Apple Bacon Pork Roast - Crockpot Meal

The biggest reason I love cooking in the crockpot is that it is super easy... almost fool proof. My next meal this week was the Apple Bacon Pork Roast and as good as it was when it was fresh, it was actually even better as left overs. I found the recipe here. This is the picture that enticed me...

Looks great right??? I knew instantly this was going to be one of my first recipes to try and let me tell you, it was as good as I thought it would be. The only down fall was that the roast is cooked with apple slices inside and I think because I started the roast @ 7:00 am and we didn't eat until 5:00 pm that they got a little mushy. I think had I started the roast around noon and only cooked it on high for 4-6 hours they wouldn't have been ewwwy. In any case, the meat and bacon was to die for... literally. The smell, flavors, MMMMM. So here's how I started my roast.

The recipe calls for slicing the roast into inch slices 3/4th of the way through, then placing apple slices inside the slits. Once the apples are inside, place the bacon on top. I did mine in a lattice style. Once the bacon is on sprinkle brown sugar on top. The roast goes from above to below and no, that isn't bacon fat, that's juice.

I served my roast with mashed potatoes and gravy, beets and corn. It was so delicious! Since my kids decided to eat like birds I have way more than enough for probably 2-3 more meals.

Crock Pot Apple Bacon Pork Roast

 

Prep Time - 10 minutes

Cook time - 4 hours

Total time - 4 hours, 10 minutes

Serves - 6-8

Ingredients

·         3-4 Pork Loin Roast

·         2 large apples sliced (I prefer fuji)

·         6 slices of bacon (1/2 cooked)

·         ⅓ cup brown sugar

Glaze

·         ½ cup brown sugar

·         ¼ cup apple juice

·         1 tablespoon Dijon or grainy mustard

·         dash cinnamon

Instructions

1.      Slice your pork loin into one inch slices about ¾ of the way through. That way the roast is still connected in one piece.

2.      Place roast in a large crock pot and place the apple slices in the slits.

3.      Lay the bacon slices over the top of the roast, and sprinkle with brown sugar.

4.      Place lid on the crock pot and allow the roast to cook for 3-4 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low. Final cook time will depend on your crockpot.

5.      Slice and serve with the glaze below.

Glaze

1.      Blend glaze ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, until the mixture comes to a boil. Remove from heat and set aside.

** Now I wasn't too sure when to put the glaze on because the recipe doesn't state, so I just dumped it over the whole thing and let it cook together while I got my sides ready so about 10 minutes. When pulling it out of the crock pot I poured some juice on top to provide more moisture.

Chicken Fajitas

In my effort to crockpot more and branch out from our normal every day food, I decided to try the Chicken Fajitas recipe that I saw on Pinterest. It sounded wonderful. Even though I don't like peppers, I still wanted to try the recipe (minus those nasty peppers). My kids loved the recipe... me, not so much. I think a full packet of taco seasoning is just way too much or something. It wasn't awful, just not as wonderful as I was hoping. I think I am going to give it one more shot, but this time I am not going to put nearly as much seasoning in it and see how it does. If I were to give this recipe a star rating, it would only get 2 out of 5. 

Chicken Fajitas
( 5-6 servings)

·                     1 1/2 pound chicken breast

·                     2 peppers (your favorite)

·                     1 onion

·                     1/2 cup chicken broth

·                     taco seasoning packet

·                     1 tsp. chili powder

·                     1/2 tsp. paprika

·                     1 tsp. salt

You will also need tortillas, cheese, cream, etc.

1.            Put all the ingredients in a large freezer bag. (Make sure you label the bag with instructions.)

2.            When it’s time to cook it, dump it all in your slow cooker and cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 5-6 hours.

3.            When it’s cooked, shred the meat and add it back to the pepper mixture and serve on warm tortillas and your favorite toppings.

Smothered Beef Burritos

As part of my "Cook with a plan 2015" Tonight was Smothered beef burritos. I had never made this before but it sounded super delicious, and let me tell you, it truly was. The beef mixture was to die for, and the enchilada sauce was fantastic! Both of my kids gobbled it up. My six year old daughter even ate every single bite of her burrito and this is the child that refuses to eat burritos and opts for a tortilla with cheese only instead. This will definitely be added to the future meals list. There was even enough of the beef mixture left to make me a lunch for tomorrow and also 1 more meal for all 3 of us. I love meals like this. Tonight I plan on making up the last of the mixture into burritos and freezing them as is so I just have to pop them into the oven when I'm ready to eat them.

Smothered beef burrito

  Serves: 5-7

Ingredients

1 1/2-2 lb stew meat  - 5.98

2 cans Old El Paso enchilada sauce  - 1.38 each = 2.76

2 Knorr Beef Stock tubs  - 4 tubs for $3.48 = 1.74

1/2 can(s) refried beans  - $1.00 = .50

5-7 burrito sized flour tortillas  - Package of 16 for $5.46 = 1.37

cheddar cheese, shredded - 2lb bag (maybe a cup was used) for $8.88 = .56

Total cost for tonight's dinner ---$12.91 and as mentioned there is plenty for another meal. Definitely a win in my book.

Directions

1. In crock pot put beef, enchilada sauce and bouillon and cook on low 7-8 hours (or high 3-4), until beef is fork tender.

2. When beef is done taste and add salt if needed. Heat up refried beans and put oven on broil. On oven proof plate or cookie sheet place tortilla and 1/2 cup of beef and spoonful of beans.

3. Roll into burrito and pour enchilada sauce over to completely cover. Sprinkle with cheese and broil until cheese melts.

Crockpotting through the year

2014 was a terrible year for me. I had very high hopes that the year would be wonderful, but even from the beginning it started out really bad. Thankfully half way through the year things started getting much better, and have continued improving. I moved from Tennessee back to Arizona, I got a job as a teacher's aide at the local high school, and I was given a house to live in rent free. I finally was able to get medical insurance and have been getting all a full work up and finding out why I have been so tired. Since school started in August I have felt like an inadequate mom because most nights I just have not had the energy to cook for my kids. Now that I know why I had no energy, I have made a plan to correct the issue. This week I have made a plan on how to correct this, and save money in the process. I made a menu plan for the whole month. 4 days a week will be crockpot meals, 3 days a week I will actually cook. Since my family is a family of 3 (with 1 growing boy stomach, and 1 bird like stomach) 31 days of meals really isn't necessary. Most of these crockpot meals will be enough for at least 2 meals, if not more. I'm ok with this. I'm thinking the food I purchased today will be enough for 1.5-2 months. So here is my meal plan for the month. 

I decided today would be Creamy Italian Chicken with rice, cheese and tomato. I got to say, YUMMMMMM!!!!!I first found this recipe on the website Sparkpeople.com. Those that are trying to lose weight can use this recipe and modify it just a touch to make it healthier. After a conversation with my sister I realized that I can add the extras to it to make it like a Hawaiian Haystack. Definitely a win on both account.This morning I put the chicken on to cook this morning before I left to go shopping, and added the final touches after I finished bagging all my meals. Man was that a workout!!! Here's the Recipe. 

Creamy Italian Chicken

Cooking Time - 6-8 hours on low (can be longer if necessary)

                           4-6 hours on high

Ingredients:

2 lbs Boneless, skinless chicken breasts -    $4.00

2 cups chicken broth -                                  $1.00

1 cup Wishbone Italian Dressing -               $0.50

1 pkg Philadelphia Cream Cheese                $2.19

1 can Cream of Chicken Soup                      $0.75

                                Total cost                      $8.44

Directions:

Place chicken, broth, and dressing in crock pot and cook until chicken is tender. About 30 minutes before serving, cook rice (I use my awesome rice cooker). While rice is cooking, shred chicken and add soup and cream cheese to the crock pot and mix well so there are no lumps. Sometimes I will remove the chicken while I shred it, sometimes not. Today I was able to use a spoon and shred it against the sides of the pot. Allow to heat through once again before serving. I usually put about 1/2-1 cup of rice on plate/bowl, about 1/2 cup of mixture, 1-2 oz of cheese, and a couple of tomato slices diced. If I am really making it into a hawaiian haystack then I will also add celery, pineapple and the chinese noodles.

The total cost for today's meal was less than $10 (Including the cost for rice, cheese and tomato) and I have enough of the chicken mixture for at least 1 more meal, if not more so in reality I only spent about $5 for tonight's dinner. I love a bargain. I hope you enjoy this dinner as much as my family does. My bird eater actually ate 2 servings. 

KFC Coleslaw

When I was a little girl, my parents didn't have a lot of money. It was very rare for our family to go out to eat, but they did try to do something fun at least once a month. When we would go out to eat at KFC they would order each of us a 2 piece meal. I was never really that fond of the biscuits (I know, I know, for shame!) or the mashed potatoes and gravy. My sister didn't like the coleslaw. So our solution was for me to give her my biscuit and potatoes and she'd give me her coleslaw. Looking back on the deal now I know my sister made out in the deal better than me, but back then, I thought that was the most awesome deal! 2 coleslaws just for me?? Heck yeah! So you can my excitement when I was given the e-cookbook titled Insider's Recipes Master Edition. This cook book has all the inside secrets for all the big-name products ranging from ice cream, to candy bars, to actual restaurant food. Inside this wonderful cookbook is what folks?? KFC coleslaw! WOOT WOOT! You can bet your bottom dollar that the coleslaw recipe was my first try. And guess what?? It was awesome. So here is that wonderful recipe. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

KFC Cole Slaw
8 cups shredded cabbage
1/4 cup carrot, shredded
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teas. salt
1/8 teas. pepper
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup mayonaise
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 tbls. white vinegar
2 1/2 tbls. lemon juice
Combine cabbage and carrots in a large salad bowl. Mix remaining
ingredients together and combine thoroughly. Pour liquid ingredients
over cabbage and carrots and stir. Refrigerate at least two hours
before serving (overnight is better). Stir well before serving.

**Quick tip, I'm slightly lazy so instead of shredding the cabbage and carrots, I just purchased the preshredded coleslaw pack from the veggie section. worked wonderfully!***

Chicken Parmesan

I've mentioned before that I have found wonderful recipes on the Slimfast website. The Chicken Parmesan has been one of my favorite recipes, but it's a little tricky. One tip I've learned is that the pan needs to be relative to the amount of servings. The recipe is set up as a single serving so my small cast iron pan would work perfectly. If the pan is too big, the chicken is going to stick and it's not going to turn out right. Been there, done that. And now, the star of the show:

Chicken Parmesan

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients

·  1 garlic clove

·  1/2 onion, yellow, whole

·  1 teaspoon oil, canola

·  4 ounces chicken breasts, boneless/skinless, raw

·  1 ounce milk, fat free

·  2 tablespoons cheese, parmesan, regular

·  1/4 cup spaghetti sauce, reduced sodium

·  1/8 teaspoon black pepper

·  2 ounces pasta, linguini, uncooked

·  1/4 pound spinach, raw bunch or bagged

·  1/2 tomato, whole, fresh

·  2 ounces dressing, Italian lo cal low sodium

Preparation

·  Peel and mince garlic; place in a non-stick skillet.

·  Chop onion and add to skillet.

·  Add oil to skillet and saute garlic and onions for about 3 - 4 minutes over medium heat.

·  While garlic and onions cook, dip chicken into milk and then coat with parmesan cheese.

·  Brown both sides of chicken in skillet; about 3 minutes per side.

·  Decrease heat to low and add spaghetti sauce, mushrooms and black pepper.

·  Cover and simmer 15 minutes.

·  While chicken is cooking, prepare pasta according to directions and salad.

·  Wash spinach, tear into bite size pieces and place in a large salad plate.

·  Wash and slice tomato and add to salad.

·  Drizzle salad with dressing before serving.

·  Serve chicken with pasta and salad.

Nutrition Information Amount Per Serving Calories 660 Calories from Fat 180 Total Fat 21g Saturated Fat 5g Cholesterol 75mg Sodium 440mg Total Carbohydrate 74g Dietary Fiber 9g Sugars 10g Protein 44g Vitamin A 180% Vitamin C 90% Calcium 40% Iron 40%

Sugar Cookies

Can you guess which cookies I frosted and
which ones my kids frosted? lol

Growing up I have always loved to bake. I've made many different sugar cookie recipes but they have always turned out the same way, hard and crunchy. When I discovered the large soft sugar cookies that can be bought by the dozen at the store I pretty much decided that I was done making sugar cookies. Even though they are a blast to make and decorate I am not a big fan of crunchy cookies. I love my cookies to be soft and chewy. This week I have decided that I was going to start doing more baking and teach my children how to bake at the same time. My daughter decided sugar cookies would be our first project. I looked through my recipes, and found a recipe that I had added to my recipe book on allrecipe.com. Here is the link to the recipe. I read through the reviews and saw that all the reviews were very positive so I decided to go ahead and attempt this recipe. The results were fantastic!!! The cookies were so soft and chewy. The original recipe did have a buttercream frosting recipe to make but I already had some store-bought frosting and decided to use it. I do plan on using the buttercream recipe at a later date and I will let you all know how it went. For those that do not want to click the link, here is the recipe. Oh, and even though the recipe says it makes 5 dozen cookies, I only got about 2-3 dozen cookies. I'm not sure if my cookies were cut too large or thick but I just wanted to let you all know.

***Note*** I made the buttercream frosting from the recipe today and it turned out really well. The only change I made from the recipe was using the butter flavored crisco over the regular shortening and adding butter flavor. I think it was a huge hit.

Sugar Cookies with Buttercream Frosting

Rated: Submitted By: Diane Photo By: CookieDough Prep Time: 15 Minutes Cook Time: 5 Minutes Ready In: 2 Hours 20 Minutes Servings: 60

"These cookies are melt-in-your-mouth delicious. They are simple to make and kids love to lick the frosting off the tops. Butter flavoring is in the buttercream for added flavor. You can find it in most supermarkets, in the baking aisle, where there are other flavorings such as vanilla."

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup butter 1 cup white sugar 2 eggs 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup shortening 1 pound confectioners' sugar 5 tablespoons water 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/4 teaspoon butter flavored extract

DIRECTIONS:

1.	In a large bowl, mix together butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; gradually stir flour mixture into butter mixture until well blended using a sturdy spoon. Chill dough for 2 hours.
2.	Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes using cookie cutters. Place cookies 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3.	Bake for 4 to 6 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove cookies from pan and cool on wire racks.
4.	Using an electric mixer, beat shortening, confectioners sugar, water, salt, vanilla extract, and butter flavoring until fluffy. Frost cookies after they have cooled completely.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

I received an email from the biggest loser club with one of the best recipes I've tried in a very long time. Chicken Cordon Bleu. The recipe is from the Biggest Loser Quick & Easy Cookbook. It was reprinted in Prevention so I don't feel guilty for sharing the recipe. Because of this recipe I did purchase the whole cookbook. Now, by request..

Photo from Prevention Magazine

Ingredients2 (4-ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, visible fat removed, pounded to 1/2" thickness
Olive oil spray (propellant free)
Sea salt, to taste
Fresh ground black pepper, to taste
Garlic powder, to taste
2 ounces thinly sliced lean, nitrate-free ham
1 ounce thinly sliced all- natural reduced-fat Swiss cheese
1/2 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme leaves, or more to taste

InstructionsPreheat the oven to 350°F.

Lightly mist the chicken with olive oil spray on both sides. Sprinkle evenly with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

Place a medium ovenproof, nonstick skillet over high heat. When it's hot, lightly mist it with the spray and add the chicken. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes on each side, or until golden brown on the outside.

Remove the pan from the heat. Top each chicken breast with half of the ham and half of the cheese, making sure they do not hang over. Sprinkle each evenly with the thyme. Transfer the pan to the oven and bake for 4 to 6 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through and no longer pink inside.

Per serving: 193 calories, 36 g protein, 1 g carbohydrates (0 g sugar), 5 g fat, 2 g saturated fat, 90 mg cholesterol, trace fiber, 337 mg sodium

Here is a picture of the finished product. 

Weight Watchers Points Plus - 6 pts.

**Note** The first time I made this I didn't have any swiss cheese and substituted colby jack cheese. I also put the cheese between the 2 meats to help the ham stay on the chicken. The 2nd time I made it I used swiss cheese but cut the slice in half and placed half between the meats and the other half on top. Both versions were extremely delicious. :)



Click here for the link to the Prevention page:

Terrific Tacos

For many years I have tried to loose weight. I have joined several fitness/weightloss sites hoping to find the program that would work best for me. After my son was born, I advised a doctor and was told to try the Slimfast method, so I did. I was highly surprised at how wonderful the food was. One thing I really like about the recipe is that it lists everything for the meal: Main dish, side dish and dessert. It's really nice. The thing I don't like about the recipe is that each recipe (then) was only set up for 1 person. So depending on the recipe it sometimes gets a little tricky adjusting the recipe for more than 1. This recipe was pretty easy to adjust. Here's some very Terrific Tacos. I hope you enjoy!

Terrific Tacos

Prep Time: 10 minutesTotal Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

·  1/4 onion, yellow

·  1 garlic clove

·  1/2 bell pepper, green, medium

·  5 ounces ground beef, extra lean

·  1 tablespoon taco seasoning

·  1/8 pound lettuce, romaine, chopped

·  1 tomato, medium

·  2 taco shells

·  2 tablespoons sour cream, fat-free

·  1 ounce cheddar cheese, low-fat

·  1 apple, medium

Preparation

Wash, peel and chop onion and garlic; wash, core and chop green pepper, reserving half for salad. Brown the ground beef, onion, garlic and half of the green pepper in a medium heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in the seasoning mix along with 1 to 2 tbsp. of water. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, wash and chop lettuce (1/8 pound is approximately 1 cup) and tomato, and arrange on a serving plate. When meat mixture is done cooking, spoon into taco shells and bake in a 350-degree oven or toaster oven for approximately 5 minutes, if desired, to enhance crispiness. (Alternatively, taco shells may heated without meat mixture.) Top tacos with sour cream (1 tbsp. each), cheese (1/2 ounce each), and prepared lettuce, tomato and reserved green pepper. Eat remaining meat and vegetables as a salad, including everything that falls out of tacos while eating. Enjoy a crisp apple for dessert.

Nutrition Information Amount Per Serving Calories 600 Calories from Fat 200 Total Fat 22 g Saturated Fat 7 g Cholesterol 60 mg Sodium 650 mg Total Carbohydrate 60 g Dietary Fiber 10 g Sugars 26 g Protein 44 g Vitamin A 60% Vitamin C 170% Calcium 30% Iron 30%