Pineapple Mango Salsa Pork

Hello all! I'm Sharon Johnson. Jennie B. is a fabulous friend of mine and asked if I would contribute to this great cooking blog. You can find out WAY more than you probably want to know about me by checking out my blog HERE. Thank you so much for having me!

Now that I am home to actually cook I've been doing a lot of playing around in the kitchen. Sometime this "playing" ends in absolute disaster and we all end up at Wendy's for dinner but typically I am pleasantly surprised with the results of my little concoctions and we all end up well fed and happy. I'm glad Kerry is a sport and eats what is on his plate, regardless of how it looks.

My concoctions start out usually on the internet and with my nose in our cupboards and recipe books. I get a good idea of what we have for ingredients and then search to see what sort of dishes sound good. When reading different recipes I just pull general ideas of what goes well together, how to cook and so forth then I head to the kitchen and don't look back. I hardly ever measure (this applies to cooking NOT baking, baking I measure) and throw in everything "to taste" (there is a lot of double dipping going on when I cook....eash.)

I have found that cooking this way I have learned much faster than when I used to cook straight from a cook book or recipe. I have found out quickly what spices go well together and which ones don't as well as what cooking techniques are really necessary and which ones can be bypassed. For me, I am a visual and "experience" learner, by doing it myself, messing up myself, I learn much quicker than just by reading and doing (unfortunately this learning technique was much of my problem in my teenage years. )Try it out, I dare you. My recipes will make you try as, like I said, I'm not much of a measurer.

Pineapple Mango Pork Salsa

2 Thick Pork Chops

1/4 Pineapple

1 Mango

Brown Sugar

Garlic Salt

Pepper

Sea Salt

Sprinkle pepper and Sea salt on both sides of your Pork Chops. Brown on both sides in a skillet on the stove. After browning (seriously it's like 30secs on each side) I place the entire skillet in the oven at 425 degrees for 15-25 mins. Cooking time totally depends on how thick your Pork is. Because I have a freakish phobia of eating uncooked meat, I always cut open and make sure it is totally done. It always is, but I still check.

While that is cooking I work on my salsa. Coarsely chop your mango and pineapple and throw into a metal bowl (it doesn't have to be metal but for whatever reason I really do find it helps it marinate with the sugar a bit better.) Add a TBL or 2 of brown sugar, a dash of garlic salt, and a little pepper. Season to taste. Mix. Let sit until Pork is done.

Take pork out of oven, place on plates and spoon salsa over pork.

That is it! Easy Peasy. You could throw the salsa in a pan and heat if you would like or even add the salsa to the pork in the oven right at the end of it's baking time but for me, it is just as good cold and then you have one less dish to do.

Let me know if you try this Pork out, and what you did do, what you didn't do and what you thought with the finale. It's a good one, and super hard to screw up, if not impossible.

Easy Sausage Alfredo

1 package jimmy dean italian flavored ground sausage
1 small red pepper chopped
1/2 large onion chopped

cook in large frying pan covered, check and stir often until sausage is cooked through, drain.

1 bottle ragu garlic alfredo sauce
black pepper (optional)

I used this on 1/2 lb. wheat penne pasta, but you could use any kind you want.

Spooky Eyeball Tacos

K we are getting in the 'fall' mode and definately have some Halloween on the mind ... Bay talks about dressing up as Dorothy EVERY day! So I found this really cute, quick and easy recipe on Kraft foods and thought I'd share :)

1 lb. ground beef
1 pkg. (1-1/4 oz.) Taco Seasoning Mix
12 Taco Shells
3/4 cup Thick 'N Chunky Salsa
3/4 cup Sour Cream
1 can (2-1/4 oz.) sliced pitted ripe olives

MIX meat and seasoning mix. Shape into 36 (1-inch) balls; place in 15x10x1-inch baking pan.

BAKE at 350°F for 15 to 20 minutes or until cooked through. Fill each taco shell with 1 meatball; drizzle with salsa. Top with 2 meatballs dipped in sour cream. Garnish with olives to make "eyeballs."

Chicken Bake

This isn't really a BBQ recipe, but I was searching through my Mother-in-Law's cookbooks and found one that is called "5 Ingredients or Less" and thought I'd check it out. I made this recipe and it was super yummy and easy.

1 package Stove Top stuffing mix
1 2/3 c water
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1 can condensed cream of mushroom (or chicken) soup
1/3 c sour cream or milk

Toss contents of stuffing seasoning packet and stuffing mix with water; set aside. Place chicken breasts in a 9x13" baking dish or 2 qt casserole. Mix soup with sour cream or milk; pour over chicken. Spoon stuffing evenly over top. Bake at 375 for 35 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

Broccoli, Chicken, and Rice Casserole

1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
2 cups Rice
4 Chicken Breasts
amount of broccoli desired, cut up

In one pan, broil Chicken Breasts. In another pan, cook Cream of Chicken soup with 2 can fulls of water instead of the basic 1. Once soup has reached boiling stage, add rice and broccoli. Once Chicken is cooked through, cut up and add to the soup as well. Blend together and serve. ( If you do not want to cut the chicken, don't. Just serve whole with the rice and broccoli as a side. )

Alfredo Pasta with Peas and Ham

1 lb. of mini penne pasta (or any pasta really)
1 jar of alfredo pasta sauce
1 package of frozen peas
1/2 package of turkey ham, cubed
1 tub of shredded parmesan cheese

Cook and drain pasta. Mix all ingredients together and put into baking dish. Cook at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. (You could add other ingredients like mushrooms too.)

This makes one batch and can be enough to split into two dinners for our family...usually while I am making it - I make two batches (four dinners) - I just use 8 x 8 cooking pan sizes instead of putting the full batch in a 9 x 13. I store the extra meals in my freezer to use at a later time. I found some nice size tupperware containers at Dollar Tree that work perfectly for this. Oh, and Joshua our 17-month-old LOVES it!

Grilled Chicken & Asparagus Pasta!!

This is so Yummy! My Neighbor brought it to us last week when we were having dinners brought in! My family loved it!!

2 chicken breasts, cooked & cut into pieces
1 1/2 lbs. asparagus, ends trimmed
1 lb. bow tie pasta
1/4 c. butter
1 clove garlic
1/2 c. heavy cream
1/2 c. chicken stock
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1 lemon
salt & pepper (to taste)
fresh parsley
1 c. grated parmesan cheese

Cook asparagus until tender crisp, about 2 min. Rinse in cold water and set aside. Cook Pasta, set aside. In large skillet, set on low heat, combine butter, garlic, cream and stock. Stir in salt, pepper, lemon juice and zest. Bring to a boil and simmer for 3 min. Reduce heat to low and add chicken, cheese and pasta. Cut asparagus into 2 inch pieces on a diagonal. Add asparagus and parsley to the pasta and toss all ingredients together. Turn off heat and allow the sauce to thicken. ENJOY!!

Easy Creamy Spinach Pasta

1 lb. ground sausage
2 (1 lb.) bottles garlic alfredo sauce
1 large roma tomato (add more or less to preference)
1 cup frozen spinach (add more or less to preference)
1 Tbsp. basil
1 tsp. pepper
Noodles (any type you have, I like to use penne)

Cook pasta. Brown sausage, drain. Mix into sauce with remaining ingredients.
-sorry if the amounts aren't quite... (I kind of made it up)
It's good with chicken too

Cafe Rio Sweet Pork

6 lb. pork roast
2 c brown sugar
1 1/2 cans coke (or 20 oz.)
16 oz. Pace Picante Sauce

Trim fat from roast, and cook in crock pot full of water for 6 hrs. (until tender) Remove roast and shred also remove any fat. Dump water out of crock pot and replace the shredded pork. Pour coke, brown sugar, and picante sauce over the meat. Slow cook for 3-4 hrs. ( I think you could get away with not using so much coke, everytime I've made it, it tends to be on the liquidy side.) Tastes SO GOOD!!

Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce ... with Chicken and Broccoli too!

I just came across this recipe and I can't help but share! This is my all time FAVORITE thing to get at Olive Garden ... enjoy!

Olive Garden Style Fettuccine Alfredo Sauce

Sauce-

8 ounces Cream cheese — cut in bits
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese — grated
1/2 cup Butter or margarine
1/2 cup Milk

Black Pepper, and oregano to taste
8 ounces Fettuccine; cook — drain | In large saucepan combine cream cheese, Parmesan, butter and
milk, stirring constantly until smooth. Toss pasta lightly with
sauce, coating well. Leftovers freeze well.

PS you can double everything to get MORE sauce (you don’t have to double the cream cheese though)

If you want to make it with Chicken and Broccoli-

While the noodles Boil-

I just throw in some frozen breaded chicken tenders in the oven-Like 450 degrees for 20-25 min

I also throw frozen broccoli in the microwave while it all cooks-

Now you have Chicken & Broccoli Fettuccine!

I aslo ALWAYS throw a garlic bread in the oven with the last 15 minutes that the tenders cook!

YUMMY!!!

Tasty Spin on Lasagna

1 lb. lean ground beef
1 cup frozen diced onion, red and green bell pepper, and celery
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp. chilli pwder
1 tsp chipotle seasoning blen
1 jar mild salsa
1 15oz. can dark red kidney beans, drained
1 10oz. can enchilada sauce
1 10oz. package frozen whole kernel corn, thawed
12 6in. corn tortillas (I used flour)
4 cups shredded Mexican 4-cheese blend

Toppings: sour crm, chopped tomatoes

Cook first 5 ingr. in a large skillet over medium heat, stirring often, until veg. are tender and beef is no longer pink.

Stir in salsa and next 3 ingredients. Cook 10 minutes to thouroughly heat.

Layer 1/3 beef mixture, 6 tortillas overlapping edges and 2 cups cheese in a lightly greased 9x13 pan. Repeat layer using the rest of the ingredients and top with remaining 2 cups cheese.

Bake covered @ 350 for 40 minutes, uncover and bake 10 more minutes
Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Cafe Rio Chicken & Rice

chicken
1 small bottle kraft zesty italian dressing
1 Tbsp chilli powder
1 Tbsp cumin
3 cloves garlic minced
5 lbs. boneless chicken (about six)

mix and pour over chicken in crockpot. cook for four hours, shred chicken when it is almost all the way cooked

rice
3 cups water
4 tsp chicken boullion
4 tsp garlic minced
1/2 bunch ciliantro
1 can green chilles undrained
3/4 tsp salt
1 Tbs butter
1/2 onion
3 cups rice

Boil water and add all ingredients, simmer 30 minutes