This and that

My latest obsession.  Pillowcases with crocheting and embroidery.  My grandmother used to create pillowcases with crocheted edges on them.  We didn’t have a lot of them so it was always a treat when one ended up on our bed.  We were never sure of the Laundry Fairy’s system on who got what bed linens.

I’m still determined to learn how to crochet.  I don’t think I can teach myself so I’m going to hit up the local yarn shops and see if there are any beginner classes available. 

I picked this one up (one of a pair) from a woman in Maine that scours estate sales for vintage linens.  The embroidery is so sweet.  She had another pair from the same sale that had little bluebirds on them.  Someone beat me to it and snapped it up before I had the chance.  Embroidery I can do though – so I may try my own hand at embroidering.   

Change of subject ~ Last night my sister and I were in charge of Sunday night dinner and we each did a crockpot meal (we have a huge crowd to feed so one crockpot wouldn’t have been enough).  I wanted to do a spicy chicken meal so I looked at a few recipes to get ideas and came up with a pretty decent dish.  Crockpot meals never photograph well so I don’t have a picture but here is the recipe:

• 1 1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken (I used chicken tenders but whole breasts or thighs would work too – I would cut the breasts into smaller pieces)
• 1 lb. andouille sausage, cut into 1/4" slices
• 2 or 3 bell peppers, sliced (I used red, yellow and green for color)
• 2 15 oz. cans of Rotel diced tomatoes with green chiles
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 1 15 oz. can of chicken broth
• 1 Tbsp. Zatarain’s creole seasoning
• Salt & Pepper to taste

Dump it all in the crockpot and cook on high for about four hours, until the chicken is cooked through (your crockpot times may vary, depending on how hot it actually gets).  Shred the chicken a bit, into bite-sized pieces.  Turn crock pot to low until ready to eat.  Serve over white rice.   The andouille sausage gives it a nice kick (as does the creole seasoning).   

Now I need to find a good chicken and dumpling recipe.  My dumplings always end up looking like a science experiment that has gone horribly, terribly wrong.