's bravery and a lot of luck. What she does not realize is just how unprepared she is for the plan to actually work."



What Was Mine - Helen Klein Ross

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25111142-what-was-mine
This was a book club selection from She Reads, and a lot of my favorite books come from their recommendations. This one might be more of a mom thing?  I'm not sure.  I am a mom, so I can't separate the bias here. It's about a woman who kidnaps a baby.  Not a planned kidnapping, it just sort of  happened - although a kidnapping is a kidnapping, and she knew what she was doing was wrong.  She was a good mom, and raised a great kid.  And then one day, with the child off to college, the lie unravels and she is exposed.  

Now I'm pretty firmly a law and order type gal - I believe you break the law, you pay the price.  And the birth mother did NOT deserve to have her child kidnapped.  So I can't quite understand how this author made the kidnapper so likeable that I did not want her to be punished.  But she's really that good.  I couldn't put this book down - I had to know how it all worked out.


Learning To Swim - Sarah J. Henry
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8736390-learning-to-swim
"If I'd blinked, I would have missed it. But I didn't, and I saw something fall from the rear deck of the opposite ferry: a small, wide-eyed human face, in one tiny frozen moment, as it plummeted toward the water."
When she witnesses a small child tumbling from a ferry into Lake Champlain, Troy Chance dives in without thinking. Harrowing moments later, she bobs to the surface, pulling a terrified little boy with her. As the ferry disappears into the distance, she begins a bone-chilling swim nearly a mile to shore towing a tiny passenger.
Surprisingly, he speaks only French. He'll acknowledge that his name is Paul; otherwise, he's resolutely mute.
Troy assumes that Paul's frantic parents will be in touch with the police or the press. But what follows is a shocking and deafening silence. And Troy, a freelance writer, finds herself as fiercely determined to protect Paul as she is to find out what happened to him. She'll need skill and courage to survive and protect her charge and herself. 
Sara J. Henry's powerful and compelling Learning to Swim will move and disturb readers right up to its shattering conclusion."


Six Years - Harlan Coben
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15811568-six-years
Or, basically anything Harlan Coben has ever written.
I love his books so much that I actually save some unread, for times when my reading list has been disappointing and I want a really good read. I have them stashed away like emergency chocolates, no joke.   He's never failed me yet.

This was one of my all time favorites though.  From GoodReads:
"Six years have passed since Jake Fisher watched Natalie, the love of his life, marry another man. Six years of hiding a broken heart by throwing himself into his career as a college professor. Six years of keeping his promise to leave Natalie alone, and six years of tortured dreams of her life with her new husband, Todd. But six years haven’t come close to extinguishing his feelings, and when Jake comes across Todd’s obituary, he can’t keep himself away from the funeral. There he gets the glimpse of Todd’s wife he’s hoping for . . . but she is not Natalie. Whoever the mourning widow is, she’s been married to Todd for more than a decade, and with that fact everything Jake thought he knew about the best time of his life—a time he has never gotten over—is turned completely inside out. As Jake searches for the truth, his picture-perfect memories of Natalie begin to unravel. Mutual friends of the couple either can’t be found or don’t remember Jake. No one has seen Natalie in years. Jake’s search for the woman who broke his heart—and who lied to him—soon puts his very life at risk as it dawns on him that the man he has become may be based on carefully constructed fiction. Harlan Coben once again delivers a shocking page-turner that deftly explores the power of past love and the secrets and lies that such love can hide."


Winter Garden - Kristin Hannah
This is another author that rarely disappoints, but this was my favorite so far.  I really love these books that alternate between present day and past history, revealing the mystery of the past as they go along.  I love history, and mystery, and when it is well incorporated into a present day story, all the better.  (Which is why it is very surprising that I was disappointed by All The Light We Cannot See - but there's no explaining my taste I guess)

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6668467-winter-garden

Meredith and Nina Whitson are as different as sisters can be. One stayed at home to raise her children and manage the family apple orchard: the other followed a dream and traveled the world to become a famous photojournalist. But when their beloved father falls ill, Meredith and Nina find themselves together again, standing alongside their cold, disapproving mother, Anya, who even now, offers no comfort to her daughters. As children, the only connection between them was the Russian fairy tale Anya sometimes told the girls at night. On his deathbed, their father extracts a promise from the women in his life: the fairy tale will be told one last time - and all the way to the end. Thus begins an unexpected journey into the truth of Anya's life in war-torn Leningrad, more than five decades ago. Alternating between the past and present, Meredith and Nina will finally hear the singular, harrowing story of their mother's life, and what they learn is a secret so terrible and terrifying that it will shake the very foundation of their family and change who they believe they are.

Another that was a real favorite or mine was Night Road - also by Kristin Hannah - 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8949352-night-road


The Husbands Secret - Liane Moriarty

Imagine that your husband wrote you a letter, to be opened after his death. Imagine, too, that the letter contains his deepest, darkest secret—something with the potential to destroy not just the life you built together, but the lives of others as well. Imagine, then, that you stumble across that letter while your husband is still very much alive. . . .
Cecilia Fitzpatrick has achieved it all—she’s an incredibly successful businesswoman, a pillar of her small community, and a devoted wife and mother. Her life is as orderly and spotless as her home. But that letter is about to change everything, and not just for her: Rachel and Tess barely know Cecilia—or each other—but they too are about to feel the earth-shattering repercussions of her husband’s secret.

This sounds heavy and deep, but it's really not.  This is what I think of more as a "beach read", but with substance.  And the twist at the very end is very satisfying.  It challenges what we know not only about our spouses, but what we know of ourselves.

Before I Go To Sleep - S.J. Watson
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9736930-before-i-go-to-sleep
Memories define us. So what if you lost yours every time you went to sleep? Your name, your identity, your past, even the people you love--all forgotten overnight. And the one person you trust may only be telling you half the story. 

Ok, so I definitely have a "type" of book.  Not just a mystery, but things are not what they seem.  

The Secret Keeper - Kate Morton
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13508607-the-secret-keeper
During a summer party at the family farm in the English countryside, sixteen-year-old Laurel Nicolson has escaped to her childhood tree house and is happily dreaming of the future. She spies a stranger coming up the long road to the farm and watches as her mother speaks to him. Before the afternoon is over, Laurel will witness a shocking crime. A crime that challenges everything she knows about her family and especially her mother, Dorothy—her vivacious, loving, nearly perfect mother.

Now, fifty years later, Laurel is a successful and well-regarded actress living in London. The family is gathering at Greenacres farm for Dorothy’s ninetieth birthday. Realizing that this may be her last chance, Laurel searches for answers to the questions that still haunt her from that long-ago day, answers that can only be found in Dorothy’s past.

Dorothy’s story takes the reader from pre–WWII England through the blitz, to the ’60s and beyond. It is the secret history of three strangers from vastly different worlds—Dorothy, Vivien, and Jimmy—who meet by chance in wartime London and whose lives are forever entwined. The Secret Keeper explores longings and dreams and the unexpected consequences they sometimes bring. It is an unforgettable story of lovers and friends, deception and passion that is told—in Morton’s signature style—against a backdrop of events that changed the world.
 


I also really enjoyed The Houser At Riverton by this author, it is the same style of book.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1278752.The_House_at_Riverton

Pennsylvania GeoArt


I've started a BookMark List at geocaching.com, here:


Keystone State Geoart
Mostly Cache and Dash - over 80 caches
Located West of State College, south of Punxatawney - near the town of Gipsy.
Logs report it can be done in one, long, full, day
See the map:
One of the Caches:

Lost 
Located South of Lancaster
Part of the Lost Power Trail - see the sections to the right and left for another 100 or so caches
Lost Art #1
See the Start of the Power Trail Here:



BEST
Located North of  Reading
"Welcome to the Berks Explorers Seeking Tupperware (aka BEST) Geo-Art series. This series was created to teach Geocacher's about Berks County, and some of it's interesting facts, places, people and heritage. Once all 55 caches are found, your Geo-Art reward will be completed. Although all caches are hidden near the Lake Ontelaunee Reservoir, it is not at these posted coordinates - no swimming is required to obtain any cache in this series *smile*"

PA - 50 State Star
Located In the Allegheny State Forest, Northwest of Black Moshannon State Park


Signal
Located In Northern Pa.  Right on the NY Border, near Warren Center PA.
This one is unique in that it's not puzzle caches, but mostly traditional caches!


NWPA Smiley
Almost on the Ohio Border, above Conneaut Lake

Pirates GeoArt
Located in Western Pa

Jeep
Located in Western Pa, above North Washington PA



Freezer Meals For Teens - Chicken Week

Chicken in enchilada sauce, 2 bags of Hawaiian Chicken, an extra bag of cornflake/ranch breading (went in my pantry) 3 bags of chicken cordon bleu, 2 bags of parmesan ranch chicken.

Last week I made up a bunch of meals with a log of hamburg, this week I brought home two packs of chicken breasts to make freezer meals.

The chicken breasts from Sams Club were huge.  Ridiculously huge.



 I started by cutting them in half - through the middle, so they were half as thick.  Each pack had 5 breasts in it, I bought two packs, so I had roughly 20 breasts to work with.

But even then they were so large that I ended up cutting them in 4ths - so I actually ended up with a lot more.  

making the chicken cordon bleu

Chicken Cordon Bleu
Chicken cordon bleu is one of my favorite meals, and it freezes well.  

Pound the chicken thin
spread with mayo & mustard
top with ham and cheese
fold in half
Dip in egg
Dip in italian bread crumbs

Flash freeze

Except, these were really really large. So after they were in the freezer for about 30 minutes, I pulled them out, cut them in half, sprayed the exposed edge with cooking spray, and dipped in more bread crumbs.  If the kids are still hungry, they can always have seconds, and they will cook better at the smaller size.


Crockpot Hawaiian Chicken
When I cut the chicken in half, not all of the pieces were "neat". The ones that were that were misshapen (about 3 or 4?) I cut into chunks for Hawaiian Chicken. I'll serve this over rice.  

1 can of pineapple chunks
      (pour half the juice into each bag, then half the pineapple into each bag)
1T soy sauce in each bag
3T brown sugar in each bag
2T corn starch
cut up peppers and onions (I used one bag, half in each bag)
baby carrots

I'll cook this in the crock pot, and make rice to go with it.


Parmesan Ranch Chicken

Parmesan Ranch Chicken
For this recipe, I cut the remaining chicken breasts in half again, which is actually 4ths.  I think it will cook better at the smaller size.

1 packet ranch dressing
1 cup crushed corn flakes
1 cup parmesan cheese
      Mix in a ziplock bag  (I doubled this recipe)

1/2 cup butter
       Melt in a small bowl

Dip the chicken in the butter, then drop 1 piece at a time into the ziplock bag, shake to coat.

I placed the chicken in a pan lined with foil and flash froze them before putting them in zip lock bags for the freezer.

Enchilada Chicken
This was 3 of the smaller pieces of chicken in a ziplock bag, with a can of enchilada sauce.  That's it. 

 I'll pop this in the crock pot one morning, then in the afternoon I'll pull the chicken out, shred it, and add cheese, black beans, diced onion...  Fill the tortilla shells, roll, top with the enchilada sauce and more cheese, and bake.  It's a little more work than most of my crockpot meals, but having the chicken ready to go makes this pretty simple and quick any night of the week.






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