Snow and pork chops

We are in the middle of another ice storm. It's begun to snow now overtop the 1-2" of ice though, so the roads weren't as bad as I was expecting this morning. Our office never really closes for bad weather...(edit, edit) so I made it into work at 9 today with no problems though. Getting out of our neighborhood is always the hardest part because the roads are curvy and hilly.

I started another book in the meantime before I need to start my book club book. I'm reading "The Killer Inside Me" by Jim Thompson. It's pretty good, I'm not as into it as I thought I'd be. It's a first person narrative of a guy who gives in to his "sickness" and it goes into him rationale behind each killing. It's a quick read and easy. Creepy in a 1950's way - the killer enjoys being corny and making people feel uncomfortable because they find him simple and boring. But he's just needling them in his own way.

Yesterday my office did let us go early, I was shocked! The weathermen were crying the apocalypse so it freaked us all out enough to go ahead on home. I think after this past Christmas' snow storm though, this is small beans. Still dangerous, but we still have power so I'm thankful. But when the weather is bad, I want to cook! Correction...I want to BAKE. But I restrained myself so we wouldn't pig out on cookies all night. Instead I made a pork chop dinner, which turned out delicious. I think I am a fan of pork chops now. They were such a nice change from beef (I've been out of chicken for a while and am indignant that chicken is so expensive).

French Onion Soup Pork Chops
- two butterfly cut pork chops, thawed
-1 can Campbells French Onion Soup
Directions
-thaw out your pork chops, or wait long enough so the outside is thawed
-sear the chops in a skillet with some olive oil, a couple minutes on each side
-put chops in a crockpot and pour soup over them
-cook on High for 4 hours

I think searing the chops made them so much better. I've done it before without searing them, and they got a little dry. These were delicious! I'm probably going to make these often., they are "company worthy" too, if you find the right sides. My sides didn't go too well. I would put butter mashed potatoes and corn instead with this meal, or sweet potatoes and green beans or something. I put too much garlic in our green beans last night and had to throw them out :(

Italian Bread Soup (Tomato & Crouton Soup)

I've been cooking a lot lately, it's been a lot of fun! I got a couple of new crockpot cookbooks for Christmas and have been flipping through them picking out interesting recipes. This particular recipe caught my eye because of the amazing picture. It's not this picture below, but it's similar. It just looked so warm and comforting and delicious. And it was!!! My only complaint was that it made SO much soup. It probably made enough for about 6-8 large bowls of soup, so make it for a large gathering, or pack it up in Tupperware bowls and give it out to your book club friends. That's what I did :)


Italian Bread Soup (Tomato & Crouton Soup)
-2 cans (or about 28 oz) Chicken Broth
-4 cans fire-roasted diced tomatoes, with liquid (I just used Italian diced tomatoes because the fire roasted ones were more expensive than I like to pay for tomatoes)
-3 cups Caesar croutons
-1 small onion, diced
-1 packet of Italian dressing mix
- kosher salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
-Dump all ingredients in crockpot and cook on high for 4 hours.
-Serve with parmesan cheese and a sprinkle of basil on top.

This recipe surprised me. I thought the croutons would disintegrate or something, or just make the soup thicker. They actually swelled up and made the soup kind of "bready". I don't know how to describe it. I really liked the texture. I wasn't so sure going into it if I'd like so many chunks of tomato in my soup, but it didn't end up bothering me. It was kind of a fancy-feeling soup, so I would think pairing this soup for a larger party with some finger foods would be fabulous! I also would think the fire-roasted tomatoes would be worth it for the spiciness. I would be curious to make it again and see how spicy it is supposed to be. It just made so much soup for just me and Blake and I'm not a big "leftovers fan"... I'm having some leftover today, so if it's horrible I'll let you know. (Update - even better as leftovers! yum!)

I had my second book club meeting this Saturday. It was so fun! We discussed the book "Julie & Julia". Collectively, we all agreed the book was horrid. But we discussed how horrid it was over mini-quiches, bread & brie, and mini-apple tarts. It was a glorious night. Our next book pick is my turn: "The Shadow of the Wind" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. I hope it's good!

Amazing Cornbread Taco Casserole Recipe!!

I could not wait to post this morning! Last night I made the most delicious recipe...Blake declared it top 10 EVER for him, and it's definitely in my top 10 of EVER also. I haven't had such a hands-down recipe success in while. I can't wait to have leftovers tonight!!

Cornbread Taco Casserole
1 lb ground beef
1 can cream corn (I used normal corn and just sprinkled a little Splenda in the cornbread mix)
1 packet taco seasoning
1 box Jiffy cornbread mix
2/3 cup salsa
1/2 teaspoon of onion flakes (I used 1 full tsp b/c we love onions)
1 cup water
1 can black beans
1-2 cups shredded cheese

-Preheat oven to 375. Mix corn, cornbread mix and 1/2 cup water in small bowl.
-Spread mixture into bottom of a greased 9x13 pan. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes
and then remove.
-Cook meat with onion, drain well. Add 1/2 cup water and taco seasoning and simmer until water is absorbed. Add salsa and black beans to meat and mix well. Spoon meat mixture over cornbread evenly. Top with cheese.
-Bake for 20 minutes or until cheese bubbles.

While the cornbread mixture cooks for 10 minutes in the oven, start browning your beef.

Once your beef is browned, add salsa and black beans.

Pour beans over your half-baked cornbread and add cheese.

Wow this was amazing!

Smothered Chicken

I feel boring, I don't have anything to talk about lately than cooking! I guess I have a video of Doogan eating. He gets so excited to eat that he tries to meow while he's eating and it sounds like a turkey gobble. It was so cute! He outgrew it pretty quickly unfortunately. The first couple of weeks we had him it was really loud and he'd do it the WHOLE time he was eating. I didn't think to video him until he started not doing it as much. But here is what he kinda was doing:



I made Smothered Chicken last night. Well, I made it late last night after dinner so we'd have a decent lunch option today. I got a bit of it and it was pretty good. Not "Wow" but a good meal. I modified it because I couldn't find any "Cream of Chicken Verde" soup. Now I'm really curious what it is supposed to taste like.

Smothered Chicken
- 3-4 frozen chicken breasts
- 2 cans of Cream of Chicken Verde Soup
- 16 oz frozen baby corn (I just used a can of normal corn)
- 1 onion, diced
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- 1 fresh thyme sprig
- 8 oz can sliced mushrooms

I halved the recipe and used a can of plain cream of chicken soup and just added a 4 oz can of mild green chilies and a sprinkle of cumin, and lots of pepper. The flavor wasn't too strong, so I probably should have played with it a little longer to get it spicy. But I didn't. Blake's eating it for lunch today.

(I didn't take this photo, I found it to show what it kinda looks like)

Want to cook steak in your crockpot?

Want to cook a steak meal in your crockpot?

You can!

Layered Steak and Potatoes and Corn

- 1 ½ lbs rib eye steak

- 1 Tablespoon your favorite seasoning rub, like McCormicks anything

- 1 onion, sliced in rings

- ¼ cup chicken or beef broth

- 2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

- 2-4 potatoes (sweet or Idaho etc)

-2-4 ears of fresh corn

- Foil

Rub seasoning all over meat, put in crockpot. Top with onion rings. Add broth and Worcestershire sauce. Wash potatoes and wrap individually in foil, add on top of meat. Shuck corn, wrap each in foil. Add to pot. Cook on high 5-7 hours, or low 8 hours. You can put more or less of potatoes or corn, just whatever fits in your crockpot.

Shepherd's Pie

So, a friend gave me another Shepherd's Pie recipe....and it's fantastic! I made it last night. Much better than this one, though that one is less prep.

Here's the BEST recipe:

Bill's Shepherd's Pie
-3 cups of leftover mashed potatoes
-1 lb ground beef, cooked
-1 can corn or other vegetable, drained
-1 onion, diced
-1 can tomato soup
-1/2 cup warmed milk (or room temp.)
-1 egg, beaten
-1 tsp salt
-1/4 tsp pepper
-paprika

Directions:
-Brown ground beef on stove on medium high, add onion and salt/pepper and cook through.
-While beef is browning, take out a 13x9 pan and spray with olive oil. Pour tomato soup and canned vegetable in pan, stir together.
-Mix together, in separate bowl, egg and milk. Combine with the mashed potatoes.
-Mix ground beef mixture into the pan with the tomato sauce and canned vegetable.
-Spread mashed potato mixture on top of beef mixture.
-Sprinkle paprika on top. Bake at 350 for 30 min.

So yummy!! It's even better as leftovers.

The secret of fried rice

I was going to make rice and beans last night but looked in the pantry and didn't have any plain rice. So I had to improvise.

I have discovered the secret to good fried rice. Or, rather, "fried rice that is surprisingly pretty tasty even though it still doesn't taste like my favorite take-out." Ready for it? Soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce. If you put some of that in whatever you have...it will taste just fine. I'm not talking "douse" everything in it, but add enough so all the rice is tinted with a little sauce.

This is my favorite fried rice recipe that I make at home. It's from a crockpot blog...but I don't use the crockpot for fried rice. I mean, come-on...it takes 5 minutes on the stove, especially if you cheat and use dried onion flakes instead of cutting up real ones.

Favorite Home Fried Rice

--2 cups rice (leftover or newly cooked)
--leftover meat

--1 T butter (optional)

--2 T soy sauce

--2 tsp. worcestershire sauce

--1/2 tsp. black pepper

--1/4 tsp. kosher salt

--1/2 diced yellow onion (or use dried onion flakes)

--1 cup of whatever frozen or fresh vegetables you have on hand (I like the frozen bag of mixed veggies)

--1 egg

--sesame seeds for garnish (optional)
--pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)

Mix it all together in a wok or huge skillet: voila.

This, however is not the recipe I used last night. Last night all I had was uncooked saffron rice that I've never tried before (it's that yellow kind with seasoning powder mixed in), leftover carrots and broccoli from a veggie tray I bought for a wedding a month ago (I know, but they were still usable), one half of a chicken breast, and salt and pepper. So I just cooked the rice in my handy rice cooker (you can find these for $15 at Target on sale...and SOOO worth it!), and slung some soy sauce and worcestershire sauce on it and it was a very worthy meal! The trick with rice is to make it in chicken broth. The broth adds SO much flavor with no extra work. I thought I'd have leftovers for lunch today but we ate it all.

The other weekend I made a new recipe filing system. I had been just saving recipes I copied from the Internet by type on Word and I'd print out entire pages to put in a binder. But...I decided to cut them all up and paste them t0 4x6 index cards. I'm really happy with it now and it's easier to add new recipes and save paper and space.

I'm not really a cooking-appliance-person, but the rice cooker and my crockpot I use at least 2-3 times a week. I don't know how to cook rice any other way, I have to admit. If I'm not using the crockpot or rice cooker then I'm probably eating Spaghettios.