Sweet and Tangy Shredded Pork

I'm becoming more and more "daring" in my cooking....and I'm so glad I am!  This was really delicious!  From my previous experience with Country Bob's All Purpose Sauce, I knew I really couldn't go wrong!  

So, I literally pulled a hunk of pork out of my freezer....which I didn't label, (but really should have) and threw the other ingredients on top of it.  I was so excited when this was ready to be shredded because I tasted the sauce and it was so awesome!  I pulled the hunk of pork out on my cutting board and attempted to shred it.  Um.....like I said, no idea what cut of meat this was, but it would NOT shred and most of it was fat and bone.  UGH!  (Did I mention I had a table full of people sitting there waiting for me?!  Sigh.) So, mine was extra saucy and chunky, but yours will not be!  You will not use this mystery meat!

I served my shredded pork with a simple Tomato, Onion and Balsamic Vinegar Salad, but this would be great with fries, coleslaw, salad, baked beans, etc!

This is a real crowd-pleaser!

Sweet and Tangy Shredded Pork

Ingredients:

1 3-4lb. pork roast

1 small-medium red onion, chopped

1 (13oz.) bottle Country Bob's All Purpose Sauce

1/2 cup Poppyseed Dressing

1 Tbsp. Garlic Powder

Directions:

Place your pork roast in the bottom of your crock and cover it with the onions.

In a bowl, pour your Country Bob's All Purpose Sauce, Poppyseed Dressing and Garlic Powder.

Mix it up.

Pour your sauce over the pork roast and onions.

Cook on LOW for 8-10 hours or on HIGH for 4-5 hours.

Take out your pork, shred it and replace it back in your sauce and mix.

Serve on buns and enjoy!

Mango Peach Chicken Leg Quarters

This is one of the simple and delicious recipes I've made!  The chicken was so tender and juicy, and the flavor was awesome!  All this took was 4 very simple and healthy ingredients. Yup, just 4! I'm all about simplicity lately!

All four of us ate this up! My son (13 months) and daughter (4) enjoyed every bite.  My husband continuously told me how good this was with each bite :)  You know you have a winner when the whole family eats with no complaints! (Although, Gavin, my son, doesn't really protest anything you put in front of him!)

So, how did this recipe come to be?  Well, I was at Costco....and kind of hungry. I know what you're thinking......not a good scenario.  This time, it was ok.  I bought a HUGE jar of Mango Peach Salsa.  Instead of scarfing the whole thing with chips, (which I had my fair share of btw!) I decided it would be DELICIOUS in my slow cooker.  I was right.  Thank goodness!

This was my first time ever cooking with Chicken Leg Quarters, and it won't be the last.  They stayed moist, flavorful and had lots of meat on them.  We used a whole family pack so we would have dinner for a few days.  You don't have to use Leg Quarters for this recipe.  You can use thighs, breasts, or whatever cut you would like.....or is on sale!

Mango Peach Chicken Leg Quarters

Ingredients: (I used a 6.5 Quart Crock for this)

4.5 lbs. (or there about) Chicken Leg Quarters

1 1/2 cups red onion, roughly chopped

1/2 -3/4 cup cilantro, chopped

2 cups Mango Peach Salsa

Salt and pepper 

Directions:

Place your leg quarters in your crock and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Sprinkle with your red onions and cilantro.

Pour your salsa over the top.

Cook on LOW for 8-10 hours or on HIGH for 4-5 hours.

We served ours over some Angel Hair Pasta.

Enjoy!

Keurig Winner Announced!

And the winner of the Keurig from OneCupConnection.com is.....

Entry #793 Brenda LaFave Scott!

CONGRATULATIONS!

Please email me at ABusyCrockPotMom@yahoo.com within the next 48 hours to claim your prize!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sweet Melon Pork Chops

These pork chops were absolutely DELICIOUS!  I know, I know, these sound "strange," but I'm here to tell you, sometimes strange is good!

These came to be when I had a very nice morning out with our good friends, Maja, Henry and Luke.  Our families walked together for the March of Dimes in the morning and then went out to lunch.  Henry is a great cook.  We got to talking about some vanilla salt I have and how I was going to use it, then somehow came to decide I should try the vanilla salt on my pork with melon.  Well, I chickened out on the vanilla salt for this, but went ahead with the melon.  I'm SOOO SOOO glad I did!  Thank you for the inspiration Henry! (And don't worry.....I have BIGGER and BETTER plans for the vanilla salt!)

The melon breaks down into juicy goodness and the honey and "lemonade" make this a sweet sensation!  We served ours over rice to soak up all of the good juices, with salad on the side.  I hope your family enjoys it as much as ours did!

Sweet Melon Pork Chops

Ingredients:

3-4 lbs. (4-6) Thick Cut Boneless Pork Chops (or any kind of chops you want to use)

1/8 tsp. pepper

1/8 tsp. salt

1/2 cup red onion, chopped

1/2 cantaloupe, cut up

1/2 honey dew melon, cut up

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup lemon juice

2 Tbsp. sugar

1/4 cup water

Directions: (I used my 6.5 Quart Crock for this)

Place your chops in the bottom of your crock and sprinkle them with salt and pepper.

Place your onions on top.

Now, add your cantaloupe and honey dew melon.

Mix together the lemon juice, sugar and water.

Pour your "lemonade" and honey over the cantaloupe.

Cook on LOW for 8 hours or on HIGH for 4 hours.

Serve and Enjoy!

White Lasagna

I've been wanting to make a White Lasagna for forever!  I have a hard time justifying Alfredo sauce as part of my diet, but I thought, you know what?!  I'm going to put lots of "good-for-you" stuff in there to make up for it!  So, that's what I did!

This turned out really well!  It was extremely tasty!  All four of us cleaned our plates.....Gavin was a mess, but a happy little dude after eating this!  Ours was over-cooked, but that's because we were gone longer than I had anticipated, so this was on warm for almost 4 hours.  Not the best scenario!  This won't happen to you though, because we eat over-cooked food so you won't have to! LOL

I hope you give this a try!  It's really neat to make Lasagna in the slow cooker.  I made my own alfredo sauce, but if you want to shave off some prep-time, just buy jarred sauce.  It will be fine! :)

White Lasagna

Ingredients: (I used my 6.5 Quart for this)

12 (or so) Whole Wheat Lasagna Noodles

8 oz. Mushrooms, chopped

1/2 cup red onion, chopped

10 oz. frozen leaf spinach, thawed and squeezed out (You can use fresh)

10 oz. Ricotta Cheese

1 lb. ground turkey

1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese

salt and pepper

Alfredo Sauce (See recipe below)

Alfredo Sauce: (Here is a link to the original recipe on AllRecipes.com)

1 cup butter

2 8oz. packages of cream cheese

4 tsp. garlic powder

4 cups milk

12 oz. grated parmesan cheese

1/4 tsp. black pepper

Directions:

Start out by making your alfredo sauce.  If you don't have time, have 2 jars of Alfredo Sauce ready to go.  To make your alfredo, start with meliting your butter over medium heat.  Once melted, add your cream cheese.

When it's melted, whisk in the garlic powder.

Add in the pepper, Paremesan and whisk.

Add the milk little by little and keep whisking.

Done :)  Great job!

In a pan, brown your ground turkey with a little salt and pepper.

In another pan, brown your onions and mushrooms until your onions are translucent.

Spray your crock with non-stick spray!!!!

In the bottom of your crock, pour about 1/2 cup of your alfredo sauce.

 Cover the bottom of your crock with lasagna noodles.  I used about 4, but break them to fit your crock.

Spread half of your ricotta on your noodles.  I found it easiest to place some dollops around and then spread it with the back of a spoon.

 Spread half of the onion and mushroom mixture over the top 

and half of the onion and mushroom mixture.

Spread half of your ground turkey over the top.

Pour about 1 cup of your alfredo sauce over that.

Repeat this process for one more layer.

Top with a final layer of lasagna noodles, about 1/2 cup of your alfredo sauce and the shredded parmesan cheese.

Cook on LOW for 6-7 hours or on HIGH for 3-3.5 hours.

Enjoy!

Creamy Chicken with Vegetables

Ready for one of my easiest recipes ever?! This came about on one of those days I literally had minutes to throw something together and had to work with whatever I had in the house.  I'm pretty sure you'll have these ingredients, or a "version" of these ingredients in your house already, so you won't have to run out to the store for this one.

This was very yummy and perfect served over rice!  We made a nice salad and some biscuits to go with it and it was perfect! All 4 of us ate this and all 4 of us cleaned our plates......well, Gavin honestly made a gigantic mess, but most of it made it's way into his mouth! ;)

This would be a great "go-to" meal.  By that, I mean it's so quick in easy, it would be a good idea to always keep these ingredients on hand for when you're in a hurry!

Creamy Chicken with Vegetables

Ingredients:

2 lbs. FROZEN boneless skinless chicken

1 can condensed cream of chicken soup

1 can condensed cream of potato soup

3/4 cup milk

1/2 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

2 tsp. garlic powder

2 tsp. onion powder

1 cup frozen mixed vegetables

Directions:

In a bowl, combine the cream of chicken soup, cream of potato soup, milk, salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder.

Mix it up.

Pour your frozen veggies in.

Mix it up.

Place your frozen chicken in your crock.

(I sprinkled mine with a bit of salt and pepper, but it's really not necessary)

Pour your soup/veggie mixture over the top of your chicken.

Cook on LOW for 7-8 hours or on HIGH for 3.5-4 hours.
Shred and replace back in the crock.

Serve and Enjoy!

Stuffed Mexican Meatloaf

I had a lot of fun coming up with this meatloaf.  Honestly, meatloaf in the slow cooker is about 10 times better than meatloaf out of the oven!  It stays so incredibly moist!

This was a delicious meatloaf!  I literally pulled things out of my cupboards and refrigerator as I was making this!  Sometimes the best recipes come that way! :)  With cheese, salsa and more cheese as part of the ingredients, how can you go wrong?!

I've been really trying to watch my salt intake since having kidney stones, so I decided to make my own "tacoish" seasoning!  I think I did quite well!

Chances are, you probably have most, if not all of these ingredients in your house right now, so this should definitely go on your list of things to make this week!  We served ours with a nice salad, but you can serve it with mashed potatoes, chips and guacamole or maybe even some black beans.

Stuffed Mexican Meatloaf

Ingredients:

2 lbs. ground beef

1 1/4 cup shredded Mexican blend Cheese, divided

2 eggs

3/4 cup salsa

1/4 cup minced red onion

1 cup plain bread crumbs

2 Tbsp. onion powder

1 Tbsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

Directions:

In a bowl, combine the bread crumbs, onion powder, garlic powder, cumin, salt and pepper.

and mix.

In another bowl, place the ground beef, onions, 3/4 cup of the shredded cheese, salsa, eggs and the seasoned bread crumbs you just made.

Mix it all together.

I used a Reynolds slow cooker liner in my crock, so I did not make foil handles to lift this meatloaf out like I usually do.  I was able to lift it out easily, bag and all, place it on a plate and serve it from there.  If you would like to see how I've made the handles in the past, please click here.

Spray your crock or your slow cooker liner with non-stick spray.  Place half of your meatloaf mixture in the bottom of your crock.

Spread the remainder 1/2 cup of shredded cheese on top.

Spread the rest of your meatloaf mixture over the top and press the two halves together around the edges.

Cook on LOW for 7-8 hours or on HIGH for 3.5-4 hours.

Here's what it will look like when it's done.

Serve and enjoy!