Gumbo Pork Chops

This recipes makes the most tender pork chops. They fall apart like shredded chicken. The recipe itself is not super spicy, even my daughter will eat the chops.

I normally buy progresso chicken gumbo, but the campbell's one is milk free.

Serves 4

4 pork chops (I prefer boneless)
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoons dry mustard
2 tablespoons oil, for browning
2 (15 ounce) cans chicken gumbo soup
steamed rice/mashed potatoes, if desired

In a shallow dish, combine flour, salt, garlic powder and mustard; dredge chops to coat.
In a skillet, heat oil and brown chops; place chops in a crock pot and pour skillet drippings over chops.
In the same skillet, add the soup and stir to loosen brown bits from the pan; pour this over the chops.
Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Serve over or with steamed rice or mashed potatoes, if desired.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Yum....mexican! This is a recipe you should not pass up. It was good, but not to spicy. Even Isabel (2 years) ate some. I just bought the pre-fried tortilla strips. You can also top the soup with some avocado, for some creamy goodness!

Serves 8

1 pound shredded, cooked chicken (ok, so I forgot to pull the chicken again. 2 frozen breast went into the crockpot)
1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (10 ounce) can green enchilada sauce
1 medium onion, chopped
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup water
1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 (10 ounce) package frozen corn
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
7 corn tortillas (optional)
vegetable oil (optional)

Place chicken, tomatoes, enchilada sauce, onion, green chiles, and garlic into a slow cooker. Pour in water and chicken broth, and season with cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper. Stir in corn and cilantro. Cover, and cook on Low setting for 6 to 8 hours or on High setting for 3 to 4 hours.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Lightly brush both sides of tortillas with oil. Cut tortillas into strips, then spread on a baking sheet.
Bake in preheated oven until crisp, about 10 to 15 minutes. To serve, sprinkle tortilla strips over soup.

Note- if chicken is frozen, pull out chicken about 1/2 hour before serving & shred it. Place chicken back into pot until ready to serve.

Bacon Chicken Pot Pie

Pot pies & bacon??? Sounds yummy to me & it was. Of course I did not follow all the directions, so make sure you do or else you will have gummy biscuits too! Doing the lactose free? Some store brand buttermilk biscuits have no dairy.

Serves 4-6

1 can (10.2 oz) Pillsbury® Grands!® Flaky Layers original refrigerated biscuits
1 can campbells turkey gravy
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 cups cubed cooked chicken
1 bag (12 oz) Green Giant® Valley Fresh Steamers™ frozen mixed vegetables
1 cup refrigerated cooked diced potatoes with onions (from 20-oz bag)
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (2 oz)
5 slices bacon, crisply cooked, crumbled


Heat oven to 350°F. Spray baking dish (I used a 8 X 10)
Separate dough into 5 biscuit. Set aside. In 3-quart saucepan, stir gravy and cornstarch with wire whisk. Stir in milk, thyme, pepper, chicken, vegetables and potatoes. Heat to boiling over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. Immediately pour hot chicken mixture into dish; top with biscuits.
Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown. Carefully remove from oven. Sprinkle cheese evenly over tops of biscuits. Bake about 4 minutes longer or until cheese is melted. Sprinkle with bacon.

The chicken mixture must be piping-hot when spooned into the ramekins in order to bake the biscuits properly. (Yes it is, I did not do this step & the center biscuit was gummy).

Spiced Beef and Apple Ragout

This as something a little different, so I thought I would give it a shot. It was pretty good. I would just make a few changes next time, as it was a little sweet for my taste.

Serves 6-8

1 1/2 pounds lean beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch cubes
3 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon oil
1 can (14 1/2 ounces) beef broth
1 can (6 ounces) thawed frozen apple juice concentrate, undiluted
2 firm red cooking apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks (I would use green)
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
2 teaspoons Thyme Leaves
1 1/2 teaspoons Cinnamon, Ground (I would probably only use 1 teaspoon)
1/2 teaspoon Black Pepper, Coarse Ground
1/2 teaspoon Ginger, Ground
1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt

Coat meat with flour. Heat oil in large skillet on medium-high heat. Add 1/2 of the meat; cook 5 minutes or until browned. Repeat with remaining meat.
Place meat and remaining ingredients in slow cooker. Toss to coat well. Cover.
Cook 8 hours on LOW or 4 hours on HIGH. Thicken with additional flour, if desired.

A note about lactose

I am not going to claim that I am an expert on lactose, because I am NOT! I have only had to deal with lactose intolerance with my children. So, with that being said, if I post something that you believe to be wrong, PLEASE let me know.

Little/Low lactose foods

Cheese's As long as it is a hard cheese you should be fine. The important thing is to look for "0 grams of sugar" on the label examples: Mozzarella, Cheddar,Swiss, Parmesan

Cottage cheese, 1/2 cup
Yogurt, with active and live cultures, plain, low-fat, vitamin D-fortified, 1 cup

Chicken and Bacon Roulades

I don't say this about many meals. But, this was fantastic! Even the sauce was great. This is going to be a keeper in my book. Easy & simple, great meal to make if you are gong to try to impress someone. I changed 2 things in this recipe. I used onion instead of shallots & just used pepper (we don't like lemon pepper). The only thing I might do different next time is that instead of pounding out the chicken, I might just make a slit in the breast & stuff the ingredients inside.

Serves 4

Ingredients

4 shallots, thinly sliced (I used 1 small onion)
10 bacon slices (about 1/2 pound)
4 skinless boneless chicken breast halves (about 1 1/2 pounds total)
Lemon pepper seasoning to taste (or ground black pepper with a little lemon zest)
6 Tbsp grated Parmesan (about 1 ounce)
1 Tbps olive oil
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/3 cup dry white wine
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 1/2 Tbsp flour
1 1/4 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup heavy cream

Working in batches, cook the bacon over medium heat in an ovenproof heavy skillet, until lightly brown but still flexible (not crisp). Place the bacon on paper towels to drain. Cook the shallots/onions in the remaining bacon fat over low heat, stirring, until softened. Transfer shallots/onions with a slotted spoon to a small bowl and leave any fat remaining in skillet. Preheat oven to 300°F.



Place each chicken breast half between 2 sheets of plastic wrap. With smooth side of a meat pounder pound each breast to 1/8-inch thickness. Discard plastic from boned side of each breast. Sprinkle chicken with lemon pepper (or ground black pepper and a little lemon zest) and salt. Place 2 1/2 slices of bacon lengthwise (parallel with grain of flesh) along middle of each breast. Top with shallots and Parmesan. Using plastic wrap to help you, tightly roll up each breast lengthwise, tucking in the ends to enclose the filling. Secure seams with wooden toothpicks.




Add 1 Tbsp olive oil to reserved fat in skillet and heat over medium high heat. Brown roulades on all sides, about 5 minutes total. Transfer the skillet to middle of oven and bake roulades until just cooked through, 20 to 25 minutes. (Note: we found that our skillet didn't fit in our oven, so we transfered the roulades to a smaller pan.)

Transfer chicken to a plate with tongs and keep warm, covered with aluminum foil. Pour off fat from skillet. (Careful! The handle is hot, use an oven mitt.) Add wine to the skillet and deglaze over medium high heat, scraping up brown bits. Boil wine until reduced to about 1 tablespoon. Add garlic and butter. Cook mixture over medium low heat, stirring, for 1 minute. Add flour and cook roux, stirring, 1 minute. Add broth and cream and bring to a boil, whisking. Simmer the sauce, whisking, 2 minutes. Pour through a fine mesh sieve into a small saucepan. Keep sauce warm. Remove the wooden toothpicks from roulades and cut crosswise into 1/2-inch slices. Spoon some sauce in center of each of 4 plates and arrange roulade slices decoratively on sauce.

French Onion Chicken Pot Pie

This recipe sounded to good not to try. It was pretty good. I think it tasted even better the second day. Don't want to make the pot pie version, just make the soup. It is super yummy with or without the chicken. I did not have the ramekins, so I just used my skillet & made it a one pot meal.

Servings 4-6

INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup butter or margarine
2 1/2 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (I used breasts)
2 large onions, halved, then thinly sliced (about 1 1/2 cups)
2 cups give or take wine (I like to use white)
2 cups chicken broth
4 cups beef broth
1 can (16.3 oz) Pillsbury® Grands!® Flaky Layers refrigerated original biscuits (8 biscuits)
6oz Gruyère/swiss cheese, shredded (1 1/2 cups)

DIRECTIONS

Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 8 (10-oz) ramekins or custard cups with cooking spray. Place ramekins on large cookie sheet with sides. In 12-inch nonstick skillet, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter over medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until no longer pink in center. Remove chicken from skillet; discard chicken juices.
Melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter in skillet. Add onions; cook about 20-30 minutes or until golden brown. Pour wine over onions (just enough to cover)& simmer until the wine has reduced by 3/4. Add booth broths.
For the ramekins- Spoon chicken into ramekins (about 1/2 cup each. Spoon onion mixture over chicken (about 2/3 cup each). Sprinkle with pepper. Separate dough into 8 biscuits. Place 1 biscuit in each ramekin.
For Skillet method- Place chicken into skillet with the onion mixture. Stir. Place biscuits on top.
Bake about 20 minutes or until biscuits are golden. Carefully remove from oven. Sprinkle 3 tablespoons cheese over each biscuit. Bake 4 to 5 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.