Thread: RECIPES

Yum Loving all the food porn on this hehe

Nidia, lol...this is one of my favorite threads! Please join in and share some recipes!

I have Creamy Ranch Pork Chops and Potatoes in the crock pot right now. This recipe reminded me of Alissa's smothered pork chop recipe! I can't wait til dinner time.

I decided to use healthy request cream of chicken soup since I've really been trying to avoid consuming a lot of sodium. I also only put in 3/4 packet of dry ranch dressing mix. I substituted the other 1 1/4 packet with the home made ranch seasoning blend that has no sodium. I tasted the soup mixture and it was still delish! Yay! lol

It was seriously easy to put together and I hope it's just as good as Alissa's smothered pork chops.

Yum Jina! I may try that recipe on Monday!

Chicken and Dumplings.

It's really easy and quick to make and so freaking good. Definitely one of my favorites. Oh and you can add whatever veggies you want. I like to add butternut squash sometimes. I also like to cut my veggies on the chunkier side. You can leave out the dumplings and it's just as good. Though, I really recommend the dumplings because they're pretty darn good.

What you need:

3 tbsp - Olive oil
salt & pepper
1/2 tsp - poultry seasoning
1 - large can 12.5 oz of Tyson chicken
1 - med onion diced
3 - garlic cloves minced/diced
2 - lg or 4 sm carrots diced
3 - lg stalks of celery diced
2 - med. potatoes diced
3 - cups of fresh green beans cut into bite size
1 - cup frozen corn
1 - cup frozen peas
6-8 cups of low sodium chicken broth
2 - cans of cream of chicken

What to do:

Heat olive oil in a large soup pot on med-high heat.
Saute garlic and onion for a minute.
Add cut up veggies next minus the frozen corn and peas.
Season with a little salt, pepper and poultry seasoning and cook for 5-7 minutes stirring occasionally.
Add chicken and break up the chunks.
Add cream of chicken and chicken broth. I like my soup on the thicker side of I only add about 6 cups of broth.
Bring to a boil and let it simmer until veggies are almost soft.
Add frozen peas and corn.
Drop in dumplings and cover for 10 minutes.
Enjoy!

Dumpling Recipe

1 cup flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp margarine or butter
3/4 cups or more of milk

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
Cut in butter that's been kept at room temperature or use soft margarine.
Stir milk lightly into the flour mixture with a wooden spoon and adjust amounts to make sure that you have a moist dumpling dough.

Make sure your soup or stew is on a gentle simmer. The liquid does not have to be boiling to cook tender dumplings. Remember that pot temperature rises with the lid on and you don't want the contents to stick to the bottom and burn.

Drop dumpling dough into the liquid by teaspoonfuls or for larger dumplings use a tablespoon. There's no need to worry about shaping perfect dumplings because they will puff up as they cook. Cover your pot with a lid so that the dumplings can steam.

Check your dumplings after 10 minutes.

Easy Beefy Mexican Soup with Avocado

I made this for dinner last night and it was a hit! Not only was it easy because it's a crock pot meal but M actually liked it! He's not a soup/stew person at all and I AM so I'm always happy when I find recipes for soups or stews he actually likes! lol

You can't really see in this pic but there's avocado and red onion buried under all the cheese, sour cream and cilantro!



Oh and a quick review on the Crock Pot Creamy Ranch Pork Chops with Potatoes. Um...it was just okay in my book. I bet it would have been better had I actually put in 2 whole packets of ranch seasoning but no thanks...I'll just stick to Alissa's smothered pork chops! lol

Oh no, haha, I am making that tonight! LOL!!!!!

Haha! I promise that the recipe wasn't bad at all! M actually liked it! I personally just really liked yours better. I think if you put in 2 packets of ranch dressing mix that it'll turn out a lot better than mine did. Let me know how it turns out for you!

Jina, that soups looks amazing! I'm definitely going to try that.

Lynn, you should definitely try it and let us know how you like it!

I made Beef - Broccoli Lo Mein last night and it was so good!!! I got the recipe from my Best of Cooking Light Recipe Book. M doesn't even like lo men and he gobbled this up. I thought it was more flavorful than restaurant lo mein. Oh and definitely not as greasy.

Beef - Broccoli Lo Mein

What you need:

8 oz - Spaghetti
1 tsp - Dark sesame oil
1 tbsp - Peanut oil
1 tbsp - Minced peeled fresh ginger
4 - Garlic cloves, minced
3 cups - Chopped broccoli
1 1/2 cups - Vertically sliced onion
1 lb. - Flank steak, trimmed cut across the grain into long, thin strips
3 tbsp - Low sodium soy sauce
2 tbsp - Dark brown sugar
1 tbsp - Oyster sauce
1 tbsp - Chile paste with garlic (such as Sambal Oelek) - I added extra!

What to do -

Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat; drain. Combine pasta and sesame oil, tossing well to coat.

While pasta cooks, heat peanut oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the ginger and garlic; saute 30 seconds. Add broccoli and onion; saute 3 minutes. Transfer the veggie mixture into a bowl and set aside. Heat more oil to skillet and add steak, and saute 5 minutes or until done (make sure there's no fat). Add the veggie and pasta mixture, soy sauce, and remaining ingredients; cook 1 minute or until lo mein is thoroughly heated, stirring constantly.

* I made extra sauce and added extra chile paste with garlic. It turned out really flavorful!

Jina, that looks really good! I will have to try that soon! I am making your Mexican beef stew today. I'm sitting here with a piece of paper so I can write down everything I need from the store!

So, by the way, I made the Ranch Slow Cooked Pork (only, I completely forgot, I got chicken thighs instead of pork chops, so mine was actually chicken, not pork.) It was okay. I did put in the two packets of ranch dressing, and it was all right. T loved it which kinf of surprised me, but DH and I thought it was okay but nothing to write home about. Oh well, the other recipe is pretty easy, so no huge loss.