Parmesan Crusted Pork Chops (seriously melt in your mouth!)

Tonight I had intended to make this Parmesan crusted chicken I saw on pinterest, but laid when I went to open the foil pack I laid out, it was pork chops and not chicken breasts. OH WAILS!

I altered the recipe quite a bit, and they were TO DIE FOR. Hubby was literally licking his plate. My recipe below is for TWO rather thick pork chops, so double it for every 2 you add. (pretty simple really)

What you need:
pork chops (bone out)
1/4 cup mayo
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons Kickin Chicken Seasoning (or seasoning of your choice)
Bread Crumbs (Italian)

In a small bowl, mix mayo, seasoning, and parm cheese together well.
Using a butter knife, coat both sides of your pork chop with the mayo mixture.
Coat both sides of the chop in the bread crumbs.

Bake in small dish, 12-14 minutes per side until bread crumbs are browned and crunchy and the juices run clear from the chops.

You could cook these on parchment paper to avoid the bottom crumbs sticking and coming off.
Enjoy!

*sidenote, these can also be pan fried with olive oil to get a crispier crunchy coating, but we try to bake as much as possible and not fry. :)

Alterations: several other recipes call for coating the chicken/chops in ranch dressing before coating in the bread crumbs. That would be a delicious alteration I think! The other coated the meat in egg, and I dont think it would have as much flavor or be near as moist that way. :)

Meatloaf Muffins

Since starting my Freezer Cooking group on Facebook, several people have asked for my meatloaf muffin recipe. Here you go! 

You can actually use ANY meatloaf recipe. I use my mama’s. :)  The only thing for sure is you have to make sure to buy the absolute BEST hamburger. Like 90/10, extra lean. Otherwise it will NOT cook solid. And you half the time for cooking, where a whole loaf takes about an hour, the muffins only take about 25-30 mins.

I use:

1 lb hamburger

1 onion, diced finely

1 egg

¼ cup shredded cheese (cheddar)

¼ cup BBQ Sauce ( I use KC masterpiece)

¼ cup ketchup

¼ cup Heinz57

1/8 cup mustard

1/2 cup brown sugar

Rolled oats or bread crumbs for thickening (last batch took me about 6 tablespoons of bread crumbs.

 Salt and pepper to taste

Topping is a little ketchup, heinz57, dab of mustard, and dab of BBQ sauce. Mix together. 

You want it to NOT be sloppy, almost where you could roll it into balls.

I just spoon it into the muffin pan (do NOT grease it first, but I do use a non stick pan)

You can totally use muffin liners if you want, the foil kind.

Spoon it to the top of the pans. Cover with a spoon of the topping and bake at 350 for about 30 mins.

You can totally make this with any meatloaf recipe, the cheeseburger kind, BBQ kind, etc. To freeze- just bake, then let cool completely and store. reheat in the microwave when ready! 

Lasagna Roll Ups

I saw a post on Pinterest about Chicken and Cheese Roll Ups made with lasagna noodles. I'm not a big fan of chicken in pasta, so I decided to make regular lasagna in this roll up style so that its much easier to serve and pretty much an individual serving. They were super easy to make, and turned out AMAZING! There was not one bite left, and the 3 year old and 18 month old both had TWO servings!

What you need:
1 egg
1 tub of Ricotta cheese (15 oz) brand doesn't matter- I used Kroger.
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
2 cups Mozzarella cheese
1 teaspoon minced garlic (garlic seasoning would work fine)
1/4 cup chopped green onion (you can omit this if you would rather cook real onion into the meat)
1 lb hamburger
1 can spaghetti sauce (I used traditional. If you use Garlic & Herb, omit the garlic above)
1 box of Lasagna noodles
Parmesan cheese

First step- cook your noodles. I always cook pasta in my FryDaddy. Don't hate on it- it's brilliant! Built in strainer, and it boils water 10 x faster than the stove does, plus it holds a lot more. Trick to cooking lasagna noodles- slowly slide them in so that as they soften, they will curve to fit the pan. You don't want to break them, since they need to be whole to roll up. (Technically you ARE going to cut them in half later, so I guess you COULD break them in half to cook if you wanted). Cook them for about 10 minutes. You do NOT want them to be all the way done, still slightly firm.

While the noodles are boiling, brown your hamburger with some minced garlic and/or onion and Italian seasoning. Your seasoning and flavoring desires may differ from mine and also vary depending on what type of sauce you are using. Brown and drain the hamburger, then add in enough spaghetti sauce to make a very thick sauce, not too runny. Let that simmer and set aside.

In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese, mozzy cheese, green onion, egg, and some Parmesan cheese. mix this well and set aside.

When your noodles are done, carefully remove them, drain, and rinse with cold water. Let them air dry.

In a casserole pan (9x13) cover the bottom with spaghetti sauce, and sprinkle it with parmesan cheese.

 Take one noodle, lay it flat, and spread about 2-3 tablespoons of the cheese mixture on the noodle. Just enough to create a thin layer.

Make another layer with the meat and sauce mixture.

You can cut it in half to make small rolls, or leave it as one long piece to make a normal sized serving. Start at one end, and loosely roll it towards the other end. Lay it seam side down in the pan. Repeat with all of the noodles. Once the pan is full, spoon the remaining spaghetti sauce on top of the rolls, and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese, and Parmesan cheese.

This pan can be put in the fridge, covered, and kept until ready to bake OR frozen. I had almost double what I needed, so I froze the other half in a Tupperware bowl. Just thaw overnight when ready to bake.

Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes or until cheese is bubbly. Let sit for about 10 minutes before serving so that cheese can set.  Serve with garlic bread and salad.

I didn't get a picture of the finished product, because they started digging in before I even got to the table, but I did get this evidence that it was AMAZING!

Wildberry Cobbler

Many of you have asked me for this, as it has become my new favorite thing to eat this summer. I have already made it about 10 times since I first discovered it and have made it a different way almost every time!

All you need:
two bags of frozen fruit. I have used mixed berry, blackberry, raspberry, and a combination of all of them. MY favorite was one bag of wildberry with one bag of raspberries.
One white cake mix
One can of sprite or sprite zero.

All you do- pour frozen fruit in bottom of 13x9 pan. No need to grease pan first.
Sprinkle cake mix on top, covering all the fruit.
Pour sprite slowly over top of all the cake mix.
DO NOT MIX.
I take a butter knife and poke small holes througout the cake mix to let some of the sprite get down to the fruit.

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. I always broil mine a little to brown the top since I like it a little extra crunchy.
SUPER EASY and OMG good. Serve with frozen lite cool whip or vanilla ice cream.

Enjoy!

Cinnamon Donut Drops with Cream Cheese Icing

This recipe is actually supposed to be for homemade biscuits, but I have adapted it to be donut holes. You can make this same recipe using canned biscuits if you have them. :)

For homemade biscuits:
2 cups flour (sifted)
5 tablespoons butter
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk

Cinnamon
Sugar
Cream Cheese

For homemade biscuits:
Sift flour into a large bowl. Add baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar. Cut in butter 1 tablespoon at a time until mixture is like coarse sand and pebbles.
Add in milk slowly until the mixture becomes a soft dough and mixed well.
Flour a cutting board or counter and knead the dough for about 1 minute.
Roll the dough out flat about 1/2 inch thick. If you are making regular biscuits, use a biscuit cutter or a circle cookie cutter to make biscuits. For the donut holes, I rolled the dough out flat about 1/4 inch thick, and then used a pizza cutter to slice it into strips, and then into strips again the opposite way, making 1inch by 1 inch squares. Take each square, roll it into a ball.

For canned biscuits:
Remove biscuits from can and quarter each biscuit into 4 pieces. Roll the pieces into balls.

In a small bowl, combine cinnamon and sugar about half and half.
Roll each ball in the mixture until coated and place on a cookie sheet (coated with cooking spray)
Bake at 400 for about 12 minutes.
Drizzle with cream cheese icing recipe below, or dip them.

1/2 block cream cheese- softened (20 secs in microwave)
1/4 cup sugar
teaspoon cinnamon

Idiot Proof Sugar Cookies

These are by far the simplest sugar cookies I have ever made, and SO delicious!


All you need:
1 1/2 cups butter (softened but not melted)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups All Purpose Flour


In mixing bowl- cream butter and sugar. Add vanilla.
Add in baking soda and salt, and then gradually add in flour one cup at a time until mixed well. 


Take the dough and divide into two sections. Roll into two 8 inch logs and wrap and place in the fridge for 4 hours. Then you simply slice them into 1/4 inch slices and place on an ungreased baking sheet. 

If you wish to use cookie cutters, Pat out the rolls prior to putting in the fridge, and then starting at one end, roll them up into a log. Then after they get cold (about an hour), unroll the log and cut into whatever shapes you would like. 


If you do not wish to slice or cut, you can simply drop the dough by rounded spoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet without refrigeration. 


Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes or until set. Do not brown. Let cool on a wire rack or cutting board. 

These cookies need no icing, but you can use a simple confectioners sugar icing or a glaze recipe posted below if you want to ice them. 
 Enjoy!


Icing:
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup shortening
5 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
food coloring

Glaze: (which is what I prefer)
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
2 tablespoons water
10 drops food coloring

My Bestie Callie's Cheesecake Recipe

Callie sent me her family's famous cheesecake recipe, so I decided to share it with you!

Crust: (9" pan)
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup sugar

Blender:
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla

Mix for 2 minutes and then add
1 pound cream cheese (softened)
Add 2 tablespoons melted butter and 1/4 cup sugar

Pour in crust
Bake at 350 for 45 minutes and then broil the crust until lightly browned.

Enjoy!