Misadventures with Tori

This was one of those nights where I couldnt figure out what to make… and I found these easy recipes… They were amazing! I highly recommend trying them! (DH hates carrots and loved these!) 

These lovely chops came from Elizabeth’s Edible Experience… She added apple too… but we had apple last night, so I skipped it. VERY good…

Maple Porkchops and Apples

Ingredients

in all of its pathetic glory….my lasagna.

(this is the second one I’ve made EVER and it was not as layered as I would have liked. My Pyrex dish was just too shallow. there was also a layer of meat sauce UNDER it…) 

I got this recipe from AllRecipes.com…. and slightly modified is simply amazing. I’m really picky about my sauce, and this blew me away

I stole a stock picture…. DH’s is still to warm to take a good picture. (and I dont want to cut a piece out and waste it… I wont eat it.) 

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pound sweet Italian sausage
• 3/4 pound lean ground beef (I did a pound, its what I had.)
• 1/2 cup minced onion
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes (I couldnt find them, so I used finely diced and it was nice- left a bit of tomato in there.)
• 2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
• 2 (6.5 ounce) cans canned tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (I used dried)
• 1 tablespoon oregano (tori addition)
• 12 lasagna noodles
• 16 ounces ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 pound mozzarella cheese, sliced (I used shredded)
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese 

DIRECTIONS

1. In a Dutch oven, cook sausage, ground beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat until well browned. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water. Season with sugar, oregano, basil, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, 1 tablespoon salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons parsley. Simmer, covered, for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally. (Ours sat about an hour. Make sure to stir every few minutes to prevent burning!)
2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook lasagna noodles in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes. Drain noodles, and rinse with cold water. In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese with egg, remaining parsley, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. (I added 1/2 of my parmesan cheese in here too….)
3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
4. To assemble, spread 1 1/2 cups of meat sauce in the bottom of a 9×13 inch baking dish. Arrange 6 noodles lengthwise over meat sauce. Spread with one half of the ricotta cheese mixture. Top with a third of mozzarella cheese slices. Spoon 1 1/2 cups meat sauce over mozzarella, and sprinkle with 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Repeat layers, and top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Cover with foil: to prevent sticking, either spray foil with cooking spray, or make sure the foil does not touch the cheese.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil, and bake an additional 25 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before serving. (We were impatient- we only baked it for 30 minutes total.. oops :))

Found this super easy recipe on AllRecipes.com - we LOVED it! (and best of all, almost no clean up!) 

INGREDIENTS
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup cinnamon applesauce
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 pounds boneless pork loin roast (we did two tenderloins- would be enough for 4.)

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
Lightly flour an oven bag.
In a small bowl, blend brown sugar, applesauce, and ginger.
Place pork roast in the prepared oven bag.
Pour the brown sugar mixture over the roast.
Seal bag, and cut several small slits in the top.
Cook the roast 1 hour in the preheated oven, or until the internal temperature has reached 160 degrees F (70 degrees C).

I made these on Sunday night…. before my poor laptop died They were fantastic! Its from allrecipes.com.

INGREDIENTS
4 (3/4 inch) thick pork chops (we used 2 1″ thick butterflied chops.)
1 teaspoon vegetable oil (I skipped and used pam)
2 tablespoons brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tart apples - peeled, cored and sliced
3 tablespoons pecans (optional)

NOTE: I doubled everything in bold to make more sauce as recommended by one of the reviewers. I recommend doing this!!

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 175 degrees F (80 degrees C).
Place a medium dish in the oven to warm.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat.
Brush chops lightly with oil and place in hot pan.
Cook for 5 to 6 minutes, turning occasionally, or until done.
Transfer to the warm dish, and keep warm in the preheated oven.
OR grill them. I did this, and it took about 10-15 minutes.
I cooked my sauce while they were cooking and the timing worked well!

In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, salt and pepper, cinnamon and nutmeg.
Add butter to skillet, and stir in brown sugar mixture and apples.
Cover and cook until apples are just tender.
Remove apples with a slotted spoon and arrange on top of chops.
Continue cooking sauce uncovered in skillet, until thickened slightly.
(You might want a bit of cornstarch to thicken the sauce.
Ours got a bit runny after it had cooled.)
Spoon sauce over apples and chops.
Sprinkle with pecans if desired.

Stuffed Pork Tenderloin - courtesy of AllRecipes.com

One of the reviews used boxed stuffing, so that’s what I did! 

INGREDIENTS
1 box Stove Top stuffing for Pork
4 celery ribs, chopped (I used two)
1/2 apple, diced
or
4 celery ribs, chopped
1/2 apple, diced
1 small onion, chopped
2 tablespoons butter
6 cups cubed day-old bread
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 (1 pound) pork tenderloins (mine was 1.3 lbs, so I cut it in half)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

DIRECTIONS
In a small skillet, saute celery and onion in butter until tender.
In a bowl, combine the bread cubes, celery mixture, apple, salt and pepper; set aside.
If you’re using boxed stuffing, prepare according to box and let sit.
While its resting, cut the apple and celery.
IF you dont care for crunchy celery, saute it a bit.
Mix everything together.
Cut a lengthwise slit down the center of each tenderloin to within 1/2 in. of bottom.
Open tenderloins so they lie flat; cover with plastic wrap.
Flatten to 1/2-in. thickness.
In a large skillet, brown pork in oil on both sides over medium-high heat.
Spoon stuffing onto one tenderloin.
(If you use box stuffing, you’ll have a bit less than 1/2 left. We heated it back up and ate it as a side.)
Top with the second tenderloin; tie with kitchen string. (I didnt have any and it sucked! I had to use toothpicks… not as pretty… and it was hard to get apart.) 
Place on a rack in a shallow roasting pan (or Pyrex).
Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for 50-60 minutes or until a meat thermometer inserted into meat reads 160 degrees F.
Let stand for 5 minutes before slicing.

This is great… if you eat it all together. The pork on its own is a bit bland. I’d recommend a mild marinade for the pork before cooking.

Pork pre-slicing - it looks RED! I thought I’d seriously botched something up.

This is from the amazing Venice (aka Karen from LovestoEat weblog)

Ingredients:

One 12 ounce A&W Rootbeer (I used 2-3 so that the meat was covered.)
8 Center-cut boneless thick Pork Chops (we used 4 butterflied porkchops- it was more than enough food for the two of us.)
OR
2 XL chicken breasts (adjust amounts as needed, this was about the same amount weight wise.) 
One bottle of Open Pit BBQ Sauce (we used the Bull’s Eye Sweet Homestyle Blend- it was fantastic!)

Directions:

Throw pork chops (or chicken) and root beer in slow cooker. Set on low, 8 hours.
About 1.5 hours before it is done, drain the meat and shred. Add the entire bottle of BBQ sauce. Cook the rest of the time. (the pork will fall apart easily, the chicken not as much. It is still nice and cooked though.)
Serve with thick buns and chips! (we did fries or baked beans! mmm)