Adobo Pork Chops

ohhh... they are good. Hubby didn't even say "I like my pork chops thin and broiled crispy" this time. They were thick and juicy and good. LOL  I will give the recipe and of course I didn't do it exactly (I do NOT like cilantro) and I didn't really measure, I just guessed.

Adobo Pork Chops Better Homes & Gardens Diabetic Living, 2010, pg. 83

• 6 boneless pork top loin chops  
• 2 Tbs packed brown sugar
• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 2 Tbs orange juice
• 2 Tbs snipped fresh cilantro
• 1 Tbs red wine vinegar or cider vinegar
• 2 tsp hot chili powder
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3 cloves garlic, minced

Trim fat from chops. Place chops in a resealable plastic bag and set in shallow dish. For marinade:  combine all other ingredients and mix, pour over pork chops, seal bag and marinate in the refrigerator for 2 to 24 hours, turning bag occasionally. 

Dran chops, discard marinade. For charcoal grill, place chops on the grill rack directly over medium coals. Grill, uncovered, 12 to 15 minutes or until chops are done and juices run clear, turning once halfway through grilling. (For gas grill, preheat grill. Reduce heat to medium. Place chops on grill rack over heat. Cover and grill as above.)

I thought about grilling them outside... but... I broiled them in the oven.  :)

Chuck Wagon

Ohh... I love Chuck Wagon. Not only is it easy to fix, it just plain tastes good.

I did make it differently, this time, though. I saw a recipe (lol  yep) and it was made differently than how I normally made it so I thought I would try it out. Well, as usual, I didn't have ALL the ingredients the recipe called for, so I just did my own thing to kind of match what the recipe called for without much luck, but here is what I did and it did turn out good.

Chuck Wagon

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 package frozen corn
• 1 can Bush's Grillin' Beans
• a little catsup to add a little more liquid

Brown the hamburger and chopped onionr and drain. Add the corn and beans and stir. If it isn't liquidy enough, add a little catsup. 

That's it. I was going to add the seasonings and stuff from the recipe, but I had stuck my finger into the can of beans and tasted it and thought... nope.. this stuff is just to good to add other stuff to it and just left it, outside of adding a little catsup. Stuff was good.  LOL Course, I guess you could always put in two cans of the Grillin' Beans, but I only had one. lol  Enjoy!

Cheesy Soup

Not quite sure what else to call it. LOL  I saw a recipe and thought it sounded good... but I decided to go on my own.

Cheesy Soup


1 C broccoli florets                  1 C cauliflower florets
1/2 onion chopped                   1/2 orange pepper chopped
1 small can minced clams          1 can cheddar cheese soup
1 can milk                                1 tsp - 1 Tbs Thai green curry spice mix
grated mild cheddar cheese

Put into a sauce pan the broccoli, cauliflower, onion, and pepper along with a water and cook until veggies are tender. When everything is tender you can drain most of the water out, add the spice, stir. Add the can of cheddar cheese soup and can of milk. If you want to make a little more soup than what this does, add a little more milk and some grated cheddar cheese. Heat through until hot and serve. Add some grated cheddar cheese on each bowlful if desired.

Hubby liked this! Then again, he didn't know there were clams in it, I didn't tell him and I'm not going to. What he doesn't know is in his soup he likes. LOL

Hope you all like it, too!

Chocolate Syrup

ahhhh...  you've just run out of syrup for your ice cream.  What to do!??!  We always mixed a little cocoa, sugar, and milk together, very little milk, and did with that. But... I found a recipe for chocolate syrup on the web, where else! LOL  And I made it last night. I made sugar free, we have the other stuff still, for my mom, and it tastes pretty good for being fake sugar.

I was looking at the ingredients on the sugar free syrup bottle, and this syrup is made with the ingredients of that, minus all the other unknown stuff....sorbitol (a laxative, no less), caramel color (who needs caramel coloring in chocolate syrup??), phosphoric acid (HUH??), xanthan gum, acesulfame potassium, potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate. That stuff isn't in the recipe.  YAYAYAYAYAYA  Just have to store it in the fridge.

Chocolate Syrup M.A. Flickety, Lillian May, and more, I'm sure


1 C unsweetened cocoa                  2 C sugar or Splenda
1/4 tsp salt                                      2 C cold water
1 Tbs vanilla

Whisk together cocoa, sugar, and salt. Whisk in cold water. Cook over medium-low heat, whisking to combine, until thickened. Let cool, add vanilla. Store in the refrigerator.


I washed out the sugar-free chocolate syrup bottle and put the good stuff in there and stuck it in the fridge. :)

Herbed Biscuits

Ohh.. these turned out quite good. I was going to make Sour Cream Biscuits, but... well, you know... I had to change it to something else cause I didn't have everything I needed. I've made them before and used plain yogurt instead of the sour cream, but after I through out the funky looking yogurt, I didn't have any yogurt. And, thus, a new recipe is born.

Herbed Biscuits


1 C mayonaise                   2 - 3 Tbs Ranch Dressing mix
1 egg beaten                      1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda            1 Tbs canola oil
1 pkg stevia                        1 1/2 C flour
dash of salt

Mix the dressing mix into the mayonaise, add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Drop by spoonfulls onto greased cookie sheet and bake in 400 degree F preheated oven 15- 20 minutes.

Hubby liked these biscuits.. and they turn out good. I can't normally make biscuits... but these work, even for me!

Creamed Beef on Toast

AKA, SOS, AKA, S*** or Stuff on a Shingle

This was one of my dad's favorites, and I have always liked it... and hubby does, too. Thing is, you can use ground beef, little packages of chipped beef/sliced beef, corned beef, eggs, whatever. And it's good. Some people, my grandmother was on, would have the meat browned, the milk added and heated up and sprinkle flour in all the stuff and stir it up and it would turn out great. Me... I do that and I get lumpy gravy/sauce/whatever youwanttocallit... a mess. LOL  Soooo... I always mix up my flour with milk in a cup before I add it to the skillet.

Note: no measurements, I just guess...

Brown about a pound of hamburger and diced onion in a skillet, drain it well. Add salt and pepper, garlic if you're a garlic nut like me, and some milk. Heat. Mix some flour... ohh... 3 Tbs maybe, and some milk in a cup. When the milk in the skillet is hot/close to boiling, pour in the milk and flour mixture, stir, stir, stir until it thickens, turn the burner down and let it cook some more. If it's too thick, add some more milk. If it's too thin, mix a little more milk with flour and add to the skillet.

While you are mixing and stirring and banging on the pots and pans, don't forget to toast your bread! LOL  When it's all ready, spoon the mixture over the toast on your plate. mmmmmm...  mmmm.. mmmm....

Pork Chops over Rice

Pork Chops over Rice Taste of Home, Winning Recipes


8 bonless pork chops                   1 Tbs veg. oil
1 C uncooked long grain rice        1 can (14 1/2 oz) chicken broth
1/2 C water                                 1 small onion, chopped
1 pkg (10 oz) frozen peas             1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp thyme

In a large skillet over medium heat, brown pork chops in oil; remove. Drain. Add the remaining ingredients to skillet. Place pork chops over the rice mixture. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 20 - 25 minutes or until rice is tender.
Yield: 8 servings

I'm still cooking this so don't know how it turns out, yet. I'll let ya know.  :)

aahh... yeah, I did make revisions. Seems I don't have any thyme so I used rosemary and added some garlic. I LIKE garlic!!  I also am using three pork chops instead of 8, since there are three of us here to eat. I also used brown rice, which calls for a ratio of 1 rice-2 water, so I used 1 cup of brown rice and 2 cups of chicken broth.... oh yeah.. I used my own chicken broth. LOL  Time will tell on how it turns out!  :)

Later; after eating supper....

Well, hubby said I could take that page out of the book, but then again he doesn't particularly care for rice, it isn't potatoes. LOL He did like the pork chop. Mom and I both thought it was good. Sooo... I'm not taking that page out of the book. LOL

Italian Sausage Stew

Found this online when I was looking for something to do with ... Italian Sausage!  Go figure!  LOL  Of course it calls for Bob Evans Italian Sausage.  :)

Italian Sausage Stew by Bob Evans


1 lb Bob Evans Italian Sausage Roll                           2 (14.5 oz) cans Italian-style diced tomatoes
2 (14.5 oz) cans beef broth                                       1 (15 oz) can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 (16 oz) package frozen Italian blend vegetables      shredded Parmesan cheese to taste

In a Dutch oven, crumble and cook sausage over medium heat until browned; drain. Add tomatoes, beef broth, beans, frozen vegetables. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer. Cook 7 to 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally.


This turned out good. Hubby even said it was tasty and liked it. As good as it was for supper, like soup or chili, it was better the second day. yuuummmm...

I did modify it, of course. LOL  I didn't crumble the sausage. I missed that part until after I had sliced it and I wasn't going to go crumble all those little pieces and I like my Italian sausage in slices, anyway. Ok... I'm lazy. LOL  I also didn't have any Italian style diced tomatoes so I used my plain Jane ones. Beef broth, I used my own beef broth I keep frozen in the freezer from when I make a roast. aahh.. kidney beans.. I didn't have any of those either, so I used sweet corn. I, also, don't like my stew to be soupy.... like soup, I like the liquid in the stew to be thick, so I thickened it. I thought.. hmmm cream cheese. I added some cream cheese to thicken it, didn't thicken it enough so I added some flour, too.

It still turned out good, even with all the differences from the recipe and what I did to it!

Peanut Butter Cookies

The only ones I've been able to make that taste good!

My mom has Type II Diabetes and LOVES cookies. She will buy these sugar free cookies at the store, but, they still have carbs in them. Not from sugar, but from the flour used in the cookies. When she eats bread the blood sugar jumps right up there.

I stumbled across this recipe for flour free peanut butter cookies and tried it. They are a VERY delicate cookie and will crumble if you look at them funny, but very good. And MOM likes them, which is good cause they are FOR her. LOL The recipe I have calls for a cup of sugar, but I will put the recipe here the way I do it, with Splenda.

Peanut Butter Cookies

1 C organic/natural peanut butter (doesn't have sugar added)
1 C Splenda
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix it all up well, drop by teaspoon fulls onto cookie sheet, I greased mine, the recipe didn't call for that, but I always grease them, bake for 10 minutes in 350 degree pre-heated oven. Let them cool for 2 minutes on the cookie sheet before taking them off to avoid crumbling. Makes 2 doz cookies.

DANG! These are so easy to make and they DO taste good, even with just the Splenda to sweeten them.

I also have tried the no-flour oatmeal cookies, but oatmeal... it still makes the blood sugar go up and that's what needs to be avoided. Next time I make the peanut butter cookies I'm going to add some chopped up walnuts.

Maple Toast and Eggs

Mom is doing very well at the Rehab center. They have her using a walker now. She does pretty darn good on it! The house is really quiet since she's been away. Huh? Am I insinuating my mother is loud? ROFLOL no... not at all. It's just different enough with her being gone it is just strange.

Here is a recipe I made for breakfast late January I believe. I did cut down on it. The recipe makes 12 cups and there were three of us. I just didn't think we'd eat all that. And I didn't think it was something you could just keep for left overs. I guess you could, but it just wouldn't be the same.

Maple Toast and Eggs from Taste of Home Winning Recipes cook book, pg. 139

12 bacon strips 1/2 C maple syrup

1/4 C butter 12 slices firm-textured white bread

12 eggs salt and pepper to taste

In a large skillet, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Using a slotted spoon, remove to paper towels to drain.

In a small saucepan, heat syrup and butter until butter is melted; set aside. Trim crust from bread; flatten slices with a rolling pin. Brush one side generously with the syrup mixture; press each slice into an ungreased muffin cup with syrup side down.

Divide bacon among muffin cups. Carefully break one egg into each cup. Sprinkle with salt and pepper; Cover with foil. Bake at 400 degrees F. for 18-20 minutes or until the eggs reach desired doneness. Serve immediately. Yield: 12 cups

I tried it their way, ungreased. I will grease the muffin pan next time. It is quite good. We all liked it. I just made one for each of us the first time, next time I will make two for each of us! LOL