Pork Chops

I made these some time ago, but have been totally lazy in posting. I'm not sure anyone even reads my blog, but oh, well. On to pork chops.

Pork Chops

In a deep skillet, melt a small amount of butter over medium heat. Add chops (either boneless or bone-in, whatever you prefer). Sear on both sides, sprinkling with black pepper. Cover with water and add one small yellow onion, quartered, garlic powder (or fresh chopped garlic) to taste, black pepper, and 2 Tbsp of Gravy Master. Cover and simmer on medium for 1 hour. (I let mine just start to boil before I simmer). Really simple, but very good. They just fall apart. You can actually simmer them as long as you want. (But I've never gone over 1 1/2 hours.)

That new cookbook smell!

With the diagnosis of Jim's diabetes, I've been looking around for some new recipes. I found a couple of cookbooks on the American Diabetes Association website so I headed to Borders to check them out. I ended up not liking either of them; the recipes were a little out of my league. I did find two I liked, plus one non-diabetic cookbook. I got The Easy 4 Ingredient Diabetic Cookbook which some of the recipes sneak a fifth ingredient in the instructions; Fix-It and Enjoy It! Diabetic Cookbook, which I have another book from that series and I liked it; and Easy One Dish Meals:New Easy One-Dish Recipes For Everyday Family Meals. I almost bought the Better Homes and Garden cookbook, but I put it back. I asked Jim to go through and pick out what he'd like me to make, but so far he hasn't. There are some really good recipes, so I am looking forward to experimenting in the kitchen. (But no ground turkey!)

Turkey Sloppy Joes

Well, something happened in my experiment today. I had some ground turkey in the freezer, so I thought I'd make turkey burgers. They weren't staying together, so I decided to make sloppy joes instead. My sloppy joes are fabulous, according to Jim, so I figured these would be good, too. Wrong! They were awful! I don't know why...the turkey flavor was just overpowering. I took one bite and couldn't finish it. Jim ate two of them, for which my ego thanked him. I do want to incorporate more ground turkey instead of ground beef, so I am going to try a different brand (I used Perdue) and not freeze it first. Maybe the freezing and unfreezing made the flavor stronger.

Anway, this is my recipe:



Sloppy Joes

ground beef or turkey
ketchup
barbecue sauce
yellow mustard
garlic powder
onion powder

Brown beef and drain. Add ketchup (roughly 12 oz for each pound of meat), barbecue sauce (roughly 1/2 cup), yellow mustard (1 Tbsp), garlic powder, onion powder to taste. Mix thoroughly and simmer on medium low for 15 minutes. Serve.

The great thing about this recipe is that if you add too much ketchup, put in some more bbq sauce and vice versa. Dont' worry too much about the measurements, just fiddle until you think it tastes good. This is my mom's recipe, she just told me the ingredients and said "just throw in enough of each so it tastes like mine!"

Happy 2008!

Happy New Year, everyone! What an exciting year this is going to be! Tax season is approaching, so I will get to see what working for a CPA is really like, hubster and I are planning a jaunt to Chicago over the summer, and I am planning on actually trying some of these recipes that I collect. I keep envisioning passing on my collection to a son or daughter some day, but "Mom's cookbooks" will hold more appeal if "Mom" actually used them!

Anyhoo, I've been asked if I plan to include pictures of my dishes. The answer is: I'll try to remember! We have a great digital camera that sits in its box unless the family gets together so I should get our money's worth from it.

So onto the food! Being New Year's Day, I'm sure you'll guess my theme: pork and sauerkraut! Well, you'd be wrong. I'm not a kraut fan; in fact I dislike most German food. I'm a shame to my heritage. No, my theme today is appetizers. We're heading to a friend's home to finally exchange gifts and I want to take something along. These recipes come from a wonderful cookbook I received as a shower gift. Kitchen Comforts: Recipes to Feed Body and Soul by Gay T. Boassy is right up my alley. She says that she's "not a chef, but I am a cook." The recipes are from her days cooking for her family of 8 (!!) children and one husband. They are all home cooking-type recipes and that is my "cuisine." Enough rambling, time for recipes!


Crescent Marshmallow Puffs

¼ cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
2 8-oz cans crescent rolls
16 large marshmallows
¼ cup butter or margarine, melted
¼ cup nuts, chopped (optional)

Glaze:
½ cup powdered sugar
½ tsp vanilla
2-3 tsp milk

Combine sugar with cinnamon. Separate crescent dough into 16 triangles. Dip a marshmallow in melted butter; roll in sugar and cinnamon mixture. Wrap a dough triangle around each marshmallow and squeeze edges of dough tightly to seal. Sip in melted butter and place buttered-side down in deep muffin cups. Repeat with remaining marshmallows. Place pan on layer of foil in case of spill over. Bake at 375°F for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. In a small bowl, mix glaze ingredients. Drizzle over puffs before serving. Makes 16 puffs.

*This doesn't seem like an appetizer, but it's where I found it in the book. I included it because it seemed like a fun, easy recipe. Especially if you want to make something with kids.


Sausage and Cheese Balls

2 cups Bisquick
1 lb ground sausage
1 cup grated Cheddar cheese

Mix all ingredients together in a medium bowl. Roll into bite-size balls. Place on a cookie sheet and bake at 350° for 15 to 20 minutes. Makes approx. 30 balls.

*I think this is what I am going to take with us tonight. I wanted more of a dip, but there's no law that says I can't make both! I have a more detailed (and expensive) version of this recipe from BettyCrocker.com (I think), but I like this one for its simplicity. I'm going to serve them with barbecue sauce for dipping.


Dill Dip

1 c mayonnaise
2 tsp seasoned salt
1 c sour cream
1 ½ Tbsp grated cheese
1 ½ Tbsp dried parsley
1 ½ Tbsp dill weed

Blend all ingredients together. Serve with cut raw vegetables. Makes approx. 2 cups.

*I submitted this with some recipes for a cookbook to help a friend bring her son home from Guatemala. If you are interested, I think Annie still has some for sale: http://gkline.com/cookbook.html Sorry, forgot my html!


Mexican Dip

2 cans refried beans
1 ½ lbs ground beef
8 oz bottle hot salsa
1 large onion, chopped
16 oz carton sour cream
green onions and black olives, chopped

Spread refried beans in a large casserole dish. Brown ground beef in skillet; drain well and spread over beans. Pour salsa over ground beef. Add chopped onions. Cover all with sour cream. Add chopped green onions and black olives on top, if desired. Serve with tortilla chips. Makes about 6 cups.

*This is something I'm also considering for tonight. I will use medium salsa, though and leave off the black olives. Jim hates them.

I'm going to look through my other cookbooks and online, so with the thousands of recipes out there, who know what I'll end up making!

Some low-sugary goodness

Some time before Christmas, I had promised my husband homemade peanut butter cookies. Then we found out about his diabetes. So, in order to fulfill my promise, I went on a hunt for low sugar or sugar-free recipes. I found one that looked fairly simple (at cooks.com, I think) so I decided to give it a whirl.

Sugar-Free Peanut Butter Cookies

1 c. and 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. Splenda
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
2/3 c. creamy peanut butter
1/4 c. cooking oil
1 egg
2 tbsp. water
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 375 F. Place flour, Splenda and baking powder in mixing bowl. Add peanut butter, cooking oil, egg, water and vanilla. Mix well. Shape into 1 inch balls and place onto ungreased cookie sheets. Flatten with fork. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned.

They came out looking so nice, and the hubster said they were delicious. I didn't try them, but he's not the type to say he likes a new recipe if he didn't.

The second recipe comes from my aunt. She is also a diabetic, so she's a good resource for recipes. It's been modified to be sugar-free, but can be easily made for non-diabetics.

Fruit Salad Dessert

2 small boxes sugar free vanilla pudding
2-15 oz cans no sugar added fruit cocktail
8 oz sugar free Cool Whip

Mix fruit (with the juice) and pudding in a bowl until all the pudding is dissolved. Add cool whip and mix until light and fluffy. Chill.

*If you want to make this non-sugar free, add 2-8oz cans of crushed pineapple and 1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows.

Yay! I have a blog!

Welcome to Kristen's Kitchen. (What a catchy title!) I love recipes, whether or not I actually make the ones I collect is another story entirely. My husband and I are also changing our eating habits to manage his recently-diagnosed diabetes, so there might be some interesting posts about that, too.

Without further ado, my first recipe:

Marital Discord Meatloaf*


2lb ground beef
1 packet meatloaf seasoning (McCormick makes it, so do some store brands)
1-2 eggs
½ to 1 cup Italian breadcrumbs
dash of garlic powder
dash of onion powder
dash of black pepper

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. (I only use 1 egg at first and add the second if the mixture feels dry). Shape into a loaf and bake, covered, in an oven-safe dish for 60 minutes or until meat is browned in the middle at 350 degrees Farenheit.

*This is a tried-and-true recipe, but I don't actually measure the ingredients. As for the name, a friend once asked if I'd make dinner for her husband while she was away on a family emergency. The husband loved it, and asked his wife to get my recipe. Apparently, it hurt her feelings, but she did ask for it. The title was just a joke, but when she made it, she did something else to it, so he still thought mine was better! So, the title stuck. When I make it for my husband though, there is no marital discord. It's only when I make it for other people!