I would like to thank the academy...

as well as my loving parents, all 850 of them, as well as my darling husband. Sometimes I crack myself up! It is award central here at Katie's Korner and it makes me very happy to be honored by such wonderful people. I got a little bit of sun over the weekend so I am not really blushing, at least I don't think I am. My friend Raouly or Raoulys Girl over at Who has the Thyme was gracious enough to share this award with me. She has temporarily dropped the girl portion of her name and she is yet another one who I don't know their first name. I don't feel quite so bad because Polly didn't either. Oh by the way, Polly is 5th Sister, she shared her name with me. I visit their blogs daily and they always leave me nice little comments on mine and yet I was not aware of their first name. Does that make me a horrible person? I hope not! I think everyone just gets caught up in their blogs and blogging identities.

Anyway, the stipulations of this award were to post it to your blog...check, share with everyone seven of your personality traits, heavens to betsy this is going to be a tough one...however we will still check it off, and lastly, share the honor with seven other people...that's going to be another toughy...but check check!

Here we go starting with my seven personality traits, my Husband is sure going to love this one. I am sure he has a couple of his own that he would like to give me.

1.) Caring...I wear my heart on my sleeve which isn't always a good thing.
2.) Anxious...I have an anxiety issue that the Doctor is going to be putting me on meds for. I don't understand why I am like this but I can take the smallest thing and blow it into such a large porportion that I make myself sick. This is not a good trait to have when suffering with Crohn's disease.
3.) Funny...I like to think I am funny, especially when I am around my family. I get this from my Mom. When you put her and my Aunt Karen in a room together with anyone willing to listen to one of their stories...lord help you...that is all that I will say. Also on that note, never tell these two woman something you don't want the rest of the family knowing. The story of my passing out after getting a shot in the tushy has been repeated at each family gathering for the past eight years, sadly, these people still find the humor in it.
4.) Crabby...boy can I be crabby, just ask my husband. When I am in one of my moods, which happens a lot lately with being sick and irritable, you might as well just stay away. Don't look at me, don't speak to me, don't breathe anywhere near me. God help us all when and if I become pregnant and have those pregnancy hormones raging through my body for nine months.
5.) Impatient...yet another one that I wish I didn't have. I am by the far most impatient person around, that is if my Dad's family isn't sitting around. I think the Murphy in us has done bad things to us. We don't tolerate stupid people, large groups of people, and in the case of my Dad, people in general. We also don't like to wait for things. I hate standing in line for anything, part of that is worrying about having to go to the bathroom while standing there. That's why I refuse to do large grocery trips without my Hubby.
6.) Fearful...I am the person who always thinks of the bad things. The what ifs and maybe's. You want someone to burst your happy bubble, you come see Katie. Maybe the medication will help me with that one as well.
7.) Emotional...I think this one sums up everything listed above and more. I cry at commercials, sad and happy stories, and everything in between.

I wonder if drinking would cure me of some of these horrible traits. I would love to be one of those happy go lucky people that are ready to conquer the world. My luck I would be the one who ruins her liver...see what I mean. How many true drinkers out there think about that? :)

So now it's time to share this award with seven others. Do I know seven others who haven't already received this award...it seems to be getting around.

Melissa over at Schweet N Savory
Sheila over at Alice and the Mock Turtle
Cassie over at Cassie Craves
Rachel at Rachel vs. "The Kitchen"
Pam at For the love of cooking

Two more to go, this is pretty hard...

Polly at the 5th Sister

and lastly,

Colleen over at Cooking This and That

I guess that wasn't too terrible. They are wonderful cooks and I really like their blogs. I am very picky about the blogs that I follow due to the fact I only prefer the ones that serve food I can see myself eating and I really am drawn to them by the way their blogs look. I guess I judge a book by it's cover because if it doesn't scream out to me, I pass it by.

Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Soup

Daniel loves the tortilla soup that is served at Max & Erma's and it has become my mission to try to duplicate it as close as I possibly can. I have also been wanting to use my crock pot more often seeing as most nights I don't feel like standing in the kitchen whipping something up. I found this recipe on my favorite site yet again and boy is it delicious.

Ingredients:
1 onion, chopped
1 (16 ounce) can chili beans
1 (15 ounce) can black beans
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle beer
2 (10 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with green chilies, undrained
1 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning
3 whole skinless, boneless chicken breasts
shredded Cheddar cheese (optional)
sour cream (optional)
crushed tortilla chips (optional)

Directions:

1.) Place the onion, chili beans, black beans, corn, tomato sauce, beer, and diced tomatoes in a slow cooker. Add taco seasoning, and stir to blend. Lay chicken breasts on top of the mixture, pressing down slightly until just covered by the other ingredients. Set slow cooker for low heat, cover, and cook for 5 hours.

2.) Remove chicken breasts from the soup, and allow to cool long enough to be handled. Stir the shredded chicken back into the soup, and continue cooking for 2 hours. Serve topped with shredded Cheddar cheese, a dollop of sour cream, and crushed tortilla chips, if desired.

This soup did have a bit of a kick to it and the only thing I can think of is that it was the diced tomatoes with the green chilies. Now if you are like myself and prefer things without that kick in the back of your throat you can substitute that particular ingredient with just regular diced tomatoes. Another option is that instead of using the chicken breasts, I used chicken tenders, they cooked up much quicker.

Stay tuned for a new recipe tomorrow. We are celebrarting my Dad's birthday which was on April 18th, I couldn't make that celebration so I am throwing him a belated birthday dinner. Our family loves fajitas and just about anything served between two slices of bread so when I stumbled upon this recipe on Allrecipes I knew that I would have to try it out on them.

*I seem to be having problems with the template on my blog so I had to switch to this plain jane one. I will working on getting the blog back on the pretty side of things this evening.

Award

Heidi over at Tried-and-True cooking with Heidi has graciously bestwoed upon me another blog award.

The Rules:
1. Put the logo in your blog
2. Write five things you are passionate about apart from blogging
3. Tag 5 people on your lists and let them know you tagged them.

Five things that I am passionate about are:
1.) Spending time with my family. I am blessed to be surrounded by some of the most wonderful people in the world.
2.) I love to cook and research recipe books. I love the vintage cookbooks that my Mother-in-Law gave me, I cherish them.
3.) I am passionate about my dogs, there are days when I wish they would take a walk and not come back for several hours, but let's be honest, I would miss them terribly.
4.) I love the thought of doing yard work and having a green thumb, but reality is, I can't stand to garden and I am so lucky to have a Husband who enjoys it so much.
5.) I love to take picture. For Christmas this year Santa brought us a Nikon D40 and I am never without it. People make fun of me for the amount of pictures I take, but I just gently remind them that they are memories and one day they will be glad I took them. Daniel said just the other day, he was glad we have so many pictures of his Dad who isn't in the greatest of health.

Now for who I want to share this honor with:

Sheila at Alice and the Mock Turtle
Cassie at Cassie Craves
My friend at 5th Sister, and it's horrible that I am not aware of her first name.
Kathy at Three on Food
Lisa at One Step at a Time

Pass it on Ladies! Thanks again Heidi, I so enjoy stopping by to visit your blog!

Cheeseball

Daniel and I both love cheese. We love it sprinkled on top of stuff, spread on and dipped in. I usually always have on hand the ingredients to make our cheese ball for those last minute munchies.

Cheese Ball~
Ingredients:
8 oz. block cream cheese, softened
1 package of dried beef, chopped finely
3 tbsp. onion, chopped finely
2 dashes of hot sauce
2 dashes of Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup shredded mild cheddar
1 tbsp. milk

Directions:
1.) Mix ingredients together in a bowl and then refrigerate for a few hours to marry.

Now how simple is that?? Hope you enjoy! Sorry about the horrible picture...didn't feel like making it fancy.

French Bread Pizza

I don't know about you but I have never been one to enjoy frozen dinners. I do have an exception to that issue though and it involves Stouffers. I love their spaghetti and lasagna and I really really like their frozen french bread pizzas. I thought since I have been trying to come up with some new recipes and lunch/dinner ideas that I would attempt to recreate one on my own. This was pretty good and since I decided to make it for lunch my wonderful Hubby was kind enough to chop up the veggies for me so that everything would be ready to go for me when I got there. The man even had the oven preheated...we make such a good team when it involves cooking!

Simple ingredients, simple directions...what is there not to love about this dish!

Katie's French Bread Pizza

Ingredients:

1 loaf of french bread

1 bag of Monterey Jack shredded cheese

1/2 onion, finely diced

1/2 green pepper, finely diced

*1 jar pizza sauce

*pepperoni

*Use as little or as much as you prefer.

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

2.) Take your loaf of french bread and slice evenly down the center and then cut into four pieces.

3.) Take bread and sit on baking sheet, top with sauce, sprinkle on your onions and green peppers, and then top with your pepperoni, followed by a generous helping of cheese.

4.) Bake until cheese is melted and lightly browned.

This was pretty good, I couldn't eat but a bite or two because of the greasiness of the pepperoni, until this gall bladder comes out, if it does, I am trying to watch my intake of fatty/greasy foods. Daniel really enjoyed it. Obviously with any type of pizza you can add or withhold any of the ingredients. When I was building these I was wishing that we had grabbed a jar of mushrooms but didn't really think about it at the time. I used the monterey jack cheese because that is what I had on hand but you can use mozzarella or even mild cheddar, anything that floats your boat.

Strawberry Pretzel Salad

I was actually feeling pretty good this weekend so I decided to have my Mom and Grandma over for dinner Sunday evening. I was busy trying to come up with some sort of dessert to serve with the meal and with the help of some good people on allrecipes I think I came up with a winner. I have never had a strawberry pretzel salad before and believe it or not this was pretty easy to make. It was even easier to eat!! Hope you enjoy as much as we did.

Strawberry Pretzel Salad~
Ingredients:
2 C. crushed pretzels
3/4 C. melted butter
3 T. white granulated sugar
1-8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
1 C. granulated white sugar
1-8 oz. container frozen whipped topping, thawed
2-3 oz. packages strawberry flavored gelatin
2 C. boiling water
2-10 oz. packages frozen strawberries

Directions:
1.) Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2.) Stir together crushed pretzels, sugar, and melted butter. Mix well and press mixture into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish.
3.) Bake 8 to 10 minutes, until set. Set aside to cool.
4.) In a large mixing bowl cream together cream cheese and 1 cup of sugar. Fold in whipped topping. Spread mixture onto cooled crust.
4.) Dissolve gelatin in boiling water. Stir in frozen strawberries and allow to set briefly. When mixture is about the consistency of egg whites, pour and spread over cream cheese layer. Refrigerate until set.

Now as usual I rushed through the directions and I actually made the jello according to the box, so not only did I add 2 cups of boiling water, I also added 2 cups of cold water. One of these days I promise I will gather some patience when baking and follow directions to the T. Also, 2 cups of crushed pretzels is not enough, I think I used closer to 3, maybe even 3.5. Next time I may even use more because the crust layer is pretty thin when compared to the cream cheese and strawberry layer. Of course we can't really consider the strawberry layer since it's two cups of water thicker than what it should have been...lol. The extra water caused the strawberry layer to be a little on the runny side...please don't add the extra two cups of water or when you cut into it yours will look like mine did. Who cares though...it tasted really good. Also, we purchased the while frozen strawberries and since the recipe didn't really state whether you should use whole or not I didn't cut mine up. Next time I will definitely cut them in half to make them easier to eat.

Recipe courtesy of allrecipes!!

Steak Marinade

We did a nice little cook out today for my Mom and Grandma and I splurged and purchased some eye of round steaks. It's a cheap cut of meat so you need to make sure you tenderize it and give it a nice marinade to soak in for several hours. I actually came up with this one on my own and it was pretty good. Daniel grilled them on the charcoal grill and they were so tender, I was quite pleased. No picture but maybe I will post one tomorrow when I have leftover steak for dinner...yummy.

Katie's Steak Marinade~
1/4 C. Honey
1/3 Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 tbsp. steak sauce
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1/3 C. Roasted Garlic Italian Vinaigrette

Directions:
1.) Mix all of the ingredients together, slowly whisking in the olive oil. Allow your meat to marinade for several hours. We allowed ours to marinade for about two hours...I think they would have been even better had it have been much longer.

Hope you give this marinade a try during one of your BBQ's this spring/summer season!!