New Year's Day "Lucky Lunch"

Happy 2010, ya'll!
I wanted to post what I cooked for the traditional NYDay Lunch before I forgot how I did everything! It was so much fun...Sallie and Isabelle, and Maggie, Barry and Davis came over to eat with us. I was a little concerned that I'd cooked WAAAAY too much...but either everyone was starving or everyone was being polite, because the majority of the food got eaten!
So here it goes...we had black eyed peas, collard greens, macaroni and cheese (posted previously), and pork tenderloin. Oh, and the ladies enjoyed some seriously amazing pink champagne ;)

A great thing about this meal...I did 3 of the 4 dishes in crock pots (yup, I am the proud owner of 3 crock pots..more on that later). So, I was able to get everything prepared in the morning, veg on the couch for most of the day, then once everyone got here, I quickly cooked the pork and everything was good to go!

Black Eyed Peas:
6 or so slices of bacon
1/2 a large onion, diced
3 c. water
Glory vegetable base
1 can of RoTel tomatos, drained just a bit
2 10-oz packages of fresh (local!) black eyed peas
Salt and pepper

Cut the bacon into 1-inch (or so) pieces, and brown until crispy. Drain about half of the bacon on a paper towel, and add the onion to the remaining bacon, cooking in the bacon fat (those diet resolutions shouldn't kick in until the 2nd or later!) until very translucent. Put this mixture in the crock pot, along with the water, a heaping teaspoon of the vegetable base, the tomatoes, peas, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook on high for approximately 4 hours, checking the seasoning and doneness of the peas often. Crumble the reserved bacon over top of the peas just before serving.

Collard Greens:
1 T. butter
1/2 a large onion, diced
1 pack of Turkey Jerky
6 c. hot water
1 beer
Glory vegetable base (approx. 2 T)
2 bunches of fresh (again...local!) collard greens, washed and trimmed
1/3 to 1/2 c. cider vinegar
1 T. brown sugar
2 T. soy sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

Saute the onion in the butter until translucent. Put in the crockpot along with the next 5 ingredients, and some salt/pepper to taste. Cook over high heat, stiring with tongs frequently to ensure all the collard pieces spend ample time submerged. About 1 hour before serving (once collards are very soft and yummy!), add the cider vinegar, sugar, and soy sauce, and s/p if needed. Serve with cider vinegar to be sprinkled on top if desired!

Taco Soup

I did the in the crockpot, and it was the easiest thing ever!!

1 lb of chicken (either cut boneless skinless breasts into small chunks, or I got a package of "stir fry chicken pieces" or something to that effect)
1 can of kidney beans
1 can of corn (I used a small can of shoepeg)
1 can of black beans
1 can of mild Ro*Tel tomatoes
1 small can of tomato paste
1 packet of taco powder
1 packet of ranch powder
Approx. 1 c. of water (I added some awesome Glory chicken base to it--I use this stuff all the time!!)

And it can't get any easier than this: throw everything into the crockpot (don't drain any of the cans), cook on high for 4 hours, then eat! I actually cooked some cheese tortilini and threw that in the bowls when I served this to make it a little more hardy. It really didn't need it though. It can be served with Fritos, cheese and sour cream.

2 notes:
1) If you like spicy, you could use regular Ro*Tel tomatoes, but honestly, it was plenty spicy for Wes and I with the mild ones.
2) This is a similar recipe to the Sante Fe Stew, but it's thinner (and a little bit easier b/c you don't have to cook the chicken first).

Barbeque Chicken AND Pork!!

I made WONDERFUL bbq chicken for dinner tonight (along with grilled corn and Cesar salad. Yum!), and am making bbq pork for the Wofford Homecoming tailgate this weekend...go Terriers!! So, here are these two recipes. I'll have to let you know after Saturday how the pork goes over! (And of course, the measurements aren't exact...although this time I did at least use measuring spoons/cups most of the time)

BBQ Sauce
Whisk together all of the following ingredients over medium low heat. Let simmer for approximately 45 minutes, whisking often.
2 c ketchup
1 c apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp Worcestershire
3 tbsp prepared mustard
¾ c sugar
½ tbsp garlic salt
½ tbsp black pepper
½ tbsp paprika
½ tbsp dry mustard
3 shakes cayenne pepper
2" cinnamon stick

BBQ Chicken
1 c. Zesty Italian dressing
¼ c apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp sugar
½ tbsp onion flakes
½ tbsp paprika
½ tbsp black pepper
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Combine all marinade ingredients in a Ziploc bag. Marinate the chicken for at least a few hours (we marinated it overnight). Grill the chicken, brushing with BBQ Sauce for the last 5 minutes or so. Serve with BBQ sauce if desired (but discard the sauce you used to brush the cooking chicken!!).

BBQ Pork
1 c. Zesty Italian dressing
2/3 c. prepared mustard
1/4 c. lemon juice
1/4 c. sugar
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp Liquid Smoke
2 tbsp dried minced onion
1 tbsp garlic salt
1/2 tbsp paprika
2 tbsp seasoned salt (I use Jane's Krazy Mixed-Up Salt)
1/2 tbsp dried mustard
1/2 tbsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon
5-6 lb. Boston Butt Pork

Combine all marinade ingredients, whisk together well (I used my immersion blender with the whisk attachment) so that ingredients emulsify. Place pork in a Ziploc bag, pour marinade over it. Seal, squeezing out air, and let marinate for 24 hours. We will EITHER be cooking this in the oven at very low heat overnight, or in the crock pot overnight. I'll let you know!!

Pot Roast

2 lb. pot roast
olive oil
½ c chopped onion
1 c beef broth
minced garlic
½ c red wine
Tbsp Wooster
2 tsp Italian herbs
½ to 1 tsp liquid smoke
black pepper
Brown roast in olive oil, remove roast, brown onions, add roast and everything else; simmer for 2 ½ to 4 hrs. (You can also do this in the slow cooker)
**My notes…I did this in the crock pot—low for 8 hrs. When I got home, I added a small bag of baby carrots for the last hour or two. Right before we were ready to eat, I melted a pat of butter in a small pan, added a spoonful of flour to make a roux. I whisked in all the liquid from the crock pot and slowly boiled until thickened into a gravy.
Also, this about overflowed my crock pot! You may want to cut back on the size of the roast and amount of carrots added.

Two Chicken Crock-Pot Recipes

Slow-Cooker Salsa Chicken
Chicken breasts (diced)
Jar of salsa
Can of black beans, drained
Can of corn, drained
Combine in slow-cooker, cook all day over low, and serve over rice. You can also put in other things like black olives, peppers, etc.

Slow-Cooker Italian Chicken
Chicken Breasts (diced)
Can of tomato sauce
Can of artichoke hearts, drained
Jar of roasted red peppers, drained
Italian Seasoning
Combine in slow-cooker, cook all day over low, and serve over pasta with parmesan cheese.

Yummy Chicken Recipe--from MC

We had this a couple of nights ago, and it was great! I stole it from MC, but she made it in the crock pot, and I didn't think of it until the evening I wanted to have it...so this is my version of MC's Ranch Crockpot Chicken!



3 Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 pkg. of ranch dressing mix
1 can of cream of celery soup
1/2 can (soup can) milk
1 block of low-fat cream cheese
1 box of long grain and wild rice, cooked
salt and pepper
olive oil


Salt and pepper the chicken, then cook for about 3-4 minutes per side in the olive oil in a large skillet over medium or so heat. While the chicken is cooking, combine the ranch mix, soup, and milk in a large bowl. Remove the chicken--it will not be cooked through yet!--and set aside. Reduce heat to med-low/low, and add the soup mixture to the pan, scraping up all the bits from the pan and stirring for a second. Add the chicken back to the pan, coating in the soup mixture. Cover, and cook until chicken is cooked through.

My Take on Paula Deen's Slow-Cooker Macaroni and Cheese!

This is basically Paula Deen's recipe, but I did change a few things around...

2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni (I like to use corkscrews or shells, and I use closer to 2 1/2 c.)
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, cut into pieces
3 cups grated sharp Cheddar cheese
Small container sour cream
1 (10 3/4-ounce) can condensed Cheddar cheese soup
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Boil the macaroni in a large pot in plenty of water until tender, drain. Reduce heat to low/med. low, combine all other ingredients in the pot, mix well. Add the noodles and let simmer for a while (maybe 1-2 hrs?). Even better the next day!!

We're having this tonight with grilled porkchops, spinach, and grilled corn on the cob...yippee!!