Homemade Gel Air Freshners

I have been in a crafty mood lately. I think it is due to the fact that I know our craft shows will be starting soon. Anyways I decided to make some gel air fresheners and I am glad I did, they smell wonderful!

Materials needed:
2 pkgs of unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup hot water
1/2 cup ice cold water
food coloring
fragrance of choice

Mix the gelatin with the hot water. Stir until dissolved.

 Add food coloring and fragrance. Then add ice water.

 This is the fragrance that I used. I doubled the recipe and used the entire bottle.

 Pour into jars and let sit in a cool place ( not the refrigerator!)

How easy is that??? It took mine around 24 hours to set up then I put lids on them and they are ready to go. My jars were 4 oz and I got 5 filled by doubling the recipe for it.

Chicken-Tomato Skillet

If you are looking for a quick meal , this one is for you. It took less than 15 minutes to make, was cheap and everyone loved it.

Chicken-Tomato Skillet

2 cups pasta
1 pd chicken tenders, cubed
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
1/2 cup milk
1 tbsp. basil ( you may want to go more or less depending on your taste)

Cook pasta and drain, Meanwhile cook chicken in skillet with a little oil for 4-6 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and add soup, tomatoes, milk and basil.
Stir in cooked pasta. Cook on low for 6-8 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Enjoy!

Crockpot Stuffed Peppers

I have an awesome new recipe for you guys to try! If you like stuffed peppers then you have to try these! I promise you will fall in love with them and never heat your house up by making them again. All you have to turn is turn your crockpot on, sit back and relax.

Crockpot Stuffed Peppers

4 large green peppers
1 pd ground beef ( you may need a little more depending how big your peppers are)
1 onion, chopped ( or if you are lazy like me just use onion flakes)
one egg, beaten
one can tomato sauce
1 cup water
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 pkg of Spanish rice ( I used the Lipton kind that is in the bag)

Cut tops of peppers and clean out the inside. In a large bowl mix the ground beef, onion, egg, Spanish rice, tomato sauce and water. Fill peppers. It may be a little runny and that is okay.

In crockpot , dump the can of diced tomatoes on the bottom. Set stuffed peppers on top. Cook on low around 6-8 hrs.

Carmel Apple Bread

With both girls in school all day I have some more free time on my hands. After they got on the bus the other day I decided to whip up a batch of this bread. It will be a great recipe to make in a few weeks when the weather turns cool and the apples are in season.



Caramel Apple Bread 
1 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp lemon juice
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups coarsely chopped apples ( I used red ones but any kind would work. I also peeled them first)
Caramel sundae sauce ( I used Smuckers)

For Crumb Mixture:
1 tsp cinnamon
4 Tbsp flour
4 Tbsp brown sugar
4 Tbsp cold butter
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray loaf pan with non stick cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until creamy. In a separate bowl, dissolve the baking soda into the lemon juice. Mixture will foam up; that’s normal. Once dissolved, add the baking soda mixture, eggs and vanilla to the butter and beat to combine.
3. Add the flour and salt until a thick batter has formed. Stir in the chopped apples by hand.
4. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the crumb ingredients until mixture forms coarse crumbs. Set aside.
5.Spread 1/4 batter in the bottom of each loaf pan. Sprinkle heavily with the crumb mixture and drizzle a generous amount of caramel on top. Repeat with another layer of each batter, crumb and caramel.
6. Bake for about 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out mostly clean.

Original Recipe was found here

Girl Scout Sit-Upons

I am getting ready to take my girl scout troop camping for the first time. We only have a few meetings before we go so we decided to start off with making sit-upons. If you don't know what a sit-upon is , it is a little seat made out of vinyl and quilt batting. They are used to keep your bottom dry while sitting on the ground ( not for comfort!). Here is how we made ours.

You need the following materials:
vinyl cut the size you want
quilt batting cut the same size
ribbon for the handle
duct tape

After cutting down the vinyl and quilt batting you will need to attach the ribbon for the handle before taping the sit-upon up. Take your piece of ribbon and string across the vinyl to the two sides that you want the ribbon attached to. Fold each end of the ribbon a couple of times and then tape down. Repeat on the other side.

When you have finished attaching the ribbon handle tape the outside of the sit-upon together. Make sure you tape it well so it will hold up when you are using it. Because ours was white we let the girls take sharpie markers to decorate theirs. They turned out so cute!

Crockpot Turkey Breast

Kroger had turkey breasts on sale the other week so I picked up one with the plan to stick it in the crockpot ( it is way to hot here to stick it in the oven!) and use leftovers for the rest of the week. The turkey turned out so moist and had a wonderful taste to it. I am sure if you try it you will love it to!


Crockpot Turkey Breast

6-7 pd turkey breast
2 cups chicken broth
1 stick butter
onion flakes
celery flakes
Italian seasoning
parsley

Place turkey in crockpot. Pat dry and then add remaining ingredients.

Cook on low all day

Eat and enjoy!

Sunday Chicken Dinner ( Crockpot)

I was going through my cookbooks the other day and came across this recipe. I had carrots and potatoes that I needed to use up and since it is a crockpot recipe it didn't heat up my house. If you are like me you don't want to turn your oven on for a couple of hours in the middle of summer. Luckily here in Indiana it hasn't been to bad so far but I think it is because we have had so much rain!

Sunday Chicken Supper

4 med. carrots, cut into 2 inch pieces
1 med. onion, chopped
1 celery rib, cut into 2 inch pieces
2 cups of green beans
3 potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
4 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled
1 1/2 cups of hot water
2 tsp chicken bouillon granules
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp basil
( I also added in fresh corn that I had cut off from us eating corn on the cob a previous night)

Layer first 7 ingredients ( and corn if you want). Mix remaining ingredients in a bowl. Pour over top. Cook on low 6-8 hours.