Ranch House Pork Chops {or chicken} with Parmesan Mashed Potatoes

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Nothing is better than a good meat 'n potatoes dish... Except one made in a crock pot!!  This is a delicious recipe that is just about the easiest thing ever.  I love three-ingredient-gourmet-slow-cooker-ness.  It's totally my style.  The original recipe calls for pork, but I think I would have liked it better with chicken.  We had it for family dinner with the missionaries and everyone loved the pork, so it's just up to you.  I served this with broiled asparagus tips mixed with green beans, a green salad, and fresh fruit.  {Yeilds 8}

{What you need}

8 pork chops {or chicken breasts}

3, 10 oz cans cream of chicken soup

3 packets ranch dressing mix

{for potatoes}

8 pounds potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 stick of butter {8 tablespoons}

2.5 cups grated parmesan cheese

10 cloves roasted garlic {see instructions below}

1.5 cups milk

1 tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper {or to taste}

Combine soups and dressing mix in a bowl.  Place meat in a crock pot and pour soup mixture over it.  Cook on low for 6 hours or on high for 4 hours.

Meanwhile, boil the potatoes for 10-12 minutes or until fork-tender.  Mash together with remaining potato ingredients and serve topped with the soup gravy from the crock pot.

{roasted garlic}
Preheat oven to 350.  Wrap a bulb of garlic in tinfoil--skin and all--and bake for one hour.  Let cool for 15 minutes before handling.  Peel desired amount of cloves and mash together in a small bowl with a fork.  One bulb will have 10-12 cloves.

Creamy Baked Yam Soup

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I was nervous that this soup wouldn't turn out, because I sort of created this recipe by myself {inspired by this recipe that i came across on pinterest}. . . but it seriously changed my life and the lives of the rest of my family who partook! And the best part? IT IS INCREDIBLY HEALTHY!!!!! AND EEEEAAAAAASSSSYYYYYYYYY!!!!! Perfect for the upcoming fall season, and delicious enough to entertain with and blow the minds of even the toughest critics. {yields 4 quarts}

{What you need}

5 pounds yams, cleaned and diced into 1/2 inch cubes, keeping the skin on

1 medium yellow onion, diced

10 cloves of garlic, whole

8 cups chicken broth

8 oz. full fat cream cheese

8 oz reduced fat cream cheese

1 Tablespoon seasoning salt

Combine yams, onion, garlic, broth, and seasoning salt in a 6 quart slow cooker.  Cook on high for 5 hours or until yams are cooked through.  Next, puree the cooked yam mixture and the cream cheeses in batches in either a food processor or blender until it is all incorporated.  Serve with diced green onion, a little sour cream and shredded cheese, if desired.  We had it with whole wheat rolls, too.  Amazing!!!!  

Lemonade Chicken

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This is super easy for those days when you won't have a ton of time to make dinner.  It's got a fun little kick to it from the lemonade.  It's best when you thicken the liquid and serve as a sauce over rice.

{What you need}

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 can {6 oz} frozen lemonade, thawed

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon vinegar

1/4 cup ketchup

2 tablespoons cornstarch

2 tablespoons water

Place chicken in greased slow cooker.  Stir lemonade, brown sugar, vinegar, and ketchup together.  Mix well.  Pour over chicken.  Cover and cook on high 3-4 hours or on low 6-8 hours.  Combine cornstarch and water and pour into cooking juices to thicken the sauce.  Heat juices over stove on medium heat until desired thickness.  Serves up great with green beans or asparagus!

Italian Chicken with Mushrooms

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I love a good crock pot recipe!!  This one is delicious and just about the easiest thing you can imagine.  I literally quadrupled the amount of mushrooms it calls for, because you all know that I adore me mushrooms.  It totally hit the spot.

{What you need}

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 envelope Italian salad dressing mix

1/4 cup water

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1 can {10 3/4 oz} cream of chicken soup, condensed

1 package {8 oz} whole mushrooms, washed

Place the chicken breasts in the bottom of a greased crock pot.  Combine the water and Italian dressing mix and pour over chicken breasts.  Mix together the cream cheese, soup, and mushrooms and pour on top of chicken.  Cook on high for 4-6 hours, or on low for 7-8 hours.  Serve with either rice or noodles. Makes 4 servings.

{From the recipe book 

101 Things to Do with a Slow Cooker 

by Stephanie Ashcraft and Janet Eyering}

Best Baked Beans

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My mom has the best baked beans recipe, hands down.  And now you get to have it, too, just in time for summer barbecues!  The secret ingredient is molasses.  It gives it a sweet and savory flavor, all at the same time.  MMMMmmmmmmmm......

{What you need}

3-30 oz. cans pork and beans    

1/3 cup ketchup

1/3 cup molasses

2 Tablespoons mustard

1/2 medium onion, diced

6 oz. bacon (half a regular package)

In a medium sauce pan, fry up the bacon until it is nice and crispy.  Chop it up into lil' chunks.  In the bacon fat, saute the onion until translucent and fragrant.  Drain.  In a separate sauce pan (or slow cooker), combine beans, ketchup, molasses, and mustard.  Stir in the bacon and onion until evenly mixed.  Heat through on the stove top, stirring constantly, or in the slow cooker on high for about two hours.

(Compliments of Jackie Durrant)

Crock Pot Beef Stew

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This is the easiest stew ever, and it is so hardy and delicious! Perfect for fall! You can load it chalk full of all your favorite stew veggies. Next time I make it I'll put sweet potatoes in it, onions, and maybe some squash. Oh and of course loads of mushrooms. I told John the other day that my headstone should read "That would be better with mushrooms." I say that about practically every recipe. This recipe comes from a great cookbook, The Essential Mormon Cookbook.

{What you need}

1 pound beef stew cubes

4 carrots, sliced

4 medium potatoes, cut in large chunks

1 (1-oz) package dry onion soup mix

2 (10.75-ounce) cans cream of mushroom soup 

(you could get light soup to make the stew healthier)

1 (8-oz) can tomato sauce

1 (10-oz) package frozen green peas

Mix all liquid ingredients in a medium bowl. Add all ingredients to a slow-cooker and cook on low for up to 12 hours.

Mama Henrie debuted (who'd a thought that's the past tense spelling of debut?!?!) this on Sunday and everyone looooooved it. I'm not even huge into stew, and this rocked my world.

Beef Stroganoff

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I looooove a good crock pot recipe. They are so easy and usually super hearty. You can make loads at a time and usually have great left-overs for a few days after, which John and I also loooooove. There's nothing like wanting to grab a snack and discovering delicious savory dinner food in the fridge to indulge in mid-morning. That's typically how it goes in our home when we have left overs. And John likes to take the left-overs to school for a good lunch so he doesn't starve. Ok, enough about left-overs, let's get cookin!

This is a delicous stroganoff. Possibly my favorite, especially with loads of extra mushrooms. I trippled the mushrooms in this recipe and could have put even more. We just loooooove mushrooms. Thanks to my second mama, Julie McDonald, for this winner!

{What you need}

1 lb. stew meat

1/4 cup onion, minced or dried

1 can Cream of Mushroom soup, condensed

1 can mushrooms

1/4 teaspoon garlic salt

1/2 cup red cooking sherry

1 cup sour cream

cooked noodles of your choice

Combine all ingredients except sour cream in a crock pot, cook on low for 6-8 hours. Add the sour cream right before you serve it. Serve over noodles.

Apricot Chicken

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Another winner from Favorites. John asks me for this dish all the time. It is just about the simplest thing on this good earth to assemble and it tastes delish.

{What you need}

6-8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (can be frozen)

1 bottle (16 oz) Russian salad dressing

1 bottle (18 oz) apricot jam

1 large package dry onion soup mix

In a medium sized bowl mix the dressing, jam, and onion soup mix. Place the chicken in a slow cooker and pour the apricot mixture over. Cook on high for 4-6 hours. Serve with rice.