Fried vs Baked Bacon

The last time I went to fix bacon I decided that I was going to try baking it rather than frying it.  I heard and read of many people baking their bacon and the reviews were making me start to think twice about frying it.  However, I am have been a die hard bacon frying person only so making the change seemed so hard to do! I have picky eaters to worry about and just the thought of "change" seemed to haunt me. But I pressed on and made the effort to trying to bake some bacon!

In order to make the change over to baking the bacon,  I decided that I would fry half of a pound of bacon in my skillet.

I baked the rest of the pound of bacon in the oven at 400°on my Pampered Chef large baking pan(jelly roll style pan with edges to catch the grease).

(fried on the left, baked on the right)

Here is the results:

Fried:

• more greasy
• more crispy
• cooked to smaller pieces
• more wavy--not really flat for putting on a sandwich!
• had grease to clean up all over my stove!

Baked:

• thicker pieces
• flatter pieces that fit better on a sandwich
• crispy yet chewy
• less greasy
• less mess
• took less time and less watchful eye

Overall Results: The baked bacon got rave reviews from my family! My "picky eater" hubby raved about the baked bacon!!  He told me that he would appreciate it if I baked the bacon from now on because he enjoyed it so much.  He said that it tasted more like how the restaurants cook their bacon. My kids even could tell a difference between the cooking styles. They enjoyed it as well.

So this Momma is making a change in her kitchen!!  I am switching to baking the bacon!

This post is linked to: 

• Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam!
  
• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday over at Blessed with Grace!
• Tuesdays at the Table over at All the Small Stuff!

Easy BQ Pork Sandwiches

Are you looking to feed a crowd any time soon?? If so, I have a great recipe for fixing and forgetting while you work at getting the rest of your food ready to feed all those hungry mouths!

Here is what you will need:

• 1 boneless half pork loin
• 1 or 2 bottles of BBQ sauce--I love Sweet Baby Ray's Honey BBQ Sauce because then I don't have to add any other sweetener to the pot. If you don't use the Sweet Baby Ray's, I would recommend putting in a 1-2 tbsp. honey or sugar to give it more of a sweet tangy taste over a sour tangy taste.
• 1 crockpot

Here is what you will need to do:

Take the pork loin and cut in half again so it is like two small pork roasts.

Put it in the crockpot

Pour the BBQ sauce over the pork loin.

Turn the crockpot on low. Let it simmer for 6-8 hours

About half way through the cooking time, taking the time to shred the meat with a couple of forks and add more BQ sauce if it looks dry.

When you are ready with the rest of your meal. Serve on hamburger buns. I love using whole wheat buns for making these pork sandwiches!

If you are not serving a crowd and are just using this for a family dinner meal, I like having some kind of potato, usually fries and then a green veggie or salad as my sides to round out the meal.

The BBQ pork is very freezer friendly too! Once it has cooled, put in a freezer container or freezer ziploc bag and store in the freezer for up to 3 months.

This post is linked at:

• Ultimate Recipe Swap at Life as Mom!

BLT Pasta Salad

Summer is just beginning here in the Midwest which means that grilling and no oven meals are the "in thing" to do! One of my favorite no-oven meals are doing up pasta salads to have with grilled meat.

Last year at a wedding I had this type of salad and came home and wanted to tried it out with my crew but didn't have a recipe because I wasn't smart enough to ask the caterer at the wedding for the recipe! I took the time to look online to find something that resembled the salad and I found several so I combined a couple of recipes and came up this recipe that my crew just loves despite the fact that there is chunks of tomatoes in it!

It has become my go to pasta salad for picnics and get togethers because of how easy it is to make up. Here is what I came up with....

BLT PASTA SALAD

1 lb rotini pasta cooked, drained and cooled

1/4 cup Real Bacon bits

1/4 cup Miracle Whip Light

1/4 cup Ranch Salad Dressing

1 pint grape tomatoes, chopped

2-3 leaves of iceberg lettuce, chopped

I cooked, drained and cooled the rotini the night before along with adding in some of the bacon bits and some of the Miracle Whip and Ranch Dressing. Then the following day before I was going to serve it, I chopped the tomatoes, and lettuce. I added more Miracle Whip and Ranch Dressing and Bacon Bits and it was ready to serve!

You might have to play with the measurements for the salad because the only measurements that I know for sure is the rotini pasta and the grape tomatoes. The rest of the ingredients I just put in with the rotini and when it looked good I stopped adding them. I don't like pasta salads dripping with dressing so I made it where the dressing part of the salad was light---just enough to stick the ingredients together. Also, I used grape tomatoes instead of the "sandwich" size tomatoes so that I ended up with more tomato "meat" than tomato seeds.

One of these times that I make it, I will probably get some romaine lettuce or fresh spinach to use in place of the iceberg lettuce! So far the few times that I have made it, I have change things up with different shaped pasta including using tri-color rotini. Also I have used roma tomatoes as well, if you use any other tomatoes besides the grape ones you will want to de-seed the tomatoes! I didn't one of the times I have made it and regretted not doing so!

With this pasta salad you will want to make sure that it is eaten within a day or two after making it because the tomatoes really get mushy after the first 24 hours!

This salad would be a good compliment side with some grilled chicken or a nice juicy grilled burger or steaks for a nice simple summer meal!

This post is linked at:

• Ultimate Recipe Swap at Life as Mom!
  
• Recipe Swap at The Grocery Cart Challenge!
  
• Food on Fridays at Ann Kroeker!
  
• Fearless Fridays at Home Ec 101!
  
• Friday Feasts at Mom Trends!
  
• Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum!

Creamy Pork Loin over Noodles

A couple of weeks ago, I purchased a 5lb boneless half pork loins from the grocery store when it was on sale for $1.79/lb with thoughts of trying to get at least two meals out it for my family of seven!


The first meal was roasting the pork loin in my small roaster pan at 300° for 4 hours with a can of cream of chicken soup and one packet of onion soup mix and one soup can of water. I served the pork with boiled potatoes and gravy from the pork loin along with a couple of cans of green beans.


Once we were done with the meal, I made up a lunch container for hubby's lunch. Then the rest of the pork loin I put in a container in the fridge. Usually with leftover pork loin I just take the fat off of it and then add bbq sauce to make bbq pork sandwiches but this time I was looking for something different to do with pork loin.


So after much thought, I decided to make a spin-off of my creamy chicken dish and the results were good! My kids and I loved it and the hubby decided to just eat some plain skillet pork chops that I had done because I wasn't sure there would be enough of the creamy pork! So I am not sure what he would have said about it had he eaten the creamy pork.




Here is what I did:



2lbs pork loin, cooked and diced

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can chicken broth

1 tsp. garlic powder*

1-2 tsp. black pepper*

2-3 tsp. onion powder*

1/2 soup can milk



Put all the ingredients together in a pan and heat throughly. If it seems too soupy/thin, mix together 2 heaping tsp. flour with enough milk to make the mixture pourable and pour into the meat mixture. Bring to a boil to thicken. Serve over egg noodles.
*spice measurements are approximate!

There ended up being enough leftover of the creamy pork that I will be able to do up some more egg noodles and serve it to my kids for a lunch.

So the end results of getting a 5lb pork loin with the intent of making at least 2 meals was a succuss!

This post is linked at:

• $5 Dinner Challenge at $5 Dinner!
• Recipe Swap at The Grocery Cart Challenge!
  
• Food on Fridays at Ann Kroeker!
  
• Fearless Fridays at Home Ec 101!
  
• Friday Feasts at Mom Trends!
  
• Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum!

Easy Crockpot Pork Chops

I made these for dinner earlier this week and they were awesome!!  The pork chops just fell apart and they were not dry at all(something that I have trouble with doing)!!

Easy Crockpot Pork Chops

6-9 pork chops, browned

2 cans cream of chicken soup(or cream of whatever soup)

1 pkg. dry onion soup mix

1/2 can water

Brown pork chops in a skillet.  Once brown put in the crockpot, dump the packet of dry onion soup mix on the pork chops.  Dump the 2 cans of cream of whatever soup on the pork chops and onion soup mix.  Make sure that the cream of whatever soup is covering the pork chops.  Rinse out soup cans with 1/2 can of water and pour onto the pork chops. Turn crockpot on low and cook for 6-8 hours or cook on high 4-6 hours. 

Notes: I put this together last night before Sunday evening church to eat when we returned but before I turned it on, hubby decided that we just pick up fast food on the home. I put the stoneware insert of my crockpot in the fridge and then today put in my crockpot on low. 

The gravy is thick enough to serve it over rice or potatoes. I chose rice and green beans as my sides for Monday night's dinner. 

This post is linked at: 

• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday over at Blessed with Grace!
  
• Kitchen tip Tuesday, over at Tammy's Recipes! 
•  Tasty Tuesday at Forever, Wherever
  
• I am Blissfully Domestic at Blissfully Domestic!
  

Kitchen Tip Tuesday---BLT Pasta Salad

I know that summer is almost over, so the pasta salads, no-oven meals are starting to become a thing of the past until next year when the heat is upon us again. However, I wanted to share this recipe with you that I made up by combining parts of other similar recipes.

I had this type of salad at a wedding about year ago and have been wanting to try it but just didn't have the nerve to with my picky eaters. So I decided to make it for a picnic that I was hosting a few weeks ago when I knew that I would have others around to help me enjoy it! However, my hubby and one son ate some as well! Yeah! So since I didn't ask the caterer at the wedding for the recipe, I took to looking online to find something that resembled the salad. Here is what I came up with....

1 lb rotini pasta cooked, drained and cooled

1/4 cup Real Bacon bits

1/4 cup Miracle Whip Light

1/4 cup Ranch Salad Dressing

1 pint grape tomatoes, chopped

2-3 leaves of iceberg lettuce, chopped

I cooked, drained and cooled the rotini the night before along with adding in some of the bacon bits and some of the Miracle Whip and Ranch Dressing. Then the following day before I was going to serve it, I chopped the tomatoes, and lettuce. I added more Miracle Whip and Ranch Dressing and Bacon Bits and it was ready to serve!

You might have to play with the measurements for the salad because the only measurements that I know for sure is the rotini pasta and the grape tomatoes. The rest of the ingredients I just put in with the rotini and when it looked good I stopped adding them. I don't like pasta salads dripping with dressing so I made it where the dressing part of the salad was light---just enough to stick the ingredients together. Also, I used grape tomatoes instead of the "sandwich" size tomatoes so that I ended up with more tomato "meat" than tomato seeds.

One of these times that I make it, I will probably get some romaine lettuce or fresh spinach to use in place of the iceberg lettuce! So far the few times that I have made it, I have change things up with different shaped pasta including using tri-color rotini. Also I have used roma tomatoes as well, if you use any other tomatoes besides the grape ones you will want to de-seed the tomatoes! I didn't one of the times I have made it since that picnic and regretted not doing so!

With this pasta salad you will want to make sure that it is eaten within a day or two after making it because the tomatoes really get mushy after the first 24 hours!

After the picnic that day, I sent some home with my parents and told them that they could do up some grilled chicken and have this salad for a nice simple summer meal!

For other kitchen tips, recipes or ideas, head over to Tammy's Recipes!

OR

Looking for more breads, pasta, or potato recipes, head over to Jen-Frugal Upstate's Frugal Food Series--breads, pastas, or potatoes.

Orginally posted July, 2008

Works For Me Wednesday--Simple Meals

Yesterday, I was talking about not having that all day in the kitchen feeling. Two of the things that I mentioned to not having that all day in the kitchen feeling is keeping meals simple and using "modern day servants". How do I keep meals simple? By using basic items that I keep on hand in my pantry and freezer. Nothing exotic here!

Most of meals consist of a meat, two starches(potatoes, rice, or noodles and some kind of bread) and then veggies and/or fruit.


Like this meal from last week...BBQ boneless pork ribs,cheesy potatoes (no meat), and green beans. Simple but yet filling!

For today's meal, I am using a couple of my favorite "modern day servants" along with keeping the meal simple.....Crockpot roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, corn and bread.


I season my chicken breasts with poultry seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper and seasoned salt. I would use minced onion or fresh onion BUT my picky eaters do not like the "chunks" of veggies. I didn't put any water or canned broth in the crockpot because the chicken will do quite well making its own!

As you can see from the picture, I seasoned the chicken quite liberally! It will make some flavorful chicken and broth! I cook this in the crockpot for 8 hours on low or 4-5 hours on high. I didn't get it started right after breakfast like I had planned so I have the crockpot on high for now.
These are just two examples of simple meals that work for me! I am always looking for new simple meals to try with my family! What are some simple meals that you do for your family?

Want to read what works for others, check out WFMW over at Rocks in My Dryer.