Pineapple Ginger Pork Chops and "Buttered" Noodles

I had to use up some pork chops and this recipe sounded delicious! It was fairly quick to put together, but it does require 20 mins to simmer, I still had it on the table in 30 mins.

Pineapple Ginger Pork Chops-adapted from Taste of Home
3-4 pork chops
salt and pepper
1 tsp fresh grated ginger(or more to taste)
juice from pineapple(about 1 cup)
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 cup pineapple chunks(or the whole can)

Season pork with salt and pepper, brown in pan. Add in 3/4 cup of pineapple juice, ginger, and pineapple. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 mins until chops are cooked through.

In a small bowl combine 1/4 cup juice and cornstarch, mix throughly. Remove pork from pan and slowly add in juice mixture. Allow for pan juices to thicken. Place chops back into pan and let warm up.

**This was really good, but I used too much ginger which was fine for the pork, but it made the pineapple very gingery. So you might want to be careful with it. They were moist and delicious!

I needed a side dish and knew I still had some purees left. I haven't decided if I really LOVE Deceptively Delicious yet, but this recipe was a winner in all our our books, and no one knew what was in it!

"Buttered" Noodles-shared from Deceptively Delicious
8 oz pasta
1/2 cup summer squash puree
1/4 cup milk(which I forgot)
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp grated parm cheese(there was probably more of this)
salt and pepper to taste

Cook pasta until al dente. Drain. Toss noodles back into hot pan and add in puree, butter, cheese, salt and pepper. Stir until combined!

*It is true, the boys had no idea there was squash on this, actually K didn't either. I didn't tell them because I KNEW if I said there was squash on it they wouldn't have eaten it. K would have, A would have said gross! Although I do have him believing that zucchini is cucumbers...what he doesn't know! I think other purees would work well in this too.

Maple Apple Pork Roast

It's that time of year again in New England...Apple picking time!! We are headed out this weekend to go with some friends of ours, but I wanted to use up some apples I already had in the fridge. I saw this recipe and had to try it! It sounded perfect for a fall day! It was easy too!

Now knowing my crock pot the way I do I knew if I put in the apples at the beginning I'd get mush...so I held off a couple of hours before I added in the carrots and apples. This crock pot tends to cook my food REALLY fast even on low and the other one just got recalled, so I worked with what I had.

Maple Apple Pork Roast-shared from Finding Joy in My Kitchen
2-4 lb pork roast
1/2 cup apple juice
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 lb bag baby carrots
3-4 apples, sliced
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt

Place roast in crock pot. Mix together juice and syrup, pour over roast. Combine together spices and sprinkle over roast. Set on low for 6 hours.

*Snowhite originally put in the carrots first and then the apples, topped with the pork. I put in the pork, waited about 2-3 hours then pulled the roast out, put in the carrots and apples and put the pork back on top for the remainder of the time.

**This smelled very good while it cooked! The meat was juicy and tender and pretty flavorful. Next time I will rotate the meat half way through as the bottom half you could really taste the apple/syrup, but the top half not so much ,but it got lots of flavor from the seasoning. The apples like I suspected, turned to mush...ick. But the carrots were perfectly cooked for us, and very sweet and tasty from the juice mix. The apples could have gone to mush b/c of the kind I used, but it was all still tasty! Q loved the carrots!

4 B's Pork Chops and Au Gratin Potatoes

This is another recipe I adapted from the Fix, Freeze, Feast cookbook.

4 B's Pork Chops
3/4 cup pale ale
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp dijion mustard
1 tsp garlic, minced
1/4 tsp pepper


Place all ingredients in zip top bag and squish around to mix. Add in pork. Squeeze out air and seal. Freeze until ready to use!


**These were pretty good...but really all I could taste was the beer! 

Au Gratin Potatoes-shared from Hallee the Homemaker


I've just been waiting for a chance to try this recipe out! I love the ones that come in a box...but I really wanted to find a homemade recipe! K gets all the credit for slicing the potatoes! He did a great job!(I told him I'd give him credit!) He decided they were worth the effort...and he loves my santoku knife!


6 medium potatoes, sliced as thin as you can
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
3 green onions with tops,sliced
2 1/4 cups milk
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dry mustard
3/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2-2 cups shredded cheese


Place butter in skillet and let melt. Add in onions and cook for 5 mins or until onion is soft. Whisk in flour, salt, pepper, and mustard. Stir until smooth and bubbly. Add in milk and whisk constantly until thickened and is almost to a boil. Add in nutmeg, stir. Fold in cheese and let melt, while stirring. Mix in with potatoes. Cover tightly with foil and cook in preheated oven for 45 mins. Remove foil and cook another 15 mins until potatoes are tender.(Mine ended up cooking for about 1 1/4-1 1/2 hours, this could have been from the thickness of the potatoes, you can only get them so thin with a knife! The sauce did thicken.)

**These were mighty tasty...almost too peppery for my liking but definitely good! YUM! I was even successful in making my first cheese sauce and it didn't SEPARATE! My aunt taught me well....

Mango Peach Pork Stir Fry

This is another recipe from The Taste Of Home Recipe Collection of 2009.
This would also be great with chicken.

Mango Peach Pork Stir Fry
1/4 cup corn starch
1 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup+2 tbsp soy sauce
1 head bok choy,chopped
1 lb pork tenderloin, cut into thin strips
1-2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp minced fresh gingerroot
1/2 cup water
1/4-1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 medium mango, chopped(I used about 1 cup frozen, thawed)
1 cup chopped frozen peaches

In a small bowl combine cornstarch, soy sauce, and broth. Stir until smooth. Set aside. Stir fry pork in oil(I did not use any oil) until no longer pink. Remove and keep warm. Stir fry bok choy stems for 2 mins, add in garlic, ginger, and bok choy leaves for another 2 mins. Add in water and red pepper flakes, cook until bok choy is crisp tender. Stir the cornstarch mixture and add to the pan. Bring to a boil, cook and stir for 2 mins until sauce is thickened. Add in mango, pork, and peaches, stir and heat through. Serve over rice.

**This sauce is the doubled version. I like a lot of sauce especially over rice! This was very good, although I felt something was missing. K thought it was great just the way it was!

Baked BBQ Ribs

We haven't had ribs in a while so the last time I went to the meat store I picked some up. I finally decided to cook them, but didn't want to use my slow cooker like I usually do. While I like the slow cooker and they come out fabulous this way, I wanted to try something new. Kim at Mac's Kitchen Adventure shared her version, but I also used this recipe from For the Love of Cooking. I did use a homemade bbq sauce that I found on another blog and I will share that...eventually.

Baked Ribs-adapted from Kim and Pam
Ribs(I can't remember how many lbs I had maybe 2-3 lbs)
1 bottle of beer
1/2-1 cup water
bbq sauce
bbq rub


Rub down ribs at least the night before with bbq rub(I used the pampered Chef version). Line bottom broiler pan(or roasting pan) with foil. Place grate over it. Lay ribs on top and top with bbq sauce. They were not completely covered, but I knew as the sauce heated up it would melt down. Pour beer and  into the bottom of the pan. Cover tightly with foil. Place in preheated  250 oven and cook for 3 hrs. Take ribs out, baste with sauce, check to make sure there is enough liquid in the bottom of pan, and place back in the oven for 2 hrs or until done.

These were served with sweet potato fries and cucumbers. K really liked them, I personally think I like them made in the crock pot better.

**sorry no picture, I completely forgot to take one!

Garlic Ginger Glazed Pork

I had recently bought some fresh ginger root for another recipe and forgot I had some pork chops in the freezer, so when I found this recipe I knew it would be perfect! K gave it a 10, must have been pretty good!

Garlic Ginger Glaze-shared from For the Love of Cooking

1 tsp cornstarch
2 tbsp soy sauce
1-2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup honey
1/2 tsp fresh ginger root, grated
1/2 tsp water
sliced green onion, for garnish
4-6 pork chops

Mix cornstarch and soy sauce until smooth, pour into sauce pan. Add in garlic, ginger, water, and honey. Whisk together. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce heat and let thicken.

Season pork with salt and pepper. Place in hot pan until browned about 5 mins, flip and cook another 5-8 mins until cooked through. Once pork has been flipped brush with glaze, flip and brush the other side with glaze. We served this with mashed potatoes and broccoli,cauliflower,carrot mix with cheese sauce.

**This would also work great on chicken or beef.

Kitchen Tip: not sure what to do with the entire ginger root? as most recipes do not require much it can be easily stored! Peel ginger root using the edge of a spoon. Wrap root up wax paper or any freezer safe material. Place in zip top bag and place in freezer. Now when you need only a little, take frozen ginger out and grate what you need and pop it back in the bag.