As my regular readers already know, this month I have been trying to live off the food already in my pantry and freezer, and only spend $25 per week to keep my family of 5 afloat.

This is only week one and so far I’ve had no trouble, but I did run into one stumbling block.. I wanted to make pulled pork and I had NO bottled barbecue sauce in the house! OH THE HUMANITY!

Today I’m introducing a fun new challenge that I have started and recruited about 100 other bloggers to join me.  It is a bi-monthly recipe challenge where I challenge us all to come up with a recipe using a specific ingredient or technique (think “Chopped” but a lot easier.)  It will be held on the second Wednesday of every other month.. and we're calling it the “Ultimate Recipe Challenge”

This month’s theme ingredient (since it is March.. and in honor of St. Patrick’s Day) is:  POTATOES


White, red, sweet, fingerling, yukon gold or even powdered mashed.. ANY potato counted.  Plus the dish could be sweet or savory, a entree or a side.. Heck, even a dessert!   But there had to be potatoes in it somewhere.
My submission for this challenge was:

Slow Cooker Cheesy Ham and Potato Gratin

I’ve share some brussels sprouts recipes before (a LOT of brussels sprouts recipes) but today’s is a good one!  Plus it is pretty easy.  You par-cook the sprouts in the oven first, and finish them in the pan so you don’t have to stand there and watch them the whole time.

I have to laugh, because when I was trying to title this recipe, I couldn’t get the Simon And Garfunkel song** "Scarborough Fair" out of my head. I mean, come on! The ingredient list is the title of their album!

And since I’m a dork, I decided just to roll with it.  I think the songwriter was onto something, because that flavor profile is perfect when paired with a pork loin roast.

The recipe is super simple (and a basic modification of Paula Deen’s Herb Crusted Tenderloin).  Baking it for a short period on high heat forms a crust and then reducing the temperature and finishing the pork on low helps keep the pork moist while cooking it all the way through.  You can use a tenderloin with this recipe instead of a full loin roast, but be sure to reduce the cooking time!


Rosemary & Sage Herb Crusted Pork Loin
Boneless Pork Loin Roast (2-4 pounds)

For Flashback Friday today I am sharing my favorite slow cooker recipes.  (Actually..I still call it my "Crock Pot" even though I know that is a trademark.. but I also call them "Q-tips" and "Kleenex.") Anyhow.. A Crock Pot is so versatile and makes it so easy to have dinner ready if you aren't actually around to make it.

I like to use my slow cooker in the summer since it helps keep the kitchen cool because you don’t have to turn on the oven. In the summer I mostly do recipes like bar-ba-que and meat entrees.  On the other hand, I also like to use my slow cooker in the fall and winter because the days are so short and I like not wasting any daylight hours preparing dinner.   In the colder months I tend more towards soups and stews.  I've posted quite a few of the recipes I use on the blog and I thought it would be great to round them all up.

So let's get this party started.

Any long term follower of my blog will know I have become a HUGE fan of brussels sprouts, and anyone who knows me in real life knows that is a SHOCKING fact because I am not usually a fan of anything green.

But since I learned a few tricks in preparing them, they are now one of my 'go to' veggies of all time! Yes.. OF ALL TIME!!  Therefore, for today's flashback friday I thought I would share a few awesome Sprout recipes.  Since if you haven't tried them prepared with brown sugar and bacon, well.. you are doing it wrong.

The key to a good sprout is to not have them be mushy.. since mushy is bleck.  Crispy is great (Hey I can even choke down Kale if it is crispy.)

This post brought to you by Walmart, although I actually purchased the Bella® Linea slow cooker featured in this post with my own money.  It was not provided to me for this post but I liked the features so much that I bought one. All opinions are 100% mine.

I LOVE slow cookers.  When you are a busy mom and never home in time to make dinner, slow cookers are a life saver.   The ability to take a slab of semi-frozen chops out of the freezer, add a few additional ingredients and then come home to dinner is phenomenal! 

I have posted multiple slow cooker recipes here including soups and entrees, and I am a huge fan of pork in the slow cooker.  It gets so tender and juicy when roasted at low temperatures for a long time, a result that is hard to duplicate in the oven.

Today’s recipe is no exception.  I was delighted with how well this came out.  The meat was so soft and tender which a hint of garlic and ginger along with sweet and salty notes.

Since my kids don’t like to eat pork chops as much as they like sandwiches, the beauty is that you can also pull the meat apart and serve it “bar-ba-que” style on buns with the glaze poured over it:

I scaled this recipe back and only used 2 butterflied chops, which was plenty for our family, although there would have been enough sauce for even 3 or 4 chops.  If you want to make more than that, the

I did substitute half and half for heavy cream to make it a lower fat version, but it still came out great.

I have converted my kids to be Brussels Sprout fans.  I can't believe I am saying that since I HATED sprouts.. Maybe I just never had any with bacon!  This recipe is great because it is sweet and salty, and the sprouts themselves are crispy and flaky, not at all mushy.

For this recipe you need:
Bacon 4 slices fried and crumbled
(I use the Kirkland pre-cooked crumbled bacon.. about 1/4 cup)
1/2 cup roughly chopped walnuts
1⁄4 cup honey
3 tablespoons rice wine (or cider) vinegar


Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper
Sprouts (about 1 pound.. or one stalk's worth)

One thing that makes sprouts more fun for my kids, is the fact we can buy them on the stalk (you can find them this way at Trader Joe's and most farmer's markets) and they think it is really cool. 

The reason I like them directly off the stalk, is that most of the heads tend to be smaller and less dried out.

To prepare the recipe: 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Peel off the damaged outer layer, and chop them in half:

Toss them in enough olive oil to coat, and add salt and pepper

Bake at 400 for 20-30 minutes.  (You can also toast the walnuts in the oven on a separate cookie sheet if you want a more nutty flavor)

While they are in the oven, combine the honey and vinegar.   IMMEDIATELY before serving toss together the honey-vinegar mix, bacon, walnuts and sprouts (If you let the dressing sit on the sprouts they lose their crispy texture):

This time I served mine with a grilled steak, and dinner was a huge hit!