Chipotle Pork Roast with Potatoes

A few weeks ago I realized that my crock pot crock was cracked clear through.  I knew that it was time to buy a new one.  I have been doing research to find just what I wanted.  I figured I would have this one for a while since it was replacing the one I've had for 20 years!

I considered buying one that had 3 different size interchangeable crocks (2 qt, 4 qt and 6 qt) as I liked the flexibility of the different sizes.  It would operate on low, high or warm setting for all 3 crock sizes.  It was like getting 3 for the price of one.  As tempting as that was, what I realized was I really could benefit from a programmable crock pot.  I am gone about 10 hours each day and sometimes my crock pot recipes would get a little over done even on low leaving it on that many hours.

One of my work colleagues said she had one that she really liked.  It has a retractable cord, cool touch exterior and a lock in place lid so it is convenient to take it with you.  And it doesn't have a ceramic/pottery insert. . .it's a non-stick metal insert.  She has been amused by all the research I have been doing on crock pots, so she emailed me a picture of hers and a description.  Today, she even sent me a link to the manufacturers website.

I love that it has multiple pre-programmed settings on it.  You can adjust the cook time and temperature as needed, and once it completes the cooking cycle, it automatically will switch to the warm mode.  Now that was speaking my language!

I stopped on my way home and made my  purchase!  I got home, washed that puppy up and then ran a 30 minute cycle with water to make sure it was operating properly.

I couldn't wait to try it out, so here is what I put in the crock pot to cook overnight.  That was an accident. . .Oops.  I meant to have it all prepared in a gallon size Ziploc bag to place in the crock in the morning, but silly me, I added the diet soda to it while I was prepping it.  Now, if you have never tried this before, I will tell you. . .You can't add the soda to the prepped ingredients the night before!  It will explode in your refrigerator due to the carbonation.

As soon as I poured it in I realized what I had done, so I had no choice but cook the recipe overnight.  Oh, well. . .I think I know what I will be having for lunch now!

Chipotle Pork Roast with Potatoes

prep time:  5 minutes ~ cook time:  8 hours

makes:  8 servings ~ WW PP: 6 points

Ingredients:

3 pound pork roast
1 - 7 oz can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (blended until smooth) - use 3 Tbsp
1 3/4 pound potatoes (2 large potatoes), peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
2 Tbsp dried parsley
1 tsp dried dill
1 Tbsp minced garlic powder
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1/8 cup dried powdered milk
1 - 20 oz. bottle of diet Dr. Pepper

Directions:

1.  Place roast into crock pot and arrange potatoes around the roast.

2.  In a small bowl, mix 3 Tbsp of chipotle pepper mixture with seasonings and powdered milk. 

3.  Add the Dr. Pepper and mix well.

4.  Pour over the meat and potatoes.

5.  Cook at low power for 8 hours.

Just add a vegetable or salad on the side, and your meal is ready.  I love the slightly spicy taste that the chipotle in adobo provides to the meat and potatoes.  With only 6 PP for the recipe, this is a winner in my book!

*note -  I used an immersion blender to blend the chiptole in adobo sauce.  A food processor or blender would also work fine.  I also used a crock pot liner so there would be less mess to clean up.  I love those things!

Here is a picture of the programmable front.  

Here is a picture of the box in case you are in the market for a new slow cooker!

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Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party Host Favorites #3

We had a great turn out for the Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party again this week.  Each of your hosts have once again chosen their Host Favorites and they are being featured on Foodie Friends Friday Daily Dish.  Please check out all the Recipes That Caught Our Attention.  

Here is my pick from this week's party.  Jess from Simple, Clean and Homemade brought her Shredded Beef Enchiladas to our party.  Mexican food is my all time favorite.  I just love saucy, melty, cheesy dishes like this.  Doesn't her Shredded Beef Enchilada dish look good?

Make sure to stop by Simple, Clean and Homemade's blog and let her know I sent you over to visit!

Sausage and Egg Breakfast Muffin Recipe

I never have enough time in the morning to prepare a good breakfast.  I need something that I can grab on the run.  Lately I've been trying to prepare something the night before.  I made these a long time ago and remembered how good they were so I decided to make up a bunch of these tonight.  Just grab a couple of them, zap in the microwave until warm and out the door you go.  No need for utensils!  And this recipe is actually healthy, so that's a plus.  

Sausage and Egg Breakfast Muffins

prep time:  10 minutes ~ cook time:  40 minutes

makes:  24 muffins ~ WW PP: 2 per muffin

Ingredients:

1 - 16 oz package of Butterball Turkey Breakfast Sausage

1 cup fresh spinach, chopped*

9 oz fresh mushrooms (small container), chopped*

16 eggs

1/4 cup fat free half and half

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp cayenne

1 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp chopped garlic

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/2 cup low fat cheddar cheese

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare muffin tins by spraying with cooking spray.

2.  Chop spinach and mushrooms.

3.  Cook spinach and mushrooms with turkey sausage in a skillet over medium to medium-high temperature until done.

4.  While spinach, mushrooms and turkey is cooking, crack eggs into a large bowl.

5.  Add fat free half and half, seasonings and garlic and mix well.

6.  Equally divide sausage mixture between 24 muffin cups.  

7.  Top each with a small pinch of cheese.

8.  Add egg mixture to the top of each muffin cup, approximately 1/4 cup in each tin.

9.  Bake for approximately 40 minutes at 350 degrees. 

10.  Serve warm.

*Although I used spinach and mushrooms, you can substitute any veggie of your choice in this recipe.  It is especially good with red and green peppers with onions, or with broccoli.  Sometimes I even add a small can of chopped green chiles to give it a real southwestern taste.

These can be frozen and thawed in the microwave as needed.  I usually just keep them in the fridge as they don't last that long!


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Creamy Citrus Avocado Salad Dressing Recipe - Oil Free

I am in love with avocados.  Its a bonus that they are a healthy fat.  I like when I can add something to my diet and not feel guilty about it.  I stopped at the store on the way home and found avocados for only $0.35 each!  So you know I snagged as many ripe ones as I could get my hands on!

Earlier today, I went to the St. Louis Go Red for Women American Heart Association luncheon.  They had a fairly healthy lunch with a grilled chicken topped salad with a raspberry vinaigrette, but that little bitty chocolate mousse dessert was calling my name, so I just had to eat it!  Unfortunately, that means I am just about all out of my Weight Watchers points for today, so I decided to have a healthy salad for dinner.  Instead of just cutting up part of an avocado on top of it, I decided to make an oil free salad dressing with one of them.

I really enjoyed it and I hope you do too.

Creamy Citrus Avocado Salad Dressing

prep time:  5 minutes ~ cook time:  0 minutes
makes:  20 servings ~ WW PP: 1 points

Ingredients:

1 ripe avocado, peeled with seed removed
1 cup fat free milk
1 small container of plain flavored Greek yogurt
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp lime juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp white pepper
1 Tbsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp dried dill
1/2 tsp garlic, minced

Directions:

1.  Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor.

2.  Blend until ingredients are well blended.

3.  Serve a couple tablespoons of dressing over a salad of your choice.

4.  Store additional dressing in a plastic bowl or canning jar in the refrigerator.  You can see it covered my salad and filled a pint canning jar.

Here is a photo of my friend, Lisa, and I from the Go Red for Women luncheon today.  We had a great time and it was for a great cause.  You can learn more about Go Red for Women on their website and please, also consider making a donation.  Over 300 women are affected by heart disease every day.  We can all make a difference!

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Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party #30 - Build-A-Bear Workshop

Time for another Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party!  I'm so glad you're here.  And I'm so excited to share with you that we had 198 recipes linked up last week!  Let's see if we can beat that number this week.

Welcome to Foodie Friends Friday!

Please take a moment to read through the rules before getting started, Thank You!

*By linking up you agree that you read these rules and all photos/recipes are original and belong to you. You agree to allow Foodie Friends Friday and any of it's affiliated websites or publications (Social Girls Media, LLC) to use photos, links, and recipes for reprint and/or republishing and distribution without monetary compensation to you. If photos & recipes are used, proper link backs to you will be included.

Adding Links back to Foodie Friends Friday and our Button is our only form of advertising to bring in more people to see YOUR recipes.

Please remember to do this. It benefits you! To thank you, we will continue to feature those with links throughout the year on various outlets.

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Meet our Co-Hosts at Foodie Friends Friday:

Now Let's meet our sponsor this week!

This week's sponsor is Build-a-Bear Workshop!  They will be giving away a Chef Curly Teddy and a $25 gift card to one lucky winner.   This master chef stuffed animal will make the perfect gift for your favorite cook. It comes dressed in a Chef Outfit and Black Dress Shoes.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*Giveaway Disclaimer: Facebook is in no way associated with this website or giveaway and holds no liability for this giveaway. "Liking" facebook pages is optional, not mandatory for entry. Sponsors will be responsible for shipping- if there is a delay or problem with prize, you must communicate directly with sponsor.

Last week's winners:

1.  Chocolate Covered Cherries by Hun What's for Dinner

2.  White Chai Concentrate by This and That

3.  Love Bug Cake Pops Delivery by Pint Sized Baker

1.  Chocolate Covered Cherries by Hun What's for Dinner

2.  Dilly Casserole Bread by Cozycakes Cottage

3.  White Chai Concentrate by This and That

Two weeks ago we began sponsoring a Host Favorite post on Foodie Friends Friday Daily Dish every Monday.  Make sure to visit Daily Dish each week to see which recipes caught your hosts' attention.  In order to be selected, make sure that you have linked your recipe back to us!

Here are last week's Host Favorites:

Corn and Crab Chowder

If you have been following my posts lately, you have figured out by now that I've been featuring some Cajun recipes and Mardi Gras stories.

I have a recipe for a corn and crawfish chowder that I absolutely love.  Only two problems. . .a few of the ingredients are difficult to find in St. Louis at this time of the year, and the recipe is not very healthy.  So I decided to remake the recipe into a healthier version.

Hope you enjoy the healthy version of this as much as I did!

Ingredients:

1 - 2.8 oz package of real bacon pieces (about 40% less fat than cooking bacon)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp thyme
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 c. finely chopped cured ham
1/2 lb chopped carrots
1/2 lb peeled red potatoes cut into 1/4" diced pieces
1 lb of frozen or fresh corn
2 - 15 oz cans of creamed corn
3 cups chicken stock
1 cup fat free half and half
1 lb imitation crab flakes
1/2 cup green onions, chopped (optional)

Directions:

1.  Heat dutch oven and olive oil over medium heat.  

2.  Add onions and bell peppers and saute until tender.

3.  Add garlic and cook 1 minute.

4.  Add pepper (white, black and cayenne), bay leaves, thyme and salt.

5.  Stir in the bacon and ham and cook for 1 minute.

6.  Add the carrots, potatoes and corn kernels.  Mix well and cook for 2 - 3 minutes.

7.  Add the creamed corn and cook 1 minute.

8.  Stir in the chicken stock and bring to a slow boil.

9.  Reduce heat to medium low, cover & simmer 20 minutes or until carrots and potatoes are tender.

10.  Blend in fat free half and half and add crab flakes, breaking them up into smaller pieces with a wooden spoon.

11.  Return to a gentle simmer.

12.  Adjust seasonings and cook 5 minutes.

13.  Serve in a bowl and top with green onions, if desired.

This will have a nice peppery heat to it.  If you don't like your foods quite so spicy, just reduce the amount of white, black and cayenne pepper you use in your recipe.

Serves:  10
Weight Watchers Points Plus:  7

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History of the King Cake

The tradition of the King Cake is part of a celebration of the New Orleans' Christian faith and believed to have started somewhere around 1870.  It revolves around when the wise men brought gifts to Baby Jesus after his birth.   It was a time of celebration with lots of food and gifts and was known as the "Twelfth Night Celebration" or the "The Feast of the Epiphany".

This celebration begins about 12 days after Christmas (January 6th), which is about 47 days prior to Easter Sunday and is known as Mardi Gras.  Fat Tuesday closes the Mardi Gras celebration as it is always celebrated the day before Ash Wednesday (Lent).  

During the Mardi Gras season, a special cake is baked in honor of the three wise kings. . .which is how the King Cake gets its name.  Inside each cake is a small baby, usually made of plastic, and is suppose to represent the Baby Jesus.  Historically, the baby was sometimes made of porcelain or gold.  

The cake is typically a ring of dough in an oval shape that is decorated with green, purple and gold icing and decoration.  That would be your basic King Cake.  Many bakeries these days make much more elaborate cakes that are filled with anything from praline, cream cheese and/or fruit.  Once the cinnamon dough has been braided and baked, the plastic baby is inserted prior to the decorative icing and sugar sprinkles being applied.

Ever wonder what the Mardi Gras colors represent?  Purple represents justice, green represents faith and gold represents power.  

Each person who attends a King Cake "Party" gets a slice of the cake.  The person who receives the piece with the baby in it is suppose to be blessed with luck during the coming year and is asked to host the next year's King Cake Party and to supply the King Cake.

Don't live in the Louisiana area and still want a king cake?  No worries!  Most bakeries will ship them for you.  You can even get a King Cake themed UPS box for the shipment!  This one was iced prior to shipping, so the icing doesn't look great, but it still tastes good.  I understand they will now ship them without the icing already on it and you can apply it once you receive your package.

This is my friend, Lindsey.  She is from the New Orleans area.  Her mom, Leslie, shipped this to her while she was away at college so she could still participate in her home town tradition.  Isn't that sweet?  She even received a boa, Mardi Gras beads and mask to go with her King Cake!

Foodie Friends Friday Host Favorites #2

Once again we bring you our Host Favorites from this weeks Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party!

Take a minute to visit Foodie Friends Friday Daily Dish to see the Recipes that Caught Our Attention.  All 18 hosts have selected one recipe each as their favorite.  Each host favorite recipe will be listed on the Daily Dish post above along with a link to each recipe.  What a great way to see a collection of what we consider to be the "best of the best" recipes from this week!

My favorite this week?  Creamy Rosemary Corn from Country Pickins!  Doesn't this just look delicious?

Please take a minute to stop by Country Pickins blog to say hi. . .and let Lacy know I sent you over!

Chicken & Andouille Gumbo Recipe

Today I bring you "Cooking with a Coon-Ass. . ."

Sorry, but its a Cajun expression.  And today that's exactly what I did!  My friend, Phillip was making gumbo so I went to watch him cook and partake a few hours later when it was finished.  It was extremely tasty, but the company of Phillip and his girlfriend, Amy, was even better!

Phillip agreed to be my guest chef today.  Phillip was born in Northern Louisiana and is a true Cajun boy.  He happens to be a fine cook too!  Here is his recipe and some photos of the gumbo makin' process.  It was mighty good.  Y'all missed out, you hear dat?

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups flour
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 large onion, minced
1 large bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup celery, diced
1 bag frozen okra
3 lbs andouille sausage cut into 1/4 inch pieces
1 whole chicken, cooked and shredded
3 bay leaves
1/2 tsp. white pepper
1 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. Cajun seasoning (our pick is Slap Ya Mama)
1 tsp. salt
12 cups chicken stock
1/4 tsp. filé plus extra for each bowl
French Bread
cooked rice

Directions:

Prep:

1.  According to Phillip, the first step is to open a beer of your choice

and have a drink.

2.  In a small skillet, add a drizzle of oil and the frozen okra.  This step is necessary as okra has a tendency to have a "slimy" texture if this step is skipped.  Heat over

medium heat until okra has been thawed and heated through

(about 5 - 7 minutes).

3.  Make sure to chop/mince/shred/slice all vegetables and meat in advance. 
It is extremely helpful if you can find someone to assist you as your
sous chef while you start on the next section. 

*note:  If you are time restricted or just want a shortcut, you can always buy a rotisserie chicken if you don't want to take the time to cook your own, and you can buy the vegetables from the produce department or salad bar of your local market already chopped for you. 

The Roux:

4.  In a pre-warmed, large (at least 5 quart) dutch oven
(preferably cast iron), add the oil. 

5.  Once the oil has heated up, add the flour.

6.  Using a whisk, mix constantly over medium-low to medium temperature. 

7.  Once the roux has reach a dark color (slightly darker than milk chocolate, but not
quite as dark as dark chocolate) proceed to the next set of directions. 
Be patient as this takes some time.

This is how your roux will look when you first begin

.

After a short time your roux will begin to darken.

   

Once your roux gets to this color you are ready to continue.

*Extremely important: It is key not to walk away during this process. You must tend to this and stir constantly while making the roux as it will scorch or burn very easily.

Cooking the Gumbo:

8.  Add the prepped vegetables and spices to the roux.

9.  Add chicken stock to dutch oven.

10.  Cook over medium high heat until it starts to simmer then reduce to
medium-low to medium heat.

11.  Add meat and additional seasoning (if desired).  It may be necessary to transfer mixture to a larger stock pot at this point as this makes a fairly large recipe.

12.  Cook over medium low heat for a minimum of 1 hour.  Best if left to simmer closer to 2 hours.  The vegetables will soften and cook down during this time.

13.  Skim off any oil that has risen to the top of the gumbo and discard.

14.  Add approximately 1/4 tsp of filé and mix well.

  

15.  Serve over rice with a sprinkle of filé on top and a thick chunk of French bread on the side.  We used brown rice and it was quite delicious!  My recommendation, 5 minute rice just doesn't cut it.  Take the time and cook the traditional long cook rice.  You will be glad you did!

FYI - Filé came to us from the American Indians.  It is made from the leaves of the sassafras tree and is used to thicken and add a delicate flavor to gumbo and other Cajun dishes.

 It will help get you in the mood for gumbo if you happen to have a Saints hat and wear it while preparing this dish.  See how it helped put Phillip in the mood for Gumbo?

A special thanks to Chef Phillip and Amy for having me as a guest today and
for Phillip sharing his recipe with us!

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