Crockpot Lemon Rotisserie Chicken

1 head	Garlic (or about 10-15 cloves)
2	Lemons (sliced)
1 tsp	Salt
1/2 tsp	Pepper
1 tsp	Thyme (or 1 tsp dried oregano)
1 large	Whole chicken (about 3-4 pounds)
Optional:	Fresh parsley, rosemary, or any fresh herbs of choice

Combine all of the spices in a small bowl and set aside. Cut the head off the garlic head and lay this and the lemon wedges from the lemons in bottom of slow cooker.

Remove insides from chicken, rinse chicken and pat dry. Season chicken well, inside and out, with the seasoning mixture. Lay chicken on top of garlic and lemon slices.

Cover crockpot and cook on high for about 4 hours or on low for 7 hours, or until chicken reaches 165 degrees. (Slow cooker cooking times vary, so use a meat thermometer to check for doneness.)When chicken has reached 165 degrees or higher, turn off slow cooker and let chicken rest for about 15 minutes.

Servings: 6 Calories per Serving: 120

Cheesy Garlic Pork Chops

4 (4-ounce) boneless pork chops

⅛ teaspoon salt

black pepper, to taste

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons minced garlic

1 teaspoon paprika

1 tablespoon butter, melted

½ cup reduced-fat Colby Jack shredded cheese

Preheat the oven to 350° F and grease a 9x13-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Season both sides of the pork chops with the salt and pepper, then rub each pork chop evenly with the brown sugar and garlic. Sprinkle the paprika over each pork chop, then pour the melted butter evenly over all of them.

Bake until nearly done, 6-8 minutes. Sprinkle the cheese evenly over each pork chop and bake until the cheese is melted and the pork is done, an additional 3-4 minutes. Calories: 261 per serving

Clutter Busting Challenge June 2017

I'm purging 22 items.

My purge pile:

June 2017 Reading List

The Reluctant Brides Collection 

An Unexpected Surprise by Rosey Dow

Ribbon of Gold by Cathy Marie Hake

Light Beckons the Dawn by Susannah Hayden

The Reluctant Schoolmarm by Yvonne Lehman

School Bells and Wedding Bells by Colleen L. Reece

Rose Kelly by Janet Spaeth

Easy Tex Mex Bake

8 ounces uncooked thin mostaccioli or penne

1 pound ground Turkey or Beef

2/3 cup medium or mild salsa

1 package (10 ounces) frozen corn, thawed and drained

1 container (16 ounces) low-fat cottage cheese

1 egg

1 Tbsp cilantro

1/2 tsp ground pepper

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack Cheese

Brown meat, drain. Add corn and salsa. You should have your pasta cooked and drained and ready to layer in a 11x7 baking dish. Start with a layer of the meat mixture then a layer of pasta. Combine cottage cheese, egg, cilantro, pepper and cumin in bowl. Mix well. Add the cottage cheese layer over pasta.

Add the remaining meat mixture over cottage cheese...then top with shredded cheese.

( I said all of that to say..."Layer Meat, Pasta, Cottage Cheese, Shredded Cheese")
Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until heated through.

Sentimental

I haven’t been able to work on our past sentimental stuff lately. I’m keeping up with our current memory making. We celebrated our 25th anniversary with a vow renewal and are leaving in a few days for our 3 week trip. We have finished our camper renovation, although a few things will still need done once we’re back home. I’ve decide to donate our vase and candy jar so that someone else can enjoy them when they celebrate their 25^th. Our silver frame with our wedding picture is going into our master bedroom china cabinet. I’ve trashed our sign, the bubbles are put away for our grandkids, the party favors are gone, and the flowers are compost. I still need to sort through the digital pictures. I’m not sure I’d wear my dress again, but I’m not ready to donate yet. I donated my wedding dress a couple years ago. Thank goodness we decide to keep it simple.

Memories/Photos are a big category. It took 3 years working about 10-20 hours a month to get our digital pictures organized. I've spent the last year working on our photo boxes of loose pictures. I'm using photo boxes instead of putting everything into albums. I’ve dismantled a few albums we did make. Our family pictures are all in the photo boxes or are digital. I still need to organize some of our photos inside the boxes before I start scanning. My husband and I do have a wedding album and albums that I made of our childhoods and I may need to sort through them again. We finished our 4 kid’s baby books years ago.

My husband and I spent a weekend two years ago getting our 4 children's papers culled down from 10 crates into 4 accordion folders. It was great because he is less sentimental about homeschool type papers and I had been overwhelmed. I sorted and photographed our bulky memorabilia that I have in a bigger tote last KM round. We each have a small tote for awards and bulky memorabilia that I sorted last KM round too. Our gallery wall is a work in progress, I have a few things to hang, and need to add pictures to a couple frames. I’ve got two photo boxes for our grandkids memorabilia. I have a handled tote for my dad’s papers and stuff.

I have a good system that works for us; I just need to continue to get everything into it. This is more than a 2 week job; I’ve spent 6 yrs. working on it so far. I have at least another year of work on printed pictures not including scanning. I’m guessing this is a 10 yrs. job, mostly because we’ve collected but didn’t have a good system to enjoy them. I was too overwhelmed with this category to do much with them while raising our children, but have more time that they are grown. 

Shawn and I.

Our wedding photo tablescape.

Our photo storage area in the living room. I'm thankful that we have it stored in a visible place for our family to enjoy.

The inside of one of our photo boxes.

I cut down chipboard to create year dividers, I used labels, mini stamps for the year, and stickers.

I'm using a matstack to create event dividers and journal cards if I need to write something about the events.

Our memorabilia stored in the basement.

My 8 Year Blog-Aversary

I created this blog on June 12th, 2009. Thanks you to the visitors of my blog A Welcoming Heart.