Wednesday - What's For Dinner? Maple Roasted Chicken With Sweet Potatoes

It is cold, dreary, and just in general a yucky weather day here.... this dinner was PERFECT for tonight! Another plus was that it cost about $10 for the whole thing.... it fed four of us and we have leftovers for lunch another day this week.

I found this recipe at The Flowering Dogwood - it looks like she adapted the recipe from Real Simple Magazine. Liz has some wonderful recipes on her blog. My family gives this one a huge thumbs up.

Maple Roasted Chicken with Sweet Potatoes

• 8 small bone in, skin on chicken thighs
• 2 small yellow onions, cut into 1-inch wedges
• 2 small sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup
  
• 6 sprigs fresh thyme

1. Heat oven to 400° F.
2. Rinse the chicken and pat it dry. Arrange the chicken, onion, and sweet potatoes in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Drizzle the oil over the chicken and vegetables and season with the salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Drizzle with the maple syrup and top with the sprigs of thyme.
3. Roast, stirring the vegetables once, until the chicken is cooked through, about 1 hour, 15 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Today I am linking up with Inspiring You to Save for "Wandering Wednesday".... I'm trying to be more frugal in general and this is a great blog.... hopefully my Wednesday dinners will reflect a more budget conscious me! Click the button to visit Inspiring You to Save!

Exploding Cranberries for Play Dough - and Some Fun Creations!

We had lots of fun today! Thank you to Homeschool Mo for giving me the idea to make Cranberry Play Dough! I recently discovered her blog and I know you will like it, too!

First, take a bag of cranberries and boil them (in about 4 cups of water)....

Wait until you start seeing and hearing them pop open.... we just had discussed yesterday in math what the boiling point of water was... so this was a good connection. The kids LOVED watching the cranberries explode!

Strain the berries so you have 2 cups of cranberry water you can use in the play dough recipe:

Let the water cool for a little while (probably long enough to complete your math and grammar lessons for the day!).

Then, over medium heat, combine 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of salt, 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, and the cranberry water. Stir CONSTANTLY (about 5 minutes) until the mixture pulls away from the sides and turns into play dough.

We added gold glitter to make it a little more festive:

We pulled out the Christmas cookie cutters and lots of beads:

I was so proud of the children's creations - they sat at the kitchen table for nearly two hours. (The darker play dough you see if left over Apple Pie Play Dough from the Fall!) We listened to lots of Classical Christmas music, so we got in our music lesson for the day as well.

Here's a close-up:

The kids want these to set out and dry and then give them to Santa as a gift when we pay him a visit on Saturday. They also want to use them as decorations around the house.

It was a GOOD morning... I love it when that happens!

Wednesday - What's For Dinner? Italian Braised Beef Short Ribs with Gnocchi

Doesn't the name of today's recipe: "Italian Braised Beef Short Ribs With Gnocchi" sound elegant? Well, it tasted so good when I tried it a few days ago at our local grocery store, Publix. Every now and then they will be cooking up one of their Apron's meals and I'll grab the recipe. Each time I make one of the recipes it is easy, healthy, and very tasty. I also love the large recipe cards they give out - I just bring them home and put them in my recipe binder. I like this one because it's a crockpot recipe. Enjoy!

Ingredients
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup sun-dried tomato spread
1 (1.3-oz) packet Parma Rosa sauce mix, divided
1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
2 lb beef chuck short ribs
1 (24-oz) jar arrabbiata (or marinara) specialty pasta sauce, divided
1 (14-oz) can low-sodium beef broth, divided
1 (16-oz) package gnocchi pasta
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Prep

• Slice onion.

Steps

1. Combine tomato spread, 1 teaspoon Parma Rosa sauce mix, and Italian seasoning; coat ribs with tomato mixture (wash hands).
2. Place ribs in slow cooker with onions, one-half of the broth, and one-half of the pasta sauce; cook on HIGH 4–6 hours (or LOW 6–8 hours) or until meat is tender.
3. Skim any excess fat from meat mixture. Whisk remaining broth, pasta sauce, and Parma Rosa sauce mix until blended; add to slow cooker. Stir in gnocchi; cook 8–10 minutes or until pasta is tender. Serve.