Instant Pot Pork Chili Verde

Since I have a pretty severe allergy to tomatoes (my throat gets really itchy & feels like it's closing up), it's hard to find a really good chili & man I miss chili! I found this recipe & of course I had to try it. I learned awhile ago that tomatillos is not a tomato, but a berry and it doesn't bother me. Yay! This chili was really good. The tomatillos melted down & gave it such a good flavor. The only thing I didn't notice, until I tried it, was that it didn't call for any seasoning. I added my own at the end-my go-to's-onion powder & celery salt.

Pork Chili Verde (Pinterest):

1 tbsp oil
1 lb tomatatillos, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced (I used Asafoetida powder)
3/4 c diced onion
2/5 c diced sweet potato
2 serrano peppers, minced, optional (I used jalapeno peppers with the seeds removed)
2 lb pork stew meat (pre-cubed)
1/2 c broth
2-3 tbsp chopped cilantro

Turn instant pot to saute. Add all ingredients except the broth & cilantro & saute 5 min, then turn off. Add broth & cilantro. Set instant pot to pressure cook for 20 min. Use the quick release method, stir well to help the sweet potatoes & tomatillos break down even further. Serve warm. Enjoy!




Ready to be cooked...

Enjoy!...

Slow Cooker Cuban Pork

I made this a while ago. I had bought a pork roast from Trader Joe's and then I came across this recipe on Pinterest. The roast came out juicy but not as much flavor as I thought it would be considering all the juices that went into making it. It was definitely good & I made use of it. Just not sure I'd make it again.

Find the recipe here




Ready to cook...

Ready to eat...enjoy!

One Pot Creamy White Bean & Ham, Tortellini Soup

I've developed an allergy to tomatoes & anything with tomatoes in it, including tomato sauce, tomato paste, ketchup, etc. So it's been a little interesting trying to find soups & meat sauces without anything containing tomatoes. I love soups but a lot of the thicker soups have some kind of tomato base to it. Usually I stay away from milk-based soups but since I can't eat tomatoes I've been going back to the milk-based soups, but just a little bit of them. I made this soup because it sounded interesting with the ham & beans-I figured it would be equally as filling. And I was right, plus it freezes well.

Find the recipe here




All cooked down...

Topped with cheese & ready to eat...Enjoy!...

Glass Noodle/Stir Fry Salad

I make this dish a lot when I'm craving noodles & stir-fry but don't want the carbs. This stems from a recipe that my best friend taught me that had tomatoes in it. Originally it also had chicken and it was served over rice. There's a Thai dish called Glass Noodle Salad and it has a lot of the same ingredients, minus the tomatoes. I can't eat tomatoes anymore so I thought I'd alter the chicken recipe and instead of the chicken, use ground chicken or pork or sometimes ground turkey if I couldn't find anything else. And I use bean sprouts noodles, which are usually used in my egg rolls. I heat them up under hot running water. They don't tend to fill me up as quickly & they aren't as thick as regular noodles, so they tend to soak up the sauce a little bit better. Then I throw whatever I have in the fridge in the rest of the salad. I usually use the same thing every time. I don't normally measure out the sauce ingredients-normally only to taste.

Glass Noodle/Stir Fry Salad (4 servings):

3 pack bean thread noodles, softened under hot running water, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 orange bell pepper, chopped
4-6 cloves garlic, chopped or minced
1 2-inch piece ginger, chopped or minced
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
6 green onions, rinsed & chopped
8 oz ground turkey
Soy sauce
Sriracha
Hoisin Sauce
Fish Sauce

Cook turkey until no longer pink; drain & set aside. Saute bell peppers until softened, about 5 minutes. Add green onions, garlic & ginger & saute about 1 minute, until fragrant. Add the turkey back to mixture & stir to combine. Start adding your sauces a couple 1 tsp at a time and stir to combine. Keep adding whichever sauce here & there, tasting to your liking. I usually add a small squirt of Sriracha, a couple big squirts of Hoisin & several dashes of Fish & Soy sauce to even out the mixture. Once everything is mixed, stir in the cilantro. Add the noodles at the end; you may need to add some more sauce at this point or you could serve the mixture on top of the noodles. Those of you who like peanuts, this dish may taste good with chopped peanuts on top. Enjoy!




Enjoy!...

Garlic Pork Tenderloin

Once again, I went grocery shopping for lots of meat to stock up my freezer and found this recipe on Pinterest. Anyone who knows me knows I love garlic so of course this recipe stood out. My original plan was to make it and then freeze the leftovers but this dish was so good that I ended up eating it over the next several days-I actually just finished the last of it for breakfast this morning! Next time, I'll make both tenderloins-I only made one this time-and I'll have enough to freeze the leftovers. I'd also add more garlic because the garlic is really good when eaten with the pork. And the sauce makes plenty to drizzle. I used rosemary and yum!

Garlic Pork Tenderloin:

1 pkg pork tenderloin (2 tenderloins total, about 2-2.5 lb)
4 garlic cloves, quartered/sliced/slivered
1/4 c soy sauce
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
4 tbsp honey
2 tbsp orange juice
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary or Herbs de Provence
Pepper, to taste
3 tbsp olive oil

Preheat oven to 350. Take tenderloins out of package. Rinse and pat dry. Spray a 13x9-inch baking dish with cooking spray and place tenderloins inside. Using a paring knife, poke holes on the top side of the tenderloins, about an inch deep. Place a garlic piece into each hole.

In a bowl, whisk together all the marinade ingredients, except for the olive oil. Then slowly drizzle in the oil while whisking. Pour the marinade over the tenderloins.

Bake, uncovered, for 45 minutes, basting once halfway through cooking. Once removed from the oven, let pork rest on a cutting board for 10 minutes before slicing. Don't forget to pour the sauce over it. Enjoy!




Garlic inserted in the pork...






Sauce whisked...






Sauce poured over and ready to be baked...






Fresh from the oven...






Enjoy!...

Rosemary Herbed Pork Chops with Shallot Wine Sauce

I found this recipe on Pinterest a while ago when I bought my pork chops. I decided to finally make it last week. I added some zucchini to my dish because I have an over-abundance of it. The recipe didn't say how long to cook the sauce, so I winged it. All in all it tasted pretty good, although I think I over-cooked my pork chops. One weird thing, the recipe says to use whole-unpeeled pearl onions, which didn't sound appetizing to me so I used half a bag of frozen pearl onions and they tasted just fine. The recipe also said to use "Kick N Chicken" seasoning. I just used Montreal Chicken seasoning.

Rosemary Herbed Pork Chops with Shallow Wine Sauce (4 servings)

4 tender thick cut pork chops
2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tbsp rosemary
Montreal chicken seasoning
1 c or half a bag of frozen pearl onions
1 c white wine, divided
1/2 c water
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 375. Rub your pork chops with oil on both sides. Season pork chops with rosemary and chicken seasoning. Heat up an ovenproof skillet to med-high and sear pork chops for 1-2 minutes on both sides.

Place your pork chops in an ovenproof pan, add 1/2 c wine and pearl onions. Bake your pork chops uncovered for about 25-30 minutes or until meat temp reads 145.

Remove your pork chops from the pan and rest covered for 5 minutes. (Do not wash the pan that you cooked your pork chops in.) Place the pan or skillet on stove and heat to med. Add wine to deglaze the pan. At this point, I also added all the pearl onions and zucchini, mainly because the zucchini wasn't done cooking yet. Allow the wine sauce to reduce to about 1/2, about 20-30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Turn off the burner and add a tbsp of butter to finish the shallow wine sauce.

Serve pork chops with a drizzle of shallow wine sauce on top. Enjoy!




Ready to be roasted...






Sauce...






Enjoy!...

Crock Pot Honey Pork & Apples

About a month ago, I bought several different kinds of meats to cook up in the slow cooker and a pork tenderloin was one of the meats. I started looking around on Pinterest and came upon this recipe. It sounded different from anything I've ever made before so I decided to try it. I came home yesterday from work and my apartment smelled amazing! I didn't get an after picture because it wasn't very appetizing to look at right away lol. I think the top part burned a little in the slow cooker because it was all black when I opened the lid. Once I stirred things around, the meat looked okay though. And then I started eating it and forgot to post an after picture! I would definitely make this recipe again! The pork was very tender and tasted sweet. I think the apples fully cooked down though because I couldn't find any in the broth, which was okay because I could taste hints of them in the pork. The recipe says to cook it for 8-10 hours but I checked mine after 7 hours and it was completely done, so it may depend on the slow cooker.

Crock Pot Honey Pork & Apples (6 servings):

1 (3-4 lb) pork tenderloin
2 large Granny Smith apples, sliced
1/2 c honey, divided
2 tbsp cinnamon

Slice slits in the pork tenderloin. Place 1-2 apple slices per slit into the pork tenderloin. Place 3/4 of remaining apple slices in bottom of crock pot. Drizzle 1/2 of the honey over the apple slices. Place pork on top of the apple slices. Sprinkle cinnamon over everything. Place remaining apple slices on top and drizzle the remaining honey over everything.

Cover and cook on low 8-10 hours. Remove from slow cooker, slice and serve with apples on top.




Apples at the bottom of the slow cooker...






Pork stuffed with apples...






Honey poured in...

Crock Pot Coke Baby Back Ribs

I've been on a crock pot kick lately and I wanted to make a bunch of meat meals to freeze. I've never made ribs before and this recipe sounded pretty easy to me. I found the recipe on Pinterest and it was so easy to make. And the ribs were so tender, they were falling off the bone. The coke added a neat flavor to the ribs. I've never used a broiler before either and this recipe made it easy. I will definitely make this recipe again!

Crock Pot Coke Baby Back Ribs:

1 rack Pork Baby Back ribs
1 can Coke
Salt and pepper
1/2 bottle of BBQ sauce of your choice

Cut the ribs down if your slow cooker is smaller. Rub both sides of the ribs with salt and pepper. Place the ribs or wrap them around the outside of the slow cooker. Pour the coke over the ribs and cook 8-10 hours on low.

Place foil on a rimmed baking sheet. Carefully transfer the ribs to the prepared sheet, meaty side up. Cover the ribs with the BBQ sauce and place under the broiler until sauce starts to sizzle and caramelized, no longer than 5 minutes. Remove from oven and serve. Enjoy!




Ribs and coke added to slow cooker...






And they are done...






Before the BBQ sauce...






Enjoy!...

Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus

I had the girls over for dinner one night a couple weeks ago and my best friend Mandi made bacon wrapped asparagus. It was sooo good! And ever since that dinner, I've been craving it. I decided to use prosciutto with mine and I drizzled the finishing product with the aged balsamic vinegar that I bought in Italy. Soooo good! I only made half of the bunch of asparagus but it was a perfect serving size.

Prosciutto or bacon
Asparagus
Balsamic Vinegar, if desired

Slice off the top ends of the asparagus. Preheat oven to 350. Coat a baking dish with cooking spray. Slice the prosciutto, or bacon if using, in half. Wrap each half around a stalk of asparagus and place on the baking sheet. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes or until the prosciutto is crisp. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar, if using. Enjoy!




Ready to be baked...






Enjoy!...

Sausage & Onions in a Brown Sugar Sauce

I came up with this recipe on my own, kind of adapting from the slow cooked sausage I made earlier this year. That was good in the slow cooker but some of the sausage was over-cooked and rubbery so I thought it would turn out better on the stove, and it did! This recipe only had 4 ingredients and it was really easy to make and had so much flavor. I kinda guessed how much brown sugar I used in the recipe, but you can add more or less, depending on your taste. I made some couscous for a side dish and also to soak up the sauce.

Sausage & Onions in a Brown Sugar Sauce (2 servings):

Package of sausage of your choice
3/4 of an onion, diced
1/2 to 1 c brown sugar
1-2 tbsp butter

Melt the butter in a large skillet. Add the onions sausage and cook until the onions are translucent. Add the brown sugar and stir to coat/combine. Cover with a lid and let it simmer at medium heat for about 20-45 minutes. It's done when you have your desired consistency of a sauce. Enjoy!

Italian Chopped Salad

I found this recipe on Pinterest and I have been looking for good salads to take to work with me lately and I found this one and thought it would be easy enough to make. It was definitely easy and it looks like you could add pretty much whatever you want, to your liking. I added more pepperoncinis to mine and also added the rest of the bag of the mini pepperoni for more meat. I left out the artichoke hearts since I'm not a big fan. All in all, this salad was really really good! It lasted through 3 lunches at work and I'm eating the last of it for dinner tonight.

Italian Chopped Salad (8 servings):

*Dressing
1/2 c red wine vinegar
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp dry Italian seasoning
2 cloves garlic, minced
Salt and pepper
1/2 c olive oil

*Salad
1 c ditalini or other small pasta
3 c chopped romaine hearts
1 (15 oz) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 (7.5 oz) jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1 c grape tomatoes, quartered
1 c cubed salami
1 c cubed Provolone
3/4 c chopped cucumber
1/2 c mini pepperoni
1/2 c sliced green onions
Pepperoncini peppers

To make dressing: Combine all the ingredients except the salt, pepper and olive oil in a blender. Season with salt and pepper. Blend to combine. Slowly stream in the olive oil to combine. Alternately, add all the ingredients to a jar and shake until completely combined and slightly thickened.

For salad: Bring a pot of salted water to boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain and rinse with cold water. In a large bowl, combine the romaine, chickpeas, artichoke hearts, tomatoes, salami, cheese, cucumber, pepperoni and green onions. Top with desired amount of dressing and toss to coat. (I only added the dressing before I ate each serving to make sure the salad wasn't soggy!)

Serve the salad topped with desired amount of pepperoncini. Enjoy!




Dressing after it has been blended...






Enjoy!...

Crock Pot Kielbasa

I've been craving sausage lately for some reason so I searched Pinterest for an easy idea. I came across the Sausage, Potatoes & Peppers recipe, which I've already blogged about, as well as this one. I had to make this one during the weekend since I work longer than 4 hours during the day. Super easy to make and only 2 ingredients! I did notice that one the brown sugar starts to melt, it's key to start stirring the sausage, otherwise you wind up with some over-done sausage! I also didn't cook it for the suggested 5 hours. I think I only cooked mine about 3 hours and even then some of the sausage was too well done. When I make this again, I'm going to keep a better eye on the brown sugar and start stirring it right away so everything gets even cooking. But other than that, the sausage turned out really tasty! I found this on Pinterest via www.crockinmoms.blogspot.com.

Crock Pot Kielbasa:

3 lb kielbasa
1 (2 lb) box of dark brown sugar

Cut up kielbasa into 1/2 inch chunks, put into crock pot. Add whole box of brown sugar. Cook on low 3-5 hours. Enjoy!




Cut-up sausage...






Brown Sugar covering the sausage...






Enjoy!...

Sausage, Potato & Peppers

I've been craving sausage lately so I went on to Pinterest to find a good recipe and I found a couple that sounded good, this being one of them. I found the recipe via www.lilasapron.com. Super easy to prepare and to make. Instead of adding the Creole seasoning and rosemary, I added Cajun seasoning and Italian seasoning. I ate it cold for lunch today at work and it tasted really good cold, as well as hot. So this will be something I will make again! You can also change up the seasonings and add pretty much whatever you like, which is always nice!

Sausage, Potato & Peppers (3-4 servings):

1 pkg of your favorite sausage links, sliced
4-5 decent-sized potatoes, cut into chunks or sliced (Yukon or red bliss)
1 small jar banana peppers, drained
1-2 bell peppers, sliced
Olive oil
Salt & pepper
Cajun or Creole seasoning
Rosemary or Italian seasoning (or anything to your liking)

Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray. Place all the ingredients, except the olive oil and seasonings on the baking sheet. Sprinkle with a generous amount of olive oil to coat all the ingredients. Add salt, pepper, Italian and Cajun seasonings, again enough to coat the ingredients. Not sure the measurements-just use what you want. Mix everything together with your hands so it's evenly coated.

Bake at 400 for 30-35 minutes, until the potatoes are tender. Enjoy!




Everything minus the banana peppers and seasonings, all chopped up and ready to go...






Fresh from the oven...






Enjoy!...

Skewers

My family has a holiday potluck every year before Christmas. Such a fun time and always lots of good food! I try to bring something new every year and I found this recipe on Pinterest. Super easy to make and they went fast! There was only 1-2 skewers left by the time I left to go home! Definitely a hit!

Skewers (18-24 servings):

Med-size wooden skewers
2 packages of cherry-size mozzarella balls
2 packages of cherry or grape tomatoes
1 package of salami, sliced in half
18-24 cheese-filled tortellini, cooked according to pkg directions
1 can black olives

Thread the 5 ingredients onto one skewer and place in a large shallow dish. Make as many or as few as you want. You can also add or take away whatever ingredients you want. Once the skewers are finished, drizzle some good olive oil on top and top that with some balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle with minced fresh basil or dried basil and serve!




Enjoy!...

Jeremiah's Pasta

A good friend of mine introduced this pasta to me last summer. He made it a couple of times whenever we would BBQ. Super easy yet so good at the same time! My work had a holiday potluck a couple weeks ago and I wanted to make something that could sit in the fridge and still be good for lunch so I decided to make this. He usually puts diced black olives in his pasta but I can't stand olives so I substituted mild banana peppers and it still tasted so good!

Jeremiah's Pasta Salad (8-10 servings):

1 box of spiral pasta
1/2 block provolone cheese, cubed
1/2 pkg miniature pepperoni (or regular pepperoni, sliced in half)
1/2 c mild banana peppers, or more to taste (or 1 small can of diced olives)
1 bottle Italian dressing, more for serving

Heat salted water to boiling. Add pasta and cook 10-12 minutes. Drain pasta and rinse with cold water. Place pasta in large bowl. Add cheese, pepperoni and banana peppers; stir to combine. Add the entire bottle of dressing and stir to mix. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight. Before serving, mix pasta salad and serve with more Italian dressing (salad may get dry).




Enjoy!...

Sweet & Sour Pork

I found this recipe in a Weight Watchers Cookbook. I had tried it several years ago and loved it. Unlike most Weight Watchers recipes, this recipe had a lot of flavor. I was telling my mom about the recipe and started craving it so I decided to make it again and once again I loved it. While making it, I discovered I was missing some ingredients, but I just worked around it. I didn't have a bell pepper so I went without. And I've never used scallions before for some reason so I just used green onions instead. It says to marinate the pork while you prepare and cook the veggies but I let mine sit overnight, as I did the first time I made it. I think marinating it overnight lets the marinade sink into the pork and makes the pork more flavorful. I'll definitely keep making this recipe!

Sweet & Sour Pork (4 servings) (Weight Watchers) (4 points)

1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp hoisin sauce
2 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp soy sauce
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 lb boneless lean pork loin, cubed
1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1-in pieces
3 scallions, sliced
1 c drained, canned unsweetened pineapple chunks (reserve 1 tbsp juice)

In large skillet, heat oil. In gallon-size plastic bag, mix hoisin sauce, brown sugar, soy sauce and ginger; add pork. Seal bag, squeezing out the air; turn to coat the pork. Let bagged pork stand while you cook the veggies.

In skillet, stir-fry the bell pepper and scallions until softened, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate.

Transfer the pork to the skillet, reserving the marinade; stir-fry the pork until browned, about 2-3 minutes. Add the marinate, pineapple and pineapple juice; stir-fry until pork is cooked through, about 5 minutes longer. Return the veggies to the skillet and heat to serving temperature, about 2 minutes.




Pork marinating...






Pork and green onions...






Pineapples added to the pork...






Enjoy!...

Caprese Lasagna Roll Ups

I found this recipe on Pinterest via www.cookingclassy.com I made a small alternation. I can't digest ricotta cheese very well so instead of ricotta I used cottage cheese and blended it to make it a little thicker. I also added some pepperoni slices to half of the noodles. It was a little bit of a process to prep and put everything together but it was all worth it. The lasagna was really tasty and I'll definitely make this again! I also used toothpicks to secure the rolls. I don't have an 11x7 inch dish so I used my 8x8 inch dish.

Caprese Lasagna Roll Ups (8 servings) (WW 8 pts without the pepperoni, 12 with the pepperoni)

8 lasagna noodles, uncooked
14 oz freshly shredded, low-sodium part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
3/4 c cottage cheese (or ricotta if you prefer)
1 large egg white
1/3 c freshly, finely shredded parmesan cheese (I used parmigiano-reggiano)
3-4 medium roma tomatoes, thinly sliced
14 slices of pepperoni, if using
1/4 c chopped fresh basil, plus more for garnish
1 c marinara sauce, recipe follows

*Marinara Sauce

2 tbsp EVOO
1/4 c finely chopped yellow onion
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
Salt and pepper to taste

*For Marinara Sauce: Heat oil in saucepan over med-high. Add onion to hot oil and saute about 3 minutes, until soft, adding garlic during last minute of cooking. Pour in crushed tomatoes and season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring mixture just to boil, then reduce heat and simmer about 20-25 minutes, allowing some of the water in the evaporated tomatoes to evaporate, while you prepare the noodles and filling.

*Lasagna: Preheat oven to 350. Cook pasta four pieces at a time for 8-10 minutes until al dente. Drain pasta and align four noodles at a time on parchment or wax paper.

For filling, in large mixing bowl, whisk together cottage cheese and egg white until well blended. Stir in parmesan cheese. Mix in 12 oz of mozzarella cheese and season with black pepper to taste.

Place 1/4 c of cheese mixture over each lasagna noodle and spread into an even layer, going from one end of the lasagna to the other. (I found that using my hands worked a lot better.) Place 3-4 tomato slices over cheese mixture and then sprinkle fresh basil over the top of each noodle. (Since I also used some pepperoni, I put pepperoni slices on four of the noodles and sprinkled basil on top.)

Snugly roll lasagna noodles to opposite end; secure with toothpicks as needed. Spread about 1/4 c sauce in bottom of dish. Place lasagna rolls up into the dish. Top each roll with about 2 tbsp of the sauce so they don't dry out while baking. Sprinkle top with remaining 2 oz mozzarella cheese. Bake in oven for 30 minutes or until heated through. I placed a sheet of foil on my dish since I was using a smaller dish. After 30 minutes, I took the foil off and put it back in the oven for an additional 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and remove toothpicks and serve.




All marinara ingredients added...






Noodles boiling...






Filling mixed together...






Thickened marinara sauce...






Noodles ready to be filled and rolled...






Noodles layered with fillings...






All rolls securely in dish...






Extra mozzarella cheese on top...






Fresh from the oven...






Enjoy!...