Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls

A Facebook friend shared a recipe for unstuffed cabbage rolls a few weeks back. I did a quick screenshot of the recipe on my phone and then forgot about it. We were running low on cash this week so I had a light bulb moment and remembered this recipe. I wanted to link to the original recipe poster, but even though I stalked my friend's page like a private investigator, I couldn't find her original post. A quick search on Pinterest reveals a plethora of unstuffed cabbage roll recipes as well. I even found one that can be canned and a special little place in my heart warmed.

Every one in the family actually loved it! Even the littlest member. I knew I'd have to share it. I look forward to next year when I can grow all the ingredients myself!

Ingredients:
     1.5 to 2 pounds of lean ground beef or ground pork
     1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
     1 large onion, chopped
     1 green bell pepper, chopped
     1 clove of garlic, minced
     1 small cabbage, chopped
     (2) 14.5 oz. cans of diced tomatoes
     (1) 8 oz. can of tomato sauce
     1/2 cup of water
     1 teaspoon of ground black pepper
     1 teaspoon of sea salt

In a stock pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the ground beef (or pork), bell pepper, and onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the meat is no longer pink and the onions and peppers are tender.

Add garlic and cook for 1 minute.

Add the chopped cabbage, tomatoes, tomato sauce, water, pepper, and salt. Bring it to a boil. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes, or until the cabbage is tender. Eat and enjoy!

That's it! The most work is chopping the veggies. I used two pounds of ground pork in ours because it was less expensive than the beef. I had to purchase the pork, onion, cabbage, diced tomatoes, and tomato sauce. My total was only $7.99. Guesstimating on the ingredients I already had, six people ate for less than $10. Plus I had leftovers.

Sausage Biscuit Bites

Several months ago my MIL made a recipe she'd pinned on Pinterest.  A twist on the classic sausage ball.  Found at Plain Chicken, the Sausage Biscuit Bites are an easy and quick snack!

What you'll need:

2 cans (10 ct.) flaky biscuits

1 pound of sausage

2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese

How to make:

Preheat oven to 400F.

Mix together sausage and cheese.  Form into about 1 in. size balls.

Separate each biscuit into two layers.  Place one layer of biscuit into each cup on muffin pan.  Than place a sausage ball into each cup.  Bake for 8-10 min or until done.  

The original recipe calls for 40 sausage balls, 40 biscuit layers, and a mini-muffin pan.  I used 32 sausage balls, with 32 layers because I bought 8 ct. containers of biscuits.  I don't have a mini-muffin pan (don't judge me), so I just used a regular pan. Also this can be changed up by using regular, hot, or even Italian sausage!  Not to mention your cheese choices.

Time to Start Eating Healthy!

And I have the perfect way to start!

I was giddy with excitement when Ashley from Applegate contacted me again! Back in July I had the opportunity to try and then review their Super Natural Beef Hot Dogs.  I was not disappointed.  I'll never eat another brand of hot dog.

But this isn't about hot dogs.  Or beef.  This is about BACON people.  Yummy bacon goodness.  

Applegate's Sunday Bacon was all that I expected it to be.  Hickory smoked with just the right ratio of contents.  Let's begin by what you get with the pork Sunday Bacon.

• Casein Free
• Gluten Free
• Dairy Free
• Antibiotic Free (Applegate's family of farms never use antibiotics with their animals!)
• No Nitrites or Nitrates added
• 2 pan fried slices yield about 60 calories
• Ingredients: Pork, Water, Sea Salt and less than 2% of Evaporated Cane Syrup and Celery Powder.

Take another look at those ingredients.  Five.  Five ingredients, all of which we can pronounce.  All of which we know what they are.  I feel you can tell this in the flavor.  Everyone in the house must have felt the same way because I could barely keep it cooked fast enough!

I like to slice the bacon in half because it allows it to cook more evenly.

Now let's take a look at their Natural Turkey Bacon.  I've tried several brands of turkey bacon in the past.  I'm supposed to be on a low cholesterol diet and that just doesn't include bacon, but like most other people, I cheat.  I've been forced to cheat because all the other turkey bacons are quite frankly gross.  The consistency and flavor just isn't comparable.  This is NOT the case with this turkey bacon. 

Let's take a look at what you get with this product.

• Casein Free
• Dairy Free
• Gluten Free
• No Nitrites or Nitrates added
• Antibiotic Free (Applegate's family of farms never use antibiotics with their animals!)
• One slice yields about 35 calories
• Ingredients:  Turkey, Water and contains less than 2% of Sea Salt, Celery Powder, Maple Sugar, Onion Powder, and Spices (cayenne pepper).

Just seven ingredients!  Now I will admit that this isn't pork bacon.  There really is no substitute for that.  HOWEVER, I could definitely see myself eating this turkey bacon on a regular basis.  It has a wonderful flavor and the consistency is more like "regular" bacon.  Everyone agreed that it was better than we expected.  The lone hold out was my 11 year old daughter.  I won't put much behind that though because she's picky, that one is... but still the turkey bacon gets a 4 out of 5 in our house!

Aren't sure if Applegate products are sold in your area? Click here for their store locator. In addition to bacon, Applegate also has hot dogs, sausage, chicken, cold cuts, and cheeses!  I highly encourage you to try out this brand!  You will not be disappointed!

What a great way to start your new year off by eating healthier!  To give you an extra incentive, Applegate is giving three lucky readers free product coupons!  Just enter the giveaway below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*I was given a sample of this product for review. All opinions are my own.

Pork Tenderloin with Rosemary and Garlic

I hadn't intended to do a recipe/food post about this meal.  Honestly, I don't have much time to think about anything right now.  Busy, busy, busy around here.  I barely managed a photo and it's a bad photo too.  I know a good food blogger takes excellent images of their dishes, but I didn't.  I'll take the bad grade and be happy because this roast tastes so good!

In an effort to curtail the constant eating out on game nights,  we've started trying to find recipes that are quick and easy.  Usually that means a frozen pizza, but we were all getting tired of those.  A couple of months ago, I picked up a Crock-Pot recipe book from the book fair at school.  I hadn't made anything from it yet, but a crock-pot meal was just what I was looking for.

I didn't follow the recipe to the "T", but it was so very, very good y'all.  I couldn't NOT post about it.

Scrumptious tenderloin goodness

Here's how I did it:

-1 boneless pork tenderloin weighing a little over 4 lbs because the husband did the shopping (see original recipe below)
-Salt and black pepper, to taste
-4 tablespoons olive oil
-6 cloves of garlic, chopped
-2 tablespoons dried rosemary
-A lemon of lemon juice, because what do you call that?  It isn't a jar, it's a lemon.
-1 can of chicken broth

I combined 4 tablespoons (give or take a half a tablespoon) with the garlic and rosemary.  Because I used dried rosemary, I let the combination sit on my counter for about 15 minutes so they could mingle and get to know one another.

While the previous ingredients were enjoying cocktail hour, I poked a few holes with a fork on the top and bottom of the tenderloin.  I was feeling angry.  Then I took the lemon juice and squirted a bit on both sides followed by a dash or two of salt and pepper.

I poured about 3/4 of the can of chicken broth into the bottom of the Crock-Pot, then added the tenderloin to the pot.  I poured the mixture of rosemary, garlic, and olive oil to the top of the roast and spread it out to cover the majority of the tenderloin.  Which was uncomfortably curled into my pot because the husband bought a too big tenderloin!!

I put on the lid and pushed that button over to LOW for 10 hrs.  Recipes always give an option for HIGH and I don't know why.  Who does that?!?  No one.  No one should ever put their slow cooker on the HIGH option.  It really shouldn't exist.  Just go ahead and use your trusty Sharpie and black out that word.

It took both my husband and myself to remove it to the cutting board without it just completely falling apart in the pot.  I let the tenderloin rest for 10-15 minutes before just using a fork to pull off pieces.  And that's it!  So simple!  If you scroll down, I have included the original recipe and you will see that I took extreme liberties with how I cooked this.  I can't imagine how good it would be if I had seared it as I was supposed to have done.  It was simply the best roast we have ever eaten.

I guess I should note that we also had mashed potatoes and rolls too, but I'm sure we could have just made a meal of the roast by itself!  If you try out this recipe, I'd love to hear how it turns out for you!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here's the original recipe:

BONELESS PORK ROAST WITH GARLIC

1 boneless pork rib roast (2-2.5 pounds), rinsed and patted dry
Salt and black pepper, to taste
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 lemon, cut into 1/8-1/4 inch slices
1/4 cup white wine
1/2 cup chicken stock

Unroll pork roast and season with salt and pepper.  Combine 2 tablespoons oil, garlic and rosemary in small bowl.  Rub over pork.

Roll and tie pork snugly with twine.  Tuck lemon slices under twine and into ends of roast.

Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in skillet over medium heat until hot.  Sear pork on all sides until just browned.  Transfer to Crock-Pot slow cooker.

Return skillet to heat.  Add white wine and stock, stirring with wooden spoon to loosen any caramelized bits.  Pour over pork.  Cover; cook on LOW 8 to 9 hours or on HIGH 3.5 to 4 hours.

Transfer roast to cutting board.  Allow to rest for 10 minutes before removing twine and slicing.  Adjust seasonings, if desired.  To serve, pour pan juices over sliced pork.

Makes 4-6 servings.

Hickory Smoked Pork Loin

Only 5 more days until... "The Big Day". Are you ready? Are you prepared? Do you have any idea what to make for lunch or supper on said "Big Day"?? Here's a great idea that is a little different from a normal holiday entree.

Make sure you have your grill ready! That's right, your grill! This is the perfect time to grill out. I know it doesn't seem like it, but when it's cold outside and your staring at a foot of snow (or lack there of here in KY) it's nice to have that juicy, hot, right off the grill entree on your table. So get your charcoal or gas grill prepared and..... GRILL!!

Hickory-Smoked Pork Loin

Ingredients:
1 3-lb. boneless pork top loin roast (double loin, tied)
3 Tbls. packed brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. finely shredded orange peel
1 1/2 tsp. ground coriander
1 1/2 tsp. paprika
3/4 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. pepper
3 cups hickory or oak wood chips

1. Trim fat from meat. Place meat in a shallow dish. For rub, in a small bowl, stir together brown sugar, orange peel, coriander, paprika, salt, ginger, and pepper. Sprinkle rub evenly onto all sides of meat; rub in with your fingers. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or up to 4 hours.
2. Meanwhile, at least 1 hour before grilling, soak wood chips in enough water to cover.
3. Drain wood chips. In a grill with a cover, arrange medium-hot coals around a drip pan Test for medium heat above pan. Insert an oven-going meat thermometer into center of roast. Sprinkle some of the drained wood chips over the coals. Place roast on grill rack over pan. Cover and grill for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until thermometer registers 155 degrees F. Add more coals and remaining wood chips as needed.
4. Remove meat from grill; cover with foil and let stand for 15 minutes before slicing. (The temperature of the meat will rise about 5 degrees F during standing) Makes 8 - 10 servings.

Add some green beans and mashed potatoes and you have a meal.