ambrosia dessert

Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Stew

It's a snow day. The kids are home from school. Not only is it snowing, it's freezing cold AND windy. My son and I are taking turns shoveling the driveway. I'm not planning on going anywhere today. I'm thinking we really need some warm, comfort food for this chilly, snowy day. Maybe a soup or stew? But, I need to find a recipe that I can make with what's in my cupboards. After a little internet searching, I found this recipe on food.com. It looks yummy and I have everything on hand! Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Stew, you are what's for dinner tonight...

Ingredients (Printable Recipe)

1 onion, chopped

1 (16 ounce) can black beans (rinsed and drained)

1 (16 ounce) can kidney beans (rinsed and drained)

1 (16 ounce) can corn (drained)

1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce

2 (14 1/2 ounce) cans diced tomatoes and green chilies (Rotel)

1 packet taco seasoning

2 boneless skinless chicken breast

Directions:

Prep Time: 10 mins

Total Time: 6 1/4 hrs

1. Mix everything together in a slow cooker except chicken.

2. Lay chicken on top and cover.

3. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours.

4. 30 minutes before serving, remove chicken and shred.

5. Return chicken to slow cooker and stir together.

6. Top with cheese, sour cream, or tortilla chips, if desired.

I used 3 (10 oz.) cans of diced tomatoes and green chilies (Rotel). My chicken breasts were frozen. I slightly defrosted them before putting them in the slow cooker.

I mixed everything in the slow cooker and put the chicken on top. I'm cooking this on low and it should be ready just in time for dinner. It's all up to the slow cooker now. My work is done, for dinner anyway. Now, it's my turn to go shovel the driveway. I've got to go bundle up. I'll post results after dinner tonight...

The Results...

This cooked for 7 hours on low. I shredded the chicken during the last 30 minutes of cooking time. So, what did we think? We thought this was delicious! My husband liked it so much that he said, "make this again and don't change a thing!" I also liked this stew, although it was at the top of my spice tolerance. I added a little sour cream to help "cool it off." My son didn't think it was too spicy, but my 6 yr. old also needed some sour cream in hers. I'm pretty sure this will be too spicy for my 3 yr. old (she was asleep when dinner was ready). I'll need to make her something else when she wakes up. I'm thinking I could add half the Rotel and then add plain diced tomatoes if I want to make a milder version in the future. Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Stew did hit the spot on this chilly, winter day!

This recipe is shared at:

Foodie Friends Friday

Slow Cooker Thursday @ Addicted to Recipes

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Most Popular Posts 2010 at The Soul Calendar

Check out the popular science stories this year that fascinated us like the volcanic explosions and earthquakes.

From Denny: Thanks for all your support this year! What a year of massive planet wide geologic changes: polar glacial ice caps melting rapidly, high scale earthquakes in Haiti, Chile and around the world, volcanoes spewing lava high into the air in Iceland and Indonesia - stopping air travel. It's been a humbling year for the human race on planet Earth. Floods, blizzards, mudslides, oceans rising, the Earth is changing and we are here to witness it.

Just this December we got to see the first lunar eclipse on a Winter Solstice, the first in almost 500 years. The next one is scheduled for 2094. Here in my region of the world we experienced the British Petroleum Oil Spill Disaster. As usual Big Business and the governments like America and Britain have shafted the locals who have gone bankrupt, personal and business. The millions of barrels of oil still lurks on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico and continues to wash ashore. There are now light orange alligators found off the coast of Florida.

Here in Louisiana BP's oil spill devastated our fishing industry, killing the oyster beds and safe fishing grounds for everything from shrimp and spillway crawfish to salt water fish. The fishing industry has declined by 70 percent with no help from BP or our federal government. Big Business is just plain greedy and refuses to take care of the planet and future generations.

Out of this oil spill disaster has come some interesting ideas of how to clean up future oil spills. More ideas abound for new types of alternative fuels using the ocean to help produce it. Humanity can be innovative and creative if we just curb our greed to use our resources faster than we can replace them.

Take a look around. There are plenty of humor posts too and lots of technology cartoons for a grin.

The Soul Calendar - Wondering about our universe and the universe inside us.

Check out these posts too: Most Popular Posts 2009 at The Soul Calendar

Here's the most popular posts for 2010:

Rare 500 Year Lunar Eclipse Gets Viewed By 1.5 Billion

Popular Funny X-ray Pin-Ups Calendar: Stripped to the Bone

New Years: Funny Quotes, Resolutions Tips, Poems

Funny Christmas Tech Cartoons - 18 Dec 2010

Funny Political Cartoons This Week 30 Jan 2010

28 Awesome Desktop Calendar Wallpapers

Photos and Video: Rare 500 Year Lunar Eclipse

Big Show Geminid Meteor Shower In Winter Sky Tonite and Tomorrow

How Northern Lights Are Created By Sun Flares

Are These Fossils The Earliest Traces Of Complex Life?

Giant Asteroid Threatens Earth In 170 Years

BP Oil Spill Cartoons - 24 July 2010

Effective Cheap Idea to Clean Up Oil Spill: Treated Cotton Fabric

BP Oil Spill Cartoons - 31 July 2010

New Tomb Uncovered in Egypt With Colorful Art

Is That A UFO In The Sky Or A Planet?

Moon Water: Order Up Your Cocktail Today

Neuroscience: Want Your Man to Better Understand You? Try Empathy Nasal Spray

Cool Earth Day Links, Message From Our Prez

New Astronomy Photos: Cosmic Rosebud, Winds of Change Black Hole, Orion Nebula

Check Out NASA Images of Devastating Pakistan Floods

Why Black Holes Burst With Light When Galaxies Merge

What Do All the Recent Global Earthquakes Mean?

8.8 Chilean Earthquake 500 Times More Powerful than Haiti

Chilean Earthquake Shortened Earths Day

Icelands Volcanic Ash: Hurting Us And Our Planet?

Air Jets and Volcanic Ash Dont Mix

Iceland Volcano Stops the World From Travel

Come to Iceland: Experience Living With a Volcano in Your BackYard

Videos: Explain Rare Haiti Earthquake

Now Peru Faces Water Wars From Climate Change

Evidence of the Afterlife: New Book Offers Proof

97 Posts Roundup From All Dennys Blogs

Last Resort Climate Fix: Geo-Engineering

What Are The Poisons in Our Food Supply?

Friday Trivia: 14 Useless Random Facts

New Finding Under Antarctic Ice: Stinky Greenhouse Gas Ready to Go Boom

Best Time Waster, Funny Video: Procrastination

10 Make You Think Surreal Photos

Funny Tutorial Video: The Busy Desk of the Animator

10 Make You Think Surreal Photos

How to Survive Allergy and Pollen Season

Big Oil Nixs Competing Aviation BioFuel: NASAs Project OMEGA

Effective Cheap Idea to Clean Up Oil Spill: Treated Cotton Fabric

Chilean Earthquake Shortened Earths Day

Ground-Breaking King of the Lab: Venter Creates Synthetic DNA

Rare: Super Harvest Moon Occurs On Fall Solstice

Passionate Volcano Chasers: Photographing Eruptions Around the World

Video: Check Out the River Monsters Swimming Near You

Posts Roundup of Dennys 14 Blogs - 27 June 2010

Funny Thanksgiving Quotes, Video, Cartoons and Food Posts

Gulf Coast Oil Rig Disaster Slammed: Political Cartoons 1 May 2010

10 Funny Posts For a Laugh - 23 June 2010

Posts Roundup at Dennys Blogs - 5 Oct 2010

17 Christmas Music and Fun Videos

Mapping Our Complex Brains: Human Connectome Project

Funny Tech Cartoons - 22 Oct 2010

BP Oil Spill and WikiLeaks Spill Cartoons - 7 Aug 2010

BP Oil Spill and Global Warming Cartoons - 14 Aug 2010

51 Funny Political Cartoons - Sex Scandals, Rove, Obama, Health Care, Tea Party - 27 Mar 2010

Gulf Coast Oil Rig Disaster Slammed: Political Cartoons 1 May 2010

Funny Political Cartoons Sampler 12 Dec 2009

Political Cartoons: Iceland Volcano Wrecks World Economy

Check Out This Tripping New Look for the Milky Way

*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, enjoy bookmarking this post on your favorite social site, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates!

*** Come by for a visit and check out my other blogs:

*** Check out Holiday Recipes From Dennys Food and Recipes

The Social Poets - news, politics
The Soul Calendar - science, astronomy, psychology
Visual Insights - photos, art, music
Beautiful Illustrated Quotations - spiritual quotes, philosophy
Best Spiritual Posts - my own best as well as links to other spiritual posts from all viewpoints
Poems From A Spiritual Heart - poetry
The Healing Waters - health news
Dennys People Watching - people in the news
Dennys Food and Recipes
Dennys Funny Quotes - humor

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Creamy Ham and Potato Soup

This soup looks delicious on thegirlwhoateeverything.blogspot.com. She adapted this recipe from Allrecipes.com where over 4500 people reviewed it and it received 5 stars. Some warm, creamy soup is just what we needed on this chilly evening. We had this for dinner tonight before we headed out into the cold for basketball practice.

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups peeled and diced potatoes

1/3 cup diced celery

1/3 cup finely chopped onion

1/2 cup carrot, diced (optional)

1 cup diced cooked ham (buy a ham steak in the deli section)

3 1/4 chicken broth

1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

1 teaspoon ground white or black pepper, or to taste

5 tablespoons butter

5 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 cups milk

Directions:

1.Combine the potatoes, celery, onion, carrot, ham and chicken broth in a stockpot. Bring to a boil, then cook over medium heat until potatoes are tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in the salt and pepper.

2.In a separate saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in flour with a fork, and cook, stirring constantly until thick, about 1 minute. Slowly stir in milk so that lumps don't form and until all of the milk has been added. Continue stirring over medium-low heat until thick, 4 to 5 minutes.

3.Stir the milk mixture into the stockpot, and cook soup until heated through.

4. Top with cheddar cheese, chives, and bacon if desired. Serve immediately.

5. Makes 6 servings

Step 1: All the veggies, ham and chicken stock are in the stockpot.

Step 2 and 3: Here's the separate saucepan after the milk mixture had been combined and thickened. I added this to the stockpot and heated it through.

The Results...
We all enjoyed this soup. It was warm, creamy and hearty enough to serve for dinner with some fresh bread. It also had a good balance of ham and potatoes. I was given the approval to add this to our Family Favorites list. I'm sure we'll be making this again this winter.

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28 Awesome Desktop Calendar Wallpapers

Check out the most interesting offerings from some great designers this year.

From Denny: Smashing Magazine has put out some real beauties for the "calendar challenged" where I culled out the most interesting and beautiful choices. Why print up a calendar when you can display it on your monitor? Check out just a few of these beauties.

They come in several monitor resolution sizes - and without the calendar - if you just enjoy the photo. You can even vote for your favorites on the site - which I did. I figure if someone took the time to create, send, choose, upload and post them then I can vote for the ones I enjoyed the most. :)

The designers hail from countries all over the world: America, Spain, The Netherlands, Myanmar, India, Nepal, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Poland, Romania, Moldova, England. Be sure to check out their links as most have links and are some interesting design, illustration, flickr or photography sites. Enjoy - and be sure to let me know your favorites! :)

*** All of these delightful designs can be found in five resolution sizes, with or without the calendar, at Smashing Magazine: Desktop Wallpaper Calendar January 2011.

Celebrating 2011

Designed by Tim Fritz from USA.

Frost Bitten - "A collaboration between two sisters. One’s a photographer and the other is a designer." Designed by Denise Johnson and Sharleen Heist from USA.

Quiet Please - Designed by Diana Samoila from Romania.

*** All of these delightful designs can be found in five resolution sizes, with or without the calendar, at Smashing Magazine: Desktop Wallpaper Calendar January 2011.

Witty graphics and artistic drama

On The Ground - Designed by Nathalie Ouederni from The Netherlands.

Nike - "Happy New Year :)" Designed by Marta Miazek from Poland.

New Year, New Goals - "A New Year means a New Start! Get out and do something this year that impresses yourself." Designed by WaltWinchel from USA.

Creative Chocolate - "January is a very cold month and it’s a perfect season to drink a hot chocolate. Even better if it’s a Creative Chocolate!" Designed by Fabrizio Venanzi from Italy.

A Door to a New Year - Designed by Christine Bradway from USA.

Hello 2011 - "An old rotary phone breaking out of 2 old polaroid photos." Designed by Kristen Cook from USA.

New Decade - "It’s time to welcome New Year’s 2011 – and say a fond goodbye to 2010.New Year is expected to bring good luck and charm for people and this is the reason why everybody love to celebrate it with fun and enjoyment.I designed this wallpaper to welcome the new year and show the Transition between the two years." Designed by Neelam Asrani from India.

New Life - "Forget all bad memories,welcome something new in our lives…" Designed by Nishith from India.

*** All of these delightful designs can be found in five resolution sizes, with or without the calendar, at Smashing Magazine: Desktop Wallpaper Calendar January 2011.

Life philosophy

Lumanti - "Lumanti is nepali word which means remembrance. Rememberence of year 2010, every small to big things, sadness to happiness, and our every moment of 2010." Designed by Moksha Design Studio from Nepal.

Tsuru - "An ancient Japanese legend promises that anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish by a crane, such as long life or recovery from illness or injury." Designed by Pedro Nobre from Portugal.

Symbol of Love- "Let the coming new year be a start for One love of the world. Humans across all the countries love each other without any difference. With an open heart stop the wars and welcome peace and love between individuals. The Taj mahal which stands as a symbol of eternal love be taken as an inspiration and join the peace for human." Designed by Mohamed Rafi from India.

*** All of these delightful designs can be found in five resolution sizes, with or without the calendar, at Smashing Magazine: Desktop Wallpaper Calendar January 2011.

Winter blues

Ice Tree Smashing - Designed by Vlad Gerasimov from Russia.

Silver Winter - Designed by Violeta Dabija from Moldova.

Silent Love - Designed by Han Htut Zaw from Myanmar.

Snowman - "I wanted to convey something wintery, but still joyful, to keep me upbeat when I start up my laptop every chilly morning." Designed by Steph Struthers from USA.

*** All of these delightful designs can be found in five resolution sizes, with or without the calendar, at Smashing Magazine: Desktop Wallpaper Calendar January 2011.

Hearts and personal

Love out of Focus - Designed by Sara Duan.

Dear Diary - Designed by Maggi Giovanni from Italy.

*** All of these delightful designs can be found in five resolution sizes, with or without the calendar, at Smashing Magazine: Desktop Wallpaper Calendar January 2011.

*** All of these delightful designs can be found in five resolution sizes, with or without the calendar, at Smashing Magazine: Desktop Wallpaper Calendar January 2011.

Nature

Another Chance - "Hope for the coming year." Designed by Kellie Gave from USA.

Winter’s Warmth - "Although England’s winter has been very, very cold – it’s also been bright and colourful. I can’t remember seeing so many outrageously “warm” sunsets. Definitely not going to complain. This was actually taken on Christmas Day. Woohoo! Happy 2011 to you all. :) " Designed by Sasha Bell from England, UK.

Frozen World - "When it is too cold outside you feel like the whole world is frozen…" Designed by Rumena Zlatkova from Bulgaria.

Lost in Winter’s Fog - "One of the most beautiful things about winter is the thick, dense fog we so often get. Sometimes it’s so bad you can’t see 100 yards in front of you. It’s maddening but beautiful at the same time. Happy 2011!" Designed by Olivia Bell from England, UK.

Flowers - "Put your ear down close to your soul and listen hard – I am who I am. I am myself. I don’t want to be anyone else. I am unique.” – Designed by Juanita Ooi from London, UK (Originally Malaysia).

Snow Walk - "My dog enjoying the first snowfall at the terrace. After the first walk, she tried to eat the snow." Designed by Luis Herrero Jimenez from Spain.

Treelight - Designed by Nathalie Ouederni from The Netherlands.

Twisted Winter - "A cold, vacant, and erie scene of tangled branches. Enjoy!" Designed by Colin Oakes from Canada.

*** All of these delightful designs can be found in five resolution sizes, with or without the calendar, at Smashing Magazine: Desktop Wallpaper Calendar January 2011.

*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, enjoy bookmarking this post on your favorite social site, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates!

*** Come by for a visit and check out my other blogs:
The Social Poets - news, politics
The Soul Calendar - science, astronomy, psychology
Visual Insights - photos, art, music
Beautiful Illustrated Quotations - spiritual quotes, philosophy
Poems From A Spiritual Heart - poetry
The Healing Waters - health news
Dennys People Watching - people in the news
Dennys Food and Recipes
Dennys Funny Quotes - humor

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Funny Videos: Happy New Year From Cartoonists

Check out the cartoonists funny idea of wishing us a Happy New Year.

From Denny: Hope you are enjoying the New Year of 2011! These funny cartoonists get us going with the laughter. After such a tough year in 2010 with all the political squabbling and harsh weather events we all could use a little down time to smile more. Enjoy!

This year's New Year's Eve in Times Square, New York City, to welcome 2011:

*** Check out these posts too:

Funny Video: Happy New Year, Cartoonist Review of 2010 - Get a New Year grin at the cartoonist review of our last political year.

Video: Happy New Year 2011 Animated Dancing Penguins - Enjoy an amusing New Year wish from the animated corner of the world. New York Times Square 2011 New Year video too.

Fun Videos: Cartoonists Wish Us Happy New Year - Have a bit of fun watching the famous New York Times Square Waterford crystal ball talk out loud, wishing you a Happy New Year in perfect New York accent.

Best New Years Cartoons 2010

New Years: Funny Quotes, Resolutions Tips, Poems

New Year Celebrations: History And Trivia

*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, enjoy bookmarking this post on your favorite social site, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates!

*** Come by for a visit and check out my other blogs:

*** Check out Holiday Recipes From Dennys Food and Recipes

The Social Poets - news, politics
The Soul Calendar - science, astronomy, psychology
Visual Insights - photos, art, music
Beautiful Illustrated Quotations - spiritual quotes, philosophy
Best Spiritual Posts
Poems From A Spiritual Heart - poetry
The Healing Waters - health news
Dennys People Watching - people in the news
Dennys Food and Recipes
Dennys Funny Quotes - humor

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Best New Years Cartoons 2010

Check out the best New Years cartoons from a great selection of cartoonists.

From Denny: Before you go out to celebrate the New Year with all that dancing and champagne sipping, linger here long enough to get a good laugh! Think of all the funny things you will have to talk about with your friends and family tonight. :) Check out some of the links at the bottom of the post too as I've put together some entertaining goodies.

Apologies to those of you who came looking for last year's New Year's cartoons. I'm just now discovering along with you that many of the cartoonists do not continue to support their cartoon embed codes after a year. Bummer. So I went looking, OK, scouring the web, to find the latest cartoon goodies for you to enjoy.

This is my second year of blogging and I want to take the time to thank all of you for your incredible support and deluge of response on all my blogs! What a pleasure it has been to explore the world, the web and write for you.

Happy New Year and may you be happy, healthy and prosperous!