Slow Cooker Lemon Rosemary Pork Roast

This week, I finally cashed in on a Christmas present that my hubby got me this year.  It was a cooking class called "Cooking Without a Recipe" at a local cooking school.  Lynnette came with me and we had so much fun!  Our teacher talked a lot about being bold, and being willing to try making food based on what we think will be good.  Since then, I have made some amazing grilled cheese sandwiches, and today I tried this Lemon Rosemary Pork Roast.  It turned out great!  It is a lot of fun to look through my cupboards and fridge and try to imagine what I can make with what I have.

Slow Cooker Lemon Rosemary Pork Roast
by: Carolyn

1 three pound pork roast
1/4-1/2 c. lemon juice
1 c. water
1 tsp. dried rosemary
freshly ground salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 tsp. minced garlic
3 carrots, cut into 1/2 inch slices
2 potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch slices
1 onion, cut into 1/2 inch slices

In a frying pan, braise the pork roast.  I coated my pan in olive oil first.  In your slow cooker, combine the water, lemon juice, rosemary, salt and pepper and garlic.  Place your roast in the slow cooker and then cover it with the carrots, potatoes and onion slices.  Cook it on high for 4-5 hours, or until the roast reaches 160 degrees.

My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

This is my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe.  It comes from my BFF roommate from college, Jacque.  She's given me other great recipes.  Like the Easy Pudding Dessert, or the Easy Chicken Tacos.  And I'm pretty sure Jacque was the one who opened my eyes to Easy Pumpkin Cookies.  These delicious, moist, light and fluffy chocolate chip cookies?  Not so easy.  Not that they are actually very hard, but it is a really big recipe.  So big, in fact, that the title is "Big Family Chocolate Chip Cookies" by Betty Bell.  That is a big title, that even has the word "big" in it!  I half it every time I make it (which takes some mad math skills and amazing egg splitting abilities).  However, they are also big in flavor, and totally worth the extra math effort (or not, if you are in need of a huge batch of cookies).  So bake up a ginormous batch today!!

Big Family Chocolate Chip Cookies
by: Jacque (via her mother, Betty)

7 c. flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/2 c. shortening
1 3/4 c. white sugar
1 3/4 c. brown sugar 
2 1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 1/4 Tbsp. water
5 eggs
1 bag chocolate chips 

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  In a large bowl, cream the shortening.  Add the sugars (I always reduce my sugar and it still tastes great and bakes up normally), water, vanilla and eggs and cream it until it is light and fluffy.  Add the baking powder, baking soda and salt and mix it well.  Then add the flour and stir it to combine.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Bake at 375 for 10 minutes. 

Slow Cooker Sun Dried Tomato Basil Chicken

 

One day I was searching for a good slow cooker chicken recipe.  I read a number of recipes, but nothing sounded like what I wanted.  I finally decided that I could make up my own recipe using what I had available.  So I did.  And it turned out great!  The funny thing is, I thought I was so original, but in the end, it was very similar to one of my favorite recipes, chicken milano.  It was a Freudian Slip, I guess.  I couldn't get away from that flavor combination in my mind.  However, this recipe was done in the slow cooker, which is always lovely for the easiness.  I served it with garlic mashed potatoes, sprinkled with Parmesan cheese, and it was delicious!

Slow Cooker Sun Dried Tomato Basil Chicken
by: Carolyn

2 chicken breasts
1/2 c. sundried tomatoes
1 can reduced sodium chicken broth
1 tsp. dried basil (fresh would be great if you had it on hand-I did not)
1/2 tsp. pepper
a few grinds of sea salt
1/2 c. whipping cream

Place the chicken breasts in your crock pot.  Add the sundried tomatoes (I chop mine up first), chicken broth, basil, pepper and salt.  Cook for 4-5 hours on high.  Add the whipping cream for the last 30 minutes of cooking.  Serve it with garlic mashed potatoes and Parmesan cheese.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins

I make these muffins all the time.  They are delicious and healthy, and they are perfect to send in my kid's lunches for school.  I freeze them in a big ziploc bag, then pull one out in the morning, put it in a baggie in their lunch box and it will be thawed and ready to eat when they are!

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins
by: runningonipsum.com

3 c. whole wheat flour
1 1/2 c. sugar (sometimes I do half white, half brown)
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1/2 c. applesauce
1/2 c. milk
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 tsp. vanilla 
2 c. grated zucchini
1/2 c. chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease two muffin pans (it makes 24 muffins).  In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.  In another bowl, mix together the eggs, oil, applesauce, milk, lemon juice and vanilla.  Stir that into the dry ingredients until it is moistened.  Fold in the zucchini.  Stir in the chocolate chips.  Fill the muffin cups 2/3 full.  Bake them for 20-25 minutes.

Chunky Chicken Pot Pie & A Pie Crust Recipe

When it is a blizzard outside and hasn't been above 20 degrees in a month, don't you just feel like eating warm and cozy comfort food?  I really love chicken pot pie.  I have made it a number of times and this was one of my favorite versions.  Of course, I may have just been in the perfect mood for it.  You can add any veggies that you have on hand.  I only had potatoes, carrots and onions, but peas or celery would have been great, too.  The other great thing about this is it is an all-in-one dish.  I added a little fruit on the side and my meal was done.

Chunky Chicken Pot Pie
adapted from: allrecipes.com

1 chicken breast
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 onion, sliced
1/3 c. butter
1/3 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 3/4 c. chicken broth
2/3 c. milk
1 recipe for a double pie crust (mine follows)

In a medium saucepan, boil the carrots and potatoes until tender (about 15 minutes).  You can also cook your chicken breast with your vegetables if you want.  I always forget and end up cooking the breast separate and then shredding it.  When the vegetables are tender, drain the water and set them aside.  While the veggies are cooking, prepare your crust and lay one half of it in the bottom of your pie tin.  In the saucepan over medium heat, cook the onions in the butter until they are tender.  Stir in the flour, salt and pepper.  Slowly stir in the chicken broth and the milk.  Simmer it over medium heat until it thickens.  Gently stir together the shredded chicken and vegetables and dump that into your pie crust.  Pour the sauce over the top of the veggies.  Then gently lay your other half of rolled out pie crust over the top of the pie and crimp the edges.  Make a few slits in the top with a knife to let the steam out.  Bake it at 425 degrees for 45-50 minutes, or until your crust is golden yumminess.  I bake mine on a cookie sheet so that if it oozes out a little while it is baking, I won't have to clean my oven.

Double Pie Crust
adapted from my Better Homes and Garden cookbook

2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 c. shortening
1/3 c. butter
6-7 Tbsp. ice water

Mix your flour and salt and the cut in the shortening and butter until it resembles pea sized pieces.  Sprinkle one tablespoon of ice water in the flour at a time and using a fork, press the flour and the water together (pushing moistened dough to the side of the bowl).  Repeat until all the flour is moistened and you can form it into two balls.  Roll one out and place it in the bottom of your pie tin.  Roll the second out into a circle.  It will go on top of the pie after the filling is in it.  

Creme Brulee French Toast

Christmas Eve this year turned out very snowy for the few of us down in Southern Utah, Matt and I and my parents.  The weather ended up being too bad to travel up north to visit my sisters and their families for Christmas Eve, so we made the best of it (which ended up being an awesome time with my parents).  We made a special breakfast Christmas morning, including this amazingly rich and delicious Crème Brulee French Toast… and double sausage, which Matt always got on Christmas morning.  A Merry Christmas to both of us.  I think I might make this a Christmas morning tradition, but you should not wait until next Christmas to try it!

Crème Brulee French Toast

From Sixsistersstuff.com

1/2 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp corn syrup
1 loaf Texas Toast bread or other thick sliced bread (I just bought French bread and cut into thick slices)
5 eggs
1 1/2 cups half-and-half cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
Dash of cinnamon

In a small saucepan melt butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup over medium heat until smooth, stirring occasionally.  Pour mixture onto large, greased jelly roll pan (18x13x1").  Spread around to cover surface. Place 12 slices of bread in a single layer to cover pan.  Mix together eggs, cream, salt, vanilla, and cinnamon.  Spoon mixture over each piece of bread.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.  Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes.  Remove from pan and serve.  If not serving immediately, turn each slice of bread over (this will prevent bread from sticking to the bottom of the pan).  You should definitely do as we did, and eat this with our Buttermilk Syrup that is insanely good.  

It's hard to believe, but that bread just soaks all of the mixture right up by morning.  The butter/sugar mixture creates the creme brulee effect on the bottom of the french toast, caramelizing it into sweet, rich goodness. 

Ham & Vegetable Casserole

I've been asked to post some of the recipes that I used to cook.  However, I'm not sure which ones my family liked.  This was a request from your dad, so when I cooked it, I took a picture and decided that I would post it.  This recipe came from one of the ward cookbooks and was submitted by Mary Heaton.

4 cups diced carrots
4 cups diced potatoes
1 onion, diced
4 cups boiling water
1 tsp salt

Cover and cook the above until almost tender (15-20 minutes).  Drain the vegetables and reserve the water to use as follows: 

Add evaported milk (1/2 c to 3/4 c - I just use a small 5 oz can of evaporated milk) to the water you saved from cooking the vegetables.  Make a white sauce using 4 tblsp butter and 4 tblsp of flour and the water/milk mixture.  (To make a white sauce, melt the butter over a medium heat, add the flour and mix, then slowly add your liquid and stir continually until it thickens.)  Add 1/4 lb of shredded cheese to the white sauce and stir.

Put your vegetables in a large bowl and add 2 to 4 cups of diced ham (depending on how much ham you have and how "meaty" you want your casserole).  Pour your cheesy white sauce over the top of the ham and vegetables and gently stir it up. 

Then pour into a rectangular baking dish (don't cover it) and bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until the top is golden brown.   I used a 10.5 X 14.75 X 2.25 inch, which is a bigger baking dish, but my ingredients completely filled it and left just enough room that it didn't boil over.  This makes a big casserole, so if you have a small family and don't want leftovers, I would split the recipe in half.  We will be eating this for a few days.