Absolutely Almond Peach Slow Cooker Recipe

This is another Tastefully Simple recipe. It's divine! It's the perfect dessert for a rainy evening, or a cold Winter's day. This was created by my Sponsor/Upline who lives in Washington.

Absolutely Almond Peach Slow Cooker Recipe

Recipe created by Nancy Hinschberger

Ingredients:

2 bags frozen peaches, thawed.

1/2 cup orange juice

2 Tbsp Tapioca (this could be left out)

2 Tbsp Brown Sugar

A dash of nutmeg

Absolutely Almond Pound Cake

1 1/2 sticks butter

1 cup water

Directions:
Put the frozen peaches in the bottom of a greased slow cooker, then mix in 1/2 cup orange juice, 2 Tbsp tapioca, 2 Tbsp brown sugar and dash of nutmeg and stir all of these together until mixed.

Then mix in a separate bowl the absolutely almond pound cake as directed on the box with the butter and water, then pour this over the top of the mixture in the crockpot. Then cover and turn on high and let cook for 3 1/2 hours. Then serve with ice cream or cool whip.

My Husband's creation with chocolate syrup, coconut, pecans and a few white chocolate chips.

Can you tell he's got a sweet tooth? ;-)

'The Original'

With some white chocolate chips

Note: not all of these desserts were consumed in one night. This recipes makes A LOT and we enjoyed this over a few nights. Be advised...making this at 7:00pm is NOT a good idea. You'll be rushed to get a taste of this heaven and will probably burn your tongue.

Smoky Bacon Chicken Casserole

An occasion such as my 50th post, truly deserves a great recipe. Luckily, I have one! This was a recipe by a fellow Tastefully Simple consultant, one who I've gotten to meet and hang out with :)

                                                                                  

Smoky Bacon Chicken Casserole

Recipe by: Ann Scheinost

20 oz. package frozen shredded hash brown potatoes

1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

1 - 2 Tbsp. Onion Onion

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. ground pepper

2 Tbsp. olive oil

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

3/4 cup Smoky Bacon Grill Sauce

Directions:

Combine first 6 ingredients in a greased 9 x 13 baking dish; mix well. Spread potato mixture in a thin layer covering the bottom of the pan. Arrange chicken breasts on top of potatoes. Pour desired amount of Smoky Bacon Grill Sauce over each breast. Bake uncovered at 400° for 30-45 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink and potatoes are crisp and golden brown. Makes 4 servings.

This makes a wonderful dinner, served with some vegetables. It also makes a lot so it's perfect for a couple days worth of lunches too!

Low-Fat Zesty Shrimp Pasta

This is a recipe that I first found in a Kraft Food and Family magazine, before they started charging for the subscription. I was so bummed when they did that, I loved getting that magazine in the mail! I don't have the heart to subscribe to it when I can go to their websites and get the same recipes.

Low-Fat Zesty Shrimp Pasta
You can access the original recipe from Kraft Food & Family.

I make it according to how big (or small) of a meal we need. If I'm making a small batch just for a lunch or two, I'll use a smaller amount of noodles etc. The italian dressing is also versatile, you can use as much or as little as you'd like. I don't really follow the recipe anymore, I just make it as I go. Those are the best kinds of recipes, aren't they?

My version of Low-Fat Zesty Shrimp Pasta
1/2 box of spaghetti noodles
1-2 cups of italian dressing
1 14oz can of artichoke hearts (you may feel like chopping these up a little if you don't want large pieces)
1 pint of fresh mushrooms
2 teaspoons Onion Onion
1 bag of thawed, pre-cooked shrimp (you can use raw too, if you'd like, you'll just need to cook accordingly)

While the noodles are boiling, toss the dressing, artichoke hearts, mushrooms and shrimp into a saucepan on medium-high heat. Let these all cook together until the mushrooms are cooked and everything is heated through.

Drain your noodles. Combine the saucepan mixture and the noodles with another 1 cup italian dressing. mix together and serve.

It's a simple, light dinner that you can tailor to anyone's tastes. Add some roasted red peppers for a little extra color!

We served this with Warm Artichoke and Spinach Bread. Yumm! I guess we were really in the mood for artichokes, huh?

Warm Artichoke and Spinach Bread

This was a recipe inspired by this recipe on the Tastefully Simple website. I didn't have a loaf of bread and I didn't have the 25-30 minutes to wait for the bread to cook, so I improvised.

It's not a very pretty picture, but I promise you that it was delicious!

I had some small rolls that I had previously gotten on sale that I had froze. I took 3 out, let them thaw and then cut them in half. I combined a block of cream cheese with Artichoke and Spinach Warm Dip Mix, a 14oz can of artichcokes, some Kraft Parmesan Cheese (in the green container) and a cup of shredded cheese. You're supposed to use swiss cheese, but I just used what I had on hand.

Spread the cream cheese mixture onto your bread, pop it under your broiler for a few minutes, until the mixture gets a little more ooey gooey and the bread hardens up a little.

Serve!

 We served this with Low-Fat Zesty Shrimp Pasta.

It really is, that simple! Everytime I do a Tastefully Simple party, when the guests sample the Artichoke and Spinach Warm Dip Mix, I can't wait to get home and make it myself. It's great with crackers/chips as a dip, but it's phenomenal on bread! I'm sure the recipe that I adapted from would also be fantastic and I'll most definitely be trying that.

Confetti Crisps

This is a fabulous recipe that I found in a Pampered Chef recipe book called Delightful Desserts. I have had the cookbook for so long, I don't even remember when I got it. I first made this recipe for my Grandpa-in-law's, surprise 70th Birthday last year. It was a HUGE hit, I don't think that my Husband and I even got to taste any, it was gone that fast! More recently, I made it for my Cousin-In-Law's Graduation party, and again, it was a hit! I got asked by three different people for the recipe.

It's super simple, and super tasty. Definitely make this soon!

Also, think of the endless possibilities with this. You could use white chocolate chips, you could add craisins, toffee pieces... whatever your heart desires! I'd love to see what other toppings you make it with!

Buffalo Chicken Lasagna

Recipe from: Carrie's Sweet Life

Originally from: A year of Slow Cooking

I think my crockpot hates me. Even though I put sauce on the bottom of the crockpot like the recipe says to do, it burnt on the bottom. It also turned to mush. I know traditional lasagna isn't exactly firm, but these noodles were falling apart and had no consistency at all. It was edible though. It took awhile to prepare, but that's because I didn't have any leftover chicken breast in the refrigerator so I had to cook, cool and shred it the same day I was making it.

I also used oven ready lasagna noodles, so I don't know if that's part of the reason it was so mushy?!

I'd definitely try this again, but I might bake it in the oven instead. It had good buffalo flavor, but I felt like it needed more meat maybe?

Layered Fiesta Dip

Layered Fiesta Dip

Recipe From: Myself!

This was a quick and easy lunch I made for myself one day. I had some Tastefully Simple spicy black bean dip left from a previous season, my Mom had made some corn and black bean salsa that she left at our house and I had shredded cheese and sour cream in the refrigerator. The hardest part was deciding what I wanted to make with the ingredients. Nachos? Quesadilla? Burrito of sorts?

I decided to layer it all in a bowl. Bean dip on the bottom, salsa, cheese, sour cream, repeat.

It was really good. My eyes were much bigger than my stomach, because I couldn't eat anymore than half of it. The cute little bowl came in a chip/dip set we got as a wedding gift. Excuse my kitchen chair being in the picture. I think I need to invest in some backdrops or something :)