This is one of those recipes that is very good the first day but after it sits in the fridge it is twice as good the next. For this I suggest doubling the recipe if at all possible. When Donna came by today to get her “cheeto hug” from Caleb she tried this and said she would be making it too.

For this recipe you will need Sugar Twin brand of brown sugar. This is a sugar substitute that it is very good in recipes.   We can only find it at Foodland in our state so you may have to order it online or see if your store can check into getting it for you.

Pepper Beef Roast

1 boneless beef roast 3-4 pounds

1/2 cup ketchup

3 Tablespoons Sugar Twin Brown Sugar Substitute

1 Tablespoon ground mustard

1 Tablespoon lime juice

2 teaspoons celery salt

2 teaspoons pepper

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon Liquid Smoke

1/8 teaspoon Tabasco sauce

Cut roast in half and place in a 6 quart slow cooker. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over roast. Cover and cook on low for 8-9 hours or until meat is tender. Use forks and shred beef.

I made this in my programmable crockpot since I work and have to be out of the house for more than 8-9 hours each day. With the programmable crockpot it switches to keep warm once the time has run out for cooking. I found that by it going to warm for such a long amount of time after cooking that it became a bit hard on the outside while the inside was wonderful. After sitting overnight in the fridge the leftovers seemed to have softened the meat and I did not find any hard spots. I will be making this again but will probably wait to do this on the weekend so that I don’t need to use the keep warm feature.

It wouldn’t be Christmas without Christmas Carols and I have to share this with you. I found this a few years ago and it makes me smile every Christmas when I listen to this young man’s rendition of Oh Holy Night. Be sure to listen to it all the way to the end. It gets better as it goes on.

http://www.thesneeze.com/mt-archives/000570.php

Another Christmas Carol to listen to is this one which offers in reverse as well to listen to ‘hidden meaning”.

http://blog.adonias.cl/archivos/Flash/Jingle_Bells_Reversed.swf

These are my Christmas gifts to you.

I want to be totally honest and say that I loved this recipe but Mike hated it. I think it was the apple flavoring that did him in. As I have mentioned before he is a meat and potatoes and pinto bean kind of guy and seldom strays from that course. I did enjoy this and will probably make it again for myself when he has leftovers to finish off.

The original recipe was in the Taste of Home Slow Cooker Classics Cookbook. I had to change the apple juice to apple flavored drink. What I did was purchase the single drink size packets from Walmart of their imitation of Crystal Light. I bought the apple flavor and instead of mixing it with 16 ounces of water I mixed it with 8 to make it more concentrated.  This eliminated a lot of the carbs without changing the flavor of the recipe.

The recipe calls for using cornstarch to make a gravy with the pan drippings. After figuring out how very little of the gravy you would actually use I came to this having about 1 carb per serving.  Just look at how good this looks.

Apple-Dijon Pork Roast

1 boneless whole pork loin roast (2-3 pounds)

1 14.5 ounce can of chicken broth

1 cup of apple flavor drink (see above instructions on this)

1.2 cup Dijon mustard

6 tablespoons cornstarch

6 Tablespoons cold water

Cut roast in half; place in a 5-quart slow cooker. Combine the broth, apple juice and mustard; pour over roast. Cover and cook on low for 4- 4.5 hours.

Remove roast and keep warm. For gravy, strain cooking juices and skim fat. Pour juices into a saucepan. Combine cornstarch and water until smooth; gradually stir into juices. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Serve with pork.  Lightly drizzle on top.

Saturday I was very blessed to spend the day with Caleb, Donna and David. Caleb comes just about every Saturday. This weekend Donna and David had to come to get their “Cheetos Hug”. Caleb loves the cheese puffs from a local Amish market here and Donna and David brought him a huge bag . He was orange all day. LOL

Donna and David have been such a blessing to me in so many ways. David helped me to get my Christmas decorations out of the attic and they both helped to decorate my tree. Mike has been working until after dark each day and not taking a day off from work. I knew that I would need to decorate alone this year. However, they both volunteered and jumped right in. Caleb was such a good boy while this was going on.

Some people gave us new Basset ornaments for our tree this year. Here are the three latest. I wonder how they knew we would love them so much? haha

I also have a few ornaments that remind me of cherished loved ones that are no longer with us. Alison was such a great friend. She sent me this ornament the year before she died. I love it and cherish it. She died in 2002 and I think of her often. It is so hard to be without her. The world is such a lonely place.

In 1992 two things happened. One is that I married my now husband and the other is that I met Mrs. Runyan. She was the classiest lady that I have ever met and I seldom went a day without speaking to her. She attended my family holiday dinners and taught my son how to play poker. She was quite a bit older than I was and often told people that she wished that I had been her daughter. Her death is something that has cut me to my soul. I honestly believe that I am a better person for having known her.  I have many of her Christmas ornaments and put a few each year on my tree to honor her memory.

Each year for Christmas I try to get a new stuffed animal that sings and is animated. I had been lining them up on my desk but now that I have Caleb I put them on the lower shelf of my book shelf in the living room so that he can play with them. He loves them very much.

After Donna and David left Caleb fell asleep and took a very long nap. I guess the tree and company really wore him out. While he was asleep I remove the blown glass from the top of my desk and put out my nativity set. I love this nativity set. I have seen others that were so much more expensive than this one but I don’t believe that the detail of them can stand up to the detail on this one. Even on the years that I don’t put up a tree I always put out this nativity set.

I am in a cookie mood. I guess the holidays do go hand in hand with always having cookies. Now that I am a Diabetic I feel the need to find low carb options for my cookie cravings. I searched online for many recipes and after checking out the carb count decided which ones were worth my sharing my precious carb count on. Many sounded wonderful but I am not about to use 6 carbs on a single cookie. For this reason I chose Snickerdoodles from this website.

http://kalynskitchen.blogspot.com/2005/10/attempting-low-carb-dessert-recipea.html

I swear that I could not tell the difference between these cookies and the sugar laden cookies that I had before I was diagnosed with Diabetes. These were excellent. The only changes that I made with the recipe was that I used Parchment paper to bake them on. Instead of leaving them in a ball on the cookie sheet I flattened them in my hand to the size of a quarter and then dipped the tops of the cookies in the Splenda and Cinnamon mixture prior to baking.

 LOW CARB SNICKERDOODLES
(from Recipezaar.com, makes 15-20 cookies)

1/2 cup butter at room temperature (1 stick)
1 1/2 cups almond flour
1 cup granular Splenda
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar

for rolling cookies:
2 T granular Splenda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon

In mixing bowl, beat butter with electric mixer about 30 seconds. Add half almond flour, 1 cup Splenda, egg, vanilla, baking soda, and cream of tartar and blend well with mixer until thoroughly combined. Beat in the rest of the almond flour, cover bowl and chill one hour.

Preheat oven to 350. Cover cookie sheet with parchment paper. Combine 2 T Splenda and cinnamon in small dish. Shape dough into quarter size circles and dip the tops of each cookie in cinnamon-Splenda mix and put on cookie sheet 2 inches apart.

Bake 12 minutes.

I got the original recipe from The Everyday Low-Carb Slow Cooker Cookbook. I love this book but do have to change a few ingredients to please my husband. He is a stubborn man when it comes to food.

This was a very good and easy recipe. The recipe calls for 3 celery stalks cut into thin slices. We both found this to be way too much celery. I think next time I will just add celery flakes to the recipe and omit the celery all together. It also calls for chicken thighs. We do not care for chicken thighs so we used boneless chicken tenders. So the recipe below will be what I do.

Sofrito is a blend of tomatoes, green peppers, onions, garlic, olives and seasonings.

Sofrito Chicken

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

2/3 cup Sofrito (purchased at Kroger’s in the ethnic aisle next to the Mexican food items)

2 Tablespoons minced garlic

1 teaspoon celery flakes

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

2 pounds of frozen boneless chicken tenders

Grease the slow cooker crock with spray Pam. Place frozen chicken tenders in the bottom of the crock. In a bow mix all of the remaining ingredients and pour over the chicken. Cook on low for 8 hours.

I love this video. My daughter sent it to me. A hospital created the video to raise awareness of breast cancer. Caleb loves this video because everyone is dancing around and the scenes change so much. We had to watch it over and over and during the 8th time he fell asleep in my lap. When he woke up an hour later he took me by the hand and led me to the computer to play it again. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did.

I saw this on the Ravelry Message Board and it was wonderful. You can see the original recipe here.

http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/crockpot-love/283460/376-400#387

Just look at this picture. Doesn’t it look good? I am wanting it now. So many recipes and so little time to enjoy them all. lol Mike really enjoyed this meat but he didn’t make them into wraps. He ate the meat as it was and of course had his usual sides of mashed potatoes and pinto beans. That man is so stubborn. It is a good thing that he isn’t a Diabetic like I am. I can’t imagine him giving up his potatoes.

Simple Mexican Wraps

2-3 pound Pot Roast

2 cups beef broth

2 packets of taco seasoning

1/2 onion

2 cloves of garlic

I put the slices of onion in the bottom of the crock and placed the pot roast on top of that.  I poured the beef broth on top and then sprinkled the taco seasoning and garlic on top of the roast so that it was completely covered. I cooked on low for 8 hours and with forks shredded the meat to make the wraps.

I used low carb tortillas and added salsa, cheddar cheese, tomatoes and black olives. You could add sour cream if you prefer. These were very yummy.

Let me say that I love my son-in-law. Not because he fixed my computer over Thanksgiving. Although, I am very grateful for that. But because he loves my daughter very much and treats her with respect. As a Mother, I could not ask for more than that.  I can tell when I speak with Samantha how happy she is with this man.

Ben is a youth minister at a church in Virginia and is very good at his job. The teenagers love him and respect him. He can be tough but he can also be silly. I did not know for a very long time exactly how silly Ben can be. If you meet Ben you will see that he is a bit of a geek. I mean that in the most wonderful of ways. We joke each week when we watch the Big Bang Theory on TV that Ben is a mixture of Sheldon and Leonard.

Ben loves to include videos in his youth group and I want to share a few with you. This is my favorite. I laugh out loud each time I see it.

Ben and Samantha take the teens on a Missions Trip each summer and they always return telling of what ways Christ worked in all of their lives. This past summer they went to Tennessee and helped people who desperately needed home repairs or lawn work done. Each evening they had church services and all of the kids were greatly blessed. Check out these videos.

We love you Ben. You are doing a wonderful job with both the church and our little girl.

We had to make some drastic changes to this recipe. It was good but Mike and I kept talking about what could make it even better and what we felt was missing. We came up with the recipe below and were very pleased. Mike had his “Jethro” size bowls of it for two evenings. This is one of those recipes that will please both the low carber and the non-low carber.

We both wanted more veggies and bacon in the recipe and felt that the beef was a bit too much. The original recipe only called for 2 slices of bacon. We could not even taste it in the dish. The original recipe called for Kidney Beans. Mike hates Kidney Beans and since Pinto Beans have the same carb count I went with that. It is your choice. What we came up with on the second try is what is below.

Beef, Bean and Bacon Stew

cooking spray

1/4 cup olive oil

2 pounds beef stew meat, fat trimmed

2 teaspoons minced garlic

2 medium onions, chopped

1/2 bag of pre-sliced carrots on the diagonal (I am for speed and comfort)

2 large celery stalks, chopped into small pieces

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 14.5 ounch can diced tomatoes (undrained)

1/2 cup beef broth

2 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce

1 1/2 teaspoons ground thyme

1 bay leaf

1 Tablespoon quick-cooking tapioca

1 can pinto beans drained and rinsed

half a pound of bacon, cooked and roughly chopped

Coat the inside of the slow cooker crock with cooking spray and set aside.

In a large skillet, over medium heat, warm the olive oil. Add beef and garlic and brown them. Remove from heat and place mixture in slow cooker crock.

Return the pan to the heat, add onions, carrots, celery, salt and pepper and cook until onions are softened.

To the slow cooker crock, add the tomatoes, beef broth, wine, Worcestershire sauce, thyme, bay leaf and tapioca. Stir to combine.

Add the reserved vegetables and stir to combine all ingredients. Cover and cook on low for 7 hours. Stir in the pinto beans and bacon. Cook an additional hour more. Before serving, remove bay leaf.