Slow Cooker Sundays are definitely one of my favorites. This was one of the easiest meals to make and it was sooo good! Felt more like lazy Sunday, but isnt that what Sunday’s are for?
Only a couple changes on this one. I did not use bone in pork chops, I only had pork loin chops in my freezer so that was what I was using. Bone in would have been amazing though!!! I do not use low sodium anything, I already had to give up enough with my food, I have to draw a line somewhere. My pork chops were even a touch frozen in the middle still but that doesn’t matter, the beauty of slow cooking.
Total fix it and forget it, which is beautiful for a lazy day or even busy days when you dont have time. I try real hard to NOT be busy on Sunday.
I set my Crock pot on Low for 6 hours. Half way through cooking, I added about a pound of new potatoes, halved, in with the pork. I used a mix of red and yellow potatoes.
At the end of the time, I literally just put it on a plate. The gravy needed nothing added and was the perfect thickness. To finish the dish off, I added some steamed broccoli. I use my rice cooker and it steams veggies like a dream. I dont think there is an easier meal to make. Enjoy!
Winter has arrived in North Idaho, we had our first real snowfall. You know what that means, Soup, Soup, Soup. Nothing like a hot bowl of soup on a cold and wintery night. This Soup Saturday had me trying one of my favorite soups but I have never tried to make it from scratch before. Here goes nothing!
For my first attempt at this yummy soup I chose French Onion Soup by the Cozy Cook. What caught my attention on this one was she used Gruyere cheese on baguettes, feels fancy.
I followed this recipe to the letter. I had no substitutions or alterations. For the wine I used Free Reign Pinot Grigio. It has a crisp apple, fruity taste with a dry finish. The Gruyere I got from Imperfect Foods. Its flavor and texture are very similar to Provolone.
This has sooo many onions. It takes a long time to break all these down. I definitely stirred more than every 10-15 minutes. I have a stirring compulsion, I cant help it. I dont feel that my over stirring caused any browning issues however. It’s such a slow process on this one.
In making the cheesy baguettes, I did not brown them as much as she did. I like mine on the soft cheesy side.
Overall this was a success. It was full of flavor, great beefy broth. It turned out a bit too sweet for my taste though. Next time, I would not add the 2 sweet onions and just use maybe half of one and the remaining all yellow instead and I think the wine was too sweet too. I would use a Chardonnay instead. I loved the cheesy baguettes on it, probably my favorite part of this dinner, especially when they soaked up the yummy broth.
This casserole was fantastic! A perfect comfort meal, just the kind that I love to have on cold nights, eating dinner in bed. This should have been a fairly easy meal to make however I ran into a few snafus but just keep swimming. It may have been way later than planned but damnit it was getting made!
For the chicken, I roasted a boneless, skinless breast on the Traeger a couple hours before. I seasoned the chicken with salt, pepper, Traeger Anything Rub, and Smoked Paprika on both sides. (I love Smoked Paprika on chicken! It gives it a wonderful smokey flavor.) Placed that in a small glass dish and put about half a cup of chicken stock in the dish. I used Better Than Bouillion Chicken Base and mixed about a TBSP into hot water. Topped with a TBSP of butter, in this instance I used Country Crock Plant Butter with Avocado Oil. I set the Midnight Meat Train at 425 degrees and roasted it for about 45 minutes, until the top is golden browned. I left the chicken in the stock and set it aside to cool. Once cooled, I shredded the whole thing. You could just chop it too but I prefer shredded. I poured the left over chicken stock in a storage container and put in the fridge for later use. Never let good stock go to waste!
While I was cooking the chicken on the Traeger, I threw a few pieces of bacon on there too. Cooked these about 8 minutes a side, until they were nice and crispy and almost all the fat was cooked off. I set these aside to cool as well. Once cooled, I roughly chopped into bits.
Once it was time to get cooking, I picked bionaturae Gluten Free Rice & Lentil Penne Rigate Pasta for this one. It says there is no soy, starch, or gums. I like these because the texture is good, they hold up to handling after cooked and dont fall apart, and they dont have any weird after taste. I cook these to al dente as the recipe directs.
For the vegetables, I did the purple/red onion, canned diced tomatoes and fresh spinach but I left out the green pepper. We both have a sensitivity to them, they cause hellacious heartburn, so unless they are a key ingredient to the dish, I either leave them out or I will substitute with a pablano. I’m also not suppose to eat chicken, but I dont listen to that one as much as I should because I love it so much.
Okay, so now on to the sauce and this is where I ran into my issues. I got my mozzarella cheese out and when I opened it up, I immediately noticed that it was bad, the smell hit me first. I think to myself, no worries, I have more in the freezer. I will just take enough for what I need and the warm milk will melt it, no biggy. So, I bang it on the counter a bit to break it up and then just dumpped what I needed into my milk. Well…. the top of that cheese was moldy too, which is now in my milk. I have frozen moldy cheese just glaring at me in my pan. Fuck. Thankfully, it was still frozen because I did not have any more evaporated milk on hand. I strained the milk and removed all the cheese, moldy pieces and all. Now, I need to figure out what to use, I grab the shredded Cheddar Jack cheese I had in the fridge. I figured it was pretty close, its a mix of mild cheddar and monterey jack cheese, so it has a mild, soft cheese flavor and texture to it. A solid substitute I felt.
I followed the recipe the rest of the way through, topping it all off with a little pepperjack cheese to add a nice bite to it. I did not add the cheddar to the top since I used the cheddar jack in the sauce. Even with all the malfunctions with the cheese sauce it still came out amazing! The Cheddar Jack was a great alternative, next time I will try it with the mozzarella and see which one I like like best.
Overall, very cheesy, with the tang from the ranch dressing and the bite from the pepperjack, the flavors were popping. So good! A perfect hearty cassole meal. It does take a bit of pre-planning unless you already have some cooked chicken you need to use up or if you pick up a rotisserie. It is definitely going in my favorite casserole dish list. Its even just as good reheated the next day!
