Chili Rubbed Pork with Apricot Glaze

Since many of you have such large families, I opted to get you as much meat as possible and have you provide the peach/apricot jam.  I figure most of you probably have jam around the house anyway and that way you can cater the flavor to your family (I know not everyone is crazy about apricot.)  I have provided all the other glaze ingredients and spices. You just need the jam and then need to cook the meat. Hope that's okay!

Ingredients

• 4 lbs. pork loin
Spice Rub:
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1/2 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
Glaze:
• 1 jar (about 1 1/2  cups) apricot or peach jam/jelly
• 1/2 cup barbecue sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon  ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 5 drops hot sauce (I used Tabasco)
• 2 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
• 4 T. lime juice

Directions

1. Combine chili powder, garlic powder, sugar, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Rub the spice mixture on the pork loin. Cover the pork and refrigerate for 2 to 24 hours.  I marinaded the meat for 24 hours before freezing.
2. You will need to provide your own jam/jelly. Prior to cooking the meat, melt the apricot jam in a saucepan over medium heat. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the remaining glaze ingredients (included with the meat). Place half of the glaze in a serving bowl and set aside to serve with the pork loin later.
3. Crock Pot Instructions:  Pour half of the glaze over the meat in the crock pot and cook  about 8-10 hours on low (you are cooking more meat than I have ever cooked so I'm sorry for the approximate times!) Meat is done when it can be easily shredded with a fork. Serve meat shredded or sliced with reserved glaze.
4. Roasting Instructions: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the pork in a lightly greased, foil-lined 9X13-inch pan. Bake for 20 minutes. Brush with the apricot glaze.  Bake for 20 more minutes. Again, brush with glaze. Bake an additional 10 minutes or until the pork reaches 160 degrees internally. **New recommendations suggest pork loin can be cooked to 145 degrees instead of the original standard of 160, but I have never personally tried it! Remove the pork from the oven, tent with foil and let it rest for 5 minutes before slicing.
5. Serve the sliced pork over couscous, rice or potatoes with the reserved glaze alongside.

Moist Garlic Chicken

Moist Garlic Chicken

¼ cup butter, melted

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp. garlic powder

½ tsp. salt

Dash pepper

½ cup seasoned bread crumbs

¼ cup finely shredded cheddar cheese

2 TBL grated Parmesan Cheese

6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves cut in 1 inch strips

In shallow bowl, combine butter, minced garlic, garlic powder, salt and pepper. In another bowl combine bread crumbs and cheeses. Dip chicken in butter mixture then into bread crumbs. Place in greased 9 x 13 inch baking pan. Cover. Bake at 350° for 45-50 minutes or until juices run clear.  

Side dishes:

Rice

Potatoes (My kids love when I make homemade french fries with this because they think they are getting chicken nuggets and french fries)

Green Salad

Veges

Side dish recipe:

Mediterranean Roasted Potatoes

3 lbs of small red or white-skinned potatoes (or mixture)

¼ cup of good olive oil

1 ½ tsp. of salt

1 tsp. of freshly ground pepper

2 TBL of minced garlic (5-6 cloves)

4 TBL of fresh rosemary leaves (I just use dried rosemary and it works fine)

Cut the potatoes in half or quarters and place in a bowl with the olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic and rosemary; toss until the potatoes are well coated. Dump the potatoes on a baking sheet and spread out in 1 layer; roast in the oven for at least 1 hour, or until browned and crisp. Flip twice with a spatula during cooking to prevent burning.

Chicken Broccoli Casserole

6 chicken breasts, cubed, cooked
1 bag frozen broccoli florets (save for later)
1 c. grated cheese
1 stick butter
5 Tbsp. flour
1 1/2 c. chicken broth
1 c. whipping cream
3/4 c. bread crumbs

Melt butter in small saucepan over medium heat.  Blend in flour.  Salt, pepper to taste.  Add broth & cook until thick.  Add cream; stir until smooth.  Add cheese, stir until melted.  Pour chicken & sauce in freezer bag.  Seal, label & freeze. 

Baking instructions:  Thaw.  Pour bag contents into greased baking dish.  Mix in thawed, drained broccoli.  Cover with bread crumbs.  Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

Serve with rice, green salad and bread.

Onion Bacon Marinara

1 clove garlic, minced
1 medium onion, diced
2 Tbsp. olive oil
three slices bacon (I used more)
1 can diced Italian style tomatoes

Cook bacon until crisp.  Drain excess fat.  Saute onion and garlic in olive oil.  Add tomatoes.  Serve over cooked pasta.

***For your freezer meal:  I didn't cook the onion because last time I froze meals with sauteed onions, they seemed mushy after reheating.  You'll need to just dice the onion, saute it, and add to the sauce when you are ready to serve it.

Grandma's Swiss Chicken

6 skinless, boneless chicken breast

6-8 slices of swiss cheese

1 family size can of cream of chicken soup,(or homemade version)

1 pkg chicken flavored stove top stuffing

1 stick butter

Lightly spray a 9x13 pan with oil. Cut your chicken into thirds and lay them out in your pan. Lay your swiss cheese across the top of your chicken. Spread your soup on top of the cheese. Melt the stick of butter and mix into you stove top stuffing that is dry until coated. Spread Stove top on top of the soup and bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes.

Baking instructions: If pulling right from freezer bake at 350 for 11/2- 2 hours

If thawed out bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes.

Sides

Green beans or salad and fruit

Hawaiian Meatballs or Chicken

I know this looks long, but it is really 3 different ways to use this sauce

I'm sorry I forgot to write on your bags of rice there is 2 cups of rice.  I would add this to 5 cups of boiling water, then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

We would have this with a big green salad.

Hawaiian Meatballs or Chicken

1 can sliced pineapple + water to = 11/2 c.

1 cup sugar

2 Tbsp cornstarch

1/2 cup cidar vinegar

1 Tbsp soy sauce

1/4 tsp. ginger

1 chicken bouillon (or tsp chicken granules)

I get a can of crushed pineapple and use the juice from that because i like to add about 1/4-1/2 cup of the crushed pineapple to the sauce after it is cooked.

My family also likes the sauce a lot to put over the rice so I usually double it.

Drain pineapple and add water to equal 11/2 cup liquid.  In a large sauce pan mix all the ingredients and boil for 2 minutes. 

Pour over meatballs and bake for 60 min or in slow cooker. 

Serve with rice.

I usually just pour the sauce over the meatballs and cook them. I did not this time because I liked how Tisha had us cook them for about 20 minutes last month,

then pour off the excess grease then pour on the sauce to finish cooking. That is why they were in seperate bags, but you are welcome to do it either way you

would like. You can make homemade meatballs if you like, but my husband really likes just the big bags from Sams or Cosco of meatballs. He thinks it tastes

like meatloaf with the homemade. I'm sure they are great though. The bought  meatballs also makes it nice and fast.

Hawaiian Chicken

You can also batter chicken in a flour, salt and pepper mixture, then add to a frying pan with some oil and cook until brown on both sides. 

Place the chicken in a 9x13 pan and bake at 350 for about 50-60 minutes.  (I always cut my chicken breasts into about thirds, so it may not take as long

to cook)

.

Party Meatballs

Another thing I do with this sauce is for a party appetizer.  I will take the whole bag of meatballs and put them into my crockpot and 5-6 times the Hawaiian sauce

above and pour it over the meatballs until heated through. (When making it in these quantities it would be best to buy the big cans of just pineapple juice and just 

1 can of the crushed if you want to add the pineapple to the sauce.  Also as far as I could tell you would have to get these big cans in IF I could not find any here.)

 Serve with toothpicks.  Usually the whole pot is gone.

Chicken Enchiladas

Toppings optional

fresh cut onions

olives

Chicken Enchiladas

1 Family size can of cream of mushroom soup

1 large can or 2 small cans green chile enchilada sauce

16oz container sour cream

8- 10 corn tortillas (depending on how you like to layer them.)

2-3 cans or about 2lbs shredded chicken

Combine soup, chile sauce, and sour cream. You can also add onions to this mix, I like it with, but I wasn't sure if some did not like them so you can have cut up onions for a topping if you wish.

Place a small amount of the soup mixture on the bottom of your 9x13 pan, then place a layer of the tortillas. (I just placed them in the pan in full circles and ripped some in half for the open spaces. When I put them in the bag for the freezer I ripped them into smaller pieces so they could all be coated and not big pieces stuck together.) Then a soup layer, chicken and then some cheese sprinkled on top. Then start over with your layers until you fill your pan. I do 2-3 layers ending with the cheese on top, but make sure your chicken is mixed in with the soup mixture on top so the chicken won't dry out. (Of course you won't need to worry about this in the bag.)

Bake on 350 for 45 minutes or until center is bubbly.

I think most of the oven meals have taken a little longer to cook than what we put because they are frozen so you might need a little longer.

I love to make a fresh green salad with this and put my salad on top on the enchilada and put a little ranch on top of that. I just love that mixture. You could also have some rice if you would like. I haven't had that but it might be good.

Hope you all enjoy and have a great weekend!

April