Meatballs in BBQ

Well I have now made this dish twice and it has been a big hit so I decided to share, it is so easy to make

Ingredients:
1 Bag of Frozen Meatballs (w/at least 48 in the bag)
1 Small Can of Crushed Pineapple w/the juice
1 Bottle of Kraft Sweet and Tangy BBQ
3-4 Tablesppons of Honey
1/2 Cup of Brown Sugar

Put everything in a crock pot and put on High for about 1 hour, then turn the dial down to Low for about 2 hours.

When your party gets started just put on simmer

Now you can add a little more BBQ sauce if you wish and would say to mix in regular BBQ sauce.

Try it and you and your friends/family will enjoy it.......

Eggplant Parmesan in the Crock Pot

Yes it is true you can make this in the crock pot. Heard of doing this on the group thread that I belong too on Ravelry.com. So since I like eggplant decided to give it a try.

Eggplant Parmesan
Ingredients:
2 medium to large sized eggplants
1/3 Cup of bread crumbs
1/2 Cup of Shredded fresh Parmesan cheese
2 eggs
1/3 Cup of water
3 tablespoons of Flour
32 ounces of Marinara Sauce (I used Prego)
16 ounces of Mozzarella cheese sliced
Olive oil
1. Slice the eggplant (do not peel eggplant) into about 1/2 inch slices. Layer on a dish with a little bit of salt sprinkled on top of each layer. Let the eggplant sit for about 30 minutes. Then using a paper towel pick up the moisture.
2. Mix together the egg, water and flour in a medium size bowl. Then you dip the eggplant in the egg mixture and saute in a very hot oil pan quickly a few slices at a time. You do not want to cook until done, just a little brown on each side.
3. Mix together the parmesan cheese and bread crumbs.
4. Now you layer in the crock pot as follows: 1/4 of the eggplant (enough to cover the pan), 1/4 of the bread crumbs, 1/4 of the marinara sauce, 1/4 of the sliced mozzarella cheese. Repeat this about 3 or 4 times (depends on the size of your crock pot)

Then cook on medium for about 5-6 hours. Serve with some sliced Sourdough bread.

It came out very good and was a pretty good hit with the family.

Hamburger Cabbage Soup

Well fall is definitely in the air now and this is the time I like to start my soup cooking. I came across 2 different recipes (Rachel Ray-Stuffed Cabbage Soup and Sandra Koch-Hamburger Soup) and did some modifications and so here is my recipe:

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 pounds of ground beef
2 cups of diced onion
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced celery
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 small heads of Cabbage (I used 1 head of Savoy and 1 small head of Green Cabbage), sliced and chopped up a little
2 cans of Beef Broth
1 can of chicken Broth
2 cans (15 ounce) of crushed and/or diced tomatoes
1 can of Ro-tel Original
1 can (14.5 ounce) of Tomato sauce
1 small can Tomato paste
1/3 cup of Worchesterhire sauce
1 tsp of Ground pepper
1 tsp of salt

DIRECTIONS:
1. In a large saucepan with about 1 tblsp of vegetable oil, cook the beef, onions, carrots, celery and garlic over medium heat until the meat is no longer pink. The vegetables may be tender, but do not worry if they are not. Drain and transfer this over to large soup pot. Add in the salt, pepper, broths, tomatoes, tomato sauce, Worchestershire sauce and mix. Bring to a boil and then add in the cabbage and reduce the heat to simmer cover and let cook for about 2 hours.

2. If you wish you may add in a little more pepper if you wish. Also if you find the soup is not as thick as you want either add in another can of Tomato sauce of a mixture of corn starch/water to thicken it up.

Once the soup has cooked you pour into bowls and serve with either rice and/or noodles. I made a small pot of rice and put about 2 scoops over the top of the soup.

My husband and a friend were my tasters and they loved it. This is a recipe that I will make again. They said it tasted like Stuffed Cabbage but without the cabbage being stuffed. Hope you try it and like it as well.

Sweet Apple Cole Slaw

The newspaper had this recipe in the paper a couple of weeks ago. Tried it and just loved it. So want to share:

1 Jar Litehouse Coleslaw Dressing
1 package of pre-cut Coleslaw (large bag)
2 small bags of mixed coleslaw (pre-cut)
1/2 package of Craisin's (cherry flavored)
2 small apples cored and cut up (do not need to peel)

Clean and rinse the slaw. Put the slaw in a big bowl, add the craisin's and apples and mix together. Then start adding the dressing and mix together. You should use about 3/4 of the jar, but you can use the whole jar if you wish.

Chill in the refrigerator for about 2 hours (if you can) before serving.

Very simple but you and your guests will love it!!!!

Pulled Pork Sandwiches

3 lbs Pork Roast (Shoulder) trim fat off the roast
1 Cup Ketchup
3/4 Cup of firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 Cup of Cider Vinegar
1/4 Cup of Dijon Mustard
2 Tablespoon Melted Butter
2 Tablespoon Worchester Sauce
1-2 Teaspoon of Hot Sauce
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Pepper

Place pork roast in Slow Cooker. Add salt and pepper over the roast.

In a small bowl mix together the rest of the ingredients, then pour over the pork roast.

Cook on Low Heat for about 6-8 hours or meat pulls apart.
Option: If you do not have a slow cooker, you can cook covered in the oven at 300 degrees for about 5 hours.

Once pork is cooked, separate with a fork and place over rolls. Use juices from roast and pour over your sandwich.

Serve with either Cole Slaw and/or Potato Salad

Serves about 6 people

Pepper Jelly

Everyone keeps asking me for this recipe so here it is:

Pepper Jelly
6-7 Cups of Diced Peppers (use a mix of Hot, Mild and Medium Peppers) ie Serrano's, Anaheim, Fresno, Jalapeno's, Bell Peppers, etc.
6 Cups of Sugar
1 Cup of Apple Cider Vinegar
2-3 Packets (3 oz) of Liquid Pectin

After you have cut up the peppers, put into a medium to large pot, add sugar and vinegar. Bring to a boil on the stove and then put into a simmer for about 10 minutes. Then add the pectin and cook for about another 2-3 minutes and remove from the stove.

Pour the jelly into sterile/hot jars. Fill the jars about 3/4 of the way full. Wipe the top of the jar lid, place the lids over the jelly and then put on the jar ring. Do not twist the ring tight, just a couple of turns. Place the jars in hot water and return to a boil. Let the water boil for about 30 minutes after the water comes to a medium boil. Remove the jars from the water and place on towels and allow to cool. You may hear some pops as the jars cool and the lids contract. There are some great sites on the web that talk about canning.

As I live at an altitude of about 1900 feet, I have had to experiment with the amount of pectin and cooking time when canning. If you live in a lower altitude would recommend you use at least 2 packets of the pectin or you will have more of a pepper jelly glaze!!!

Grilling Frozen Chicken Breasts??

You might think I'm crazy, but stumbled across this by accident. As we are a Costco buying family, we normally buy the frozen Skinless Boneless Chicken Breasts. Usually, I will thaw the chicken breasts and grill them. As, I normally never read the back of the package, decided to do this one day. On the back of the package they indicated you could grill the chicken breast without having to thaw them. Decided to try it and it works. In fact, the chicken breasts were more moist and tastier than when I had put them out to thaw. Although, I did want to add some spices to them, so here is what I did:

After taking out what I needed for dinner, rinsed them in water for a little bit. Then I coated each side with a mixture of salt/pepper/lemon seasoning. I did wait for about 10-15 minutes before I actually put them on the grill.

Grilled the chicken for about 10-15 minutes on each side on a medium low setting on my grill.

So if you happen to buy the package of frozen boneless chicken breasts try this out.