Crock Pot Braised Apple Cider Pork

So I love a good crock pot recipe and boy did I find one.  I found a recipe on allrecipes but of course changed the ingredients to what I had on hand and what I preferred.  It was soo yummy and the pork was just perfect and tender.  

Ingredients 
2lb pork roast
1 medium onion
3 stocks of celery
1/2-1cup of carrots 
4 potatoes (peeled and cubed) 
1/2 of small red cabbage (you can use either- I liked the added color)
2 cloves of garlic (peeled)
1-1/2 tbs of fresh herbs (called for parsley and sage -- i had rosemary on hand)
1-1/4 C of apple cider
3/4 tsp of dijon mustard
1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper
1tbs of cold butter
salt and pepper garlic powder

Season the pork roast with garlic powder and pepper.  Put in the crock pot with chopped onion, celery, carrots, potatoes and red cabbage on top with herbs. On top pour the apple cider and fill the rest of it with water till it covers the meat and potatoes. Cook on low for 6.5 hours.  
Pull the pork roast and veggies out of crock pot and cover with foil.  
Take the juice and put in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 5ish minutes.  Add 2tbs of cornstarch, remove from heat --whisk in cayenne pepper and dijon mustard.  
Serve pork with veggies and sauce on top.

My hubby loved the sauce-- I will probably double it in the future. I served it in my awesome swan gravy boat.  Hope you enjoy- I will def make it again. It was a nice alternative other than always beef and veggies.  

A new favorite

Honey Greek Yogurt! It's just delicious and so tasty!! I use it at breakfast and snacks- great before bed. 

Usually, I put it with whatever cereal we have in the cupboard. Yesterday for breakfast was 5tbs and special k choco and strawberry.  Yummy and filling.  Tonight for snack before bed i paired it with some TJ's fresh strawberries and blackberries!! It's sweet enough but still healthy! 

Creme Brulee

In love with the Creme Brulee from Trader Joe's. Just defrost for an hour at room temp and enjoy the yummyness.  Best part... comes in a dark chocolate cup so no dishes!!!'

A quick healthy meal

Tonight, I have to go into work so a quick dinner idea was needed. I threw together a bunch of TJ ingredients I had on hand and a great meal we had.  

I usually stock up on ravioli and freeze them. Tonight I chose the goat cheese and sundried tomato variety.  

I first put garlic and onions in a pan and cooked until tender then added 1/2 of the Asian stir fry mix.  (the mix contains- snow peas,  peppers, water chestnuts, onions, carrots and broccoli). 

I cooked the mix for 10-12 minutes. Since, I had olive tempenade on hand- I added into the veggies- what great flavor! 

Then turned to low and started the pasta.  Since mine was frozen it took about 5-6 minutes. 

For sauce: I used Mike's favorite which is Ragu sausage and cheese flavored. 

I added the sauce to the veggie mix and well what a great meal.  We didn't have any bread on hand but a good garlic bread would have been fantastic with it.  

For fruit we had cocktail grapefruit.  Which are similar to more of an orange than a grapefruit, but have more seeds.  Cocktail grapefruits are usually only available the month of January so I like to stock up.  

Enjoy :)

German Chocolate Pancakes

So it's been forever since I posted.  Although, I have had amazing food since then.  Mike and I went on our honeymoon and had fantastic dishes, but will post about those later.  Today is Mike's birthday and usually every year I make a German Chocolate Cake-but it makes so much and it's just the two of us.  So this year I decided on German Chocolate Pancakes and boy were they good.  I originally got the recipe from southern living magazine but altered it a bit.  The pancakes look like footballs because that's what Mike wanted... 

Pancake Ingredients:
2 C of Flour
1/2 C of Sugar
1/2 C of Unsweetened Cocoa
1-1/2 TBS of Baking Soda
1 TSP of Salt
2 C of Milk
2 Large Eggs
1/2 of 4oz German Chocolate Bar- Finely Chopped
3 TBS of Butter
1/2 TSP of Vanilla

Topping Ingredients:
2/3 C of Chopped Pecans
2/3 C of Sweetened Coconut
1 (5oz) Can of Evaporated Milk 
1/2 C of Light Brown Sugar - packed
1/4 C of Butter
2 Egg Yolks
1/2 TSP of Vanilla

So deciding which to do when is tricky and we have a small kitchen- so I had to have my hubby help.  
I started the topping first then the pancakes and then well back and forth.  

Directions: 
Put the chopped pecans and coconut in a pan and put in the oven 350 for 5 minutes. Pull out and set aside.  Next Put the first 5 ingredients of the pancake recipe in a large bowl. (Flour, Sugar, Cocoa, Soda  and Salt).  Stir well.  In another bowl Mix the milk, eggs, butter, vanilla and chopped chocolate.  Gradually stir wet mixture into the dry.  (just until moistened- the batter is supposed to be lumpy).  
On a heated skillet pour the batter- mike wanted footballs so I created a little bigger size of pancake. 

 Let sit 3 ish minutes then flip.  To keep warm I put the done pancakes on a pan and in the oven at 200 degrees. 

While making the pancakes I then started the topping. Mix together the evaporated milk, brown sugar, butter and egg yolks in a saucepan over medium heat.  Stir consistently (which is why I needed a helper) for about 10 minutes- the mixture should start to get thick.

  Remove from heat add vanilla and toasted pecans and coconut and serve immediately over warmed pancakes.   

Mikey and I both loved them! I was also supposed to serve with sausage but i totally forgot.  Hope you enjoy them!!