Mini Baked Hamwiches

I've been making these for years, we just call them hamwiches.  For some reason I love them, they're such cheerful little things.  The original recipe is from the King's Hawaiian website.  I've changed it a bit, including cutting back on the butter substantially.  
  
For the rolls, you can use a 12 pack of the stuck together King's Hawaiian rolls, or a store brand.  They just need to be the rectangular stuck together kind, click on the recipe link above to see what I mean.  I personally love the sweet Hawaiian rolls, but my husband prefers the kind that is not sweet.  I am a nice person, so usually use the not sweet variety.
 
Mini Baked Hamwiches
 

12 pack of stuck together rolls

1/2 lb shaved ham

1/2 lb sliced cheddar

4 T butter

1 1/2 t dried minced onion

1 1/2 t Worcestershire sauce

1 1/2 T dijon mustard
 

Preheat oven to 350.  Slice slab of rolls in half so you have 2 big halves, like a giant hamburger bun.  Place the bottom half in a 9 by 13 baking dish.  Top evenly with ham and cheese, then the top roll half.  Melt butter in microwave.  Stir in remaining ingredients.  Spoon evenly over rolls.  Bake until lightly browned. 15-20 minutes (mine took 20).  Cut through sandwiches to separate. 
 
Yield: 4-6 main dish servings

Slow Cooker Ranch Pork Chops

This recipe from Crockin' Girls is very simple, but very good.  Pork loin chops are very lean (other than the fat on the edge) and are often tough when cooked, but for some reason these ones were tender enough to cut with a fork.  The flavor was great, too.  It has a little bit of a tex mex flair to it because of the chiles in the Ro-Tel.  I served it with garlic mashed potatoes and kale salad with a sweet dressing and it was a really nice dinner.  

 

Slow Cooker Ranch Pork Chops

 

9 thick pork loin chops (I cut the fat off)

2 Tbsp butter

1 clove garlic, minced

Montreal steak seasoning to taste

1 oz packet dry ranch dressing mix

2 10 oz cans Ro-Tel tomatoes (diced tomatoes with green chiles), undrained

 

Melt butter in a large skillet and add garlic.  Add pork chops and sprinkle one side with Montreal steak seasoning.  Brown chops on both sides, then arrange them in a slow cooker.  Sprinkle ranch dressing mix on top, then pour on tomatoes.  Cover and cook until meat is cooked through, about 4 hours on low.

 

Yield: 9 servings

Slow Cooker Honey Basil Parmesan Pork Chops

This is a really unusual recipe.  I found it on the Who Needs a Cape blog a month or so ago and was just intrigued by the combination of ingredients.  You don't see honey, basil, cheese, and soy sauce together that often!  It did indeed turn out interesting.  The basil flavor is quite prominent (in a good way) and it's kind of sweet and savory.  This isn't the best meal I've ever cooked, but we did definitely enjoy it and I plan to make it again.  The gravy is really good over steamed broccoli and other veggies.
  
When I made it, I altered it a bit by changing the original romano to parmesan (I hate romano), and I reduced the amounts of basil and garlic because it seemed like a lot.  I also reduced the honey because I didn't want it to be too sweet, and found that the gravy needed only half the amount of cornstarch.  Below is how I made it, but I've listed the olive oil as optional because even though I added it, I don't see how it would be necessary.

  

  
Slow Cooker Honey Basil Parmesan Pork Chops
  
3 lbs pork chops (I trimmed off the fat and cut the chops in half because they were very thick)

3/4 C freshly grated parmesan cheese

1/4 C soy sauce

3 Tbsp honey

2 Tbsp olive oil (optional)

1 Tbsp minced garlic

1 Tbsp dried basil

1/4 tsp black pepper

2 Tbsp cold water

1 Tbsp cornstarch
  

Lightly grease the crock of a slow cooker and add pork chops.  Place cheese in a medium bowl and stir in remaining ingredients, except cold water and cornstarch.  Pour mixture over pork chops and turn to coat.
  

Cook on low 4-6 hours, exact amount of time will vary depending on the slow cooker and how thick the meat is.  I cooked mine in the Instant Pot on high for 1 hour, then regular for 4 hours.
  

Remove meat from slow cooker and set on a plate, cover with foil to keep it warm.  The juices in the slow cooker will have a lot of clumps of cheese and meat bits in it, so puree it with an immersion blender until smooth.  Bring liquid to a boil.  While you wait for it to boil, stir together the cold water and cornstarch, then stir it into the boiling liquid.  Cook for a minute or two, stirring constantly, then pour over the pork chops to serve.
  

Yield: 6 servings

Brown Sugar & Cloves Baked Ham

This is the ham recipe I've used for Christmas the past two years, and I plan to stick with it indefinitely.  It's not as pretty as the pineapple and cherry studded hams, but it tastes amazing, so I'm sticking with it!  The recipe comes from Our Best Bites, which is a blog just bursting with great recipes.  Usually I'm not a huge meat eater, but I really love this ham, and so does my husband, who suggested we make it at Thanksgiving instead of turkey.  The glaze and the sauce it's served with are just great.  I've used a 9 lb Private Selection (Kroger brand) spiral cut ham wrapped in foil both years, and it's turned out great each time.  The leftover ham is perfect reheated or made into sandwiches, and the serving sauce goes well on sandwiches, too.  I put the ham bone in the freezer to make into pinto beans or hoppin' john.

  

 
Brown Sugar & Cloves Baked Ham

 

for serving sauce:

1/2 C mayo

1/4 C dijon mustard

2 tsp apple cider vinegar

 

for glaze:

2 Tbsp melted bacon grease

1 1/2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 1/2 Tbsp dijon mustard

3 Tbsp thawed, frozen orange juice concentrate

3/4 C dark brown sugar

3/4 tsp ground cloves

 

If possible, make the serving sauce the night before so the flavors have time to meld.  Just stir the ingredients together in a small bowl and stash it in the fridge.

 

When you're ready to bake your ham, preheat oven to 325, lower the oven rack to the second lowest position, and line an approximately 8 by 12 inch baking dish with foil.  Place the ham in the dish fat side up.  Insert an oven safe thermometer probe into the thickest part of the ham (in the non-sliced region).  Cover the ham with foil.  Bake until temperature of ham reaches 110 degrees.

 

While the ham bakes, make the glaze by stirring together all of the glaze ingredients.  Remove ham from oven and generously brush the glaze all over, on the outside as well as between the slices.  It can be a little tricky to get the glaze between the slices, but it's worth it, just try not to tear the slices off the bone.

 

Return ham to oven and continue to bake to the temperature recommended on the package, or 145 degrees.  It will probably take about 3-3 1/2 hours for the ham to get up to temperature.  Check on it occasionally and cover again with foil if it starts getting over browned.  Remove ham from oven, tent with foil, and let rest for at least 10 minutes before serving with the sauce on the side.

Cheesy Bacon, Beef & Rice Casserole

Please do not judge this recipe by its photo!  Casseroles are inherently ugly, but oh boy, this one REALLY is.  I've been referring to it as "50 Shades of Brown Casserole", it's not often you see this many variations on the color brown.  Hideousness aside, this casserole is really good.  It was originally billed as Mexican Rice Casserole on the CopyKat Recipes blog where I found it (it was from a lady named Virginia McDowell in 1968!), but I don't think it really tastes like the rice you get in Mexican restaurants.  The bacon doesn't really help it seem Mexican, either, but it does help it be even more delicious!
 
You could serve the casserole with sour cream, cilantro, salsa, and the like if you want it to taste more Tex-Mex (I actually made a side salad with lettuce, tomatoes, and this Creamy Salsa Dressing), but on its own, it just tastes good and is a perfect comfort food.  You could also try adding more chili powder, some cumin, and some black beans to play up the Mexican factor.  I wouldn't leave the chili powder out, though, because it does add a special little something.

Note: The original recipe called for minute rice (quick cooking rice).  I don't like minute rice, so just used regular rice since the recipe looked like it had enough liquid and the simmering time of 20 minutes is just right for cooking it.  It turned out great this way!  I also used the whole bell pepper (yellow, in my case) and onion because I didn't want to waste the rest.
 

Now I'm no great shakes when it comes to photographing food, but isn't this ugly?  I almost feel bad for it!

 

Cheesy Bacon, Beef & Rice Casserole

4 oz bacon

1 small onion, diced

1 bell pepper, diced

1 C uncooked rice

1 lb ground beef

1 clove garlic, minced

1 3/4 C water

8 oz can tomato sauce

1 t chili powder

1 t salt

2 C cheddar cheese, grated
 

Cook bacon in a large skillet over low heat.  Remove bacon to a paper towel lined plate to drain.  Add diced onion and bell pepper to the bacon grease and cook until they begin to soften.  Add rice and cook for a couple of minutes, just until it starts to turn opaque and gets a little golden. 

Add ground beef and cook, stirring constantly.  Keep a close eye on the heat because the rice could burn easily!  It's okay if the beef isn't cooked all the way through if you run the risk of burning the rice. 

Add the water, tomato sauce, chili powder, and salt, bring skillet contents to a boil while stirring, cover, and reduce heat to low.  Cook without removing lid for 20 minutes.

While that's cooking, turn the oven to 400 and grease a 2 quart baking dish.  When rice and meat mixture is done, stir thoroughly, then spoon half of it into the baking dish.  Top with half of the cheese.  Layer with the rest of the rice mixture, the rest of the cheese, and the bacon.  Bake about 15 minutes, until cheese is golden.

Yield: 6-8 main dish servings

Pineapple Ginger Pork Chops

Sorry about the lack of recipes lately, I've been very busy and blogging kind of fell to the wayside.  However, I have a bit of a backlog of recipes and am planning to post more consistently.

We had these Pineapple Ginger Pork Chops last night for dinner.  I found the base recipe on AllRecipes, read the reviews, and made some changes for my version.  Usually I taste as I go when I'm experimenting with a recipe, but this time I just tossed everything in and didn't taste it until we were seated at the table.  The verdict?  Both of us really liked it!  The pineapple and ginger flavors are definitely there, but it's not too over the top sweet, and the soy sauce, garlic, onion, and pepper add to the savory flavor.  It tastes vaguely Asian inspired.  The recipe makes a lot of sauce, too, which is perfect over rice.  Best of all, it's easy to make and reasonably healthy.  Definitely a repeat at our house!

Pineapple Ginger Pork Chops

1 T olive oil
6 boneless pork loin chops (any thickness you want, I used thin ones)
2 1/2 C chicken broth
3 T soy sauce
1 1/2 T white vinegar
3/4 t dried ginger
1/2 t garlic powder
1/2 t onion powder
1/2 t salt (or to taste, you may want less)
1/4 t pepper
3 T cornstarch
1 C pineapple juice
3 T brown sugar

Add oil to large skillet, turn to coat, and heat over medium high.  Add pork chops and brown on both sides.  Remove pork chops to a plate and use a dry paper towel to wipe any pork chop goobers out of the skillet (be careful not to burn yourself!).  Add chicken broth, soy sauce, vinegar, and seasonings to skillet and bring to a boil.  Place pork chops back in skillet and simmer over medium low until they're cooked through (thermometer inserted into the center of one reaches 145 degrees F).  The amount of time will depend on how thick they are.   Thin pork chops only need to simmer about 5 minutes but thick ones will need at least 10 minutes.

Remove pork chops to a clean plate.  Add cornstarch to pineapple juice, stir with a fork until smooth, then stir in brown sugar.  Whisk mixture into simmering skillet and continue to whisk until sauce has thickened.  Cook for another minute, then add pork chops back to skillet and turn to coat.  Cook another minute or so or until pork chops are heated through.  Serve over rice.

Yield: 6 servings

Sage Pork Chops

This is based on a recipe from AllRecipes that I first made a few years ago. It needed some tweaks (namely, it was too salty, the beef broth tasted odd, it didn't have enough sauce and I thought it needed onions), but now it's ready to share! This is a super easy recipe and of course it tastes good, too. The flavor is surprisingly rich and complex considering how easy it is to make and how few ingredients there are. We like it served with rice to soak up the sauce, but mashed potatoes would be good, too. Also I should note you can use bouillon cubes instead of broth (which is what I do), just crumble them into the skillet with the pork chops, onions and water and stir until dissolved, then proceed with the recipe.

Sage Pork Chops

3 T butter, divided
1 onion, cut in half and sliced thinly
1 t salt
1/2 t dried sage
1/2 t pepper
6 pork chops
2 C chicken broth
2 T cornstarch
1/4 C water

Melt 2 T butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion slices and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are lightly browned. Remove onions to a plate and remove the skillet from the heat. Combine salt, sage and pepper and rub into both sides of the pork chops. Melt remaining tablespoon of butter in skillet over medium-high and brown meat on both sides. Add onions back into skillet along with chicken broth. Reduce heat to low, cover skillet, and cook about 15 minutes or until pork chops are cooked through (amount of time will of course depend on the thickness of the meat). When pork chops are done, remove them to a plate. Stir together cornstarch and cold water, bring the liquid in the skillet to a boil, and whisk in the cornstarch slurry. Cook, stirring constantly, until sauce thickens. Cook one more minute. Add pork chops back to skillet. Serve over rice.

Yield: 6 servings