I actually love Pioneer Women, I know some have a strong dislike others love her. I love her recipes and her personality… I don’t love her blog because of all the pictures. It just slows down my reader too much to scroll through that many pictures. But I do DVR her show. And this was recently on. It sounded good but a little spicy for us. So I adapted it to fit out tastes. It was PERFECT. We only ate about half the roast this way, the other half I’ll be using to make pork quesadillas.

This is NOT spicy at all, we don’t like spicy so I paired it down a ton, it did have a little bit here and there, but nothing I would describe as spicy.

Every time I meal plan I ask Adam what he is hungry for. The past few weeks he has requested stuffed pork chops… where he got this from I am not sure. I have never made them, and don’t really love stuffing so didn’t want that. Then my Dad showed me a book he got from Costco and this recipe jumped out to be. How could a pork chops stuffed with bacon, spinach and Gouda not be AMAZING?!

Well it was, these were GREAT!!!! We adapted the recipe a bit, and next time would marinate the pork chops before hand, so I changed that in the recipe below. But these were great. Every bit you could taste a hint of orange, spinach, bacon and Gouda. And man do I love smoked Gouda!

Stuffed Pork Chops with Bacon (From: Aaron McCargo, JR. as seen in A Decade of Cooking The Costco Way)

• 1 cup orange marmalade
• 1/4 cup chopped scallions
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 9 oz fresh baby spinach
• 6 slices hickory smoked bacon, cooked and coarsely chopped (about 1/2 cup)
• 6 oz smoked Gouda, cut into small cubes
• 4 large pork chops, boneless
• Salt and Pepper
• 2 T. canola oil

Preheat oven to 350, and prepare pan with Pam.

In small bowl, stir together marmalade, scallions, soy sauce and olive oil. Set half aside for serving with pork chops. Other half will be used for marinade.

Place a long slit in each pork chop, leaving little on each side unslited to keep stuff in. Place in marmalade and marinate, overnight or the day.

Steam the spinach until wilted. Transfer the spinach to a large bowl and add the bacon, and cheese.

Stuff each chop with spinach filling. Secure with tooth picks and season with salt and pepper. Place in prepared pan, cover with foil.

Bake for 45-60 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 145. Brush with more marinade the last 5-10 minutes of cooking. Service with marinade for dipping.

When I received my food network magazine this month I saw the always raved about Ikea Swedish meatballs, copy cat recipe. I can honestly say I never tried their meatballs. I guess I go there to shop not to eat, but people always rave about them. And I know someone who goes there just to buy them frozen for their family. So I knew I had to make it.

These were delicious. I ended up baking 1/2 the batch and froze the other half unbaked. Then I will have a quick meal, thaw and bake. Make some gravy and good to go. If you love Ikea meatballs, try these and tell me how they compare.

Almost Famous Swedish Meatballs (From: Food Network)

• 1 cup breadcrumbs
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/3 cup minced white onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• Salt and white pepper
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 pound ground pork
• 1 large egg plus 1 egg white, beaten

For the gravy:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 1/2 cups beef broth
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Put the breadcrumbs in a large bowl. Heat the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, allspice, 2 teaspoons salt and 1/4 teaspoon white pepper and cook, stirring, until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the milk and worcestershire sauce and bring to a simmer. Pour the milk mixture over the breadcrumbs and stir to make a thick paste; let cool. Add the beef, pork, egg and egg white to the bowl and mix until combined.

Spray a baking sheet with Pam. Roll the meat into 1-inch balls and arrange on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake the meatballs until cooked through, about 20 minutes.

Make the gravy: Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the flour and cook, whisking, until smooth. Whisk in the beef broth and Worcestershire sauce and bring to a simmer. Add the cream and meatballs. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer until the gravy thickens, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and black pepper.

My favorite fall veggie is squash, but Adam doesn’t like it. It’s too much for one person to eat a whole squash and it’s not a leftover I enjoy. So I am always on the lookout for new squash recipe to try in hopes that he will like it. Well I finally found one and he ate his whole half!! If that wasn’t a proud wife moment I don’t know what is.

I prefer my squash more sweet then savory as the original recipe intended so I adapted a bit for our tastes. But I can and will make this again especially since he will eat it!

Twice-Baked Squash (Adapted From: Martha Stewart)

Heat oven to 450 degrees with the rack in center. Halve squash lengthwise, and remove seeds and fibers. Sprinkle squash halves with salt and  pepper. Fill a roasting pan with 1/4 inch water. Place squash in pan. Cover with aluminum foil, and bake until squash is tender when pierced with the tip of a knife, 35 to 45 minutes. Remove from oven, transfer squash to a cool surface, and let cool enough to handle. Reduce oven temperature to 425 degrees.

Use a spoon to scoop baked flesh out of each half into a large bowl, leaving a 1/4-inch border so they will keep their shape. To the bowl, add sour cream, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and brown sugar. Mix with a handheld electric mixer or potato masher until smooth and well combined. Fill squash halves with mixture. Sprinkle tops with toasted breadcrumbs. Bake until golden brown and warm throughout, 20 to 30 minutes. Serve.

I served the squash with Spicy Honey Pork chops, subbing pork instead of chicken in this recipe.

Adam has a lot of family in IA. We go down at least yearly sometimes more. But we have never been tourists. We go to the family events, sometimes the fair and have hit a mall or two up. But that’s about it. Back in May we made a trip down there for a baby shower and made a long weekend out of it. We went to the children’s museum and then had lunch at the Hassen Haus, we shared this amazing sandwich and were both disappointed we decided to share as it was delicious!!!

After leaving the restaurant and driving back to the hotel we got to talking about how we could make it, I made it happen shortly after, but they were so good we ate them all before I could take a picture and share. But this time I made sure because these are just as good. If you love pork and sour cream you will LOVE this!

Pork Sandwiches with Sour Cream Sauce (Inspired From: Hassen Haus)

• Hoagie rolls
• slices of swiss cheese (I used provolone for picking DH but originally served with swiss)
• 1 pork tenderloin
• salt & pepper
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 pkg. mushrooms, sliced
• 1 T. butter

Preheat oven to 400.

Chop pork tenderloin into chunks, place on cooking sheet toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Bake until cooked through roughly 30-45 minutes.

Place pork in bowl and toss with tin foil to keep warm.

Place butter in saute pan, once melted add mushrooms and onions. Cook until soft.

Place 1/2 cup water on the baking sheet and scrap bits and piece off of the pan. Pour into pot mix in sour cream.

Bring to a bowl and simmer until cooked down to desired thickness.

Add pork with mushrooms and onions. Place on hoagie roll, top with sauce and then place slice of cheese on top.

ENJOY!

If you were to ask me my favorite meat… And made me pick I would choose pork chops. I love pork chops. A nice juicy pork chop there is nothing better. I have been adding them to our menu at least every other week, never really knowing what I want to do with them. I saw this recipe on a blog and knew it was the next thing I needed to do with them.

I didn’t love the breading on these. It was a little too thick. I think I would dip in bread crumbs but didn’t personally feel it needed to egg and flour too. But delicious.

Baked Pork Chops (Adapted From: Erin’s Eats, Originally From: Allrecipes)

• 2 bone in pork chops
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon seasoning salt
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 cups Italian-style seasoned bread crumbs
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/3 cup white wine (I used sherry as it was all I had)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Rinse pork chops, pat dry, and season with garlic powder and seasoning salt to taste. Place the beaten eggs in a small bowl. Dredge the pork chops lightly in flour, dip in the egg, and coat liberally with bread crumbs.

Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Fry the pork chops 5 minutes per side, or until the breading appears well browned. Transfer the chops to a 9×13 inch baking dish, and cover with foil.

Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes. While baking, combine the cream of mushroom soup, milk and white wine in a medium bowl. After the pork chops have baked for 45 minutes cover them with the soup mixture. Replace foil, and bake for another 30 minutes.

You might have noticed lately I have had an obsession with pesto. I cannot wait to go to the farmers market and get some basil and make my own, until then the store bought is working fine for me. I got my Food Network magazine a last month and there was 50 things to do with pesto… they must of read my mind. The first thing of many that jumped out at me was pesto meatballs. Adam took care and made these. We don’t like ground turkey so we used beef and pork. And doubled the recipe (as shown below) freezing half for a quick meal later on.

We just served over spaghetti and a simple marinara. The meatballs had GREAT flavor. We actually didn’t like them with the marinara as it took away from the flavor. Next time I think we will do a simple pesto cream sauce with them. Adam said these didn’t stay together very well, I am not sure if it’s the kind of meat we used or if the amount of milk. We would maybe do 1/2 the milk next time. But great flavor!

Pesto Meatballs (Adapted From: Food Network Magazine)

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 pound ground pork
• 1 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 cup pesto
• 1/2 cup each milk
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Form into small balls. Cook in a nonstick skillet with olive oil, 10 to 12 minutes.

Some turn up their nose at Cream of whatever soups… but I don’t mind them. They remind me a lot of my childhood and growing up. On a message board I am on every night we post what we are having for dinner. One night Madelyn mentioned this. I asked for the recipe as the title sounded good. She gave me the recipe which came from her husbands Grandma.

All day I was thinking of this and it did not disappoint. It’s kind of kind delicious pork chops mixed with my favorite cheesecake hashbrowns. I always have loved the fried onions and really like the extra kick it gave to this recipe. This will become a recurring recipe in our house.

Hashbrown & Pork Chop Bake (From: Madelyn)

• 6 slices pork tenderloin (1 1/2-2 inches thick)
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 24oz package frozen hashbrowns, thawed
• 1 cup shredded cheddar
• 1 large can dried onion pieces

Brown and cook pork in skillet. Combine soup, milk, sour cream. Stir in hashbrowns, half of the cheese and half of the onion pieces. Spoon mixture into prepared 9×13 baking dish. Arrange pork over potato mixture. Bake, covered, at 350 for 40 minutes. Top with remaining onion pieces and cheese. Bake, uncovered, 5 minutes.

We use to eat pork loin all the time, but got kind of burnt out on it. When I saw my friend Michelle on facebook make one I asked for her recipe which she shared.

We loved this, it had GREAT flavor, the soup mix really gives it the onion flavor. Served with roasted potatoes and a veggie you got a simple easy meal.

Onion Pork Loin (From: Michelle)

• 3lb pork loin
• 1 pkg lipton onion soup mix
• 1 cup water
• 3/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 medium onion
• soy sauce

Pour package of soup mix on bottom of slow cooker. Cut onion into slices and place on top of mix. Place pork loin on top.

Pour water, and red wine vinegar. Shake about 10 shakes of soy sauce on top.

Cook for 6 hours on High or 8-9 on Low.