Thursday, June 19, 2014

Crockpot Pork Chops

I am embarking on a new adventure that has been long in the making. I'm sticking to a budget.

Crazy, huh? Well, the darling hubby and I have always had the best of intentions but we always seemed to get a little away from the "budget". Something we never quite had planned perfectly. So, with this change in life (baby number 4 on the way and me no longer working) we have decided to really buckle down. I've been implementing many different things to help make that money stretch. With some determination, will power, and God's grace, I'm sure everything will come out well.

One thing that is helping immensely is the concept of monthly grocery shopping. I can't say I planned the last month out well, but I basically did one last shopping trip to stock up on needed items (like milk, bread, and eggs) and then decided I wouldn't go to the grocery store for as long as possible. While I have made a couple of trips to the store for small things (like bananas, spinach, and broccoli) I have stuck to the plan. One way to accomplish this monthly shopping is to plan a menu for a month at a time. Well, I hadn't done that. What I have done is make sure that we scrape the pantry and the freezers. I have found a few things I didn't know we had in there. And we're using it well.

One of those things is pork chops. I knew we'd bought some from Costco a long while ago and had made some of them up when we got them but I clearly forgot about the last three in the freezer. So, last night I put them in the fridge and this afternoon I threw them in the crock pot. I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to do with them so I just threw some things at it.

They turned out great!! My kids had seconds and thirds and fourths!! I didn't take any pics since I wasn't expecting anything spectacular but I wanted to share the recipe anyway. So without further ado...here it is.

Ingredients:
3 large pork chops
Barbeque sauce
Teriyaki sauce
Minced garlic
1 can Chicken broth

I didn't do a lot of measuring since I was just seeing what I could come up with but here goes.

Place pork chops in crock pot. Pour barbeque sauce over the top of each one. Add about 1 - 2 teaspoons of minced garlic per pork chop (I just put the garlic right on top of the barbeque covered pork chops). I then drizzled teriyaki sauce over each pork chop. Finally, add about 1/2 to 1 cup of the chicken broth to the whole thing.

Cover your crock pot and cook on high for about 2 hours.

Take off lid, flip pork chops over and add more barbeque and teriyaki sauce to each one. I also needed to add more chicken broth as the liquid was cooking down a little too much. I didn't quite use the whole can of chicken broth (I had 1/2 cup left that I used for a frozen chicken crockpot meal). Cook on low for another 2 - 3 hours.

During the last few hours I checked on the pork chops and flipped and flipped them so they would be nice and soaked in the sauce for flavoring. Serve with steamed broccoli and rice.

UPDATE: I should have said this was an easy freezer meal too. Just add all the ingredients (minus the chicken broth which will be added that day) to a freezer safe zip lock bag. If doing it that way, I would add about 2 cups barbeque sauce, and 1/2 to 1 cup teriyaki sauce and the regular amount of garlic. More can always be added later if you'd like or notice it needs a little more flavor to it. Just take the freezer bag out the night before and set in the fridge so it partially thaws before adding to the crockpot.

The pork chops were just delicious and nearly fell apart. We didn't need any knife to cut them, our forks did the job wonderfully.

Hopefully yours will be as good as mine. And let me know if you have any questions.

Happy Creations!
Jennifer

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Amazon gift card

I was just working on my finances the other day and came across a great deal. If you are a member of Pacific NW Federal Credit Union and a fan of accessing your banking info through your smart phone, there is a new app you'll want to sign up for.

Log in to your account at Pacific NW Federal Credit Union and you'll see a message about this very deal. All you have to do is follow the link they provide, fill out your info, then download the app. Once you do that, you'll receive a $10 Amazon gift card. You can't beat that!! It says you'll see it in  your inbox in about 4 weeks.

I already did this and will be on the lookout for the gift card. It's a great deal for just downloading the app (which I would have done anyway). Just don't wait. It's only good for a few more weeks!

I mean seriously, who doesn't love getting something for free?! And by the way, if you really don't want it just do it and send it my way! :)