Slow Cooker Ranch Pork Chops with Parmesan Mashed Potatoes

Happy weekend, everyone!  I know I've been slacking with the blog recently.  I'm sorry!  Don't really have a good reason other than we haven't been cooking or crafting!  For the last couple of weeks, both T and I have been in the quick foods like egg, cereal, spaghetti or other super easy meals and haven't spent a lot of time trying new recipes.  But fear not!  We tried a delicious slow cooker meal this week that I'm excited to share with you today!  Without further ado: Slow Cooker Ranch Pork Chops with Parmesan Mashed Potatoes found via RealMomKitchen.com.

Ingredients: Pork Chops
5-6 pork chops, 1/2 inch thick
1 package dry ranch seasoning
10.5 oz can cream of chicken soup + 3/4 can of water

Ingredients: Parmesan Mashed Potatoes
For the potatoes, I did a terrible job of keeping track of the quantity for each ingredient.  But here are my best estimates:
10 red potatoes
2 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon half and half
2 tablespoons skim milk
1 tablespoon dried chives
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Place thawed pork chops into slow cooker.  Pour ranch seasoning directly onto pork chops.  Mix cream of chicken soup and water together and pour over pork chops.  Cook on high for 3-4 hours or low heat for 5-6 hours.

Boil a large pot of water on your stove top.  Once boiling, add potatoes and boil until potatoes are tender.  Transfer potatoes to mixing bowl.  Mix on low until potatoes are mashed.  Add butter, parmesan, half and half, milk, chives, salt and pepper.  Add additional seasoning to taste.

Serve pork chops and gravy over mashed potatoes.

Taco Salad Casserole

Hi, everyone!  I recently ran across this awesome Beef and Bean Taco Casserole recipe and thought we should give something similar a try.  Troy and I both love Mexican food and taco salad is pretty tasty so we opted to end the weekend with something delish.  Hope you like it!

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1 can refried beans
1 half onion, chopped
2 cups white rice
1 package taco seasoning
2 1/2 cups tortilla chips, broken into smaller pieces
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
shredded lettuce and additional shredded cheddar to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Brown ground beef and drain of grease.  Mix in refriend beans, onionm, rice and taco seasoning.  Reduce to medium heat until mixture is warm. 

Line the bottom of a casserole dish with the broken chips.  Top with the beef and bean mixture.  Sprinkle with bell peppers and 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese.  Bake for 20 minutes or until bubbly.

Serve over additional tortilla chips (optional) and top with lettuce and additional cheese.

Scalloped Corn

Happy Saturday!  I hope everyone had a great week!  What's everyone got planned this weekend?  We're settling in for a relaxing weekend of catching up on items on our DVR.  And maybe trying a few new recipes to share with you later!

For now, enjoy a Scalloped Corn recipe I found through All Recipes.  Yum!

Ingredients:
1 15-oz can creamed corn
1 15-oz whole kernel corn, drained
1 8-oz container sour cream
2 eggs
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 tablespoon splenda
1 package corn muffin mix

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix together corn, sour cream, eggs, butter, and sugar.  Add muffin mix.  Pour into a grease cake pan.  Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a knife inserted comes out clean.

Enjoy!

Italian Chicken and Vegetables

Recently, as I've been browsing Pinterest, I've come across several pins of a one pan dinner of chicken, green beans and potatoes (I'm linking to the one from Hearty-home.com).  One pan for dinner?  I'm in!

Ingredients:
Chicken Breasts, thawed
Green Beans
Cubed Potatoes
1 Stick Butter
Italian Seasoning

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Put green beans along one side of baking dish and potatoes on opposite side.  Put chicken breasts down the middle.  Evenly lay butter across chicken and veggies.  Sprinkly Italian seasoning on top.  Bake for 1 hour. 

So easy!  And delicious!

Baked Burritos

Hey, everyone!  Hope you're all having a great week! 

My friend Kristen and I frequently exchange recipe ideas to keep our dinner menus more exciting.  Today, she shared her oven taco recipe with me.  I decided to take the basic ingredients and make baked burritos instead.  Troy tells me it was a winner!

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
1 can refried beans
8 ounce tomato sauce
1 package taco seasoning
1 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
8-10 tortillas

Directions:
Brown ground beef.  Drain off any fat, then add refried beans, tomato sauce and taco seasoning.  Spoon mixture onto tortilla and sprinkle with cheese.  Roll burrito and place in lightly greased baking pan.  Repeat with remaining burrito mixture and tortillas.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until heated through.

Stay tuned for a great Cilantro-Lime Rice recipe for your side!

Turkey Meatloaf

We had a package of ground turkey we needed to cook, so I thought why not make a meatloaf?  I mean, who doesn't love a good meatloaf? 

Ingredients:
1 lb ground turkey
1 tablespoon minced onion - I would normally opt for fresh, but we didn't have any on hand
garlic powder
pepper
seasoning salt
1 egg
8 saltine crackers, crushed
2 tablespoons ketchup

For the sauce:
1 tablespoon Worcestershire
dash of garlic powder
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon brown sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a bowl, mix the ground turkey, mince onion, garlic powder, pepper, seasoning salt, egg, crackers, and ketchup.  Once mixed, form into loaf in an 8x8 greased oven-safe dish.  In a separate bowl, mix sauce ingredients and pour on top of meatloaf.  Bake for 50 minutes or until meat is fully cooked.  Serve with sides of your choice.

You could definitely use regular ketchup or even a barbecue sauce if you choose.  Or bread crumbs in place of the crackers. 

T tells me this was a definite winner.  Althought next time, I think we may try buffalo meat!

Corn Flake Potato Casserole

Good evening, everyone!

Lately, I've been in the mood for corn flake potatoes that my mom and grandma have made on numerous occasions for family functions.  Such a delicious dish!  So I decided to make the corn flake potatoes, but with my own twist.

Ingredients:
1 lb Obrien hash brown potatoes
1/2 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon chives
1 can cream of chicken
1/2 pint sour cream
10 ounces grated cheddar cheese
1/2 cup bacon bits
2 cans turkey in water

For topping - 1/4 cup melted butter and 3 cups crushed corn flakes

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix main ingredients together in a bowl and pour into 9x13-inch dish.  Pour crusthed corn flakes on top followed by melted butter.  Bake for 45 minutes or until potatoes are done.

So good!

Pork Medallions with Stuffing

Tonight's dinner was a total winner!  My fiance advises that on a scale of one to ten, this recipe tops the charts!  I was slightly nervous about trying this recipe as I've never cooked pork except in a slow cooker.  But it turned out great!  Let's get to it!

Inspiration Recipe:
Kraft's Saucy Pork Medallion

Ingredients:
2 tsp oil
1 large pork tenderloine, cut into 3/4 inch thick slices
2 cups frozen peas
1 package turkey gravy, made as directed
1/4 cup zesty italian dressing
1 package stuffing, made as directed

Directions:
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet on medium-high heat.  Add meat and cook fives minutes or until  browned on both sides.  Meanwhile, prepare stuffing as directed.

In a separate sauce pan, make turkey gravy as directed.  Add peas and italian dressing.  Bring to boil and simmer for a minute or two.

Spoon stuffing over meat mixture and cover.  Simmer on medium-low heat for 10 minutes or until meat is done and stuffing is heated through.

Serve pork and stuffing mixture with gravy one top.  It might not look pretty, but it is delicious!

Garlic Parm Chicken with Mashed-Baked Potatoes

Good evening!  I hope everyone's week is going well! 

Tonight's dinner was delicious!  We made Baked Garlic Parmesan Chicken following a recipe from Momswhothink.com and a take on The Pioneer Woman's Crash Hot Potatoes.

First up: Baked Garlic Parmesan Chicken

Ingredients:
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 package Italian dressing mix
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
chicken breasts - we actually ended up using frozen chicken tenderloins

Directions:
First, preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Mix cheese, dressing mix and garlic powder into bowl.  Coat chicken breasts with mixture (The original recipe recommends using water to bind the mixture to the chicken.  Egg would also work).  Bake 20-25 minutes or until chicken is fully cooked.

Next up: Mashed-Baked Potatoes

Ingredients:
red potatoes, quantity is your choice
olive oil
garlic salt
pepper
fresh chives, chopped

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Bring a pot of salted water to a boil.  Add in as many potatoes as you'd like and cook until they are tender.  Coat a sheet pan with olive oil.  Once potatoes are tender, place on sheet pan and mash.  Brush the tops of the potatoes with olive oil then sprinkle with garlic salt, pepper and chives.  Bake 20-25 minutes.

The original recipe called for rosemary, but also advises an herb can be used according to your tastes.  Next time we make this, we'll probably want to soften the chives by putting them into olive oil and microwaving them for 10 seconds or so.  This time round they became dried.  I didn't mind the text, but T said he prefers them more soft.  Also, instead of mashing each potato into individual potato cakes, we simply mashed them to cover the sheet pan.  Next time, we'll mash the potatoes more and mix the ingredients more to create a more flavorful side dish. 

Overall, our dinner was delicious! 

Slow Cooker Lasagna

When my fiance leaves town I tend to spend a lot of time cleaning and going through closets and purging our house of things we don't need anymore.  This time was no different.  Since I made a list of several things I wanted to get done tonight, I decided a slow cooker dinner would be perfect.  I found a great looking recipe for Slow Cooker Lasagna from Taste of Home and it turned out to be delicious.  Below is my take on the recipe.

Ingredients:
1 pound ground sausage
1 pound ground buffalo
1 tablespoon minced onions
1 jar Ragu tomato sauce - I like Parmesan Oregano
1 can tomato paste
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 package no-cook lasagna noodles
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
12 ounces ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Directions:
Brown sausage and buffalo meat.  Mix meat, minced onions, tomato sauce, tomato paste, salt, oregano, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder together.  In a separate bowl, mix mozzarella cheese, ricotta cheese and parmesan cheese together.  Spread a fourth of the meat in the bottom of the slow cooker.  Arrange a third of the noodles on top, breaking if necessary.  Spoon a third of the cheese mixture on top.  Repeat layers twice and top with remaining meat sauce. Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours, or until noodles are tender. 

I browned the meat in advance and did the rest of the prep on my lunch hour today.  The lasagna was ready when I got home from work and was absolutely delicious! 

Chicken Pot Pie

After a weekend of wedding plan with my mom and with T being out of town, I decided to make a super easy recipe from Pillsbury: Chicken Pot Pie.  I love pot pie; all the vegetables, the chicken, the comfortable feeling - yum!  Unfortunately, chicken pot pie isn't one of the healthiest recipes available nor does T care much for it.  Since he's out, I knew it would be a perfect dinner option!

Ingredients
2 frozen pie shells
1 can Progresso Rich & Hearty Chicken Pot Pie soup
1 package frozen mixed vegetables
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Directions
Preheat the oven to 425.  In saucepan, heat soup, vegetables, and flour until warm.  Spoon into one pie shell.  Top with second pie crust and seal edges.  Cut slits in several places in top crust.  Bake for 30-35 minutes.  Approximately 15 minutes into baking, cover edges of crust with foil to avoid excessive browning.  Let stand 5 minutes before serving. 

I've made a few changes to the original recipe.  The original recipe uses refrigerated pie crusts, but I've found I prefer the frozen as they can be purchased and stored for an extended period.  Simply let them thaw while you preheat the oven and prepare the pot pie mixture.  The original recipe also calls for 2 cups of vegetables, but I've gone ahead and increased it to the whole bag.  This is a super easy recipe.  The leftovers taste delicious and also freeze well.  Yum!

Turkey Tetrazzini

Good evening!  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed your holiday celebrations!  We had a wonderful Christmas!  My brother came home from Las Vegas with his girlfriend and her two sons.  We had a fantastic time visiting the zoo, looking at Christmas lights and other holiday celebrations.  This past weekend, my fiance and I celebrated the holidays with his family.  We also made a traditional turkey dinner.  My fiance loves cooking turkey and all the trimmings, but it always leaves us with a ton of leftovers!  Solution: Turkey Tetrazzini by Rachael Ray Magazine.  Below is a slightly modified version that is easy to make and tastes great!

 

Ingredients

12 oz linguine pasta, broken in half,

shredded turkey

garlic salt and pepper

Italian seasoning

6 tablespoons butter

1 tbsp fresh thyme

3 tbsp flour

2 cups milk

1 cup chicken broth

1 cup grated parmesan

1 package frozen mixed vegetables

bread crumbs

 

Directions

First, preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  While the oven is heating, cook the pasta according to the package directions until just about done.  Meanwhile, heat 3 tbsp butter over medium-high heat.  Add turkey and season with garlic salt, pepper and Italian seasoning.  Add fresh time and sautee for 2-3 minutes.  Transfer turkey to a separate bowl.  Next, melt the remaining butter in the skillet.  Whisk in flour, milk and chicken broth.  Bring to a boil and simmer while you grease a 9x13 inch baking dish, 1-2 minutes.  Add 1/2 cup parmesan cheese and mixed vegetables.  Finally, mix pasta, turkey and sauce together and transfer to the prepped backing dish.  Sprinkle with remaining parmesan cheese and bread crumbs.  Bake approximately 12 minutes until the sauce is bubbly. 

 

 

 

 

 

Zesty Barbecue Chicken and Baked Beans

Happy Monday!  Today was a super busy day between work and appointments, so we opted to to use one of the best inventions every: a slow cooker!  We've made this great Barbecue Chicken before and love it!  Its super easy to make and requires very few ingredients.

Zesty Barbecue Chicken Ingredients:
1 bottle of barbecue sauce - I like to use a honey barbecue flavor
1/2 cup Italian salad dressing
1/4 cup brown sugar - We use Splenda
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
frozen, skinless chicken - 6 breasts or 10-12 tenderloins

Directions:
Place chicken in the slow cooker.  In a separate bowl, mix barbecue sauce, dressing, brown sugar, and Worcestershire sauce together.  Pour over chicken.  Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8 hours.  About an hour before serving, I shred the chicken and place back in the slow cooker to absorb more of the juices.  Delish!

I've been testing possible side options for this great chicken and decided to try a new Baked Beans recipe.  I came across two recipes here and here that had ingredients I liked, so I opted to mix and match. 

Baked Beans Ingredients:
1 can kidney beans
1 can butter beans
1 can lima beans
1 can grillin' beans
bacon pieces - I used 1 package, but you can use however much you want
onion - I used about a 1/4 cup fresh and 1/4 cup minced
1/1 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 cup barbecue sauce
2-4 tablespoons brown sugar - I used Splenda
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Simmer brown sugar, onion, barbecue sauce and other seasonings for about ten minutes.  Drain butter beans, kidney beans and lima beans and mix with grillin' beans and bacon pieces in a separate bowl.  Add in barbecue sauce mixture and mix well.  Pour into greased pan and bake for one hour. 

I'm happy with how this turned out!  And my fiance loved it!  There was the kick he loves, but it wasn't too spicy for my palate.  Next time, I may skip the minced onion and opt for all fresh.  Otherwise, great complement to the barbecue chicken.  Dinner is served!

 

 

Update: Since we had more than half a pan of baked beans left, we decided to add ground beef and make a meal of it!  It was delicious! 

Slow Cooker Mac & Cheese

I think I've mentioned before that I love Mac & Cheese!  Its such a comfort when life gets busy and stressful.  Between the holidays and our busy schedules, we've not spent a lot of time at home recently.  Luckily, we had a some time at home today to relax and catch up on things around the house, so we decided to a slow cooker Mac & Cheese would be a perfect solution for dinner!  I ran across Crock-a-doodle-do's recipe and thought it sounded like a great foundation for our dinner tonight. 

Ingredients:
1/2 pound macaroni noodles, uncooked
3 1/2 cups milk
1 egg
4-5 cups shredded cheese, any flavor - I say 4-5 cups as I had 4 heaping measuring cups
Salt, pepper, garlic salt, paprika, and cayenne pepper - just a dash!
1 can chicken in water, drained
1/2 package of precooked bacon bits
1 cup frozen corn

Directions:
Against my better judgement, I didn't spray the slow cooker crock with cooking spray and I didn't use separate bowl for mixing.  Instead, I just threw everything in the crock and mixed it.  I cooked on low for about an hour and switched it to high for another half hour to make sure the noodles were soft.  After an hour and half cooking time, I turned the slow cooker off and let the mac and cheese cool for about 15 minutes or so.  The cooling time also allows the final juices to be absorbed.  We both at a bowl of mac and cheese and we have plenty left for dinner tomorrow.

While eating, we discussed adding broccoli or onion next time.  Or possibly more corn and bacon bits.  Or even topping with bread crumbs.  I'm excited about the prospective ideas! 

Cheesy Chicken & Rice Bake

My future husband loves rice, and I love Mexican food.  When I came across this recipe from TastyKitchen.com I knew it was perfect for us! 

Ingredients:
4 cups brown rice, cooked
2 cups cooked chicken - we like Tyson's grilled chicken strips that are precooked as it saves time when we're in a rush
1 1/2 cup frozen corn
1 can black beans
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 can green chilis, juice only
1/2 cup chunky salsa
1 cup shredded Mexican cheese plus additional for for topping

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Mix all ingredients together, then transfer to oven safe bowl.  Top with cheese and bake for 20-25 minutes. 

We've made this a few of times and haven't felt the need to make many changes from the original. We've increased the corn and decided we like chunkier salsa. We've been throwing around the idea of adding onions, increasing the amount of black beans, or forgoing chicken to change it up a little.  With or without the changes, this is a super easy and tasty recipe!

Bacon-Spinach Grill

The last few weekends have been crazy and have left Troy and I on weird eating schedules.  We're neither one hungry at the same time resulting in one person meals.  We had the ingredients for this quick meal and I decided to try it out.

Ingredients:
Tortilla
Fresh Spinach
Feta Cheese
Bacon
You'll also need Cooking Spray and a hot skillet.

Directions:
First, I made the bacon.  I almost always use the microwave for cooking bacon.  While it was cooking, I heated the skillet and laid out the initial part of the dish.  Put spinach and feta, whatever amount you prefer, onto half of the tortilla.

 

When the bacon is done, lay it on top and fold the tortilla in half.  Place in skillet and grill evenly on both sides.  Pretty simple, yet delicious!



Broccoli Chicken Mac & Cheese

Sometimes we all need some comfort food.  And who wouldn't choose Mac & Cheese?  I love it!  But I like to add texture and variety to the sometimes simple meal.  Broccoli Chicken Mac is a great solution! 

Ingredients:
1 box Elbow Noodles
6 tbsp Light Sour Cream
1 cup Reduced Fat Mild Cheddar Cheese, Shredded
3 tsp Dijon Mustard
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Ground Black Pepper
1/8 tsp Ground Nutmeg
1 tbsp Parmesan Cheese, Finely Shredded
1 can Chicken in Water
4 tbsp Evaporated Milk
5 tbsp Bread Crumbs, Plain
1 head Broccoli, uncooked and chopped quarter size

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F).

Cook pasta according to package directions without salt or added fat.  Drain and add Sour Cream and Chicken (drained).  Set aside.

Heat milk in a small sauce pan over medium heat until tiny bubbles appear just around the edges.  Reduce to low.  Add Cheddar Cheese and Broccoli.  Simmer and stir with whisk until cheese melts.  Once cheese is melted, add Mustard, Salt, Pepper and Nutmeg. 

Add cheese mixture to noodle mixture and mix.  Transfer to a 3 quart casserole dish.  Top with Parmesan Cheese and Bread Crumbs.

Bake until top is golden brown, approximately 30 minutes. 

Serve.  Yields about 1 cup per serving.