CrockPot Spinach and Artichoke Dip

Day 357.

It's the first day of Winter Vacation, and the girls and I are sick. Which means this is a very. normal. year. for us.

We'll be fine. We've got a bunch of books and videos from the library, the good tissue with the built-in Vicks, and 4 quarts of spinach artichoke dip.

This recipe comes from Joey in Minnesota who has a nineteen-month-old and is pregnant. She needs a juggling book for Christmas.

The Ingredients.

1 (14-ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1 (9-ounce) bag baby spinach, chopped
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese, divided
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
3 T jalapeno slices, chopped

The Directions.

I used a 4-quart crockpot. Drain and chop artichoke hearts, and add to the crockpot. Scrunch the spinach and chop it the best you can---mostly try to get the long stems off if you can. Add to the crockpot. Add mayo, sour cream, and chopped jalapenos. Top with 1/2 cup each shredded mozzarella and Parmesan.

Cover and cook on low for 2 hours, or high for 1. Stir. The spinach should begin to welt. If it hasn't, cook some more. When the spinach is totally wilted, take the lid off and add the other 1/2 cup of each cheese, and let it melt while the lid remains off. The spinach will have created some liquid that doesn't really need to be in there.

Serve with your favorite chips, sliced veggies, or bread cubes.

The Verdict.

I liked this a lot. I couldn't taste the jalapenos at all and whined that it "wasn't working" (I wanted my sinuses to drain. lovely image, sorry. but that's what I was going for) but Adam and the kids could taste them and thought it was plenty spicy. I think though, I'd add many more jalapeno slices next time and maybe switch out the mayo for a half-block of cream cheese.

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Belajar Microsoft Office Word Bagian 1

Pengenalan Microsoft Office Word 2003


Microsoft Office Word adalah salah satu dari sekian banyak program pengolah kata yang di keluarkan oleh perusahaan software raksasa Microsoft dalam bentuk paket Microsoft Office yang terdiri dari beberapa program aplikasi.

Yang kita pelajari bersama kali ini adalah Microsoft Office Word.

Seperti biasanya kita harus mengenal terlebih dahulu antar muka (

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CrockPot Peanut Clusters

Day 356.

11 days to go until 2009. I'm going to cry.

Today is the first day of Hanukkah, and there are only a few days left until Christmas. If you're entertaining for the holidays, or need any last-minute hostess gifts, these peanut clusters rock. And they make A LOT. You could easily feed the entire neighborhood on one batch, or make yourself very, very sick.

I, um, have eaten too many. Much too many. It's Susan and Amie's fault. I had to change Susan's original recipe because I live in one of the few places in the world without a Walmart, and couldn't find Chocolate Bark. Nor did any of our grocery stores know what chocolate bark is/was. So I improvised, and am quite pleased with the results. My waistband, not so much...

The Ingredients.

3 (16-ounce) jars lightly salted roasted peanuts (lightly salted is important!)
2 (4-ounce) boxes German Baker's Chocolate
1 (8-ounce) box Unsweetened Baker's Chocolate (there are 2 in the picture. that was wrong.)
1 (24-ounce) bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla (not pictured because I didn't know I wanted/needed it until after the photo)


The Directions.

Use a large crockpot. This makes about 150 peanut clusters. Spray the inside of your crock with cooking spray, and place the unwrapped baking chocolate, and bars of German chocolate in the bottom. Add all the peanuts. Pour in the chocolate chips, and add vanilla. Cover and cook on low for 3 hours, or high for about 1.5. While the chocolate is melting, lay out a bunch of parchment paper on your counter top or kitchen table. When time has elapsed, stir well, and remove from heat. Use a small ice-cream scoop to plop out bite-sized piles onto the parchment paper.

Let cool before eating---this takes a long time---hours. It'd be best to leave them overnight so you don't pick at them. Unless you have much more will power than I do, then I suppose it would be okay. But I sort of hate you.

Package up and give away as soon as possible.

The Verdict.

These are addictive. The chocolate flavor is quite rich, and tastes dark. If you aren't a fan of dark chocolate, use milk chocolate chips. The salt flavor from the nuts is subtle, but is there, and it makes your tongue itch for more.

and more.

Thank you again to Susan and Amie! Make sure to check out Amie's play-by-play peanut-cluster making video.


I was thinking about nut-allergies during the night. I think you should turn these into pretzel clusters. Definitely.

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CrockPot Horseradish Scalloped Potatoes

Day 355.

This has cream in it. mmm. It's okay, though. You've got 12 days until your diet begins. These potatoes pair wonderfully with roast beef.

and pancakes and coffee.

The Ingredients.

3 pound red potatoes, washed and sliced (no need to peel, yay!)
2 cups heavy cream
3 tablespoons prepared horseradish (not the cream kind, the regular; I went with extra hot)
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese, optional

The Directions.

I used a 4 quart crockpot. Scrub your potatoes well and cut into 1/4-inch slices. Layer into a crockpot you've sprayed with cooking spray. In a mixing bowl, combine the heavy cream, horseradish, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Pour over the top of the potatoes. Stir.

Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, high for 4 hours, or until potatoes are fork tender. I cooked ours on high for 2 hours, then low for another 4. Garnish with shredded Parmesan.

The Verdict.

Delicious. The kids each had two bowls. The horseradish provides a bit of a fun flavor that is not spicy as much as it is different and interesting. The kids didn't think it was spicy, just tasty. These are heavy---I'd say that this could serve 6 grownups as a side dish, yet Adam and I ate them as a main course.

we're going for a run today.

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Benarkah Tanpa Kerja dapat Uang di Internet ?

Untuk menjawab pertanyaan tersebut coba bacalah dengan teliti tips dari Belajar Ilmu Komputer agar dapat digunakan sebagai pijakan untuk mengambil keputusan untuk mencari uang di internet atau tidak, semuanya kembali kepada anda sendiri yang memutuskan, saya hanya mencoba menyampaikan apa yang pernah saya alami selama menelusuri internet untuk mencari rupiah maupun dolar (meskipun sampai

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CrockPot Roast Beef Recipe

Day 354.

I can't say Roast Beef without wanting to say "roast beast"----and then my mind wanders to Maggie and the Ferocious Beast and that's just wrong. I like that beast.

We had roast beef for dinner last night, and it was good. I cooked it for 4 hours on high, and there was still a touch of pink in the middle, but you can cook it for a shorter amount of time if you prefer pinker meat. Make sure your meat is thawed, and use a meat thermometer.

The Ingredients.

5 lbs bone-in rib eye (this is the max that will fit in a 6.5 qt crockpot)
1 large yellow onion, sliced in rings
6 cloves garlic, peeled
2 T cornstarch
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 T Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup beef stock/broth


The Directions.

Slice the onion, and spread around the bottom of your crockpot. Trim excess fat off of meat. Make little slits in the meat with a serrated knife, and insert a garlic clove into each one. Try to space them out equally, if you can.

Add dry ingredients to a plastic zipper bag, and shake and bake the meat. Put it in the crockpot on top of the onion slices. Add Worcestershire sauce and broth. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours, on low for 6-8, or until meat has reached desired temperature with a meat thermometer.

Let the meat stand for 15 minutes before slicing. If you'd like, you can use the juice at the bottom of the crockpot to make a gravy with some more cornstarch. Elise has a tutorial on Simply Recipes---do not put your crockpot on the stove. Pour the drippings into a pot.

The Verdict.

This was great; the meat was tender and had a nice, mild garlicy flavor. You can use a less-expensive cut of meat, but you'll need to cook it longer to get it tender, and you won't be able to slice as nicely. There is nothing wrong with that at all----just a heads up. My kids ate their meat in a cardboard box. Just like Hamilton.



If you are planning a Holiday meal---here is a list that might be of help.

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Belajar Microsoft Office Excel Bagian 10

Pada latihan kita sebelumnya dalam memperlajari Microsoft Office Excel, sudah kit abuatkan tabel-tabel dan untuk kali ini Belajar Ilmu Komputer memberikan materi bagaimana membuat sebuah grafik dengan data yang di ambil dari tabel.



Sebagai contoh dalam praktek kita kali ini coba buatkan sebuah tabel seperti terlihat pada gambar di bawah ini.


Tabel di atas menerangkan perkembangan jumlah

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How to Make Tamales in the CrockPot

Day 353.

I don't think I've been this excited to share a post since the crockpot falafels.
I was pretty sure when I began this project that tamales would work in the crock, but wanted to wait until closer to the holidays so I could tie them together with one of my favorite children's books, Too Many Tamales, by Gary Soto. They did work, and I brought them to my daughter's class yesterday to share. So these have been kid-tested not only by my own two, but by 18 second-graders.

They liked them.

The Ingredients.
adapted from the master recipe from All Recipes

Filling (quite mild, since I was feeding children):

1 (3.5-pound) store-bought rotisserie chicken
1 tsp cumin
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 (4-ounce) can chopped green chilies, mild
1 (15-ounce) can corn, drained
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, optional

Tamale Dough:

4 cups masa harina
2 1/2 cups beef broth
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
1 1/3 cup lard or vegetable shortening (I used crisco)
1 (6-ounce) package dried corn husks (I needed to go to a Mexican grocer)

The Directions.

There are a few parts here. I "cheated" and used a fully-cooked chicken as the meat in my tamale filling. If you'd like, you can cook a hunk of beef or pork overnight with spices and chili pods in your crockpot. The meat should shred easily with forks before it is ready to go inside the tamales.

If you're going to use the rotisserie chicken, combine the meat with the onion, garlic, can of green chilies, cumin, salt, and drained corn in a 4 quart (or so) crockpot and cook on high for 3-4 hours, or on low for 6. The onions need to be translucent before going into the tamales. If you don't have time for this step, skip the garlic and onion, and combine the chicken with the chiles, cumin, salt, and drained corn in a mixing bowl. Set aside.

Soften the corn husks by soaking them in very hot water until they are quite pliable.

To make the masa, combine all dough ingredients in a large mixing bowl, and beat on medium-to-high speed until everything is mixed well and the dough is spongy. Check the dough by dropping a little ball of it into a glass of water. It should float. If it doesn't float, this source says to continue to beat the dough.

Take a bit larger than a golf-ball size piece of masa dough, and spread it into a wet corn husk. The dough should be about 1/4 inch thick--you do not want to see the corn husk through the dough. Add a bit of filling, and some cheese. Fold the corn husk over to join the edges of the masa. If you need to add more dough, do so---no filling should peek through. Fold all corn husk edges into the center and place into the bottom of an empty crockpot, seam side down (I used a 6.5 quart, and fit 19 inside).

Repeat. Many, many, many times. It took me about 2 hours to make all of the tamales. If you find that your corn husks are unraveling, you can add another the other way to secure it, and tear off a long piece to tie around. I had to do this a few times. I also needed to add more hot water to the soaking husks to keep them pliable. If you need to step away from the tamale-making-process for a bit, put the lid on your crockpot to keep moisture inside.

When the crockpot is full, put the lid on and cook on high for 4-6 hours, or until a tester tamale looks and tastes done. The tamales on the edges will cook a bit faster. Once your tester looks good (I used the same one, and kept re-wrapping it and adding it back when it wasn't ready), unplug the crockpot and keep the lid off. Don't unwrap any others until they've set for about 15 minutes. My tamales were cooked at 6 hours, but I began checking every 45 minutes at 4 hours.

The Verdict.

I was thrilled that these worked so well! They are definitely labor-intensive, but pack such an impressive presentation. Now that I know how to do them, I'll make them again----but not for a while.

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