Tag: onion

“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” ~ Confucius

3 Comments

In preparation for how much my life is going to change in a couple months, I’ve been scouring over Pinterest for more simple but still flavorful meals.  I have a feeling that the crock pot and I are going to be taking our relationship to the next level….

This one has now been added to the must do again list.

It smelled so good cooking and this pregnant girl was so hungry – she forgot to take a picture before she dove in. So the pic below was taken with my phone and is of my mom’s plate who luckily is very neat eater.

Oh well. 🙂

Crazy Slow Cooker Pork Chops

(adapted from Recipelion.com)

  • 4 pork chops (I used boneless)
  • 1 medium onion, sliced
  • 1 tsp butter
  • 1 Tbsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp sage
  • 1 tsp oregano
  • 1 tsp basil
  • 1 Tbsp paprika
  • ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 cup chicken broth
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • parsley, for garnish

In a small saucepan, melt butter and whisk in broth and seasoning.

Place onion, garlic and pork in crock pot and pour over the sauce on the top.

Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

photo-32

Enjoy!

-abp

4 loin chops, lean 1 medium onion, sliced 1 teaspoon butter salt and pepper, to taste 1 tablespoon garlic powder 1 teaspoon sage 1 teaspoon oregano 1 teaspoon basil 1 cup chicken broth 2 cloves of garlic, minced 1 tablespoon paprika 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper parsley, garnish
Read more at http://www.recipelion.com/Crock-Pot-Recipes/Crazy-Crockpot-Pork-Chops#yPJvWd2zJYYeE4AY.99
4 loin chops, lean 1 medium onion, sliced 1 teaspoon butter salt and pepper, to taste 1 tablespoon garlic powder 1 teaspoon sage 1 teaspoon oregano 1 teaspoon basil 1 cup chicken broth 2 cloves of garlic, minced 1 tablespoon paprika 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper parsley, garnish
Read more at http://www.recipelion.com/Crock-Pot-Recipes/Crazy-Crockpot-Pork-Chops#yPJvWd2zJYYeE4AY.99
4 loin chops, lean 1 medium onion, sliced 1 teaspoon butter salt and pepper, to taste 1 tablespoon garlic powder 1 teaspoon sage 1 teaspoon oregano 1 teaspoon basil 1 cup chicken broth 2 cloves of garlic, minced 1 tablespoon paprika 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper parsley, garnish
Read more at http://www.recipelion.com/Crock-Pot-Recipes/Crazy-Crockpot-Pork-Chops#yPJvWd2zJYYeE4AY.99
Advertisement

“I just wanna live while I’m alive.” ~ Bon Jovi

Leave a comment

I marked an item off my Bucket List!

I went to see Bon Jovi in concert!! YIPPEE!!

Oh! It was awesome! This dream has been 20+ years in the making!

But because I had to go to Atlanta mid week to see them it kind of knocked out a couple of days which meant I had plenty I needed to get done on Tuesday.

I needed a meal that would cook itself.

Thank goodness for the trusty old crockpot!

(as you can see, I was really off my schedule considering it’s Saturday before this was posted)

Balsamic Pot Roast (adapted from Little B Cooks)

  • 3 lb beef chuck roast
  • garlic salt and pepper for seasoning
  • 2 Tbs olive oil
  • 1 onion, sliced
  • 3-4 potatoes, cut into quarters
  • 1 cup baby carrots
  • 1/2 Tbs dried rosemary
  • 1 tsp poultry seasoning
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 3 cloves garlic, smashed
  • 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
  • 1 cup red wine
  • 1 can (14.5 oz) beef broth

Season roast with garlic salt and pepper and sear both sides in olive oil.

DSC03415DSC03417

Place in crockpot, top with onions, potatoes and carrots.

DSC03418

Mix remaining ingredients in bowl and pour over meat and veggies in the crock pot.

DSC03419

DSC03420

Cook on low for 8 hours.

I must add – I know my photos are not the super impressive works of art that a lot of blogs have but regardless – pot roast just does not photograph well. 🙂

Balsamic Pot Roast (in the crock pot)

Easy Peasy!

-abp

“Who do you think would win in a fight between a grilled cheese sandwich and a taco?” ~ Andy Samberg

1 Comment

I love Mexican food and I really like making tacos at home – you know, the kind in the cardboard box. Old El Paso, Taco Bell……I usually buy which ever one is “buy one, get one free” at Publix. They do that quite often so I had started to build up a collection in the pantry and I knew I needed to be making tacos soon.

A few days ago, I saw where Lindsay from normalcooking.com had made Oven Tacos and I thought that would be a great way to change up my normal tacos from a box.

So that’s what I did!

Oven Tacos

  • 1 lb lean ground beef
  • 1/2 small onion diced
  • 1/2 small can diced green chilies
  • 3/4 pkg taco seasoning
  • 1/2 (8 ounce) can low sodium tomato sauce
  • 1/2 (16 ounce) can fat free refried beans
  • 1 cup mexican blend cheese
  • 10-12 hard taco shells
  • your favorite taco toppings

Preheat oven to 400°.

Brown meat and onions, drain.

brown meat

Add chilies, seasoning, tomato sauce and beans to meat mixture. Cook until moisture is absorbed. (I accidentally dumped the whole can of tomato sauce and started to stir before I remembered it was suppose to be only half – I scooped some of it back out so mine is a little more tomato-y than it should be. oops.)

mix

Spoon mixture into shells, top with cheese and place (standing up) in a baking dish. (Lindsay commented the shells with the flat bottoms would be great – and they would – but I didn’t have those).

stuff shellstop with cheese

Bake for 8-10 minutes or until cheese is melted and tacos are heated through.

Bake

Top with your favorite taco toppings.

baked tacosbaked tacos

There you have it – a new swing to an old favorite!

abp

“People who throw kisses are hopelessly lazy.” ~ Bob Hope

3 Comments

I’m not sure if its the weather or if jet-lag from the holidays but I’m feeling pretty lazy. So tonight it’s another crock pot meal.

It’s already smelling yummy!!

That’s one of the great side benefits of cooking with the crock pot – how it makes your whole house smell awesome!

Tonight’s recipe has been adapted from Mmm…Cafe.

Honey Sauced Chicken

  • 1.5 – 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • salt
  • black pepper
  • 3/4 cup honey
  • 1/2 cup soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup chopped onion
  • 3 tablespoons of ketchup
  • 1 ½ Tbs. vegetable oil
  • 2 clove garlic, minced
  • ¼ to ½ tsp. red pepper flakes (depends on heat desired)
Salt and Pepper chicken and place in slow cooker.
salt and pepper chicken
In a medium bowl mix together the rest of the ingredients.
mix ingredients
mixuter
Pour over chicken, stir to coat. Bake on low for 4 hours or high for 2 hours.
stir to coat
With 30 minutes left to cook, carefully remove chicken from sauce, cut into bite size pieces.
cut up chicken DSC03113
Return to sauce, mix well and continue to cook.
return to sauce
Serve over rice.
serve over rice
This was a very good meal and one of the more simple I have found. So much so, even though I was feeling lazy, I decided to whip up Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles!
More on those later.
Happy Rainy Monday!!!
abp

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable.” ~ Helen Keller

2 Comments

Ok, I am feeling adventurous today – maybe it’s the wisdom I feel because I’m a year older this week…….

In any event – I am trying a recipe I found in bon appétit. Although I love reading this magazine – this will be the first recipe out of it that I have ever attempted. They are usually a little too involved, they include ingredients that are either too hard to find or too expensive or they are something that not a whole lot of people would have to eat on an average day.

But alas, I found one that I thought would be a good fit for me and my family, especailly coming off our trip to Italy.

Garganelli with Fennel and Pork Shoulder Ragù. (sounds fancy, huh??)

I did change up a few things though.
The first being the garganelli pasta which is a hand shaped egg based tubular pasta. Well, I’ll be using dried penne pasta. Also – I do not like the taste of fennel so I replaced that ingredient with celery which is common replacement because I’m one of many who is not of fan of the licorice flavor.

So with that being said, here’s what we got.

Gargnelli Penne Pasta with Fennel Celery and Pork Shoulder Ragù

  • 1 lb ground pork
  • 1 teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning
  • 1Tablespoons olive oil
  • 1½ cups minced celery
  • 1½ cups minced onions
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 1½ cups dry white wine
  • 2 cups chicken broth
  • 6 ounces (half a can) diced tomatoes
  • Freshly ground pepper
  • 8 oz Penne pasta
  • grated parmesan cheese
  • extra virgin olive oil

You start by mixing the pork and 1 tsp of salt by hands until sticky, cover and chill for at least 2 hours.

After chilling, roll pork mixture into 8-9 large meatballs (about 1/4 cup each).

Heat olive oil in large, heavy, deep pan over medium-high heat.  Cook meatballs until all sides are brown. Adjust heat so the brown bits on the bottom do not burn.

Drain meatballs on paper towel lined plate. Reduce heat to medium and scatter celery, onion and garlic in pan. Return meatballs to pan and cook for about 25 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching, or until vegetables are translucent and juices have evaporated.

Add wine, scraping up browned bits from the bottom of the pan and bring to a simmer.  Cook for about 15 minutes or until the wine has reduced by 3/4.

Add the chicken broth and tomatoes. Return to a simmer, once again scraping up brown bits.  Continue to simmer with the lid slightly ajar for about 2½ hours, stirring occasionally.

When finished cooking, remove meatballs and break up into small pieces and season with salt and pepper. Then return to pan.

Add cook pasta to ragù, mix well.

Serve topped with cheese and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Such a hardy and unique meal.  It tasted very authentic – and I can say that since I still can taste all that yummy food with had in Italy (more on that next week).

This took a little time but it was well worth it!

Hope everyone has had a great week! TGIF!!!!

abp