This week, we tried a few different things in an effort to keep our ordering out costs down and make sure we had meals available that werent daunting on our time, very limited motivation for cleaning, or our taste buds. When I asked my husband which recipe he liked best, he picked the crock pot beef stroganoff. For me, it was the sweet and savory baked pork chops. According the social media response, it was a tie! I decided its only fair that I give you both recipes in this weeks post.
Crock Pot Beef Stroganoff
This is an easy dump and go recipe that is hearty and filling with enough leftovers for lunch tomorrowor to feed a family of 6. Major helper on this one: use a crock pot liner. Im not exactly thrilled about basically cooking a meal in a plastic bag for 8 hours but since it makes the clean up factor a non-issue I did it. If someone knows of a sustainable alternative (that ISNT cleaning the pot or putting it in the dishwasher), feel free to leave it in the comments below.
What you need for this recipe:
- a 4-6 quart slow cooker ( I have the Crockpot 6 in 1)
- Crockpot liner (make sure you check the size!)
- large mixing spoon
- large saucepan
- pasta strainer
- 1lb stew meat chunks
- 2 (10.5oz) cans Cream of Mushroom soup
- 1pt package of sliced fresh button mushrooms
- salt and pepper to taste
- sour cream (for garnish)
- 6oz (1/2 bag) yolk free extra broad egg noodles
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Cook it up!
Start by lining your Crockpot and tuck the edges under the main pot when its in the base. In the pot, add both cans of Cream of Mushroom soup. Fill up one can halfway with water and add to the soup, then stir to combine. Add the stew meat chunks and mushrooms, then salt and pepper to taste according to your liking. Set the Crockpot for 8 hours on low.
When there is about a half hour left on the Crockpot timer, fill up the saucepan with water, add some salt, and bring to a boil. Add the egg noodles and cook according to package instructions (usually about 11-13 minutes) or until tender. Drain the noodles in the pasta strainer. Return noodles to pan and add 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter to the noodles Toss to coat.
To serve: Serve half a cup of noodles into a pasta bowl. Spoon about 3/4 of a cup of the Stroganoff mixture from the Crockpot onto the noodles. Garnish with 2 tablespoons of sour cream. Yields approximately 4-6 servings. When the leftovers are cooled, store in an airtight container for up to 3-4 days.
Sweet and Savory Pork Chops with Veggie Fries
This one was my favorite. I felt it was even easier than the Crockpot meal and I loved the sweet cinnamon rub mixed with the smoky KC Masterpiece BBQ sauce. The veggie fries were a Target find in the freezer section. They taste exactly like vegetables and nothing like fries but the fun shape got my picky two-year-old daughter to eat them. This whole meal is made with a couple of sheet pans, some foil, and pan spray. You dont even need utensils to prepalthough if you go that route like I did youre hands are going to get a little messy.
What you need for this recipe:
- 2 sheet pans or cookie sheets, standard size but bigger is better
- aluminum foil
- pan spray
- large spatula
- 4 bone in center cut pork chops
- ground cinnamon
- KC Masterpiece Smoky BBQ Sauce
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 bag Strong Roots mixed root veggie fries
- a fork or spoon, if you desire, to rub in spices and spread sauce
Get Cooking!
For this recipe, its best if you move your oven racks so that one is a level or two above the bottom heating element and the next one is in the middle. Youll have to put one sheet pan on each rack unless you have a very large oven.
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. While the oven is preheating, prep your meal. Line each pan with aluminum foil and spray with pan spray. Open the bag of veggie fries and spread in a single layer on one pan.
On the other pan, lay out the pork chops. sprinkle cinnamon in a thin layer over each chop, then salt and pepper to taste. Rub the spices in with you hands, or you can use a fork or spoon for this instead. After that, add about a tablespoon of BBQ sauce onto each chop and rub that in too. You can add more or less sauce as you desire.
Put one pan on each rack in the preheated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes. Turn the veggie fries with a spatula 10-12 minutes into cook time. You should see the sauce cooked into the chops and the fries will look more like crispy fries, as shown in the photo here. If you want to be really sure, check the chops with a meat thermometer. They should measure approximately 160 degrees Fahrenheit.
To serve: Serve one pork chop with a quarter of the veggie fries. Makes 4 servings. You can save the leftovers in an airtight container but the veggie fries arent that good reheated.
Enjoy!
Did you try one of these recipes? Let me know how it turned out for you! Comment below or visit my connections page and e-mail me with your questions, comments, and suggestions. If you have a recipe you want me to try, let me know! Ill add it to the running and share my experience if it wins our recipe of the week. Happy cooking!