Leftovers 101

Once a week we do leftovers night.  It's that night where everything that you've got in your fridge gets cleaned out and dumped.  Otherwise known as clean-out-your-fridge night.  I tell my kids the goal is to clean out as many of the containers as possible, it's like a game to them.

This was our leftover offerings last week.

#1 - Steamed butternut squash served with a little bit of butter, salt and pepper.

#2 - Beef roast, cooked in the crockpot for 4 hours with a packet of dry onion soup mix on the top.

#3 - Brown rice pilaf (recipe below), this was found while cooking a diabetic meal for a friend.

#4 - Mandarin-cranberry pork chops (recipe below), I made this one up to see how it worked.  It turned out to be easy and delicious!

#5 - Potatoes and onions, my kids favorite "fries".  Cut up some potatoes and onions, cook with a little bit of olive oil and salt, pepper and Italian seasoning.  Like fries, my kids eat this with ketchup.

#6 - Fresh cut mango.  I have never been good at cutting mangoes, I pretty well massacre them.  Then I asked my babysitter to teach me, because she's the master.  It's really easy, if you follow the directions.  Here is a tutorial, if you're interested.  It's not the way I learned, but it's a workable way as well.

#7 - Fajitas - Sauteed chicken breast, onions, green bell pepper and jalapeños...my kids loved it and it included everything they hate, ie: peppers and onions.  Sometimes it's just how you cook it!

Brown Rice Pilaf

2 cups water
1 cup brown rice
1 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup frozen vegetables
1/2 tsp. cumin

If you have a rice cooker, throw it all together, and cook.  If you don't have a rice cooker, in a saucepan mix the water, rice, olive oil and salt and bring to a boil.  Mix in the vegetables and cumin.  Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 45-60 minutes, until the liquid has been absorbed.


Mandarin-Cranberry Pork Chops

4 pork chops, or as many as you need to feed your family
1 can, whole berry cranberry sauce
1 large can, mandarin oranges, juice drained
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. curry powder

Preheat oven to 350°.  Brown pork chops in pan, season with a little salt and pepper, then place in baking dish.  In a separate bowl, combine all other ingredients and pour over chops in bowl.  Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour or until your pork chops are cooked through.  Serve over rice.

**This would also work really well in a slow cooker, just adjust cooking times as needed.**

Another Enchilada Recipe

I know, I have a problem with settling on my favorite enchilada recipe (like the one I posted HERE). My sis-in-law found these recipes online and filled flour tortilla with the meat, cheese and rice. She put them in a casserole dish with cheese on top and baked until warm and cheese was melted. They were really good! I know that Brooke has posted this same recipe for cilantro-lime rice HERE, I just re-posted for convenience.

Sweet Pork (Cafe Rio knock-off)
2 pounds pork (I used boneless ribs that were on sale)
3 cans Coke (NOT diet)
1/4 c. brown sugar
dash garlic salt
1/4 c. water
1 can sliced green chilies
3/4 can enchilada sauce
1 c. brown sugar

Put the pork in a heavy duty ziploc bag to marinade. Add about a can and a half of coke and about 1/4 c. of brown sugar. Marinade for a few hours or overnight.

Drain marinade and put pork, 1/2 can of coke, water, and garlic salt in crock pot on high for about 3-4 hours (or until it shreds easily, but don't let it get TOO dry) or on low for 8 hours. Remove pork from crock pot and drain any liquid left in the pot. Shred pork.

In a food processor or blender, blend 1/2 can Coke, chilies, enchilada sauce and remaining brown sugar. If it looks too thick, add more Coke little by little.

Put shredded pork and sauce in crockpot and cook on low for 2 hours.


CAFE RIO'S KNOCK-OFF CILANTRO-LIME RICE
1 c. uncooked rice (long-grain, white rice)
1 tsp. butter or margarine
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. freshly squeezed lime juice
1 can (15 oz) chicken broth
1 cup water
1 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice
2 tsp. sugar
3 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro

In a saucepan combine rice, butter, garlic, 1 tsp. lime, chicken broth and water. Bring to a boil. Cover and cook on low 15-20 minutes, until rice is tender. Remove from heat. In a small bowl combine lime juice, sugar and cilantro. Pour over hot cooked rice and mix in as you fluff the rice.

One More Week

I swear I'm not trying to neglect my passions in life. Like blogging. And cooking. And blogging about cooking.

One more week and I don't have school hanging over my head. School was great, but it's time to get back to my priorities.

Today in the crock pot? A new recipe I've been wanting to try. Peach Curry Glazed Pork Chops. I'm trying it in the crock pot even though it's not written for slow cooking. Sundays are all about easy and lazy. This recipe fits the bill perfectly.

PEACH CURRY GLAZED PORK CHOPS

1/2 cup sliced canned peaches, syrup set aside

3 tbsp. peach jam

2 tbsp. dijon mustard

2 tsp. curry powder

1 tsp. honey

1 tbsp. vegetable oil

4 boneless pork chops

2 green onions, chopped

2 tbsp. cilantro, chopped

Directions

1. In a bowl, mix the peach syrup, jam, mustard, curry powder, and honey.

2. Heat the vegetable oil in a skillet over medium heat, and cook the pork chops 8 minutes, or to desired doneness.

3. Mix the green onions into the skillet, and cook 1 minute, until tender. Spoon the syrup mixture and peaches over the pork chops. Continue cooking until heated through. Sprinkle with cilantro to serve.

Sausage Balls

There are some grocery store items I refuse to buy cheap or alternative versions of.
Top of the list is probably mayonaisse. Cheap real mayo is really gross.
Towards the middle to bottom of my list is sausage. Jimmy Dean is the best. Hands down.

Jimmy Dean Sausage Balls
Ingredients
2 (16 ounce) packages Regular Flavor or Spicy Jimmy Dean Pork Sausage
1 1/2 cups all-purpose baking mix
4 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup finely chopped celery
2 teaspoons black pepper
2 teaspoons minced garlic (if using regular flavor)

Directions
1.Preheat oven to 375 F. Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl; stir well. Form into 1inch balls. Place on ungreased baking sheet lined with foil; bake 18-20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven; cool 5 minutes before removing from pan. Serve with cocktail forks or toothpicks. We just eat them with our dinner.

May be prepared ahead and frozen uncooked. To bake from frozen: thaw on baking sheet 15 minutes; bake in preheated oven 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Variation for firmer texture:
add 3 cups baking mix and 2 cups shredded cheese to the ingredients listed above.

Not To Take Away From The Turkey, Or Anything...

But we ventured over to pork yesterday. It was a nice change from the poultry we've been eating the last week. I got a great deal on pork chops last week - the nice, thick, boneless kind...

Then I realized I had a crazy week. CRAZY. I don't think I was cut out for full schedules and daily obligations. I'm so over that time of life...except that I'm just starting into it.

Back to the pork...

So I was looking for a nice, easy recipe - something that involved my best friend, Ms. Crockpot and ingredients already found in my house since it's freezing outside.

I found it...

Easy Peasy Pork Chops

6 boneless pork chops

1 cup cola flavored soda (I used Dr. Pepper, left over from my last sweet pork batch)

1 cup ketchup

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tbsp. onion salt

1 tbsp. garlic salt

1/2 cup flour

Mix garlic salt and flour together in a medium bowl. Dip chops into flour mixture, coating all sides. Lay coated chops in bottom of crock pot. Mix together remaining ingredients and pour over top of pork chops. Cook on high in crock pot 4-5 hours, or bake in oven at 350° for one hour.

I served over brown rice, even the kids had seconds...See, the holiday blessings have already started!

Slow Cooker Sunday - Upcoming on my menu!

Look what's on our menu this week...Pork burritos! We're craving a little sweet pork wrapped in tortilla goodness. I was given this recipe by a friend, it looks great. We'll let you know!

SWEET PORK BURRITOS

3 lbs. pork shoulder roast

2 cups salsa

1 (12 oz) can cola flavored soda

2 cups brown sugar

1/2 packet fajita seasoning

2 tbsp. taco seasoning mix

1 (7 oz) can chopped green chilis

Place pork roast in the crock of a slow cooker, add 4 cups water. Cook on High for 5 hours.

Remove pork from the slow cooker and drain liquid. Cut the pork into 4 pieces, and set aside. Puree salsa in blender. Combine the pureed salsa, cola, brown sugar, fajita seasoning, taco seasoning, and green chilis in teh crock of the slow cooker. Add the pork and cook on high for an additional 3 hours.

Remove the pork and shred. Serve wrapped in warm corn tortillas with black or refried beans, shredded lettuce, and tomatoes.