1 family, 1 love: FOOD: Caitlin and Spencer

WEEK 3 RECIPE

On Sundays I am all about easy crockpot meals. I love waking up early and taking a relatively short time to make a delicious dinner. Additionally, I love coming home from church to delicious smelling foods. This recipe is a comfort food recipe that was delicious in flavor and so simple to make. I also made a mushroom (don't be scared girls, I loved it) gravy for the pork chops. It's optional but it did make a great deal of difference. Spencer made a side of garlic mashed potatoes and I also made rolls. My roll recipe is from my Amish cookbook and it is so easy. I'm going to include that recipe as well. Finally, for dessert I made a chocolate strawberry trifle. It was so yummy! I'm going to include that recipe as well. Hope you enjoy!

Pork Chops and Corn Bread Stuffing

Nonstick cooking spray

4 pork chops

1 10 3/4-ounce can condensed golden mushroom soup

1/4 c butter

1 16 ouce package frozen broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots

1/2 of a 16 ounce package of corn bread stuffing mix. (I used a 6 ounce package by accident and it was fine but you might want to do more, however, it fed 4 fine)

1. Lightly coat a slow cooker with cooking spray, set aside. Lightly coat a skillet with cooking spray; heat over medium heat. In the hot skillet cook chops, half at a time, until brown. Remove chops from skillet; set aside.

2. It a very large bowl stir together the soup and melted butter. Add frozen vegetables and stuffing mix; stir to combine. Transfer mixture to prepared cooker. Arrange chops on top of stuffing mixture.

3. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 5 to 6 hours or on high-heat setting for 2.5 to 3 hours.

Easy Mushroom Gravy (Tastes like mom's pot roast)

1 Can of golden mushroom soup

1/2 package of lipton onion soup mix

water

flour

Take a skillet and pour one can of golden mushroom soup into the pan. Fill the empty soup can with water and place in the pan. Stir with a whisk till combined. Add 1/2 of a package of lipton onion soup mix. Stir together and heat. The sauce itself will thicken. I added flour and warm water together in a mug to make a thickening paste and added some to the gravy to make it even thicker. It turned out to be delicious. You will love it, I promise!

Easy Dinner roll recipe

2 packages dry yeast

3/4 c warm water

1/3 c sugar

1 tsp salt

1 egg, beaten

1/2 c butter, melted

3 to 3 1/2 cups flour, divided

Preheat oven to 375. Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add sugar, salt, egg, butter, and 1 cup flour; mix well. Shape dough into ball. Grease dough, turning to grease all sides. Return dough to bowl. Cover; Let rise until doubled. Punch down and shape into balls; let rise for 30 minutes or longer. Bake for 8 to 12 minutes. Yields about 12 rolls. (more if smaller)

Strawberry Chocolate Trifle

Here is the link for the trifle. The only things I did differently was that I added chocolate chips to the pudding and I used a cake mix, not a brownie mix. I recommend that because the brownie would have made it a little too rich for me. Everyone loved it and it made an awesome presentation.

Trifle Recipe

Here are some pictures of my final results. Enjoy! Jess, I'm making the gyros tomorrow and I'm so excited!

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WEEK 2

Spencer and I had our neighbors over and we made the gyros. Our neighbors brought over baklava and it was the perfect ending to our Greek feast. I let the chicken marinate all day and it was wonderful. Spencer cooked it in all of the marinade in a skillet and it turned out quite moist and delicious. I also made the pitas and I don't think I could ever eat another store bought pita. They were a hit! Finally, I served my gyros with Fran's cous cous salad and it was perfect.

Here is my marinating chicken!

Pita bread! So yummy!

The finished pita bread.

Cous Cous Salad. A perfect side.

All the components of this wonderful meal. Thanks Jess for the recipe!

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WEEK 1

I finally made the first dish. I thought it turned out pretty well except for my pan got too hot for one of the pieces of chicken. Oh well, I love some blackened chicken every once in a while. Also, I had to improvise for the sauce. I didn't have any white wine so I was put in a bit of a dilemma. I knew I wanted to stay with a lemon flavor and so I used an ingredient that works well with lemon. I will give you one attempt at guessing. I used...

That's right... cream of chicken. This can of wonderful goodness is one of my most favorite ingredients to use and it made a rather delicious sauce. I cooked the lemons as directed to preserve that flavor. I then added the chicken broth, lemon juice, and a can of cream of chicken. I then whisked it together and brought it to a boil. I put the chicken back in and let it simmer for a little bit. I enjoyed the sauce and thought it was a good compromise since I didn't have the white wine. I hope that's ok with everyone! I served mine over some angel hair pasta. Here are some pictures of my final product.