What’s Cookin’ in the Parsonage?

Even though we were gone Friday afternoon through Saturday until 11 pm, I managed to get a meal in the crock pot Sunday morning.  After eating out on our little weekend trip, I knew we’d both rather eat at home after church.  I did a survey of some of the recipes I’d pinned on Pinterest and found this great crock pot recipe. I had everything either in the freezer or pantry! I altered it by adding chicken breasts instead of shrimp.  It turned out great.  If you’re needing a one dish meal where you truly just dump all the ingredients in and go, you’ll love this recipe!

Cajun Shrimp (Or Chicken) and Rice
Makes: 6 servings

Ingredients
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 14-ounce can chicken broth
1 cup chopped onions
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 6- to 6-1/4-ounce package long-grain and wild-rice mix, such as Uncle Ben’s
1/4 cup water
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
1 pound cooked, shelled and deveined shrimp (I added 4 frozen chicken breast filets)
Hot-pepper sauce (optional)

Directions
1. In a 3-1/2- or 4-quart slow cooker, combine tomatoes with their juices, chicken broth, onions, bell pepper, rice mix with seasoning packet, water, garlic, and Cajun seasoning.
2. Cover; cook on low-heat setting 5 to 6 hours or on high-heat setting 3 to 3 1/2 hours.
3. Stir shrimp into rice mixture. Cover; cook for 15 minutes longer at high-heat setting. Sprinkle with hot-pepper sauce if desired.

I used frozen tomatoes from my garden in place of the canned tomatoes.

Four hours later!

I also tried a new dessert recipe last week that I must share with you, Friends!  Yummy is the word!
As you may recall, strawberries are my favorite fruit.  While they’re fresh, we try to buy them locally and make Strawberry Muffins, or Strawberry Pie or Strawberry Freezer jam.  I use the Sure Jell recipe.  It always turns out great.

One batch was all I needed to make this year.  Added to what is in the freezer already give me 18 jars.  I believe that will get us through until the next strawberry season!

Then on  the day that my husband came home with four quarts of berries, I saw a Strawberry Pizza recipe on Pinterest. The recipe is from Your Home Based Mom. The base is a plain cookie-like dough, topped with a cream cheese filling, a strawberry filling, and then the fresh berries.  We had guests over, and if we all hadn’t been exercising extreme discipline, (cough!) this whole thing would have been GONE before the night was done!

Strawberry Pizza

Ingredients

Crust:
1 C flour
1/4 C powdered sugar
1/2 C butter

Filling:
1 (8 oz.) cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 C granulated sugar
1/4 tsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice

Topping;
1 C fresh strawberries, mashed
4 Tbsp. granulated sugar
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
8 – 10 strawberries sliced.
Instructions

Crust:
In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar and butter.
Form into a ball with hands and press into a 14 inch ungreased pizza pan (I used my Pampered Chef pizza stone) I floured my fingertips to keep it from sticking and I pressed it out with my hands.
Bake at 325 degrees for 15 minutes. Cool.

Filling:
In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, vanilla, sugar and lemon juice.
Spread on cooled crust.
Topping:
In a saucepan over medium heat, combine strawberries, sugar and cornstarch.
Simmer until thick and glossy. Cool.

Spread on top of cream cheese filling.  Cut fresh strawberries crosswise to make rounds that resemble pepperoni, place on pizza and serve.

You could add other fruits to the strawberries like Kiwi or blueberries.  Hey, you might even feel like you’re eating something healthy since it’s covered with fruit!  😉

What have you been baking/cooking in your kitchen?

With love from my parsonage kitchen,