Crockpot Garlic Lemon Chicken

Who doesn't love a delicious meal that you can throw in the crockpot, come back a few hours later, and it's done..and fabulous?  I'm a busy Momperson and nothing irritates me more than having to slave over the stove when I have a million and nine other things I can and should be doing.  Besides basically doing all the work for me I especially love cooking with my crock because it makes my entire house smell ahhmazing.

Ingredients

1 whole 4-5 pound chicken

4 lemons

2-3 heads of garlic

Fresh rosemary

All-purpose steak seasoning

Directions

Turn your crockpot on high

Slice garlic heads in half and cut each lemon into 4-5 round slices.. This was pretty much my favorite part because I love garlic and lemons so much.  I think I got way more excited than any normal person should.  Place two garlic halves and a few lemon slices in the bottom of the pot.  You will want to cut the bottoms off the lemons so they will lay flat.  Lay a sprig or two of rosemary on top of garlic and lemons.

Check the inside of your chicken for extra bits and pieces, or a bag with chicken parts.  You want to remove any random things, and make sure you clean out the inside of the chicken, rinse entire chicken and pat dry with paper towels.

Season the chicken with the all-purpose steak seasoning...inside and out.

Stuff the chicken with half a head of garlic, 4 slices of lemon, and few sprigs of rosemary

Lay chicken on top of the garlic, lemons and rosemary that you put in the bottom of the crockpot.  Cover the chicken with the remaining garlic, lemons and some more rosemary.  I used whatever I had left over, and stuffed some garlic between the legs, wings, and any other space I could find.  A few more dashes of the steak seasoning..and you're all set..

Place the lid on your pot and cook on high for 5-6 hours, or until chicken reaches 165 degrees.  The cooking time will vary depending on your pot, as well as the size of your bird.  

When chicken has reached 165 degrees turn the pot off and let it sit for about 15 minutes.  If you do not have a meat thermometer just use your best judgement to tell when it's ready.  Poke it with a fork..if it pulls apart with no effort..it's ready.  Remove the bird..carve and serve.  Be careful though because it will be so tender that it will slip right off the bone.  You are going to love it!!


This recipe is so simple with minimal ingredients and is seriously delicious!!
Thanks for stopping by.

Enjoy,

Carrie

High Five for Friday

Hey Friday people! How was your week?  

Mine was weird..went by entirely too fast, and yesterday felt like a Friday..

Are you into shark week?  I'm mildly obsessed.  I spent any tv time at home this week watching Discovery, and I've kept my DVR busy recording shows that I didn't want to miss.  I would totally swim with sharks, would you?  How cool would that rush be?!  I have swam with dolphins and sting rays, why not add sharks to the list!? 

While on a fishing trip in West Palm a few years ago...one of the guys had a fish on the line, and all of a sudden this shark comes out of the water and rolls over with the fish in its mouth... We all yelled.. "omg did you see that"?  It was awesome!!  This is what was left of the fish once we got it in the boat. I'm pretty sure this is the same fish that I ripped apart with my bare hands to make chum with... I've probably already told you guys about this story..I can't help it..That was a fun trip, and one we still talk about often!

This kid gets his craftiness from his Mom..  He wanted to decorate his binders for school, so he bought camouflage tape..

Then he decorated everything else he had for school.  

All spiral notebooks and folders..

I remember making book covers in school, but nothing like this..

He diligently worked on them for hours, and was so proud of himself..

He said "what do you think, Mom"?  

I said "about what"?  

He said "my notebooks"

I said "what notebooks"?

He said "Mommmm...they're right here.." 

I bent over to look, scratched my head, 

and squinted my eyes trying to see what he was showing me..

I said "ohhh, yeah I see it now..wow..it was so hard to see them with all that camo.."!!

He looked at me..with his mouth half open not knowing whether to laugh or commit me.. then he laughed ..rolled his eyes and walked away.

Teenagers are fun.. (but not all the time..)

Took in this beautiful view on one of my runs this week

Once again I am out of town for the weekend. This time to Indiana for work.  I felt so bad that I would not be home for Trey's first full day of school.  I had some serious Mom guilt.  Now, I remember having this conversation not too long ago with Brittney...she was having Mom guilt, and I was saying that I don't think I ever get Mom guilt..well, I do now.  

Guilty!

So, I made Trey a batch of his favorite cookies...

They were great!!

We spent quality time together while I taught him how to make spaghetti.

<please ignore my messy corner stuffed with cardboard and paper to recycle>

It's way past overdue to be taken to the recycle bin.

The spaghetti was delicious..he did a great job!

I wrote him a sweet little note that I left on his pillow...

and made sure to tell him where I hid the last cookie so he could eat it.

When I got settled into my hotel room we FaceTimed before bed..

and laughed at each other.  I have one funny little boy..(he gets that from me too).

We made funny faces..

and then we said goodnight..

My Mom guilt isn't as heavy as it was..seeing this smile helped a lot!

Yesterday was Winston's 9th Birthday.  

More Mom guilt!

So I FaceTimed with him too!!

I ate this whole bag of Traders dried blueberries on my way to Indiana.

The.whole.bag.  

Yummy in my tummy!!

This little guy was begging for a slice of my apple.

He loves apples!

That's my week..it was pretty much filled with lots of guilt.  Lots!!  I am excited to attend this workshop this weekend.  I was telling my Dad on the way up here that it is such a relief knowing that I won't have to take a test at the end of it.  I love hanging with my Dad.  I basically hang with him every day, but it's nice to get away with him too. He is constantly teaching me something new, and he is always encouraging when I bounce my new goals, and crazy ideas off of him.  He's pretty much the best and undoubtedly the coolest!

Hope you guys have a great weekend!

xo

Carrie

A Seamstress, I am not...

Once upon a time I tried to be domesticated and learn how to sew..I wanted to make stuff.  I took some classes with other girls my age and we..well, we made stuff.  I learned how to make coin purses, key chains, table runners, aprons, tote bags, I've made quilt squares, pajama pants, annd that's about it. All of these were made in a class with direct supervision, except I can actually make the key chains on my own..mostly because they are sooo easy to make.  I should probably mention that the tote bag, quilt square, and pajama pants are still unfinished projects.  Yeah, so?  

I have a rockin' sewing machine.  It is a Singer with a digital touch screen and also has monogramming capability.  Not that I ever leaned how to monogram or anything, but if I ever did my machine can do it...uh, for me.  So, wrapping up this story..I was so excited the year I learned to sew.  I had this grand idea that I was going to make Christmas gifts.  I even made soft fuzzy blankets for a previous foster dog of mine, and her sister.  I made things for my Mother-in-Law, my Mother and my sister.  Before Christmas arrived, I was over the sewing dream.  I have only used it one time since.  No intentions whatsoever.  None.  I ruined it for myself that Christmas...I out-sewed myself.  Now, if there was an emergency and you needed something..like a button..I can sew a button, but machine wise I can't promise you that anything I make will look that swell, but I can sew a straight line, and that's something!!

During my classes I learned of this handy little helper called Steam a Seam.  

It is pretty much awesome, and can be found at fabric stores.  Possibly craft stores, but I'm not positive.  Anyway, it's the stuff!!

I love my grey cropped pants, and as I was going to hang them up to wear the next day I remembered that my hem had come undone. Such a pain!  And after all those sewing classes I still don't know how to hem anything..

but no fear...because I have steam a seam...and I know how to use it!

It is double sided fusible webbing..and I am about to teach you how to use it!

In the above picture I separated it to show you what it looks like.  It is actually not attached to each other, and can be tricky at first, but you want them lined up one on top of the other..

Cut a strip close enough to the length that you will need...if you cut too much, that is perfectly fine... because you can cut it.  Lay it along the seam, and hold your iron over each section for a few seconds.  

The heat from your iron will bond the webbing.

Cut any excess off the ends.

At one end pull up the paper and pull it completely off.

Fold the fabric into the position that you want it...

I used the crease, where my hem used to be, as a guide..

and then iron over the hem..holding it there for a few seconds.

and just like that you have yourself a perfect hem.

You can still wash your clothes and the steam a seam will remain intact. This took me less than five minutes.  You don't even need to have mad sewing skills to do this!

If I can do this, I know you can!!

xo

Carrie

High Five for Friday

I had a great week.  Did you?  Right now I am sitting on my couch; freshly showered, in my jams, with a towel on my head, writing my blog, listening to the news, while three dogs sit and stare at me.  They want something, I asked what, but they continued to stare without answering me...not sure what's going on with that.  Weirdos.

Wanna know something random?

I wish someone would show up at my front door and offer to dry my hair for me.  

I think I wish for this more than one person should.

Moving along...

Here are a few highlights from my week...

I have been planning a laundry room makeover project for a few months now.  I have purchased some art to hang in there, sketched out, and gathered some ideas for shelving and storage.  Pinned a million ideas on Pinterest.  My laundry room is tiny.  It also gets fairly heavy traffic due to it being the way into the house from the garage.  It is one of two rooms in my house that have yet to be painted.  I have been wanting a project to throw myself into and the laundry room was the lucky winner..

 I knew I wanted the room to be a fresh/clean color.  After weeks of staring at swatches on the wall I settled on Bird Song Blue.  Picked it up last weekend, and hope to get started tomorrow!!  I'm pretty excited about it!

Saw The Conjuring last weekend.  It was great!  Finally a scary movie that is not super cheesy!  If you dig scary movies you have to check this one out..don't wait for the DVD!!

I started reading Find You in the Dark last week..

finished it...

and then picked up the sequel, Light in the Shadows.  Both great story lines.  A ton of typos that drove me crazy, but overall I thoroughly enjoyed them.  They are YA, about mental illness and the life of a few teenagers living less than normal lives due to relationships with each other as well as with their families.

Then I started reading Hopeless.  I have basically been spending most of my free time lately with a book in my hand.  Ok, so this book I.am.loving..I seriously can't put it down!!  Again it is YA, young love, or maybe lust, or maybe both.  Yes, definitely both.  Stereotypical High School...Friends, rumors, boys, relationships.  It really makes you glad you are no longer in HS, but then again it kinda makes you miss certain aspects and experiences along the way of being young again.

There is a sequel to this called Losing Hope. It is the guys point of view - whereas Hopeless is the girls perspective.  The paper back of Losing Hope will be released in October, but is available on the Kindle now.  I already pre-ordered it anyway, rather than getting it to read on my Kindle app.  I much prefer holding a real book, with real pages in my hands.

I cut these chives from my herb garden.  They smell fantastic!  I chopped them, dried them, and then put them in a cute little container for storage.  Can't wait to use them!

My throwback Thursday picture is from October 2007..I was a month into being 30, and little Miss Catie was 4 months old.  She got tickled playing patty cake and I'm so glad someone snapped a picture of it because this is definitely one of my faves!

My little buddy and a friend of his went with me to the Greenway in Springfield.  

I have really been enjoying running there.  

The boys rode their bikes while I ran.  

The weather was absolutely perfect today.

I promised them that they could play in the park at the end of the trail before we headed back.  It's not everyday that you run into a random zip line, so I had to test it out.  The kids got a good laugh..at me, and I have to admit I even got a good laugh at myself..

My sweet Winston loves naps on my pillow...

I love snuggling up with these two special boys.

Thanks for stopping by.

Have an amazing weekend!!

xo

Carrie