Pork, it's the other white meat and it's what I am having for dinner tonight

Allrecipes.com again for this recipe. What can I say I really like the site.  This was easy to make, I am actually still making them. I searched Google for this mashed potato recipe and they're already done.

I basically wrote this all the previous blog posts talking about this attempt to cook at home while I was waiting for this to finish baking, the only downside of this recipe is waiting 90 minutes to enjoy it. On the plus side I got some dishes cleaned and did some other cleaning around the house while I waited. I bet with slight modification it would be possible to make this in a crock pot as well, I'll have to think about it. Below are some pictures I took while making tonight's dinner. Also this probably isn't healthy cooking, but I don't care. Anyone who has read my blog knows I am fat and loving it.

I didn't get any pictures of the initial preparation. Oh well...
First up we have this picture of the cream of mushroom soup mixed with milk and white wine.

Next up we have the pork chops, after being in the oven for an hour.

 Now we've got the mixture on top of the chops going back in for 30 minutes.

 Meanwhile I've made the mashed potatoes and now I am just waiting for the chops to finish.

Now everything is done and we're all ready to eat!!

 At first I was a little worried because it had a wine like aroma, but you couldn't taste it anymore and after the foil had been off for a few minutes

 My wife Chelsea who is very particular about the "done-ness" of food and she wholeheartedly approved.

 I just took a scoop of mashed potatoes and added it to each plate, covered it in the sauce and chowed down.

Okay so for the record, this was the best thing I've made so far this week. It was AWESOME!!
I've always been a big fan of pork chops.  The sauce made an excellent gravy for the mashed potatoes and there is so much left that it can probably last two lunches, or not...
I am definitely going to save this recipe and make it again some day!

Crock Pot gets used again to make Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Soup

So this was the first time I made anything like this and I loved it, recipe in the link back there. I followed all of the recipe, except the beer, I just put in 1 and 1/2 cup water. It was still very flavorful. Pretty much all the stuff I used was Food Club brand from Super 1 Foods because it was inexpensive and just as good as the name brand. I don't have any prep pictures, but I still have a plastic-ware container full that I am taking to lunch tomorrow.

Now I will say because I didn't get home to take the chicken out and shred it and put it back in, it was still okay, When I tried to take the chicken out it literally fell apart on the fork.  So I just took a fork and knife and cut it up in the crock pot. Turned out just fine.

When I removed it from the crock pot and placed it in the bowl I added sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese and some tortilla chips.  Everyone liked them, even Evie, our two year old daughter.

Below is the leftover I am taking to lunch tomorrow. I can't wait! My wife took some to lunch today and she said it was great.  We just put some chips in a zip lock bag and she took them that way.

I am definitely making this again. This gets 5 stars in my recipe book!

Slow Cooker Pot Roast is so easy

So I made some slow cooker pot roast on Tuesday because the fact is both of us get home later in the afternoon. I got this one at allrecipes.com, here. I like using their site because you can do an ingredients search.  Unfortunately I ate the last of this for lunch today so I don't have any pictures either. I added potatoes to the recipe and let them cook with the beef all day. It was good.

I liked it enough, but I just don't know if I want to make it again.
I think it may have also been because I added a little too much liquid.
Other than that it was certainly enough to eat for dinner and have left overs for lunch later in the week.

Impossibly Easy Cheeseburger Pie

Yup, Impossibly Easy Cheeseburger Pie, the recipe on the Bisquick box.  We buy Bisquick at Sam's Club usually to make waffles on the weekend, but I've made some recipes with it too.  This is one we've made before and I thought it would be an easy start.

I unfortunately have no pictures, but the above link does it justice, granted theirs is topped with stuff, I just eat mine with ketchup.

Either way, I will probably make this recipe again!

Pretzels and Sandwiches

So, you're probably thinking, Pretzels?

Well, yeah, on a whim while at Super 1 Foods I bought some Auntie Anne's At-Home Pretzel Kit.

So this was first on my list of things to make and honestly the directions were pretty simple to follow.

Below is the final product.

Half of them are covered in delicious pretzel salt, the other half in sweet cinnamon sugar.

I would definitely make this stuff again.

We also had some sandwiches, not sure what kind exactly, but I've been using this bread that they recently started selling at Super 1 Foods or I just recently noticed, Alpine Valley Bread. I can't say enough about it. I don't normally buy into or care about organic stuff, but this stuff tastes so good and costs about the same as a regular loaf of bread.

Dinner Quest...or trying not to eat out for a full month.

So lately we've been eating out a bit and frankly this was cutting into our monthly budget and also not helping out my health, to say the least. So I decided, with my lovely wife Chelsea, to try to not eat out for the whole month of September, or at least from the 8th onward, since that's when I got this idea. We had already done most of our shopping for month so I wrote down all the proteins we had in the house and decided to come up with lunch ideas, mostly via allrecipes.com and also just searching Google.

Below is my full list. I will be posting daily about each food item, sharing pictures where possible and if I plan on making it again. As you may notice today is the 12th so I have to go back to the 8th and start there, but it should be fun and enjoyable for anyone interested.

By the way I realize not all of these are healthy food items, I just wanted to cook/bake instead of going out. And yes I actually made everything so far.  I told my wife I would gladly take care of cooking through the 28th and I plan on sticking to it. I am thinking about continuing this through October 8th to see if we really can go a full month without eating out.  Also the other cool thing about this is almost every recipe seems to be big enough to allow for leftovers the next day for lunch!

9/8 - Sunday - Bread - Pretzels/Sandwiches

9/9 - Monday - Ground Beef - Cheeseburger Pie

9/10 - Tuesday - Bottom Round - Slow Cooker Pot Roast w/ Broccoli 

9/11 - Wednesday - Chicken Breasts - Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Soup

9/12 - Thursday - Pork Chops - Baked Pork Chops w/ Mashed Potatoes

9/13 - Friday - Chicken Breasts - White Chicken Chili

9/14 - Saturday - Bacon - Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Chiles

9/15 - Sunday - Kielbasa - Kielbasa and Cabbage

9/16 - Monday - Top Sirloin - Sirloin Steak w/ Garlic Butter w/ Potatoes and Onions

9/17 - Tuesday - Ground Beef - Italian Spaghetti Sauce with Meat Balls (w/ spaghetti)

9/18 - Wednesday - Lentils - Lentils w/ Tomatoes

9/19 - Thursday - Chicken Breasts - Ultimate Chicken Fingers w/ Baked Fries

9/20 - Friday - Tuna - Tuna Salad Sandwiches (or w/ crackers)

9/21 - Saturday - Beans - Baked Beans

9/22 - Sunday - Bottom Round - Bottom Round Roast w/ Onion Gravy

9/23 - Monday - Top Sirloin - Sirloin Marinara (w/ vegetables)

9/24 - Tuesday - Pork Chops - Mustard Onion Pork Chops w/ vegetables

9/25 - Wednesday - Chicken Breasts - Garlic Chicken w/ beans

9/26 - Thursday - Pizza - Homemade Pepperoni Pizza

9/27 - Friday - Top Sirloin - Navy Bean soups / Sirloin Tips

9/28 - Saturday - Pork Chops - White Pork Chili