Sweet n Simple Apple Stuffed Pork Loin

   I love apples...I love roast pork loin...So, I went on a mission on Pinterest a while back to find a recipe that involved stuffing pork with apples. I found quite a few, really...But to be honest, a lot of them sounded more complex and complicated than I really have time for (not that I am not game to trying those out someday, they just don't fit into my insanely busy life right now). But yet, I found one. It really could not get any more simple than this. The recipe came from this pin which can be also be found on my Pinterest Board, Yummy in the Tummy. As you can see, it only takes a few minutes to prep and put in a crock pot...The best part is that there are only FOUR ingredients, all of which most people already have in their pantry or fridge/freezer. If you don't have these items readily available at home, they are inexpensive and easy to obtain at the store (although if you are like me and prefer to use organic raw honey, you may have to visit a local Farmer Market or reach out to someone that sells it from their home).

Finished product, served with applesauce (on my Pegasus plate)

Ingredients:

• Pork Loin (3-4 pounds)- mine was just a hair under 3 pounds
• 1/2 C. Honey (any kind will work, I used organic raw...the good stuff!!)
• 2 large Granny Smith Apples
• 2 Tbsp. Ground Cinnamon 

That's it...that's all you need ingredient-wise...Now the instructions (if you can't follow these, I suggest you go back to a basic home economics, er sorry I forgot they changed it to "Food and Consumer Science" class to learn the basics on cooking)...

cut slits in the pork loin

sliced apples- 16 slices per apple (32)

Instructions:

• Wash & rinse the apples. Cut into small slices (I had 16 slices per apple).
• Cut slits into the pork loin- about 1 to 1 1/2 inches apart 
• Stuff 2 apple slices into the pork loin
• Put 3/4 of the remaining apple slices in the bottom of the crock pot, put 1/2 of the honey over the apples.
• Place the pork loin on top of the apples
• Sprinkle the cinnamon on top of the pork loin (it will seem like a lot of cinnamon...and in fact it is).
• Put the remaining apple slices on top of the pork loin.
• Drizzle the remaining honey on top



stuff slices in the pork loin

• Cover and cook on LOW for 8 hours.

layer of apples on bottom

 That is it...Literally...In about an hour your house will smell A-MAZING! Seriously, my girls thought I was making the Apple Pie Crescent Rolls that I blogged about last year (and make about once a week). No need for a Scentsy burner, just make this and your home will smell yummy!

this measuring cup is the BEST for this kind of job!

 I took several photos of the preparing process, as well as what the roast looks like about an hour into cooking...Then of course I took a picture of it after 8 hours of roasting. My mouth was literally watering at that point. No worries, I didn't take pictures of that- no one wants to see that mess, ha ha.

placed on top of apple slices

"sprinkle" cinnamon on top- that's a lot.

remaining apples on top

Drizzle last half of honey on top

An hour into roasting in crock pot...smells YUMMY!

Finished product, pulls right apart!

We served this with a side of applesauce, because I didn't think potatoes and carrots would have tasted very good with this particular recipe.

Family Verdict:
Well, I was down one child (Autumn) because this past weekend was the High School Musical- which she was in (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Coat...if you've never seen this performed it is a really good show, and that's coming from a Pagan). So she ate dinner with her cast instead of us- to be expected from a teenager in high school....Anyways, the three of us that were home enjoyed it. But we all three had the same issue- the cinnamon was a bit overpowering. Corey and I also thought it could use a bit more apple flavoring, so I have a few tips to add if you make this...

TIPS:

1. Cut the cinnamon in half...It was definitely overpowering and slightly unappetizing looking (IMO). I kind of wonder if the recipe should have said 2 TEASPOONS instead of TABLESPOONS...That was a LOT of cinnamon! 
2. Personally, I felt it could use more apples. The apples that were on the bottom were completely mushy. I think next time I will use 3-4 apples. I'm also going to cut my slits much deeper and put 3-4 apple slices per slit to see if that helps. It definitely could've used more apples for the side item.
3. Applesauce is a good side with this, but I would have liked to have something a bit more...Maybe make baked apples next time? Or even throw some more apples in the crock pot half way through cooking (see point #2).

So there you have it! This is definitely worth a try, and I will be making again (with a few alterations that I mentioned in the tips). I'm always interested in what others have to say about the recipes I post...I love to hear suggestions, comments, improvements, etc.

If you aren't subscribed to this blog, I would love it if you did! I'm going to do better about keeping up with this than I have in the past. I'd also love to hear what you- the readers, would like to see me blog. Send me a good recipe pin...My mom does once a week. You are also welcomed to follow me on Pinterest, or you can follow select boards (I have a ton of different ones for foods, drinks, holiday baking, grilling, etc.). I actually could benefit from a spring cleaning of my boards.

Blessed Be!!

Considering trying out a "Vlog"

   No recipe today, just something that crossed my mind the other day when I posted about my Chili Cheese Coney Dip with Little Smokies. Usually when I blog about a recipe, it is one that I saw on Pinterest and tried. This particular recipe was one that I pinned myself, because it came from a video on Facebook (original source was YouTube). Then as I thought some more (I tend to get lost in my thoughts a lot), and realized that I spend a LOT of time watching videos on Facebook with yummy recipes. I really like Tasty, I could literally sit and watch those all day long. But anyways, I thought maybe I should try making a recipe and "vlogging" it.

   Just curious as to what others thought? Has anyone else tried it and had any success/luck with it? Good feedback? Bad feedback?

   I would still post the step-by-step recipe and instructions because I know sometimes I have to pause these videos or vlogs because they talk too fast or move along before I have everything ready.

   Not sure when I will try it, but it will most likely be a very simple, quick and easy recipe. I'm sure my camera man or woman doesn't want to spend all day putting me on camera. Stay tuned everyone!

Blessed Be!

Chili Cheese Coney Dip w/Piglets in a Blanket

   I started a diet about 2 weeks ago and boy is this diet strict! I'm only allowed to have 1200 calories a day (at least until I drop to my target weight, then I will increase it a bit). So I have to be really careful with what I eat over the course of my day. But I do allow myself to have "cheat" days, and this has become one of my favorite meals to cheat with!

   The Chili Cheese Coney Dip with Little Smokies Piglets in a Blanket has also become a fast favorite of Corey's. In fact, we've had this twice in one week's time (and that never happens). My daughters don't like coney sauce so they won't even bother with it. I didn't get this recipe from Pinterest, I actually got it from a video that someone had shared on Facebook. I did create a Pin myself, and you can find it here. This recipe is super simple and inexpensive to make. Of course, I added an ingredient and changed another to suit our tastes (and what I had on hand).

Finished product...It is as yummy as it looks, I promise!

Ingredients:

• 1 can crescent rolls, any brand (I used Pillsbury)
• 1 can chili, any brand any flavor (I used Hormel No Beans)
• 1 block cream cheese softened, any brand any flavor (I used Meijer fat free) 
• approx. 2 oz. Shredded cheddar cheese, any brand (I shred my own from Kraft Mild cheddar)
• Green Onion, diced (I used sweet onion in place of green onion)
• package little smokies, any brand (I used Hillshire)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Open the can of crescent rolls, pull apart the 8 triangles. The recipe I pinned tells you to cut in 3 long strips, however I cut them in 4 smaller triangles (to get more little piglets in a blanket) like I do for "piglets in a blanket". Roll your little smokies into the crescent rolls cut outs (however you did it). 
• Arrange them in your pan or cast iron skillet to form a circle around the edge of the pan. It's okay if they touch. If you don't have enough room for all the piglets, put the remaining on a cookie sheet to bake alone. 
• Mix your cream cheese and coney sauce until it is mixed up good. Add most of the shredded cheese and mix into your dip mixture.
• Put the dip mixture in the middle of the pan, it's okay if it touches the piglets.
• Sprinkle remaining cheese on the dip.
• Put in the oven for 20 minutes or until crescents are golden brown. If you have the extra piglets on a baking sheet they can go in at the same time, but bake no more than 15 minutes.
• Take out of oven, and sprinkle onion on top. As you can see by my picture, I also drizzled classic yellow mustard on top. It's delicious!! 
• Enjoy!!

   Like I said, this is a real crowd pleaser for Corey and I and we will probably make this one quite a bit. It's super quick, easy and inexpensive; which is perfect for when time and/or money are limited. I think the next time I fix this I will add mustard into the dip as I mix and bake it. We both LOVE mustard so I think it would be really yummy!

   If you would like to follow my Pinterest, I am Pretty Pagan. I have lots and lots of food boards so I will let you pick and choose which ones you follow. I actually need to re-organize them, especially since I've been adding more and more stuff. I have both healthy boards and not-so-healthy ones. If you find my nonfood interesting you can follow those also. But I would be happy to have you follow them all, I like new followers. I also like blog subscribers, and I promise to be better about being an active blogger from here on out. Please feel free to share this, and comment below if you try it and let me know what you think or any changes you made to make it better!

Blessed Be!!


  

I'm coming back very soon

   Hey, hey, HEY fellow bloggers! I know it's been a minute since I posted any new Pinterest Recipe Reviews and I do apologize about that! I know you've missed me and I've missed you to! Okay, maybe more like a few months but I've just been so busy!

   This past year's cheer season was busier than normal for me. As my loyal followers know (or you can see in my biography to the right) both of my daughters are very involved with cheerleading. In fact, I am the Cheer Advisor for the youth cheer team that my youngest daughter was a part of. Well, this was her last year in pee wee AND we were the hosting team for this past year's Cheer Competition....So filling this role was MUCH more involved this year than it has been in past years. But we had a great season and while I was kind of sad to see it pass (my baby is not a baby anymore), I'm glad life is getting back to normal....

Here is all of us, I am under the big "Spirit Award" trophy that we won. That's basically the Super Bowl ring of this event. Go Wee Arrows!

...Which means I can get back to doing one of the things I love the most. COOKING (and baking)! I've already got a lot of new pins saved. I've already done a test run on a couple of them (all winners, woo hoo!) and now it's just a matter of which ones to share with you all first!

   I will probably start with a recipe that is one of my own (not from Pinterest, but I will be posting on Pinterest for others) now that it's Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday. I actually had Autumn make one on her own last year, and she did momma proud :) I can't wait to share this with you all as well. Here are some snap shots I took of her making it.

 






 Thanks for hanging in there with me, I promise not to disappoint. Stay tuned for the next post! It will be very soon, I promise! If you want to follow me on Pinterest, I have lots of boards with food, drink, candy, cooking tips, and a bunch of other stuff. You can find me and all my boards right here.

Blessed Be!

Bacon-wrapped Stuffed Chicken Breasts

    Chicken is a wonderful protein to work with, not only is it healthy (for the most part) but just about everyone likes it (that is unless you are a vegetarian or vegan). It is so versatile, it can be baked, broiled, fried, grilled, boiled, and the list goes on and on. Many different cultures use this as the main staple in a dish. You really cannot go wrong with cooking chicken-unless it's undercooked and that's BAD news! However, sometimes my family needs a change up from the usual "chicken and dumplings" or "chicken parmesan" meals that I make. (Don't get me wrong, we love pretty much any chicken dish that I make, but it can get boring fast). So one day while spending hours on Pinterest, I found this little gem and decided to try it. I mean, BACON wrapped, STUFFED chicken breasts. My mouth waters as I read the title of this!! Now before I post the ingredients and recipe, I will say that I've prepared this several times since discovering it. Yes, it is that damn good! I have several tips to add to it at the end. But I will start with the basic recipe.

The ingredients, notice the thin sliced chicken?

INGREDIENTS:

• Boneless, skinless Chicken Breasts, approx. 2 pounds
• 8 oz. Cream Cheese (the recipe calls for Chive and Onion, but you can use whatever. Check out my tip on this one).
• Bacon, 8 slices
• (as you can see in my photos, I used regular cream cheese and added my own fresh green onion)

pound that chicken!!

put the good stuff in it and roll

RECIPE:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Pound the chicken breasts with a meat tenderizer until about 1/2" thick (I have a tip for this also)
3. Spread each chicken breast with the cream cheese, then roll up.
4. Wrap two slices of bacon around each breast, secure with tooth picks
5. Place on a broiler pan and cook for about 35 minutes, turning each breast about half way through cooking (so after about 17 minutes, flip them!)
6. Turn oven broiler on, place the broiler pan on top rack and broil for 3-5 minutes, just long enough to get the bacon crispy. 
7. Enjoy!!

wrap it in more good stuff...mmm..BACON! (except Autumn's)

TIPS:

1. You don't have to use Chive and Onion flavored cream cheese. You can use any kind you'd like really, it's a preference thing. Even plain cream cheese with a little bit of garlic powder/salt isn't too bad...The last batch I made I used the garden veggie cream cheese and it was AMAZING! 
2. I haven't tried this trick yet, but plan on it the next time I do make this-adding slices of red, green, yellow or orange bell peppers (the garden veggie cream cheese has peppers in it, which gave me this idea). I bet adding other things like olives, jalapenos, pepperonis or whatever your heart desires would make this great dish even better. Let your imagination run wild!
3. If you do opt to make your own cream cheese filling, let your cream cheese soften at room temperature for a bit. It will make mixing and spreading much easier.
4. If you can manage it, buy the boneless, skinless chicken breasts that are already thin sliced. I find they are much easier to roll up, plus 98% of the time they are thin enough that you don't have to do Step #2. 



half way through cooking-with a special glaze

5. Whatever you do, don't use the HUGE whole chicken breasts. They are a hot mess to deal with, and even if you pound them out really thin, they still seem to be hard to roll up and don't cook as well. I learned a hard lesson from using too big of breasts (huh huh huh).

REVIEW:
I already told you that I've made this several times before, so this is a winner for my family. I do have to leave one unwrapped because Autumn doesn't like bacon (weirdo). I've also used the honey-ketchup sauce/glaze that I have been using for pork chops, recipe found a few recipes down. This sauce works great for this. I am going to try cooking them on the grill one of these days.

I hope you enjoyed this recipe as much as me. Remember you can subscribe to my blog,  Pinterest Kitchen Witch to see all the recipes I try from Pinterest. If you want to follow me on Pinterest, click here. If you don't want to follow the umpteen boards that I have, you can pick and choose which food boards you'd like to follow (I do have several of those). I love new subscribers and followers! I also like to hear other people's tips and tricks, as well as their reviews on items they've tried that I share. So please feel free to comment below!

mostly done (phone died before I could take the final picture)

Brightest Blessings!!

Classic T G I Friday's Potato Skins

   I love to go to T G I Fridays to eat (and drink their black berry long island ice tea)! One of my favorite items on the menu was the potato skins, they were absolutely delicious! It was to my great disappointment about 6 months ago when I ordered them that I was served these deep fried fancy looking potato wedges that they call "the new and improved potato skins". For the record, they were awful! I was so sad that they tried to improve something that was already perfect. If it's not broke, don't fix it, right? Well, because of this I had to learn to make them myself. I am pleased to let you know that I found the perfect recipe here (it is even called "Copy cat T G I Friday's Potato Skins). It is really easy to make these and they do taste just like the classic from T G I Fridays!

Ingredients:

No I didn't add bananas...

• 4 Russet potatoes
• 1Tbsp Olive Oil
• salt* and pepper (to taste)
• 1 Tbsp melted butter
• 3/4 c. shredded cheddar**
• 1/2 c. chopped crispy bacon***

Instructions:

Hot Potato! Hot Potato!

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees, line a baking sheet with foil.
2. Wash, scrub and dry the potatoes.
3.  Pierce each potato several times with a fork.
4. Rub potatoes with olive oil, season with salt and pepper.
5. Bake potatoes for one hour.
6. Take potatoes out of oven, take off baking sheet and allow to cool.
7. Lower the oven temperature to 375 degrees.
8. Cut each potato lengthwise into thirds, reserve the middle slice for something else****
9. Use a spoon (I use a melon baller, they work better) to scoop out the middle of each skin, leaving about 1/4" thickness.
10. Brush the potato skins with the melted butter and bake for 25 minutes or until crisp.
11. Take them out of oven, sprinkle with cheese and bacon bits and bake until cheese is melted (about 5 minutes).
12. Serve hot with sour cream and green onions (optional). Ranch is really good to :)

Cut into thirds

Hollowed Out

TIPS:
*I occasionally use garlic salt instead of regular.
**You can use any kind of cheese that you prefer, I personally like colby jack.
***I use about 4-5 bacon strips and that is plenty. I don't actually measure out my bacon.
****I actually fix the middle sections like I do the skins, the only difference is I don't hollow them out. That works as long as the middle stays in tact, otherwise I just sprinkle with salt and eat :)

Finished product! Just add sour cream and green onions! YUMMY!

REVIEW:
This is a huge hit with my family. They taste just like the classic potato skins tasted. I really wish T G I Fridays would bring these back instead of those sorry excuses they call "new and improved".

I hope you've enjoyed reading and enjoy these delicious appetizers (or main course). To see my other recipes, subscribe to my blog, Pinterest Kitchen Witch. You can also see the hundreds of recipes that I've pinned on various boards, all you have to do is follow me on Pinterest, here. You can also follow individual food boards if you don't want to see my other stuff.

Brightest Blessings!!

Honey Garlic Pork Chops

This is the finished product! It tastes as good as it looks!

   As I said in the last post, it was almost grilling season! Well, I am one of those people that like to grill year round, unless there is blizzard-like conditions or it is sub-zero outside. Well this post I made and reviewed  the recipe from this pin. This recipe doesn't have a lot of ingredients and is fairly easy to make. I am always looking for new ways to grill pork chops because as Corey put it, they tend to get dried out or charred easily. This one looked like it could remedy that problem and because it has ketchup in it, I figured my picky eater Autumn would approve. For the record, I use a gas grill, but I am going to assume that the recipe will work just as good on a charcoal grill.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup Ketchup 
• 1/3 cup Honey
• 1/4 cup Soy Sauce
• 2 Garlic Cloves, minced
• 1 1/2 lbs. boneless pork chops (6- 4 oz. portions)
• salt and pepper

 

RECIPE:

1. In a medium bowl, stir the ketchup, honey, soy sauce and garlic. Mix well and set aside. 
2. Lightly season both sides of the pork chops with salt and pepper. (Please see the tip section for what I did differently, if you can't tell from the picture). Brush each chop with the sauce to coat.
3. Grease the grill grates (I used olive oil) and heat the grill to medium-high heat. Place the chops on the grill and cook for about 5 minutes on each side, while basting the chops with sauce often. Make sure the internal temperature reaches 145 degrees.

 

*see step #2 and tip #2

The sauce

**I also made corn on the cob on the grill for the first time to go with these pork chops, and they went really good with this recipe! If you want the recipe I used (for the corn) here you go. It's pretty cut and dry so no need to give it it's own post.

REVIEW:
Well, this was a HUGE hit with us all. Like I said, even my pickiest eater Autumn loved them. Corey told me that it was a definite winner and I needed to make again soon. He also suggested I try this with chicken, which I may do sometime.

Oh they smelled sooooo good on the grill!

TIPS:

• Soy Sauce- Corey is not a huge fan of soy sauce, so I only used about half of what the recipe called for and it worked just fine.
• I opted for seasoning salt instead of regular salt. I love using this stuff!
• I also tenderized my pork chops with a meat tenderizer before I seasoned and sauced them.
• This time around I used portions that were closer to 6 oz instead of the 4 oz. I had to cook my meat for about a minute longer on each side to get it up to temperature. I can't recommend using a meat thermometer enough when grilling so that you don't have to cut into it (and risk drying it out).

 I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we did! If you have any tips or tricks that you used, or other suggestions I would love to hear about them!

If you aren't already following me on Pinterest, here I am! I have lots of food/drink/cooking tip boards, so if you don't want to follow ALL of mine, you can pick and choose:

• Yummy in the Tummy is where you will find most of my recipes that are posted on my blog. 
• Healthy Things is what I NEED to start making more of! It also has helpful workout tips to
• Cooking and Baking Tips and Tricks no recipes here, but lots of useful tips and tricks to use when you are cooking/baking :)
• Drink Concoctions both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages can be found in here
• Chicken I'm Going To Eat Every Flippin' Chicken Pinned On This Board  well, if you know me, I am a huge fan of Game of Thrones, and this kind of uses one of my favorite lines in the show...and I love chicken!
• Pumpkin Gets Its Own Board Because It Is So Awesome I haven't done much with this one lately, but I will be in September-December...I love to make (and eat) things made with pumpkin!!
• Healthy Quick Foods 2015 (I don't know why I put years with some of my boards) but if it is considered "quick" and "healthy" it will be here.
• Holiday Baking and Candy This is another one I don't use much of until the holiday season, but there are some goodies in here, I promise you that!
• Freezer Meals I only have a few in here, and haven't actually tried them yet...Still on the fence about freezer meals...

Blessed Be and Bright Blessings fellow bloggers!!