Easy Week Night Meal

I was looking at old cookbooks the other night and I saw that there was a note beside the Tex Mex Pork Chops that said, "we both liked". So Bo and I put it on the menu. We both forgot how good this really was. We found it in Favorite Brand Name Match a Meal Quick & Easy Cookbook.
Tex Mex Pork Chops:
4 Boneless Pork Chops about 1lb
1 Teaspoon Vegetable Oil
1.5 cups of Salsa
1 can (4 oz) diced green chilies
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 shredded Cheddar cheese

Heat oil in nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Brown chops on one side, about 2 minutes. Turn chops over. Add Salsa, chilies and cumin to skillet; mix well. Lower heat, cover and barely simmer for 8 minutes. Uncover; top each chop with 1 tablespoon cheese. Cover and simmer an additional 2 to 3 minutes or until cheese melts. Serve immediatly.

I place the pork chops on top of white rice and topped with chow mein noddles, for a little extra crunch.

This recipe was wonderful and I will add it to my regular rotation. Let me know if you try it and like it.

Easy Week Night Meal

I got this recipe out of a Kraft cookbook several years ago. I have to say this has become one of my go to meals. It really doesn't look that appealing in this picture, but it really is wonderful and it only take 4 ingredients - 1lb hamburger meat, macaroni noodles, Velveeta cheese and salsa. I'm including a link to the recipe.

Tomato Bacon Piec

I made this for my dad's birthday party. This is an amazing recipie that I thought I would share with you.

1 Prepared Pie Crust (I use 2 BUT some are deep and some are not)
4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
½ tablespoon chopped chives (1 tablespoon if fresh)
6 large ripe tomatoes, sliced
1/8 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon dried sweet basil
4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Place piecrust in pie pan. Dock the bottom of piecrust (poke w/fork) and bake for 12 to 15 minutes until just set and bottom is slightly golden. Remove from oven and set aside.In a small mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, mayonnaise, cheddar cheese and chopped chives and mix well.In piecrust, layer tomato slices, sprinkling each layer with a dash of salt, pepper, onion powder and basil and some of the bacon crumbles. Repeat until piecrust is full, and then spread cheese/mayo mixture on top. Bake pie for 40 minutes or until topping is golden brown. Let pie cool slightly before slicing and serve.

We all enjoyed this pie!

Strawberry Falldown Cake

I know many of you have seen this cake before. It is my mother-in-laws Strawberry Cake, but I changed the icing recipe I added two bars of cream cheese to the icing. It tasted wonderful. You see our church has a dessert cooking contest/concert every spring. It doesn't have to be an original recipe. By the time Bo and I got to church my cake had slid every where and looked horrible. They asked us for a name and Bo said Strawberry Fall Down Cake. There were tons of strawberry cakes and needless to say I didn't win, but now I do know what to expect for next year.

Blue Cheese Turkey Burger

This is not my burger. This came from the Betty Crocker website. We ate ours before I could thing about taking a picture.

A few weeks ago Jenny-O was running a special a free pack of Turkey Meat after mail in rebate. I decided to participate. In the mean time the turkey has been in the freezer just waiting to be made into something.

Well, since I couldn't do much on Thursday and Friday I decided to start looking at my cook books to find new recipes, and I came across this one. Let me just tell you that this was amazing. Bo loved it! I loved it! We both agreed this was a hit.

We made them on the George Forman Grill instead of the outside grill. This probably wasn't the best idea, but it worked. We will definitely be having these again.

White Bean Chicken Chili

This weekend I tried a new recipe. I found it on The Fairhope Foodie. Let me just say it was excellent, and I would definitely try it again.
It called for 4 can of white beans - rinsed
3 chicken breast
8 oz block of cheese - I didn't have this so I added a cup of shredded cheese, which was not enough
2 cups of salsa - I added a 24 oz jar
didn't call for this but I added - 1 can of chicken broth.

Cooked all day on low in the crock pot. I will eat the left overs for lunch this week.

50 People Punch

My friend Busty asked for the punch recipe from the shower the other day. This is my mother in laws recipe.

Punch for 50

2 cups sugar
2 quarts of water with 2 packages of Lemon-Lime Kool-Aid
1 quart ginger ale
1 46 oz can pineapple juice
Lemon Juice from 1 Lemon (Keep slices to put in punch or ice mold)
Food coloring if you wish for affect

Add all ingredients together accept Ginger ale.
Chill.
Just before serving add ginger ale.

Additionally you can freeze some of the punch with fruit slices in the mold to keep the the punch cold.

Strawberry Cake

Okay last night instead of sewing, I made a Strawberry Cake for a reception tonight. Well, lets just say that the cake didn't turn out at all. I was going to take a picture because it looked so bad, but then I just couldn't. When this cake is made correctly it is wonderful. My mother-in-law makes it all the time without any trouble and this is her recipe.

Strawberry Cake

pre-heat oven to 350

1 package yellow cake mix

1 small strawberry jello

2/3 cups water

1/2 cups oil

4 eggs

1/2 cup frozen strawberries (it doesn't say this, but I think they need to be thawed)

Combine all ingredients and pour into 2 (9 inch) greased and floured round cake pans.

Bake for 25 minutes.

The best part

Strawberry Icing

1 stick Butter

1 package Confectioner's Sugar

1/2 cup frozen strawberries with juice left in again I think these should be thawed. If necessary liquid may be added if frosting is to thick.

Cream butter and mix in Confectioner's sugar and strawberries until smooth and the right consistency to frost cake.

Frost the cake after it has cooled.

If you try it please let me know what you think.