A Few Recipe Tries

From Dana:

Lately, I've made some recipes from family members. I love cooking things from other people's suggestions. Did you see Abby's recent post of some of her favorites? I loved it!

Last week I made Abby's Honey Sesame Crockpot Chicken. (http://www.skinnytaste.com/2013/02/crock-pot-sesame-honey-chicken.html?m=1) I am always on the lookout for non-soup crockpot recipes. It was good, but I don't know if I sold it well enough to the boys in order to make it again, but I'll keep it in mind. I may try to add some vegetables next time - onions or something crunchy. I did serve it with broccoli, and that was good. 

Today I made Abby's Chicken Tamale Casserole.  (http://www.myrecipes.com/m/recipe/chicken-tamale-casserole) I love me some casseroles - especially at this stage in my life! It calls for shredded chicken, so I just boiled a chicken breast at noon and shredded it and put it in the fridge til supper. I LOVED the casserole. Loved it! It was a bit mushy, but I didn't care. It was so delicious. But Marc thought it'd be better if it was a little crisper or drier. I plan to ask Abby if she has any advice on how to do that. Just thinking about it now makes me excited for the leftovers. 

And the last recipe was Kathryn's strawberry pretzel dessert (well, I think Kathryn's family considers it a "salad"). Have you had it? It is so good! This was my first time making it and I didn't want a big 9 x 13, so I halved the recipe. I did the math to find that my 9 inch round pie pan would be the best for a half recipe. (Remember? "Pi times the radius squared". Math IS useful in everyday life.)

Either I messed something up (#pumpkin scones - like Brad said) or my math was off because the recipe did NOT fit in my prepared, pretzel-crusted pan. Ha! I had red jello running all over the place in my attempt to get as much as I could in there. But, much to my surprise, it still turned out and was soooo delicious! So good! Even though it has a lot of ingredients and numerous steps, it's definitely a recipe going down in the "keep and make often" category!

(Oh, and I think I figured out my problem - too much crushed pineapple.)