Honey Barbecue Pork Chops

The past few weeks have been hectic and as a result Ryan and I have not been home much during meal times.  Wednesday night I was desperate for a home cooked meal.  The temperatures here have been below freezing all week and I really wanted to make a yummy crock pot meal for dinner but I did not have adequate time to do that by I was done with work for the day. So I switched to plan B as I headed home from work. The next best meal I could come up with was honey barbecue drumsticks. When I got home I was surprised to find that I had just imagined having a package of drumsticks hidden away in the freezer... however, I did find three different containers of pork chops. It was time to conduct an experiment and see if my honey barbecue recipe would work as well on pork as it does with chicken. These pork chops turned out to be incredibly delicious and quite simple to make.

To make these, all you need is 6-8 boneless pork chops, 3/4 cup barbecue sauce, 3/4 cup of ketchup, and 1/2 cup of honey.

Place pork chops in a foil lined 9x13 pan. Measure barbecue sauce, ketchup, and honey into a glass measuring cup and stir. Pour evenly over the chops and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Honey Barbecue Pork Chops

Ingredients

• 6-8 boneless pork chops
• 3/4 cup barbecue sauce
• 3/4 cup ketchup
• 1/2 cup honey

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line a 9x13 pan with foil and place pork chops evenly across the pan.
3. In a liquid measuring cup, combine the barbecue sauce, ketchup, and honey. Mix together.
4. Pour sauce mixture over pork chops and spread evenly across them.
5. Bake for 45 minutes. Enjoy!

Breakfast Burritos

Ryan and I both love breakfast food. Whether it is eaten at breakfast time or as brinner, it's one of our top comfort foods. Give us some sausage gravy, biscuits, eggs, and hash-browns and we will be happy people! I was taught how to make these breakfast burritos by a friend when we were in college and they are the perfect food for a morning when you want a hearty breakfast but do not have time to cook.  For this recipe you will need one pound of sausage, one pound of hash-browns, eight tortillas, 4 large eggs, and a cup of cheese.

I multitask while I make these by cooking several things at once.  I fill a pan with a little bit of oil and start frying my hash-browns as I brown the sausage. When the sausage and hash-browns are most of the way cooked, scramble the four eggs. 

 When the sausage is done, drain the grease from it and add the hash-browns and eggs to the sausage. Stir them together to get a nice mixture in the pan.

 After combining them all together, spoon the mixture out into tortillas and sprinkle cheese over it before folding them. Then place folded burritos onto a grill, such as a Foreman to get the tortillas crispy and the cheese melted. 

Once they have cooled a bit, wrap them in plastic wrap and place them in the freezer. When you are ready to eat them, just thaw them out and reheat. They go well with hot sauce or maple syrup on them. 

Breakfast Burritos

Ingredients

• 1 lb sausage
• 1 lb hash-browns
• 8 tortillas
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup cheese
• Cooking oil

Directions

1. Heat a small amount of cooking oil in a skillet and add hash-browns.
2. While hash-browns are cooking, brown sausage in another skillet and drain grease.
3. Scramble eggs in a different pan.
4. When hash-browns the hash-browns and sausage are done and the egg is scrambled, combine all into one skillet and stir together.
5. Spoon mixture out into tortillas and sprinkle cheese across the top of the mixture.
6. Roll the tortillas up and place onto an indoor grill, such as a George Foreman grill. 
7. After removing them from the grill, allow them to cool. Then wrap in plastic wrap and freeze them.
8. When ready to eat them, unfreeze them and reheat them. They are delicious dipped in maple syrup or hot sauce.

Eggplant Parmesan

As a newlywed, I am constantly trying to figure out what I can feed my husband that he will like...which isn't very hard because Ryan will eat about anything I try to make. I started going through some of the old recipes of my mom's that are among my favorites to make. Although I did not like Eggplant Parmesan during my younger years, it has become one of my favorite foods as an adult that I have to make on a regular basis.  I wasn't sure how well Ryan would like this, since he had never had eggplant before, but alas he loved it and requests it often! It is fairly simple to make, and tastes even better on the second day!

I stocked up on eggplant during the summer and already have it stored frozen ready to use, but if you don't have a stockpile of eggplant in your freezer, it is still easy to prepare. Start with 1 to 2 eggplants depending on size. Cut the top and bottom off and peel the eggplant, then cut them into 1/4 inch slices. Beat 2-3 eggs in a bowl.  Dip the eggplant slices into your beaten eggs and then into 1 1/2 cups of flour.  Once you have them battered, fry them in a pan of oil until they are golden brown on both sides.

While your eggplant are cooling down, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Also grease an 9x13 baking dish. In addition to the eggplant, you will need mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, and a jar of your favorite pasta sauce.

Place a single layer of your fried eggplant across the bottom of your baking dish.

Then spread pasta sauce in a layer over top of the eggplant.

The mozzarella cheese will be your next layer

Continue layering in this fashion until you have three layers of each eggplant, sauce, and cheese.'

After the final layer of mozzarella, sprinkle parmesan cheese on the top

Place in the oven and bake for 30 to 45 minutes.

                                                              Eggplant Parmesan

Ingredients:
1-2 eggplant depending on size
3 eggs, beaten.
1 cup flour
oil
8 oz. mozzarella cheese
1 jar pasta sauce

Directions:
1. Peel eggplant and cut into 1/4 inch slices. Dip into egg and then into flour. Fry in oil until both sides are browned. Allow to cool.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3. Grease a 9x13 pan and layer eggplant, pasta sauce, and mozzarella cheese as if it were a lasagna. Make three layers of the eggplant, pasta sauce, and mozzarella. Sprinkle parmesan cheese across the final layer on top.
4. Bake for 30-45 minutes.