Breakfast Skillet

Ingredients

1 (16 ounce) tube sausage
1 medium green pepper, coarsely chopped
1 small onion, coarsely chopped
4 large eggs
1 1/4 c. skim milk
1 (8.5 ounce) box corn muffin mix
1/4 c. drained sliced jalapeño peppers
2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
salsa or maple syrup, for serving

Directions
In a 12-inch cast iron skillet, cook sausage over medium heat on a camp stove, grill or on a cooking grate over a fire. When no pink remains, add green pepper and onion; cook about 5 minutes or until tender. Drain. Remove from heat.
In a bowl, beat together eggs and milk; stir in corn muffin mix and jalapeño peppers until combined. Pour over sausage. Return to medium heat, cover, reduce heat, and cook 10 minutes. Remove from heat; let stand 5 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese. Serve with salsa or maple syrup, if desired.  Serves 8.

Daily nutritional values:
10% vitamin A
20% vitamin C
30% calcium
10% iron

Nutrition information per serving:
Calories: 380
Carbohydrate: 27g
Cholesterol: 140mg
Dietary Fiber: 1g
Fat: 23g
Protein: 19g
Saturated Fat: 10g
Sodium: 880mg
Sugar: 9g
Trans fats: 0g 

Jamabalya

I like this because it's fast, easy, and a great way to use up leftover ham!! If you don't use ham in it, you may need to add more salt. I've been known to use all sorts of leftover meats in this though and it's always good! I just kind of throw in whatever I have, but this is a basic recipe.

2 Tblsp oil

1 ½ cups chopped onion

1 bell pepper, chopped

2 cloves garlic

2 cups cubed ham, or chicken, or sausage (cooked)

½ tsp thyme

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp black pepper

¼ tsp cayenne pepper (or more if you want it hotter)

¼ tsp creole seasoning (or more to taste) optional

1 16-oz can diced tomatoes

1 cup chicken broth

Rice

Saute onion, peppers, and garlic in oil until slightly brown. Add meats. Add seasoning, tomatoes and broth. Bring to boil. Serve over cooked rice.

Michelle's Stuffed Pumpkin

It's that time of year, when I like to make stuffed pumpkin for dinner, and my family complains that I've made it! This year I decided to try my own recipe in hopes that everyone would be happy, and it worked! This is awesome, and everybody ate it.

Ingredients:

1 small pumpkin

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp dry mustard

1/3lb (or so) cooked breakfast sausage

3 c. prepared corn bread stuffing

1 apple, peeled and chopped

1/4 cup craisins

Directions:

Cut top off of pumpkin and deseed. Poke holes in the inside of the pumpkin with a fork, if desired. Rub pumpkin with salt and mustard. Mix other ingredients and spoon into pumpkin. Put pumpkin lid back on and place in an 8x8 pan with a little water in the bottom. Bake at 350 for 90 minutes, or until the pumpkin is tender. Serve both the filling and the pumpkin.

Pork Carnitas

This is a family favorite! And it's nice for when the missionaries come over because it's easy and makes quite a bit! I also have quite recently discovered it tastes great with Dean's Creamy Tomatillo Dip that's listed on this blog under Appetizers. (The leftover meat and sauce are also great in scrambled eggs!!)

One quick note: The recipe calls for red wine vinegar - last night I used half balsamic vinegar and half beef broth and it turned out about the same.

Ingredients:

3 lb. pork loin roast
2 to 3 cups red wine vinegar (enough to cover meat)
3 to 4 Tblsp. crushed red pepper
1/4 cup minced onion
Salt & Pepper

Directions:

Combine vinegar, red pepper, onion and spices for marinade. Cover meat and marinate overnight. Next day, discard marinade and roast meat at 350 until tender or in a slow cooker. (I actually find that if I cook the meat with about a 1/2 - 1 cup of marinade, there are enough drippings for the green chile gravy!) (If you want to add a little heat, add a few red pepper flakes to the meat the last hour or so of cooking.) Serve with fried potatoes, tortillas, green chile gravy, spanish rice, tomatillo dip, tomatoes, cheese, or whatever else sounds good.

Green Chile Gravy

Warm meat drippings on stove. Add onion to taste and flour to thicken (I'm sure you could use corn starch too.) Stir in 1 can diced green chilies. Simmer until thick. (You could also use 1 cup chicken bullion if there are not enough drippings.)

Sweet Pork for Burritos

Okay, I know that this one didn't go over too well over the summer, but I think I made a couple worthwhile improvements that turned out great! (Anyway, the Elders and Sisters liked it. But since they like everything, my roommates and Nancy also liked it.) Goes great with the creamy tomatillo dip!

3 lb. Pork Roast

16 oz. salsa

12 oz. NON-diet cola

2 cups brown sugar

1 packet taco seasoning

6 oz. can green chilies

Okay, so here's the gist. Put the thawed pork roast in the crock pot and cover with water. Cook on high for 5 hours. (I like to salt the water a little. It cooks hotter and adds a little more flavor.) Drain the water after 5 hours. Cut pork into smaller pieces. (I find just chopping with a plastic spoon works great.) Puree salsa (I like to do a little more). Add cola and brown sugar. Mix and pour over roast. Cook on high another 3 hours. During the last hour, add green chiles and taco seasoning. (I want to experiment with also adding onions and bell peppers.) Shred with a fork and serve on burritos.

Apple Cranberry Stuffed Pork Chops

INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons butter
1/8 yellow onion, minced
1 Granny Smith apple - peeled, cored and diced
2 stalks celery ribs, finely chopped
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1 teaspoon kosher salt
5 (1 inch thick) boneless pork chops
1 cup apple juice
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a Dutch oven, melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat. Cook onion in butter until the onions are very soft and begin to brown. Remove from heat. Stir in apple, celery, and dried cranberries. Season with salt.
Lay each chop flat on cutting board, and with a sharp knife held parallel to the board, cut a pocket into the pork, leaving three sides intact. Stuff each chop with apple-cranberry mixture.
Melt remaining butter in the Dutch oven over medium heat. Pan-fry chops in butter for two minutes on each side. Cover, and bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes.
Transfer chops from pan to a plate, and cover with foil. Place the Dutch oven back on the stovetop over medium heat. In a small bowl or measuring cup, stir together apple juice, cornstarch, and brown sugar; pour into Dutch oven. Reduce liquid volume by half, stirring frequently. Season to taste with black pepper. Serve this apple glaze over pork chops.
Note: I've tried these in my Express 101, and they were tasty that way! It was faster than the oven and kept the meat very moist. I've never tried it in the oven, so I'm not sure how it works.