Friday Foodie Triple Play

As promised, I have three new recipes today!  They all come from one of my favorite food bloggers - Plain Chicken.  Our front planter wall project is moving along and I'll post progress pictures tomorrow.  It's been a TON of work and I've been helping.  I'm learning how to mix mortar.  No need for a gym, I'm getting quite a workout.  Since I've been working so hard outside, by the time we sit down to eat I have been too tired to take any food pictures.  I'll provide links to the original recipes if you need to see pictures.  I will say all three of these recipes were winners!

Crockpot Port Tenderloin and Gravy (original here)

Ingredients:
2½ to 3 lb pork tenderloins
2 (0.87-oz) packets pork gravy
1 (10.75-oz) can cream of mushroom soup
½ cup water or chicken broth
1 cup sliced mushroom.

Instructions:
Use a knife to carefully trim the silver skin off the pork tenderloins before adding them to the slow cooker. The silver skin is a silvery-white sheen membrane on the pork tenderloins. It is a thick connective tissue and it doesn’t break down when the pork is cooked.
Place pork tenderloins in slow cooker. Mix together gravy mix, cream of chicken soup, and chicken broth. Pour over pork.
Cover slow cooker and cook on HIGH for 3 hours or LOW for 6 hours.
Shred pork and return to slow cooker for another hour to let the meat absorb more of the flavor from the gravy.

This was so good!  I ended up adding a cup of broth instead of 1/2 cup.  I also added minced onions and some garlic salt.  I served this with mashed potatoes and corn.   I took some of the pork and made pull pork sandwiches for lunch one day also.  I added barbecue sauce and a little buffalo sauce to kick the spice up a little for the sandwiches.

Spicy Pineapple Brown Sugar Chicken (original here)

Ingredients:
1 cup pineapple juice
6 Tbsp BBQ sauce
6 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp red pepper flakes
4 to 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts

Instructions:
Whisk together pineapple juice, brown sugar, BBQ sauce, chili powder, and red pepper flakes.
Reserve 1/4 cup of marinade to brush on chicken before taking off the grill if you want spicier chicken. Place chicken in a gallon ziplock bag. Pour remaining marinade over chicken. Seal bag and refrigerate 2 to 4 hours.
Remove chicken from marinade. Grill until done, 12 to 15 minutes.
To cook the chicken without a grill, cook the chicken in a skillet for 3 to 4 minutes per side. Place chicken on baking sheet and cook at 400ºF for 10 minutes. Cook chicken until it reaches an internal temperature of 165ºF Les is the grill master in our house, so I used the oven method.  I was a little afraid that the red pepper flakes would make the chicken too hot so I only used 1/2 tablespoon.  It wasn't spicy at all, so I could have used the full tablespoon.  While the chicken was in the oven, I made some rice.  We also had recipe number three with this meal:

Carrot Salad with Pineapple and Coconut (original here)

Ingredients:
4 cups grated carrots (about 1 pound)
1 (8-oz) can crushed pineapple
1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut
1/2 cup raisins (I used Craisins since I had them on hand)
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 cup mayonnaise

Instructions:
Combine pineapple, mayonnaise and sugar in a medium bowl. Stir until creamy.  Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.

Cover and refrigerate until well chilled.

This was SO good!  It's another great summer salad.

All three of these recipes made plenty so we have been enjoying leftovers after a hard day of work!

Summer Delights

I mentioned getting some recipes from my sister-in-law Monica - I have now tried three of the four and they are all perfect summer dishes!  If you're planning a get together for tomorrow and need just one more dish, give one of these a try!

Layered Salad

1 head lettuce, break in bite size pieces
1 head cauliflower, break in bite size pieces
1 bunch green onion, chopped
1 bag frozen peas
2 cups mayonnaise
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup sugar
1 lb. bacon, fried and chopped

Layer first four items in that order.  Mix mayonnaise, cheese and sugar, spread on top of salad.  Refrigerate overnight or several hours.  Add bacon.  Toss before serving.

I cut this recipe in half knowing that it would probably be soggy before we finished eating it - that did not happen!  We chowed down on this and it was gone in 24 hours.  I'm planning to make another one today - that's how good it is!  We had this with lunch and dinner on Tuesday and finished it off at lunch on Wednesday.  It was best the first time, after just a few hours the peas were still partially frozen and crunchy.  It is one of those dishes that each bite tastes a little different.  Very refreshing!

 Fruit Torte

1 stick butter, melted
1 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 8 oz. packages cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup sugar
2 tsp. vanilla

Add flour to melted butter, mix in brown sugar and press into 9 x 13 pan.  Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

Mix cream cheese, sugar and vanilla.  Spread evenly over crust.

Top with fruit and chill.

I also cut this recipe in half and used an 8 x 8 pan - we still have some of it but it seems to keep well for a few days.  I opted for a red, while and blue mix in honor of Independence Day!  I think if you were in a hurry (or didn't want to turn your oven on for 10 minutes), you could buy a pre-made graham cracker crust.

Sunshine Chicken Salad

1 pkg. ranch salad dressing mix
1/2 cup mayonnaise
4 oz. cream cheese softened
1/4 cup honey
2 cups chicken, cooked and cubed
1 cup celery, sliced
1 8 oz. can pineapple tidbits in juice, drained
1 1/2 cups seedless grapes
1/2 cup slivered almonds or pecans, toasted

Combine dressing mix, mayo, cream cheese, and honey thoroughly in a small bowl.  Chill 30 minutes or overnight.
Place remaining ingredients, except almonds, in a large bowl.  Toss with chilled dressing.  Sprinkle almonds or pecans to serve.

This makes a great sandwich alternative!  I was out of grapes when I made this, so I added dried cranberries and of course cut the recipe in half.

Friday Foodie

I tried two new recipes for our potluck last Sunday and they were both really good!  I Googled "Potluck side dishes" and "Potluck salads" until I found something that looked interesting.  I failed to take a picture of either item, but was able to find them on the original sites.  I made both of these, along with Tamale Pie, on Saturday and only had to bake the potatoes and Tamale Pie on Sunday morning.

Broccoli and Cranberry Salad
Original recipe here, I made a few changes to fit my taste.  I also doubled the recipe.

Ingredients:
5 cups broccoli florets, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cup sliced carrots
1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1 cup cooked and crumbled bacon pieces
1 cup sunflower kernels
3/4 cup Ocean Spray® Craisins® Original Dried Cranberries
Honey mustard salad dressing

Directions:

Combine all salad ingredients in a large mixing bowl; mix well. Add dressing to salad and mix well. Refrigerate 1 hour.
Makes 8 to 10 servings.

Southwestern Potato Casserole from Plain Chicken

1 (32oz) bag shredded hash browns
1 can cream of chicken soup
16 oz sour cream
1 Tbsp dried minced onion flakes
1 can Rotel, drained
8 oz cheddar or Mexican blend cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Combine sour cream, cream of chicken soup, Rotel tomatoes, and cheese in a large bowl. Fold in the hash browns and pour into a 3-quart casserole that has been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Bake for 45 minutes.
I was suppose to top this with two cups of crushed tortillas chips, but totally forgot!  It still tasted good, but was more like a breakfast casserole I have made in the past than a side dish.

Friday Foodie

Today's post is a little late because I cooked this recipe this morning! I'm having a swim party for the young ladies in our church tomorrow and decided to make pasta salad. This is a recipe I made up and is a hit wherever I take it!


Pasta Salad

12 oz. package tri-colored pasta
1 can whole olives
1/2 container grape or cherry tomatoes
1 bottle fat free Italian salad dressing

1. Cook pasta according to package directions.
2. Drain pasta, drain olives, cut tomatoes to bite size pieces.
3. Mix it all together and add about half bottle of dressing until everything is moist.
4. Top with Parmesan cheese
4. Refrigerate for at least an hour.
5. Toss before serving and add additional dressing as needed.

Of course you can add other veggies, but this is my standard. I've also used pesto sauce instead of salad dressing and it is very good! I was too busy to make any this time.

Nutritional info: 143 calories / 2.8 g fat / 0.5 g fiber / 3 WW points. Makes 12 servings.

Friday Foodie in Action

As you know, this is Missions Week at Victory Tabernacle. That means tomorrow is our International Picnic. I am on the setup crew and I have to be at the park at 7:00 a.m. I live 30 minutes away, so I've got to have everything with me when I leave at 6:30 tomorrow. So here is what my kitchen looked like 45 minutes ago:




I made pasta salad with Rosalie's Basil Pesto Sauce:


And German Chocolate cake:


Unfortunately my pan was too small, so I HAD to make cupcakes, too! (They will not make it to the picnic.)



While my cake was baking, I got everything back in order, including emptying my dishwasher!


What kind of cook are you? Do you make a big mess, then clean it all up when you're done? Or is everything spotless as you make your way through the kitchen? Or do you just toss your takeout containers?!