Crock-Pot Twice Baked Potatoes

I made these Twice Baked Potatoes this morning for our church pitch-in dinner today. In fact, this is what I bring to just about every pitch-in dinner that I attended.
They are always well received!

Here is the Crock-Pot pot version of the recipe:

Crock-Pot Twice Baked Potatoes

6 medium sized potatoes

8 slices of bacon

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup butter

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4-1/2 tsp. pepper

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

8 green onions

Wash potatoes and puncture with a fork.

Place in the crock pot and cook on high for 3-4 hours. DO NOT ADD WATER.

While potatoes are cooking you can prepare your other ingredients. Fry and crumble the bacon, slice the green onions, shred your cheese (if you don't buy pre-shredded cheese), melt the butter, and warm the milk and sour cream.

Once potatoes are soft, lift out of the Crock-Pot and cool for 10 minutes before handling.

Cut potatoes in half, length-wise, and scoop out the potato flesh, leaving a 1/4" around the edges. Try not to break or crack any of the potato "boats".

Put the potato flesh into a large mixing bowl. Mash the potato flesh partially.

Add the crumbled bacon, sour cream, butter, milk, salt, pepper, and 3/4 of the shredded cheese, and 3/4 of the sliced green onions. Stir until mixed thoroughly.

Spoon filling into the potato boats.

Sprinkle remaining cheese and green onions over the top.

Layer into the Crock-Pot. Separate each layer with a piece of greased wax paper, grease side down, to prevent the cheese from sticking.

Keep Crock-Pot on low until serving time.

"White Chocolate" And Peppermint Popcorn

This popcorn is a special treat!
A local gift and candy shop sells a White Chocolate And Peppermint popcorn flavor that is quite delicious!
Last week when we were doing our grocery shopping, Mr. In The Mid-west had the idea to make our own peppermint and "white chocolate" flavored popcorn. I put "white chocolate" in quote marks because we used white almond bark and I am not sure that is technically white chocolate. The almond bark worked fine. Our finished popcorn doesn't taste quite as gourmet as the kind from the gift shop, but it is almost good. :)

We used half a block of white almond bark. We cut it in chunks and melted it in a double boiler. (You don't have to have a double boiler to do this. Just heat water in a pot and place a heat proof bowl over the pot, glass works well, and so does stainless steel.)

Mr. In The Mid-west crushed half a bag of red and white peppermint candies with a hammer. One good wack is enough. You don't want them to be completely powder. Some powder is good, but not all powder. :)

While the almond bark was melting we popped some popcorn. We used our air popper since that is really fast.

Once the chocolate was melted one of us drizzled it over the popcorn, and added crushed peppermints, while the other one stirred. This has to be done pretty quickly. It helps to have two people so that the stiring and pouring happens at the same time. :)

Peppermint and "White Chocolate" Popcorn

12 oz. White Almond Bark

1/2 a 10 oz. Package Peppermint Candies, Crushed

3/4 cup Popping Corn Kernels, Popped

Melt the almond bark in a double boiler.

Once the almond bark is melted, the candies crushed, and the popcorn popped, pour half of the almond bark and half of the peppermint candies over the popcorn. Begin stiring immediately. Try not to brake the popcorn into pieces. I found that using a long straight utensil does the best job, like the handle of a wooden spoon or an icing knife. Pour the remaining almond bark and peppermint candies over the popcorn and stir until well incorporated. 

Before serving give the almond bark time to harden, a quick pop in the freezer for 5 minutes works nicely. After chilling you will need to give it a short stir to brake up large clumps.

Enjoy!

Garlic And Lime Roasted Chicken Legs

This is a new recipe I just tried for dinner tonight. I made a few changes to suit my needs. The original recipe called for chicken breast halves. I only had chicken legs so that is what I used. In my family we prefer chicken legs or thighs over breasts. Not to mention, chicken legs and thighs are really cheap. I get them on sale at our local IGA for 89¢ a pound.

The ingredients are really simple. I allowed my chicken legs to marinate for over 24 hours, and the flavors soaked in very well.

Garlic And Lime Roasted Chicken Legs

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

1/4 cup olive oil

1 TBS. freshly minced garlic

1/2 tsp. salt

 2 ~ pounds chicken legs (I had 8 legs)

1. In a bowl or measuring cup whisk together lime juice, oil, and garlic and salt. Place chicken legs in a plastic bag. Add marinade. Marinate chicken, in refrigerator, turning once or twice, at least 2 hours and up to 1 day.
2. Preheat oven to 400°F.
3. Remove chicken from marinade, discarding marinade, and arrange, skin sides up, without crowding, in a shallow baking pan. Season chicken with salt and pepper and roast in upper third of oven until just cooked through, 40-45 minutes.
4. Change oven setting to broil and broil chicken about 2 inches from heat until skin is crisp, about 2 to 5 minutes.
5. 
   

I Sold My Hair! And A Few Tips For Selling Hair

Picture taken 2017

That is right, I sold my hair!

Here is the story.......

I had my hair cut in September of 2012, before I got married.
After I was married I began to wear my hair exclusively in a bun. It was out of my way. It didn't matter how long my hair became because it was not in my way.

Last March (2016) my hair reached a point where it was really difficult to manage. Washing it and brushing it out had become such a chore. Mr. In The Mid-west offered to cut my hair for me, and I took him up on the offer one Saturday morning.

The longest stand of hair I had was about 38 inches. Once Mr. In The Mid-west cut my hair I had about 14 inches left. I was not sad to see it go. It had become incredibly cumbersome. I was so ready to have it cut, and start out fresh!

After it was cut I began to look into selling it. I called a couple places that sold wigs in our area. They didn't deal with raw hair.

I began looking online. I found a site called ByAndSellHair.com. I paid for an ad, and waited 30 days for a buyer. The only responses I received were from scammers who wanted my address so, "they could send me a check in the mail," or, "have a friend of theirs pick the hair up."

I was kind of disappointed that my hair didn't sell. :( I put it in a box and forgot about it.

Last week it occurred to me that I should try listing my hair on eBay. I looked to see what the market for human hair was like on eBay. It looked decent. I took some pictures and listed my hair last Friday night. Saturday afternoon it was sold! I was shocked and very happy! :)

Now a few tips for selling your hair....

#1.  Uncut hair brings a higher premium.
(Next time I plan on listing the number of inches of hair I am willing to sell with some pictures of the hair still attached to my head.)
Buyers can be worried about scammers selling horse hair as "human" hair. You can offer to film your hair being cut to give the buyer some reassurance that what you have for sale is authentic human hair.

#2.  Virgin hair is most valued. Virgin means you have used no dyes, no perms, no drugs, no smoking, and no drinking. Also, if you have not treated your hair with heat (blow dryer, straightening iron) that can be a selling point, and you should mention it in your ad.

#3.  Thick hair is desired. To qualify as thick your hair needs to be at least 2 inches in circumference.

#4.  Red hair is the most expensive. Followed by blond, black, and brown.

#5.   (This goes for selling anything online)
Take lots of pictures!

Silk Shirt Modifications

I recently found a 100% silk shirt at a $5 brown bag sale. (I also found many other goodies, and I plan on telling you about some of them soon. :)) The shirt was quite big and very 90's, complete with Velcro for the shoulder pads to be attached. :)

I am not one to do modifications on my clothes often. I am not very good at alterations, and I just avoid getting clothes that need to be altered.

As you can see in the pictures, I didn't do anything fancy with this shirt. But now it is a type of shirt that I would be willing to wear. Not only willing, but excited, because it is 100% silk! I don't know why I should be excited about that, but I am. :)

I am the kind of woman who gets excited about things like natural fibers, and such. When I find cashmere, angora rabbit, or lambs wool sweaters, real leather shoes and belts, and 100% silk shirts they make my  thrift-shopping-day! :)

Ordering Bones From The Butcher

I recently ordered beef bones from our local butcher to make good bone broth from.

I will share my experience about ordering bones from a butcher in this post.

I wasn't sure what exactly to expect when I called our local butcher. I told the lady, who answered the phone, that I was interested in beef bones and asked if those were available.

She said, yes, they sell bones. They prefer if people will make an order ahead of time, before they walk into the shop to buy bones. She said orders need to be made before 2 p.m. because that is when the the "bone man" comes and takes all of the bones.  Does anyone out there know what a "bone man" is? Does he work for the glue factory? Or maybe a fertilizer plant? Those are my guesses.

She then asked me what kind of bones I would like to have. I wasn't sure. I asked her what kind of bones people usually purchase. She said, "If you want bones for broth, you'll want knuckle bones or marrow bones."

I affirmed that I did want bones for broth. I said I would take some marrow bones. Next she asked me, "How many?" I didn't have any clue about how big these things were. I asked, "How much do people usually get?"

She informed me that some people call in and want a box full, some people order 20, 30, and 40 pounds, and some people just order them by the bone, ie., 5 bones.

She said they charge $1.25 per pound for bones. And, the butcher will make sure the bones are cut to a size that would fit into a crock pot.

I was still unsure about how many bones to order, but, I took a stab in the dark, and told her that I would take 3 marrow bones.

When I got off the phone I immediately looked up knuckle bones. I saw a couple good sites suggesting that you should use a variety of bones to make healthy bone broth.

I called the butcher back and asked them to add 3 knuckle bones to my order.

Later that day when I went to pick up and pay for my bones at the butcher shop I was quiet surprised when I saw two large bags of bones in the glass case with my name on them.

Beef knuckle bones are really big!

I could only fit one in my crock pot!
I filled my crock pot with water and simmered the knuckle bone for 24 hours. After which, I added sauteed onions, celery, garlic, and carrots. I put my broth into jars and froze them for later use.

This is a picture of the bone after being boiled.

I don't think I will be running out of bones or broth for a few months! :)

Bible Reading Encouragement

(Numbers 22:18 KJV) And Balaam answered and said unto the servants of Balak, If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the LORD my God, to do less or more.

(Numbers 23:8 KJV) How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the LORD hath not defied?

(Numbers 24:10 KJV) And Balak’s anger was kindled against Balaam, and he smote his hands together: and Balak said unto Balaam, I called thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast altogether blessed them these three times.

(Numbers 24:11 KJV) Therefore now flee thou to thy place: I thought to promote thee unto great honour; but, lo, the LORD hath kept thee back from honour.

Today we read the story of Balaam and Balak (Numbers 22-24) in our Bible reading for the day.

We have fallen behind a few times, but thankfully we have been able to catch up by reading two extra chapters a day for several days.

I would like everyone to be encouraged, who is trying to read their Bible through in a year, "Don't give up if you are behind!" 

Silly Me! Sewing Without Doing All The Math First!

I made two skirts out of that grape fabric last week. They took me around twelve hours a piece to sew from start to finish.

I really wanted to make a flared skirt with Six panels. I found a YouTube tutorial. I didn't pay very close attention to the tutorial, but I figured I understood the gist of it and could go ahead and make a skirt.

The finished size wasn't that important to me because I was going to put the skirt on Etsy and it wouldn't have to fit a specific person.

I just picked some numbers and started cutting. When I finished the skirt I was quite surprised at how large it turned out compared to what I was expecting. It has a 38 inch waist. I can list it on Etsy, but I can't try it on, myself. :)

Well, I decided I better watch the tutorial a couple of times and actually pay attention to the instructions before I cut out the next skirt.

When I was ready to cut out the second skirt I chose to use my measurements as a goal size. I was hoping that I could wear the skirt in the pictures I would have to take for an Etsy listing.

This time I really did follow the instructions, but the skirt turned out much too small! I was worried it would be too small for anyone to wear. I quickly searched for average girl's sizes online. From the size charts I saw, the skirt I made is a girl's size 12. It is quite long, though.

I am hoping a 12 year old girl somewhere wants a floor length, flared, grape skirt! :)

The shape of the skirt is quite nice and is what I had in mind. I intend to try sewing this style of skirt again, when I have some more material, and hopefully ending up with a skirt that I can actually put on. :)