Slow Cooker Sweet and Tangy Pork

I use my crockpot a lot. At the very least, I make a meal in it every Tuesday so that my husband will have a meal waiting for him when he gets home; even though that is the night I work late each week. Most of the meals I make are alright, but every once in a while, I stumble across one that is exceptional. The following is one such meal.


1 onion, sliced
4-5 small potatoes, sliced
1 large pork loin roast

Layer all three of these ingredients in the crock-pot. I highly recommend using a Slow Cooker Liner; it makes life easier. Next, make the sauce

1 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon ketchup
black pepper, salt and garlic powder to taste
a few dashes hot sauce

Mix all of the above ingredients and pour over pork loin, potatoes and onion.
Set your crock-pot to low and cook for 8-10 hours. It will turn out juicy, delicious, and completely satisfying. For the original recipe, see below.

http://www.food.com/recipe/tangy-slow-cooker-pork-roast-150875

Tuna Pizza

Okay, this recipe sounds a little strange, but it has become a staple in my house. My husband loves it and it is quick and easy for lunch or dinner.

1 ready made pizza crust
2 cans tuna (drained)
1/2 red onion chopped
1 container spreadable cream cheese
1 package shredded mozzarella cheese
crushed red pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Spread cream cheese over pizza crust. Next, layer tuna on top of cream cheese, sliced red onion over tuna, and shredded mozzarella on top.  Finally, sprinkle with crushed red pepper and bake for 20 minutes. Enjoy. So quick and so good!

Beef Stroganoff with a Twist

Instead of using noodles for this stroganoff, use rice and it is an easy one pot dish. Although it is not much to look at, it taste delicious

Ingredients

1-2 lb Beef Tips
1 can Golden Mushroom soup
1 package sliced mushrooms
1 onion sliced
1 package onion and chive cream cheese
2 cups rice, uncooked
1 can beef broth
1 cup water
salt and pepper to taste
sprinkle of minced garlic


Directions

Line crock pot with slow cooker liner. Place sliced onion and mushrooms in bottom of crock pot. Next layer on beef tips. Top with golden mushroom soup, beef broth and water. Sprinkle pepper, salt  and minced garlic over top. Top with dollops of cream cheese. Turn crock pot to low and simmer for at least 6 hours.  I left mine on for 8 hours and it was fine.

The rice soaks up all the delicious juices as it cooks and it becomes a filling comfort food that is perfect for a cold night!  It is also a good thing to make if you have a busy night or want to come home to a ready made meal! Try adding sliced peppers, sauerkraut or cabbage for an additional boost of veggies.

White Wine Pork Roast

Ingredients

1-3 lb pork roast
1 package baby carrots
1 onion
3-4 potatoes
1/2 cup white wine
2 cups water
1 can cream of mushroom soup

To taste
Basil
Garlic Powder
Ground black pepper

This recipe is great if you are going to be gone all day.

Directions

Slice onion and potatoes into bite sized chunks and put in bottom of slow cooker. Place pork roast on top and dump baby carrots over slow cooker. Sprinkle with garlic powder, black pepper and basil. Add cream of mushroom soup, 2 cups water and white wine. Turn on low and cook 6-9 hours. The white wine really brings out the taste in this recipe!

Baked Ricotta Custard

Ingredients

8 oz. low fat cream cheese, at room temperature

¾ cups ricotta cheese, fat free

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ cup sugar substitute

1 egg

1 egg white

Directions

Preheat oven to 250F. With electric mixer, blend cream cheese and ricotta cheese together until creamy.  Next, blend in sugar substitute and eggs.  Finally, add vanilla extract and blend until well mixed.  Spoon mixture into oven-safe ramekins.  (Original recipe said it would make 4 but I filled 8 ramekins).  Fill baking dish with 1 inch water and set ramekins in water. Bake for 45-60 minutes, or until custard is set. Cool on a wire rack and then transfer to the refrigerator to chill until ready to eat.

Serving Tip

Sprinkle with cinnamon, nutmeg or another delectable spice, or serve with fresh fruit slices on top!

Eggplant Casserole

Ingredients

1 eggplant, sliced into rounds

1 can tomato sauce 

1 can tomato bisque soup

1 onion chopped

1 package sliced mushrooms

1.4 cup shredded cheese of your choice 

italian seasoning and minced garlic to taste

Directions

Turn oven on to 450F.  Grease shallow baking pan (I use PAM),  Layer sliced eggplant in pan.

Bake for 10 minutes, or until eggplant is golden on edges.  Take out from oven and reduce oven to 350F.  Layer sliced mushrooms and onion on top of eggplant. cover with tomato sauce and tomato bisque soup. Finally, sprinkle cheese, italian seasoning and garlic on top 

Bake in oven for 30 minutes and enjoy!

Next time, I want to try this with chicken breasts!

Veggie Chili

For the next few weeks, there will be meatless meals a few times each week.  This past Friday, I decided to enlist the labor of my crock pot and make chili. I adore recipes that require very little prep work and this is definitely one!

Ingredients

1  sweet potato

1 chopped red onion

1 green bell pepper

1 can kidney beans

1 can black beans

2 cans diced tomatoes (I use the kind with chili seasoning mixed in)

1 spoonful unsweetened cocoa

minced garlic, cumin and white pepper to taste

What to do

The only prep work is to chop the onion, pepper, and sweet potatoe. Layer all ingredients in the crock pot, add 1 cup water and sprinkle any seasonings on top. Turn on low and let the crock pot do the work for you!  The nice thing about this recipe is that it tastes delicious as a veggie chili, but could be equally tasty with the addition of some ground beef or sausage.

Vegetarian Chili with Sweet Potatoes

Sweet, Savory and Sexy for Valentines Day

Today, I wanted to cook in with my hubby. We had some other things to do earlier in the day, but a cozy night in seemed just right. We cooked Ravioli with Walnut Sage sauce

We usually buy frozen precooked cheese ravioli because it is much easier than making pasta from scratch.  First, boil water and follow directions to prepare pasta. The following ingredients are in the sauce....

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 package fresh sage leaves (I always buy fresh for this recipe, because the flavor is awesome!)

1 cup water

Combine walnuts and sage leaves in skillet with olive oil. Cook 5 minutes, then add water, turn up to high, and reduce until there is about half the water left. 

After sauce is cooked down, add 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar about a tablespoon honey. I dont measure honey, just add 2 large squirts from the bottle.  Cook sauce a few more minutes until combined. 

In larger pot, combine cooked cheese ravioli with sauce, and add 3/4 cup parmesan cheese. Toss to combine and serve.

Ravioli with Walnut Sage Butter

Cabbage and Dumplings

I stumbled upon this recipe at the library and it was our vegetarian meal of this week. Although I am not a vegetarian, it can be cheaper and healthier to work  in a vegetarian meal now and then.

Ingredients

1 head cabbage, slliced

1 onion, sliced 

3-5 stalks celery chopped

flour

water

salt to taste

olive oil

Directions

Boil 4 cups water. Meanwhile, coat large skillet with oil, add cabbage, onion, and celery and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently,

                  

Combine 1 cup flour and 1/2 cup water until dough forms. Season with salt to taste.  Drop dough by spoonfuls into boiling water for dumplings. When dough rises to top of pan, fish out dumplings with slotted spoon and add to cooked cabbage mixture.  Season with pepper, curry powder and caraway seeds.

Cooking Tips

The dumplings according to this recipe are very bland, try adding egg and oil for extra flavor. Also, this recipe needs a sauce of sorts. We tried Worsteshire and Soy sauce and neither one quite fit, so I will experiment further next time /i make this.

Cabbage and Dumplings

Slow Cooker Potato Soup

Every Tuesday, I work late at the library.  Typically, I will make a crockpot meal so that my husband has a dinner planned for him in my absence. This past Tuesday, I made Slow Cooker Potato Soup.  This recipe is very flexible and when I make it, I make enough to have plenty of leftovers and freeze some for a later date.

5 lb chopped potatoes

1 chopped onion

6 cups water

2 cups milk

½ cup flour

Salt/pepper to taste

Celery chopped (optional)

Directions

Load the potatoes, celery, and onion into crock pot. Pour water over top and sprinkle with any desired spices. I used white pepper instead of black pepper. Cook on Low for 8-10 hours, until potatoes are cooked through.  30 minutes before serving, mix flour and milk, and then pour mixture into crock pot, mixing with other ingredients.

You could also add ham, bacon, carrots or other vegetables to enhance this soup. When I made it, I just did the super cheap version of the recipe.

If you want your soup a little less chunky, mash the potatoes with a fork before serving!

Perfect meal for a cold winter day!

 Slow Cooker Potato Soup

Cozy Comfort Brownies

At the library where I work, we are always coming up with excuses to bring in food to share. Our latest excuse is a Cozy Comfort Food party.  There is no dessert that screams comfort food to me like a fresh baked brownie, so that is what I volunteered to bring. I found a super easy brownie recipe (always better when from scratch) and threw in my own flair, of course. As I write this, my entire house smells of chocolate goodness and my poor husband doesn't even get any.

Here is the recipe....

In large bowl, melt 1 cup butter. Stir in 2 cups granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, and 4 eggs. Mix well. Preheat oven to 350 F. Next, mix in 1 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 cup cocoa powder. Affter thoroughly combined, pour mixture into greased 8x8 pan. For my own flair, I sprinkled a little cinnamon and nutmeg on top to give it an extra cozy flavor kick. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean. I can't wait to taste these tomorrow along with the other tasty treats at our cozy comfort food party!

Quick and Easy Brownies Original Recipe

Pepperoni Casserole

This is another delicious, cheap and family friendly recipe that I stumbled upon. I originally was going to make it for some friends who were to come over, but a week later, I decided to just make it for my husband and I.  This dish is the perfect combination for lovers of pizza and pasta.  As with many of the other recipes I discover, a link at the bottom will give you the details of the original recipe.

                           

Ingredients
Pepperoni (1 package)
Cottage cheese (2 12oz packages)
Mozzarella Cheese (1 package)
Olives (whole or sliced, one can)
Sausage (1 lb)
Rotini pasta (1 lb)
Pasta sauce (16 oz)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 F. Boil water and cook pasta according to package until al dente. (Pasta will also bake in oven so don't overcook).  Cook sausage over medium heat until browned. Grease 9x13 or other casserole dish.  Put cooked pasta, sausage and pasta sauce in casserole dish and mix well. In separate bowl, mix olives, mozzarella and cottage cheeses (I accidentally only used half the cottage cheese and it still turned out fine).  Spread cheese mixture over other ingredients. Layer pepperoni on top and bake for 20-25 minutes until cheese is melted.

 

                      

The result is a pizza-like casserole and it is so yummy!  This recipe makes excellent leftovers and also has the potential to have different varieties. Try different types of sausage, crushed red pepper, green peppers, mushrooms or other pizza topping favorites.

Cooking Tip
Make this recipe ahead of time and throw it in the refrigerator for a busy weeknight. Then, just bake it on that busy night and have a ready made dinner!

Pepperoni Casserole Original Recipe

Hamburger Muffins

This is a recipe that I made last Friday. I have just been too busy to share it before today!  Although it is a bit messy, it is well worth it and even kid friendly (or so I hear).  Here is what you will need...

1-1/2 pound ground beef
1 chopped onion
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 egg
12 slices of bread (if  not more)
spreadable butter
shredded cheddar cheese


Start by preheating oven to 350 F.  Butter one side of each piece of bread and put bread butter-face-down in muffin tins.  Press bread down in muffin cups (we learned that from experience). Mix ground beef, cream of mushroom soup, onion and egg together (I mixed with my hands, it is messy but it is the best way I found to do it). Season with salt and pepper as desired. You can also season with other spices if you like to experiment.  After mixed thoroughly, spoon mixture into cups (I used the same scoop that I use for cookie dough and it worked great). Sprinkle cheese on top and they should look like this...

Cooking Tip

When we made them, we found out that it works out if you have 2 people cooking at once. This way, one person can butter the bread and stuff it into the cups, and the other can scoop the mixture and do the cheese. My husband and I often do "team cooking" together and so we had our own assembly line going!  If you do not press the bread down all the way, the recipe will make 24 muffins instead of 12 (we found that out the hard way).

Bake for 30 minutes, and they come out looking like this...

It took about 2 to 3 muffins to make a meal for each of us. Also, they made excellent leftovers.  Just put them in the microwave for 45 seconds and they heat right back up and taste just as awesome.

Serving Tips

These muffins go well with hot sauce, ketchup, mustard or by themselves!  Experiment by adding sausage instead of beef, or vegetables like sliced pepper or tomatoes. See original recipe below.

Hamburger Muffins Original Recipe

Spicy Pumpkin Soup

This recipe is cheap and easy. It is also perfect for those on the go nights when family members only have a narrow window in which to eat before rushing off to other obligations.  Here is everything you need...

Chicken broth
Chopped Onion
Pumpkin Puree
1 clove minced garlic (I just buy minced garlic by the jar and add one spoonful)
Cajun seasoning
Heavy cream


The recipe is pretty straightforward. Mix all of these ingredients (except the cream) on medium heat.  Add the cream 5 minutes before serving. The orignal recipe (see link below) also states to simmer the soup for a long period of time. This is not necessary if you are in a rush.

Spicy Pumpkin Soup Original Recipe

Oats all dressed up!

Every Tuesday morning, I have to go in to work late and I don't get home til a bit later either. As such, I actually eat lunch before I leave in the morning and then eat my dinner a bit earlier than usual. This is a go-to meal for my Tuesday mornings.  I eat oats and dress them up any way I can. I keep a basket on top of my microwave of nuts, dried fruit, and other tasty snack-able items. This is where I find what to throw in my oatmeal of the day.

I am also finding that I measure less and less when I cook, so I will try my best to impart measurements when I talk about my favorite recipes.   My oatmeal recipe consists of the following...

Ingredients 

2 handfuls of Oldfashioned quick-cooking oats
1/2-1 cup water

Optional Ingredients

Honey
Brown Sugar
Raisins
Sunflower Seeds
Almonds (flavored almonds really shine here)
Craisins
Dried Apples
Pecans
Maple Syrup
Any other dried fruit or nut; use your imagination!



 Directions

Put the oatmeal in a microwave safe bowl. Add the water and microwave on HIGH for 1-2 minutes.  I find that it is usually good at the end of 1 minute, but microwaves may differ.

Add any and all fixings to your oats after they are cooked, mix in and enjoy!  There are a lot of nice things about this meal. It is quick, cheap, and you can eat it fast.  Also, it rarely tastes the same because you can switch it up by mixing in different items. The version you see to the left has sunflower seeds, cinnamon sugar almonds, craisins and raisins.

The next time you have about 15 minutes before dashing out the door and you want a hot meal, reach for the oats and have at!

Pasta for lunch!

Remember the really delicious pasta dish that cost under $6?  It will make plenty for a nice lunch the following day and that is just what I did today!

Pepper Jelly Pot Roast

Okay, so this was supposed to be a yummy dinner for my hubby tonight, but he called and said that the crock pot didn't turn on properly so it was only half cooked. He cooked it anyways, but there will be no eating it tonight.  I also made rice in the rice cooker, which did turn out, but there is no yummy pot roast to go with it.  So, here is the recipe...

Ingredients

Pork roast (3 lb)
1 jar red pepper jelly
1 can mandarine oranges
3-4 carrots chopped
2 Tablespoons Soy sauce
Sprinkle of ginger
Sprinkle of white pepper
Sprinkle of garlic salt

Directions

Add pork to crock pot, pile everything else on top (spreading jelly over pork). Cook on low at least 6 or 7 hours, or on high for 2-3 hours and then on low for another 2 hours, or until pork is thoroughly cooked.

Budget Friendly Pasta

Okay, so this dish is not only cheap to the extreme, but it is quick and easy too.

1 box whole grain rotini pasta ($1.00)

1 jar tomato sauce ($1.49 on sale)

1 package ground turkey ($3.55)

pepper and salt to taste (already in pantry)

That's right, this meal only costs about $6.00 and it will feed a family of up to 6!

Boil 3-5 cups water, add pasta (whole grain pasta makes this dish healthier) and a pinch of salt and cook for 10 minutes, or until pasta is al-dente. While pasta is cooking, add turkey to a skillet on medium heat and begin breaking up with fork while cooking (the turkey is a bit cheaper than sausage or beef and adds another healthy twist). By the time the pasta is done, the turkey is also done. Drain pasta, add sausage to pot that held pasta.  Tip: use slotted spoon to transfer turkey to pot from sauté pan to minimize grease. Sprinkle sausage with ground pepper and add tomato sauce. Mix together and then add pasta, mixing all ingredients thoroughly. Serve hot.

Slow Cooker Chicken & Stuffing

My new goal is to start hunting down budget friendly recipes. After buying a house last year, our dine-out budget has gone way down and so has our budget for shopping for food. As a result, I have begun scouring websites and cookbooks to find tasty and budget-friendly creations.  I am amazed at the resources available and am a firm believer of customizing recipes to meet your own needs or unique tastes.

Although the picture may not be all that flattering, I swear by this recipe. It is cheap, quick, easy, and perfect for anyone with an on-the-go lifestyle.  It also came not from any online resource, but from my friend Paula’s test kitchen. Next time I make it, I will post a tempting photo. In the meantime, if you make this recipe, feel free to take pictures and post!

3-4 chicken breasts (I have put in as many as 6)

1 package sliced mozzarella cheese

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 container Stovetop or other instant stuffing mix

1 stick butter

1.5 cups water (can also use chicken stock)

1 chopped onion (optional)

In slow cooker, place chicken breasts on bottom with sliced onion. Layer mozzarella cheese slices on top, then layer cream of mushroom soup. Pour stuffing on top of soup and add water or chicken stock. Slice butter and place slices throughout top of dish. Turn crock-pot on low and cook at least 6 hours. I left mine go all day and cooked for 9 hours and it was still delicious and moist.  Also, the original recipe states to melt the butter first, but this is not necessary if you are a hurried cook like myself.