Pork Chop & Hashbrown Bake

This recipe is definitely comfort food. Carrie received it from Madelyn and I've seen it on a few blogs since then. It's so easy, so delicious and ultimately comforting. I'm not sure if it's a family recipe from Madelyn but it really doesn't matter. You should definitely make this!

Pork Chop & Hashbrown Bake

From: Carrie's Sweet Life

Ingredients:



5 pork chops
1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
1/2 cup Milk
1/2 cup Sour Cream
24oz package of frozen hashbrowns, thawed
1 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese
1 large can french fried onions (French's onions)

I made the mistake of not reading my recipe before I got started so I used frozen hashbrowns and it worked just fine. Also, the original recipe calls for 6 slices of pork tenderloin, but all I had available was 5 pork chops so I just used what I had and again, it was just fine.

I baked our pork chops in the oven at 400* with a few seasonings on them. I cooked them about 30-40 minutes I think, until they were done.

While the pork chops are baking, combine the soup, sour cream & milk. Add the hashbrowns, half the cheese and half of the fried onions. Spoon that mixture into a lightly greased 9x13 pan.

When the pork chops are done, layer the pork chops on top of the hashbrown mixture. Bake at 350* for about 40 minutes. Add the rest of the cheese and onion pieces on top and bake for an additional 5 minutes.

This recipe was so good. It was so simple to prepare, the leftovers were great & it was the perfect meal for a Sunday night. Comfort food at its finest!

Tortellini Soup & Southwest Turkey Panini Sandwiches

While I love soup, I've only ever made homemade chicken nooodle. This soup was so easy to whip together. I was actually shocked at how easy it was. It seems like it should have an excessive ingredient list and take a lot of time. It couldn't be farther from the truth.

It worked out perfectly to make soup this week. We had a rainy, windy, sleety (here in Minnesota, that is a perfectly acceptable word to describe the weather. Trust me.) day and this was exactly what we needed.

Tortellini Soup

From: Annie's Eats

*I doubled this recipe so that we could have leftovers for a couple days. The original recipe says it yields 3-4 servings.* The original recipe is listed below.

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 cup chopped onion

2 cloves minced garlic

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1 (15oz) can diced tomatoes, with juices

4 cups low-sodium chicken broth (can also use vegetable broth)

9 ounces tortellini, any variety (I used Bertolli tortellini from the refrigerated section)

3 cups fresh baby spinach, loosely packed (I used bagged spinach)

Salt & Pepper to taste

Grated Paremesan, optional for serving

In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the chopped onions to the pan and cook until beginngin to soften, about 5 minutes. Add in the garlic and cook, stirring frequently, just until fragant, approximately 1 minute. Mix in the oregano (I threw in some basil too) and diced tomatoes. Add the chicken brtoh to the pot. Bring everything to a boil. Add your tortellini to the pot and cook according to package directions. (My tortellini really puffed up. I've never made tortellini of any kind before so I'm not sure if this was normal. Perhaps that's because it was 'fresh' and not frozen tortellini? I'd be interested to hear if this happens to anyone else.)

One minute before the tortellini is fully cooked, stir in the spinach. Remove from the heat & season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm with grated Parmesan, if you choose.

I knew that just having soup wouldn't be satisfying for Matt so I paired it with homemade ciabatta panini.

At work, we have a cafe called The Muffin Man and it's so good. A funky little cafe that's a much needed break from the lunch options at our Cafeteria. Have you ever had broccoli that was so badly cooked that you could mush it with your tongue against the roof of your mouth? If not, you're lucky. If so, you can probably imagine my dissappointment when I added a side of broccoli to my lunch one day at the cafeteria. Blech. Anyway, back to our lunch paradise; The Muffin Man has a southwest turkey grilled sandwich. Southwest mayo, roasted red peppers, turkey and cheddar cheese on ciabatta bread, grilled to perfection.

That was my inspiration for these sandwiches. Our grocery store was out of red peppers (yes, really) so I had to skip the peppers. I had spinach leftover from the soup so I added some spinach to our sandwiches. I didn't have any cheddar cheese so I used some shredded cheese that I had in the refrigerator. These sandwiches are completely customizable to whatever you may be feeling.

Southwest Turkey Grilled Sandwich

Inspired by: The Muffin Man Cafe

Ingredients:

Loaf of cooked ciabatta

Turkey deli meat

Fresh spinach leaves

Prepared chipotle mayo, recipe below.

I bought a loaf of 'Take and Bake' ciabatta at our local grocery store. I sliced it in about 4" sections and then cut them almost in half lengthwise. Similar to how they would cut your bread at a sub shop. I then put it in the oven and baked it per the directions. When done, spread mayo on both halves, add your deli meat, cheese, spinach and then place on a warm griddle for a few minutes on each side. Just until cheese melts.

I'd really like to invest in a panini maker or a sandwich griddle. These were fantastic sandwiches. My Husband, Matt, loved them so much. He declared them "the best sandwiches ever." Our meal of tortellini soup and southwest turkey panini sandwiches won him over so well, he said that it puts his previous favorite meal to shame.

Chipotle mayo

Amy's Kitchen Creation original

(Although I'm sure I'm not the only one to ever make this)

2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce

A few tablespoons of mayo

Cut up the peppers so they're smaller and then stir them into your mayo. If you'd like it spicier or less spicy, just adjust the amount of peppers you put into the mayo or add a little additional mayo.



Buttermilk Pie

This is a recipe that I found on Amy's blog.  Amy is a very, very talented Woman. She's an Opera-singin'-pie-bakin'-beautiful-picture-takin' Blogger! She describes this Buttermilk pie as 'Man-Pleasin'. She wasn't kidding! Matt loved it. I also shared it with my Mom and Dad. They weren't as thrilled with it. Like Amy says, it is a very sweet pie. If you're watching your sugar intake, this will definitely be an indulgence for you. Well, it's not like you should or would want to eat something like this everyday anyway...

I really wanted to bake something on a low-key Friday night, so I decided to try Amy's Buttermilk Pie. Being from Minnesota, I've never had a slice or even heard of Buttermilk pie. I had everything available and it was something new, so in an effort to expand my baking skills, why not!

I had to email Amy because I was concerned that I had about 3/4 cup leftover buttermilk filling. She said that's normal and usually always has some left. I wonder if next time, I should try deep dish crusts and see how that turns out.

Clearly, I need to be less eager to try my baked goods...that's not a crack in the pie, that's a knife mark from starting to slice the pie before taking it's photo!

Our oven has issues and bakes unevenly. Does anyone know if there is some sort of solution to this?  I put the two pies side by side in my oven, just like they're pictured below. The pie on the right, the filling bubbled over and had a little bulge to it once cooled and out of the oven. I cooked the one on the right a litle longer because it was pretty 'jiggly' when the timer went off. I only had it in the oven for about 10 or 15 minutes longer than the first pie, but they baked completely different.

I definitely think that I will be making this pie again, perhaps for Easter? If you've never heard of or tasted Buttermilk pie, it's definitely worth a try. It's super easy to prepare and you'll likely have all of the ingredients already at home!

Saturday Breakfast: French Toast with Fresh Whipped Cream and Strawberries

As much as I love the weekends, they always go way too fast! I know that everyone says that but my Husband works Sunday-Thursday so our weekends together consist of Saturdays. A one-day weekend. Boo. I really like when I can make a breakfast that's something other than yogurt or oatmeal which is usually what we eat for Breakfast during the week.This is where I'll start a new 'series' of Saturday Breakfasts. These will be breakfasts above and beyond the 'normal' quick and easy breakfasts.

The yummiest part of this breakfast was the fresh strawberries and fresh whipped cream. We recently bought a magic bullet and you wouldn't believe how easy it is to make fresh whipped cream. Not to mention smoothies, salsa, guacamole..I'm in love with that thing! What's better yet, we got it for $20 thanks to also using a Kohl's gift card.

French Bread French Toast

Any Amy's Kitchen Creation Original Recipe

Half of a loaf of french bread, sliced

Fresh strawberries, stems removed & berries sliced

4 Eggs

Splash or two of milk

~1tsp Cinnamon

Crack eggs and place in bowl, add the splash (or two) of milk and the cinnamon and beat together. I always spray a litle non-stick cooking spray on my cooking surface (griddle). Heat the griddle to medium-high heat. Dip your bread into the egg mixture, flip to the other side and make sure that side is coated as well.

Place on griddle for a few minutes each side until golden brown and the egg mixture is obviously cooked.

Serve with fresh whipped cream and strawberries and a shake or two of powdered sugar.

Fresh Whipped Cream

If you have a magic bullet, pour about 1 cup of Heavy Whipping Cream into the short cup. Add a tablespoon or so of powdered sugar and a little splash of vanilla. Blend together until the bullet stops making the blending sound and makes more of a whirring sound. (Thats the wording from the recipe book that comes with the bullet :-))

If you do not have these ingredients, you could use a blender or kitchenaid mixer to whip up some whipped cream!

Enjoy your Saturday morning Breakfast!

Pizza Night!!

This pizza was fantastic and that was largely in part to using Annie's pizza crust. The crust was SO easy to make. When you make a batch there is enough for two pizzas so you can freeze one like I did or use this recipe when you want to make enough pizza for a game night or when you're feeding a larger crowd.

I was really scared to make my own dough, I've never really made anything with yeast and didn't want it to flop. I was pleasantly surprised! Annie's instructions are so easy to follow. I've copy and pasted her exact instructions below and have put my notes in italics.

I've tried homemade pizza before using Trader Joe's prepackaged pizza crusts but it didn't turn out. The crust was too thin and it didn't hold up to the toppings on the pizza. This crust is the opposite of that. The bottom of the crust is crisp and sturdy but also soft and chewy, exactly like pizza crust should taste. It held up to the pizza toppings nicely and provided a huge sense of satisfaction as we ate it. I don't know about you but when I make something that tastes really good, I feel like a Chef in a world-renowned restaurant. I did it. I am a good cook.

As far as pizza toppings, that's up to you! There are so many possibilities, just think of the pizzas that you like. Spinach and Mushroom? Veggie? Alfredo pizza? Cheese? Sausage? Yum! The one pictured above is a take off of Annie's Chicken Ranch Pizza. I knew I had most the ingredients, but I wanted to add some bacon to ours. I also drizzled a bit of BBQ sauce on our pizza before baking.

Basic Pizza Dough

Ingredients:
½ cup warm water (about 110°)
1 envelope (2 ¼ tsp.) instant yeast
1 ¼ cups water, at room temperature
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
4 cups (22 oz.) bread flour, plus more for dusting
1 ½ tsp. salt
olive oil or non-stick cooking spray for greasing the bowl


Directions: (don't be scared. It seems like a lengthy process, but it's not that bad, honest)
Measure the warm water into a 2-cup liquid measuring cup. Sprinkle in the yeast and let stand until the yeast dissolves and swells, about 5 minutes. Add the room temperature water and oil and stir to combine.

Place the flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Briefly combine the dry ingredients at low speed. Slowly add the liquid ingredients and continue to mix at low speed until a cohesive mass forms. Stop the mixer and replace the paddle with the dough hook. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Form the dough into a ball, put it in a deep oiled bowl, and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 ½ to 2 hours. Press the dough to deflate it. I think I put a little too much oil in my bowl, there was always a 'layer' sort of of oil. I would suggest dabbing some oil onto a paper towel and rubbing the paper towel on the inside of the bowl to oil it.

Measure a piece of parchment paper to fit your pizza stone. I tried to roll out my dough without knowing how big my stone was and as it turned out, I could have made a bit larger of a pizza. I would have rather had that happen than to find out that I made my pizza too big for my stone. To bake, place a pizza stone in the lower third of the oven. Heat the oven to 500° for at least 30 minutes. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Divide the dough into two equal pieces. Form both pieces of dough into smooth, round balls and cover with a damp cloth. Let the dough relax for at least 10 minutes but no more than 30 minutes.

If you're only going to make one pizza, now is the time to freeze the other. Wrap the portion you're not using tightly into plastic wrap and store inside a freezer-safe bag. The double layer is important because the dough will continue to rise for a bit and will pop out of the plastic wrap, so by putting it in a plastic bag as well, you'll keep the dough contained. Working with one piece of dough and keeping the other covered, shape the dough and transfer to a pizza peel or round of parchment dusted with semolina or cornmeal. Top as desired. Slide the dough onto the pizza stone. Bake until the crust edges brown and cheese is golden brown in spots, about 8 to 12 minutes. Repeat with remaining ball of dough or freeze for later use.



Thawing instructions for frozen dough:
Freeze the dough until it is ready to be used. The day you plan to use the dough, transfer it to the refrigerator in the morning to thaw in time for dinner that evening. (If using the dough for lunch, transfer to the refrigerator the night before.) The dough that has been frozen tastes every bit as good as fresh, so it is incredibly convenient to have available for a quick, throw-together meal.

Oven Scrambler

Introducing... my very first guest blogger. My wonderful Husband, Matt, is sharing a recipe with us today. Here is his recipe for a breakfast he made for us when we had a random weekday off together.

Ok so for this recipe I used a one time use aluminum pan. You could use this or a glass baking dish would work too. I sprayed the pan with non stick spray, set that aside. I then took 3 potatoes cut them into quarters and sliced those up, added them to a frying pan with a bit of EVOO and some Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt. I fried those for about 10 minutes just to get a nice golden brown,  while those fried, in a bowl I mixed together 4 eggs with about a ¼ cup of milk and some tastefully simple Bacon Bacon and added that to the aluminum pan and placed it in the oven at 350. After the potatoes started showing some color I pulled the eggs from the oven stirred them around, and added the potatoes. I placed them back into the oven for another 5 minutes. Once the 5 minutes were up I took turkey lunch meat that I had cut up, tossed in with the eggs and potatoes and sprinkled sharp shredded cheese on top and placed in the oven just to get it melted.

Amy's Opinions:

It was a very good breakfast. It was something that was quick and easy. It was nice to have a 'treat' for Breakfast. Typically, we take yougrt & english muffins or cereal or frozen waffles to work and eat after we get to work. On weekends, or on weekdays that we're off together, it's nice to have a heartier breakfast.

You could definitely make this for a large group, just add more ingredients! This would be great with some fresh onions too, but we were all out.

My only suggestion for improvement would be to have smaller chunks of lunchmeat.

Chocolate Malt Cookies

You know when people have news to share, whether good or bad, they ask the person who is about to receive the news "are you sitting down?" Well.. before you go any further, I need to ask you...

Are you sitting down? Are you ready for this?

These chocolate malt cookies from Smells Like Home are phenomenal. Oh. em. gee. They are fantastical. I noticed them when there was a virtual baby shower for Annie. Annie has a completely cute little boy named Andrew and they're expecting their Daughter, Caroline, very soon. So, some of her blog friends hosted a shower for her. How cute!

I didn't realize until after I made these cookies, but I have the Martha Stewart cookbook that they're originally from. I thumbed through the book a little the other night after realizing it and found so many cookies that I'd like to make in there!. Where shall I send a dozen to first?

Ok, I'm done rambling, onto the cookies!

Dressed up for Valentine's Day!

Chocolate Malt Sandwich Cookies
From: Smells Like Home
Originally From: Martha Stewart

Yields: 18-20 sandwiches

Tara made note that she could not find malted milk powder in grocery stores around her. I was prepared to use Ovaltine as a substitute per her suggestion, but much to my surprise, there was malted milk powder on the shelf right next to Ovaltine at my local Target.
Cookie Ingredients:
 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/4 cup plain malted milk powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt (I used sea salt which I wasn't a fan of. Perhaps that was too coarse)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup sour cream
3 tablespoons hot water
Ingredients for the sandwich filling:
10 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup plain malted milk powder
3 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons half-and-half
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Let's get bakin!
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sift together flour, cocoa powder, malted milk powder, baking soda, and salt. With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy. Mix in egg, sour cream, and hot water. Reduce speed to low; mix in flour mixture.

Space tablespoon-size balls of dough 3 1/2 inches apart on parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Bake until flat and just firm, 10 to 12 minutes. (I took them out at the 10 minute mark. I didn't want them to get too crispy) Let cool on parchment on wire racks.

Multitask!
While the cookies are baking, melt chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simming water, stirring. Let cool. (I've never melted chocolate in this manner before. I've always melted it in the microwave in ~30 second increments. I'm an impatient person, but melting chocolate this way was super stress-free. It was almost therapeutic watching the chocolate slowly, slowly melt into a smooth velvety chocolate) With an electric mixer, beat malted milk powder and cream cheese on medium speed until smooth. Gradually mix in half-and-half, chocolate mixture, and vanilla. Refrigerate, covered, until thick, about 30 minutes. Beat on high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. After chilling, the filling will be very thick and dark but as soon as you start to beat it, the color will begin to lighten and the filling will become very fluffy.

Match up cookies of similar sizes into pairs.  Using a tablespoon-size cookie scoop, scoop a heaping tablespoon of the filling onto the bottom of one cookie.  Sandwich with another cookie until the filling pushes to the edges of the cookies.  Repeat with remaining pairs of cookies.  Cookies can be kept at room temperature between layers of parchment in airtight containers up to 3 days.

I originally made these for a coworker who helped me restore a huge Excel document that I accidentally erased.  I could have kissed her I was so happy! I figured she deserved something home baked as a thank you. We often go to her for all of our excel questions and I don't know that she ever really gets a proper Thank You.

Take your baked goods to work day!

I sent the rest of the batch to work with Matt. I have to admit, I really love the compliments that come rolling in when I send treats with him to work. The one that I'm most humbled by.. his 'Work Mom' is a novice cook and baker. She's always bringing homemade cinnamon rolls, egg bakes, pastries etc to work for her coworkers. She told him that these were 'the best cookie I've ever had.' I really feel honored that she said that. A couple different coworkers of his told him that I should open a bakery. Little do they know, if money were no object and that was completely doable, I'd open a bakery in a heartbeat. Definitely a pipe dream.

Unfortunately, I can't take the credit for these wonderful concotions, that's all Mrs. Martha's doings. I'll gladly reel in the compliments though :-)

Bacon Wrapped Smokies

Bacon Wrapped Mini Weenies
Amy's Kitchen Creation Original Recipe

I know there are hundreds of recipes out there for mini weenies.  Some in bbq sauce, some wrapped in bacon, some just thrown in a crockpot.  These are super easy to make.  We were having a potluck at work and I wanted to bring something that you could sort of classify as an entree.  Usually at our work, potlucks are a lot of chips, store bought dips, store bought fruit trays etc.  I wanted to make something at home, even if it was using prepackaged foods.

Everyone loved them.  I only made a small crockpot full and they were gone in about two hours, if that.  I made them again for another occasion with family shortly after.  Delicious.

Ingredients
1 package of bacon-I used regular (not maple) and regular cut (not thick cut)
2 packages little weenies (whatever brand was on sale)
Sprinkles of Everyday Grillin Seasoning, Seasoned Salt and Black Pepper
Few drizzles of Bayou Bourbon Glaze

Cut your package of bacon into thirds. Lightly spray an 8x13 pan with cooking spray Using a strip of bacon from one of the third sections, wrap it around the little weenie, secure with a toothpick and place in your pan.  Repeat this process until you're out of bacon and weenies. 

I baked them at 350 for about 30 minutes I think. I didn't set a timer, I just watched them while I prepared dinner. Cook until the bacon is done and even a little crispy.

I left them cool while we ate dinner. Once they were cooled, I took all of the toothpicks out and stored them in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning, I heated them in the microwave real quick and when I got to work I put them in a mini crockpot and they were ready for our lunch potluck.  

You'll have to excuse my picture. This is a picture of the leftovers. I've also decided, mini weenies don't photograph so well.

Crab Bread

As soon as I saw this on Molly Jean's blog, I knew that I wanted to make it right away! I love crab, imitation and all. My DH didn't like this, but that had a little to do with the fact that I burnt the bread a bit.  Oops.

Crab Bread
adapted from The Rookie Chef

1 package of imitation crab legs
8 ounces of cream cheese
~1 teaspoon Garlic Garlic from Tastefully Simple
~1 1/2 teaspoon Onion Onion from Tastefully Simple
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons shredded cheddar cheese

I put my bread in the oven for a little while before topping with the crab mixture. I think that's where I went wrong, the bread was too crumbly and too crunchy. I didn't want a soft, mushy bread so that's why I put it in the oven in the first place. (You know, how sometimes with topped bread, the bread is nice and soft but then the mixture makes it even more soft?) I think it would have been fine to just follow Molly's recipe as it was.

We enjoyed these for our movie night on NYE. We're very exciting people, can't you tell? :-)

Minnesota Salad

The cafe where I was first introduced to this salad recently closed so I needed to come up with my own version. It's pretty spot-on, even down to the dressing! I love it. It's a light, refreshing salad. When I made it to have at Christmas with my Family, my Dad even liked it, commenting to my Mom that she should get the recipe.

It really is a hit! The measurements aren't included because you can make as little or as much as you want.

Minnesota Salad
inspired by The Meadows Cafe

bag of iceberg salad (the kind that has cabbage and carrots in it)
cooked and cooled wild rice
cucumber, diced small
peas & corn, I used a bag of frozen that I let thaw

Top with your favorite Honey Mustard dressing. (I can't remember what kind I used) I think it would also be great with Ranch.

Enjoy!