Lemony Pork and Veggies

Well, it's been awhile.
I do have a few goodies I want to get caught up on and record here. Good dinners, yummy scones and sweet desserts.

First up, one of my old favorites that was resurrected (twice) in the past week. Everyone who's had this has loved this dish, I used to make it often for dinner guests. I was looking for an easy portable meal to make for friends last week and remembered this one. I made it for us again as well, because I couldn't resist! This pork just melts in your mouth and the slight lemony juice is just perfect on everything.
>I also always make my favorite beer bread along with this dinner!!

Lemony Pork & Veggies
2 lbs boneless pork shoulder
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp pepper
2 tbsp cooking oil
1 16 oz package peeled baby carrots*
8 oz parsnips, cut into 1/2 inch slices*
2 medium shallots, sliced thin
1 lemon, quartered
1/4 cup thinly sliced basil**
1 14oz can chicken broth
1 1/3 cups quick cooking couscous***

-In your slow cooker, place carrots, parsnips*, shallots, lemon quarters and basil**.

-Trim excess fat from pork and cut into 1-inch pieces. Combine flour and pepper in plastic ziplock bag and add the pork, closing and shaking to coat.
In large skillet brown half of the mean in 1 tbsp of the oil about 5 min, turning to brown evenly. Remove from skillet and repeat with remaining pork in remaining 1 tbsp oil.
Place pork on top of vegetables in slow cooker.













-Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours or high 3 1/2-4 hours.


-Discard lemon pieces. Use slotted spoon to remove pork and vegetables to a serving dish, cover dish to keep warm, reserving 1 3/4 cups of the cooking liquid in the slow cooker. Be sure cooker is turned on high and stir couscous into liquid. Cover and cook for 5 minutes more. Fluff couscous with a fork.***

Serve pork and vegetables over couscous.

*when I very first used this recipe, I couldn't find parsnips and instead came across a bag of prewashed and prepped mixed green beans and thin carrot sticks together. I used this and it was awesome. So now that's my go-to and if I can't find that bag in the veggie section at the store (not all stores carry it) I just grab a bag of green beans and then cut a few big carrots into matchsticks to add to it.

**I rarely have fresh basil on hand. Obviously dried basil flakes sub fine... I just sprinkle a bunch in over the veggies.

***I prepared this once as directed with the couscous and didn't really care for it. I normally just throw some brown rice in my rice cooker to be done at the same time as the pork and veggies and it goes wonderfully together. Serve the meat and veggies over the rice and drizzle with the cooking liquid.

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

Easy crock pot comfort food recipe.
I got this from a crockpot cookbook I have, from the section of five ingredient dinners. I've tweaked it quite a bit to make it feel more "homemade"...

original ingredient list:
2 cups cooked, cubed chicken
2 cans condensed creamy chicken mushroom soup
1 10 oz package frozen mixed vegetables
1 tsp seasoned pepper or garlic pepper seasoning
1 1/2 cups dry egg noodles

my recipe:
2 cups cooked, cubed chicken
2 cans cream of chicken soup
I skip the frozen veggies and slice/chop up onion, carrots and celery
I also add way more than 1 tsp of seasonings.... usually salt, pepper and garlic powder. Plenty of it.

Stir 5 cups of water into the cans of soup in your slow cooker. Whisk until smooth.
Stir in chicken, vegetables and seasoned pepper.
Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hrs or high for 3-4 (lower for longer is preferred for soup!).
Stir in noodles for last 20-30 minutes of cooking (if using low setting, turn to high-heat setting). Cook until noodles are tender.

Like most soups, this is much much better days after preparing!

The kids like this too!

mac and cheese

Here's my Macaroni and Cheese recipe. I always get good reviews on it.
Except from my kids. Cuz of course they only eat mac and cheese made from a certain blue box...

Well, this one's better:

Baked Macaroni and Cheese
-cook and drain 7 ounces (2 cups) of dry macaroni
-melt 1/4 cup butter in large saucepan
-stir in 2 tbsp of flour and cook 1 minute
-add
--2 cups milk
--8 oz softened cream cheese
--2 tsp dijon mustard
--1/2 tsp salt
--1/2 tsp pepper

-cook 3-4 minutes until thickened
-stir in cooked macaroni and 8 oz shredded cheddar cheese (or cheese of your liking)
-spoon macaroni into 2 quart ungreased bakind dish
-stir together 3/4 cup bread crumbs, 2 tbsp melted butter, 2 tbs parsley
-sprinkle breadcrumbs over the top and bake at 400* for 15-20 minutes

Grilled Teriyaki Pork Tenderloin

Gotta love Aldi.
I personally love the premarinated pork loins you can get in the stores. A great base for some great recipes, but also yummy enough and easy enough to just cook it and eat it as is.
And when Aldi sells some great quality pork loins for about half the price of most grocery stores' sale prices... what is not to love about that??

We used a simple Teriyaki marinated tenderloin tonight and slapped it right out of the package onto the grill. Cooked up some asparagus next to it and we were good to go!
It was so moist and flavorful... didn't need any sauce or dips or anything. Unless you ask the kids of course and then I'm sure you'd be pouring on the ketchup right along side them...

Fruit Salsa and Cinnamon Chips

This is also an old recipe I used to run to all the time... it's great for bbq's, parties, showers, etc or just to have on hand for a snack at home! It's an easy to make tasty fruit salsa with even easier homemade cinnamon tortilla chips.
I don't remember where I first got this recipe, online somewhere I'm sure. I use whatever fruits and preserves I have on hand, it's one of those that's great to throw together a different combination every time. Here are my typical ingredients:

2 kiwis, peeled and diced
1 golden delicious apple, peeled, cored and diced
1 (8 oz) package of raspberries
1/2-1lb strawberries, diced
1 nectarine, pitted, peeled and diced
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp brown sugar
3-4 tbsp fruit preserves, any flavor (I usually mix both apricot and strawberry)

Simply mix the fruits, white sugar, brown sugar and fruit preserves. Cover and chill in the refrigerator at least 15 minutes.
This amount fills (heaping) my 1 quart pyrex bowl, which is plenty for a get together of about a dozen people.

For the cinnamon chips all you need is
10 (10inch) flour tortillas
butter flavored cooking spray
2 cups cinnamon sugar

Coat one side of each flour tortilla with butter flavored cooking spray. Cut into wedges ( use a pizza cutter) and arrange in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Sprinkle wedges with desired amount of cinnamon sugar. Spray again with cooking spray.
Bake in preheated 350* oven for 8-10 minutes.
Allow to cool about 15 minutes.
Serve with chilled fruit mixture.

I've made this twice in the past week to make up for my years of neglecting this great party appetizer... once for a bbq with our church and once for our game night last weekend. It was devoured at both.
Also, we made pancakes for brunch following our game night and Ryan came up with the great idea of using the fruit mixture as a compote over the pancakes... YUM!!

Chicken Pot Pie

Kim directed me to this recipe last week, and her timing couldn't have been better as I had lost my favorite Chicken Pot Pie Recipe somewhere in all this moving over the past year. I'd been craving a good homemade Pot Pie lately, but dreaded tracking down a recipe that probably wouldn't live up to my expectations. Yes, my Pot Pie of the past was that good.
Well, I finally threw this one together last night and I have to say I was quite impressed. It was actually much easier than my original recipe and, if my memory serves me right, just as delicious!
Thanks Kim!

Here's the link to the recipe.
The only alteration I made was to add a cubed potato.
I think I'll be making this next month when my parents are here, and then I'll try it with broccoli or other veggies since my mom is not a pea fan.

mmm, mmm good

It was such a soup kind of day!
It was trying hard to snow much of the day today... just the tiniest little flurries flying around in the gray sky... cold, cold wind, the kind that stings your skin...
It was great to stay in all afternoon and smell homemade soup simmering away.

We had Swistle's Soup for dinner. It's a super simple throw together soup that you don't have to cook all day... I just liked the feeling/smell of it simmering on the stove all day so we left it there.
Here's the recipe.
I had grabbed a fresh loaf of Sweet Wheat bread from the bakery on the corner too, and it was a great meal.
The kids both ate everything on their plates (cheese cubes, peaches and the bread) and while Sawyer (of course) totally gonged the soup, Savannah actually ate a good bit of hers.
I love this soup!

Pork Chop and Stuffing Casserole

This is one of my favorite comfort foods. Super simple recipe I learned from an old friend...
Brown your pork chops in skillet with oil.
Place in baking dish.
Cover with prepared box of Stove Top Stuffing.
Cover all with 1 can of Cream of Mushroom Soup.
Bake, covered, for 30-40 minutes.
Easy as that.

My kids LOVE stuffing, so they devoured that part and maybe got a bite or two of the pork in with it. Overall, something I'll probably make often, as it's one of my all time classic favorites.

Beef Kebobs

Super excited about this meal!! It was so quick and easy and it was delicious. Also, something different for us. I mean, we do plenty of grilling around here, but can't say that I've ever done kebobs and this was so simple and so good!
Recipe is from familyfun.com

	1/2 pound lean round or stew beef, cut into 1-inch cubes
	Salt to taste
	Cherry tomatoes (20 or so)
	1/4 cup soy sauce
	1/4 cup honey

1. Combine the beef cubes, cherry tomatoes, soy sauce, and honey and toss to coat. (I put it all in a tupperware bowl and it was Savannah's job to shake it up!)
2. Skewer the beef cubes and tomatoes, alternating. If you're using wooden skewers, soak them in water for 20 minutes or so beforehand. (Ryan had the kids help him do this. Savannah is very into making patterns right now!)
3. Place the kebobs on a small baking sheet and keep them covered with plastic wrap in the refrigerator until you're ready to cook them. The kebobs can be broiled for 10 to 14 minutes (turn once) or grilled. Serves two adults and two kids, with leftovers.
We served the kebobs with herb buttered angel hair pasta and steamed (and buttered) green beans. This was definitely my favorite meal of the week. Savannah loved the cherry tomatoes and the noodles... she did try some of the meat for us. Sawyer, of course ate nothing.

Homemade Applesauce

*Edited to Add* Sawyer loved it! He ate a whole big bowl at dinner and asked for more.

I love homemade applesauce. I love anything baked with apples, but that's beside the point!

Here's my favorite Crockpot Applesauce recipe:
8-10 apples, peeled, quartered, cored, and sliced through food processor
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Put water and apples in slow cooker on low for 6-8 hours.
Add brown sugar and cinnamon and cook for 30 minutes longer.
Simple as that.
Yummy.

Here's also another version I have sitting in my cookbook along side this one. I have never tried it because I love the basic version so much, but doesn't this sound good??...
Caramel Applesauce
31/2 lbs of Granny Smith Apples
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 jar of caramel topping sauce
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp cinnamon
Cook at on low for 8 hours.

Lasagna Rolls

Waaay off track on the menus around here.
I'm discovering it's hard for me to stick to a menu with Michigan weather as schizophrenic as it is. I'm one who very much likes warm, traditional, home style meals on cool cozy days like Chicken Pot Pie or Lasagna or Meatloaf and potatoes. On hot days I hate to cook and I try to think of the easiest and least heat-involved-preparation meals possible, like grilled chicken salad, or salad, or grilled steak and salad, or salad, or hamburgers, or salad. Like I said, cool and easy.
The weather here is so unpredictable that I'll have one thing written down, but when it actually gets to that day of the week, it's like 95 degrees and the last thing I want to make is a casserole or fajitas or anything involving the stove or oven.

Anyway, we finally just made our Lasagna Rolls today. I have been craving them for weeks (and had them on the menu but between the weather and actually taking the time to make them it just hasn't happened). We love this way of making lasagna. It seems easier than making the normal layered lasagna and it is sooo much easier to serve. This is an excellent recipe for singles, couples, or small families too, because it's easy to split them up and put them in smaller disposable aluminum pans to freeze for single servings later on.
We usually make these ahead of time since it is a bit of a process, like the night before, and then just refrigerate and pop them in the oven for dinner.
We kind of made up our own recipe that's actually a combination of these two recipes here and here.

Lasagna Roll-Ups
makes 16 rolls
1/2 lb ground beef
1 cup chopped fresh mushrooms
1 onion finely chopped
1 clove garlic chopped
1 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 egg slightly beaten
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 jars pasta sauce
Lasagna Noodles

Boil water for noodles.
Brown ground beef, drain, and then mix in chopped mushrooms, onion and garlic, cooking over medium heat until onions are tender.
Add noodles to the boiling water, and cook to al dente. DO NOT OVERCOOK!
While noodles are boiling, in a bowl thoroughly combine beef mixture with the ricotta and mozzarella cheeses and add egg.
Pour about 3/4 of a jar of pasta sauce into 13x9 baking dish.
When the noodles are done, lay them out flat, spread thinly with a spoonful of pasta sauce and then some of the meat/cheese mixture over the length of it. Spread it evenly, being generous, but not so thick that you have trouble rolling up the noodle. Carefully roll up noodles and place seam side down in baking dish.

Spread remaining sauce over pan full of roll-ups, sprinkle with parmesan and bake, covered in foil for about 30 min at 350*. Remove foil and bake for another 5-10 min.



**Hint's for the noodles... keep the water boiling gently while they're cooking so that they don't stick together. Use tongs or two wooden spoons to gently fish the noodles out individually without breaking them. I usually cook about 15+ noodles if I want a pan-full of 12 roll-ups, due to some not making it through the process whole!
As you remove them from the water, place a layer of saran wrap on the counter and lay out three noodles on the wrap. Cover those three with another layer of saran wrap, three more noodles, and just pile them up that way. This prevents the noodles from sticking to each other and they are all ready for assembly three at a time!

Steak, Steak and More Steak

I am so full.
Ryan grilled some steaks tonight, along with some asparagus and we had some nice fresh french bread and I am STUFFED! There's nothing better than a great steak.
Except maybe if kids actually eat it! Which one of mine did tonight!!! Savannah asked for seconds even, which is amazing. She ate all of (two helpings) her steak, all her asparagus, all of her apple slices and two pieces of bread. She even got chocolate pudding for dessert since she managed to finish a whole plate today!
Sawyer had a beef frank and some of his veggie sticks.

Yesterday I never got around to the lasagna rolls. It was definitely a lazy day. I whipped up a skillet instead, with eggs and ham and cheese along with some hashbrowns and toast. Savannah ate pretty well, but Sawyer wanted nothing to do with it.

Biscuits and Gravy

Oooh... this is our absolute favorite, although I don't really consider it a dinnertime meal, and I don't think we've ever made it other than a Saturday or Sunday breakfast/lunch. I guess it is as much a meal as pancake nights or anything else of that nature.

All it takes is to brown up some pork breakfast sausage, add a country gravy mix, pour it all over some fresh-baked jumbo Pillbury buttermilk biscuits, and yum-O!

The kids don't ever want to try it (gravy = ick!!!) plus Sawyer's no milk, so I usually just fry up a few sausage patties for them and they either eat biscuits with a little fruit spread on it, or toast or maybe waffles with some fruit.

Honey Nut Chicken Strips

We love these! It's one of my favorite and easiest recipes. They're good hot or cold and we really like them cut up on a caesar salad.

If you want to try the recipe, here are a few twists I do...
instead of messing with the food processor, I just put the cereal (I almost always use Honey Nut Cheerios because I usually have them on hand) in a Ziplock freezer bag and crush it up, then add all the other ingredients (don't forget the oil-- I, for some reason, almost always forget the oil and then they just aren't as crunchy), and just toss the chicken pieces in the bag to coat. (After the flour and egg drenching)
Savannah always complains they're "too spicy", so this last time I mixed up the cereal, bread crumbs and oil first and did a handful of tenders for the kids before I added all the spices and finished up the batch.

Well, even though the kids' were just honey nut chicken nuggets, they didn't eat it. Savannah had to be forced into ONE BITE. I keep trying these though, as theoretically it's something they should definitely like, and like I said, it's one of our favorites.