I'm Baaaaack...

OK, it's been a LOOOOONG time, so you would think this would be a witty, life-changing blog post, but alas (I love when I can use that word), it is not. Just a yummy non-holiday recipe. Is anyone completely sick of holiday food, or just me. Anyway, here goes. This is our dinner tonight...

This came from The Domestic Diva. It is her Creamy Crockpot Chicken and Potato Soup that she came up with by combining two recipes. I made a couple of very minor alterations

Creamy Crockpot Chicken and Potato Soup

Ingredients:

• 4 chicken breasts (I used leftover turkey and just chopped it)
• 1 1/2 c. chicken broth (depending on how thick you want the soup)
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 8oz. reduced fat cream cheese, softened
  
• salt & pepper to taste
• garlic powder
  
• 1 tsp. poultry seasoning (I didn't use this since my turkey was smoked and already quite flavorful)
• 1 small white onion, chopped
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 12-15 small red potatoes, cut into quarters
  

Directions:
Coat bottom of crock pot with cooking spray. Add carrots to bottom if using. Place chicken on top, and add remaining veggies. Mix together chicken stock, soup, and cream cheese and pour over top. Add seasonings.
Cook on Low for 5-6 hours. Shred chicken with forks before serving!
**I added my turkey 2/3 of the way through since it was already cooked and I just wanted the flavor.

Soon to be famous

This recipe was one of my first "Oh my gosh, this is the best thing I've ever had, can't live without it", non-soup crock-pot recipes. I got it from my friend Leslie (whom I must say that I love so much and miss getting to see every day, but I talk to her at least every day or two via some form of electronic communication). I have to give her props that all of her tweaking this recipe to make it fabulous paid off.

This is something I make at LEAST once a month, and never have enough left over to freeze because we eat every single solitary drop! One Sunday evening last summer, Patrick and Richard ate ALL of it. Yes, ALL of it, your heard me right. Anyway, even if there are no more chunks of meat or veggies, I will heat up the straggler remnants and have what I call pot roast soup ( just the juice and the tidbits of meat and veggies that remain). I urge you to try it and not adjust anything - she's right on the money with everything - even changing the seasoning packet seems to make a difference (the notes out to the side are all hers). So without further ado, here's...

Leslie's Famous Pot Roast

• 3 – 4 lb Roast
• Enough Veggies to fill up the Crock Pot with roast (I use baby carrots, new potatoes, mushrooms and sometimes celery)
• ½ Onion (sliced)

In a bowl mix the following ingredients:

• 1 can of Beef Broth
• ½ cup red cooking wine
• 1 tsp Paprika
• ½ tsp Basil
• ½ tsp Oregano
• ½ tsp Thyme
• 3 Cloves Garlic (minced)
• Pepper
• McCormick’s Pot Roast Seasoning (the seasoning that has the bag attached to it – I just like the flavor of this seasoning)
• ½ cup – cup of water

Mix all these ingredients and pour over the roast and veggies. Cook on Low 10 hours or on High 5 hours. I like to serve it with brown gravy.

...And did I mention that this is so way bad easy it's not even funny? Wow, how can I wait until Sunday to make this? Too bad chicken is already marinating for my Chicken Tikka Masala for tonight.

Even if you hate pork chops...

This recipe is good. I first got it from my friend Heather, and made it for a friend when his wife passed away. Apparently he and all the folks who came to his house after the funeral really liked it because I had to send him the recipe to pass on.

Anyway, I'm not a big fan of pork chops normally, but I must say that while I was making this I thought it looked, smelled and tasted good (from what I could tell from the mixing spoon and all). So I decided to make it myself, and I must say that it rocked. I had totally forgotten about it until my friend Shannon emailed me asking for a pork chop recipe and I I replied with "Nope, I hate pork chops". THEN, it all came back to me...

I modified it slightly yesterday to make it a little more healthy and we had it for dinner last night and I have frozen a couple of individual servings for me to take for lunch. Anyway, here's my "lighter" version of the original. I did the "oven" version instead of the crockpot version. I didn't go to the store until 5:00 last night, and since we wanted to eat before midnight, opted to cook it the quicker way.

Pork Chop Casserole

• 1 small onion, chopped & sauteed
• 6-8 pork chops (I used 8 of the "thick cut" center cut boneless pork chops), seasoned with seasoning salt and pepper
• Flour
• 20 oz pkg of frozen hash brown potatoes, thawed
• 1 can Campbell's Healthy Request Cream of Celery Soup
• 1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream
• 1 cup 2% cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup skim milk
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 cup french fried onions

Dredge seasoned pork chops in flour and then brown on both sides. Set aside to keep warm (I remove from skillet and cover with foil). In a bowl, mix together potatoes, soup, milk, garlic powder, 1/2 of cheese and sauteed onions. Place potato mixture in 9x13 baking dish. Place pork chops (and any "juice" over top of potatoes. Cover and bake at 375 for 45-50 minutes (or until chops are cooked thoroughly). Remove from oven and top with remaining cheese and french friend onions. Bake uncovered for additional 10 minutes or until melted and golden brown.

Calories
474.4
Total Fat
22.0 g
Saturated Fat
9.6 g
Polyunsaturated Fat
1.5 g
Monounsaturated Fat
7.5 g
Cholesterol
118.0 mg
Sodium
343.4 mg
Potassium
950.9 mg
Total Carbohydrate
20.9 g
Dietary Fiber
1.2 g
Sugars
0.8 g
Protein
46.1 g