Slow-cooker Pozole Soup

• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1 (2 pound) boneless pork loin roast, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 2 (14.5 ounce) cans enchilada sauce
• 2 (15.5 ounce) cans white hominy, drained
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1/2 cup green chilies, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Heat the canola oil in a skillet over high heat. Add  the pork; cook and stir just until meat is browned on all sides, about 5  minutes.
2. Place the meat in a 4 quart slow cooker. Pour the  enchilada sauce over the meat. Top with the hominy, onion, chilies,  garlic, cayenne pepper, and oregano. Pour in enough water to fill the  slow cooker.
3. Cover, and cook on High for 6 to 7 hours. Stir in the salt towards the end.

*I left out the green chilis because I didn’t have them AND put just a TAD of the cayenne pepper rather than the 1/2 tsp (it’s already kind of spicy as is.)  I added just about 1 1/2- 2 cups of water and thought that was just right!

*Once you serve into bowls top with shredded cabbage, chopped cilantro, diced onion and squeeze some lime juice in it-  SO TASTY!!!

❤ Anna Burud

Perfect Homemade Bread

1 cup warm water (not too hot, otherwise it will kill the yeast!)
1 TBSP. milk
2 TBSP. oil (I use olive oil as opposed to veg. oil since it’s healthier and it still turns out great! No residual olive oil-y taste, so you can even spread peanut butter on it and it’ll taste great!)
3 TBSP. honey
1 tsp. salt
1.5 cups of unbleached all purpose flour
1.5 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp. active dry yeast

*What You Do:

Combine first 5 ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Stir together.

Add the flours (I find that adding the flours slowly helps with the stirring!), and the yeast. Stir together for awhile, and then once it starts to get hard to mix with a spoon (I use a wooden one), start mixing the dough with your hands. Once it’s pretty mixed, I throw it out on the counter (make sure it’s clean first!) 🙂 and start kneading it by hand. You could probably use a stand mixer, but hand kneaded dough seems to come out better. It can take anywhere from 5-10 minutes to knead. You just want the flours well incorporated with everything else. It will be pretty sticky, sometimes I’ve had to add a little more flour.. it just depends. But it will be quite sticky either way! Next, place the dough in a large greased bowl (I grease my bowl with olive oil), and cover. Allow it to rise for 40 mins or ’til doubled in size.

After that, place the dough back on the counter, knead it just a bit (1-2 mins at most), and shape it into a loaf shape. Place the loaf in a buttered loaf pan and cover.Allow it to rise this time for 30 mins or ’til doubled in size. Preheat oven to 350’F.

Bake the bread for 25 mins. Check it and see if the top is getting too brown. If it is, cover the top of the loaf loosely with aluminum foil. Bake for another 5 mins. Let the loaf rest for about 5 minutes in the pan, before taking out and placing on a cooling rack. Let cool for a good 15 mins before slicing.

This is such a delicious bread, and it really isn’t that hard once you get the knack for making homemade bread. Hope you guys enjoy! 🙂 ❤ Christina Kirtley

Chicken Parm w/ Spaghetti & Spaghetti Squash

FOR THE SPAGHETTI SQUASH
One spaghetti squash
Olive oil (if desired)

Preheat oven to 350. Cut squash down the middle and scoop out the pumpkin-y insides (seeds and stringy stuff) leaving just the yellow “meat.” Place on a pan/cookie sheet, drizzle with olive oil if desired, and roast for about an hour. When it’s done, use two forks or a big spoon to scrap the meat into spaghetti-like shreds, put it all in a bowl with some salt and pepper and maybe some butter if you like (which I do, mmm!).

FOR THE CHICKEN
2 large breasts
3 eggs, beaten
Italian-seasoned bread crumbs
Olive oil
One jar tomato sauce
Shredded cheese (pizza cheese — cheddar and mozz mixed — is my fave for this)

(Good to do while the squash is roasting.) Filet each breast to make four thin cutlets. Dip each in egg, then in bread crumbs. Swirl oil in a hot pan to coat the bottom, and fry each cutlet for 3-4 minutes per side (mine get really dark, which I like). Remove and set aside.

Pour tomato sauce in the bottom of an oven-safe/casserole pan. Nestle chicken cutlets in the sauce, and top each one with a good amount of cheese. When the squash is done roasting, turn the temp up to 400 and place the chicken/sauce/cheese pan in the oven until the cheese is melted the way you like it (I like it like pizza, about 20-25 minutes).

FOR THE SPAGHETTI
Half pound spaghetti
While the chicken’s baking, prepare spaghetti as directed on the package.

 I mix spaghetti and spaghetti squash together, with a chicken cutlet and tomato sauce on top. Soooo good! Enjoy ❤ Kate Sherwin

Creamy Chicken & Wild Rice Soup

4 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
2 cooked, boneless chicken breast halves, shredded
1 (4.5 ounce) package quick cooking long grain and wild rice with seasoning packet
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup butter
2 cups heavy cream

Directions:

1. In a large pot over medium heat, combine broth, water and chicken.  Bring just to boiling, then stir in rice, reserving seasoning packet.  Cover and remove from heat.
2. In a small bowl, combine salt, pepper and flour.  In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter.  Stir in contents of seasoning packet until mixture is bubbly.  Reduce heat to low, then stir in flour mixture by tablespoons, to form a roux.  Whisk in cream, a little at a time, until fully incorporated and smooth.  Cook until thickened, 5 minutes.
3. Stir cream mixture into broth and rice.  Cook over medium heat until heated through, 10 to 15 minutes.

❤ Shelley Nordine

Southwestern Casserole (Freezer meal)

Ingredients:

• 1 package (7 ounces) elbow macaroni
• 2 pounds ground beef
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 cans (14.5 ounces each) diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 can (16 ounces) kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
• 1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chilies, drained
• 1.5 tsp salt
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 2 cups shredded monterrey jack cheese
• 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Cook macaroni according to package directions.
3. Meanwhile, brown meat with onion in a LARGE saucepan.  Add garlic and cook one minute longer, then drain.
4. Stir in the tomatoes, beans, tomato paste, chilies, and seasonings.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.
5. Drain macaroni and stir into beef mixture.
6. Transfer to two greased 2-qt. baking dishes.  Top with cheese and jalapenos.  Cover and bake at 375 for 30 minutes.  Uncover and bake 10 more minutes, or until bubbly and heated through.
7. Serve one casserole.  Cool the second casserole, cover and freeze up to 3 months.

*TO USE FROZEN CASSEROLE:  Thaw in the refrigerator for 8 hours.  Cover and bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes or until heated through.

❤ Amanda Bonds