Sausage Hashbrown Bake

I made this for our friends who came over for a playdate one morning last week. Delicious and easy!




Ingredients:

1 lb ground pork sausage
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 of a 10.75 oz can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup french onion dip
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped green pepper
1/4 cup chopped red pepper
salt & pepper
15 oz shredded hash brown potatoes, thawed

In a skillet, cook sausage until no longer pink. In a large bowl, combine 3/4 of the cheese, and the next 7 ingredients. Fold in potatoes. Spread half of the potatoe mixture into a 2 qt baking dish, top with the sausage and cover with remaining potatoe mix. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Cover and bake at 350 for 30 minutes, uncover and bake 5 minutes more until heated through.

Pork Quesadillas

I came across this recipe in my Rachael Ray magazine and it sounded yummy! The kids love quesadillas and this seemed like a nice grown-up version. We were not disappointed, and the kids loved them!

**Photo courtesy rachaelraymag.com

Ingredients

2 boneless pork chops (about 1/4 pound)
Salt and pepper
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1 cup canned diced tomatoes
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce, finely chopped
1/2teaspoon ground cumin
1/2cup chopped cilantro,plus leaves for garnish
8 medium flour tortillas
1 cup shredded monterey jack cheese


Preheat the oven to 350°. Season the pork chops with salt and pepper. In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the pork and cook until browned, 4 minutes on each side. Transfer to a cutting board and let cool; cut into thin strips.
In the same skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 4 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and their juice, the garlic, chipotle (**I added this after I made the kids) and cumin and cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until the mixture thickens, about 3 minutes; stir in the pork and chopped cilantro.
Heat a grill pan over medium heat. Brush one side of each tortilla with the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil. Working in batches, cook the tortillas oiled side down until grill marks form, 1 to 2 minutes.
Arrange 4 tortillas grilled side down on a baking sheet. Divide the pork mixture among the tortillas and sprinkle with the cheese. Top with the remaining tortillas, grilled side up. Bake until the cheese is melted, about 10 minutes. Cut into wedges and serve.

**We have a quesadilla maker that we got for Christmas, so I didn't have to go through all the grill/bake steps. I just threw it in the quesadilla maker! Nice!

Home-Style Ribs

Tonight I work until 11pm, so the family will be eating without me. I made dinner in the trusty crockpot, and my husband will probably make a quick rice or potato side dish and some corn (or he won't and the kids won't know the difference anyways!).


The Ingredients:

Home-Style Ribs

4-5lbs bonless pork spareribs, cut into pieces
1 med onion sliced
1 cup ketchup
1/2 to 1 cup water
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup cider vinegar
2 tbs Worchestershire sauce
2 tsp ground mustard
1-1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika

Place half the ribs in slow cooker and top with half the onion. Repeat layers. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over all. Cover and cook on low 8-9 hours
Yield: 6-8 servings (Recipe Courtesy Taste of Home Magazine)

**I will be cutting the meat portion of this recipe in half. My very young children eat like a herd of teenagers, but I think there would still be a lot left over. I bought 2 lbs of the ribs but still made the full recipe amount of sauce - the kids will love to dip bread in it. I also cooked mine on low for 6 hours, since I had less meat.

**I love that all I had to do was purchase ribs for this dinner. Every other ingredient is something that I always have on hand. Makes for a rather in-expensive dinner - which I am ALL ABOUT these days!

Feedback from the zoo:

They ate it up, which never surprises me! Hubby said it was really good, falling apart and moist. He said the 2 babies inhaled it, and my toddler looked at it for awhile before eating it. He usually sees if the babies are eating it, and then he goes for it - like the King making his subjects test the food before he will eat it! Another hit! Can't wait to have the leftovers for lunch - if there are any...