Cooking with KP

Crockpot Tortellini

If you need an easy but tasty and filling meal, you may liket this. It goes righ in the crockpot allowing you to relax and then enjoy a good meal.

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 pound of ground beef

1 pound of loose Italian sausage or ground pork

1 medium onion, finely diced

2 Tablespoons minced garlic

1 15 ounce can diced tomatoes

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon garlic powder

2 teaspoons sugar (alway use sugar to cut the acid of tomato sauces)

1 24 ounce jar marinara sauce

1 15 ounce jar alfredo sauce

1 Tablespoon of Italian blend seasoning

1 Tablespoon of dried parsley

1 teaspoon smoky paprika

Pinch of red pepper flakes

2 cups of tortellini

Top with your favorite cheese (s)

Place olive oil in skillet. Add both meats and brown. Drain any grease. Add in onion and garlic. Cook 4 minutes and remove from heat. Spray crockpot and put all other ingredients except tortellini to crockpot. Mix well. Cook on low for 5 hours or high for 3.5 hours. Add tortellini and cook for 40 minutes. Serve and enjoy!

Crockpot Bbq Garlic and Lime Pork

I found some pork stew meat on sale and the hunt began online for a quick and easy recipe that I could tweak. I needed it to be no fuss and delicious and this does just that!

3-4 pounds of pork cubes/chunks or stew meat

Juice of 3-4 limes

Garlic powder

Pepper

Seasoned salt

Red pepper flakes

1 small onion, thinly sliced

3 Tablespoons of minced garlic

2 cups of barbecue sauce

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

Spray crockpot with oil. Put meat in a large bowl and sprinkle them with garlic powder, pepper, and seasoned salt. Mix well. Squeeze lime juice into bowl and toss well. Place thinly slice onions in bottom of crock pot. Add meat. In bowl mix bbq sauce, brown sugar, minced garlic, and red pepper flakes (if using). Pour ontop of meat, cover with lid and cook on low 4-6 hours, or high 3-4 hours. Stiring every hour. When meat is cooked, spoon up 1-2 cups of the liquid and put in a small pot and bring to a boil and reduce. Pour over meat before serving. It will make a glaze. Enjoy!

Swedish Cube Steak in Crock Pot

I found the basic recipe for this simple and delicious meal online and, of course, I changes a few things. We really enjoy it.

6-10 cube steaks ( I used two packs of 4)

1 medium onion thinly sliced

1 can Cream of Celery soup

8 ounces of cleaned and sliced fresh mushrooms (optional)

1 Tablespoon minced garlic

1/2 Tablespoon pepper

1-2 Tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce

1 package of Au Jus gravy

8 ounces cream cheese, cubed and softened

8 ounces sour cream

Seasoned salt, pepper, and garlic powder

Spray your crock pot with cooking spray. Place onion slices in bottom of pot. Season your cube steaks with seasoned salt, pepper, and garlic powder on both sides. Place steaks on top onions. Place mushrooms on top of steaks In a small bowl, mix soup, au jus gravy packet, Worcestershire sauce, minced garlic, and pepper. Pour on top of mushrooms. Cook on low for 5 hours. If possible turn steak over midway. Mix sour cream and cream cheese until well blended and cream cheese has not more lumps. Pour on top of crock pot mixture and cook up to 1 hour more. Serve over egg noodles, rice, or potatoes.

Kay's Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole has been in cookbooks and online for a long time. This is my take on it.

2 cups cooked diced chicken (I use rotisserie)

1.5 cups of diced ham

5 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled

1 22 ounce jar of Alfredo sauce

2 Tablespoons of Dijon Mustard

1 tsp of pepper

2 tsp of garlic powder

2 cups shredded Swiss cheese

1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

16 ounces of uncooked pasta--penne is the one I prefer

1.5 cups of breadcrumbs

1 stick of butter

Preheat oven to 375. Spray of 9x13 casserole dish.

Cook pasta 2 minutes shorter than the box recommends. Drain. In a large bowl, add Swiss cheese, chicken, Alfredo sauce, mustard, bacon, ham, garlic powder, and pepper. Add pasta and stir. If mixture looks a bit dry, add 2 Tablespoons of heavy cream or whole milk. Put mixture in casserole dish. Top with Parmesan cheese. Put breadcrumbs in small bowl. Melt one stick of butter and pour into breadcrumbs. Mix. Sprinkle on top of casserole. Bake of 25-30 minutes.

Bubble Up Pizza Casserole

This is definitely not my recipe. It is one that is all over the internet and it is wonderful. It makes for a quick evening meal.

1 large can of biscuits (10 biscuits), cut each into 8 pieces

1 14 ounce jar of pizza sauce

1 pound of loose Italian sausage

2 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese

Sliced pepperoni (use as many as you like)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 9x13 casserole dish. Brown the Italian sausage in a skillet and set aside to cool while you are cutting biscuits. Place biscuits in a bowl; add slightly cooled sausage and pizza sauce. Mix until biscuits are coved. Pour in casserole dish. Top with cheese and then dot with pepperoni. Bake 30-35 minutes. Take out a biscuit so make sure they are done. Enjoy

Crockpot Hawaiian Chicken

Super easy and super tasty. Serve over rice for a great diner.

2 lbs fresh chicken breasts (or thighs), chunked
1 can (20 oz) pineapple tidbits or chunks, with juice
1/3 cup ketchup
¼ cup rice vinegar
¼ cup low-sodium soy sauce

1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp minced garlic

1/2 teaspoon of minced ginger
1 red bell pepper and 1 green bell pepper, chopped

1 small white onion, diced

1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes

Slurry: Mix four tablespoons of cornstarch to four tablespoon of water and blend well.

Spray your crockpot. Add your chicken that you have seasoned with salt and pepper. Top will other ingredients. Give them a stir, put lid on crockpot and let cook on low 5 hours. 40 minutes before serving, make a simple thickening slurry: Slurry: Mix four tablespoons of cornstarch to four tablespoon of water and blend well. Slowly pour into crockpot, stir. Return lid and let cook for 30 minutes.

Asian Inspired Coleslaw

I have always like coleslaw, but most of the ones I have eaten and made are mayonnaise based. This one is an Asian Inspired Coleslaw, based on one I found online and adjusted.

Dressing:

2 Tablespoons creamy peanut butter

8 Tablespoons vegetable oil (I use canola)

1 teaspoon of sesame oil (dark is better)

6 Tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar (if all you have is plain rice vinegar, simply add 1 teaspoon of sugar and a pinch of salt)

1 Tablespoon minced garlic

1/2 teaspoon of black pepper

Slaw:

1 16 ounce tri-color slaw mix (has red cabbage and carrots in it)

6 green onions, chopped (include both the white and green parts)

1-2 cups cups of LaChoy Chow Mein noodles

1/4 cup slivered almonds, roasted peanuts, or cashews (optional)

Mix dressing in a large glass measuring cup. This will make it easier to pour on slaw. Place all slaw ingredients in a large salad bowl. Toss. Pour dressing over the slaw and toss lightly.

Note: If you taking this as a dish to an event. Do not pour dressing on until ready to serve. Just mix in a jar with a lid.

Cheaper Cuts of Beef Don't Have To Be Tough

Most people avoid the cheaper cuts of beef because they tend to be tough. With 8 children and three adults in our home, my mother had to find ways to tenderize the cheaper cuts of beef. One way to cook "down", as my mother used to say, a tough cut of beef steak is to season both sides of the steak with garlic powder, seasoned salt and pepper. Lightly brown the steak in a large skillet and on top add a diced green bell pepper, medium onion, a bay leaf, parsley flakes, a few dashes of Worchestershire sauce, and a can of diced tomatoes. Cover with lid. Let the steak simmer for 30-50 minutes. Remove lid and thicken juices by cooking 5-10 more minutes. You can also do the same with a cheap beef roast in a crock pot. Add all the ingredients in crock pot and cook on low for 6-8 hours. The flavor is simple, amazing and great with mashed potatoes.

Fall Vegetables for a Healthy You

As the fall approaches, we will all start to stay indoors more hours. This will lessen our vitamins, such as vitamin A, D, and K, which are enhanced by sunlight. Below are a few vegetables you might want to increase in your diet as the fall and later winter days approach. Besides, they are very tasty. In fact, in the next few weeks, I will be posting recipes that incorporate many of these delicious veggies.

Sweet potatoes and yams are very rich in carotenoids, vitamins A, B6, C, potassium, iron and fiber and are delicious when baked and eaten plain (without butter) or used in soups, casseroles or stir-fries.

Bell peppers are great sources of potassium, manganese, fiber and vitamins A, B, C and K. These sweet peppers are flavorful additions to salads and healthy stir-fries. You can choose from a rainbow of colors, including: green peppers,yellow peppers, orange peppers,and red peppers.

Summer and winter squash are rich in carotenoids, vitamins A and C, potassium, magnesium and fiber and can be served alone or added to many dishes.

Just a few tips for you...

Spray your Tupperware with nonstick cooking spray before pouring in tomato- based sauces. No more stains!

Use lifesavers candy to hold candles in place on your next birthday cake! Kids love them.

Stuff a miniature marshmallow in the bottom of a sugarcone to prevent ice cream drips!

Zap garlic cloves in the microwave for 15 seconds and the skins slip right off!

If your celery begins to wilt in the fridge, fill a large cup half full of water and place celery in the cup. Put back in the fridge for two hours--it will be crisp. (Learned this from my mother).

Cooking Myth Busted

A Potato Can Save a Salty Soup or Stew. True or False? False. "This is an attractive idea, but it doesn't work because potatoes are not particularly absorbent," says Wolke, who conducted his own soup-and-potato experiment for his Cooking Myth Busters book. "There is no reason they would attract salt." If you remove the raw potato from the soup, the potato will taste salty, but so would a sponge — it has simply soaked up some of the salty liquid. Still, there is hope for salty stews: Adding a bit of vinegar or sugar can "cancel out" the saltiness by giving your taste buds competing flavors.

Super Moist Turkey

If you are looking for a way to get a moist turkey, you might try one of these family hints:

1--bake the turkey upside down--breast down for the first half of the cooking time. It will help the darker meat cook more thoroughly and the fatty juices of the darker meat will drip down to the breast and add moistness. Use a deep roasting pan for this.

2--bake the turkey with the breast up, but rub it with butter, garlic powder and pepper only. Do not salt the skin. Instead, mix salt in a cup of warm water and pour that cup of salted warm-not hot-water inside the cavity of the turkey. The salt water will steam up into the turkey, making it very moist.

3. bake the turkey with the breast up and slice two lemons and one orange in halves. Place the halves inside the seasoned turkey and the juices will steam into the meat, adding moisture and flavor.

Hint of the Week

Here is something I learned from my wonderful Mother, the greatest cook I have ever known. When you have just a small serving of cooked vegetables leftover from dinner, don't throw them away. Keep a large plastic container in the freezer and put the vegetables in the container. Mix them--carrots, corn, green beans, broccoli, etc. When the container is full make a pot of soup or stew. Also, if a recipe calls for 1/2 a chopped onion, chop the whole onion and add the half to the freezer container. My mother made the best vegetable soups from this idea.

Hint for the Week

With Fourth of July quickly approaching, you might be thinking of making Deviled Eggs. If you want perfectly boiled eggs, place eggs in a large pot and completely cover with cold water. Do not layer eggs on top of one another. Bring water to a rapid boil for 2 minutes, reduce to simmer and let eggs simmer 8 minutes, return to boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and empty hot water and fill pot with cold water. Let sit for 5 minutes. To peel easily, slightly crush shell in your fist and roll on counter with a firm grip. Of course, you don't want to push through the egg, but by making the shell crack in many small pieces, it is easier to peel. My father saw this on a cooking show years ago and taught me this. It truly works.