Slow Cooker Cream Cheese Crack Chicken Chili

Slow Cooker Creäm Cheese Cräck Chicken Chili - this stuff is äMäZING! We've mäde it 3 times this month! We cän't get enough of it!!! Chicken, corn, bläck beäns, chicken broth, diced tomätoes änd green chiles, cumin, chili powder, onion, ränch seäsoning, bäcon änd cheddär cheese. We served the chili with some cornbreäd änd Fritos. PERFECT! This is älreädy on the menu ägäin this weekend! YUM! #crockpot #slowcooker #chicken #chili

Prep time: 5 mins
Cook time: 6 hour
Totäl time: 6 hours änd 5 mins

INGREDIENTS:

- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breästs


- 1 (11 or 15-oz) cän corn, dräined
- 1 (15-oz) cän bläck beäns, dräined änd rinsed
- 1 (10-oz) cän diced tomätoes änd green chilies, undräined
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup cooked, chopped bäcon
- 1 (1-oz) päcket Hidden Välley Ränch Originäl seäsoning & säläd dressing mix
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 Tbsp chili powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 (8-oz) päckäge creäm cheese
- 1 cup shredded cheddär cheese

This Recipes & Image Adapted From ==> plainchicken.com

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Pläce chicken ät bottom of slow cooker.

2. ädd corn, bläck beäns, diced tomätoes änd green chilies, chicken broth, cumin, chili powder, onion powder ränch seäsoning änd bäcon. Stir together. Pläce creäm cheese on top of chicken.

3. Cover with lid änd cook on LOW for 6-8 hours.

4. Remove chicken from slow cooker änd shred with 2 forks. Return to slow cooker. Stir cheddär cheese into chili.

INSTANT POT LOADED POTATO SOUP (WITH A SLOW COOKER VERSION)

This Instant Pot Loaded Potato Soup is creamy, delicious, and tastes like you slaved over it all day! It’s easy to prepare and is ready in a flash thanks to the Instant Pot.

Ingredients

1 Tablespoon butter
1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups chicken broth
1 can/box cream of chicken soup (I prefer Pacific Foods brand)
7-8 medium sized russet potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1 inch cubes (about 2.5 pounds of potatoes)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt (or more/less to taste)
black pepper to taste (I like a lot of pepper)
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon flour
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (I use sharp cheddar)

Garnish:
5-6 slices bacon (cooked and chopped)
sliced green onions
shredded cheddar cheese

Instructions

Add butter to the Instant Pot and turn on the sauté button. Once butter is melted, add in the onions and cook for 3-4 minutes until soft. Add in the garlic and cook for one additional minute until fragrant, stirring constantly so that garlic does not burn.

Add the chicken broth, cream of chicken soup, potatoes, salt, and pepper to the pot, and stir well. Place the lid on the Instant Pot and turn the vent valve to "sealing." Cook over manual high pressure for 10 minutes, then quick release the pressure.
Meanwhile, stir together the milk and flour in a small bowl to create a slurry. Set aside.
Once the steam has completely released and the pin has dropped on the lid, open the lid and stir in the slurry. Turn the pot to sauté and cook the soup for 4-5 minutes, until thickened. Stir in the 2 cups of cheddar cheese and stir until melted. Serve garnished with chopped bacon, green onions, and more cheese. Enjoy!

link recipes from https://belleofthekitchen.com/2018/01/11/instant-pot-loaded-potato-soup/

SLOW COOKER CREAM CHEESE CRACK CHICKEN CHILI

Slow Cooker Creäm Cheese Cräck Chicken Chili - this stuff is äMäZING! We've mäde it 3 times this month! We cän't get enough of it!!! Chicken, corn, bläck beäns, chicken broth, diced tomätoes änd green chiles, cumin, chili powder, onion, ränch seäsoning, bäcon änd cheddär cheese. We served the chili with some cornbreäd änd Fritos. PERFECT! This is älreädy on the menu ägäin this weekend! YUM! #crockpot #slowcooker #chicken #chili

Prep time: 5 mins
Cook time: 6 hour
Totäl time: 6 hours änd 5 mins

INGREDIENTS:

- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breästs
- 1 (11 or 15-oz) cän corn, dräined
- 1 (15-oz) cän bläck beäns, dräined änd rinsed
- 1 (10-oz) cän diced tomätoes änd green chilies, undräined
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup cooked, chopped bäcon
- 1 (1-oz) päcket Hidden Välley Ränch Originäl seäsoning & säläd dressing mix
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 Tbsp chili powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 (8-oz) päckäge creäm cheese
- 1 cup shredded cheddär cheese

This Recipes & Image Adapted From ==> https://www.plainchicken.com (Full Video)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Pläce chicken ät bottom of slow cooker.

2. ädd corn, bläck beäns, diced tomätoes änd green chilies, chicken broth, cumin, chili powder, onion powder ränch seäsoning änd bäcon. Stir together. Pläce creäm cheese on top of chicken.

3. Cover with lid änd cook on LOW for 6-8 hours.

4. Remove chicken from slow cooker änd shred with 2 forks. Return to slow cooker. Stir cheddär cheese into chili.

SLOW COOKER HONEY GARLIC CHICKEN AND VEGGIES

The easiest one pot recipe ever. Simply throw everything in and that’s it! No cooking, no sauteeing. SO EASY!


INGREDIENTS:
8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
16 ounces baby red potatoes, halved
16 ounces baby carrots
16 ounces green beans, trimmed
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

FOR THE SAUCE
1/2 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup ketchup
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper


DIRECTIONS:

In a large bowl, combine soy sauce, honey, ketchup, garlic, basil, oregano, red pepper flakes and pepper.
Place chicken thighs, potatoes, carrots and soy sauce mixture into a 6-qt slow cooker. Cover and cook on low heat for 7-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours, basting every hour. Add green beans during the last 30 minutes of cooking time.

OPTIONAL: Preheat oven to broil. Place chicken thighs onto a baking sheet, skin side up, and broil until crisp, about 3-4 minutes.
Serve chicken immediately with potatoes, carrots and green beans, garnished with parsley, if desired.

link recipes from https://damndelicious.net/2015/06/05/slow-cooker-honey-garlic-chicken-and-veggies/

SLOW COOKER DR. PEPPER BBQ RIBS

INGREDIENTS
4.5 pounds boneless country style pork ribs
2 cans Dr. Pepper soda, divided
3/4 cup BBQ sauce (your favorite, we love our Sweet Baby Ray's!)

INSTRUCTIONS

Place ribs in the bottom of your slow cooker, pour 1 can of soda over them. Cover and slow cook for 7 hours on low or 4 hours on high.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cover a cookie sheet with foil then place a wire rack over the top.

Combine 3/4 cup BBQ sauce with 1/2 cup Dr. Pepper soda.

Carefully remove the ribs from the slow cooker, placing on rack. Brush tops with sauce. Bake for 15 minutes, flip and brush other side. Bake 15 minutes more.

Serve remaining sauce at the table.

link recipes from https://anaffairfromtheheart.com/slow-cooker-dr-pepper-bbq-ribs/

SLOW COOKER GARLIC PARMESAN CHICKEN AND POTATOES

Crisp-tender chicken cooked low and slow with baby red potatoes for a full meal! So easy and effortless!


INGREDIENTS:

8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 pounds baby red potatoes, quartered
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

DIRECTIONS:
Season chicken with basil, oregano, rosemary, salt and pepper, to taste.
Melt butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add chicken, skin-side down, and sear both sides until golden brown, about 2-3 minutes per side; drain excess fat and set chicken aside.
Place potatoes into a 6-qt slow cooker. Stir in olive oil, garlic and thyme; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Add chicken to the slow cooker in an even layer.
Cover and cook on low heat for 7-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours, or until the chicken is completely cooked through, reaching an internal temperature of 165 degrees F.
Serve immediately, sprinkled with Parmesan and garnished with parsley, if desired.

link recipes from https://damndelicious.net/2016/05/27/slow-cooker-garlic-parmesan-chicken-potatoes/print/

Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken

Serve this Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken over rice, you don’t want any of that delicious, sticky sauce going to waste.

2 lbs boneless chicken breasts (or leg quarters)
1/4 cup brown sugar
½ cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
½ teaspoon ground ginger
1 clove minced garlic
⅛ teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons water


Place chicken in the crockpot.
In a medium bowl combine sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, ginger, garlic, and pepper. Pour over chicken and cook on low 4-5 hours.
Remove chicken from slow cooker, chop into cubes, and set aside.
Strain the cooking liquid into a skillet and bring to a boil.
In a small bowl whisk cornstarch and water until combined.
Slowly add cornstarch mixture to boiling liquid and reduce to a simmer. Allow sauce to thicken for 2-3 minutes then toss the chicken back in.
Coat chicken with sauce and let heat through.

link recipes from https://flavorite.net/slow-cooker-teriyaki-chicken/

Slow Cooker Chicken Thighs

Slow cooker chicken thighs served with hearty vegetables is a complete meal made easy! Tender pieces of chicken, potatoes, carrots, and corn, all simmered in a lemon garlic herb sauce.


Ingredients

4 bone-in chicken thighs, (681g) about 1 to 1 1/2 pounds
1 teaspoon kosher salt, (7g) plus more for seasoning
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, plus more for seasoning
2 tablespoons olive oil, (15ml)
1 cup red onion, (120g) 1-inch dice
1 1/2 cups carrots, (230g) 1-inch pieces
1 pound baby red potatoes, (454g) cut in half
1 ear corn, cut into 4 pieces
2 tablespoons roughly chopped garlic, (20g)
1 1/4 cup unsalted chicken stock, (300ml)
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour, (26g)
1 tablespoon lemon juice, plus 4 wedges for serving
4 sprigs thyme
2 sprigs rosemary



Instructions

Trim excess skin and fat from the chicken thighs.
Season both sides of chicken with salt and pepper.
Heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat, once hot add 2 tablespoons olive oil.
Add chicken skin side down to the hot oil, cook until skin is golden in color, 5 minutes.
Flip chicken and cook 2 minutes, transfer to a clean plate.
Add onion, carrot, potatoes, corn, and garlic to slow cooker.
In a medium-sized bowl whisk together 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, chicken stock, flour, and lemon juice, add to slow cooker.
Add chicken, thyme, and rosemary to slow cooker.
Cover and cook 2 to 4 hours on high setting or 4 to 6 hours on low setting, until the chicken is cooked through and potatoes are tender.
Transfer chicken and vegetables to serving plates.
Pour cooking liquid through a strainer if desired, whisk to combine and season as desired.
Serve sauce and lemon wedges with the chicken dinner.

link recipes from https://www.jessicagavin.com/slow-cooker-chicken-thighs/

Slow Cooker Spicy Shredded Mexican Chicken

Last year, Bitcoin led a motley pack of so-called cryptocurrencies in one of the great booms in market history, soaring over 2,000 percent to its peak. Since then, it’s led an epic bust that rivals the dot-com era stock market collapse. But there are still plenty of true believers. And as the dust settles, investors and regulators find themselves still grappling with questions first raised when Bitcoin broke into public consciousness five years ago: What exactly is it? How do imitators like Ethereum, Ripple’s XRP and Bitcoin Cash work? Should I buy it? Where do cryptocurrencies fit into the future of money? Here’s a guide for those feeling at sea in these turbulent digital waters. 1. What’s been happening? The total market value of all traded cryptocurrencies exploded late last year to peak at about $800 billion in January by one count. Four months later, though, the value of crypto-assets had plunged by about two-thirds, as regulators began to crack down and fear of big losses began to replace fear of missing out. By late June, Bitcoin had fallen by 70 percent -- close to the 78 percent fall of the Nasdaq Composite Index’s drop when the dot-com bubble burst -- while the worth of hundreds of other virtual coins fell close to zero. Even so, the total market value of traded cryptocurrencies still rested above $250 billion, many multiples of what it was a few years ago. 2. Is Bitcoin money? In a way, yes, though it’s not necessarily a useful form of it. It’s possible to buy or sell some things with Bitcoin but very few people do. Extreme volatility is perhaps the biggest argument against treating cryptocurrencies as you would the dollar or the euro. The hallmark of a reliable currency is that it provides a stable store of value. You wouldn’t want to spend Bitcoin on groceries today if you thought its value might soar tomorrow, or take your salary in Bitcoin if you thought it might plunge. 3. So what is it? Born out of the bitterness that followed the 2008 financial crisis, Bitcoin and its imitators aren’t bills or coins printed or policed by a government or bank. They’re electronic assets created and monitored by a community of users acting in a decentralized way, following protocols set down by the person or persons who dreamed them up. The “crypto” in the name refers to the encryption techniques used by so-called Bitcoin miners. And all the new currencies revolve around what’s seen as Bitcoin’s real innovation — blockchain, a publicly visible, largely anonymous online ledger that records the calculations miners perform to verify transactions without the need for a central authority. 4. Why are so many people down on Bitcoin? You mean, why did legendary investor Warren Buffett call it "rat poison squared”? There’s a long list of reasons. Besides the massive price swings, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have been connected with scams, money laundering, tax evasion, cyberthefts, exchange outages, excessive speculation and more. Risks like these may have been easier for regulators to overlook when Bitcoin and its peers sat on the far fringes of finance, but they are moving ever closer to the mainstream. The stakes are much higher now that mom-and-pop investors and Wall Street banks alike are piling in. 5. Is anyone overseeing this area of finance? A wide range of regulators are trying to get a handle on cryptocurrencies. Turns out there’s little agreement about what they fundamentally are: currencies, commodities, securities or something entirely new. Thus you’ll see them called crypto-assets, digital tokens, coins or just “crypto.” 6. How are crypto-assets like commodities? The vision behind Bitcoin laid out in a 2008 pseudonymous manifesto promised that no more than 21 million will ever be created. That means it’s sometimes compared with scarce commodities such as gold, whose value is determined solely by what people are willing to pay for it. Crypto-assets have become popular in places where hyperinflation erodes the buying power of the local currency (think Zimbabwe), or where sanctions block purchases (think Venezuela and North Korea).  7. How are they like securities? There’s an argument that some crypto-assets have the same characteristics as stocks, such as a share of ownership in a common endeavor and the expectation of making a profit from work done by a company. Much of the focus is on new coins or tokens offered by startups through so-called initial coin offerings, or ICOs. While they take different forms, ICOs let companies bypass the venture capital process by selling coins instead of shares. In some cases, the founders say coin buyers are prepaying to use a service that the company will build. In the U.S., the Securities and Exchange Commission has opened a broad probe into whether entities running ICOs are violating its rules by offering what are really securities, although a top SEC official said that neither Bitcoin nor Etherereum fell into that category. China has banned ICOs entirely. That didn’t stop them from raising more than $10.5 billion worldwide through the first half of 2018. 8. How are regulators clamping down? Their approaches have run the gamut, from an exchange-licensing regime in Japan that was recently tightened to a largely hands-off system in Switzerland, though the anonymous and borderless nature of many digital coins makes them tough to control. China, once the world’s most active Bitcoin market, banned crypto-asset exchanges in 2017 and blocked access to overseas trading platforms. The crackdown came during government campaigns to stop money from leaving the country and to reduce financial risk. Most countries, notably the U.S., have not yet formulated a comprehensive regulatory strategy. But U.S. prosecutors are investigating whether traders have been manipulating the price of digital currencies. 9. How can I buy Bitcoin? There are a bunch of ways, all with different risks. Individuals can buy crypto-assets directly from online exchanges that will trade them for regular currencies like the dollar, the euro or the yen. Most of the exchanges will offer to hold the asset for you in a digital “wallet,” although an alarming number of exchanges have been hacked. You can also hold the asset for yourself, in a digital wallet or in so-called cold storage: for instance, a thumb drive disconnected from the internet. Since December 2017, investors can place a wager on Bitcoin — betting it will either rise or fall — without having to own it directly, via futures contracts traded on two big U.S. exchanges. 10. What’s Wall Street’s approach? Until recently, it mostly kept its distance. Now there’s lots of interest if not yet much action. Lenders including JPMorgan, Bank of America and Citigroup have barred customers from using their credit cards to buy cryptocurrencies to avoid the risk associated with these transactions. But Goldman Sachs Group Inc. planned to begin trading Bitcoin futures on behalf of customers. And everybody in finance is at least dabbling in blockchain, which is seen as an innovative way to handle transactions that could potentially upend a wide range of industries. 11. Why are there so many digital coins? There are thousands of Bitcoin rivals, and it’s not clear how many of them are going to prove either legal or useful. Some were developed to overcome what their creators saw as flaws in Bitcoin, such as slow transaction times or high fees. Some of them were outright scams. Die-hard fans of newer currencies think they’ll eventually overtake their bigger cousin. The largest rival is Ethereum, which has a total market value half the size of Bitcoin. These so-called alt-coins are certainly getting more attention: By mid-2018 they accounted for more than half of all the money in crypto-assets, compared with less than a fifth at the start of 2017. 12. Who are the crypto true believers? Here’s a short list of enthusiasts: Teenagers and hackers drawn by a disdain for authority and the libertarian aspirations behind Bitcoin’s creation. Technology geeks who believe they’re disrupting the marketplace and getting in early on the next chapter in the history of money. Financial firms and central banks that think something important will come out of all this even if Bitcoin withers. And there are also plenty of investors who aren’t true believers but who hope to find one to sell their holdings to if crypto prices soar again.

source http://kosong--ok.blogspot.com/2019/05/slow-cooker-spicy-shredded-mexican.html

30 Whole30 Slow Cooker Recipes

Last year, Bitcoin led a motley pack of so-called cryptocurrencies in one of the great booms in market history, soaring over 2,000 percent to its peak. Since then, it’s led an epic bust that rivals the dot-com era stock market collapse. But there are still plenty of true believers. And as the dust settles, investors and regulators find themselves still grappling with questions first raised when Bitcoin broke into public consciousness five years ago: What exactly is it? How do imitators like Ethereum, Ripple’s XRP and Bitcoin Cash work? Should I buy it? Where do cryptocurrencies fit into the future of money? Here’s a guide for those feeling at sea in these turbulent digital waters. 1. What’s been happening? The total market value of all traded cryptocurrencies exploded late last year to peak at about $800 billion in January by one count. Four months later, though, the value of crypto-assets had plunged by about two-thirds, as regulators began to crack down and fear of big losses began to replace fear of missing out. By late June, Bitcoin had fallen by 70 percent -- close to the 78 percent fall of the Nasdaq Composite Index’s drop when the dot-com bubble burst -- while the worth of hundreds of other virtual coins fell close to zero. Even so, the total market value of traded cryptocurrencies still rested above $250 billion, many multiples of what it was a few years ago. 2. Is Bitcoin money? In a way, yes, though it’s not necessarily a useful form of it. It’s possible to buy or sell some things with Bitcoin but very few people do. Extreme volatility is perhaps the biggest argument against treating cryptocurrencies as you would the dollar or the euro. The hallmark of a reliable currency is that it provides a stable store of value. You wouldn’t want to spend Bitcoin on groceries today if you thought its value might soar tomorrow, or take your salary in Bitcoin if you thought it might plunge. 3. So what is it? Born out of the bitterness that followed the 2008 financial crisis, Bitcoin and its imitators aren’t bills or coins printed or policed by a government or bank. They’re electronic assets created and monitored by a community of users acting in a decentralized way, following protocols set down by the person or persons who dreamed them up. The “crypto” in the name refers to the encryption techniques used by so-called Bitcoin miners. And all the new currencies revolve around what’s seen as Bitcoin’s real innovation — blockchain, a publicly visible, largely anonymous online ledger that records the calculations miners perform to verify transactions without the need for a central authority. 4. Why are so many people down on Bitcoin? You mean, why did legendary investor Warren Buffett call it "rat poison squared”? There’s a long list of reasons. Besides the massive price swings, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have been connected with scams, money laundering, tax evasion, cyberthefts, exchange outages, excessive speculation and more. Risks like these may have been easier for regulators to overlook when Bitcoin and its peers sat on the far fringes of finance, but they are moving ever closer to the mainstream. The stakes are much higher now that mom-and-pop investors and Wall Street banks alike are piling in. 5. Is anyone overseeing this area of finance? A wide range of regulators are trying to get a handle on cryptocurrencies. Turns out there’s little agreement about what they fundamentally are: currencies, commodities, securities or something entirely new. Thus you’ll see them called crypto-assets, digital tokens, coins or just “crypto.” 6. How are crypto-assets like commodities? The vision behind Bitcoin laid out in a 2008 pseudonymous manifesto promised that no more than 21 million will ever be created. That means it’s sometimes compared with scarce commodities such as gold, whose value is determined solely by what people are willing to pay for it. Crypto-assets have become popular in places where hyperinflation erodes the buying power of the local currency (think Zimbabwe), or where sanctions block purchases (think Venezuela and North Korea).  7. How are they like securities? There’s an argument that some crypto-assets have the same characteristics as stocks, such as a share of ownership in a common endeavor and the expectation of making a profit from work done by a company. Much of the focus is on new coins or tokens offered by startups through so-called initial coin offerings, or ICOs. While they take different forms, ICOs let companies bypass the venture capital process by selling coins instead of shares. In some cases, the founders say coin buyers are prepaying to use a service that the company will build. In the U.S., the Securities and Exchange Commission has opened a broad probe into whether entities running ICOs are violating its rules by offering what are really securities, although a top SEC official said that neither Bitcoin nor Etherereum fell into that category. China has banned ICOs entirely. That didn’t stop them from raising more than $10.5 billion worldwide through the first half of 2018. 8. How are regulators clamping down? Their approaches have run the gamut, from an exchange-licensing regime in Japan that was recently tightened to a largely hands-off system in Switzerland, though the anonymous and borderless nature of many digital coins makes them tough to control. China, once the world’s most active Bitcoin market, banned crypto-asset exchanges in 2017 and blocked access to overseas trading platforms. The crackdown came during government campaigns to stop money from leaving the country and to reduce financial risk. Most countries, notably the U.S., have not yet formulated a comprehensive regulatory strategy. But U.S. prosecutors are investigating whether traders have been manipulating the price of digital currencies. 9. How can I buy Bitcoin? There are a bunch of ways, all with different risks. Individuals can buy crypto-assets directly from online exchanges that will trade them for regular currencies like the dollar, the euro or the yen. Most of the exchanges will offer to hold the asset for you in a digital “wallet,” although an alarming number of exchanges have been hacked. You can also hold the asset for yourself, in a digital wallet or in so-called cold storage: for instance, a thumb drive disconnected from the internet. Since December 2017, investors can place a wager on Bitcoin — betting it will either rise or fall — without having to own it directly, via futures contracts traded on two big U.S. exchanges. 10. What’s Wall Street’s approach? Until recently, it mostly kept its distance. Now there’s lots of interest if not yet much action. Lenders including JPMorgan, Bank of America and Citigroup have barred customers from using their credit cards to buy cryptocurrencies to avoid the risk associated with these transactions. But Goldman Sachs Group Inc. planned to begin trading Bitcoin futures on behalf of customers. And everybody in finance is at least dabbling in blockchain, which is seen as an innovative way to handle transactions that could potentially upend a wide range of industries. 11. Why are there so many digital coins? There are thousands of Bitcoin rivals, and it’s not clear how many of them are going to prove either legal or useful. Some were developed to overcome what their creators saw as flaws in Bitcoin, such as slow transaction times or high fees. Some of them were outright scams. Die-hard fans of newer currencies think they’ll eventually overtake their bigger cousin. The largest rival is Ethereum, which has a total market value half the size of Bitcoin. These so-called alt-coins are certainly getting more attention: By mid-2018 they accounted for more than half of all the money in crypto-assets, compared with less than a fifth at the start of 2017. 12. Who are the crypto true believers? Here’s a short list of enthusiasts: Teenagers and hackers drawn by a disdain for authority and the libertarian aspirations behind Bitcoin’s creation. Technology geeks who believe they’re disrupting the marketplace and getting in early on the next chapter in the history of money. Financial firms and central banks that think something important will come out of all this even if Bitcoin withers. And there are also plenty of investors who aren’t true believers but who hope to find one to sell their holdings to if crypto prices soar again.

source http://kosong--ok.blogspot.com/2019/05/30-whole30-slow-cooker-recipes.html

thirty whole30 sheet pan recipes

Last year, Bitcoin led a motley pack of so-called cryptocurrencies in one of the great booms in market history, soaring over 2,000 percent to its peak. Since then, it’s led an epic bust that rivals the dot-com era stock market collapse. But there are still plenty of true believers. And as the dust settles, investors and regulators find themselves still grappling with questions first raised when Bitcoin broke into public consciousness five years ago: What exactly is it? How do imitators like Ethereum, Ripple’s XRP and Bitcoin Cash work? Should I buy it? Where do cryptocurrencies fit into the future of money? Here’s a guide for those feeling at sea in these turbulent digital waters. 1. What’s been happening? The total market value of all traded cryptocurrencies exploded late last year to peak at about $800 billion in January by one count. Four months later, though, the value of crypto-assets had plunged by about two-thirds, as regulators began to crack down and fear of big losses began to replace fear of missing out. By late June, Bitcoin had fallen by 70 percent -- close to the 78 percent fall of the Nasdaq Composite Index’s drop when the dot-com bubble burst -- while the worth of hundreds of other virtual coins fell close to zero. Even so, the total market value of traded cryptocurrencies still rested above $250 billion, many multiples of what it was a few years ago. 2. Is Bitcoin money? In a way, yes, though it’s not necessarily a useful form of it. It’s possible to buy or sell some things with Bitcoin but very few people do. Extreme volatility is perhaps the biggest argument against treating cryptocurrencies as you would the dollar or the euro. The hallmark of a reliable currency is that it provides a stable store of value. You wouldn’t want to spend Bitcoin on groceries today if you thought its value might soar tomorrow, or take your salary in Bitcoin if you thought it might plunge. 3. So what is it? Born out of the bitterness that followed the 2008 financial crisis, Bitcoin and its imitators aren’t bills or coins printed or policed by a government or bank. They’re electronic assets created and monitored by a community of users acting in a decentralized way, following protocols set down by the person or persons who dreamed them up. The “crypto” in the name refers to the encryption techniques used by so-called Bitcoin miners. And all the new currencies revolve around what’s seen as Bitcoin’s real innovation — blockchain, a publicly visible, largely anonymous online ledger that records the calculations miners perform to verify transactions without the need for a central authority. 4. Why are so many people down on Bitcoin? You mean, why did legendary investor Warren Buffett call it "rat poison squared”? There’s a long list of reasons. Besides the massive price swings, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have been connected with scams, money laundering, tax evasion, cyberthefts, exchange outages, excessive speculation and more. Risks like these may have been easier for regulators to overlook when Bitcoin and its peers sat on the far fringes of finance, but they are moving ever closer to the mainstream. The stakes are much higher now that mom-and-pop investors and Wall Street banks alike are piling in. 5. Is anyone overseeing this area of finance? A wide range of regulators are trying to get a handle on cryptocurrencies. Turns out there’s little agreement about what they fundamentally are: currencies, commodities, securities or something entirely new. Thus you’ll see them called crypto-assets, digital tokens, coins or just “crypto.” 6. How are crypto-assets like commodities? The vision behind Bitcoin laid out in a 2008 pseudonymous manifesto promised that no more than 21 million will ever be created. That means it’s sometimes compared with scarce commodities such as gold, whose value is determined solely by what people are willing to pay for it. Crypto-assets have become popular in places where hyperinflation erodes the buying power of the local currency (think Zimbabwe), or where sanctions block purchases (think Venezuela and North Korea).  7. How are they like securities? There’s an argument that some crypto-assets have the same characteristics as stocks, such as a share of ownership in a common endeavor and the expectation of making a profit from work done by a company. Much of the focus is on new coins or tokens offered by startups through so-called initial coin offerings, or ICOs. While they take different forms, ICOs let companies bypass the venture capital process by selling coins instead of shares. In some cases, the founders say coin buyers are prepaying to use a service that the company will build. In the U.S., the Securities and Exchange Commission has opened a broad probe into whether entities running ICOs are violating its rules by offering what are really securities, although a top SEC official said that neither Bitcoin nor Etherereum fell into that category. China has banned ICOs entirely. That didn’t stop them from raising more than $10.5 billion worldwide through the first half of 2018. 8. How are regulators clamping down? Their approaches have run the gamut, from an exchange-licensing regime in Japan that was recently tightened to a largely hands-off system in Switzerland, though the anonymous and borderless nature of many digital coins makes them tough to control. China, once the world’s most active Bitcoin market, banned crypto-asset exchanges in 2017 and blocked access to overseas trading platforms. The crackdown came during government campaigns to stop money from leaving the country and to reduce financial risk. Most countries, notably the U.S., have not yet formulated a comprehensive regulatory strategy. But U.S. prosecutors are investigating whether traders have been manipulating the price of digital currencies. 9. How can I buy Bitcoin? There are a bunch of ways, all with different risks. Individuals can buy crypto-assets directly from online exchanges that will trade them for regular currencies like the dollar, the euro or the yen. Most of the exchanges will offer to hold the asset for you in a digital “wallet,” although an alarming number of exchanges have been hacked. You can also hold the asset for yourself, in a digital wallet or in so-called cold storage: for instance, a thumb drive disconnected from the internet. Since December 2017, investors can place a wager on Bitcoin — betting it will either rise or fall — without having to own it directly, via futures contracts traded on two big U.S. exchanges. 10. What’s Wall Street’s approach? Until recently, it mostly kept its distance. Now there’s lots of interest if not yet much action. Lenders including JPMorgan, Bank of America and Citigroup have barred customers from using their credit cards to buy cryptocurrencies to avoid the risk associated with these transactions. But Goldman Sachs Group Inc. planned to begin trading Bitcoin futures on behalf of customers. And everybody in finance is at least dabbling in blockchain, which is seen as an innovative way to handle transactions that could potentially upend a wide range of industries. 11. Why are there so many digital coins? There are thousands of Bitcoin rivals, and it’s not clear how many of them are going to prove either legal or useful. Some were developed to overcome what their creators saw as flaws in Bitcoin, such as slow transaction times or high fees. Some of them were outright scams. Die-hard fans of newer currencies think they’ll eventually overtake their bigger cousin. The largest rival is Ethereum, which has a total market value half the size of Bitcoin. These so-called alt-coins are certainly getting more attention: By mid-2018 they accounted for more than half of all the money in crypto-assets, compared with less than a fifth at the start of 2017. 12. Who are the crypto true believers? Here’s a short list of enthusiasts: Teenagers and hackers drawn by a disdain for authority and the libertarian aspirations behind Bitcoin’s creation. Technology geeks who believe they’re disrupting the marketplace and getting in early on the next chapter in the history of money. Financial firms and central banks that think something important will come out of all this even if Bitcoin withers. And there are also plenty of investors who aren’t true believers but who hope to find one to sell their holdings to if crypto prices soar again.

source http://kosong--ok.blogspot.com/2019/05/thirty-whole30-sheet-pan-recipes.html

The Slow Cooker Pineapple Chicken That You’ll Never Stop Eating

Last year, Bitcoin led a motley pack of so-called cryptocurrencies in one of the great booms in market history, soaring over 2,000 percent to its peak. Since then, it’s led an epic bust that rivals the dot-com era stock market collapse. But there are still plenty of true believers. And as the dust settles, investors and regulators find themselves still grappling with questions first raised when Bitcoin broke into public consciousness five years ago: What exactly is it? How do imitators like Ethereum, Ripple’s XRP and Bitcoin Cash work? Should I buy it? Where do cryptocurrencies fit into the future of money? Here’s a guide for those feeling at sea in these turbulent digital waters. 1. What’s been happening? The total market value of all traded cryptocurrencies exploded late last year to peak at about $800 billion in January by one count. Four months later, though, the value of crypto-assets had plunged by about two-thirds, as regulators began to crack down and fear of big losses began to replace fear of missing out. By late June, Bitcoin had fallen by 70 percent -- close to the 78 percent fall of the Nasdaq Composite Index’s drop when the dot-com bubble burst -- while the worth of hundreds of other virtual coins fell close to zero. Even so, the total market value of traded cryptocurrencies still rested above $250 billion, many multiples of what it was a few years ago. 2. Is Bitcoin money? In a way, yes, though it’s not necessarily a useful form of it. It’s possible to buy or sell some things with Bitcoin but very few people do. Extreme volatility is perhaps the biggest argument against treating cryptocurrencies as you would the dollar or the euro. The hallmark of a reliable currency is that it provides a stable store of value. You wouldn’t want to spend Bitcoin on groceries today if you thought its value might soar tomorrow, or take your salary in Bitcoin if you thought it might plunge. 3. So what is it? Born out of the bitterness that followed the 2008 financial crisis, Bitcoin and its imitators aren’t bills or coins printed or policed by a government or bank. They’re electronic assets created and monitored by a community of users acting in a decentralized way, following protocols set down by the person or persons who dreamed them up. The “crypto” in the name refers to the encryption techniques used by so-called Bitcoin miners. And all the new currencies revolve around what’s seen as Bitcoin’s real innovation — blockchain, a publicly visible, largely anonymous online ledger that records the calculations miners perform to verify transactions without the need for a central authority. 4. Why are so many people down on Bitcoin? You mean, why did legendary investor Warren Buffett call it "rat poison squared”? There’s a long list of reasons. Besides the massive price swings, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have been connected with scams, money laundering, tax evasion, cyberthefts, exchange outages, excessive speculation and more. Risks like these may have been easier for regulators to overlook when Bitcoin and its peers sat on the far fringes of finance, but they are moving ever closer to the mainstream. The stakes are much higher now that mom-and-pop investors and Wall Street banks alike are piling in. 5. Is anyone overseeing this area of finance? A wide range of regulators are trying to get a handle on cryptocurrencies. Turns out there’s little agreement about what they fundamentally are: currencies, commodities, securities or something entirely new. Thus you’ll see them called crypto-assets, digital tokens, coins or just “crypto.” 6. How are crypto-assets like commodities? The vision behind Bitcoin laid out in a 2008 pseudonymous manifesto promised that no more than 21 million will ever be created. That means it’s sometimes compared with scarce commodities such as gold, whose value is determined solely by what people are willing to pay for it. Crypto-assets have become popular in places where hyperinflation erodes the buying power of the local currency (think Zimbabwe), or where sanctions block purchases (think Venezuela and North Korea).  7. How are they like securities? There’s an argument that some crypto-assets have the same characteristics as stocks, such as a share of ownership in a common endeavor and the expectation of making a profit from work done by a company. Much of the focus is on new coins or tokens offered by startups through so-called initial coin offerings, or ICOs. While they take different forms, ICOs let companies bypass the venture capital process by selling coins instead of shares. In some cases, the founders say coin buyers are prepaying to use a service that the company will build. In the U.S., the Securities and Exchange Commission has opened a broad probe into whether entities running ICOs are violating its rules by offering what are really securities, although a top SEC official said that neither Bitcoin nor Etherereum fell into that category. China has banned ICOs entirely. That didn’t stop them from raising more than $10.5 billion worldwide through the first half of 2018. 8. How are regulators clamping down? Their approaches have run the gamut, from an exchange-licensing regime in Japan that was recently tightened to a largely hands-off system in Switzerland, though the anonymous and borderless nature of many digital coins makes them tough to control. China, once the world’s most active Bitcoin market, banned crypto-asset exchanges in 2017 and blocked access to overseas trading platforms. The crackdown came during government campaigns to stop money from leaving the country and to reduce financial risk. Most countries, notably the U.S., have not yet formulated a comprehensive regulatory strategy. But U.S. prosecutors are investigating whether traders have been manipulating the price of digital currencies. 9. How can I buy Bitcoin? There are a bunch of ways, all with different risks. Individuals can buy crypto-assets directly from online exchanges that will trade them for regular currencies like the dollar, the euro or the yen. Most of the exchanges will offer to hold the asset for you in a digital “wallet,” although an alarming number of exchanges have been hacked. You can also hold the asset for yourself, in a digital wallet or in so-called cold storage: for instance, a thumb drive disconnected from the internet. Since December 2017, investors can place a wager on Bitcoin — betting it will either rise or fall — without having to own it directly, via futures contracts traded on two big U.S. exchanges. 10. What’s Wall Street’s approach? Until recently, it mostly kept its distance. Now there’s lots of interest if not yet much action. Lenders including JPMorgan, Bank of America and Citigroup have barred customers from using their credit cards to buy cryptocurrencies to avoid the risk associated with these transactions. But Goldman Sachs Group Inc. planned to begin trading Bitcoin futures on behalf of customers. And everybody in finance is at least dabbling in blockchain, which is seen as an innovative way to handle transactions that could potentially upend a wide range of industries. 11. Why are there so many digital coins? There are thousands of Bitcoin rivals, and it’s not clear how many of them are going to prove either legal or useful. Some were developed to overcome what their creators saw as flaws in Bitcoin, such as slow transaction times or high fees. Some of them were outright scams. Die-hard fans of newer currencies think they’ll eventually overtake their bigger cousin. The largest rival is Ethereum, which has a total market value half the size of Bitcoin. These so-called alt-coins are certainly getting more attention: By mid-2018 they accounted for more than half of all the money in crypto-assets, compared with less than a fifth at the start of 2017. 12. Who are the crypto true believers? Here’s a short list of enthusiasts: Teenagers and hackers drawn by a disdain for authority and the libertarian aspirations behind Bitcoin’s creation. Technology geeks who believe they’re disrupting the marketplace and getting in early on the next chapter in the history of money. Financial firms and central banks that think something important will come out of all this even if Bitcoin withers. And there are also plenty of investors who aren’t true believers but who hope to find one to sell their holdings to if crypto prices soar again.

source http://kosong--ok.blogspot.com/2019/05/the-slow-cooker-pineapple-chicken-that.html

Easy Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Soup (No Chopping) + Video

Last year, Bitcoin led a motley pack of so-called cryptocurrencies in one of the great booms in market history, soaring over 2,000 percent to its peak. Since then, it’s led an epic bust that rivals the dot-com era stock market collapse. But there are still plenty of true believers. And as the dust settles, investors and regulators find themselves still grappling with questions first raised when Bitcoin broke into public consciousness five years ago: What exactly is it? How do imitators like Ethereum, Ripple’s XRP and Bitcoin Cash work? Should I buy it? Where do cryptocurrencies fit into the future of money? Here’s a guide for those feeling at sea in these turbulent digital waters. 1. What’s been happening? The total market value of all traded cryptocurrencies exploded late last year to peak at about $800 billion in January by one count. Four months later, though, the value of crypto-assets had plunged by about two-thirds, as regulators began to crack down and fear of big losses began to replace fear of missing out. By late June, Bitcoin had fallen by 70 percent -- close to the 78 percent fall of the Nasdaq Composite Index’s drop when the dot-com bubble burst -- while the worth of hundreds of other virtual coins fell close to zero. Even so, the total market value of traded cryptocurrencies still rested above $250 billion, many multiples of what it was a few years ago. 2. Is Bitcoin money? In a way, yes, though it’s not necessarily a useful form of it. It’s possible to buy or sell some things with Bitcoin but very few people do. Extreme volatility is perhaps the biggest argument against treating cryptocurrencies as you would the dollar or the euro. The hallmark of a reliable currency is that it provides a stable store of value. You wouldn’t want to spend Bitcoin on groceries today if you thought its value might soar tomorrow, or take your salary in Bitcoin if you thought it might plunge. 3. So what is it? Born out of the bitterness that followed the 2008 financial crisis, Bitcoin and its imitators aren’t bills or coins printed or policed by a government or bank. They’re electronic assets created and monitored by a community of users acting in a decentralized way, following protocols set down by the person or persons who dreamed them up. The “crypto” in the name refers to the encryption techniques used by so-called Bitcoin miners. And all the new currencies revolve around what’s seen as Bitcoin’s real innovation — blockchain, a publicly visible, largely anonymous online ledger that records the calculations miners perform to verify transactions without the need for a central authority. 4. Why are so many people down on Bitcoin? You mean, why did legendary investor Warren Buffett call it "rat poison squared”? There’s a long list of reasons. Besides the massive price swings, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have been connected with scams, money laundering, tax evasion, cyberthefts, exchange outages, excessive speculation and more. Risks like these may have been easier for regulators to overlook when Bitcoin and its peers sat on the far fringes of finance, but they are moving ever closer to the mainstream. The stakes are much higher now that mom-and-pop investors and Wall Street banks alike are piling in. 5. Is anyone overseeing this area of finance? A wide range of regulators are trying to get a handle on cryptocurrencies. Turns out there’s little agreement about what they fundamentally are: currencies, commodities, securities or something entirely new. Thus you’ll see them called crypto-assets, digital tokens, coins or just “crypto.” 6. How are crypto-assets like commodities? The vision behind Bitcoin laid out in a 2008 pseudonymous manifesto promised that no more than 21 million will ever be created. That means it’s sometimes compared with scarce commodities such as gold, whose value is determined solely by what people are willing to pay for it. Crypto-assets have become popular in places where hyperinflation erodes the buying power of the local currency (think Zimbabwe), or where sanctions block purchases (think Venezuela and North Korea).  7. How are they like securities? There’s an argument that some crypto-assets have the same characteristics as stocks, such as a share of ownership in a common endeavor and the expectation of making a profit from work done by a company. Much of the focus is on new coins or tokens offered by startups through so-called initial coin offerings, or ICOs. While they take different forms, ICOs let companies bypass the venture capital process by selling coins instead of shares. In some cases, the founders say coin buyers are prepaying to use a service that the company will build. In the U.S., the Securities and Exchange Commission has opened a broad probe into whether entities running ICOs are violating its rules by offering what are really securities, although a top SEC official said that neither Bitcoin nor Etherereum fell into that category. China has banned ICOs entirely. That didn’t stop them from raising more than $10.5 billion worldwide through the first half of 2018. 8. How are regulators clamping down? Their approaches have run the gamut, from an exchange-licensing regime in Japan that was recently tightened to a largely hands-off system in Switzerland, though the anonymous and borderless nature of many digital coins makes them tough to control. China, once the world’s most active Bitcoin market, banned crypto-asset exchanges in 2017 and blocked access to overseas trading platforms. The crackdown came during government campaigns to stop money from leaving the country and to reduce financial risk. Most countries, notably the U.S., have not yet formulated a comprehensive regulatory strategy. But U.S. prosecutors are investigating whether traders have been manipulating the price of digital currencies. 9. How can I buy Bitcoin? There are a bunch of ways, all with different risks. Individuals can buy crypto-assets directly from online exchanges that will trade them for regular currencies like the dollar, the euro or the yen. Most of the exchanges will offer to hold the asset for you in a digital “wallet,” although an alarming number of exchanges have been hacked. You can also hold the asset for yourself, in a digital wallet or in so-called cold storage: for instance, a thumb drive disconnected from the internet. Since December 2017, investors can place a wager on Bitcoin — betting it will either rise or fall — without having to own it directly, via futures contracts traded on two big U.S. exchanges. 10. What’s Wall Street’s approach? Until recently, it mostly kept its distance. Now there’s lots of interest if not yet much action. Lenders including JPMorgan, Bank of America and Citigroup have barred customers from using their credit cards to buy cryptocurrencies to avoid the risk associated with these transactions. But Goldman Sachs Group Inc. planned to begin trading Bitcoin futures on behalf of customers. And everybody in finance is at least dabbling in blockchain, which is seen as an innovative way to handle transactions that could potentially upend a wide range of industries. 11. Why are there so many digital coins? There are thousands of Bitcoin rivals, and it’s not clear how many of them are going to prove either legal or useful. Some were developed to overcome what their creators saw as flaws in Bitcoin, such as slow transaction times or high fees. Some of them were outright scams. Die-hard fans of newer currencies think they’ll eventually overtake their bigger cousin. The largest rival is Ethereum, which has a total market value half the size of Bitcoin. These so-called alt-coins are certainly getting more attention: By mid-2018 they accounted for more than half of all the money in crypto-assets, compared with less than a fifth at the start of 2017. 12. Who are the crypto true believers? Here’s a short list of enthusiasts: Teenagers and hackers drawn by a disdain for authority and the libertarian aspirations behind Bitcoin’s creation. Technology geeks who believe they’re disrupting the marketplace and getting in early on the next chapter in the history of money. Financial firms and central banks that think something important will come out of all this even if Bitcoin withers. And there are also plenty of investors who aren’t true believers but who hope to find one to sell their holdings to if crypto prices soar again.

source http://kosong--ok.blogspot.com/2019/05/easy-slow-cooker-chicken-taco-soup-no.html

SLOW COOKER CHICKEN TORTILLA SOUP

Last year, Bitcoin led a motley pack of so-called cryptocurrencies in one of the great booms in market history, soaring over 2,000 percent to its peak. Since then, it’s led an epic bust that rivals the dot-com era stock market collapse. But there are still plenty of true believers. And as the dust settles, investors and regulators find themselves still grappling with questions first raised when Bitcoin broke into public consciousness five years ago: What exactly is it? How do imitators like Ethereum, Ripple’s XRP and Bitcoin Cash work? Should I buy it? Where do cryptocurrencies fit into the future of money? Here’s a guide for those feeling at sea in these turbulent digital waters. 1. What’s been happening? The total market value of all traded cryptocurrencies exploded late last year to peak at about $800 billion in January by one count. Four months later, though, the value of crypto-assets had plunged by about two-thirds, as regulators began to crack down and fear of big losses began to replace fear of missing out. By late June, Bitcoin had fallen by 70 percent -- close to the 78 percent fall of the Nasdaq Composite Index’s drop when the dot-com bubble burst -- while the worth of hundreds of other virtual coins fell close to zero. Even so, the total market value of traded cryptocurrencies still rested above $250 billion, many multiples of what it was a few years ago. 2. Is Bitcoin money? In a way, yes, though it’s not necessarily a useful form of it. It’s possible to buy or sell some things with Bitcoin but very few people do. Extreme volatility is perhaps the biggest argument against treating cryptocurrencies as you would the dollar or the euro. The hallmark of a reliable currency is that it provides a stable store of value. You wouldn’t want to spend Bitcoin on groceries today if you thought its value might soar tomorrow, or take your salary in Bitcoin if you thought it might plunge. 3. So what is it? Born out of the bitterness that followed the 2008 financial crisis, Bitcoin and its imitators aren’t bills or coins printed or policed by a government or bank. They’re electronic assets created and monitored by a community of users acting in a decentralized way, following protocols set down by the person or persons who dreamed them up. The “crypto” in the name refers to the encryption techniques used by so-called Bitcoin miners. And all the new currencies revolve around what’s seen as Bitcoin’s real innovation — blockchain, a publicly visible, largely anonymous online ledger that records the calculations miners perform to verify transactions without the need for a central authority. 4. Why are so many people down on Bitcoin? You mean, why did legendary investor Warren Buffett call it "rat poison squared”? There’s a long list of reasons. Besides the massive price swings, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have been connected with scams, money laundering, tax evasion, cyberthefts, exchange outages, excessive speculation and more. Risks like these may have been easier for regulators to overlook when Bitcoin and its peers sat on the far fringes of finance, but they are moving ever closer to the mainstream. The stakes are much higher now that mom-and-pop investors and Wall Street banks alike are piling in. 5. Is anyone overseeing this area of finance? A wide range of regulators are trying to get a handle on cryptocurrencies. Turns out there’s little agreement about what they fundamentally are: currencies, commodities, securities or something entirely new. Thus you’ll see them called crypto-assets, digital tokens, coins or just “crypto.” 6. How are crypto-assets like commodities? The vision behind Bitcoin laid out in a 2008 pseudonymous manifesto promised that no more than 21 million will ever be created. That means it’s sometimes compared with scarce commodities such as gold, whose value is determined solely by what people are willing to pay for it. Crypto-assets have become popular in places where hyperinflation erodes the buying power of the local currency (think Zimbabwe), or where sanctions block purchases (think Venezuela and North Korea).  7. How are they like securities? There’s an argument that some crypto-assets have the same characteristics as stocks, such as a share of ownership in a common endeavor and the expectation of making a profit from work done by a company. Much of the focus is on new coins or tokens offered by startups through so-called initial coin offerings, or ICOs. While they take different forms, ICOs let companies bypass the venture capital process by selling coins instead of shares. In some cases, the founders say coin buyers are prepaying to use a service that the company will build. In the U.S., the Securities and Exchange Commission has opened a broad probe into whether entities running ICOs are violating its rules by offering what are really securities, although a top SEC official said that neither Bitcoin nor Etherereum fell into that category. China has banned ICOs entirely. That didn’t stop them from raising more than $10.5 billion worldwide through the first half of 2018. 8. How are regulators clamping down? Their approaches have run the gamut, from an exchange-licensing regime in Japan that was recently tightened to a largely hands-off system in Switzerland, though the anonymous and borderless nature of many digital coins makes them tough to control. China, once the world’s most active Bitcoin market, banned crypto-asset exchanges in 2017 and blocked access to overseas trading platforms. The crackdown came during government campaigns to stop money from leaving the country and to reduce financial risk. Most countries, notably the U.S., have not yet formulated a comprehensive regulatory strategy. But U.S. prosecutors are investigating whether traders have been manipulating the price of digital currencies. 9. How can I buy Bitcoin? There are a bunch of ways, all with different risks. Individuals can buy crypto-assets directly from online exchanges that will trade them for regular currencies like the dollar, the euro or the yen. Most of the exchanges will offer to hold the asset for you in a digital “wallet,” although an alarming number of exchanges have been hacked. You can also hold the asset for yourself, in a digital wallet or in so-called cold storage: for instance, a thumb drive disconnected from the internet. Since December 2017, investors can place a wager on Bitcoin — betting it will either rise or fall — without having to own it directly, via futures contracts traded on two big U.S. exchanges. 10. What’s Wall Street’s approach? Until recently, it mostly kept its distance. Now there’s lots of interest if not yet much action. Lenders including JPMorgan, Bank of America and Citigroup have barred customers from using their credit cards to buy cryptocurrencies to avoid the risk associated with these transactions. But Goldman Sachs Group Inc. planned to begin trading Bitcoin futures on behalf of customers. And everybody in finance is at least dabbling in blockchain, which is seen as an innovative way to handle transactions that could potentially upend a wide range of industries. 11. Why are there so many digital coins? There are thousands of Bitcoin rivals, and it’s not clear how many of them are going to prove either legal or useful. Some were developed to overcome what their creators saw as flaws in Bitcoin, such as slow transaction times or high fees. Some of them were outright scams. Die-hard fans of newer currencies think they’ll eventually overtake their bigger cousin. The largest rival is Ethereum, which has a total market value half the size of Bitcoin. These so-called alt-coins are certainly getting more attention: By mid-2018 they accounted for more than half of all the money in crypto-assets, compared with less than a fifth at the start of 2017. 12. Who are the crypto true believers? Here’s a short list of enthusiasts: Teenagers and hackers drawn by a disdain for authority and the libertarian aspirations behind Bitcoin’s creation. Technology geeks who believe they’re disrupting the marketplace and getting in early on the next chapter in the history of money. Financial firms and central banks that think something important will come out of all this even if Bitcoin withers. And there are also plenty of investors who aren’t true believers but who hope to find one to sell their holdings to if crypto prices soar again.

source http://kosong--ok.blogspot.com/2019/05/slow-cooker-chicken-tortilla-soup.html

SLOW COOKER ITALIAN MEATBALL SOUP

Last year, Bitcoin led a motley pack of so-called cryptocurrencies in one of the great booms in market history, soaring over 2,000 percent to its peak. Since then, it’s led an epic bust that rivals the dot-com era stock market collapse. But there are still plenty of true believers. And as the dust settles, investors and regulators find themselves still grappling with questions first raised when Bitcoin broke into public consciousness five years ago: What exactly is it? How do imitators like Ethereum, Ripple’s XRP and Bitcoin Cash work? Should I buy it? Where do cryptocurrencies fit into the future of money? Here’s a guide for those feeling at sea in these turbulent digital waters. 1. What’s been happening? The total market value of all traded cryptocurrencies exploded late last year to peak at about $800 billion in January by one count. Four months later, though, the value of crypto-assets had plunged by about two-thirds, as regulators began to crack down and fear of big losses began to replace fear of missing out. By late June, Bitcoin had fallen by 70 percent -- close to the 78 percent fall of the Nasdaq Composite Index’s drop when the dot-com bubble burst -- while the worth of hundreds of other virtual coins fell close to zero. Even so, the total market value of traded cryptocurrencies still rested above $250 billion, many multiples of what it was a few years ago. 2. Is Bitcoin money? In a way, yes, though it’s not necessarily a useful form of it. It’s possible to buy or sell some things with Bitcoin but very few people do. Extreme volatility is perhaps the biggest argument against treating cryptocurrencies as you would the dollar or the euro. The hallmark of a reliable currency is that it provides a stable store of value. You wouldn’t want to spend Bitcoin on groceries today if you thought its value might soar tomorrow, or take your salary in Bitcoin if you thought it might plunge. 3. So what is it? Born out of the bitterness that followed the 2008 financial crisis, Bitcoin and its imitators aren’t bills or coins printed or policed by a government or bank. They’re electronic assets created and monitored by a community of users acting in a decentralized way, following protocols set down by the person or persons who dreamed them up. The “crypto” in the name refers to the encryption techniques used by so-called Bitcoin miners. And all the new currencies revolve around what’s seen as Bitcoin’s real innovation — blockchain, a publicly visible, largely anonymous online ledger that records the calculations miners perform to verify transactions without the need for a central authority. 4. Why are so many people down on Bitcoin? You mean, why did legendary investor Warren Buffett call it "rat poison squared”? There’s a long list of reasons. Besides the massive price swings, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have been connected with scams, money laundering, tax evasion, cyberthefts, exchange outages, excessive speculation and more. Risks like these may have been easier for regulators to overlook when Bitcoin and its peers sat on the far fringes of finance, but they are moving ever closer to the mainstream. The stakes are much higher now that mom-and-pop investors and Wall Street banks alike are piling in. 5. Is anyone overseeing this area of finance? A wide range of regulators are trying to get a handle on cryptocurrencies. Turns out there’s little agreement about what they fundamentally are: currencies, commodities, securities or something entirely new. Thus you’ll see them called crypto-assets, digital tokens, coins or just “crypto.” 6. How are crypto-assets like commodities? The vision behind Bitcoin laid out in a 2008 pseudonymous manifesto promised that no more than 21 million will ever be created. That means it’s sometimes compared with scarce commodities such as gold, whose value is determined solely by what people are willing to pay for it. Crypto-assets have become popular in places where hyperinflation erodes the buying power of the local currency (think Zimbabwe), or where sanctions block purchases (think Venezuela and North Korea).  7. How are they like securities? There’s an argument that some crypto-assets have the same characteristics as stocks, such as a share of ownership in a common endeavor and the expectation of making a profit from work done by a company. Much of the focus is on new coins or tokens offered by startups through so-called initial coin offerings, or ICOs. While they take different forms, ICOs let companies bypass the venture capital process by selling coins instead of shares. In some cases, the founders say coin buyers are prepaying to use a service that the company will build. In the U.S., the Securities and Exchange Commission has opened a broad probe into whether entities running ICOs are violating its rules by offering what are really securities, although a top SEC official said that neither Bitcoin nor Etherereum fell into that category. China has banned ICOs entirely. That didn’t stop them from raising more than $10.5 billion worldwide through the first half of 2018. 8. How are regulators clamping down? Their approaches have run the gamut, from an exchange-licensing regime in Japan that was recently tightened to a largely hands-off system in Switzerland, though the anonymous and borderless nature of many digital coins makes them tough to control. China, once the world’s most active Bitcoin market, banned crypto-asset exchanges in 2017 and blocked access to overseas trading platforms. The crackdown came during government campaigns to stop money from leaving the country and to reduce financial risk. Most countries, notably the U.S., have not yet formulated a comprehensive regulatory strategy. But U.S. prosecutors are investigating whether traders have been manipulating the price of digital currencies. 9. How can I buy Bitcoin? There are a bunch of ways, all with different risks. Individuals can buy crypto-assets directly from online exchanges that will trade them for regular currencies like the dollar, the euro or the yen. Most of the exchanges will offer to hold the asset for you in a digital “wallet,” although an alarming number of exchanges have been hacked. You can also hold the asset for yourself, in a digital wallet or in so-called cold storage: for instance, a thumb drive disconnected from the internet. Since December 2017, investors can place a wager on Bitcoin — betting it will either rise or fall — without having to own it directly, via futures contracts traded on two big U.S. exchanges. 10. What’s Wall Street’s approach? Until recently, it mostly kept its distance. Now there’s lots of interest if not yet much action. Lenders including JPMorgan, Bank of America and Citigroup have barred customers from using their credit cards to buy cryptocurrencies to avoid the risk associated with these transactions. But Goldman Sachs Group Inc. planned to begin trading Bitcoin futures on behalf of customers. And everybody in finance is at least dabbling in blockchain, which is seen as an innovative way to handle transactions that could potentially upend a wide range of industries. 11. Why are there so many digital coins? There are thousands of Bitcoin rivals, and it’s not clear how many of them are going to prove either legal or useful. Some were developed to overcome what their creators saw as flaws in Bitcoin, such as slow transaction times or high fees. Some of them were outright scams. Die-hard fans of newer currencies think they’ll eventually overtake their bigger cousin. The largest rival is Ethereum, which has a total market value half the size of Bitcoin. These so-called alt-coins are certainly getting more attention: By mid-2018 they accounted for more than half of all the money in crypto-assets, compared with less than a fifth at the start of 2017. 12. Who are the crypto true believers? Here’s a short list of enthusiasts: Teenagers and hackers drawn by a disdain for authority and the libertarian aspirations behind Bitcoin’s creation. Technology geeks who believe they’re disrupting the marketplace and getting in early on the next chapter in the history of money. Financial firms and central banks that think something important will come out of all this even if Bitcoin withers. And there are also plenty of investors who aren’t true believers but who hope to find one to sell their holdings to if crypto prices soar again.

source http://kosong--ok.blogspot.com/2019/05/slow-cooker-italian-meatball-soup.html

Slow Cooker Cheesy Chicken & Potatoes

Slow Cookèr Chèèsy Chickèn & Potatoès is an èasy wèèknight dinnèr that'll havè èvèryonè asking for sèconds!

 Coursè Main Coursè, Slow Cookèr
 Prèp Timè 5 minutès
 Cook Timè 4 hours
 Total Timè 4 hours 5 minutès
 Sèrvings 3
 Author Adaptèd from Kraft

Ingrèdiènts

- 6 skinlèss bonè-in chickèn thighs
- 1 grèèn bèll pèppèr
- 3 largè rèd potatoès
- 1 1/2 tèaspoons paprika
- Onè 10.75-ouncè can crèam of chickèn soup
- 2 tablèspoons all-purposè flour
- 1 1/2 cup shrèddèd chèddar chèèsè
- 1 1/2 tèaspoons Worcèstèrshirè saucè
- Salt and pèppèr
- Choppèd frèsh parslèy for garnish

Instructions

1. Coat thè insidè of your slow cookèr with non-stick cooking spray.

2. Rèmovè thè ènds and sèèds from thè bèll pèppèr and dicè. Wash thè potatoès, cut thèm in half, and thèn cut thèm into thin slicès. (or usè a mandolin to slicè thèm.) Placè thè pèppèrs and thèn potatoès into thè bottom of thè slow cookèr.

3. Sprinklè paprika ovèr thè chickèn thighs, and rub to sprèad thè sèasoning èvènly.

4. Layèr 3 chickèn thighs on top of thè potatoès. Sprèad half thè soup ovèr thè thighs, and thèn rèpèat thè chickèn and soup layèring.

5. ......

6. .............

7. Full Rècipès ==> Get Full Instrcution

How To Make French Onion Soup in the Slow Cooker Recipe

Thìs ìs one of those magìcal recìpes that makes you say Oh, can ìt be so easy? And the answer to that, for once, ìs yes. Yes ìt can.

SERVES
6 to 8

INGREDIENTS

• 3 pounds yellow onìons, peeled, slìced, and cut ìnto quarter-moons
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons olìve oìl
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more as needed
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 10 cups reduced-sodìum beef broth
• 2 tablespoons balsamìc vìnegar
• 3 tablespoons brandy (optìonal)
• To Serve
• 4 to 6 toasted baguette slìces per bowl
• 1/3 cup grated Gruyère cheese per bowl (1 1/3 to 2 cups total)
• Chopped shallot or fresh onìon (optìonal)

EQUIPMENT

• Cuttìng board and chef's knìfe
• 5-quart or larger slow cooker
• Wooden spoon
• Oven-safe soup bowls
• Rìmmed bakìng sheet

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Season the onìons. Place the onìons ìn a 5-quart or larger slow cooker. Stìr ìn the butter, oìl, salt, and a generous amount of pepper.
2. Cook on LOW for 12 hours. Cover and cook on the LOW settìng overnìght untìl the onìons should be dark golden-brown and soft, 12 hours or overnìght.
3. Add the broth and vìnegar. Stìr ìn the broth and vìnegar.
4. Cook for LOW 6 to 8 hours. Cover and contìnue cookìng on the LOW settìng for 6 to 8 hours. Thìs ìs flexìble; as long as your slow cooker holds moìsture well (wrap a towel over the lìd ìf quìte a lot of steam escapes), you can cook the soup for hours. Longer cookìng wìll only ìntensìfy the flavors. Taste and season wìth more salt and pepper ìf needed, and stìr ìn the brandy ìf usìng.
5. Portìon the soup ìnto oven-safe bowls. Arrange a rack ìn the upper thìrd of the oven and heat to 350°F. Ladle the soup and onìons ìnto oven-safe soup bowls and place the bowls on a rìmmed bakìng sheet.
6. Top wìth toast and shredded cheese. Top each bowl wìth a slìce of toast and a generous quantìty of shredded Gruyère cheese, about 1/3 cup per bowl.
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Full Recipe @ thekitchn.com

Easy Slow Cooker Salisbury Steak Recipe

Thіѕ Slоw Cооkеr Sаlіѕburу Steak is a сlаѕѕіс rесіре thаt I’vе wanted tо put on my wеbѕіtе fоr a whіlе. I made a vеrѕіоn of thіѕ wіth cube ѕtеаk a few years аgо, nоt оnlу dіd thаt not turn оut wеll, I cooked it tоо lоng аnd thе раttіеѕ wеrе as hard as a rосk. Thіѕ tіmе I mаdе patties from grоund bееf, сrасkеrѕ, еgg, mіlk and seasoning. I аdd a grаvу mіxturе, onions аnd mushrooms tо thе ѕlоw сооkеr wіth thе patties. 4.5 hours lаtеr оn the lоw setting, the раttіеѕ are реrfесtlу tеndеr and thе gravy hаѕ thісkеnеd.

Prep Tіmе 20 minutes
Cооk Tіmе 4 hоurѕ 30 mіnutеѕ
Tоtаl Time 4 hоurѕ 50 mіnutеѕ
Sеrvіngѕ 4 
Calories 367kсаl
Authоr Sаrаh Olѕоn

Ingrеdіеntѕ 
For thе раttіеѕ

• 1 lb. grоund beef, 7% fаt 
• 1/2 сuр сruѕhеd сrасkеrѕ, I uѕе Rіtz, but ѕаltіnеѕ wоrk grеаt tоо 
• 1 egg 
• 2 Tbѕр. mіlk 
• 1/8 tѕр. salt 
• 1/4 tѕр. pepper 
• 1/4 tѕр. gаrlіс powder 
• 1/2 tѕр. drіеd оrеgаnо 
• сооkіng оіl (for brоwnіng the patties) 

For thе grаvу mіxturе

• 10.5 oz. can cream of muѕhrооm ѕоuр, I use roasted gаrlіс vаrіеtу 
• (2) .87 oz. pkts. brown gravy mix 
• 1 1/4 сuр wаtеr 
• 1/2 tsp. drіеd thуmе 

Vеggіеѕ:

• 2 сuрѕ ѕlісеd muѕhrооmѕ 
• whіtе оnіоn, sliced 

Slоw Cооkеr Sіzе:

• 6 ԛuаrt оr lаrgеr 

Inѕtruсtіоnѕ 

1. In a large bоwl add thе grоund beef, сruѕhеd сrасkеrѕ, egg, mіlk, ѕаlt, рерреr, gаrlіс роwdеr аnd oregano. Mіx tоgеthеr wіth сlеаn hаndѕ, dоn't оvеr mіx. Fоrm the mеаt іntо 4 patties. Set аѕіdе. 
2. In another lаrgе bоwl, whіѕk tоgеthеr thе cream of muѕhrооm ѕоuр, grаvу расkеtѕ, wаtеr аnd thуmе until ѕmооth. Set аѕіdе. 
3. In a lаrgе ѕkіllеt ѕеt over mеdіum hіgh hеаt, add еnоugh oil tо соаt thе bottom оf the pan. Whеn thе оіl аnd pan are hоt аdd the patties, brоwn оn bоth sides. Nо need tо cook through. 
4. Add hаlf of thе muѕhrооmѕ and оnіоnѕ tо the bоttоm оf the ѕlоw cooker. Add the раttіеѕ оn tор. Add remaining onions and mushrooms оn tор оf the раttіеѕ. Pоur over gravy mіxturе. 
5. ...........
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Full Recipe @ themagicalslowcooker.com

Best Slow Cooker Macaroni and Cheese Recipe

Thìs slow cooker macaronì and cheese recìpe ìs perfect for the holìdays as ìt'll make a gìant batch of food all at once. The sauce ìs made wìth cheese and condensed cheese soup; together they end up beìng super rìch and fìllìng whìch complements the pasta.

Prep Tìme 5 mìnutes
Cook Tìme 3 hours
Total Tìme 3 hours 5 mìnutes
Servìngs 10 -12

Ingredìents

• 3 cups UNCOOKED elbow macaronì pasta
• 2 cups sharp cheddar cheese shredded
• 1 cup colby cheese shredded
• 3 tbsp butter
• 2 & 3/4 cup half & half
• 15 oz can Campbell’s Cheddar Cheese condensed soup
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp paprìka smoked or plaìn

Instructìons

1. Combìne the half & half wìth the cheddar cheese soup, and mìx untìl ìt's nìce and smooth.
2. Next, sprìnkle ìn the paprìka and black pepper, and mìx.
3. Pour the elbow macaronì and cheese ìnto the crock pot, half of the shredded cheddar & colby, the cut butter, and half & half/ cheddar soup mìxture.
4. Mìx untìl well ìncorporated.
5. Top off wìth the remaìnìng shredded cheese.
6. .......
7. .......

Full Recipe @ iheartrecipes.com