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Boneless Pork Chops and Ro-tel

December 12th, 2011
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This took me under an hour to make. I made this with mashed potatoes, and broccoli. Had some good spicey (could always add more peppers to hotter flavor) tomato flavor gravy, cooked with pork chops. Will be eating this for the next few days.

  • 4 to 6 pork chops
  • 4 to 6 tbs.of oil
  • garlic powder to taste
  • salt & pepper to taste
  • 2 can rotel tomatoes
  • all purpose flour

Take large skillet add oil and heat till hot. Season pork chops with garlic, salt and pepper.

Brown pork chops quickly until they are light brown on both sides.

Take pork out of the skillet and put into a bowl set aside.

Put enough flour in skillet to make a smooth paste, add salt and pepper to taste.

Stir continuously until medium brown.

Add cans of Ro-tel into skillet, (you shouldn’t need any but you can water to make gravy thinner) to make a gravy and continue to stir for a few minutes.

Add pork chops to skillet mixture put lid on skillet turn the heat low and simmer stirring occasionally, for 30 to 45 minutes.

Make some mashed potatoes and pour excess gravy ontop of the mashed potatoes.

Hot Pepper Jelly

November 29th, 2011
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I made this hot pepper jelly and we served it for Thanksgiving and it was a big hit. I will be making it again for Christmas. Not only does it have holiday colors but it tastes great.

Ingredients

  • 1 chopped red/green/yellow bell pepper
  • 20 chopped jalapeno peppers
  • 10 chopped cayenne peppers
  • 5 cups white sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
  • 1 (6 fluid ounce) container liquid pectin

Directions

  1. Remove stems, veins and some of the seeds (depending on how hot you want it) of the peppers. Mince peppers in a food processor.
  2. In a 5-quart pot over high heat, combine bell peppers, jalapenos, sugar and vinegar. Bring to a rolling boil; boil for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and cool for 5 minutes.
  3. Stirring constantly, add the pectin and let mixture continue to cool for 2 minutes more. Now stir for 1 minute.
  4. Pour into hot, sterilized jars and top with sterilized lids. Secure lids with bands and allow jars to cool slowly, creating a vacuum seal.

Rotisserie-Style Chicken

January 29th, 2011
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Rotisserie-Style Chicken

From Make it Fast Cook it Slow

  • 5 pound whole chicken
  • 2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 1/2 teaspoon thyme
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
  • 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 4 whole garlic cloves
  • 1 yellow onion in quarters

Skin the chicken and remove the neck and other stuff in the cavity.

In a bowl combined the dry seasonings and mix with hands. shove a half of the onions into the cavity of the bird. Next rub the dry seasonings on the bird and in the cavity. Shove the four cloves of garlic inside the cavity as well.

Put the other two quarters of the onion down on the bottom of the slow cooker. Set the slow cooker to low. Place the bird breast-side down on top of the onion quarters.

Cook for 8 hours. Do Not Add water. Longer you cook, more tender the meat.

Italian Stuffed Peppers

January 15th, 2011
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  • 6 large Italian peppers
  • 6 Italian Hot sausage
  • 3 servings of rice
  • 1 onion
  • jar of your favorite tomato sauce
  • two handfuls of mushrooms
  • half of block of mozzarella

I cooked the italian sausage with some oil and garlic just long enough to brown all sides. Cook the 3 servings of rice and fry up the onions and mushrooms. Cut up the sausage into small piece, I cut it in half length wise then in half again lenghwise then cut it like a hot dog. Throw that into a bowl with rice, onions, and mushrooms and mixed up. Add some salt, pepper, cayanne pepper and chiptal pepper, add more if you want it hot.

For the peppers cut off the tops and de-seed the pepper. Boil some water and put the peppers into the water for a good ten minutes. Then drain the water.

Pour half the jar of pasta sauce into a glass pan. Cut the cheese into 6 long strips. Lay a strip of cheese inside the pepper, then stuff the peppers the sausage mixture and place into the pan. I use to tops of the peppers to help keep the stuffing in the pepper. Then cover with the remaining sauce and cook for 30-45 minutes on 350 degrees.

10 minutes before you are ready to serve. Shred the rest of the cheese ontop of the peppers.

Chicken Sweet Potatoes

January 15th, 2011
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from http://busycooks.about.com

  • 5 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 1 teaspoon curry powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 3 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 cup peach preserves OR apricot preserves
  • 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
  • 1/2 cup chicken broth or water
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch

Preparation:

Sprinkle chicken with salt, cayenne pepper, paprika, curry powder, and ginger. Place sweet potatoes and onions in 3-1/2 quart slow cooker and top with chicken. Top with peach preserves, vinegar, and soy sauce. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours until chicken is thoroughly cooked and sweet potatoes are tender when pierced with fork.Combine chicken broth and cornstarch and mix well. Add to slow cooker. Cover and cook on high 10-15 minutes until sauce is thickened.

Slow-Cooker Brisket Sandwiches

January 4th, 2011
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from the food network

  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 5-to-6-pound first-cut or flat-cut brisket, cut into 3 pieces
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
  • 4 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
  • 1 12-ounce bottle stout beer
  • 4 stalks celery, cut into large pieces
  • 2/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup tomato paste
  • 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
  • 1/3 cup soy sauce
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 2 brioche or other rolls, split open and toasted
  • Coleslaw, for serving

Directions

Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season the brisket with salt and pepper, then brown on all sides, about 10 minutes, adding the garlic in the last 2 minutes. Transfer the meat and garlic to a 5-to-6-quart slow cooker. Pour the beer into the skillet and simmer 30 seconds, scraping up the browned bits from the pan; add the beer mixture to the slow cooker.

Nestle the celery around the meat and add the brown sugar, tomato paste, vinegar, mustard, soy sauce, bay leaves and paprika. Stir, then cover and cook on low 8 hours or on high 6 hours. Transfer the meat to a cutting board and let rest 10 minutes, then thinly slice.

Serve on brioche halves with coleslaw; drizzle with the cooking liquid.

Per serving: Calories 474; Fat 16 g (Saturated 7 g); Cholesterol 128 mg; Sodium 265 mg; Carbohydrate 18 g; Fiber 0 g; Protein 61 g

Photograph by Antonis Achilleos

Notes

You’ll have plenty of leftover brisket: Use it in tacos, quesadillas, chili or even on a pizza.

Knock you on your ass EGGNOG

December 27th, 2010
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Kick you ass EggnogSo for the holidays i wanted to make an eggnog that had a kick, not a two year old’s kick to the ankles but like a UFC fighter kick…to the head.

So taking some recipes I found online and through a lot of testing I found a really good mix that has a really good kick. Now i didn’t make the eggnog from scratch. Instead i cheated and got eggnog from swiss farms and wawa. Lots of testing was done.

So here it is…
1 part Bourbon
1 part Rum
1 part Amaretto
1 part Kahlua
1/2 part Brandy
1/2 part Cream de Mint
5 parts egg nog
dash of nutmeg and a small dash of ground cloves…

Mix everything together, pour back into the container and shake for a good 30 seconds. Pour and add a little more nutmeg and enjoy.

Check out Todd’s Blog

December 17th, 2010
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Todd is a designer at Netplus and a damn good one at that. Check out his blog:

http://toddsmedia.com/blog/

Slow Cooker Chili

November 15th, 2010
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Ingredients

  • 2 lbs. of Ground Beef
  • 2 Cans of Dark Red Kidney Beans
  • 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes
  • 1 pack of mild chili seasoning
  • 1 pack of hot chili seasoning
  • Black Pepper, Garlic Salt, & your choice of hot sauce

Prepare
Brown the ground beef, and place in the slow cooker.

Then place the kidney beans, diced tomatoes & seasoning mix all in the slow cooker.

Mix around; top off the hot sauce and pepper and garlic.

Cook on Low for 4-5 hours.

Get yourself a nice loaf of Italian bread to go along with this meal and don’t forget cheddar cheese once served!

- From Mark Barletta

Slow Cooker Southwestern Mac & Cheese

November 15th, 2010
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Ingredients
  • 1 pack of elbow macaroni (8 oz.)
  • 1 can of diced tomatoes w/Green Peppers & Onions (14oz.) – undrained – pour it all in
  • 1 can of diced tomatoes w/ Green Chiles (10 oz.) – undrained – pour it all in
  • 1 ½ cups of salsa
  • 3 cups of shredded Mexican Blend Cheese

Prepare
Dump it all in and let it cook on low for about 4 hours – with about 15 minutes left before finishing sprinkle more cheese on the top.

Stir it when possible.

- From Mark Barletta