Marinated Roast Pork and Potatoes

This was a delicious meal.  I had a bonless roast pork in the freezer that needed to be cook soon and this turned out to be a very moist delicious way to cook it.

I used the meat thermometer to make sure it was done.  They have changed the temperature for pork from years ago.  They say now the internal temperature should be about 160° for roasts, of course you know you should take it out about 10°before it reaches that temperature so the meat and rest and the juices form in the meat.
Here are the potatoes

Marinade:
4-4.5 lb bones pork roast
4 TBL mustard
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 cloves garlic (minced)
salt and pepper

potatoes:
5-6 med to large potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks, salt and pepper and then toss them and a small sliced onion in oil.

Place roast in large plastic bag, add ingredients and let marinate at least 2-3 hours...best if you do overnight.
Preheat oven to 425° place roast in pan and cook on high heat for 15  minutes, turn oven down to 375° and continue to cook until the internal temperature in 150-155°.  Remove from oven and let rest for about 15-20 minutes.  For the potatoes you can par boil them is you like, I didn't do that I just peeled them and cut into chunks and when the meat was at about 125° I added them, and when I removed the meat I left them in the pan to finish cooking.

This was an awesome meal, I served this with sauerkraut and cooked carrots.  The only thing that was missing was some great biscuits.  Maybe next time.

Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful week and Always Remember to Find the Time to Do ALL the things YOU L♥ve.
Donna

Guy Fieri Loaded Baked Potatoe Soup

It's that time of year when we are craving comfort food and this is one of mine.  I love homemade soup during the winter.  This is one of my favorites.  A couple of years ago my daughter made potato soup that was so delicious and different from what I had been used to.  When I asked her how she made it she told me she had baked the potatoes instead of boiling them.  So from then on I have made my soup this way.  Hope you give it a try, it really is worth the effort...but really it's not that hard.
adapted from here

2 large baking potatoes (Idaho or russet)
6 slices  smoked bacon
1/2 cup all-purpose flour 

2 cups half and half

1 can chicken broth
3 ounces cheese of your choice , grated *I used taco blend that I had on hand*
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 ounces sour cream
1 small onion diced

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the potatoes on a roasting tray and bake for 45 minutes. When done, the tip of a paring knife should go through the potatoes easily.
  

Cook in a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat until crisp. Remove the bacon from the pot with a slotted spoon and set aside, leaving the drippings in the pot.

Add the flour to the drippings in the pot and stir to combine. Cook, without adding color, until the flour and fat has combined, about 1 minute. Pour in the milk while you whisk to incorporate. Cook over medium heat until bubbly and thickened, stirring frequently, about 15 minutes.

Scoop out the potato pulp from the skins and add to the milk mixture. Mash with the back of a wooden spoon leaving it a little bit chunky.

Add the cooked bacon (leaving a little out for garnishing the soup), 1 cup of the cheese, and season well with salt and pepper. Stir until the cheese has melted. Remove from the heat.

Ladle the soup in bowls, top with crumbled bacon, some cheese and a dollop of sour cream.  Then say YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!  ☺

Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful week and Always Remember to Find the Time to Do All the Things you L♥ve.

Donna

Cucumber tomato salad

 

 

Last night was my night to cook and with working these days I try to find things that taste good yet doesn't take me forever to prepare.  This is a quick light salad packed with lots of flavor.  I made bratwurst, roasted green beans and potato salad to go with this salad.  For dessert we had a selection of fruits.  Give this salad a try, I think you'll really enjoy it.

These photo's were taken with my new Canon camera, just love it.  Bought it for our trip to New Orleans, it takes wonderful pictures.  It's a canon S120.  Takes awesome video too.  Will share some of the pictures from New Orleans shortly.

Ingredients

3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon sugar
3 cucumbers, peeled and thinly sliced (about 2 lbs)
1 (10 oz) container grape tomatoes, sliced in half
1/2 medium Vidalia onion, very thinly sliced into half moons
2 tablespoons dill, chopped
kosher salt, to taste
black pepper, freshly ground, to taste


In a large bowl, whisk together the vinegar, olive oil and sugar.

Slice the onions and place them in a bowl with ice and water, let soak for about 10 minutes, this will take the bite out of them.  Peel the cucumbers, cut in half and then scoop out the seeds.  Slice.  I cut the cherry tomatoes in circles.

Toss in the cucumbers, tomatoes, onion and dill, and season with salt and pepper. Let marinate at room temperature for 20 minutes before serving.

Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful weekend and Always rememeber to Find the Time to Do ALL the Things YOU L♥ve.
D♥nna

Faux Twice Baked Potato - LC

I belong to Atkins online and we have a wonderful group that shares life stories regarding weight loss, food and just everyday living. (group name on forum is 50-60's with 30-40 lbs to lose) One of the gals talked alot about Almost Twice Baked Potato and so I finally decided to give it a try.  I changed a few things from here  .  I roasted a turkey the other day and one of them meals I made this was the side along with sauteed snow peas.  The dinner was really good and best part is was all Low Carb.  If you are trying to lose weight and struggle you should give LC a try.  It's a very healthy way to eat and best of all you can lose weight and inches.  I have been LC'ing now for almost 2 years, my weight loss has been steady and slow and I have lost 31 lbs....feel fantastic and have lots of clothes that now fit.

printable

Ingredients:
1 large head of cauliflower
4 oz. soft cream cheese
3 TBL butter
green onion 3 or 4 tops included
3-5  slices bacon
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese (or colby/jack)
1/2 cup muenster cheese, grated
4 heaping TBL sour cream (more if you like)

Directions:
Preheat oven 350°, grease a 8x8 baking dish or a 2 qt. casserole dish.  Cut the cauliflower and cook in the microwave in a large bowl for about 12-15 minutes.  (can cook on top of stove also) until tender.  Drain.  Cook the bacon until crisp, when done use the grease from the bacon to saute your onion.  Put cauliflower in dish and mash, but leave some small chunky pieces, mix in the cream cheese, sour cream, cheddar, and muenster.  Chop the bacon and add that and the onions to the cauliflower.  Mix well.  Bake for 20-40 minutes.  The last 10 minutes top with some more cheese and turn to oven til melted.  Serve.  YUM
 I served this with a roasted turkey and salad.

Makes about 6 servings
per serving:  approximately 324 calories; 27 g fat, 145g protein, 6 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 4 net carbs.
Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful day and Remember to Find the Time to Do ALL the things YOU L♥ve.
D♥nna

Broccoli and Cheese Soup (LC)

Well it's snowing here in KS ....again....am sooooooooooo ready for Spring and some decent weather.  I wrote this and also made the soup the day it snowed and that day was Feb. 4.    So with that said it was perfect weather for some soup and today's choice was Broccoli and Cheese.  Best part of this one is that it is LC too, and oh so yummy.

1/2 head of broccoli crowns (microwave in bowl with water for about 4 min)
1/2 onion diced
1 - 2 carrots (cook in microwave til almost tender)
3 pcs bacon
4-5 oz. velvetta
4 oz cream cheese
1/3 cup sour cream
1/2-1 cp half and half (can also use milk)
1 pkt chicken powder seasoning (makes stock)
2/3 cp water
salt and pepper

In stock pot cook bacon, when almost crisp add the onion and cook until translucent.  Add the half and half and start adding the cheeses, cook until melted.  Add 1/3 of broccoli and then use an immersion blender to make it nice
and smooth.  Add the rest of the broccoli and the carrots and simmer until done.
Serve with some sour cream on top and a little bit of fresh parsley.  Enjoy

Thanks for stopping by,  have a great week and Remember to Find the Time to do all the Things YOU L♥ve.
D♥nna

Potato Rolls with onion

This is a wonderful roll with lots of flavor but not much work.  There is only 1 rise so it makes up in a short time.  You can have fresh baked bread or rolls in about an hour, how great does that sound.  Since I have retired I don't buy bread anymore everything in the house is home made.  It's pretty scarey to buy bread in the store and a month later its still ok with no mold.  Yikes!!! My homemade bread and baked good if not refrigerated will get mold within 2 - 3 days.  Gives you something to think about and what do they put in the foods that give them that long a shelf life.  With making your own you know exactly what's in it and it tastes so much better.  Ok I'll get off my soap box for now.  Here's the recipe.  I will for sure be making these again, because they make a wonderful sandwich.
Printable:
Ingredients:
1/2 large  onion diced
1 TBL butter
1 3/4 cup warm water
2 TBL sugar
2 1/2 tsp salt
1 cup potato flour
3- 4 cups AP flour
2 pkg yeast
2 TBL vegetable oil
1 egg white mixed with a little water

Directions:
Saute the onions until they are translucent and set a side to cool.  In large mixer bowl mix 1 cup potato flour, 1 cup AP flour, salt, sugar and yeast.  With paddle attachment on add the water and oil and beat for 3 minutes.  Put dough hook on then add 1/2 cup flour at a time and continue to knead the dough for 3 1/2 minutes, then add the onions and knead for another 3 minutes until you get a nice soft dough (it should not be sticky).  Set on floured counter to rest for 10 minutes covered.  Divide dough into 12-14 round shaped balls and place on a lined parchment paper baking sheet   (these do rise quite a bit so don't make your balls too big and don't place too close together)  These will make wonderful small dinner rolls.
Cover and let rise for about 30 minutes.  Preheat oven to 375 °F    Brush tops of rolls with egg white and bake for 25 minutes until golden brown.  Cool a bit on wire rack then enjoy.  These also make wonderful sandwiches.

Thanks for taking time from your busy day.  Have a wonderful day and Remember to Find the Time to Do ALL the things You ♥ Love.
Donna

Beer Batter Onion Rings

I have been craving onion rings for a couple of weeks.  So here is a simple and quick recipe for some real tasty Onion Rings.

Printable

Ingredients:
1 large sweet onion, sliced in rings and seperated
1 cup AP flour
1/2 can beer
1 TBL cornstarch
salt/pepper
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1 egg

Mix all ingredients to the texture of pancake batter.  Fully coat onion rings, let excess drip off before adding to hot oil.  Fry until golden brown, drain on paper towel and salt as soon as removed from oil.

Serve with you favorite dipping sauce.
Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful day and Remember to Find the Time to Do all the things YOU Love.
Donna

Mexican Chicken Bake

This recipe started out one way and then took a big left turn. I started out to make a Mexican dish using the crock pot and was really disappointed after the chicken was done and it had no flavor. HMMMM interesting. For the life of me I'm not sure why that happened because it had some really great ingredients in it. So the end result was I drained the chicken then kind of started all over. I put some oil in a fry pan, sauteed some onion, and garlic added some chicken thighs I had just boiled, added salt pepper, chilli powder, taco seasoning, 1/2 can of mild rotel, diced drained canned tomatoes, a can of corn (drained) then added the crockpot chicken. Well the end result was fabulous. See........ and yes it was as good as it looks.Printable
Ingredient:
6-8 chicken thighs *can use chicken breast*
1/2 can of rotel (I use mild)
1 can of diced tomato drained (reserve the juice)
1 large onion diced
2 cloves garlic minced
1/2 red pepper, diced (can use orange and yellow too)
1 1/2 TBL chilli powder
2 TBL taco seasoning
salt and pepper
1 can Green enchilada sauce
1/4 cup sour cream
1/3 cup chicken broth
couple springs cilantro chopped
oil

Garnish:
sour cream
shredded lettuce
fresh diced tomatoes
diced onion
Boil the chicken thighs for about 10-12 minutes. De bone and shred. Heat the enchilada sauce in microwave with sour cream and chicken broth.
In heavy skillet saute the onion, then add the garlic add the chicken and brown. Add the rotel and stir. Add chilli powder, taco seasoning, salt and pepper, stir. Add the reserved juice and reduce. At very end add cilantro and stir.
Warm the tortilla then in a 9x13 pan spread some of the enchilada sauce on bottom (don't over do) fill a tortilla with meat mixture and top with cheese, roll and put in tooth pick. Continue until you have them all done. Put some enchilada sauce on top (again don't over do , you don't want them soggy) sprinkle cheese on top and bake in 375 degree oven for about 30 minutes. Serve and let guest garnish with what they want. Best of all Enjoy!
Thanks for stopping by, Remember to Find the Time to DO ALL the things you LOVE.
Donna