June 7: Orange Cranberry-Nut Bread

I made this yesterday - Saturday - the perfect day to make something special for breakfast. The recipe calls for a 3-quart Crock Pot, which I don't have, so I baked this in the oven. Supposedly, you cook it for 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours on high.

I started this yesterday morning at about 8:30 or 9:00. I gathered up these ingredients:

In a medium bowl, I combined 2 cups flour, 1 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. baking soda, 1/4 tsp. salt, and 1/2 cup chopped pecans:

In a large bow, I put 1 cup dried cranberries, 2 tsp. dried orange peel, and 2/3 c. boiling water:

Then I added 3/4 c. sugar, 2 tbsp. shortening, and an egg:

After I stirred in the dry ingredients, I spread the batter into a greased loaf pan:

I baked it at 350 for about 35 minutes maybe (I kept having to put it back in because it was still doughy. I wasn't sure how long to bake it):

I served it warm with homemade butter:

I couldn't believe how delicious this bread was. It wasn't too sweet, but the nuts and cranberries were the perfect consistency and the orange gave it an incredible depth of flavor. Everyone wanted seconds! I will definitely make this again as maybe a once-a-year treat!

June 6: Kale, Olive Oil, and Parmesan Soup

I made this soup on Friday. I made it in the pot on the stove, because I didn't start it until it was too late to make it in the Crock Pot. Here are the ingredients:

I sliced an onion and minced 3 cloves of garlic, then sauteed them in olive oil for 5 minutes:

I stirred in 2 pounds of cleaned and chopped kale and let it turn bright green:

Then I added 8 cups of chicken stock and let the kale soften. I served the soup garnished with olive oil and shredded Parmesan. We had it as a side to our roasted chicken:

My family thought they would not like this soup, but they did. It had a great flavor and is super healthy. It's really good as a side dish.

June 5: Easy Family Burritos

Here's the recipe I made for dinner tonight. It had to cook all day, so I put it in at about 8:30 am. I gathered up the main ingredients:

I put a 2 1/2 pound beef roast into the Crock Pot and poured a jar of salsa on top. I cooked it for about 8 hours on low:

I removed the beef to a platter and shredded it with a fork:

I put the beef back in the Crock Pot and stirred it up with the liquid. Then I cooked it for another hour or so:

I must have been so hungry that I forgot to take a picture of my burrito! I served the beef on flour tortillas topped with diced tomatoes, sour cream, cilantro, salsa, and lettuce. They were so good. This burrito filling is delicious, you'd think it wouldn't be so easy to make! I would make this again and again.

June 4: Chicken and Sweet Potato Stew

I put this dinner on at about 9:00 this morning. I started by gathering up these ingredients:

I got to peeling and chopping and put these in the Crock Pot: 2 sweet potatoes, 2 Yukon gold potatoes, 2 carrots, 2 cans of stewed tomatoes, 4 chicken breasts, a cup of broth, a tsp. each of salt, celery seed, basil, and paprika, 1/2 tsp. pepper, and 1/8 tsp. each of cinnamon and nutmeg.

I cooked it on low for about 8 hours:

And served it up:

This soup didn't smell very good - I think it was the tomatoes, but it tasted much better than it smelled. It was not bad for an easy weeknight meal.

June 3: Chablis-Infused Swiss Fondue

Tonight I made this Swiss cheese fondue. Here are the ingredients:

First I simmered 3 cups of white wine with some lemon juice:

Then I shredded 1 1/2 pounds of Swiss cheese and mixed it with 3 tbsp. of flour:

I added the cheese to the wine and melted it, then added 3 tbsp. kirsch, 1 tsp. each of mace and pepper, and 1/2 tsp. of paprika:

I transferred that to the Crock Pot and let it cook for 30 minutes on high and about 2 hours on low. I chopped up some veggies and a loaf of Italian bread to go with the fondue:

I served the fondue with the bread and veggies:

I'm not sure what went wrong, but I'm fairly certain fondue is not supposed to look like this. Now, I've never had cheese fondue before, but this was so yucky. The cheese was all clumpy and hard - hard to chew, and the liquid tasted like liquor. I thought it was supposed to be creamy, but I could be wrong. I don't think I will ever make this again! I thought about having guests over tonight, but I'm so glad I didn't. I was embarrassed as it is with just my hubby and kids there (they hated it BTW)!

June 2: Bananas Foster

Tonight we had pizza for dinner and this was our dessert. These are the ingredients for the bananas foster:

I quartered 12 bananas and put them in the Crock Pot with a cup of coconut:

In a bowl I mixed up a cup of dark corn syrup, 2/3 cup of melted butter, 2 tsp. lemon peel, 1/4 cup lemon juice, 2 tsp. rum, a tsp. cinnamon, and 1/2 tsp. salt:

I poured that over the bananas, then cooked it on low for 1 or 2 hours:

I served the bananas over pound cake with vanilla ice cream and some of the sauce on top:

This made so much (12 servings), that we invited the neighbors over to eat it with us. Everyone really liked it, even DH who doesn't like banana flavored things or coconut (I didn't give him too much coconut). The bananas weren't overdone, and the sauce was the right balance - salty, not too sweet. It was a really great treat!

June 1: Chicken Fiesta Soup

Here is the soup I made for dinner tonight. I started it after we got back from morning Church. I gathered up these ingredients:

First I boiled a 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts and shredded them. Then I put them in the Crock Pot with a can of stewed tomatoes, 2 cans chopped green chilies, a can of enchilada sauce, a can of chicken broth, a cup of finely chopped onion, 2 cloves of garlic, a tsp. ground cumin, a tsp. chili powder, a tsp. salt, 3/4 tsp. pepper, a cup of frozen corn, a diced yellow squash, and a diced zucchini. I left out the cilantro for my husband's sake. I cooked it on low for 8 hours:

I served it with crumbled tostada shells, cilantro, and shredded Cheddar cheese:

This soup was fantastic! Absolutely delicious. There was nothing I would change about it (except that it was really hot, let it cool a few minutes before eating), and I will be adding this to my favorites list!