Crock Pot Hawaiian Ham

So you have some leftover ham shank/butt. Let's make a meal.

Get the crock pot out and if you want, spray the inside of the crock with non-stick cooking spray as it makes clean up a bit easier. I also add about a cup and a half of water to the crock. 

Put about three pounds of leftover ham in the crock. (Scale this recipe up as needed.) Then add a 20oz can of crushed pineapple. On top of this pour a 12-16oz bottle of Hawaiian marinade.

Set crock pot on low and cook for 7 hours. We serve this over steamed/cooked rice.

Total cost for this is between five and six dollars.

Egg Drop Soup

You can substitute corn starch for potato starch and you can use black pepper instead of white pepper. It's quick, inexpensive and most kids will eat it. 

You can kick it up a notch by adding fish, shrimp or chicken.

Collard Greens

Just a quick post. If you enjoy collard greens but are stuck up north and must make do with canned collards, the above brand is acceptable........at least to me. Just drain them and heat them in a pot with at least a third of a stick of butter. They taste better than cooked spinach. You can also kick them up a bit by adding a few chopped slices of flaccid cooked bacon along with the bacon grease. Simmer for ten minutes or so on med/med. high heat.

German Meat Pies: Kraut Kuchen

This might be a bit more than a novice will want to try, but, really it's not that difficult of a recipe. Kids generally like it, even with the sauerkraut.

You need:

2 cookie pans lined with aluminium foil and sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.

1 large  deep skillet.

1 rolling pin.

One 16 ounce box of  Pillsbury Hot Roll Mix or equivalent.

About 2 1/2 pounds of ground beef. (80/20 or 73/27--the numbers indicate the percentage of meat to fat.)

One large onion. ( Peeled, cored and chopped)

One stick of melted butter and a basting brush.

One 32 ounce jar of sauerkraut. Drained

A couple of tablespoons of flour.

A good appetite.

Brown the ground beef and chopped onion in the skillet, drain most of the fat. Add the sauerkraut and stir until thoroughly warm/hot.

Follow the hot roll mix box instructions for how to make the dough. (You will not need the 13 x 9 in baking pan. Do not preheat the oven to 350 degrees yet.)

After letting the dough sit for 5 minutes, as directed. Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Then roll out the dough on a large counter top that you've lightly sprinkled some flour on and cut into about 24 squares. 

Add the ground beef, onion and kraut mix and fold the dough over until it covers the mixture. Place fold side down on the aluminium foil You want as thin a layer of dough as possible. Place about 12 pies on each cookie sheet and place in the 200 degree oven for 30 minutes.

Remove trays from oven and increase temp to 350 degrees. Baste the top of the pies with the melted butter. Once preheated, place one pan of pies on the second oven rack from the top or the center rack. Cook for another 15-18 minutes. Then remove and add the second pan.

Enjoy a savory, tangy dinner.

Pulled Pork and Balsamic/Brown Sugar Sauce Deliciousness

First things first. Get yourself a 4-5 pound pork loin which, at the time this is being written, can be had for $1.99-$2.99/lb. on sale. 

Get your large crock pot out. Unwrap the pork loin and use a steak knife or similar knife to carefully stab about 6-8 holes all the way through the pork loin. This creates a capillary action that draws the juice back up through the meat and gives it extra flavor. 

Add two ot three cups of water to the crock pot and place the perforated pork loin fat side down in the crock pot. Sprinkle a couple of tablespoons of dried sage on top of the pork and cook on low for around six hours. You can make a gravy out of the liquid in the crock pot. 

To make the brown sugar and balsamic sauce you need:

1/4 cup of your favorite balsamic vinegar.

1/4 cup of brown sugar, tightly packed.

1/2 cup of water.

2-3 tablespoons of Kikkoman soy sauce---it seems to work best for this recipe.

1 heaping tablespoon of corn starch.

Add the water and other ingredients to a saucepan. Stir. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly but lightly. If it does not thicken after a minute or two of boiling, that's OK, just remove it from the heat. Remove from heat after it thickens too.

You can make a gravy from the crock liquid and serve the pork loin with the gravy and mashed potatoes or rice. 

Save some of the pork loin to make sandwiches with. Take a bun and add pulled pork. Drizzle the brown sugar and balsamic sauce over the meat and add a good dollip of cold slaw. This makes a sandwich that is beyond delicious and is almost as addicting as good sushi.

Home Canned Salsa

What you need:

Four (4) Five gallon buckets of fresh, homegrown tomatoes. (Buckets filled to about 3 inches from the top)

Two packages of mild canning salsa mix. Available in the canning section of most large supermarkets. (You can add another package or two if you wish)

Five ounces of Chili Powder.

Three ounces of Dried Garlic Powder.

Four pounds of large White Onions.

Twenty-five Jalapeno Peppers, mostly seeded.

Quarter pound of seeded Serrano Peppers--Optional

Add more peppers, such as Habanero, if you want a hot salsa.

This yields approximately 27 quarts of salsa. You may want to split the recipe in half unless you have two large soup pots.

Smoked Sausage, Eggs and Cheese

Kids love this and it's fairly inexpensive. You need:

Two 14-16 ounce packages of smoked sausage. (Eckrich works well for this and they make a variety of flavors.) Slice the sausage.

No, I get no advertising money from Eckrich

8-10 eggs, beaten.

An 8 oz package of shredded cheddar cheese.

In a large skillet set to med./med high heat, add about two table spoons of butter. Bring to temperature and add the smoked sausage. The sausage will be cooked, so just brown it. (If you want to use fresh uncooked sausage, that's fine, just be sure to cook the sausage thoroughly.)

Then add your beaten eggs, stir until the eggs are cooked and then add the package of cheddar cheese. Serve when the cheese has melted.

This is another hearty meal, that feeds 3-4 people, which will cost around $10.00. So, at about $2.50 a serving, this is a delicious and inexpensive meal.

Bubba's Chicken Parmesan Casserole

This is a tasty meal that your kids should really love.

You'll need:

One  24-32 ounce bag of  popcorn chicken or chicken nuggets.

Four 14-16 ounce cans of diced tomatoes.

One 24 ounce jar of  spaghetti or pasta sauce.

One pound of mozzarella cheese.

Cook the bag of chicken according to the directions on the bag.

Take out a casserole dish and put the cooked chicken in it up to the point where the dish is a max of 3/4 full.

Drain/strain the cans of diced tomatoes and spread them over the top of the chicken. Then evenly pour the jar of sauce over the diced tomatoes. Add the cheese and cook on the second oven rack from the top at 325 degrees for about 30 minutes. (You can put a spill pan on the rack below the casserole if you wish.)

You can serve this with pasta if you want.

Total cost is around $12-$14. Serves 6-8 and feeds 4.

Be a hero to your kids.