one pan pork chops

Pork chops happen in our house very often. We love them, there are so many different ways to prepare them and bonus points for the fact that they are frequently on sale! I like them in the crock pot, grilled, or baked.  

A few months ago I was craving some pork and came up with this fabulous recipe. It is so easy and features Panko bread crumbs, which in themselves are a small slice of heaven. These are one pan pork chops, featuring a cast iron pan. I love cooking with my cast iron, it makes food taste great and for foods that need some time on the stove and in the stove, it makes the process simple. We typically will serve these chops with a side of broccoli and sweet potatoes. 

Ingredients:

4 pork chops

1 egg

2 cups panko bread crumbs

1/2 cup whole what flour 

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

EVOO

Salt and pepper 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place pork chops in saran wrap and lightly flatten.

Heat cast iron, add in EVOO to coat pan.

Lay out two shallow bowls. In one mix egg well and in second mix bread crumbs, flour, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. 

Dip pork chop into the egg mixture and coat well. Then transfer pork into the bread crumb mixture and coat well with bread crumb mixture. Please directly into heated cast iron. 

Continue with the rest of the pork chops.

Brown well on both sides. Typically, 2-3 minutes on each side.

Place in heated oven for roughly 15 min, until pork is cooked through. 

Let rest for 5 minutes, serve and enjoy!!

You will devour these pork chops, I am sure of it. They are perfect for a simple dinner at home but can also be used to entertain. My guy is a huge fan of this meal, as you can clearly see by his happy "cheeeese" face!

Happy cooking, 

Meredith

#freezerlovefriday easy lasagna

I am by no means an Italian, but I did grow up with a mother who can make an amazing lasagna! It is epic. We once missed our flight because we knew my mom had a lasagna cooking in the oven, OK there may be more to this story, but you get my point! It is good! 

When I started #freezerlovefriday I knew I would do a post with lasagna. It is the perfect meal to freeze and there is always a night where we are craving lasagna. When I made these, I was making a batch to take to our friends who had just welcomed a baby girl. I ended up having two to freeze, along with one for us to eat that night, it turned out perfectly. 

This lasagna is not the typical thick lasagna, it is perfect for 3 people, possibly 4, if you have two little ones. If you want bigger or thicker lasagna than only do two pans and double the layering. 

Don't mind the missing piece, my taste tester was EXTRA hungry this night!

Ingredients:

1 pound beef

1 pound turkey 

1 cup cut squash 

1/4 cup onion

2 jars of marinara 

2 8oz can of tomato sauce

1 t salt

1/4 t onion powder

1/2 t garlic powder

1/2 TBL Italian seasoning 

2 boxes of no cook lasagna noodles 

15 oz ricotta cheese

1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

1TB parsley flakes 

32 oz bag of mozzarella cheese

EVOO

Directions:

Brown meat in skillet

Cook vegetables in EVOO along with salt, onion/ garlic powder and Italian seasoning. 

Combine all together including marinara sauce and tomato sauce. Simmer for 10 minutes and let cool.

Combine ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese and parsley flakes. 

 My noodles were not the right size do the 8in foil pan, so I ended up having to break some off. Make sure to measure and try yours before you start loading them up! 

Spray bottom of pan lightly with Pam. 

Order:
Light layer of sauce

Noddles

Sauce 

Ricotta mixture

Cover with mozzarella cheese

Noodles

Sauce 

Mozzarella cheese 

Spray a piece of foil with Pam (so cheese does not stick to foil) and cover dish.

Bake covered with foil for 45 minutes.

Uncover and cook for 15 minutes more.

Enjoy! 

Freezing directions:

Spray foil with Pam spray

Cover dish 

Cover with Saran Wrap completely

Place directions on top and place in large ziplock bag. 

Cool completely and freeze for up to 2 months. 

If cooking when lasagna is frozen, it will require up to 2 hours at 350 degrees. I typically will take mine out of the freezer 48 hours in advance and place in  refrigerator. It is not necessary to unfreeze, just easier on your oven! 

The bottom left was the freezer version and I was giving the other three away, so placed foil (ready to bake) with the plastic lid that pan comes with!

I could not even get him to look up! He was so hungry, and he always loves his peas! 

I hope you enjoy these as much as we did! 

Happy freezing,

Meredith 

#freezerlovefriday filled with color!

Today's #freezerlovefriday is one of my absolute favorite meals! We have been making it long before Luke came into our lives, and he has learned to love it just as much as we do. We call it the colorful potato mashup! 

It is filled with color and so easy to throw together. Typically I will make a double batch, marinate and freeze one bag for the future. It is perfect because our local grocery store will often do a sale on the turkey kielbasa, so I stock up and make a few batches of the mashup.  The following recipe is for ONE meal, so make sure you double it if you want to freeze some. 

Ingredients

Turkey Kielbasa 

Bag of mini peppers

3-4 potatoes (red or white)

EVOO

Cajun Seasoning 

Salt

Toppings

Banana Peppers

Avocado 

Parmesan Cheese 

Directions

Cut up the kielbasa, potato, and peppers. Throw into a freezer Ziploc bag, add in EVOO, Cajun seasoning and salt. Mix that well and let marinate for a hour in the fridge. 

If freezing, lay flat and place in freezer. 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Prepare your cookie sheet, lining  it with parchment paper or foil for easy cleanup. 

Spoon out the mixture, careful not to add too much of the marinade into the pan. Top with banana peppers. 

Cook for 30 minutes. 

Serve with a side of avocado and top with parmesan cheese! 

This is always a go to meal for me on days where we have a busy evening, or days where I would rather hang with the family than be in the kitchen all night! It freezes well, and makes for a super simple evening. 

We hope you enjoy the colorful potato mashup, as much as Luke does!

Happy freezing, 

Meredith 

the beginning of #freezerlovefriday

I love freezer meals. They are such a staple in my house! They are perfect for nights where you don't have time to whip up a five course meal, or nights where you leave your significant other in charge of the household. I typically will double a recipe, eat half that night and freeze the second half. I have a few favorites, so I thought it would be fun to share them with you all, throughout a few different posts. Some of them are recipes that I have tweaked and made mine, while others are recipes that I have found on the amazing site, Pinterest. The recipes will be for one night, so if you want to freeze some make sure you double the recipe. If you are not into freezer meals and you feel like every night deserves it's own creation, then well just use the recipe as is!

Here is an example of how I label and pack my meal for the freezer. I really like the foil throw away casserole dishes, but I was out this night, so I just used a normal dish!

The first post for #freezerlovefriday is my Pantry Quinoa recipe, it is so easy and so yummy. It is hands down one of my top five favorite meals, and the bonus is that it is loaded with veggies! I call it the Pantry Quinoa, because I often use what I have available. I ALWAYS have cooked quinoa in my fridge, it is a staple in my lunch salad, and our family loves it. My veggie drawer always contains a yellow squash and a zucchini, mainly because I feel like you can add these two veggies into any recipe and they typically go unnoticed. I do not have picky eaters in my family, but I still get such a rush when I throw veggies into a meal and no one knows. It's the little things in life, I tell ya!

Our Pantry Quinoa typically has a southwestern flare, simply because we love taco seasoning and well we live in the southwest! But, the great thing about this recipe is that you can use what you prefer. If you don't love zucchini than throw in whatever veggie your family loves. This particular version we did not do any meat. This dish is so good with or without meat, but if you MUST have meat, I prefer to use shredded chicken or kielbasa. If you choose to add in chicken, make sure to check out my super easy chicken shredding post! 

Pantry Quinoa

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked quinoa

1 can of black beans - drained and rinsed

1 can of chopped tomatoes - we really like the southwestern style, but use what you have!

1 yellow squash - chopped

1 zucchini - chopped

1 cup of corn - frozen or fresh 

Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)

A few tablespoons of taco seasoning 

Toppings:

Avocado

Over easy egg

Mexican shredded cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°

 Cook your quinoa per package instructions. 

Use a large saucepan, add EVOO and chopped veggies, cook completely. Add in beans, tomatoes and taco seasoning. Let that sizzle for a few minutes. 

Add in the quinoa, mix well, and transfer to a baking dish.
Sprinkle a generous amount of cheese on top,pop in the preheated oven and and cook for about 5-10 minutes. 

Let cool and add whatever toppings you love! 

Freezing Directions:

Once added to the dish, let cool completely and cover with foil. 
Make sure to label the dish and add reheating instructions:
Preheat oven to 350°
Frozen  - 1.5 hour 
Thawed - 30 minutes or until heated through 

As promised here is a candid picture of Luke enjoying his portion! He has always liked things all mashed together, so this is a perfect meal for him. 

I hope your family loves Pantry Quinoa, as much as we do! Look for more #freezerlovefriday recipes in the future. I have some good stuff cooking!

Happy freezing,

how do you shred?!

We live in Tucson, which means that Mexican food is a staple in our diet. One of Luke's first words was taco, and to this day if you ask him what he wants to eat he will quickly reply, "TACO!" I like all meat involved in Mexican cooking, but the healthier version of me leans towards chicken based dishes.

 I love how versatile shredded chicken is. I can use it in so many recipes and I can use whatever I have left as the protein in my daily salad. Now, just because I love shredded chicken does not mean I love the process. This use to be a "Ryan only" job, mainly because it took forever and I don't have that kind of patience, (remember, he is the ying to my yang and well his patience knows no limits)! Then one day I had the brilliant idea of slow cooking the chicken, AMAZING. Now I know this idea (and maybe even a similar recipe) is out there, but this is what we developed in the Nye house, and I feel like I need to share this easy idea.

I will typically empty the tomatoes into the slow cooker, add my seasoning and stir that up. I then add 3-4 chicken breasts, place the beans on top of the chicken and start cooking. If you want more tomatoes, add more, or if you want to add in some corn, feel free to do that too. I like these base ingredients because they go with pretty much any dish I make. Keep in mind you can also do plain chicken, just add a bit of chicken broth or water. That way you can dress up the cooked, shredded chicken any way you want! 

Frozen chicken typically cooks 6-8 hours, while thawed chicken is around 2-4 hours. I always do mine frozen and set my slow cooker for 6.5 hours, it is perfect for mine but yours may differ slightly.  This is my slow cooker, and I love it! Specifically because of the programmable option, so I have no issues leaving it cooking throughout the day! When it is done cooking, use two forks and shred. This process takes all of one minute! Here is my finished product:

This is the easiest way to shred chicken! If you have a busy day, cook this during the day, come home and make tacos or quesadillas! The possibilities are endless. Whatever I don't use that night, I typically refreeze in a Ziploc and know that an easy dinner awaits. 

Directions:

3-4 Frozen Chicken Breasts

3 TB Taco Seasoning

1 Can Black Beans

1 can of Mexican Style Tomatoes

Combine all into a slow cooker. Cook for 6-8 hours or into chicken easily shreds apart. 



Happy Shredding,