Roasted Chicken in a CrockPot

This past week's challenge was for an entree. I wanted a recipe for something that was easy and that would be used over & over again. How about roasting a chicken in the CrockPot? It turned out beautifully; the meat fell off the bones as I was lifting the chicken out! If you're interested, click here for more info.


Using this recipe has inspired me to challenge myself in a new way. I've really been missing my Monthly Menus but have been wanting to do something different. And since our CrockPot does take up a bit of room in our little kitchen...

I'm going to use the slow cooker for one meal a week until the end of 2011. Hopefully I'll end up with some delicious easy meals. If you have any recipes to share, I'd love them. Check back in if you are interested in using your own CrockPot more too!

The Village of St. Jacobs

With our days of owning a car dwindling down to just a few, a fellow mom & I decided to take a road trip to a town that is heavily Amish and that has an amazing market.


So we packed up the girls and drove an hour and a half to St. Jacobs County. As soon as we drove into the village, we saw two horse-drawn carriages with Amish families inside. Now I love my life but sometimes a life like that does look quite appealing.


Anyways, the market was SO impressive. Stand after stand had beautiful products that I wanted to buy.


Since we're only two adults, I limited my purchases to peaches, corn on the cob, cantaloupe, cabbage, green onions (that were a foot-and-a-half long), and bread. I wish I could have bought tomatoes, nectarines, cherries, homemade caramel rolls, green beans, watermelon, yellow plums (anybody had them before?), patty pan squash, and about a gazillion other things. Sometimes I just wish I could eat all day long!

French Toast Waffles

Looking for a new twist on breakfast for dinner? How about French Toast Waffles? I found the idea in the JOY of Cooking and it was delicious and easy. Mix up your french toast mix as usual, dip your bread, and then put it in the waffle maker rather than on the griddle!

This is definitely going into my new recipe file for simple family meals!

Presqu'ile Provincial Park

This past weekend we went camping with friends from church. The campground was very unlike what John & I typically go for. Instead of hiking trails that rise and fall with the landscape, we had the sandy beaches of Lake Ontario.


Earlier this summer I was amazed with the beach of Lake Michigan. There was a good ten feet of nice sand before you got to the lake. But check this out!


Unfortunately, we had a sick little babe with us. So, laying on the beach consisted of this:


Despite Helena being sick for some of the time, we had a really nice weekend. Helena had a playmate for when she was feeling good:


And we had nice conversations with friends. A campfire is usually good for that, isn't it?

Spinach-and-Artichoke Dip

Another week has gone by, and this week's challenge was an appetizer. We had Spinach-and-Artichoke Dip. I wouldn't really recommend the recipe I used, but still wanted to put the post on this blog for my own record-keeping sake.