easy Archives - Spindles Designs by Mary and Mags

Honey Mustard Chicken

November 22, 2019 by Mary Catherine Scott Leave a Comment

My family has gotten into a rut. We have gotten very busy and have become a bit lazy when it comes to dinnertime. Cooking meals and preparing for them is difficult at the end of the day. I decided it was time to start looking ahead. I have been looking and finding things that my family will eat. My children are somewhat picky. I am likely the one to blame for this, but it is what it is and we have to work with it. Luckily for me, my children have decided that chicken is good. They have their usual ways that they like it the most, but are usually up to trying it in new ways. This started us on a path of new ways to cook chicken. This gives us a better chance at everyone liking it.

As a working mom, I love being able to come home and have dinner waiting for us to eat it. Really, even if just part of it is ready that’s a step up from our usual routine of come home and cook all of dinner. This is where the slow cooker comes in. It is by far one of the most under used tools in my kitchen, but one of the best for our busy lifestyle. Hopefully, we will start using it more again as we find new things to cook in it that everyone will eat.

This honey mustard chicken is probably one of the simplest and easiest recipes I have posted, but it was also a big hit at our house. As it is the base protein for the meal it pairs well with many things. So, we chose to pair it with Oven Fried Potatoes – a favorite at our house – and some steamed fresh vegetables.

Honey Mustard Chicken

2lbs raw chicken breasts
1 bottle favorite honey mustard dressing

Directions

Place raw chicken in the bottom of your slow cooker.
Pour dressing all over chicken.
Cook on low for 6 – 8 hours.

New Halloween Pattern

September 16, 2015 by Mary Ellen Stringham Leave a Comment

We have a new Halloween Pattern in our Etsy Store! Visit our Halloween shop for more patterns and decor items.

It is and easy week end project!

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Krispy Treats

March 25, 2014 by Margaret 6 Comments

In trying to decide what to make for dessert this weekend I turned to an old, simple easy to make favorite. In my continual search for something new, I forget what we

used to make when the kids were little.

Rice Krispies Treats have been around forever. I think every possible variation has been tried — different colors, swirls of of this or that flavored chips, peanut butter, shapes, frosted, not frosted, even different cereals. I am sure there are many others

I decided to make my favorite variation of this classic treat. “Chocolate-Peanut Butter”. Much to my surprise it was a big hit. Comments like “I love these”, “These things are addicting” and ” I really shouldn’t have another one”.

I don’t know where this recipe came from. It was probably on a package label of one of the name brand manufacture of an ingredient. All I know is that they are delicious and I myself ate too many. YUM!!!

Ingredients

1/4 cup butter

1 bag Marshmallows

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

5-6 cups Krispie Rice cereal (there are several brands)

2 cups milk chocolate chips

2 cups peanut butter chips

Over medium heat, in a large pot melt butter and marshmallows stirring constantly until completely melted. Remove from heat. Add peanut butter and stir until combined. Stir in Krispie cereal until coated.

Press into a buttered 9″ X 13″ pan. While cooling combine and melt chips.

Note: I use a make shift double boiler but if you are good with the microwave method you can use that.

When thoroughly melted spread over the top of the set Krispies. Refrigerate to set. Cut into 24 squares and serve. Store extras, if there are any,
in an air tight container to keep fresh.

Enjoy!

Mary Ellen

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Homemade Maple Syrup

December 30, 2013 by Margaret 7 Comments

One of my fondest memories as a child was waking up to waffles on Saturday mornings. It was what we did every Saturday. My mom would get up and make us breakfast, I think it is the only thing that would get my brother out of bed on a Saturday. Well, with those waffles always came homemade syrup. At the time I had no idea this was so strange, but as I have grown older, I have realized it really is weird.

My best friend growing up loved to sleep over for Saturday morning waffles, she would drown her waffle in syrup making it very soggy, we would joke that there was more syrup then waffle. The recipe was named after her in our family cookbook, “Julie’s Favorite Maple Syrup” because she loved it so much. This should have been my clue for our families insanity, but that would not happen for years.

It was not until after I got married that I realized just how strange this family habit was (and is). It was our first trip to the grocery store as husband and wife, we needed to stock the kitchen so we did not starve. As we walked down the isle with the spices and baking stuff I grabbed a bottle of mapleine. My husband then asked, “What is that for?” I casually answered (having no idea it was so weird), “It’s to make maple syrup, for pancakes and waffles.” He stopped short and gave the greatest face I have ever seen and said, “You make your own syrup?” To which I could do nothing but smile and say, “Well, yes we always have.” I then had to proceed in telling more of my life’s history and how to make syrup. We laugh about this conversation now, and he willingly admits that he has been converted to the yumminess that is homemade maple syrup.

Mary Catherine

Homemade Maple Syrup
2 cups Sugar
1 cup water
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4-1/2 tsp Mapleine

Directions:
1. Put all sugar and water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, let boil about 30 seconds.
2. Remove from heat, stir in Mapleine.
3. Serve warm over waffles, pancakes, french toast, or anything else you like maple syrup on.

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Easy Camping Food

August 16, 2013 by Margaret 2 Comments

We had been planning our trip to the Oregon Coast for over a year. We were planning what to do, how long to stay, and of course what to eat. We were going to explore the coast and do some camping along the way. We did not want to spend a lot of time cooking while we were there. So, after doing a lot of reading to get ideas, we decided to do a type of foil dinner. Rather than doing individual foil packets for each of us we used foil pans to make a meal for everyone and would dish it out on plates. It would be precooked and frozen and therefore only need to be reheated.

We chose to eat:

Cheesy Potatoes:

Ingredients:
3 medium potatoes, cubed
1/4 cup olive oil
Seasoning salt to taste (I never measure this I just put it on till it looks good)
1 cup grated cheese

Directions:
1. Blanch cubed potatoes by putting them in boiling water for 5 minutes. Immediately rinse them in cold water, dry them with a clean kitchen towel, and place in a mixing bowl. This helps them not turn a funny color or cook funny after being in the freezer.
2. Pour the 1/4 cup olive oil over the potatoes, toss to coat. At this point put on the seasoning salt, toss to coat.
3. I put 1/2 the potatoes in my foil pan put on 1/2 the cheese then layered the rest of the potatoes and put the last of the cheese on top. Cover with foil and put in the freezer.
4. To cook: Thaw for about 12 hours in “fridge” cooler. We used about 12 coals, put the foil pan directly on them and I turned it over every 10 minutes or so. Cooking time, depending on how hot you want them, is 30 to 40 minutes.

Steamed Veggies:

Ingredients:
1-2 cups chopped carrots
1-2 cups chopped broccoli
1-2 cups chopped cauliflower

Directions:
1. Put about an inch of water into a saucepan with a lid bring to boil.
2. Cook carrots about 4 mins. Add cauliflower cook about 3 min. Add broccoli cook about 2-3 minutes until not quite tender, as they will cook a little more when reheating.
3. Put into foil pan, cover with foil and put in freezer.
4. To cook: Thaw for about 12 hours in “fridge” cooler. We used about 12 coals, put the foil pan directly on them and I turned it over every 10 minutes or so. Cooking time, depending on how hot you want them, is 20 to 30 minutes.

Chicken and Rice:

Ingredients:
1 cup rice
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 or 2 chicken breasts, cooked and diced (depending on size)

Directions:
1. Cook rice according to package directions. Place in foil pan.
2. Heat soup so and dilute if desired, we do not. Place cooked chicken on top of rice and then pour soup over the chicken. Cover with foil and freeze.
3. To cook: Thaw for about 12 hours in “fridge” cooler. We used about 12 coals, put the foil pan directly on them and I turned it over every 10 minutes or so. Cooking time, depending on how hot you want it, is 30 to 40 minutes.

Pasta in Veggie Meat Sauce: You can find this recipe here.

Directions:
1. After it is finished put in foil pan, cover with foil and put in freezer.
2. To cook: Thaw for about 12 hours in “fridge” cooler. We used about 12 coals, put the foil pan directly on them and I turned it over every 10 minutes or so. Cooking time, depending on how hot you want it, is 30 to 40 minutes.

Breakfast Casserole:

Ingredients:

1 bag 30 oz frozen hash browns

12 eggs

1 cup milk

1 tbls ground mustard

1 24 oz package of sausage

salt and pepper

16 oz shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. Pour hashbrowns into large mixing bowl.

2. Cook the sausage on high heat, drain and set aside.

3. In separate mixing bowl, crack 12 eggs mix well using a whisk. Add the milk, ground mustard, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix well and set aside.

4. Add sausage and cheese on top of hash browns. Toss together.

5. Spray 9×13 pan and put in hashbrown mixture.

6. Pour the egg mixture over everything. Use a wooden spoon to even everything out if needed.

7. Bake 350, 35 – 40 minutes.

8. Let cool then cut and separate into foil pans. Cover with foil and freeze.

9. To cook: Thaw for about 12 hours in “fridge” cooler. We used about 12 coals, put the foil pan directly on them and I turned it over every 10 minutes or so. Cooking time, depending on how hot you want it, is 20 to 30 minutes.

Cooking these before hand did take most of a day of preparation, but it was totally worth it. We used dry ice for part of the time to keep it very frozen, but then used it as ice in a different cooler, “fridge” cooler, to let it thaw. We put the foil pan directly onto coals and turned it about every 10 minutes until it was warmed through. Sometimes this was 20 minutes others closer to 40. It would depend on how frozen it was, how full the pan was, and how many actual coals were used.

We were able to enjoy home cooked meals without a lot of prep work, which was really nice after our 2 1/2 hour bike ride.

Mary Catherine

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