Slow Cooker Sweet Potato Chili

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2009/05/sweet-potato-chili-vegan-crockpot.html

This is actually a Vegan dish, but I un-veganized it (and added more calories) by adding chopped bacon in the crockpot, then cheese and sour cream to top it off. I also added a can of black beans. It didn't taste of a chili as much as a thick stew. But put it in a sourdough breadbowl and it's a GREAT meal on a cold night. It's a pretty cheap meal too! :)

The Ingredients:

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and in 2-inch chunks
1 yellow onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 (15-ounce) can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed (or 2/3 cup dried beans, soaked overnight and boiled briskly for 10 minutes because of the freaky red bean toxin thing)
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 (14.5-ounce) can tomatoes (whatever's on sale, mine had oregano and roasted garlic)
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup water
1/2 cup orange juice (If you don't have any in the house, use water)


The Directions:

Use a 5-6 quart slow cooker. This is enough food to feed a family of 4 regular-sized, or 6 smallish people. Peel and chunk the sweet potato and add to the pot. Add diced onion. Follow with the red bell pepper, can of tomatoes, the beans, garlic, and seasonings. Pour in OJ and water. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or until the onion is translucent and the sweet potato is fork-tender (if you want the sweet potato to get really squishy and disappear when stirred, cook longer).

Pork Chop Delight

A friend of mine fowarded me an e-mail FULL of crockpot recipes! I recently bought some pork chops on sale and thought that I'd take one of the recipes to cook up my chops. This was a GREAT meal, easy and really good. I actually made this the day before, then things happened and we never were able to eat it - so, instead of putting in the sour cream, I stuck it in a tupperware dish and popped it in the fridge. The next day, I just dumped the entire contents into a deep pan, let it heat up, then added the sour cream/flour mixture to cook for 15-20 minutes. It turned out just fine! We had our brother and sister over and they liked it too! The pork was nice and tender and the sauce it made was really good. I would either make rice (or mashed potatoes if you want something heavier) and veggies with it. The only FYI I would say to remember is, as with any kind of meat with bones you put in the crockpot - the meat falls offthe bone very easily. Which means bones mix in with the meat and sauce. So just be careful or maybe try to fish out the bones before you serve. It wasn't that big of a deal, but I don't want to have to wory that I'll bite down into a bone when eating!

Anywho - here it is!

http://www.50plusfriends.com/cookbook/crockpot/pkchpdel.html

From the Kitchen of: Pepper
4 - 6


boneless pork chops

seasoned flour for dredging (add salt, pepper, etc. to flour)
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 lg. onion, sliced
2 c. chicken broth
2 tbsp. flour
8 oz. sour cream

Heat oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Dredge pork chops in seasoned flour and brown in skillet, turning to brown both sides.

Layer chops in Crockery Pot with onion slices. Pour chicken broth over layers. Cover and cook on low 7 - 8 hours.

Stir the 2 tablespoons of flour into the sour cream until smooth. Stir sour cream into the Crockery Pot and blend into the cooking juices. Raise the Crockery Pot to high for 15 - 30 minutes or until the liquid has thickened.

Serve the chops and sauce over rice or noodles.

50 Easy Soups

This is a GREAT article giving recipes for 50 soups (from The Food Network). Check it out

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes-and-cooking/50-easy-soups-1--10/index.html