Crock-pots and Holiday Left Overs from January Cooking Class

Holidays are gone and winter has set in. Why not warm up your evenings with some wonderful recipes for your crock pot. What to do with your holiday left overs? Check out these recipes for January!We had another lovely evening at the January cooking class. Thank you to all who came and all who made these delightful recipes! we had a wonderful time at Mary Lou's as always! Thanks Mary Lou!

Here is a recipe called "Breakfast Casserole" made by Mary Lou, It is the perfect breakfast to make the night before. Then you and your family can just wake up to morning breakfast with no fuss. You can even sleep in and let others serve them selves. It was Yummy!

Breakfast Casserole

32 oz. frozen hash brown potatoes
1 – 2 lbs. cooked sausage
1 onion, diced (optional)
1 ½ cups shredded cheese
12 eggs
1 cup milk
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Layer potatoes, sausage, onion and cheese, repeating 3 times in crock-pot. Mix eggs, milk, salt and pepper. Pour over the top. Cook on low over night.


Here is a simple Chili brought from Ellen's kitchen! Sure to warm up those cold nights.


Ellen Chili


1 qt. whole tomatoes
1 ½ lb. hamburger
1 whole onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
½ tsp. paprika
2 bay leaves
4 cloves
½ tsp. chili powder
1 can tomato sauce
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped with the seeds removed
3 cans kidney beans


Directions
Brown the hamburger, onion, and pepper. Drain. Put all the ingredients (except beans) in the crock-pot for 4 to 6 hours. Add beans and simmer for 2 more hours.


Don't know what to make for dinner? Try Lorraine's Pork Chops, put ingredients in that morning and forget about it till dinner! Creamy comfort on a plate. For those who have Shirley J Universal cream or cheddar you can use that instead of the cream of mushroom soup! It will reduce the salt and calorie intake. Could cooking get any easier?

Crock Pot Pork Chops


4 to 6 pork chops
salt
pepper
garlic powder
onion powder
4 to 6 potatoes
Sour cream
1 can mushroom soup
parsley

Directions
Season pork chops with salt pepper garlic powder and onion powder. Brown chops on the grill or skillet. Scrub and slice the potatoes. Mix the sour cream, mushroom soup, and parsley into a sauce.

Layer ½ of the potatoes into the bottom of the crock-pot. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spread 1/3 of the sauce over the potatoes. Put on the other ½ of the potatoes and another 1/3 of the sauce. Lay the pork chops over the top and cover with the rest of the sauce. Cook on low for 8 hours.

Left over from the Holidays? Try these two dishes that Emily put together with left overs. We got to try these and they were wonderful


Got some left over Ham make these savory muffins!


Ham Dijon Muffins


1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 to 2 teaspoons ground mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 cup finely chopped fully cooked ham


Directions
In a large bowl, combine the first eight ingredients. Combine the eggs, buttermilk, oil and mustard; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in the ham.
Fill greased muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake at 375° for 20-25 minutes or until muffins test done. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.


Who would have thought you could have thanksgiving dinner all over again in a pie, the crust was wonderful, light and flaky!

Thanksgiving Leftover Pot Pie
No Fail Pie Crust


3 cups flour
1 ½ cups shortening


½ cup + 2 T. water
1 tsp. salt
½ c. flour

Directions
Cut the shortening into the 3 c. flour until the size of a pea. In a separate bowl mix water, salt and flour together into a paste. Fold paste mixture into shortening mixture. Knead five to ten times until it forms a ball. Divide dough into 4 sections for 9” pies, 2 sections for 9x13” pan. Roll out each section on a lightly floured surface. Place dough into the pie tin. Fill with desired filling and bake for 30 – 45 minutes at 350°F (the time and temperature is for a double crust pie). Makes two double crust pies.

Emily layered, Turkey, potatoes( you could even put gravy over the potatoes), vege, Stuffing and cranberry sauce on Top. I loved how she stated that they did not have any mashed potatoes left over so she got some hash browns out of the freezer and used it. We got a wonderful slice of the holidays.

We have all the recipes here from that evening. Thanks to Emily for being my typist!

Love to you all! Have a wonderful month and I should be posting other recipes for Crock pots so check back in these winter months.