Weekend Recipes

Here's what was cooking in our kitchen this weekend...

Pork Chops with a Mushroom + Wine Cream sauce
This is my mom's recipe. I altered it a bit for our smaller family. Here is the original.

• 8 boneless pork chops (i only used 2)
• salt, pepper
• 3/4 c. white wine (i still used 1/2 c.)
• 3/4 c. heavy cream (i used a little less than 1/2 c.)
• 3T butter
• sliced mushrooms

1. melt butter over medium
2. season and pan fry the chops, each side, to brown (at least 2 minutes)
3. pour in wine & simmer with chops for 6-10 minutes
4. remove chops
5. pour in cream and add mushrooms. heat to high. cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently
6. return chops to pan

We had these with garlic mashed potatoes and green beans. Delicious!


Cottage Cheese Bread II
this bread makes a great sandwich bread, great for toast and evening meals too. Click the link for the original, but below is my altered. it's a light bread machine bread. my DH likes that it's not really dense.

• 3/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 1 cup fat free cottage cheese
  
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 3 cups better for bread flour
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 3/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

1. Add the ingredients to the pan of your bread machine in the order suggested by the manufacturer, and Start. You can use more bread flour if the dough seems too sticky. Set to "regular" bread on machine. Wrap in towels to keep the crust firm and the center soft!
   

Dee's Crockpot Chicken
This is my sister's recipe. For Christmas a few years ago, she gave me a index card carrier filled with recipes. I made this one the other night and told her reading the recipe felt like reading a little note from her! It's super easy and great for this time of year. I'll mention in parantheses my alterations to her recipe.

• 1 Whole Chicken (thawed)
• Any and All seasonings, from cupboard and fridge (Mine were garlic, salt, pepper, rosemary and oregano)
• Any veggies to add (I used 1 half yellow onion)

1. Slice up veggies and place them on the bottom of the crockpot.
2. Set chicken in and spice and season to your heart's delight!
3. Let it cook on low for 8-10 hours, OR high 5-6 hours.

This was served with red potatoes and peas. I made a gravy out of the leftover "juice" on the bottom of the crockpot. It was perfect with the potatoes and over the chicken. The meat will fall right off the bone!


Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Straight from Hershey's website. We were both craving something sweet and I dug through my cupboards to see what I could scrape together. Thankfully I had the ingredients to make these. Much to my surprise, these used to be DH's favorite!

• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa or HERSHEY'S SPECIAL DARK Cocoa
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Powdered sugar

1. Combine granulated sugar and oil in large bowl; add cocoa, beating until well blended. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir together flour, baking powder and salt; gradually add to cocoa mixture, beating well.
2. Cover; refrigerate until dough is firm enough to handle, at least 6 hours. (I only did it for about 30 minutes because it was late!)
3. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease cookie sheet. Shape dough into 1-inch balls; roll in powdered sugar to coat. Place about 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheet.
4. Bake 11 to 13 minutes or until almost no indentation remains when touched lightly and tops are crackled. Cool slightly. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. About 4 dozen cookies.