Tender Pork Chops

8 pork chops
1 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. ground mustard
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. Lawry's seasoning salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 small can of mushrooms

Add 1 c. flour, mustard, garlic, salt & pepper in a Ziploc bag. Add chops & shake to coat. Brown chops in oil. Transfer to a greased crock-pot. Mix soup with 1 c. water; add 1/2 c. flour & mix well. Pour over pork chops. Cook on low for 3-3 1/2 hours.

These are fall-off-the-bone tender and there's plenty of gravy for some pasta or rice on the side!

Iced Tea Lemonade

I never had a sister. With two pesky younger brothers, I fulfilled my role of as the bossy older sister...much to their irritation! When I married my husband, I "inherited" 3 new sister-in-laws - as his two older brothers were married within 6 months of us, and his younger sister was thrilled to have some female companionship after growing up with four older brothers! Three more were added to our families over the years & I am blessed with 6 sister-in-laws. (Interestingly, 5 of us do not have sisters, which is probably why we get along so well!)

Natalie is married to my brother. The brother who aggravated me, told me my breath stunk, hit me (and subsequently lied to my mother that I was the one who hit him first), and made me cry on occasion. I've decided to forgive him for his many "transgressions" since he gave me a great "sister" in the end. ;) Natalie's a great cook. I'm always a little envious how she can throw a meal together without much effort & no recipe in sight!

She recently stopped in for a visit with her boys & left this recipe behind. I'm addicted. It's becoming a regular drink @ our house. Sweet & delicious, and perfect on a hot summer day.

Iced Tea Lemonade

4 c. water
4 tea bags
3/4 c. sugar
1 can frozen lemonade concentrate
7 c. cold water

Heat the 4 c. water to boiling. Remove from heat & place tea bags in; allow to steep for 5 min. Remove the tea bags & add the sugar while still hot; stir until dissolved. In a 3 qt. pitcher, add tea, lemon concentrate, & water. Pour over ice. (If strong, can add more water.)

** If you don't have the lemonade concentrate, you can substitute 1 c. lemon juice + 1/2 c. sugar **

Not weird enough...

I'm a little weird. Okay. Maybe a lot.

I know this isn't news to many of you, but I'm still getting used to the idea myself.

I could blame it on my parents for raising me up in the jungles of Brazil. Or I could blame it on my husband for influencing me with a do-it-yourself mentality. But the truth is, I kind of like doing things differently (most of the time). Thankfully, I'm surrounded by friends that are weird like me & talk me into trying crazy things...like home-made laundry soap.

This "recipe" actually came from the Duggar family. Yep. That's the one. I guess someone with that many dirty clothes would know a thing or two about laundry soap! :) It's really simple to make (once you collect all of the ingredients) & has saved us about $2o/month on soap. Every little bit helps, right?




You only need these 4 supplies:

• Fels Naptha soap
• 1 c. Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
• 1/2 c. Borax
• 5 gal. bucket w/ lid

(The Fels Naptha I found @ Ace Hardware. Wal-Mart carries the Borax in their laundry aisle. Our local grocery store carried the Washing soda. And you can find the 5 gal. bucket @ Lowe's.)

Grate the bar of soap in about 4 c. water. Stir on medium-low heat until soap is melted. Fill 5 gal. bucket 1/2 way with warm water. Add melted soap, washing soda, & borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved & fill the rest of the way with warm water. Cover & let sit overnight. Soap will thicken. Fill a clean laundry soap container with equal parts of soap & water. Shake before each use. Pour about 1/2 c. diluted soap into each load of laundry. (I tend to use a little extra on stinky, sweaty summer stuff!)

I usually buy several bars of the Fels Naptha @ a time, as the Borax & washing soda go very far (I bought them last summer). It costs about $2 to make 10 gallons of soap.

Pantry Fare

Well, it's too hot around here to turn the oven on, I'm not too motivated to make meals, and I'm trying to save a little money...

...so the result is "pantry fare". My kids asked what that was & I told them - you look through your pantry & fridge & throw something together. Surprisingly, it hasn't been too awful.

The other night we had "birds in a nest" - a box of instant garlic mashed potatoes, topped with long-stem green beans, sausage with mushroom "gravy" (soup), and shredded cheddar cheese.

For lunch I made "pizzas" by toasting slices of bread, with leftover spaghetti sauce & topped with mozzarella cheese.

Tonight we had zucchini burritos. I have more venison in my deep freeze than I know what to do with, and the only way I can handle it is to disguise the flavor with spaghetti sauce, taco seasoning, or chili. I opted for taco seasoning, added some salsa, sauteed a zucchini & peppers from the garden, wrapped all that in tortillas & topped it with cheddar cheese.

Do you see a common theme here?

Everything tastes better with cheese on top!

We have one more week of summer & then it's time to get back to menu planning & balanced meals. Until then...we'll see what other weird "recipes" I can think up.

Vanilla Ice Cream

My husband has been craving home-made ice cream all summer. When I heard that our good friends we've known since college were planning to stop in on their way to AZ, I thought it was the perfect occasion to break out the ice cream maker & enjoy a lil' homemade goodness.

Just before our wedding, we found our ice cream maker @ a garage sale, and paid the grand sum of $1.00 for an old-fashioned hand-cranck one. No puny, wimpy people around here! If we're gonna enjoy the calories, we might as well burn a few in the process. I've tried several different recipes since then, but this one is my favorite. The leftovers usually turn rock-hard in the freezer & you're left scraping frozen milk instead of creamy ice cream. But I was pleased to see this was just as delicious & creamy the day after.

Vanilla Ice Cream (Lisa Miller)

4 eggs, beaten

3 c. sugar

1 Tbsp. vanilla

1 box instant vanilla pudding

1/2 tsp. salt

3 c. heavy whipping cream

6 c. milk

Beat all ingredients together & pour into a 6-quart ice cream freezer. Fill with milk until freezer can is 2/3 full. Freeze.

Easy Chocolate Sauce

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 bag milk chocolate chips

Pour sweetened condensed milk & about 1/2 the bag of chocolate chips (or more) into a glass bowl & heat in the microwave for a minute at a time until chips are melted & it is easy to stir. Do not over heat. The more chips you add, the stiffer the sauce. It will firm up (kind of like hard-shell) when you pour it over the ice cream.

Waffles & White Sauce

I have enjoyed waffles for many years, but it wasn't until I married my husband that I found out what I had been missing. Though this recipe comes from his family, it has become the only way to enjoy waffles at our home.

We were excited to find blueberries on sale @ ALDI's for $0.99 a pint, which made it even better. My m-i-l would have added a carrot to make for a healthier meal, but I opted for sausage patties instead. :) Another "tradition" passed down from his family is to make the waffles at the table. It means some patience & breaks in between, but enjoying a crisp quarter straight from the waffle maker makes it worth the wait!

Waffles

1 3/4 c. flour (I made them with 1/2 wheat flour)

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

2 egg yolks

1 3/4 c. milk

1/2 c. cooking oil

2 egg whites

Combine flour, baking powder, & salt. In a separate bowl beat egg yolks slightly. Beat in milk & oil. Add to dry ingredients; stir until just combined, but still slightly lumpy. In a small bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Gently fold into batter, leaving a few fluffs of egg white. Do not overmix. Pour batter onto wafer maker. Makes about 6 waffles.

Shortcut: Do not separate eggs, but mix the dry ingredients, add wet & do not overmix. This doesn't make as light of a batter, but the waffles still turn out great & take less work to prepare. But if you ask my mother, she will tell you that beating the eggs whites is a must in making waffles. We've agreed to disagree & love each other despite our difference of opinions.

White Sauce

2 Tbsp. butter

2 Tbsp. flour

1 - 1 1/2 c. milk

1/4 c. sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Melt butter. Add flour & stir until smooth. Add milk (less for a thicker sauce) & whisk continually while heating on medium heat until thickened. Take off heat & add sugar & vanilla. Stir well & serve warm with waffles.

Tip: If you find a great deal on blueberries (or other berries)...buy up! You can lay them out on baking pans & freeze them, then store them in freezer bags or containers for up to 6 months in your freezer. They will not be as firm as fresh, but are great for recipes & often cheaper than you can find in your freezer section.

"Fantastic" Lemon Butter Fillet

I tried a new recipe tonight that I found on Allrecipes, since I still have fish in the freezer from a successful fishing trip. I pan fried the last batch for Phil's birthday & decided to bake it this time. I love looking for recipes there because the reviews are often helpful, I can see which ones have been tried & tested, and I have yet to make a recipe I didn't like. This one was no exception. Though I chuckled at the name. Anything that claims to be "Fantastic" is usually just setting me up for disappointment. But thankfully, that wasn't the case this time around.

I "tweeked" this one a bit, but you can always link back to the original recipe.

Fantastic Lemon Butter Fillet

1/3 c. butter
1 small lemon, juiced (or about 2 Tbsp.)
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. dried parsley
3 cloves of garlic, minced (or about 1 Tbsp.)
1 1/2 lbs. fish fillets

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Mix in lemon juice, salt, pepper, parsley, & garlic. Bring to a boil. Cook & stir about 8-10 minutes, until thickened. Arrange fish fillets in baking pan. Pour butter over the top & cover with foil. Bake for 15-20 min.