Pork with Camembert Sauce

Pretty simple dish with a very good sauce.

Ingredients:
1 pound boneless pork loin
2 oz Camembert Cheese
1 tbsp butter
3 tbsp dry white wine
1 tbsp chopped fresh sage
1/3 cup sour cream
1 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
Pepper - to taste

Directions:
1. Cut the pork loin into 3 portions about 3/4" thick.
2. Put the pork in a zip lock bag and pound to about 1/2 thick with tenderizing hammer.
3. Cut the rind off of the Camembert cheese and cut into 1/2" chunks.
4. Spray a big heavy skillet with nonstick spray and put over medium-high heat.
5. When the skillet is hot, melt the butter in the skillet and coat the insides.
6. Fry the pork a golden brown, being careful not to overcook them.
7. Set the pork loin aside and cover with tin-foil to keep warm.
8. Add wine to the skillet and stir around with a spatula to get up all the bits of pork.
9. As the wine reduces, add the sage and stir again.
10. Turn down the heat to medium-low and add in the Camembert, stiring as it melts.
11. After it is fully melted, add in the sour cream and dijon mustard and heat through w/out simmering again.
12. Pepper to taste and serve immediately spooned over the pork loin.

This recipe is from Dana Carpenders Every Calorie Counts Cookbook

Dude Ranch Soup

Here's a great crock-pot meal for those days when you won't have much time after work or at the end of the day.

Ingredients:
2 pounds round steak, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 15.5 oz can kidney beans, drained
1 4 oz can chopped green chilies
3 celery stalks, chopped
1 14.5 oz can beef broth or home-made beef stock
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp adobo seasoning
1 cube beef bullion
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp minced garlic
3 tbsp dried minced onions
1 cup cheddar cheese
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (or more to your liking)

Directions:
1. Add all ingredients except cheese to the crock-pot and mix well.
2. Cook on low for about 7 1/2 hours.
3. Stir in the cheese and cook for another 1/2 hour.
4. Serve with sour cream, cheese, or whatever other toppings you want to use.

The original recipe from The Everyday LC Slow Cooker Cookbook needed a bit of a boost, so I added the cayenne pepper to give it bit of kick. Overall a great recipe and a wonderful one for leftover lunches.

Chicken Avocado Soup

A great recipe my wife found on Pinterest that we had to try. It was fantastic. Needs a bit of a kick of heat so may had some hot pepper spices next time, but was still wonderful. We did tweak it a bit and the link to the original is at the bottom.

Ingredients:
7 cups chicken stock
3 whole chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
2 tomatoes, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups scallions, chopped
3 ripe avocados, diced
1/2 cup cilantro
4 lime wedges
2 tsp olive oil
salt/pepper - to taste
cumin - pinch
chipotle chili powder - pinch

Directions:
1. In large pot, boil the chicken breasts in the chicken stock for about 15 minutes until the chicken breasts are cooked.
2. Remove chicken breasts and shred with a fork and pour out stock and set aside.
3. Add the olive oil to the pot and heat over medium heat, adding in 1/2 of the scallions and garlic.
4. Saute about 2 minutes, add tomatoes, and saute another minute.
5. Add chicken stock, cumin, salt, pepper, and chili powder and bring to a boil.
6. Reduce heat and simmer on low for about 15 minutes.
7. In 6 bowls, fill equally with some chicken, avocado, the rest of the scallions, and the cilantro.
8. Ladle 1 cup chicken stock over the chicken and serve with a lime wedge*.

*Note: We forgot about the lime wedges and ended up topping ours with sour cream and cheddar cheese. Sooo yummy.

Here is the original recipe from Skinnytaste.com

Taco Spaghetti Squash

This is a fantastic meal idea that we borrowed from a friend of ours and tweaked a bit.

Ingredients:
1 spaghetti squash
1/2 pound ground beef
1 chopped onion
2 tbsp taco seasoning
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup shredded lettuce
2 tomatoes, chopped
olives - for topping
sour cream - for topping
salsa - for topping
guacamole/avocado - for topping

Directions:
1. Cut the squash in half, scooping out the seeds.
2. Place cut-side down on an aluminum foil covered cookie sheet and bake at 350 for about an hour. Bake until the squash is tender and cam be shredded with a fork, but not so much that it is mushy.
3. Brown the ground beef and onion in a medium skillet, draining off the fat if you desire.
4. Remove the squash from the oven and shred with a fork.
5. Stir in the taco seasoning, the shredded squash, and 1/2 of the cheddar cheese with the ground beef/onion mixture.
6. After it is mixed, put it into a greased 2 quart casserole dish and top with the other 1/2 of the cheddar cheese and bake uncovered at 350 for about 20 minutes.
7. Remove from the oven and serve over a bed of lettuce and top with tomatoes, olives, sour cream, guacamole or avocados, and salsa if desired.

Here's the link to my friend Rachel's blog that has the original recipe she made.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

There's probably hundreds of variations on this dip, but this is one that we made recently and I really loved it, so I wanted to post it.

Ingredients:
1 whole rotisserie chicken or 2 (10 oz) cans of chunk chicken or whatever chicken you want to use.
2 (8 oz) packages of cream cheese, softened
1 cup Ranch Dressing
3/4 cup hot sauce (Franks Red Hot works great)
1 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions:
1. Shred and cut-up the chicken into small pieces so that is like shredded beef.
2. Heat the chicken and hot sauce in a skillet over medium heat.
3. Stir in the cream cheese and ranch dressing.
4. Cook and stir until it is well blended and warm.
5. Mix in half of the shredded cheese and move the mixture to a slow cooker or glass pan.
6. Sprinkle the remaining shredded cheese over the and cook on low in a slow cooker or heat in the oven until hot and bubbly on top.

One thing I will try next time is Blue Cheese dressing instead of ranch and maybe even blue cheese sprinkled on top. It goes great with celery, crackers, chips, or pork rinds.

Gina's White BBQ Sauce

Here is an excellent white BBQ sauce that I got from a friend who's name is Gina, hence, the name: Gina's White BBQ Sauce.

Ingredients:
1 cup mayo
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 tbsp splenda
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp pepper
1/2 tbsp rosemary
1/2 tbsp thyme
1 tbsp garlic

Directions:
1. Mix everything together.
2. Pour over whatever you want to cook and let marinade overnight or all day long.

This is great for food that will be baked, broiled, or grilled. Goes good on chicken, beef, or pork.  It was very good this time, but I will make a few tweaks next time. I cut out the splenda, reduce the thyme and rosemary in half and then add in a few tbsp of Parmesan cheese. Have to make it more "Wisconsin".

In the pictures, below, I have used it to marinade a pork chop that we broiled. In the background on the plate, you can see the Wice A Woni topped with Butter-Browned Almonds.

Wice A Woni

Fantastic side that tastes very close to Rice A Roni, but is done with cauliflower instead. The topping of Butter-Browned Almonds makes it even better.

Ingredients:
1 head cauliflower
2 tbsp lard
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 medium onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp seasoning salt, divided
2 tsp chicken bullion granules
1 tsp lemon pepper
1/2 tsp celery seeds
1/4 tsp dried thyme
2 tbsp dried parsley flakes
1/8 tsp paprika

Directions:
1. Cut cauliflower into small chunks to fit into a food processor. Pulse until it is the consistency of rice. You can also use a hand grater to accomplish the same thing.
2. Melt lard and coconut oil over medium heat in large frying pan and add in the onion, garlic, and 1/2 of the seasoning salt. Cook until the onion and garlic are lightly browned.
3. Add the remaining ingredients to the pan and stir well to fully mix everything together.
4. Cook  uncovered for another 5 minutes or so until the cauliflower is browned or heated through, being sure to stir frequently.
5. Serve with Butter-Browned Almonds as a garnish.

This is a very good side dish and the kids loved it and so did we.  We will probably cut down the thyme in it next time as we don't like it that flavor very much, but it was still very good.