Old Fashioned Pork Chops in Crock Pot

Ok, I haven't been very good with my blog, but I am making it up to you with my most fabulous new crock pot recipe. It is a definate A.

Old Fashioned Pork Chops

1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp ground mustard
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp pepper
6 boneless pork loin chops (5 oz ea)
2 tblsp canola oil
1 can (10 1/2oz) condensed chicken with rice soup, undiluted
1 medium onion, quartered
1 1/2 tsp dried parsley flakes

1. In a large resealable plastic bag, combine the flour, mustard, garlic salt and pepper. Add porkchops, a few pieces at a time, and shake to coat.

2. In a large skillet, brown chops in oil on each side. Transfer to a 3-qt slow cooker. Top with soup, onion and parsley. Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours or until pork is tender.

These came out wonderful! I am allergic to rice, but I ate one anyway. The onion was slightly carmelized and the whole thing was tasty!! I love easy and yummy recipes.

Recipe Thursday

Today I bring you a quick, slap together with stuff you probably already have in your fridge/cupboard, takes less than an hour to make from beginning to end, but tastes totally awesome and was a COMPLETE hit in my house recipe.

If you are coming to visit this Christmas, you will be eating this for dinner some night.

Easy Mexican Casserole

1 pound ground turkey
2 cups salsa
1 (16 oz) can black beans
1 (16 oz) can corn
2 -3 cups torn up corn tortillas or 2 cups of crushed tortilla chips
2 cups sour cream
1 (2 oz) can of sliced black olives, drained
1/2 cup chopped green onion
1 can diced tomatoes
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook ground turkey until no longer pink. Stir in salsa, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Stir in beans and corn; heat through.

3, Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray. Spread 1/2 torn up corn tortillas (or 1/2 chips) in dish. Spoon 1/2 meat mixure over tortillas. Spread 1/2 sour cream over beef (and follow with olives and onions if you want) and 1/2 tomatoes. Top with 1/2 cheese. Repeat another layer.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

Fabulous! Everyone in my house was fighting over the leftovers. That is when you KNOW it is good.

And if you want to make it a smidge more healthy, use light sour cream and stick with the corn tortillas. Enjoy!

*New* Recipe Thursday

I have lots of people coming up to Bend for the holidays and I can't wait. Over the past year I have collected some wonderful dinner recipes for feeding my family, which I will use next month.

But really, my favorite meal of the day is breakfast.

I would gladly forgoe any fancy dinner in exchange for a plate of biscuits and country sausage gravy for breakfast. Or pastries. Or a hobo scramble with lots of bacon.

So, with six people decending on my house for the best and most important meal of the day I have been researching breakfast recipes. Both warm and just muffins. My family are always willing guinnea pigs.

I thought I would share my new favorite recipes and if you have one or two that you love, please share.

Amish Breakfast Casserole

1 pound breakfast sausage
1 medium sweet onion, chopped
6 eggs, lightly beaten
4 cups frozen shredded hash brown potatoes, thawed
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cups small curd cottage cheese
1 1/4 cups shredded swiss cheese

1. In a large skillet, cook sausage and onion until sausage is cooked through; drain. In a bowl, combine the remaining ingredients; stir in sausage mixture. Transfer to a greased 13x9x2 baking dish.

2. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for 35-40 minutes or until set and bubbly. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting.

Baked Teriyaki Chicken

Here is another recipe for Mandee!

When I made this I figured it would be just so so, but it is actually really good. Easy, simple and yummy. Just what I need more of in my life.

Baked Teriyaki Chicken

1 tblsp cornstarch
1 tblsp cold water
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
12 skinless chicken thighs (I use 4 - 6 breasts since my hubby hates dark meat)

1. In a small saucepan over low heat, combine the cornstarch, cold water, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, ginger and ground black pepper. Let simmer, stirring frequently, until sauce thickens and bubbles.

2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

3. Place chicken pieces in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking dish. Brush chicken with the sauce. turn pieces over and brush again.

4. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Turn pieces over and bake for another 30 minutes, until no longer pink and juices run clear. Brush with sauce every 10 minutes during cooking.

Banana Crumb Muffins

My sister-in-law, Mandee, is having a recipe contest (since with the price of gas eating out is too darn spendy) so I have some recipes to share!

This is a great recipe that only calls for three ripe bananas and if you want to make them a bit more special, throw in some chocolate chips! I usually include 2 tblsp of Flaxseed Meal and switch 1/2 cup of all purpose flour for whole wheat flour to up the nutrition content a bit.

Banana Crumb Muffins

1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 bananas, mashed
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup oil

1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tblsp all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tblsp butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease 12 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.

2. In a large bowl, mix together cinnamon, flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.

3. In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and melted butter. Cut together until crumbly. Sprinkle over the tops of the muffin batter.

4. Bake in a preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of one comes out clean.

Crock Pot Recipe: BBQ Pork for Sandwiches

A couple of months ago I was at the supermarket and they were having an insane sale on pork shoulder. It was less than $1 a pound with my club card. I had no idea what to do with a pork shoulder, but for that price I could find a recipe and experiment. Love my All Recipes.com (sort by rating and get the best recipes!)

This is SOOOOOOOOOOO easy and it turned out so yummy!

Great for a weekend dinner or if you are expecting a bunch of people and you need to feed them something good, but you don't want to stand at the grill the whole afternoon. Put on some onion rolls and enjoy!

BBQ Pork

2 1/2 pounds pork shoulder
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1/8 cup brown sugar
1 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 cup BBQ sauce
1 cup ketchup
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

1. Put defrosted pork shoulder in crock pot.

2. Add all of the ingredients to the crock pot and cook on Low for 7 - 10 hours. About an hour or two before you want to serve it, get two forks and shred the meat. Let the shredded meat simmer until you are ready to serve so it can soak up all the yummy flavors.

Can it get much easier?

Spaghetti Sauce

I am not the world's best cook. In fact, I really don't like cooking at all. If it were not for having a hubby and children, I would happily subsist off of cereal, cheese & crackers, yogurt and eating out. Not a problem.

However, since I am in charge of the nutritional intake of four other humans - I cook.

Two of these humans hate veggies. I mean HATE as in you can't even get the veggie into their mouth. One of these is 42 and the other is 2. So, I have been resorting to hiding veggies in their meals every chance I get. I know, I should be trying to foster a love of the veggie like I had (and Logan has), but both of them would rather skip a meal than eat something green. Seriously.

Anyway, I have been tinkering with this spaghetti sauce recipe that I found on allrecipes.com and it is finally perfected! It is yummy, everyone loves it (and I do mean everyone), and it is loaded with veggies! It makes a HUGE pot of sauce so you can actually freeze half of it. I just scoop it into gallon size freezer bags (and double bag in case of a leak). It freezes beautifully.

Meaty Spaghetti Sauce

1 lb ground turkey
1 lb Italian style turkey sausage
1 green bell pepper, finely chopped
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
1 yellow or orange bell pepper, finely chopped
1 tbsp minced garlic
1-2 onions, minced (depends on your love of the onion)
3 carrots, finely chopped
3 stalks of celery, finely chopped
1-2 zucchini, finely chopped
1 (8oz can) mushrooms (if you like those things, I omit them)
1 (29oz) can tomato sauce
2 (14.5oz) cans diced tomatoes
2 (10.75oz) cans tomato puree
2 (6oz) cans tomato paste
2 tsp soy sauce
3 cubes beef boullion
3 bay leaves
1 tblsp dried thyme
1 1/2 tblsp dried oregano
1 1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tblsp white sugar
1 can beef broth

1. In a large stockpot cook the ground turkey, turkey sausage, bell peppers, garlic, onion, carrots, celery and zucchini. Cook until meat is no longer pink. Drain in a large colander but do not rinse.

2. To the large saucepot add the mushrooms (if you want them), tomato sauce, tomatoes, tomato puree, tomato paste, boullion cubes, bay leaves, thyme, oregano, basil, crushed red pepper, black pepper, soy sauce, sugar and beef broth and stir well. Pour the meat mixture into the pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cover. Simmer for 2 hours.

Enjoy!

Finally...A New Crock Pot Recipe

Remember back when I intended to have Crock Pot Tuesday and post a new and delicious recipe every week? Well, that sort of fizzled. Not from lack of trying out new recipes, but from a lack of any enthusiastic response from my own peanut gallery with all the new recipes. However, I have a new one and I think it is great.

I hope you enjoy!

Pork Chops to Live For

4 pork chops (I actually used six 'cause that is what I had in the deep freeze)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Garlic powder
Salt & Pepper
vegetable oil (enough to brown the pork chops)

2 cans condensed cream of chicken soup
1 can beef broth
1 envelope onion soup mix

1. Dip pork chops in flour mixture (flour, garlic powder, salt & pepper) and brown in oil.

2. Place pork chops in slow cooker. Pour soups and onion soup mix over the top and mix.

3. Cover, and cook on High for 4 to 5 hours, or on Low for 8 to 10 hours.

Crock Pot Recipe Tuesday

Ever wonder what to do with those roasting chickens (the raw ones) that COSTCO sells in the two packs? How about throwing one of those puppies in a crock pot in the morning and have a delicious cooked chicken with the meat falling off the bone that evening? Sounds pretty good, huh?

Baked Slow Cooker Chicken

1 (2 to 3 pound) whole chicken
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp paprika

1. Wad three pieces of aluminum foil into 3 to 4 inch balls and place them in the bottom of the slow cooker.

2. Rinse the chicken, inside and out, under cold running water. Pat dry with paper towels. Season the chicken with the salt, pepper and paprika, and place in the slow cooker on top of the crumbled aluminum foil.

3. Set the slow cooker to High for 1 hour, then turn down to Low for about 8 to 10 hours, or until the chicken is no longer pink and the juices run clear.

Crock Pot Recipe Tuesday

This is an amazing recipe! My mom makes the best chicken and dumplings and I have never really liked any other that I tried - until now. This makes a lot of food, so it can easily feed about five to six people. You might just want to add another chicken breast and another can of chicken broth if you are worried if it will make enough.

Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
Poultry seasoning
Seasoned salt
Dried parsley
Salt & Pepper
2 tablespoons butter
2 (10.75 ounce) cans of Healthy Request Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup
1 can of low sodium, fat free chicken broth
1 onion, finely chopped
2 (10 oz) pkgs refrigerated biscuit dough, torn into pieces

1. Place the chicken, butter, soup, chicken broth, seasonings (to taste) and onion into slow cooker and fill with enough water to cover.

2. Cover, and cook for 5 to 6 hours on High. OR you can use frozen chicken breasts and cook on low 8 to 10 hours (like I did). About 1 to 1 1/2 hours before serving, use forks and tear apart the chicken. Place the torn biscuit dough in the slow cooker on top of the broth. Cook until the dough is no longer raw in the center.

This is really delicious and I am sure that your families will all love it.

Crock Pot Recipe Tuesday!

Today, we are featuring some AMAZING baby back ribs. These turned out soooooooooooo delicious! The only thing is that you need to make sure that you get ribs that have as much of the fat removed as possible or they become a little fatty. Also, you can't be a big fan of eating the meat off of the bones because the meat falls off. I just started pulling the bones out of the pan and tossing them before I served up the meat.

Slow Cooker Barbecue Ribs

4 pounds pork baby back ribs
salt & pepper to taste
2 cups BBQ sauce
1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
4 tablespoons vinegar
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2.. Season ribs with salt & pepper. Place in a shallow baking pan. Brown in oven 15 minutes. Turn over and brown another 15 minutes, drain fat.

3. In a medium bowl, mix together the BBQ sauce, ketchup, brown sugar, vinegar, oregano, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. Place ribs in slow cooker. Pour sauce over ribs and turn to coat.

4. Cover and cook on Low 7 - 9 hours or until ribs are tender.

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To go with this BBQ fare, I also made some extremely easy corn muffins that are worth the 5 minutes it takes to throw them together. Also, the muffin mix is 45 cents at the grocery store. Very economical as a side to any dish. I also can't see any reason why these wouldn't freeze well if you have too many left over.

Easy, Speedy Corn Muffins

2 eggs
1 (15 oz) can cream-style corn
1 tblsp packed brown sugar
2 (8.5 oz) packages dry corn muffin mix

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease the bottoms only of 12 muffin cups or line them with baking cups.

2. Place the eggs in a large bowl and beat until light colored. Stir in the canned corn and sugar until well blended. Add the muffin mixes and stir until just dry ingredients are moistened. The batter will be lumpy. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full.

3. Bake in a preheated oven until toothpick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean, about 16 - 22 minutes. Cool 5 minutes in pan, then turn out on a rack.

Crock Pot Recipe Tuesday

Ok, I am totally stealing this idea from Mandee (my uber cool sister in law). BUT, I am tweaking it a smidge by having only crock pot recipes that I have tried and my panel of judges have given an A to. I'll still participate in Mandee's Recipe Wednesday with non-crock pot recipes.

Many of you know how little I actually enjoy cooking. Which is a real shame, since I love to watch cooking shows. So, I have been on the hunt for the easiest, tastiest crock pot recipes around. Mandee gave me two that we love and use all the time. With school and sports starting, I decided to get a jump on things and find some recipes that I can use in my cooking arsenal for when things get really crazy again. I've been experimenting and I will only give you things that have been given a thumbs up by my picky eaters. If you have a killer crock pot recipe, please share it!

Chops In A Crock

6 pork chops (you can brown them if you like, but I skipped this)
1 onion, chopped
3 tblsp, catsup
10.5 oz can of Cream of Chicken or Cream of Mushroom (I used the Healthy Request Cream of Chicken)
2 tsp Worchestershire sauce

Put everything into the crockpot and cook on low 5-7 hours.

Serve with rice, noodles or potatoes. The pork chops are tender and juicy.

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With the pork chops I made these potatoes - totally easy and yummy!

Roasted New Potatoes

1 1/2 lbs new potatoes, quartered
2 tblsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper

Combine all ingredients in a plastic bag; toss to coat. Pour into an ungreased 13-in cookie sheet or baking pan. Bake, uncovered, at 450 degrees for 35 minutes or until potatoes are tender.