Biggest Apologies!!!

I haven't posted anything in forever!!! I left for my baby shower on the fifth, and have been so busy putting together baby furniture and planning Thanksgiving, it just got away from me! The good news is, I WILL be doing my thanksgiving turkey recipe, garlic green beans, and possibly mashed potatoes! Ummmmmmmm...YUM

I've also got another roasted vegetable recipe coming up, but it's a secret *shhhhhhhhhh* ;)

Here's a picture of a delicious turkey to get you excited

Slow Cooker Apple and Onion Pork Roast

I had a plan when I went shopping, it was buy one get one free on chicken thighs, and they were more per pound than usual. There I was again, one plan out the window, and I had to come up with something on the fly. I was trying to get a decent amount of meat for a week for under $9. Pork sirloin roasts were on sale, and I saw my meal ticket! I got a five pound roast for about $8.50. Luckily, I had delicious things in my pantry. If you've never tried pork and apples in any combination...you need to, you just do. I could see it, juicy pulled pork, with slow cooked granny apples, and sweet onion. I was sold! I knew this would be a good recipe for this chilly, cold, stormy day. With such a large cut, my options for leftovers will be endless. I will be sure to post my ideas later in the week for leftovers. Tonight, I'm catering to Jeremys favorites, and so I'm making some healthy burritos with whole wheat tortillas and home made salsa. You'll be missing out if you don't give this a try when any roasts go on sale...just sayin'

Pulled Pork

Pork Sirloin Roast:

4 1/2 to 5 lb pork roast

1 rounded tbsp salt

Fresh cracked black pepper

1 tbsp dried thyme

2 tsp cumin

1 big onion (any kind), sliced into half moons

1 large granny smith apple, sliced, but not too thin

2 cups chicken stock or chicken bullion

Preheat a cast iron or heavy bottomed skillet over high heat. Sprinkle all the seasonings over your pork roast. This seems like a lot, but there's a lot of meat on the inside that won't get seasoned, so you need a lot on the outside to ensure a lot of flavor. After your pan is heated, sear your pork until browned on four sides, about 2 to 3 minutes for each side. While your pork is browning, put your stock, apple, and onion in the slow cooker. Put your pork roast in the slow cooker, and turn it to low for 8 to 10 hours because this is a large cut of meat. You can also do it on high for about 5, but I really recommend slow for this one.

Also a side note, you can use a different kind of apple, but this kind of apple has a tartness that cuts through the richness of the pork. If you have a different kind of apple, slice up about half a lemon and add that so you have some acid to balance out your flavors. YUM

 

Turkey and Lentil Tacos

I'm in one of those places right now, where I have some of this, and some of that, but dinner still needs to be made. I only have 1/2 pound of ground turkey, but I had to figure out how to stretch that to make tacos. There are so many options to stretch a buck and fill out your meat, including shredded veggies or potatoes, and beans or legumes. I've always loved lentils, and that started because of their low calories, but I love the flavor that can be infused in them, much like rice. I'm also adding a layer of rice to the bottom, so this is a very cheap dinner. The goal here is to not tell anybody the "meat" filling, is not all meat. These are a wallet pleaser and a people pleaser all in one!

Turkey Lentil Tacos 

Meat mixture:
1 tbsp butter
1/2 lb ground turkey
1/2 onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, finely diced
3/4 tsp salt
Fresh cracked black pepper
1/2 tbsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp adobo seasoning
1/2 tsp curry powder
2 tsp cornstarch, dissolved in 2 tsp water
1/4 cup water

Lentils:
1 cup lentils
3 cups water (roughly)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp chili
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp adobo
1/2 tsp curry
Black pepper
1 beef bullion cube (or add 2 cups water and 1 cup beef stock)
1/4 to 1/2 cup your favorite jarred or homemade salsa

Heat a skillet to medium high heat and melt your butter. Add your turkey and cook for about 2 minutes before adding your garlic and onions. Cook for at least one minute before adding your seasoning. Cook for about 5 minutes. Mix your cornstarch and add it to your mixture with your 1/4 cup water. Cover with a lid or foil, and simmer for about 20 minutes. You may want to check to see that your liquid doesn't cook out and your meat burns. You can continue to add a bit of water at a time to maintain the original consistency. 

For the lentils, add everything to a pot of water over high heat except for your salsa. After it boils, turn it to a simmer, put a lid on, and cook for about 45 minutes until very tender. Add your salsa, the amount depends on how wet you want your meat/lentil mixture and how much of the liquid cooked into your lentils. Add a heaping one cup of your lentils into your meat and stir together. Put together your tacos! I layered white rice seasoned with curry, but you can do beans and cheese, or just meat if you want. Some crunch is really great too, like some shredded cabbage or lettuce. You'll think it's all meat, its THAT good! And cheap......and healthy........I've outdone myself

No Fail Chocolate Cream Pie

I'm not a baker, or a dessert maker, I don't claim to be. When I find a dessert recipe that works for me, I cling to it for dear life because they are few and far between. This pie came from me wanting a piece of Marie Callenders chocolate pie. My mom and I used to see movies late at night, and Marie Callenders would still be open, and we would go have pie. You would think we were lighting up some magical herb during the movie because we would be so excited afterwards for our dessert. I swear, sometimes I think my mom wanted to see lame movies so she could get her pie after. This recipe is too easy and very budget friendly.

Marie Callender's Chocolate Cream Pie

I don't think that pie really needs much of an intro or a description...

Chocolate Cream Pie:

1 chocolate pie shell

1 package instant chocolate pudding and pie filling package

1 container "whipped topping" *wink wink*
1 1/2 cups milk

This pie takes some chilling time, but you can't mess up the mix. Bake you pie shell at 350 for about five minutes. When its done, it should be a little bit crisp, but not hard. Mix your chocolate pudding mix with 1 1/2 cups cold milk. The package says 1 3/4, but we're adding whipped topping, and it would be too runny with more milk. If you want it super thick, you could even add just 1 1/4. After your milk is whisked in and the mixture has thickened, chill for one hour. Then mix half your whipped topping into your chilled pie filling. Pour that into your cooled pie shell, and chill at least 20 minutes before spreading the remaining whipped topping to finish. 

Excellent garnishes include: chocolate curls or shavings, caramel sauce, marshmallows, toasted nuts, and (in my personal opinion anyway) any assortment of fresh berries. For something closer to the real pie, you can always make fresh whipped cream or get Reddi Whip for the top layer, but that seemed like a waste of money to me. It just depends on how much richness you want! Tell me you don't want to lick the screen ;)

Slow Cooker Turkey Chili

I'm pregnant, I'm cranky, and my house is a disaster. I plan on marathon cleaning, which means I'm not planning on a very labor intensive dinner. As always, I have what was on sale. A two for one sale on all things canned, and a butcher special on ground turkey, its a no brainer! The weather is getting chillier, which means my dinners need to warm my tummy. The ominous EVER GROWING BUMP that eats EVERYTHING!!!! *People run away screaming* I blame him in there...I seem to have gotten off topic somehow. Point being, this is easy, relatively healthy, and hearty after a hard day of work with practically no prep involved. Easy on your wallet too, you can thank me later.

Turkey Chili

As the picture depicts, I prefer black beans in my chili, but I only have chili beans on hand. If you were to add black beans, you would just need to adjust seasoning slightly for the missing seasoning from the chili beans.

Turkey Chili:
1/2 lb ground turkey
1/2 onion, small dice
2 cloves garlic, small dice
1 can chili beans (black beans preferred, pintos would work)
1 15oz can diced tomatoes, lightly drained
1/2 cup beef or chicken stock 
1 tbsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp allspice  
1 tsp hot sauce

1/2 tsp salt 

Black pepper

Add all the ingredients into the crock pot. When I say lightly drained of any canned ingredient, I just take the top of the can and use it as a makeshift strainer so a little bit of the liquid stays put. You have two options for the stock portion, if you have actual broth or stock, add the half cup. If not, you can add 1/2 cup of water and some beef or chicken bullion. You can cook this on low for up to 6 hours, but as long as the turkey cooks, it can be a "fast" slow cooker meal, maybe 2 hours on high. 
 

Oven Barbeque Beef Ribs

You ever have those times where you go into the grocery store, and you don't have a budget in mind, you have about $4 in your pocket? I had that and was sure dinner was going to be "food" at best. I was wrong. I saw a slab of beef ribs on special for $1.50 off, making them about $2.70. I've only cooked beef short ribs, or pork ribs, but I knew I could make this work if I tried. I totally would've made macaroni and cheese from scratch if I had the fundage, but a pasta-roni on sale did the trick. Lucky for me, I had some sweet and sour sauce at home, and a bottle of ketchup. I knew I could jazz up a barbecue sauce. For a first try, I would totally recommend these if you're like me and don't have a grill, or couldn't work a charcoal one if you tried  :)

Barbeque Short Ribs

This picture is of short ribs, but most of mine were pretty short and looked almost identical to this picture. Yummy charred bits and all. I think part of my secret here is the two step cooking process, which brings cooking down to about two hours, and they are sooooo good. I'll add a note about my barbecue sauce, but it's not my recipe (yet), just a dash of this and that, but for those who don't measure, its a good one. 

Barbecue Beef Ribs:

1 1/2 to 2lb rack of ribs

Leftover veggies (ends of onions, lemon wedge, etc.)

Crushed garlic clove

Cajun seasoning

Black pepper

Water

Barbecue sauce

For pork ribs, which is my usual go to, I cook them low and slow covered in foil, and then I broil them. These looked considerably tougher, so I took a different approach. Fill a pot (enough to fit your ribs after being cut into portions) with water. Put in some of your leftover veggies to flavor your water. I used green onion, white onion, and some lemon. Add your crushed garlic clove and seasoning. Cut your ribs into portions, and boil them for an hour. In the meantime, preheat your oven to 350 and bring out your barbecue sauce, or *make some. Take your boiled ribs onto a cutting board. I removed the silver skin, which is a white or light yellow looking tough layer that you can't really eat through. You can try to pull this off, or use your knife. The boiling helps loosen it and make it easier. Put the portions onto a baking sheet and brush on one side with the barbecue sauce. Bake or 30 minutes until dark and delicious looking, then flip and repeat. After one hour total, those babies are done. MMMMMMMM.......ribs

* I had about 1/2 a cup of a ketchup based sweet and sour sauce, and I turned it into barbecue sauce. For this one, I went sweeter. I will estimate measurements, but I didn't actually measure. I added 1/4 cup ketchup, 1 1/2 tbsp worcestershire, 1 clove of garlic finely chopped, 1 tbsp dijon mustard, 1/2 tbsp vinegar, 1 tbsp chili powder, and 2 rounded tbsp raspberry jam. I cooked it for about ten minutes and it was good to go.

Charred Poblano Au Gratin Potatoes

Sometimes I want a big bowl of macaroni and cheese for dinner (and trust me, I'm working on a killer recipe), or a heaping plate of mashed potatoes. There is a middle ground here that people don't make all that often. Au gratin potatoes!!! Thin potatoes, layered with a creamy cheese sauce and baked until its bubbly and delicious. I want a little break from the norm of cheddar cheese everything, and I had a big block of monterey jack on hand. You would be surprised how subtle two ingredients like a pepper and your cheese can drastically change a dish. Give it a try to use up leftovers!

Au Gratin Potatoes

Granted that this picture does not have the peppers in it, but I just couldn't find one, and this was the closest thing too. Speaking of peppers, charring the poblano gives the dish a little bit of a smoky feel, and adds some fruity heat to the dish that is too good to pass up. This dish does have a lot of chopping involved, but once your prep work is done, assembly is very easy.

Potatoes Gratin:

3 white potatoes, rinsed with skin on, sliced in thin slices

1/2 small onion, sliced thin into half moons

2 green onions, sliced thin without the white ends

3 cloves of garlic, chopped fine

1 poblano pepper

Creamy cheese sauce:

2 1/2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp flour

1 to 1 1/4 cup milk

1 tsp salt

3/4 tsp cumin

Fresh cracked black pepper

1 cup grated monterey jack cheese (or colby jack, or pepper jack, any kind of jack)

Preheat your broiler. Put your pepper on a baking sheet, and broil until charred all over, about 3 minutes per side. On a side note, my broiler sucks, so yours might be quicker. Keep an eye out! Wrap it in plastic wrap for about five minutes so you can steam the skin. Set your oven to 400. The chopping begins! Chop or slice all your potatoes, garlic, and onions. Next, take a spoon or the back of your knife and peel the skin off of your pepper. Chop the stem off and open it up so it lays flat on your board. Peel out all the seeds, and dice the flesh to whatever size you want. You're going to put a layer of potatoes, and a third of your onions, garlic, and peppers. You continue this until you finish with a fourth layer of potatoes on top. So you should have, potatoes, veggies, potatoes, veggies, potatoes, veggies, potatoes. I also think its a good idea to put a little sprinkle of salt and pepper in between each layer so you're not missing any flavor. 

For the sauce, melt your butter in a sauce pan over medium-low heat. Stir in your flour and cook for a minute or so until no raw flour remains. Slowly stir in one cup of milk and turn your heat to medium. Add in your seasonings, and stir until it thickens, about four to five minutes. Add your cheese in and stir until melted. This is where you may need to adjust your milk. If the sauce is thick like macaroni and cheese sauce, you should add a little more milk because it will thicken in the oven. If your sauce is fine, pour it over the potatoes, cover with foil, and pop it in the oven for an hour and a half. Take foil off for the last fifteen minutes of cooking so it can brown slightly. Talk about delicious! This one was better than my main dish. Crowd pleaser for sure  :D