Crockpot Freezer Meal - Teriyaki Pork and Cream Cheese Peas

Tonights dinner was one of my Freezer Crockpot meals that I made a week or so ago, to help me with evening dinners since we are doing Football in the evenings and it's new for our family. These easy dinners have really helped me with juggling these busy evenings.

This recipe was originally for pork chops, but I only had pork roasts, instead of cutting them up into chops, I figured cooking the whole roast would be tasty. It really was! My husband raved that I needed to keep this recipe and make it again. Soon! So, because it tasted so yummy I'm posting it on my blog and sharing with you. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

ingredients:
2-3 pound pork roast or 6-8 pork chops
salt and pepper to taste (I recommend sprinkling them before you freeze them)
1 Tbsp minced garlic
4 Tbsp brown sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce or amino acid
2/3 cup chicken or veggie broth

Add the garlic, brown sugar, soy sauce and broth in a large gallon size ziploc freezer bag. Mix well, then add the pre-seasoned pork roast or chops. make sure you coat all of the roast or chops in the marinade. Place in the freezer. Pull out the morning you want this for dinner, run warm water over the outside of the freezer bag to loosen up the items in the bag. Place in a crockpot on low 6-8 hours. I removed mine about 10-20 minutes before the end of the cooking time, and let set for about 5 min. This will allow the pork to stay moist.

I served this with cream cheese peas and instant mashed potatoes.

The cream cheese peas is super easy and I made that in the microwave. it's half a cream cheese package, salt and pepper to taste, and 1 pound sweet peas. Microwave 5 min on high, stir, microwave on high another 5 min. Serve warm.

Homemade Fried Rice with Mixed Vegetables

I made orange chicken in my slow cooker tonight. I wanted it to feel like real chinese food... so I made some fried rice. I had never made it before, so like always I searched the web for basic recipes. I found several and read comments on changes other's had made, and then felt confident enough to to make my own. I think this is pretty much my favorite fried rice. It is so tasty, and low sodium as I didn't add any salt to this recipe except for when making the scrambled eggs. I think it also helped that I had plenty of sauce for my orange chicken if I needed any extra flavor. My kids don't usually eat fried rice from the chinese places, even though they order it. Tonight they ate it all up and went back for seconds. They said that it was better because it had corn and green beans in it. I think they are pulling my legs. It's just so good... I hope you like it just as much as I do.

Ingredients

1 bag thawed, mixed vegetables (the one with corn, peas, carrots, and green beans)
3 eggs
salt and pepper to taste
2 tsp olive oil (or vegetable oil)
1 cup white onion (I had some frozen diced) green onions would be fine too
2 tsp or so of oyster sauce (drizzled on top then tossed for a light coating)
3 Tbsp sesame oil
3-4 cups of cooked rice

Directions:

Scramble in a bowl the eggs, with the salt and pepper. In a Wok or large skillet, heat on high and add the olive oil or vegetable oil. Once the oil is hot, scrabble the eggs in the oil, remove and set aside. Wipe out the wok and add in the sesame oil let it get hot. Toss in the rice and stir to evenly spread the oil over the rice. Once the rice has been coated and "fried" with the oil, add in the egg, mixed vegetables and onion. Stirring to incorporate all ingredients. Still over high heat. Then drizzle in the oyster sauce once the vegetables are cook/heated. Evenly distribute by stirring in the oyster sauce to coat the ingredients. Drizzle again with sesame oil for added flavor, toss again. Remove from heat and serve warm.

Verdict...

We all loved it! This is so tasty and looks just like restaurant fried rice. This is an easy dish to prepare. I used my rice cooker to prepare the rice for this dish. It was perfectly cooked. So delicious. If you like take-out chinese. then this is for you. You can add just about anything you like to this dish, shrimp, ham, leftover chicken or beef. Just more vegetables, such as sprouts and cabbage.

Veggie Beef Stew (slow cooker)

Tonight's dinner is a throw it in and forget it kind of day. I'm making some fresh bread to go with it. I was just going to make some beef stew, but realized I wanted more veggie content. Then it turned into more of a veggie stew with a few chunks of beef. I think this will be a good dinner full of vitamins. It should have a great beefy flavor. A nice and hearty dinner.

Ingredients:
1 fajita dry mix
1 cup beef gravy dry mix
1 can beef stock
1 cup diced onions
1 lb beef stew chunks
1 bag frozen mixed veggies
2 cups dried potato slices
4 -6 cups water
10 shakes of Worcestershire sauce
1 regular bag of carrots 8 or 9 regular, thick sliced
4 stalks of celery, large slices

Directions:
dump the fajita and beef gravy mix in the bottom of the slow cooker. Then add the beef stock and 4 cups water. Stir to dissolve the fajita and beef gravy mixture. Then add the potatoes, carrots, celery, and mixed veggies. Stirring to mix it all together. Then add the beef chunks and Worcestershire sauce. Stir to incorporate it all. Add more water to cover if not enough liquid to cover.

Set on low for 6 hours. High for 3-4.

Serve with warm rolls, and a salad.

Verdict:
My kids ate it all up and then even finished the broth. That's a win in my book. My husband said it was good too... I really liked it. Not bad for throwing things I had on hand in a slow cooker to eat for dinner. Yeah Me! I hope you enjoy it too :)

Fetteccini with carbonara and peas

I wanted to make a quick and easy dinner. I also needed to have all the ingredients, isn't that always the way, wanting to make something yummy, but limited on ingredients. I don't have chicken tenders or chicken breasts. The kids wanted bacon wrapped teriyaki chicken skewers. That sounded so yummy, but since i'm out of the chicken, i couldn't make it. So I found this recipe and it was so yummy! I found this in my Better Homes and Garden's Cookbook. I know I use it a lot, but it has some GREAT recipes.

Ingredients:

12 slices of bacon cut into 1-inch pieces
12 oz dried fettuccini or linguine or pasta of choice I kept thinking bow tie noodles would be fun.
2 beaten eggs
1 cup half-and-half, light cream, or milk
4 Tbsp margarine or butter
1 cup grated parmesan or Romano cheese
1 bag frozen peas
salt and pepper

Directions:
First put the pot of water to boil, for the pasta. Then start cooking the bacon and cook until crisp, drain on paper towels. Add the fettuccini to the boiling water  cook for 8-10 minutes or until desired tenderness. Remember to salt your water after you add the fettuccini to add flavor to the pasta. This is the only time you can flavor your pasta. You can test the water to see if it's salty enough. If it's not salty enough add more salt, if too salty, add a extra water. While the pasta cooks, start the sauce.

For the sauce in a medium sauce pan combine egg, milk, and margarine. cook and stir over medium heat till egg mixture just coats a metal spoon (about 6 minutes). Immediately add the bacon and peas, cook a little longer to cook the peas.

When sauce is finished, the pasta should be finished and drained.  Immediately pour sauce over fettuccini, toss gently to coat.

Add Parmesan cheese and parsley; toss gently to mix. Season with pepper. Serve immediately.

Sprinkle with fresh parsley. Enjoy!

Broccoli Cauliflower Artichoke Casserole

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I can hardly believe that it's March already. I love the color green. I am part Irish, and I love thinking of today as GREEN DAY! :) I love that band too. :) Well, I'm trying my hand at theme cooking. I know shocker! I don't usually do anything for St. Patricks day except wear green. Today however, I feel more in the spirit of St. Patricks Day so today I am having a Green Meal planned for dinner tonight. Well, all except for the meat, it's marinated chicken legs (store bought). I participate in something called Bountiful Baskets and I got some green colored cauliflower and I thought to my self, what am I going to do with this? I had bought some broccoli earlier in the week so it was still good. Realizing today was GREEN DAY! I thought, "why don't I make a green dish for dinner". So that's just what I did. I searched online for broccoli casseroles, I didn't find one that I thought I had everything for, so I combined two with ingredients that I already had on hand. So here's hoping it turns out. I also made a green jello cake for dessert. Fun huh!? I think so.

Ingredients:

2 heads of fresh broccoli

1 head of cauliflower (mine was colored green)

1/4 of a red onion (I would have used yellow if I had any)

1 can artichoke hearts (rinsed and chopped)

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 can cream of broccoli cheese soup

1 cup sour cream

salt, pepper and paprika to taste

1/8 tsp celery salt

2 tsp butter (melted)

2 cups herb stuffing mix or (8 oz)

Directions:

Boil the broccoli and cauliflower to desired tenderness, then chop. Add the chopped red onion, artichoke hearts 1 cup cheddar cheese sour cream, salt and pepper in a bowl. Stir in the broccoli and cauliflower. In a 9X9X2 pan, spread mixture in the pan.

Then melt the butter and stir in the stuffing mix to incorporate, the sprinkle or spread on top of the broccoli mix the stuffing and butter mixture.

Bake in preheated 350F oven for 30 minutes. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top of stuffing mixture and bake an additional 5 minutes until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Serve warm.

Veggie Supreme Pizza

I made homemade bread last night. I have the recipe on my blog here. Now this recipe is very versetile but is an all day process. So be warned... It is so worth it. You can make this dough and freeze it, pre-bake some of the crusts and freeze them for another day.. What ever. So here is what I made.

Ingredients:

6-7 baby portabella mushrooms, sliced

1/2 onion, diced

1/2 red bell pepper, diced

1 fresh roma tomato, sliced and then cut in half

2 cups fresh spinach

1/2 cup ricotta cheese

1/2 cup shredded mozorlla cheese

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

3-4 fresh basil leaves, chopped

1-2 tsp minced garlic

1/2 cup to 1 cup of garden combination Ragu spaghetti sauce. (to create a light sauce layer)

1 pre-baked crust using my bread recipe

sprinkle parmesan cheese and italian seasoning

2 dashes of cooking white wine

salt and pepper

1/4 stick of butter

Directions:

After you slice all of your vegetables, set aside. In a small skillet melt 1/4 stick of butter, when nice and bubbly then add the mushrooms and onions. saute... while saute'ing them sprinkle with salt and pepper. Then add a dash or two of cooking white wine, continue to saute' until all the liquid has been absorbed or evaporated. Mushrooms will be a nice flavor and onions will have a translucent sheen. Set aside.

1. Spread lightly the spaghetti sauce, then sprinkle with minced garlic.

2. Add the mushroom/onion mixture, spreading evenly on top of the crust.

3. Next add the diced bell pepper and then layer the spinach.

4. On top of the spinach add the tomato sliced in a layer on top of the spinach. Next sprinkle with cheese on top.

5. spoon pieces of ricotta cheese on top of the cheese layer and sprinkle the chopped basil.

6. sprinkle with italian seasoning and parmesan cheese.

Bake in a Preheated 425F degree oven for 12-14 minutes until golden brown crust and melted cheese on top.

I only have three pieces of this pizza left that I'm going to have for lunch today. My husband ate some too... This was very tasty and beautiful. The bread recipe is very versatile and can be substituted for just about any kind of bread type item you want. I was cooking so much that my rolls went flat. So I baked them anyways and they will be turned into croutons with some olive oil and seasoning. Get creative and have fun. Let me know how you liked this pizza recipe :)

Vegetable Beef Stew

I'm using my slow cooker once again, I'm going to be using it more and more, since my school work is getting more intense and I'm volunteering more at the boys school. Tonight I am making something similar to my beef stew, but a little different. It is smelling delicious. I hope the kids are going to eat it since it's in my 6 qt slow cooker and that's a lot of stew. I maybe donating some beef stew to a family tonight.... hmmm, we'll see.

Ingredients:

-family pack beef stew meat

-1 prepackaged veggie medley (found with the salads - mine had cut celery, baby carrots, red onions and a bout 3 red potatoes) - I found this on sale for $.99 so I bought it and it saved me some cutting and time.

-1 pkg dry au ju seasoning mix

-1 pkg dry beefy onion soup mix

-5-6 red skinned potatoes , diced in to bite size pieces

-salt and pepper

-enough water to cover ingredients

Directions:

First open the pkg of beef stew meat, salt and pepper generously (while still in the package from the store). Next, In a large slow cooker preferably 6 qt, add the beef. Then add in the other ingredients. (with the veggie mix from the store, I just cut the onions a little smaller and didn't use the potatoes - they didn't look too good). Give the mixture a good stir and set it and forget it. If desired... Once it's been cooking 8-10 hours, you can thicken with potato flakes. ( add a little then stir, keep adding to desired consistency).

That's it, done... I'm going to serve this with some pillsbury rolls I bought on sale. This was an easy quick dinner, not a lot of prep or ingredients. Great for a cold day or even a long day. Enjoy :)