Wildtree to the Rescue!

Been cooking in the slow cooker these hots days--we're inside hiding from the heat.  Wildtree to the rescue!  The kids liked each one.  

Pork Carnita Wraps 

3 lbs boneless pork shoulder, fat trimmed

1 small white onion, chopped OR ½ bag frozen chopped onions (6 oz)

4 oz can diced green chilies (optional)

¾ cup orange juice

2 Tablespoons Wildtree Agave Margarita Mixer

2 Tablespoons Wildtree Garlic Galore Seasoning Blend

1 teaspoon Wildtree Fiesta Salsa Mix

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

Combine ingredients, marinate in fridge (or place in freezer.)  Cook on LOW for 6-8 hours.  Serve as soft tacos. 

Apple Balsamic Chicken

21⁄2 lbs chicken breasts
11⁄2 cups unsweetened apple sauce
2 tablespoons Wildtree Apple Balsamic Vinegar 

Combine ingredients, marinate in fridge (or place in freezer.)  Cook on LOW for 6-8 hours.  I liked it over rice, with cabbage cooked with it.


Apple BBQ Bacon-wrapped Chicken

1½ to 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts

12 or 16 oz package turkey bacon (20 slices) OR center cut bacon

¾ cup unsweetened apple sauce OR 3 apples (peeled, cored & cubed)

½ cup Wildtree Cactus Pete’s Agave BBQ Sauce

1 Tablespoon lemon juice 

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

Wrap 2-3 bacon slices around chicken before putting in freezer bag.  Put wrapped chicken in bag & add other ingredients into freezer bag.  Remove air, seal & attach label.  Double bag and freeze or marinate overnight.   Defrost bag in fridge before cooking.  Place bag contents in slow cooker.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours.  

Crowding Out

We had another good dinner last night.  "Is it Wildtree?" Bud asked.  Sorta, just the seasonings on the chicken.  Easy "roast" chicken, sweet potatoes, stir fried green beans.  We ate it all, minus a bit of the chicken which will go in soup on this rainy day.

We have a family goal to eat more fruits and vegetables.  We're each aiming to increase our intake.  Sis is aiming for three a day; I'm looking at four to five.  Bud just eats.  Yesterday, we hit our goals, which was good.  My thought is--using an idea from Heather Bruggeman called "crowding out"--that the more fruits and veggies we eat, the less junk we eat.  We'll see.  But if it can already go well in February, when good produce is pretty limited, we should be doing really well this summer and fall.


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Easy WT "Roast" Chicken, adapted
2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
1 tablespoon Rancher Steak Rub
2 tablespoons Hearty Spaghetti blend
1 1/2-2 lbs chicken breasts

Combine all ingredients and let marinate 4 hours or overnight.  Bake at 350F for 45 minutes, turning chicken over halfway.


Baked Sweet Potatoes
3-5 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1/4 cup brown sugar
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
cinnamon, enough to generously sprinkle over the top

Combine ingredients and bake at 350F for 45 minutes or until tender and caramelized.

Miss JR


Stir Fried Green Beans
1 lb green beans, washed and cut into 1/2" pieces (with scissors is easiest)
grapeseed oil to sautee
soy sauce
garlic powder

Preheat skillet with oil until drips of water pop in oil.  Add little green bean pieces.  Stir Fry until green beans begin to wrinkle.  Reduce heat and add soy sauce and garlic powder to taste and 1/4-1/2 cup water, covering to steam until desired tenderness.

Mama Hungry

Comfort

Some sadness this week, but things keep going.

I'm working on a lovely, bright afghan, with tiny (for me) DK yarn, so it takes a long time.  But the colors make me smile.

I'm playing withe my WT starter kit and the samples, also looking up recipes.  I love to cook and even more, I love to read recipes.  Sure, I like cookbooks with stories better, but these are fun, too.  The kids have even liked two of them this week--a Honey Balsamic Chicken and an Apple Balsamic Pork (each one is vinegar + sweetness + flavorings + protein in slow cooker for 6-8 hours on LOW.)

I'm also bingeing on "X-Files" episodes, getting ready for the new show in a few weeks.  I forget how much I like it--and it's aged pretty well.  Love Scully.

All of which is to say, I'm taking it easy, just like the doctor said.  And with an early dismissal today and a holiday Monday, it's a nice, slow weekend.

Feeling Better

Ah, finally, 10 days on, I am feeling more like myself.  Still a bit drippy, but nothing like last week.

And Mama has gone back to work!   The kids are both in school . . . .

Which means this is the first "normal" day since before Dec. 23 or so.

I have lots of laundry, a swirling mental list of things to do/check in on.  In fact, I've made my daily list to remind me:

Everyday

·      Stretches

·      Exercise

·      Household chores (litterboxes, laundry, shopping, straightening)

·      Piano

Frequently

·      Meal planning

·      Hospice

·      Girl Scouts

·      Perry House

·      RE

·      Lay Ministry

·      Wildtree

·      Budget and Bills

As often as possible

·      Crochet

·      Doodle/Zentangle

·      Read

·      Blog

·      Cookbook

·      Photobooks

·      Birdwatching (mainly Snowy Owls)

Did you catch the new one?  See, I've taken on a new venture--I'm going to be a Wildtree rep.  Truth be told, I mainly want the recipes and product discount but think it will continue to spur me to more and better homecooking.  We've liked several of the meals and it does make cooking easier; the parties are fun.  At least it's also mostly organic, GMO-free, preservative free, frequently gluten-free, etc etc etc.  But don't worry, this won't become a WT blog. Well, except for some recipes.  I also doubt I'll be much of a salesperson, not liking to pressure people; in fact, I'm a bit nervous even to announce it.  I have some mild concerns about direct marketing like Mary Kay, Tupperware, Pampered Chef, Tastefully Simple, Thirty-One Gifts, etc, but, barring the first and other cosmetics (like Avon, Arbonne, etc), have supported my friends when they've started home businesses (all but two--out of a dozen or more--that I know of having folded in the first year or so.)  Many of the schemes require monthly minimums or yearly fees so that women--and it is almost always women (SAHMs, at that, of course)--spend more of their own money than they ever make; I'm not, however, doing it to supplement our income, my goal being breaking even (there is no minimum fee.)  We'll see how it goes.

Which isn't much of a sales pitch, is it?

Pre-Holiday Dinners

It often amazes me that I have to cook dinner even as I prepare for big events like Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Sometimes the daily grocery list gets lost among all the other items and errands.  But I've done rather well for the last two days, without a lot of effort or planning.  Both were eaten by everyone in the family and would be meals I would make again.  And we have enough for lunches and leftovers, which just makes life easier.

One is Wildtree, again, from the slow cooker workshop.  I've talked to my friend and rep Miss L about becoming a rep, too, if only for the discount and the recipes!!  It would be easy to host a slow cooker workshop or two a year.  Stay tuned.



Mock Italian Wedding Soup
1 lb ground turkey
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning (I use Penzey's Tuscan Sunset)
1 egg
8 cups chicken stock
garlic powder and dried shallots to taste
1 cup carrots, chopped small
1/2 box ditalini or other small pasta
4 generous handfuls fresh baby spinach
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese


Bring chicken stock to a simmer.  (Optional:  you could start by sauteing garlic and onion, but I was in a hurry and just added some dry.)

Combine ground turkey with seasoning and egg.  Drop small meatballs into strongly simmering stock.

Add carrots and pasta until cook til both meatballs and carrots are done.

Add spinach and parmesan cheese and simmer until cooked through.

Serve.


Wildtree Turkey Breast, Adapted
2-3 lbs turkey breast or cutlets
3-5 yukon gold potatoes, cubed
20 baby carrots
1 package Wildtree Ranch Dip (minus 1 1/2 Tablespoons)
2 teaspoons Wildtree Blazin' Buffalo Dip mix (I would leave this out next time)
(I also added about 1 teaspoon each Wildtree Garlic Galore and Rancher's Steak Rub after I added the water, which seemed to wash the other seasonings off the turkey)

Layer ingredients in slow cooker (I put carrots and potatoes on the bottom), seasonings, and add 1/2 cup water.  Cook on LOW for 6-8 hours.

Another Wildtree Recipe Hack

So, a week or so ago, I converted the Wildtree Pollo Asada Bowls into chicken tacos to great success.  Tonight, I made the Chicken Bruschetta Salad into a pasta dinner:  simply spoon the chicken (shredded, cubed, or whole) over pasta.  Bud had 3 bowls!  I think the same base would work with meatballs instead of chicken.  Yum!!

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Bruschetta Chicken Pasta
1 1/2 to 2 lbs chicken breasts
28 oz. diced tomatoes
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
4 tablespoons Wildtree Bruschetta Blend
2 tablespoons Roasted Garlic Grapeseed Oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup water

Combine ingredients in slow cooker and cook on LOW 6-8 hours.  Serve over pasta.

Mommy Hungry via Wildtree

Three's (Dinner for) Company

Another month, another Wildtree slow cooker workshop!  Yep, I've been to three in as many months. But you know I love cooking with a Crockpot and I like my Wildtree rep friends and their products.

It's been hit or miss, recently, though.  None of us liked the Hoisin Chicken Wraps.  Maybe because we're used to Chinatown hoisin.  Sis loves the WT Rancher's Steak Rub on roasted potatoes or even roasted broccoli.   And we've eaten several of the WT Big Meatloaves.

And now, I've had a hit with Chicken Tacos!  I thought Sis would balk at the visible tomatoes . . . but at least I didn't add the can of black beans that the original calls for!  And we love cheddar cheese and taco shells.  I can even see this as a meal I could take to someone in need.

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Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos a la Wildtree

1 1/2 to 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
1⁄2 medium onion, diced or 1 tablespoon dried shallots
15 oz can of diced tomatoes
12 oz frozen corn
2 tablespoons Wildtree Spicy Carne Asada Seasoning 
1⁄2 tablespoon lime juice (provided at workshop)
1 teaspoon salt
1⁄4 cup water 

Combine all ingredients in slow cooker and cook on LOW for 6-8 hours.  Serve, perhaps using slotted spoon, in taco shells with all the fixings.

adapted from Wildtree Pollo Asada (rice bowls)


Big Meatloaf
1 lb ground beef or sweet Italian sausage
1 lb ground turkey
1 cup oatmeal or WT meatloaf packet
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup milk
ketchup for the top

Combine first six ingredients (I do add a squirt or two of ketchup to the mix.)  Top with ketchup, barbecue sauce, or even slices of bacon.  Bake at 350F for approximately an hour, until internal temperature reaches 165F.

Note:  kids might like chunks of cheddar cheese in the mix.  This would also work as meatballs or mini-meatloaves.

adapted from Wildtree Just Like Mom's Meatloaf Packet