Pork Burritos 4.28.09

Pork Burritos

2 cups shredded leftover pork roast
1/2 cup water
4 tsp chili powder, divided
2 tsp cumin
1 can Dark Red Kidney Beans, drained
4 oz (more or less) Chive & Onion Cream Cheese
1 cup shredded Cheddar
4 large flour tortillas
1 cup Cheez Whiz
Shredded lettuce, Diced Tomatoes, Salsa, Sour Cream, and/or Crushed Tortilla Chips

Combine the pork, water, 3 tsp chili powder, the cumin and the kidney beans in a 10" iron skillet over medium heat. Cook about 20 minutes, uncovered. Drain in a colander, reserving about 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid in the skillet.

Spread cream cheese over flour tortillas, sprinkle each with 1/4 of the cheddar cheese. Top with 1/4 of the pork mixture (down the middle of the tortilla) and roll up. Place each one, seam side down in a baking dish.

Add the Cheez Whiz and 1 tsp chili powder to the remaining liquid in the skillet and heat until the Cheez Whiz is melted and the mixture is well combined. Pour over the burritos and bake at 400^ for 25 minutes. Serve with the lettuce, tomatoes, etc.

This makes 4 large servings or 8 normal ones! I'm freezing half, so we'll see how it reheats one night in the future!

My opinion: This was good, but not spicy enough. And, of course, it would taste much better with real cheese instead of Cheez Whiz!

Sausage Veggie Soup 4.27.09

OK, here's one of my favorite quick and easy dinners: Sausage Veggie Soup, served with Garlic Bread Sticks (New Yorks' Original Garlic Bread Sticks - in your handy dandy freezer case at the grocery store!) This is one of those meals that I go to when I forget to set something out of the freezer....I always keep a pound of Jimmy Dean Sausage that I have browned and crumbled, in the freezer. I do the same thing with ground chuck. So, here's the soup:

Sausage Veggie Soup

1 lb sausage (I like Jimmy Dean's reduced fat sausage but this is great with Hot or Sweet Italian too)
1 chopped onion
1-2 cloves minced garlic
Splash of Worcestershire sauce
Pepper (I use black pepper and a 6 Pepper Blend or some crushed red pepper flakes) to taste Italian Herbs to taste
1 16-24 oz jar your favorite spaghetti sauce
1 large container chicken stock
1 can dark red kidney beans or black beans
10-16 oz pkg frozen veggies (I usually use mixed vegetables but whatever's in the freezer is fine)

Brown the sausage in a large pot or Dutch Oven with the onions (throw in some chopped bell pepper if you want) and the garlic. When browned, splash in the Worcestershire and add pepper and herbs to taste. Pour in the spaghetti sauce, chicken stock and beans. Add water if too thick. Heat to a gentle boil until everything's hot. Add the vegetables and cook until done. Great with Garlic Toast. This is also good with a handful of small pasta....(which I cook separately so it doesn't get overdone), and add to the bowls before I ladle in the soup. I HATE overcooked pasta!

Crockpot Pork Roast & Broccoli Stove Top Casserole 4.26.09

Crockpot Pork Roast
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 tbsp minced roasted garlic (from a jar)
1 tbsp dried, crushed rosemary
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1.5 cups water
Garlic Salt
Pepper
1 pork loin roast (abt 6 inches long and 3 or 4 inches thick)

Place the roast in the crockpot and season with garlic salt and pepper. Combine the first 5 ingredients and pour over the roast. Cook on low about 7 hours, basting with the juices occasionally. Let stand at least 10 minutes before slicing.

I found this recipe in Taste of Home's Prize Winning Recipes. The original recipe is called Roast Pork and Potatoes and was cooked in the oven instead of the crockpot. It included twice as much water, 1.5 cups sliced onions and 24 small red new potatoes.

My opinion: This smelled wonderful while it cooked and it tastes really good....except I think it's too salty. The soup mix has more than enough salt so I recommend not using the garlic salt at all.


Broccoli Stove Top Casserole
1 pkg (6 oz) Stove Top Stuffing Mix for Chicken
1 (24 oz) bag frozen broccoli florets, thawed
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup Cheez Whiz

Preheat oven to 350^. Prepare stuffing mix as directon on package, using only 3 tbsp butter. Set aside. Mix soup and Cheez Whiz. Stir in broccoli and pour into buttered 2 quart casserole. Top with stuffing. Bake 30 minutes or until heated through.

The broccoli recipe is from one of the Kraft's Food & Family magazines (Spring 2006) and was titled Cheesy Broccoli Casserole. I didn't change a single thing (except the title!)

My opinion: Excellent! Will definitely be adding this to my favorites list!

Creamy BBQ Chicken Dinner 4.25.09

On the menu tonight was Creamy Barbecue Chicken, Bacon-Wrapped Potatoes, Cole Slaw and a Banana Cake with a Walnut-Toffee Topping. Here are the recipes:

Creamy Barbecue Chicken
3 tbsp olive oil
1.5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken cutlets
Garlic Salt
Smoked Pepper
Smoked Paprika
1 small onion, halved and sliced
1.5 cups water
1/2 cup bbq sauce
3/4 cup sour cream

Heat the oil in a large, heavy skillet. Season the chicken with garlic salt, pepper and paprika. Brown the chicken in the oil. Add the onions when you turn the chicken to brown the second side. Pour in water and simmer, covered for 20 minutes. Remove the chicken and keep warm. Stir in bbq sauce and sour cream until combined and hot. Serve sauce over chicken.


Bacon-Wrapped Potatoes
2 baking potatoes, halved lengthwise
2 thin slices sweet onion
2 bacon strips

Preheat the oven to 325^. Layer the onion slices on cut side of two potato halves; top with other potato half. Wrap each potato with bacon strips and secure with toothpicks. Place on a lightly greased baking pan. Bake, uncovered, for 1 hour and 20 minutes or until potato is tender and bacon is crispy. Discard toothpicks before serving.


Coleslaw
See earlier posting for basic coleslaw recipe. Tonight I used a bag of coleslaw, a pinch of sugar, celery seed, a spoonful of pineapple preserves and mayo.


Buttermilk Banana Cake
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup buttermilk

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars until fluffy. Add eggs; beat 2 minutes. Add banana and vanilla; beat 2 minutes. Combine flour, baking powder, soda and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk. Pour into a greased 9x13" pan. Bake at 350^ for about 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack 10 minutes, Turn out onto serving tray and cool completely.

Walnut-Toffee Topping:
1/2 cup half & half
1/2 cup sugar
4 Tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (or pecans)
1/4 cup toffee bits
8 oz container Cool Whip, thawed

Combine half & half and next 4 ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil; cook stirring for 2 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla, nuts and toffee bits. Cool. Spread over top of cake. Spread Cool Whip over topping and sprinkle with extra toffee bits and walnuts, if desired.

My Notes: The cake recipe is from Taste of Home's Prize Winning Recipes and I didn't change a thing except to bake it in a 9x13 pan instead of in layers. The topping was actually the filling recommended in the original recipe to layer the cakes together. I added the toffee bits trying to give it more appeal. I did not care for the topping's texture at all, but the flavor was good. Overall, the cake was quite good though I think a broiled coconut-nut type topping would make this cake almost perfect!

The Chicken and the Potato recipe were both from allrecipes.com. I added extra bbq sauce to the chicken because the original version was very bland. The potatoes were excellent and John has requested that I make them again.

Tree's Wings 4.24.09

We ate out tonight....at Tree's Wings in Royal Palm Beach. They have awesome Baby Back Ribs and their Buffalo Tenders are SO good! Great dinner!

Pineapple Casserole 4.23.09

Tonight we had Baked Ham, Pineapple Casserole and a Salad. Here's the:

Pineapple Casserole

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 pinch cinnamon
1 pinch ground cloves
6 slices bread, torn
1 (20-oz) can crushed pineapple with juice

Preheat the oven to 350^F. Grease a 2-quart casserole dish.

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Stir in cinnamon, cloves, bread and pineapple until well combined. Pour into the casserole dish and bake 60 minutes or until lightly browned.

I love this dish and it's perfect served with the ham!

Iron Skillet Pizza Pie 4.21.09

Iron Skillet Pizza Pie

1 can Pillsbury French Bread loaf dough
1 tsp. cornmeal
2 Tbsp parmesan cheese, grated
2 Tbsp minced red onion
3 slices Provolone cheese
1 lb Jimmy Dean sausage
1/4 cup Ragu Pizza Sauce
2 cups shredded Italian four-cheese blend

Heat the oven to 375^ F. Spray a 10" iron skillet liberally with Pam and sprinkle with cornmeal. Slice the dough into 1/2" slices crosswise and spread them evenly in the bottom of the skillet, pressing slightly to form a "crust". Sprinkle dough with parmesan and red onions and lay the provolone over all.

In the meantime, crumble and brown the sausage in another skillet until the sausage is completely cooked. Stir in the pizza sauce and pour over the dough in the iron skillet. Top evenly with the shredded cheeses.

Bake about 20 minutes or until the dough is browned on the bottom and completely cooked. Slice into wedges to serve.

I was really craving pizza when I made this, but didn't have the energy to make a real crust. This was surprisingly tasty though and I would definitely make it again, adding some pepperoni, and black olives!

Italian Chicken & Noodles 4.20.09

Italian Chicken & Noodles

4 or 5 chicken breast cutlets
Pepper to taste
Garlic Powder
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 can Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes
1 packet Italian Salad Dressing mix
Water
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
8-oz cream cheese, cubed
1/2 cup grated parmesan

Heat the olive oil in a heavy skillet. Season chicken with pepper and garlic powder to taste and saute in oil until lightly browned. Add tomatoes and enough water to just cover the chicken. Simmer until liquid is reduced by half. Remove the chicken and whisk in the cream of chicken soup, cream cheese cubes and parmesan cheese. Stir until the cheeses have melted and the mixture is well blended. Return the chicken to the sauce until re-heated. Serve over cooked egg noodles.

This was meant to be "Slow Cooker Chicken Stroganoff" from allrecipes.com but I was in too big a hurry to fool with it before I went to work this morning. This was tasty, but in my opinion it needs something else...maybe some sliced bell pepper. Or some crushed red pepper flakes. Or both.

Fried Baked Pork Chops 4.16.09

Fried Baked Pork Chops

4 pork chops, about 3/4" thick
1/2 cup flour
Seasoned salt, garlic powder and pepper
Olive oil
1 can cream of chicken with herbs
1/4 cup white wine
1 cup water
3/4 cup sour cream
1 tsp browning sauce

Preheat the oven to 350^ and grease a 9x13" pan. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Mix the flour, seasoned salt, garlic powder and pepper (use your judgement on the amounts). Dredge the pork chops in the flour mixture until well coated and fry until brown on both sides in the olive oil. Move the chops to the 9x13" pan, cover tightly with foil and place in the oven for 1 hour.

About 20 minutes before the chops are done in the oven, drain the oil from the skillet leaving the browned bits. Reheat the skillet with 1 cup water and the wine until it comes to a simmer. Add the cream of chicken & herbs and blend well. Reduce heat to low and stir in the sour cream and browning sauce until smooth and evenly colored and keep warm until dinner. Serve with the pork chops.

We had this with Rice and French Style Green Beans with Onions. The pork chops are so tender and juicy this way.

Guinness Stew and Cole Slaw April.15.2009

Guinness Stew

1.5 – 2 lbs. beef for stew
Garlic Salt & Pepper
3 Tbs olive oil
1 large onion, chopped coarsely
1 stalk celery, cut into ½” slices
1 packet beefy onion soup mix
1 can Cream of Mushroom with Roasted Garlic soup
1 bottle Guinness
1 tsp sugar
3-4 cups water
2 cups baby carrots, cleaned
4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-sized chunks

Heat oil in a Dutch Oven. Add the beef chunks, season with garlic salt & pepper and brown well. Stir in onions and celery and cook about 5 minutes. Add the onion soup mix, mushroom soup, Guinness, sugar and water. Stir until combined. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer about 4 hours, replacing water periodically as it evaporates to keep about the same level you started out with. About 1 hour before you want to serve dinner, add the carrots and cook about 15 minutes. Add the potatoes and cook until done. Taste and add salt or pepper to taste, if necessary.

This stew is perfect for the crock pot, but since I was home and too lazy to get the thing off the shelf I store it on, I just cooked it slowly on the stove. This is a very tasty stew!

This is my version of Cole Slaw and I make it often. I never measure and you can change this any way you like with the variations. It's the best Cole Slaw I've ever tasted anywhere, if I do say so myself!

Cathy’s Cole Slaw

1 pkg cole slaw (pre-shredded with red and green cabbage and carrots)
Sugar
Mayonnaise
Ken’s Lite Sweet Vidalia Salad Dressing
Craisins

Put as much of the cole slaw mix into a large bowl as you will need. Add a tiny bit of sugar (not more than 1 teaspoon for the whole bag). Add the salad dressing to taste and enough mayonnaise to coat the vegetables. Don’t use too much mayo! Mix in the craisins and chill until serving time, but no longer than 1 hour.

Variations:
Use whatever salad dressing you like, or leave it out entirely.
Add a bit of celery seed or celery flakes
Add a chopped apple or two
Add a small can of drained, crushed pineapple
Add some grated onion and or celery
Add a bit of orange juice, apple juice or whatever fruit juice you have on hand
Add a spritz of lemon or lime juice (you may have to increase the sugar for this)

Chicken with Capers & Artichokes 4.11.09

Chicken with Capers & Artichokes

1.5 lbs boneless, skinless, thin-sliced chicken cutlets
Garlic Salt and Smokehouse Pepper to taste
3 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup diced red onion
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup water
1 lemon
2 Tbsp capers, drained
1 (7.5 oz) jar quartered, marinated artichoke hearts, drained
1 tsp dried basil
2 Tbsp sundried-tomato bits
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup grated parmesan
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
Angel Hair, prepared as directed (al dente) on package

Melt the butter and oil in a heavy skillet. Saute the chicken cutlets until browned. Remove chicken and saute the onion until translucent. Stir in broth, water, the juice from the lemon, capers, artichoke hearts, basil and tomato bits. Bring to a boil, add the chicken, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Stir in the cream, parmesan and parsley and simmer about 10 more minutes. Serve the chicken breasts atop a bed of cooked angel hair with the sauce poured over all.

My opinion: Very tasty...but could have used more artichokes! The inspiration for this was this: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chicken-Breast-Cutlets-with-Artichokes-and-Capers/Detail.aspx

Cordon Bleu Casserole 4.10.09

Cordon Bleu Casserole

4 cups cooked, chopped chicken
1 (16oz) pkg frozen broccoli florets, thawed and drained
2 tbsp butter
1/2 cup minced onion
8 oz diced ham
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup half & half
1 tsp poultry seasoning
8 oz shredded Swiss cheese
1 sleeve Ritz crackers, crushed

Place the chopped cooked chicken and the broccoli in a 9x13 pan (or large casserole dish). Melt the butter in a skillet and saute the onions until translucent. Add the diced ham and cook about 5 minutes. Stir in the chicken soup, wine, water, half & half, and poultry seasoning and cook gently for about 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in half the swiss cheese until melted. Pour sauce over the chicken and broccoli. Bake in a pre-heated 375^ oven for 30 minutes. Sprinkle the remaining Swiss cheese over the casserole and top with the cracker crumbs. Return to oven for about 15 more minutes or until the cheese is melted and the crumbs are browned. Cool about 15 minutes before serving. Serve with a salad.

Red-Eye Gravy 4.9.09

We had breakfast for dinner tonight...a good, ole Southern, country-style breakfast in fact, consisting of Fried Ham, Scrambled Eggs, Grits with Red-Eye Gravy and hot, fluffy Buttermilk Biscuits.

I'm sure you already know how to scramble eggs (Jen, you're quite good at it!) so I'm going to tell you about the Ham and Red-Eye Gravy. Cut a nice ham steak (preferably one with a bit of fat) into serving size pieces. Melt a couple tablespoons of Crisco in an iron skillet -you cannot make Red-Eye Gravy in anything else and have it come out right- and fry the ham pieces until they've browned a bit and the ham has flavored the "drippings" (aka Grease. Yeah I know...it sounds really gross, but it tastes so good!). Remove the ham to a plate and keep it warm. Sprinkle 1/2 to 1 tsp sugar into the skillet and then pour in about 1 cup of strong coffee and stir to loosen the ham particles. Bring it to a boil and cook a few minutes to reduce it a bit, then add the ham back to the pan, turn the heat to low and just keep it warm till the rest of dinner is ready. Spoon the gravy over the grits to serve. It's also very tasty when you "sop" a biscuit in it. Yum!

For the grits, just follow the directions on the back of the package (add salt for God's sake!) or use Instant Grits, which taste just fine to me! I am one of those unfortunate people who's never gotten the hang of making biscuits from scratch but I highly recommend the FROZEN ones (NOT the ones in the dairy section that come in a can!) from Pillsbury - Buttermilk or Southern Style. They are a very good substitute for Granny's home-made biscuits. Just follow the instructions on the package to bake them for the minimum amount of time.

Picadillo 4.7.09

Spicy Cuban Picadillo (from Pillsbury's Cooking With Ground Beef, April 2000, #230)

My opinion: this was bland...don't know how it got the word "spicy" tacked on to it. It was OK with my changes but not good enough to make me want to use this recipe again.

1 lb lean ground beef
2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (I used 1/2 tsp)
1 (14.5-oz) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1/2 cup raisins (I used dried cranberries cause they taste better than raisins!)
2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
2 Tbsp lime juice
2 Tsp Worcestershire (not part of the original recipe)
1/4 cup BBQ Sauce (not in the original, but it needed help so I added this)
1 (15-oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
Cooked Rice (the original called for instant rice, but the hubby doesn't like it, so I used "real" rice)

Brown the ground beef ina large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring frequently to crumble it. Drain. Add cumin, salt and pepper flakes; mix well. Cook 1-2 minutes or until beef is thoroughly cooked, stirring occasionally.

Add tomatoes, black beans, raisins, cilantro and lime juice and mix well. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and simmer 10 minutes.

Spoon beef and bean mixture over rice and serve. Top with sliced green onions if desired.

Mexican Confetti Casserole 4.6.09

We had my Mexican Confetti Casserole, which I'm perfecting for the Pillsbury Bakeoff contest....so I won't be logging this recipe quite yet. It was good, but still needs something....

Chicken & Sausage with Peppers and Rigatoni 4.5.09

Chicken and Sausage with Peppers and Rigatoni

1 frying chicken, cut up
¼ cup olive oil
Garlic Salt
Pepper
3 links Sweet Italian Sausage, skinned & cut into 1-inch chunks
2 links Hot Italian Sausage, skinned and cut into 1-inch chunks
1 large purple onion, halved lengthwise and sliced
1 large bell pepper, seeded and sliced
¾ cup water
1 (24-oz) jar Bertolli Fire Roasted Tomato with Cabernet Sauvignon pasta sauce
1 (14.5-oz) can Diced Tomatoes with Basil, Garlic & Oregano
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp dried oregano
½ tsp dried basil
½ tsp fennel seeds
½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
¼ cup shredded parmesan cheese
2 tsp roasted garlic
½ cup water

Season the chicken pieces with garlic salt and pepper and brown in the olive oil in a large, heavy skillet. Transfer the chicken to large crockpot and place the onion slices over the meat. Brown the sausage chunks in the same pan used to cook the chicken and then transfer them to the crockpot. Place the sliced bell pepper over the sausages.

Drain all the oil out of the skillet and add the water, stirring to loosen the browned bits of meat. Add all the remaining ingredients to the pan and heat. Pour over the meats in the crockpot. Pour ½ cup more water over the top and cook on high for 1 hour.

Reduce the crockpot to low and cook 6-8 hours. Serve with rigatoni.

My opinion: This was DEE-licious! And the house smelled wonderful all day while it was cooking!

Honey Mustard Dressing 4.4.09

Tonight we had Hamburger Steaks and a Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing.

For the "Steaks", start with 2 Tbsp butter melted in a large, heavy skillet. Add 1 large sliced onion and cook over medium-low heat until the onions are tender and beginning to turn a bit golden-brown. Remove them and keep warm. Turn the heat up a little. Make oval shaped patties with some ground chuck and put them in the pan. Season with garlic salt and pepper and splash on a little Worcestershire sauce. Cook until browned on the first side, flip them over and cook until as done as you prefer. Serve with the onions.

The salad included 1 bag of mixed veggie salad (lettuce, carrots, purple cabbage), some chopped broccoli, chopped cauliflower, diced tomatoes, a little shredded cheddar and some croutons.

The dressing is made from 1 cup mayonnaise, 1/4 cup yellow mustard, 1/4 cup honey and 1-2 Tbsp lemon juice. Mix well and refrigerate until needed. This is THE best Honey Mustard Dressing I've ever had and I make it often!

My opinion: Excellent and easy!

Golden Mushroom Meatball Pie 4.2.09

Golden Mushroom Meatball Pie

Frozen meatballs, enough to fill a pie shell in one even layer
Pie Crust (I use Pillsbury's Allready Pie Crusts)
2 cups low sodium beef broth
1 can Campbell's Golden Mushroom Soup
1/2 cup sour cream
4 cups prepared mashed potatoes

Simmer the meatballs in the Low Sodium Beef Broth until the broth is reduced by half. In the meantime, line a pie dish or casserole with the pie crust. Drain the meatballs, reserving the broth and put them in the pie crust in a single layer. Add the can of soup and the sour cream to the broth and whisk until well combined. Pour over the meatballs and place the pie in a preheated 375^ oven for about 40 minutes or until the crust is browned. Remove from the oven and spoon (or pipe, if you want it to look really nice) the mashed potatoes over the top and return to the oven for about 10-15 minutes more. Let cool slightly before serving.

My opinion: Yum!

Campbell's Select Harvest Disappointing 4.1.09

It's not my night to cook, but since my husband has been on jury duty for the last 8 days and doesn't get home until after 6:00 pm (2 hours later than normal!) I volunteered to make soup and sandwiches. Specifically, Grilled Ham & Cheese Sandwiches and Campbell's Select Harvest Italian Sausage with Pasta and Pepperoni.

My Opinion: My sandwiches were good but that soup was awful! It was the most flavorless soup I've ever tasted. I'm very disappointed in you, Campbells!