Korean Ribs

This was my crockpot recipe for Thursday.  They turned out really good!  They were flavorful, tender and juicy. If you want any heat to it, and I think I'll try this next time, try dicing one of the jalapeños and mixing it in with everything.  It's up to you if you want to keep the seeds in or take them out (keeping them in would make it quite spicy).  The recipe is from A Year of Slow Cooking.

Ingredients:

package of beef or pork ribs (I used pork)
1 cup soy sauce
1 cup brown sugar
5-10 whole jalapeño peppers (I used 6 and next time I'll probably up it to 8)
1/2 cup water

Put the ribs (frozen or thawed) in the crockpot.  Add the soy sauce, brown sugar and water on top and put the WHOLE jalapeños on top of everything.  Cook on low for 8 hours (you may need an extra hour if you start with frozen ribs).

Pineapple Salsa Chicken

I'm babysitting a cute baby girl every Monday and Thursday this semester, so I've decided that those will be my crockpot days.  I found a bunch of new recipes here that I'll be trying.  Today's recipe, however, is from Mel's Kitchen Cafe (formerly known as My Kitchen Cafe).  I love this site.  Her food always looks so yummy.

Anyways, this was very good.  I only had pineapple chunks, so I used that instead of the crushed pineapple.  I think it would have tasted more pineapple-y if I used crushed, but if you're looking for just a hint of pineapple flavor, go with the chunks.  Or rings cut into chunks.

Ingredients (directly quoted from the website):

6 fresh or frozen chicken breasts
1 (20-ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15-ounce) can white beans, like Great Northern, rinsed and drained
2 cups mild or medium salsa

Tortillas or tortilla chips and garnishes, like sour cream, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, etc.

Place the chicken in the crock pot and add the rest of the ingredients. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours. Using tongs, remove the chicken to a cutting board and shred into bite-size pieces. Mix the chicken back in with the rest of the ingredients. The mixture will be fairly soupy – I like to drain off some of the excess liquid before serving, especially if we are eating it in tortillas, so it doesn’t make everything soggy. Serve with tortilla chips and garnishes, like tomatoes, cheese, avocado, sour cream, etc.

*Freezable Option: I freeze the leftovers in freezer-safe ziploc bags and either place the frozen portion in my crockpot for a few hours the day I want to serve it or thaw the night before in the refrigerator and reheat on low in a saucepan.

Cajun Spiced Pork Chops

I needed a new un-breaded pork chop recipe when I discovered I was out of bread crumbs tonight.  I found this on allrecipes.com.

Ingredients:

1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp rubbed dried sage leaves
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1 1/2 tsp oil
4 pork chops

Mix paprika, cumin, pepper, cayenne pepper, sage and garlic salt on a plate.  Liberally coat each pork chop with the spice mixture.

Heat oil in a large skillet over high heat.  Place pork chops in the skillet, reducing heat to medium.  Cook until the pork is no longer pink in the center, 8-10 minutes.  An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read 160 degrees F.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

I've never been a huge fan of pumpkin, but I'm slowly working my way up to it.  So far I like pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and this bread.  I guess as long as it has chocolate, I'm happy!  I got the recipe from our Relief Society November calendar, so I'm not sure who's it is.

Ingredients:

Mix together:
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups canned pumpkin
1 cup canola oil
3 T vanilla

Add:
3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
3 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

Mix well.

Grease 2 loaf pans and dust with flour.  Pour batter into pans and bake at 350 for 60-65 minutes (mine was done in about 55).  Check to see if they're done by poking a toothpick down the center.  If it comes out clean, it's done!

Sweet Cornbread

This is for all you cornbread-haters out there.  Derek is one of them, but he actually likes this because he says it tastes like cake.  And it actually does, because half of it is cake.  The ingredients I kind of made up, so just follow your gut on those.

Ingredients:

1 package cornbread mix (I used Betty Crocker, but Jiffy would work great)
1/2 package yellow cake mix
Whatever ingredients they call for (oil, water, milk, butter, eggs, etc.)

So the ingredients on the back of the boxes: I put in everything that the cornbread mix called for (since I put in the whole mix), and half of what the cake mix called for (since I only put in half).  After all was said and done, I had put in 2 eggs, 1/3 cup milk, 1/2 cup water, 1/2 of a 1/3 cup of oil (I estimated) and 2 T melted margarine.  The cornbread said to bake at 350 and the cake said 400, so I baked it at 375 for about 5 minutes longer than what the cornbread said to do.  And it turned out great!  Just make sure you stick a toothpick in the middle to make sure it's done before you take it out.

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

This recipe comes from my sister and it is oh so good!  Normally I'm not a huge chicken noodle soup fan, but this has lots of flavor and I love the creamy consistency.  Derek actually liked it too!  It's a keeper.

Ingredients:

2 chicken bouillon cubes

3 cups chicken broth

2 cups chopped carrots

2 cups chopped celery

3/4 cup chopped onion

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1/2 cup sour cream

2 cups cooked, diced chicken

cooked egg noodles

Heat bouillon and broth in large pot.  Add carrots, celery and onions and simmer until tender.  Add soup and sour cream.  Add chicken and noodles.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Golden Baked Pork Cutlets

Sorry for the terrible picture, but I was in such a hurry to eat because these were so good!  Derek said he'd pay money at a restaurant for them.  The breading kept the meat nice and juicy (another tip to make it juicy is to tent it with foil for 5-10 minutes after coming out of the oven) and the flavor was great.  I believe I got the recipe from Food Network, but I saved it so long ago I can't remember.

Ingredients:

1 lb pork tenderloin, trimmed (I just used some pork chops)
1/2 cup dry breadcrumbs (I only had Italian and they were great; plain would be good too)
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 tsp canola oil
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
4 tsp cornstarch

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Coat a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray.

Holding a chef's knife at a 45 degree angle and perpendicular to the tenderloin, slice the pork into 4 long, thin fillets (skip if you already have pre-cut pork chops).

Mix breadcrumbs, sugar, paprika, onion powder, and salt in a shallow dish.  Drizzle with oil and mash with fork until oil is thoroughly incorporated.  Lightly beat egg white with fork in another shallow dish.  Sprinkle cornstarch over pork slices and pat to coat evenly on both sides.  Dip the pork into the egg, then press into the breading mixture until evenly coated on both sides.

Place the pork on the prepared baking sheet.  Bake until just barely pink in the middle and a thermometer reads 145 degrees F, 14-16 minutes.