Crockpot Pork Pot Roast

This is one of our favorite crockpot meals and a great way to use pork loin bought in bulk.  Not only does it make enough to keep you in leftovers all week, the broth is used in tortilla soup.  Lots of flavors blend together and the pork, potatoes and carrots absorb them.  The pork cooks until it is fork tender and moist, and the potatoes are fluffy.  Sometimes they lean against the base of the crockpot and then you get a nice caramelization on the outside. 

Ingredients:

• Boneless pork loin roast (about 2 to 3 pounds)
• 4 peeled russet potatoes, quartered
• 1 onion, sliced into quarters and separated
• 2 ribs celery, chopped
• 3 carrots, peeled and chopped (or about 1 cup baby carrots)
• 1 cup orange juice
• ½ cup dry white wine
• ¼ cup ketchup
• Juice of 1 lime (I use bottled, and I substitute lemon juice when I don’t have lime juice)
• 2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 3 cloves garlic, minced or 1 tbsp. jarred minced garlic

Directions:

1. Place the meat in the crockpot.  Add remaining vegetables, tucking around the meat.
2. In a small bowl, combine the remaining ingredients and whisk to blend.  Pour over the meat and vegetables. 
3. Cover and cook on low for 8 – 10 hours.  If we are short on time, we will start on high for about 4 hours and then switch it back to low.  

This Week’s Meal Plan

Trying out some new tastes this week.
Image by digitalart

Continuing with the theme of using whole foods and a minimum of processed ingredients, I worked out a plan with some new tastes for our family to try and some old favorites that always go over well.  I was able to replace the nasty chicken with 2.49 a pound chicken from Fred Meyer. Not the best price in the world, but I didn’t have a lot of choice in the matter.  What a hassle!

Here’s the plan.  I’ve linked recipes available on the internet, and I’ll create a separate post for the ones that aren't available.

Saturday (last night) – Orange Chicken with Bulgur   This was sooo good.  I was worried that the chicken might be too “orange-y” (I’m not a big fan of fruit-flavored meats, although I know some folks are).  It turned out fantastic.  The meat had just a hint of orange, and the juice created a nice caramelization on the chicken.  I don’t think I’ve ever made bulgur before, but after this, I will definitely make it again.  It was cheap (1.99 a pound in the bulk bin at FM, and 1 cup made more than we could possibly eat), filling, tasty and the kids scarfed it down.  In this recipe, it was mixed with grape tomatoes and kalamata olives (drooool) and a bit of olive oil.  Oh, and we had enough chicken that Gavin was able to wrap some up for his lunch later this week.

Sunday – Crockpot Pork Pot Roast  This is a recipe from Cheap, Fast, Good by Beverly Mills and Alicia Ross.  It’s one of our favorite cookbooks, but not all of the recipes are exactly healthy.  This one fits in perfectly with our healthy eating plan and is ideal for a cold, snowy day!  One of the biggest bonuses of this meal is all the leftover pork we get and the amazing broth that is left.  We use the pork in a number of other dishes, like stir-fry or sandwiches.  The broth goes into another recipe…

Monday – Tortilla Soup  This is the recipe that uses the broth.  It’s also from CFG, and makes the best tortilla soup I’ve ever had.   The broth of the soup is incredibly savory and flavorful thanks to the boost it gets from the pork roast broth, the homemade chicken stock and the salsa that goes into it. 

Tuesday – Laughing Cow Chicken  I’ve also seen this one called “Poor Man’s Cordon Bleu.”  There’s a number of variations on it, and I’ll happily share ours with you.  We’re serving rice and salad with this one. 

Wednesday – We are babysitting some kids for a friend on Wednesday evening, so we are going the cheater route.  I have a couple frozen pizzas hanging out in our big freezer, and those bad boys are going straight into the oven.  Tossed salad will help us fill up and avoid a pizza binge. 

Thursday – Sage Pork Chops   I found this one on the web after discovering I had a batch of bone-in pork chops in the freezer and doing a search for healthy pork chop recipes.  It looks quick and easy, it fits into the healthy eating plan and it sounds really delicious.  We’re serving it with roasted red potatoes and green beans.

EDIT:  Due to some schedule flip-flopping, we did the pork chops tonight (Tuesday).  We found that they were far too salty for our taste.  I would definitely make them again, but cut back to about half the salt used in the recipe.  

If you decide to try any of these, let us know what you think!  

Cheap and Easy Meals with Chicken

Stir-fry is a great way to use chicken breasts.
Photo by Sura Nualpradid

Today we scored a really good deal on chicken breasts.  We got a 10-pound bag of frozen chicken breasts for $1.66 per pound.  That’s a lot of chicken at a really good price.  So, what are our plans for all that chicken?

Chicken Tacos

• 1 lb. chicken breasts (frozen is okay)
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 packet taco seasoning
• Soft or hard taco shells
• Favorite taco toppings

Place the chicken breasts in the crockpot.  Mix the taco seasoning and chicken broth together.  Pour over the chicken.  Set to low and cook for 6 to 8 hours. 

When chicken is ready, shred with forks.  You can add in another pound of chicken breasts to have leftover meat for nachos or enchiladas.

Poor Man’s Cordon Bleu

• 1 lb chicken breasts
• Laughing Cow cheese wedges, or cream cheese
• Ham lunch meat
• Shake ‘n’ Bake or bread crumbs

Flatten the chicken breasts using a meat mallet.  Spread each breast with a cheese wedge, or about 2 tbsp. of cream cheese.  Place a slice or two of the lunch meat over the cheese.  Roll each chicken breast and secure with a toothpick.  Cover outside of the chicken in Shake ‘n’ Bake mix or bread crumbs.  Place in a baking dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray.  Bake at 375 F for 45 minutes or until done.

Mexican Chicken Soup with White Beans

• 1 lb. chicken breasts
• Onion
• Minced garlic
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 tsp. dried cumin
• 2 15-oz. cans white kidney beans
• 3 cups chicken broth
• Cheddar cheese

Cook chicken breasts in a nonstick skillet with about 2 tbsp. of olive oil until they are no longer pink on the outside.  Place in a slow cooker.  Add a little more olive oil to the pan and cook onion (however much you like, I use about ¼ of a sweet onion), a clove or two of minced garlic, oregano and cumin, just until the onion is soft.  Add this mixture to the slow cooker. 

Drain and rinse the kidney beans, then add to the slow cooker, along with the broth.  Stir well. 

Cook on low for about 8 hours.  When cooking time is complete, use forks to shred the chicken.  Mash beans against the side of the crockpot with a large spoon to thicken the soup.  Garnish with shredded cheese.

Chicken Stir-Fry

• 1 lb. chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
• Assorted fresh vegetables, we like carrots, snow peas, celery, mushrooms, sliced
• Canned, sliced water chestnuts

Sauce ingredients:

• ¼ cup soy sauce
• 1 tbsp. minced garlic
• 1 tbsp. rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp. ketchup
• 2 tsp. minced ginger
• 1 tsp. sesame oil

In a large skillet or wok, cook chicken in 1 tbsp. vegetable oil or wok oil over medium-high heat until cooked through.  Add vegetables and cook until desired texture is reached.  Add water chestnuts.  Mix sauce ingredients together and add to pan.  Cook a minute or two until sauce thickens slightly.  Serve over hot rice.

What are your favorite ways to use chicken breasts?

What's For Dinner? Potato Parmesan Soup

As part of our money saving strategy, we are always on the lookout for inexpensive but delicious and -- most importantly -- kid friendly recipes.  We'll be sharing the best of these with you.

The crock-pot is a fabulous invention for folks on a budget.  It can take the cheapest of ingredients and transform them into something fantastic.  Whether you're working with cheap stew meat, whole chickens or a mess of vegetables, you can toss them in the crock-pot and have dinner.

Potato Parmesan Soup


8 white potatoes, peeled and cut into evenly sized cubes
6 cups chicken broth
1/2 of a sweet onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon Johnny's Seasoning
1/4 teaspoon sage

Combine these ingredients in your crockpot.  Set to low, and cook for about five to six hours, until the potatoes are nice and tender.

1/3 cup flour
1/2 cup whipping cream (half-n-half or regular milk will work fine, too)

Mix these together in a bowl, stirring until smooth.  Add the mixture to the crockpot

3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
8 cooked and crumbled bacon strips
1 1/3 cups cream or milk

Stir all of these into the crock-pot.  Cover the pot and cook for about another 30 minutes, long enough for it to thicken.  Top each serving with additional cheese and crumbled bacon, if you like.

This recipe makes about 12 servings.  Which means..... LEFTOVERS!!  This soup stores well and heats up nicely in the microwave and tastes even better the following day.

Cost per serving: $1.09
(Note:  I didn't include items that are typically in our kitchen, like the spices and flour, when calculating the price per serving of this recipe.)