BBQ Pork Chops

I guess you can tell that we like pork chops in the Southern Foodette house because it seems like we have them every week or so. They are so versatile. You can bake them, fry them, stuff them and so on. This time I decided to bake them.

Pre-heat the oven to 350.

Put the chops in a casserole dish and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Top with sliced onions and garlic.

Pour some BBQ sauce on top. I use Stubb's, of course.

Bake for about 30 mins.

I served these with some green beans from a can. I didn't show you that because I didn't fix them like I normally do, with bacon and all. When I get around to fixing them I will let you know. Don't forget to spoon some of the juice, from the bottom of the dish, over the chops. Yummmm!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Check out Monsters vs Aliens in 3D whether you have kids or not, it was great and very funny. Hopefully we will be hitting the beach!

Super Easy Lazy Supper

I really didn't feel like cooking a big meal a few nights ago. You know even the Southern Foodette gets lazy every now and again. I try to keep stuff on hand that doesn't require a lot of effort to prepare like raviolis, tortellinis and tortellonis. I always have spaghetti sauce and Parmesan cheese too.

Ricotta and Spinach tortellonis are what I had in the pantry.

I also had a jar of good quality spaghetti sauce.

Boil some water

Add the tortellonis.

Drain and add sauce.

Top with Parmesan cheese.

How easy is that? Super easy I tell you!

Even when I am feeling lazy, I still try to cook something or make a sandwich instead of relying on fast food. Over the weekend we ended up grabbing some fast food from McDonald's but it was not good at all. When I met my husband, Mark, almost 9 years ago, he was a fast food junkie and still was until about 6 months or so ago. That night I got the biggest complement ever (food wise) from my husband when he threw his half eaten food away and said "you have spoiled us with your home cooking. I don't even want this crap anymore." I just about fell out in the floor. Even JW didn't want his happy meal food.

There is the proof that your family does benefit when you cook at home even when you are lazy. And you end up saving money!

Pot Roast Leftovers #2

One of my followers on Twitter was telling me what he does with his leftover pot roast meat so I decided to share it with you.

Start by cutting the leftover meat into strips.

Throw it in a pan with cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper.

Add some water and let it simmer until all of the water is soaked up.

Break out the handy dandy quesadilla maker. Mine happens to be a wedding gift from my attorney. It has lasted 6 years and I love it! I wish I had 2.

Shred some cheese and have the salt and pepper. You will also need some flour tortillas.

The first quesadilla I made was for JW. He didn't want any meat so he got a cheese quesadilla. Place one tortilla on the quesadilla maker, top with cheese, salt and pepper. Top with another tortilla and close the lid. Let cook for a few mins, remove quesadilla and slice into triangles.

Master JW was served on his favorite Spiderman plate, of course.

The next ones were made for Mark and I. Place one tortilla on the maker, add cheese, salt, pepper and meat. Top with another tortilla and close the lid. You don't have to spread the cheese all over the tortilla either. It will spread once it warms up.

When it's ready, remove, slice and serve. Sour cream and salsa are perfect to serve with this.

There are tons of ways to make this your own. Chicken and cheese, steak and blue cheese, veggies and cheese. Whatever you like. Its easy and tastes really good. In the past we have had people over for Mexican night and let everyone make their own quesadilla. That is why I need 2. If you don't have a quesadilla maker then use a skillet, but you will have to flip it over to cook both sides. You could even use one tortilla and just fold it in half. Have fun with it, whatever you do.

Coming up this week: Super easy raviolis and BBQ pork chops!

Pot Roast Leftovers #1

Before I start this blog about the leftovers I thought I would share my morning with you. It is a stormy and nasty morning here in Mobile, AL. We got up, ate breakfast, got dressed and ready to hit the road only to find out that The Queen, my SUV, has a major flat tire. Like the rim was sitting on rubber in the driveway flat tire. My options now are to drive my husbands toy, the mustang, or my husbands big Bubba truck. I am not a fan of the mustang because it is a standard and after 2 knee surgeries plus the rain, we would not get along today. Bubba truck it is.

I'm 5'2. Mark is 6'5. This truck is huge! I literally have to jump to get in it and that is no fun when you are pregnant. I have to put one foot in the truck, hold on the the steering wheel and jump with the other foot. All of this is being done in the pouring rain. Once inside, I have to rearrange the mirrors and the seat so now I'm 10 feet in the air (not really) and 2 inches from the steering wheel because my legs are too short to reach the pedals.

Now, we are on the road to JW's school and when we pull in there is no one to help the kids out of the cars, so I have to get out, walk around the truck, remove JW and kiss him goodbye for the day then go back around to the drivers side and jump in. Did I mention that it was still raining?!

I finally got to work, parked, got out and immediately landed in a puddle, of course. Now my pants, shoes and socks are wet. I can't wait to find out what the afternoon brings! Now to blog about leftovers...

Wednesday I showed you how to make a pot roast in which i had a ton of leftover meat. Today I will show you 1 way to use them. Monday I will show you another.

Start by chopping up some meat in small cubes.

Chop up some onion.

Dice up some potatoes. You can use the bagged hash browns from the grocery store if you would like or some leftover french fries.

Get some butter going in a big skillet.

Throw everything in there together. Add salt, pepper and parsley.

Cook until the potatoes are soft. Stir in some milk and serve.

This is what I would call a pot roast hash. I thought it was excellent and even took some for lunch the next day.

I also made some mac-n-cheese, but you have already seen that made before. At least this time you get to see the end result.

Try it out. Use what ever meat you have left over. I think ham would be awesome. Corned beef would be even better!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Hopefully Mark will have had my tire fixed by the time I get home today so I won't have to drive the Bubba truck anymore. Here's to dry feet!

A Better Pot Roast

The other day when I was at Winn Dixie they had beef roasts on sale, buy one, get one free, so of course I had to take them up on that offer. I put one in the freezer and the other I decided to make a pot roast with. I wasn't in the mood for a traditional pot roast with carrots and potatoes so I switched it up a little bit. I hope you like it. I know we did!

Pre-heat the oven to 350

Cut up an onion and some garlic cloves.

You will need some salt, pepper and seasoned salt to rub all over the roast.

Get a large skillet with some oil in it super hot and sear the roast on all sides.

While the roast is searing, mix together some red wine, cream of mushroom soup, beef bullion and Worcestershire sauce.

When the searing is complete, remove the meat and place in a roasting pan.

In the skillet used for searing, saute the onions and garlic for a few mins.

Top the roast with the onions.

Cover with the wine/soup mixture, cover with foil and bake for 2.5 hours. Oh, and add 2 bay leaves before you put it in the oven. Make sure you remove them before you serve. They are a choking hazard!

Before the roast is done, boil some noodles. I used egg noodles but you can use whatever you would like. Let the roast rest for a little while before you slice.

Top the noodles with sliced meat and pour some of the sauce from the roasting pan.

My boys and I loved it! The meat was so tender and the sauce on the noodles was sooooo good. I only sliced enough meat for us to eat right then, so we had lots of meat left over. Check back to see what I did with them.

Try it out and let me know what you think about it. You don't have to use noodles. I just wanted to do something quick and easy.

Fish on Friday

If you are Catholic then you should know that it is customary to eat fish on Friday during Lent. My boys are Catholic and I went to Catholic school for a few years, so we try to abide by this tradition.

I really do not like to fry fish in the house, but we were out of propane for the grill and I already had the fish thawed out. The fish is question was cod. I prefer cod over catfish any day. I am not a fan of dirt flavored fish.

After cutting the fish into small pieces, I covered them with seasoned flour.

While the oil was getting hot, I cut up some broccoli (fresh from my Nanny's garden), sliced some onion and chopped up some garlic.

As the fish began to fry I sauteed the onions, garlic and broccoli in sesame oil. I also added some soy sauce to give it flavor.

The cod was perfectly golden, flaky and delicious. Serve with ketchup and lemons and you are set!

Sorry for the lack of pictures. For some reason, my mind must have been wandering while I was cooking. A friend on Twitter said that babies have a way of sucking your brain cells out of you head and down to them, so I am going to stick with that.

Oh, BTW...my boys hate broccoli. The only reason why I cooked it was because my Nanny gave it to me and I didn't want to waste it. I made them eat at least one bite but you would think I was trying to kill them. I ended up eating most of it. I thought it was good.

Maybe next time we will pick up a fish dinner from the booster club at JW's school. My house won't smell like fish and I won't have complaints about broccoli!

Breakfast of Champions

Wednesday's blog featured what Mark and I cooked for supper on Saturday. Today I will show you what I did with the leftovers.

Almost every Sunday morning I get up and cook breakfast for my boys. It is a tradition that I take great pride in. This Sunday I broke out the leftovers, some eggs and cheese and got to work.

To start with I cut up the remaining fries into small pieces like country style hash browns.

Saute some onions in a little bit of oil.

Add the cut up potatoes and cook for a few mins.

When they are finished, top with freshly shredded cheese.

I am a scrambled egg fan, so while the potatoes were cooking I got the eggs going in another pan.

When they were done, top them with a little cheese as well.

Have you ever had a chicken biscuit? I love them so I heated the leftover biscuits and chicken. The key to a good chicken biscuit is mayonnaise and pickles!

I know what you may be thinking, but don't knock it until you try it. I just wish I had better biscuits, but that just means that I will have to make some from scratch. That means sausage gravy will have to made as well. Now I'm hungry for breakfast!

To complete those hash browns you will need to smother them with ketchup! You can even add some to the scrambled eggs or even some salsa. By using the leftovers, I don't have to feel guilty about throwing food in the trash or feeding it to Thibodeau (even though he loves it). You can't beat that. What are your breakfast traditions?