Parmesan Honey Pork Roast

Tonight was the real kick-off to my monthly menu planning. I did all the assembly work on Saturday, but today was the first time I actually cooked something from it. And let me tell you, it turned out great! I made Parmesan Honey Pork Roast, a recipe I originally found on Pinterest (view here). On Saturday, I bought an almost 5 pound pork roast (it was the smallest I could find!) and cut it in half. I then placed then in a large storage bag, then mixed the sauce in a quart sized bag and tossed it all in the fridge. This morning, I threw it in the crockpot.

Six and a half hours later, the roast was FALLING APART. I couldn't even get it out of my crock pot in one piece! I actually probably could have taken it out a half hour earlier or maybe even a little before that because there were a few spots that were a little dry. But other than that, I can't believe how it easy it was to make something so good!

I had planned on serving it with a side of Roasted Broccoli, but after the Beef and Broccoli was assembled, I realized I hadn't bought enough. So instead, I made some rainbow rotini and tossed it with extra-virgin olive oil and Parmesan cheese. Mmmm. The recipe includes directions for a gravy as well should you decide to serve it with potatoes.

Studdly Hubby was very happy with the roast, but he doesn't love pasta as much as I do, so he says he could have done without that. 

Slow Cooker Parmesan Honey Pork Roast Recipe

Ingredients:
1 (2-3 pound) boneless pork roast
2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup honey
3 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp dried basil
2 Tbsp minced garlic
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water

1. Spray slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray. 
2. Place roast in slow cooker.
3. In a small bowl, combine the cheese, honey, soy sauce, basil, garlic, oil and salt; pour over pork. 
4. Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours or until a meat thermometer reads 160°.
5. Remove meat to a serving platter; keep warm. 

Gravy
1. Skim fat from cooking juices; transfer to a small saucepan. 
2. Bring liquid to a boil. 
3. Combine cornstarch and water until smooth. 
3. Gradually stir into pan. 
4. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. 

*I estimate this to be about 9 WW Points with 8 servings.*

Because I plan on using the leftovers for this roast for Pulled Pork Sandwiches, I shredded the leftovers and placed them in a container and drowned it in barbecue sauce. I'm looking forward to eating it again!

-Rachel

Monthly Menu Planning

When I started this blog, I planned to update it at least weekly. But with working full-time and going to school full-time, pretty much all my blogging has been at a stand still.

BUT, all I have left right now is one more week of one class and then I will graduate from Concordia University Ann Arbor with a BA in Psychology!

Which means, I'm back!

So here's what's going on in my kitchen. I spent all day Saturday shopping and assembling dinners for the next four weeks. I was inspired by a post I saw on Pinterest from Callie at "Greater Things". Now Callie is a Mom with more mouths to feed, and around here it's just me and Studdly Hubby. So I didn't follow her plan exactly, but she did inspire me.

So I picked out some recipes, some from my head and some from Pinterest. I tried to plan around the ingredients for each recipe. So, if I'm making Parmesan Honey Pork Roast one night, I can use the leftover pork for Pulled Pork Sandwiches.

I didn't make 7 dinners a week. Since there is only 2 of us, I planned on some leftover days. And I figure there will still be a few days here and there where we will eat out, have frozen pizza or have a special event. So I made 4 per week.

Once I planned out the menus, I created my shopping list. It was really hard to stomach the total at checkout, but I reminded myself that I spend a lot more in a month when I shop every week. The final bill was less then $300, but it also included some toiletries, cleaning products and a couple personal products. Not bad for a month of dinners really. We'll probably have to pick up a few fresh products along the way like yogurt, fruit, etc., but nothing major.

When I got home, I started assembling the weeks. I put all of the fresh ingredients for the meal I was working on in quart sized storage bags, then put those in a labeled gallon sized bag. Things that are canned or wouldn't go bad, like pasta, were left out.

I put three meals directly in the fridge to use this week, then crammed the rest in the freezer. This is what I ended up with:

I haven't assembled the Fish Tacos or the Cilantro Chicken yet, simply because I don't have any place to put them! I'm planning on throwing them together next weekend when I pull out a couple more meals.

So what I plan to do is post my menu plan today, then I'll share the recipes as I try them. Ideally, I'll calculate the Weight Watchers Points as well. I'm not claiming that these are all healthy choices, but you should be able to make an informed decision and plan your points accordingly! Without further ado, here is the plan:

Week One:
Parmesan Honey Pork Roast
Pulled Pork Sandwiches
Beef and Broccoli
Chicken Quesadillas

Week Two:
Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches
White Chicken Enchiladas
Chicken Quesadillas
Chicken Pot Pie

Week Three:
Roasted Lemon Garlic Herb Shrimp over Fettucine
Slow Cooker Cheesy Chicken and Rice
Philly Cheese Steak Stuffed Peppers
Roast Beef Paninis

Week Four:
Spinach Lasagna Rolls
Pizza Quesadillas
Fish Tacos
Cilantro Chicken

This is all an experiment at this point! I don't know how well some of the ingredients are going to freeze, but we'll find out! :-)

-Rachel

Pumpkin Whip

As a continuation of my last post, here is another menu item from my fabulous/fail first-ever book swap party! Today's featured item is Pumpkin Whip! I believe the original recipe referred to it as "Pumpkin Fluff", but that just wasn't going to jive with me. Hence, re-branding. :-P I served mine in a hallowed out pie pumpkin (which was a nightmare, btw, to cut open) with cinnamon graham crackers. However, after eating some leftovers today, I realized the grahams really took away from the pumpkin flavor. Also, they're kind of messy and crumbly, so I would recommend Teddy Grahams if you wanted to go that route. Or just enjoy eating with a spoon. It'll be like eating a cloud...a delicious pumpkiny cloud. :-P

Ingredients:
-1 16 oz. container fat-free whipped topping, thawed
-1 5 oz. package sugar-free instant vanilla pudding mix
-1 15 oz. can pumpkin (I think it could use a little more to be honest, but I really like pumpkin)
-1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

Directions:
-In a large bowl, mix together vanilla pudding mix, pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice.
-Fold in thawed whipped topping.
-Chill until serving

Enjoy!

Rachel

Pumpkin Soup with Chili Cran-apple Relish

Yesterday, I hosted a little book swap party. It was a little bit of a fail since only my mother-in-law showed up, but that just meant more food for us! This is a plus because the food was delightful! Here's the menu:

Menu

Pumpkin Soup

with chili cran-apple relish

Mozzarella Grilled Cheese

with sliced roma tomatoes and basil pesto

Dessert:

Pumpkin Fluff

with cinnamon graham crackers

Beverages:

Diet Cranberry Soda

Apple Cider

Bottled Water

The spread of goodies!

And here's *one of* the recipes!

The Pumpkin Soup is something I've made once before, for a family Thanksgiving. By itself, it's slightly bland, but the relish is what really brings out the Wow! factor. I stole this one from Rachael Ray.

Ingredients:

(For Soup)

-1 tbs. extra-virgin olive oil

-2 tablespoons butter

-1 bay leaf

-2 ribs celery, finely chopped

-1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped

-Salt and Pepper

-3 tbs. all-purpose flour

-2 tsp. poultry seasoning (smells like Thanksgiving!)

-2 tsp. hot sause, or to taste (I used the 2 tsp. and it added a nice heat, but not spicy)

-6 cups chicken stock

-1 can pumpkin (28 oz.)

-2 cups heavy cream

-1/2 tsp. nutmeg

-1/2 tsp. cinnamon (because I can't have pumpkin without cinnamon)

(For Relish)

-1 Granny Smith apple, finely chopped

-1/4 red onion, finely chopped

-2 tbs. lemon juice

-1/2 cup dried sweetened cranberries, chopped

-1 tsp. chili powder

-2 tsp. honey

-1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions:

-Heat a medium soup pot over medium to medium high heat. Add the oil and melt the butter.

-Add bay leaf, celery and onion. Season the veggies with salt and pepper. Cook for 6 or 7 minutes, until tender.

-Add flour, poultry seasoning and hot sauce, then cook flour 1 minute.

-Whisk in chicken stock and bring to a bubble.

-Whisk in pumpkin in large spoonfuls to incorporate into the broth. Simmer soup 10 minutes to thicken a bit.

-Add in cream, nutmeg and cinnamon.

-Reduce heat to low and keep warm until ready to serve.

-While soup cooks, assemble the relish: combine apple, onion, lemon juice, cranberries, chili powder, honey and cinnamon.

Serve soup with a few spoonfuls of relish!

5 star recipe for me!

3 from Studdly Hubby...so hard to please!

Coming soon: Mozzarella Grilled Cheese!

Pumpkin Bread

Today I needed to bake something for our bake sale at work to benefit the Alzheimer's Association Walk To End Alzheimer's. Because one of the best parts of fall is pumpkin and apples, I decided to bake pumpkin bread! Beth, my supervisor, told me about a recipe from the American Heart Association. I gave it a try and let  me tell you, a nice warm slice slathered in butter really hits the spot! It was ridiculously easy to make, although it does take an hour to bake. Give it a try!

If you're interested in making a donation towards the Walk To End Alzheimer's, click here.

Ingredients:
-3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
-2 tsp baking soda
-1 1/2 tsps salt
-1 1/2 tsps cinnamon
-1 tsp nutmeg
-1 cup sugar
-1 cup oil
-4 eggs or egg substitutes (or 8 egg whites)
-2/3 cup water
-2 cups canned pumpkin
-1 cup chopped pecans (I'm not a big fan of pecans, so I omitted them and it was still great!)


Directions:
-Sift together the flour, soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. 
-Add sugar to flour mixture and mix thoroughly. 
-Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add all at once the following ingredients: oil, eggs, water and pumpkin. Mix well then add in the pecans. 
-Pour batter into 4 8x4-inch loaf pans*, filling each pan about half full. 
-Bake at 350 degrees for one hour or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.
Yield: 4 loaves 1/16 of a loaf equals approximately 85 calories
*I used 2 larger loaf pans for 2 loaves of bread.


I give this recipe 4 stars.
3 Stars from Studdly Hubby!

Crockpot Chicken and Corn Chowder

The temperature here in Indiana has dropped 30 degrees since the weekend, and has everyone fantasizing about football, hoodies, snuggling with someone special under a blanket on a lazy weekend. That being said, this meal was perfect for a cool fall day. It was hot, filling, nutritious (had veggies anyway), and all around comforting. I predict we will be having this many times in the cold months ahead! I may even make it for the book swap party I'm planning!

*Directions intended to throw in the crockpot in the morning before running out the door to work!

southerncooking.about.com

Ingredients:
-1 can Cream of Potato Soup
-1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
-1 large boneless, skinless chicken breast OR 1 cup diced chicken
-1 can whole kernel corn, drained
-1 can chicken broth
-1/4 cup+ diced red bell pepper
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-1/8 teaspoon pepper
-1/4 teaspoon thyme
-1 cup milk

Directions:
-The night before, chop up your red bell pepper. This is one less step you'll have to worry about in the AM.

-In the AM, combine all ingredients *except milk* in the crockpot. I just tossed in a whole frozen chicken breast. I used a whisk to stir it all so that I could break up all that "cream of" soup.

-Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours. At some point, remove the chicken and shred it. Once it's been cooking awhile, it will just fall apart. If you use diced chicken, you can obviously skip this step all together!

-Add milk and cook for 30 minutes on high, or until hot.

-Served in bowls with bread of your choice. Drizzle with some extra-virgin olive oil. Devour.

Note: Adapted from recipe found on About.com. I accidentally used a whole can of chicken broth rather than a cup, so I added about a tablespoon of corn starch at the end to thicken it up.

I gave this recipe 4 stars.
Studdly Hubby Rating: "Pretty Good"

Poor Man's Mac and Cheese

Ladies and gentlemen, when I was young, my family did not have a lot of money. We were most certainly lower class. There are many who come from those kinds of circumstances and reminiscence about the fact that they didn't know any different and were happy with second hand clothes, playing in the dirt, blah blah blah. I am not one of those people. I HATED being poor. But we'll save all that for another blog. The point I'm getting to is that even though I hated our lack of resources and our sad little meals, there is one that rises above the rest. One meal that I still devour and find incredibly comforting. That is, baked macaroni and cheese. It's so simple and so inexpensive. It's not even worthy of calling a recipe, but I'm going to share it anyway. You can serve it as a side dish, but for me, it's a meal.

Here's what you need:

Cooking Spray, Elbow Macaroni Noodles, American Cheese, Breadcrumbs. That's it. For real.

Now, to get started. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Boil some water. Enough to adequately cover your noodles and leave of couple inches of water. This will depend on how many servings you are making.

Intense, I know.

Next, add your noodles. When cooking for myself and my husband (or maybe just myself) I use about 2 cups. Let these boil for 8-9 minutes. Strain. *Note* My colander was not available at the time so I strained the water out and let the noodles hang out in the pot they were cooked in. Don't do this. Your noodles will stick to the pan. It's not pretty.

Mmmm...noodles...

Now, spray your casserole dish with the cooking spray. In a pinch, you could also butter it. Add a small layer of your cooked noodles.

Next, add a layer of American cheese. The trick here is to really cover that layer of noodles, so depending on the size/shape of your pan, you may need to be a bit strategic. For example, I put down one whole slice on the edge, then broke the second slice into thirds.

We're talking about cheese here people. Strategy matters.

After the cheese comes another layer of noodles, then another layer of cheese. Repeat this process until you have used all of your noodles.


Now you should be looking at the top layer of noodles. This is a very important layer. This time when you add the cheese, you want to cover the whole thing with zero gaps. I also nudge the slices down the sides, just a little.

*nudge*

When I was little, my mom would crumble saltine crackers on the top layer. That way is delicious, but I rarely have those available. And I don't want to open a bag just to use a couple and have the rest go stale. So I use breadcrumbs. And you know? Equally heavenly.

Pop the whole thing in the oven for around 20 minutes, again, this may vary depending on the size, but all you're really doing is melting the cheese.

It's done when the top is browned.

And that top layer? That heavenly, salty, crispy, cheesy layer? It's kind of the best part.

For the time and money, this is definitely worth a try. My husband doesn't care for it, but this is the same person who doesn't like Cracker Barrel or diners. There are ways to jazz this up. Use different kinds of cheese, add veggies, different toppings...Cook it with salsa and top with crushed tortilla chips for a fiesta version! The options are endless! Please share if you try any! :-)

Approximately 6 Weight Watchers Plus Points/cup

Bon appetit!
Rachel