{Slow Cooker} Honey Dijon Pork Chops and Apples

I love simple meals...and of course delicious too, and this one really fits that bill. 

We eat a lot of chicken, and occassionally we eat the 'other white meat'.

After getting a very good deal on some boneless pork chops, I was happy to come across this delicious meal at Eat at Home.

Tiffany is my kind of gal (and her last name, King, is my maiden name, so I'm naturally partial to her=)  I think we share taste buds as she surely shares MY kind of recipes.

(Did you know I had to humble myself to marry my husband?  I went from a KING to a BAKER). {grins}

Tiffany also has her own eBook - Feasting in 15. Check it out - it has lots of ideas for speedcooking weeknight dinners. 

OH SO YUM too!

I LOOOVE pork chops with apples too, so I didn't have to think twice about trying this simply satisfying meal.

The recipe also calls for onions, but you can leave them out if you don't care for them.

The only thing I changed was adding a little liquid to the crockpot - apple juice, but Tiffany insists it isn't necessary.

SLOW COOKER HONEY DIJON PORK CHOPS AND APPLES (& ONIONS TOO)

1-1/2 lbs. pork chops, boneless or bone-in

5 small apples, peeled and sliced

1 onion, sliced

3 Tb. honey

1 tsp. dijon mustard

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

generous grinds of black pepper

(we put pepper on just about everything!)

1/3 c. apple juice

Place pork chops in bottom of crock. In small bowl, combine honey, dijon, salt and pepper together. Pour over apples and onions;toss to coat.  Place apples and onions on top of chops in slow cooker. 

Add apple juice. Cook 5 - 6 hours on high or 7 - 8 hours on low.

(I had thin pork chops and they were ready after 4-1/2 hours...on high).

I served it over rice.

Yield: 4 - 6 servings

Linked to Thursdays Treasures
Gooseberry Patch Roundup
Mix it up Monday
Whatcha Crockin Wednesday

Easy Cheese Danishes

Oh my - you are going to love these!

Especially if you are a cream cheese lover like I am!

Crescent rolls are my #2 favorite ingredient...right after cream cheese.

Combine the two and I'm in love for sure.

After seeing this inviting recipe from Brandie at The Country Cook I was dreaming about these...wanting to try them for a couple of weeks...

{Please stop by and pay Brandie a visit.  She is an awesome cook and loves simple and delicious recipes just like I do. She's an all-around sweet southern gal - and has a great photo tutorial at the link above for this simple recipe.}

but knew I'd scarf them all down myself, so I waited for the right opportunity when I could share.

My daughter in love, Lyn, who loves cream cheese as much as I do was here, so I whipped up half a batch, and we devoured all 4 of them. 

It was such a breeze for both of us! *-*

It wasn't long, and Lyn had made them a few times for her family! And....she experimented by spreading with peanut butter and sprinkling chocolate chips on it before rolling them up.

HOW COULD YOU NOT LLLOOOOOOVE THEM???

These melt in your mouth and are quick to fix.  Enjoy them for breakfast, or for a snack. The whole recipe can be easily halved.

You can even dress them up with fruit filling if you so choose.

Your family will love you for sure.

Brandie also has a recipe for Shortcut Apple Danish too. Check it out...

EASY CHEESE DANISHES

Danish:

2 tubes crescent rolls (8 in each)

1 (8 ozs) pkg. cream cheese, softened

1/4 c. white sugar

(I use xylitol)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 Tb. butter, melted

8 Tb. light brown sugar

Glaze:

1/2 c. powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

4 tsp. milk

Preheat oven to 350. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray.

In medium bowl, combine softened cream cheese with sugar and vanilla. Mixture should be creamy and smooth when finished.

(I have to confess I was in such a hurry I didn't blend it thoroughly =)

Separate dough into 8 rectangles.  Seal performations. Using a brush or spoon, spread melted butter evenly over crescent rolls.  Sprinkle each rectangle with about 1 Tb. brown sugar.

Roll up from long side; pinch edges to seal. Holding one end, loosely coil each. Now  spread out the dough with your fingers to make room for the filling in the center...

making it as large as possible to hold more filling. 

Place on prepared cookie sheet. Top each coil with about 2 TB. of cream cheese filling. Bake 15 - 18 minutes, or until golden brown.

Mix glaze ingredients in small bowl; stir until smooth and drizzle over each warm danish. (We enjoyed them without glaze).

Linked to What's New Wednesday
     Mix it up Monday
            Melt in your Mouth Monday
     Crazy Sweet Tuesday
Scrumptious Sunday
Mop it up Monday
Breakfast Ideas Monday
Thursday's Treasures

Snickerdoodle Bread

I do think I jumped up and down (while sitting right here in my chair!) when I saw this amazing recipe at Aunt Nubby's Kitchen.

Snickerdoodle Cookies always bring emotions to the surface as they are what I often made as a child, after GETTING to make them when I was in 4-H.

This bread is sooo tasty and I love that it has sour cream in it too.

I made this to serve to a ladies group at church and it was a big hit. Especially with the cinnamon butter that I served alongside it.

MMMMM!

If you love snickerdoodle cookies, you will LOOOOVE this awesome bread. 

It has a crunchy sugar/cinnamon topping that adds a perfect touch.

SNICKERDOODLE BREAD

1 c. butter, softened

2 c. sugar

(I reduced it to 1-1/2)

3 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 c. sour cream

2-1/2 c. all purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 (10 ozs) bag cinnamon chips

(where you find choco chips, but maybe only seasonally?)

2 Tb. flour

TOPPING:

2 Tb. sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare 2 9-in. loaf pans by spraying with cooking spray. In large bowl, combine butter and sugar; cream together with electric mixer for about 2 minutes until fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.  Add vanilla and sour cream; mix to combine.

In medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon; whisk to combine.  Add flour mixture to creamed mixture, stirring until blended.

Coat the cinnamon chips with 2 Tb. flour, then stir into batter. Spoon batter into prepared pans.  Combine sugar and cinnamon for topping; sprinkle over batter before baking.

Bake 55 - 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean. Remove from oven; let cool 5 - 10 minutes before removing from pans to rack to cool.

Linked to Totally Tasty Tuesday

                Scrumptious Sunday

                        Melt in Your Mouth Monday

         Mix it up Monday

Weekend Potluck

       

Mini Chicken Pot Pies

This is a simple and quick meal to whip up for lunch or dinner. 

I found this easy recipe at The Country Cook. Brandie's recipes are not only tried and true- I love recipes that use everyday ingredients and hers are for us simple 'country folk'.

She found the recipe at Gooseberry Patch  in one of their newest cookbooks...Rush Hour Recipes.

You KNOW all GBP recipes are failproof and fantastic!

Just a few days before I made these, hubby and I were out to dinner and we both ordered the chicken pot pie! 

 AAAHHHH -  Comfort Food at it's finest.

We just wanted MORE, so I made these!

If you want to feed your family well, but are in a crunch for time, give these little 'sweetie pies' a try!

The only thing I'll change next time is to add some sour cream to the soup mixture, just to make it creamier.

I keep cooked, diced chicken in the freezer, ready for recipes like this one. Just thaw and you're ready to go...or roll. =)

And of course, you could use turkey if you'd like.

Serve with a side salad and you have a great meal ready in no time.

MINI CHICKEN POT PIES

1 (7.5 ozs) tube refrigerated biscuits (10)(buttermilk type)

1 c. cooked chicken, diced

1 (10.75 ozs) can cream of chicken soup

(I used reduced sodium)

2/3 c. cheddar cheese, shredded

(I opted for the 2% reduced fat 3 cheese mixture-

use your favorite.)

1/2 c. frozen peas & carrots, optional

1/4 c. sour cream, optional

Preheat oven to 350. Spray 10 muffin cups with nonstick vegetable spray.  Place a biscuit in each muffin cup; press down and 1/4 of the way up the sides.

In a bowl, combine remaining ingredients; stir until well blended.

Spoon chicken mixture into biscuit cups, filling about 3/4 full.

Bake for about 15 minutes or until bubbly and biscuits are golden.

Yield: 5 servings - 2 pot pies each

Linked to Mix it up Monday
                   Mop it up Monday

Homemade Sweetened Condensed Milk

I shared this before the holidays, but wanted to make sure ya'll saw it again because it is SO great to Do-It-Yourself!

NO KIDDING!

This really works!

I have a 'substitute' for this glorious ingredient in my cookbook, but the one I found at Grandma Loy's Kitchen rises above all the others I've ever tried.

How frugal!  Grandma Loy has many DIY recipes and I've loved every one I've tried. Please check her website out.  You'll be so glad you did.

This recipe actually has the consistency of sweetened condensed milk and I'm so impressed with it!

It's really very simple too - hope you'll try it. The recipe makes the equivalent to 3 cans!

I love that it can be frozen also.  Awesome!!

I went through 2 batches of this over the holidays and was so pleased with the results!

*(UPDATE: I made this using almost all xylitol [a sugar substitute with the texture of real sugar]...and only a very minimal amount of sugar, and it turned out great!  I was so pleased. The only difference is it should be brought to a boil instead of just heating. It doesn't work as well to use the full amount of xylitol). 

HOMEMADE SWEETENED CONDENSED MILK

4 c. sugar
(I've been using 3 c. xylitol & 1 c. white sugar
or use 2 c. sugar & 2 c . substitute, if possible)

1-12 ozs. can (fat free) evaporated milk

1 c. nonfat dry milk

6 Tb. butter or margarine, sliced

Place sugar in food processor and blend until super fine.

(If you don't have a food processor, place 1 cup of sugar at a time in a blender and process.) Then do the same thing with the dry milk powder. Combine sugar, evaporated milk, dry milk and butter in a large saucepan.  Mix very well.  Cook over medium heat, watching carefully and stirring often, until butter melts and sugar dissolves. (If using mostly sugar substitute, I suggest you bring the mixture to a boil). 

*(If using sugar substitute, please see note above) 

Remove from heat and divide evenly into thirds, about 1-1/3 c. each. Refrigerate overnight before using to allow mixture to thicken. 

(Using Splenda produces slightly less in volume)

This concoction keeps in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, and can be frozen up to 3 months. It may be a little grainy after thawing, but it smooths out when mixed with other ingredients. It usually has a white layer over the top - just mix it in...it bakes out). 

Product may be made fat-free by using skim evaporated milk and omitting the butter.

Linked to Mrs. Fox's Sweet Party
        Mix it up Monday
                      Melt in Your Mouth Monday
      Mop it up Monday
                 What's New Wednesday
           Scrumptious Sunday
          Crazy Sweet Tuesday
           Mrs. Fox's Sweet Party
          Fit & Fabulous Friday
           Ingredient Spotlight - SCMilk
Weekend Potluck
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