Slow Cooker on a $5 Meal Budget (Pork Chops & Applesauce)

Pork Chops and applesauce (anyone else say this like Peter Brady? ... Every time I say it I think of that episode .. lol).  Here is yet another $5 meal idea that was a pleasure with the boys.  I sadly with my diet didn't get to eat this dinner but all the boys loved it (well Caden told me I need to make chunky applesauce so next time I'll make sure to do that!).  Being on a diet and having to eat something different the family sometimes can be a pain but that is the nice thing about the crockpot and not have to slave over their meal and then mine!

First off we come to the Slow Cooker Brown Sugar and Balsamic Pork Roast I found on the $5 Meal website.  This was a very easy one to do and smelled so great.

Ingredients (These are her prices mine were close to this)

4 pork chops, about 1 1/4 lb. ($2.48)
Salt and pepper
2-3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar ($.20)
4 tsp brown sugar ($.02)

Directions

Place the pork chops in the bottom of a glass baking dish. Sprinkle some salt and pepper onto both sides of the pork chops. Then drizzle the balsamic vinegar over the top. Add 1 tsp of brown sugar on top of each pork chop and spread into the vinegar. Let marinate for at least 30 minutes in the fridge.
Preheat oven to 350.
Bake the pork chops for 30-40 minutes, or until cooked through. Cooking time will depend on the thickness of the chop.

Second off on the menu was to make the Slowcooker Applesauce that I found on another favorite website A Year of Slowcooking.

4 large apples, skinned ,cored, and cut in quarters 
juice from 1 lemon 
1/2 tsp cinnamon 
1 tsp vanilla 
1 T brown sugar 
1/4 cup H20 

The Directions.

Skin, core, and cut your apples into quarters. Plop the pieces into your crockpot. Add the juice from the lemon, and the water. Pour in the vanilla, and add the cinnamon and brown sugar. 

Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours. When the apples are super tender, mash with a potato masher or large fork. 

And here is what dinner looked like!!

(don't laugh at the Ikea Bowl for the kids .. lol)

These are two great recipes that you can make and have in time for dinner (if you want do your applesauce the day before since it makes so much it will give you a treat for a few days).  Hope you all have a great day!  

What's on the Menu tonight?

Another Belly Filling Dinner

I love Pork Chops and Apple sauce (yes the Brady Bunch show comes to mind when I say that … if you don’t know what I’m talking about you so need to youtube it).

I started with the Crock Pot Applesauce that was so simple to make from Skinnytaste.com.

Then I went to the recipe that lead me to the applesauce, the Pork Chops and Applesauce.  The pork was the best I’ve had in a long time.

I’ve been hearing about using cauliflower for a mash potato substitute.  So I went to Spark Recipes for Mashed Cauliflower with Beans.  I think I was the only one who enjoyed this one.

Happy Wednesday everyone, I’m still all out of whack with the holidays etc and can’t believe it’s Wednesday but happy for a good week to come!

So what is on your menu for tonight?

Make Something Monday ... Homemade Applesauce

Since working from home I'm trying my best to do cost cutting things. Now I gave up daycare cost but I now have lunch cost at home for Caden. To keep this budget in control I've been doing good and healthy lunches but then I noticed the cost of the applesauce. That boy can go threw a jar in a week. Time to try making some! Who knew it could be that easy ... ok my mom who has told me time and time again it's easy but well you know who listens to their parents. Certainly not my kids ... LOL. So here it goes!

Applesauce Recipe

Preparation time: 45 minutes. The sugar amounts are just guidelines, depending your taste, and on the sweetness of your apples, use less or more. If you use less sugar, you'll likely want to use less lemon juice. The lemon juice brightens the flavor of the apples and balances the sweetness.

Ingredients

• 3 to 4 lbs of peeled, cored, and quartered apples. (Make sure you use a good cooking apple like Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, Fuji, Jonathan, Mcintosh, or Gravenstein.)
• 4 strips of lemon peel - use a vegetable peeler to strip 4 lengths
• Juice of one lemon, about 3-4 Tbsp
• 3 inches of cinnamon stick
• 1/4 cup of dark brown sugar
• up to 1/4 cup of white sugar
• 1 cup of water
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

Method

1 Put all ingredients into a large pot. Cover. Bring to boil. Lower heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes.

2 Remove from heat. Remove cinnamon sticks and lemon peels. Mash with potato masher.

Ready to serve, either hot or refrigerated. Delicious with vanilla ice cream or vanilla yogurt.

Freezes easily, lasts up to one year in a cold freezer.

One of my favorite sites gave me this: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/applesauce/

Now this one I loved it had a great lemon flavor, I don't think it was Caden's favorite, I think I'll try a less fancy one for him. P.S. I have no clue why there is butter in the picture, just go with it! Plus I used the jar that I bought at Wal-Mart to reuse for this project. Plus I won this bag of Ideal from my girl at Firefly awhile back and I've been trying to cut back on sugar so it's the best to cook with!