Pork & Sauerkraut

1 pork roast (1/3 lb. per person)

1 bag (or jar) sauerkraut, drained

garlic salt

4 t. black pepper

Crockpot: In a skillet, melt 2 tablespoons of butter and brown the roast. Place roast in crockpot. Sprinkle with garlic salt and pepper. Add sauerkraut around the sides. Add 1-2 cups of water and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Oven: Preheat oven to 425. Place pork roast in a roaster. Sprinkle with garlic salt and pepper. Brown uncovered in oven for 15 minutes. Remove roaster from oven and lower temperature to 350. Place drained sauerkraut around the roast in the pan. Add 1-2 cups of water. Bake 40 minutes per pound.

This is our traditional New Year's Day dinner for good luck for the new year. I always do the crockpot method, but the oven baking instructions could come in handy so I'm including them. We love this so much that I try to make it a couple other times each year and homemade mashed potatoes are a must to go along with the pork and sauerkraut.

Broccoli Slaw Salad

1 16-oz. package broccoli slaw

1 pkg. ramen noodles, oriental flavor

1/2 c. almonds, sliced

1 bunch green onions, sliced

1/2 c. vegetable oil (or canola oil)

3 T. white vinegar

2 T. sugar

Mix the broccoli slaw, green onions and almonds together in a bowl. Crush uncooked ramen noodles and set aside to add to the broccoli mixture when ready to serve. In a separate bowl, mix together the remaining ingredients for the dressing, including the oriental flavor packet from the noodles. Pour dressing over broccoli mixture when ready to serve and top with crushed ramen noodles.

Refreshing and tasty, reminds me of Spring. Great for a picnic or get-together. Double the recipe for a large crowd - serves about 8.

 

Easy Skillet Pasta

1 lb. ground beef (or ground turkey)

1 green pepper, chopped

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 jar (26 oz.) spaghetti sauce

2 c. water

12 lasagna noodles, broken into bite-sized pieces

1 c. mozzarella cheese, shredded

Brown the meat along with green pepper, onion and garlic in a large saucepan; drain any excess grease. Add spaghetti sauce and water, bring to a boil. Stir in pasta, cover. Cook on medium-low heat 10-15 minutes or until noodles are tender, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and sprinkle cheese overtop; cover. Let stand 5 minutes until cheese is melted.

This is an easy, delicious dinner. It makes about 6 servings or dinner for 4 and leftovers the next day. Last time I made this I didn't have enough lasagna noodles so I used a box of spaghetti noodles broken in pieces instead, could have also used rigatoni or penne probably - very yummy and different enough from plain old spaghetti.

Cranberry-Orange Iced Tea

2 quarts iced tea, brewed

1 6-oz. can frozen cranberry juice concentrate, partially thawed and undiluted

1 c. orange juice

1/4 c. sugar

Combine all ingredients in a large pitcher. Chill. Serve in ice-filled glasses. Ideas: Add frozen whole strawberries to help keep the iced tea cool. Freeze edible flowers in ice cubes (violets, geraniums). Add a thin orange slice.

I collected this recipe several years ago, not even sure where it came from. The combination of ingredients looked good to me. My daughter was going through my collected recipes and decided to make it - it was delicious! Very refreshing. Not overly sweet, not too fruity.

Zucchini Bread

Ingredients:

3 c. baking mix
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ginger
1 c. sugar
1 c. vegetable/canola oil
1 c. packed brown sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3-4 c. grated zucchini

Preheat oven to 325. In a large bowl, combine the baking mix, salt, cinnamon and ginger. Whisk until combined then set aside. In a mixing bowl, combine the white sugar and the oil, stirring until creamy. Add the brown sugar, eggs and vanilla. Stir well. This combination of ingredients will be creamy and fluffy. Add the dry mixture into the wet mixture and stir until well combined. Grate the zucchini and fold it into the batter. Grease and flour 2 loaf pans. Pour the batter into the pans and bake 50-60 minutes.

I had never made zucchini bread before but my garden produced a ginormous zucchini at the end of the season. I cooked half of the zucchini in a skillet with butter and seasoning for dinner and still had a huge part of the zucchini left. I knew I had to find a way to use it. I found a recipe online that looked promising but I discovered I was out of flour! I knew I had baking mix, so I set about trying to alter the recipe I had found, simply omitting the baking soda and baking powder. And I wanted to use all of my zucchini, so even though it only called for 2-3 cups, I used it all which ended up being around 4 cups. One of the loaves didn't come out of the pan very easily, but the chunks of bread were delicious. The second loaf I left in the pan longer and I made sure to score around the outside with a knife really well and it came out of the pan perfectly. I took that loaf to work and received many compliments. I will definitely be making it again!

Pizza Bread

Ingredients:

1 loaf frozen white bread dough
3 Tblsp. margarine, melted
1/4 tsp. oregano
2 tsp. parsley
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
2 c. cheddar cheese, shredded
2 c. mozzarella cheese, shredded
3 oz. pepperoni
pizza sauce
other pizza toppings (optional)

Let the bread dough thaw in the fridge overnight. Preheat the oven to 350. Spread dough out flat on a cookie sheet. Melt the margarine. Add the spices to the margarine. Brush 2/3 of the margarine/spice mixture on the pizza dough. Lay pepperoni slices on top evenly over the entire rectangle of dough. Sprinkle all of the cheese on top of the pepperoni. Top with any other pizza ingredients you want. Roll dough into a jelly roll shape and place in center of cookie sheet with seam side down. Brush remaining margarine/spice mixture on top of roll. Bake for 30 minutes or till golden brown. Slice and serve with pizza sauce for dipping.

This is another of my sister's recipes she shared with me. You can use all mozzarella instead of the combination of cheddar and mozzarella if you want. I like making 2 at a time and making one that is just pepperoni and adding mushrooms and onions to the other. These are great to make up in advance and just pop into the oven when you're ready to eat. Good for potlucks too, of course!

Philly cheesesteak braid

Ingredients:

4 portions, frozen sandwich steaks, thinly sliced, cut crosswise into 1/2" strips
2 T. margarine
1/2 c. onion, chopped
1 green pepper, large - cut into strips
salt and pepper to taste
2 8oz. cans refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
4 oz. mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 egg, beaten

Preheat over to 350. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook and stir steak strips in margarine until no longer pink; remove from skillet. Add onion and green pepper to skillet and cook until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Add cooked steak back to skillet; season with salt and pepper. Unroll 1 can of dough into 2 long rectangles. Place on ungreased cookie sheet with long sides overlapping 1/2"; firmly press edges and perforations to seal. Press or roll out to form 7" x 13" rectangle. On a second cookie sheet, repeat with remaining can of dough. Spoon half of meat mixture in 2" strip lengthwise down center of each dough. Use 1/2 cup of cheese on each and sprinkle over meat. Make cuts 1" apart on longest sides of each rectangle just to edge of filling. To give braided appearance, fold strips of dough at an angle halfway across the filling, alternating from side to side. Fold ends of braid under to seal. Brush braids with egg. Bake 16-22 minutes or till golden brown.

I found this recipe in a Pillsbury Bake-Off cookbook. I've made this for card parties and get-togethers, or even for dinner. It looks so pretty and impressive, but it really is simple. You can add mushrooms if you'd like in addition to, or instead of, the green pepper.