Recipes on a Saturday

A while ago, someone asked me for some recipes. I no longer remember who, or in what context, but I have had such good luck with your recipes in the past, (ahem, Mommy Daisy, Swistle, and most recently, Erica) I thought that I would share a few things that really work in our family. And as luck would have it, I just shared them with Laura , so they are already written out, and I can now share them here.

These are 3 kinds of recipes—1 slow cooker, one super cheap pre-payday meal, and one that is more of a weekend meal for us. If you make them, let me know how they turn out!

Recipe the first-an all day cooker

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Sandwiches

1 boneless pork roast (I always get the kind that is tied together with twine because I know it will shred. I don’t know if it’s a shoulder or a butt or what)
1 McCormick pulled pork seasoning packet
1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
Rolls, to serve sandwiches on
Anything else you want to throw in for flavor--I sometimes add nutmeg, garlic or some barbeque sauce etc. (It would probably be good with onions, but Hub does not eat onions, so…)

Directions:
1. Place the roast in the slow cooker
2. Combine all the other ingredients in a small bowl and pour them over the top.
3. Cook on low 8 hours
4. remove pork and shred with 2 forks, return to juice and stir
5. serve on toasted rolls.

It's really good, and you can serve it with fries or whatever. We usually have it with steamed broccoli though, because that is my go-to side dish. If I am home when I am cooking it, I cook the pork alone for an hour or 2 and then drain off some of the grease. Then I add the sauce stuff and cook for the remainder. It's good either way; the pork isn't all that greasy but hub has a sensitive stomach when fat and barbeque sauce collide, so I try to drain it.)

Recipe numero 2- On the CHEAP

Casseroni

Ingredients:
1 box of beef rice a roni
1lb ground beef
1 beef bouillon cube

Directions:
1. brown beef, drain, and set aside.
2. begin to prepare the rice a roni as directed, browning the rice in the butter.
3. when it is time to add the water and the seasoning, also add the ground beef and the bouillon cube.
4. sir together, and finish cooking as directed on the rice a roni directions

Now, I always double this recipe for my family of 5. Hub likes to put gravy on it, but I don’t really think it is necessary. My mom always made this right before my dad got paid and would serve it with either white bread and butter, or if we had them, Pillsbury biscuits. It’s delicious! I’ve also used the chicken flavor with cut up chicken, and it’s not bad.

Recipe #3—The Finale

Sweent & Sour Chicken

Ingredients:
2lbs of chicken
3 cups of Bisquick (for dredging the chicken)
1 TBSP paprika
Oil for cooking
1 Green pepper
1 large onion
1 can of pineapple chunks, in juice
1 TBSP soy sauce
1 bottle of your favorite sweet and sour sauce

Directions:
1. mix Bisquick with paprika in a shallow dish
2. cube chicken, and dredge though Bisquick mixture, and set aside.
3. Preheat a large skillet with a few tablespoons of oil
4. cut onion and green pepper in to large pieces, and place it in the preheated pan, cooking until it's tender, but still somewhat crisp.
5. remove the peppers and onions, drain the oil off, and place in a bowl.
6. Add more oil if necessary, and cook the chicken in batches til it's done, and remove to paper towel or a rack to drain
7. On the stove, either in the same pan or a fresh one, combine the peppers, onions, pineapple with juice, sweet and sour sauce and soy sauce. Heat until warmed through.
8. Add the chicken, and cook until the chicken is warmed back up.
9. Serve over rice

If I am feeling ambitious, I will set up a flour, then egg wash, then Bisquick assembly line, and this gets the chicken extra crispy and delicious. If I’m going through the trouble of doing it this way, I usually double the chicken, with the second half being all chicken strips, and then we have dinner for another night. I also always leave a few onions in the oil while I am cooking the chicken, because I think it gives the breading good flavor. This recipe was adapted from one I saw in the coupon section of our newspaper a couple of years ago. That recipe called for only half the pineapple juice, but I always add it all to make the sauce a little bit thinner.