Welcome to Cricut Chat!

When the Cricut Joy launched in mid-February, I embarked on what would become an almost daily live video series highlighting the Joy’s many features.  These live videos, which happened on Facebook and were rebroadcast on YouTube, became quite popular, especially during the self isolation of Coronavirus.  After a few more weeks of testing times, we settled on a schedule for the series and a name: Cricut Chat.

Cricut Chat is a daily live video show on Facebook, approximately 30 minutes long, and broadcasting Monday through Friday at 9am.  We will also have a Cricut Date Night program on Saturday nights at 7pm, also on Facebook.  You are welcome to join me and a bunch of other Cricut-crazy folks any day as we learn about all the wonderful things you can do with a Cricut.

Whenever possible, the program will be rebroadcast on YouTube and Facebook.

One area I left out of this programming is my blog.  Since many people still come to visit my blog every day, I have decided to post a weekly summary of what was discussed in Cricut Chat and on Cricut Date Night.

Here are the videos from the first week of Cricut Chat:

Monday: SVG Cuts Umbrella Gift Bag

 

Tuesday: Lori Whitlock Pen Organizer

 

Wednesday: “M O M” Trifold Monogram Card from Cricut Design Space

 

Thursday: SVG Cuts Retro Stove Box Card

 

Friday: Paper Peonies in three different sizes

 

Saturday: Dreaming Tree Peony Gift Box

 

#cricut #cricutjoy #cricutdesignspace

Updated: Recipe Index

 

Skinny Chicken Enchilada Rice Bowls sprinkled with optional low-fat Mexican cheese (don’t forget to add points for the cheese!)

Pasta Puttanesca: a pantry pasta sauce

Don’t crowd your buns into the pan…they can touch though

OMG! I *love* to eat!!!

Isn’t it the greatest thing on Earth?

Over the years, I’ve posted a lot of my favorite recipes on this blog, but I do realize that sometimes all those awesome recipes get a little lost with all my Cricut crafting.

Hence this Recipe Round Up!

Each recipe is linked to this index, so feel free to bookmark this page!  I will update it as I add more recipes!

ON TO THE FOOD!

 

Jalapeno Cheese Bread in the Dutch Oven

Completed Cioppino ready for the bowl

Beer Battered Fried Pickles, golden brown and fluffy

Not just rich–decadent!!–but Oh! So delicious Cinnabon Style Cinnamon Buns

Julia Child’s French Onion Soup Gratinee

Classic Coleslaw

Chicken Pot Pie in a Cast Iron Skillet

Homemade Crab Rangoon

Yummy Homemade Pretzels

Amazing Chicken Marinade

Bacon-Wrapped Water Chestnuts

Beef Barley Soup

Better than Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls

Beef Stew in the Dutch Oven

Beef Stroganoff

Beer Battered Fried Pickles

Good Enough for Santa Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chicken Stock in the Dutch Oven

Christmas Morning Quiche

Cioppino: San Francisco’s Fish Stew

Crusty Bread in the Dutch Oven

Durgin-Park Boston Baked Beans

Easy Chicken & Stuffing in the Slow Cooker

General Tso’s Chicken

Italian Bread in the Dutch Oven

Italian-Style Potato Pancakes

Jalapeno Cheese Bread

Julia Child’s French Onion Soup Gratinee

Key Lime Pie

Lazy Lasagna in the Dutch Oven

Make Your Own Pizza Dough

Make Your Own Sushi Rice at Home

Meatless Stuffed Mushrooms

Skinny Enchilada Rice Bowl

Skinny Black Bean Burritos

Sausage Tortellini Soup

Skinny Sesame Chicken & Broccoli

Ricotta Calzone

Pasta Puttanesca

Pizzelle: Auntie’s Italian Cookies

Ditch The Canned Pumpkin

Rib Eye in the Dutch Oven

Expertly Cutting a Pineapple & Pera Pena Drink

Whole Chicken in the Dutch Oven

 

 

You, too, can make your own sushi!

Skinny Chicken Enchilada Rice Bowl

 

 

Chicken Pot Pie in a Cast Iron Skillet

Ingredients:
Two chicken breast halves, cubed
1/4 cup oil
1-2 onions, rough diced
3 stalks of celery, rough dice
3 carrots, rough dice
1 cup of frozen peas
chicken broth, about 2 cups
2 pie crusts, pre-made is fine
1/3 cup or so flour

 

Step 1: Prepare chicken, celery, onion and carrots. Warm the oil in a pot or Dutch Oven over medium heat. Add the onions, celery and carrots and cook for a few minutes. Stirring. Add cubed chicken, stir and cook until chicken is fully cooked. Add frozen peas and mix.

2. Push contents of pot to side, leaving a well in center. Sprinkle the flour into the well to soak up liquid, stirring. Mix in ingredients outside the well. Slowly add the broth to mix the flour with the broth. This will make your gravy. Salt and pepper to taste.

3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Put crust on bottom of cast iron skillet, making sure the crust is all the way up the sides of the skillet. If your skillet is properly seasoned, you do not need to grease it. Fill the bottom crust with the filling and top with second crust. Pinch the edges to close the pie. Brush top with beaten egg and prick the dough with fork. Bake for 30 minutes and check crust. If browning too much, cover with foil on edges. Cook for 10-15 minutes more, but watch for burning!

Allow to rest and cool to easily remove the pie from the skillet.

6-8 hearty servings

#recipe #castironcooking #covidcooking

 

Classic Coleslaw

You can make your own coleslaw in minutes, without preservatives or unnecessary ingredients. Very old school recipe that can be tweaked, of course, but this is the classic. Economical, delicious and filling! Great with BBQ pulled pork or as a side for chicken!

Ingredients needed:
1/2 medium green cabbage
2 carrots
1 cup good quality mayo (handmade is best, will post a recipe)
4 tablespoons white sugar
1 lemon, juiced, about 3 tablespoons
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Step 1:
Grate carrots
Halve the cabbage and slice as if chopping an onion or shred with grater, if you prefer
Combine and set aside

Step 2:
In separate bowl, whisk together mayo, sugar, lemon juice, vinegar, salt and pepper until creamy. Drizzle over cabbage and carrots. Mix with spoon. Cover and chill so that flavors combine (at least 1 hour).

Recipe can be doubled and you can adjust the seasoning to taste.

 

#covidcooking #recipe #coleslaw

Homemade Crab Rangoon

This is simple to make and can be baked or fried or cooked in the air fryer!

Ingredients:
8 oz. box of cream cheese
6 oz. can of pink crab
2 tsp. Worstershire sauce
1 tsp. soy sauce, light preferably
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
Minced green onion (optional)
package of wonton wrappers (in produce section)

Step 1:
Drain crab. Soften cream cheese and combine with crab and seasonings. Blend well.

Step 2:
Place a teaspoon size of the filling in the center of the wrapper and close. You can do them as triangles, crowns or pope hats (like tortellini), making sure to close the edges well. You can do that with a tiny bit of water or beaten egg white. Keep finished ones covered with a damp paper towel so they won’t dry out. Also cover your pile of wontons as you are working if you aren’t working fast. If they dry out they won’t close and may open with cooking.

Step 3:
You can cook these in several ways. Bake them at 425 degrees for 12-15 minutes, spraying lightly with cooking spray and turning.

You can also use an air fryer; coat lightly with spray to get crunchy edges. OR you can fry these the traditional way.

When frying in a deep fryer, don’t allow your oil to get too hot and cook them in batches. They will puff up as they cook.

#covidcooking #homecooking #recipe