Crockpot Mushroom Chicken

Busy times for women call for choices...1) eating out, 2) a husband and/or children who will cook dinner, 3) a crockpot, 4) a pressure cooker. I utilize all of the above. Today we're gonna talk about crockpots. I don't know who invented them, but they were a genius and I hope they are living in luxury somewhere. Is there anyone in America who doesn't have at least one? I have three! I know the newest thing is digital and yes, they are really cool looking. That's one of my three. But if I had known then what I know now, I would not have bought it. I thought that since it was digital, you could set it to go from high to low to warm. Not so. I still had to be home to turn it to a different temperature. The digital was really just a fancy timer. Set how many hours to cook at which temperature. It would countdown then just shut off. That's not what I needed! And I had stuff actually burn in my crockpot. They seem to be getting hotter and hotter the last few years. So I got tired of that and got a new one.  Love it! It cooks low and slow! No more burned food in the crockpot! Yea!!! I still have to turn the knob to a different temperature, but at least if I leave it on low all day it won't burn!

Well, now that I've finished my "rant" about crockpots, how about we talk recipe. I was looking around the BariatricEating.com message group and "Mark from Chicago" mentioned he had this in the crockpot and was looking forward to dinner that night. Well, you know of course that I immediately wrote to him asking for the recipe. So here it is! And believe me when I tell you that it is so delicious it will make you drool!
                    
Crockpot Mushroom Chicken

3 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1 medium onion , chopped
8 ounces canned mushrooms (I slice up a few baby portobellas)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 can cream of mushroom with roasted garlic soup

Combine ingredients in crockpot and cook on low all day.

Experiment!

So I have a cooking blog...I must be a good cook. I'm okay, some might even say pretty good. So if I'm not this great, fancy cook why do I think I can write a good cooking blog? Because I experiment. Don't be afraid of it! So you ruin a piece of chicken and a few vegetables making a dish that didn't work. What did you lose? A dollar...maybe two? So what? You think of a flavor combination for a protein shake that might be good. Try it out! Doesn't taste good? Pour it down the drain and make another one! That's how you become a good cook or a "mixologist". Really! Today for lunch I had an idea for a new chicken dish so I defrosted a boneless, skinless thigh. I sliced a carrot and half an onion. I placed the veggies on the bottom of one of my stoneware baking dishes then put the chicken on top. Sprinkled seasoning, put it in the microwave (I love how you can microwave chicken in stoneware baking dishes). Well apparently I thought it would take longer (10 minutes) than it actually did. I totally killed that chicken! I had a hard time cutting a piece off with a steak knife! I chewed on that piece of chicken and had to spit it out! It tasted good but I knew it would get soooo stuck in my pouch! LOL! But I'll try it again until I get the timing right then I'll post it on here. That's how you get to be a good cook! Experiment! Come on...you can do it!

Keep Going to Keep Going!

Okay, Thanksgiving has come and gone. Christmas is coming quickly. So you work all day, shop for gifts during lunch or on the way home (or both), get home, cook dinner, clean up, etc. Whew! Makes me tired just thinking about it! Where do you find all the energy to do all that? The first thing you do is add one more thing to your "to do" list. Exercise. Don't skip it. Keep to your schedule. Yes, it will limit your time a bit more, but that hour of exercise will give you hours more of energy to get everything done. Promise. When I need more energy for busy times, I even add in extra exercise. Nothing major...just little extra things. Park at the end of the parking lot. You're already getting in your 10,000 steps every day (I hope!) so add in an extra 1,000. Swim? Add a couple extra laps. The leaves are falling...go outside and rake for a few minutes. Do some yoga in the morning to get going. Or do some calming yoga poses before bed. Have a stationary bike? Pedal for 10 minutes while dinner's cooking. You will feel better through the holiday season and have more resistance to "food pushers" (and they're so abundant and persistent this time of year aren't they!) by keeping to your exercise routine.

Caramel Apple Crisp

I wanted something for dessert tonight so I grabbed a can of no sugar added apple pie filling while I was at the grocery store this afternoon. It's Fall! You have to make something with apples in the Fall! I had apple crisp on my mind and knew I had some oatmeal at home so I thought I could either find a good recipe or figure it out for myself. Well, I found a great recipe on this blog. Linda Farnsworth is a great cook and is so generous to share so many of her recipes.

So now you've got the apple crisp recipe, what about ice cream? C'mon! You can't have apple crisp without vanilla ice cream on top!  Well...here you are! Wonderful, tasty, and nutritous protein ice cream.

Vanilla Ice Cream

1 Good Old Vanilla Protein Shake (make sure you blend until thick and very frothy)

Ice cream maker (I use this one)

Start your ice cream maker and slowly pour your vanilla shake into the ice cream maker. I like to cover the hole in the top with aluminum foil to help keep in the cold. Set your timer for 20 minutes. When it's done you can eat it right away (as soft serve) or pack it into a container and freeze for about an hour. We usually eat ours as soft serve, but when I'm going to put it on top of a dessert I like to freeze it for a little while so it doesn't melt all over my lovely sweet dessert.