On Wednesday I made ham and cauliflower casserole au gratin. My kids didn't eat it because they were napping during dinnertime. It was the first day back to school after winter break and they were both so exhausted. Later in the evening they ended up having sandwiches. This recipe was a great way to use up some of the spiral ham that we had on New Year's Day . It does make a lot, so I took some for work the next day and still had some for Leftover Friday.
The verdict: It was pretty good. It tasted just a tad bit bland. Next time I will add some garlic or Rotel tomatoes for a little kick. My husband is not a cauliflower fan at all. He was hesitant to even try this dish, cut he ended up liking it.
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On Thursday I made crockpot honey apple pork. When I make a slow cooker meal I like to do as much prep the night before as possible. If I can, I will put some of the ingredients in the crockpot the night before then store it in the fridge. That way I am able to just pull out the crockpot from the fridge, pop it on the crockpot base, press a few buttons and presto, dinner is cooking. For this meal I seared the pork on the stove (which was not suggested in the recipe) then put it in the crockpot and in the fridge. I didn't want to put the apple in it or any of the other ingredients because I was concerned that the apple slices would oxidize so I waited until Thursday morning to finish putting the recipe together. The recipe also did not call for any liquid (i.e. water or broth...etc). I decided to put a cup of apple cider in the crockpot. I didn't want to risk the chance that the pork would dry out, plus I was hoping to add some extra flavor.
The verdict: It was delicious. The pork was very moist. The house smelled wonderful when i came in from work. My husband and kids liked it. One of their friends was over the house and had dinner with us and he even liked it. I will definitely be making this again.
Served with: a mixed green salad, chopped apples, cucumber, green scallions, diced red and green peppers topped with goat cheese and drizzles with fat free raspberry vinaigrette.
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On Saturday I was planning on making Shelly's Bacon and Onion Mini Cheeseburger Meatloaf. I was excited to use one of my Christmas gifts from my DH; Mini Loaf Pan. Unfortunately, we didn't end up making these. We veered off from our menu plan and went out to dinner. I still want to try them, but they will have to wait for another week.
Thanks for the cider tip on the crockpot honey apple pork. I just made that recently, too, and it was good, but dry. Thanks for stopping by my blog, too. =)
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