[Chopped]

So I'm sitting here watching Chopped with my cooking buddy (Josh!) and it has inspired me to practice my cooking to the point where I could hypothetically compete on the show. I love cooking with whatever random, obscure ingredients I can find in the kitchen. I eat the weirdest, most random foods that most people would consider disgusting together. With enough practice, I could do pretty well on that show.

Lemon Pepper Mason Jar Chicken

Recipe: Lemon Pepper Mason Jar Chicken

Source

1 (3-4lb) fryer chicken

1 whole lemon, cut in half

2 tablespoons freshly cracked black pepper

2 teaspoons salt

1 cup chicken stock or water

1 pint sized mason jar

1 small bunch thyme (optional)

1. Heat grill over low heat (350-400 degrees F). Add chicken stock or water, lemon and optional thyme to mason jar. Salt and pepper chicken. Place chicken on mason jar, and then place on grill. (Depending on chicken size, you may have to slightly force your chicken on the jar).

2. Grill chicken over 350-400 degrees F, or until chicken is golden brown, juices run clear, and internal temperature is 165 degrees F.

My Interpretation:

First of all, I cooked the chicken in the oven in a stock pot as opposed to on the grill. Cooking it this way made it take a little longer, but it still turned out just as tender and delicious. The meat literally fell off the bone when I pulled the chicken out of the pot. And the house smelled amazing while it was cooking. If you only have time to throw something in the oven for a  while without tending to it constantly, this is definitely a great recipe to try.

 

This is not my photo. I forgot to take a picture of the finished product. :( But it looked pretty much the same!

Hawaiian Baked Ham and Swiss Sandwiches

Recipe: Hawaiian Baked ham and Swiss Sandwiches

From: The Kitchen Life of a Navy Wife

1 12-pack of King’s Hawaiian Original Rolls

1 ob. Deli ham, shaved

1 lb. Swiss cheese, thinly sliced

1 ½ sticks butter

3 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1 ½ teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

3 teaspoons of poppy seeds

1 onion, chopped

1. Heat oven to 350. Melt butter and mix in mustard, Worcestershire sauce, onion and poppy seed. Simmer for several minutes.

2. Cut the entire pack of rolls in half, horizontally (keeping all top and bottom halves intact).

3. In greased 9x13 pan, place bottom half of rolls and spread 1/3 of the onion mixture over the bottom of the rolls, followed by the ham and cheese.

4. Replace the tops of the rolls and spread the remaining onion mixture over top.

5. Cover and bake for 15-20 minutes and, once finished, separate for serving.

My Interpretation:

Very delicious and very simple to make. I did not have poppy seeds, but it was still very good. Also, I used onion rolls instead of the Hawaiian ones in the recipe, but it was still very delicious. If you don’t have a lot of time to make dinner, I highly recommend this. You just mix it all together and pop it in the oven for about 15 minutes. Boom. Done. It is a wonderful spin on your average ham and Swiss sandwiches. Very filling, too! Eat up!

 

Warm Chocolate Pudding Cake

Recipe: Warm Chocolate Pudding Cake

From Cookingwith Joey

1 pkg chocolate cake mix

1 pkg (3.9 oz.) instant pudding mix

2 c. sour cream

4 eggs

1 c. water

¾ cup vegetable oil

1 c. semisweet chocolate chips

Whipped cream or ice cream

In a mixing bowl, combine the first six ingredients. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into a 5-quart crock pot that has been coated with nonstick cooking spray. Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with moist crumbs. Serve it while it’s still warm in bowls with whipped cream or ice cream, if desired.

Tips: Usually when you cook something in a crock pot, you don’t have to be so exact with the time. If it’s an extra hour on low, it’ll still turn out fine. But with a crock pot cake, you want to try to hit the mark a little more closely. In other words, plan your time so that it’s finished cooking around the time you’ll be wanting to serve dessert. Otherwise the cake might begin to burn a little around the edges. If this happens, don’t fret. Just scoop it out of the center.

For an easy variation, try different combinations of cake flavors and kinds of chips. How about white chocolate, peanut butter, or caramel chips?

My Interpretation:

We used fudge brownie mix instead of cake mix and it turned out even more decadent than expected. We turned out crock pot off at exactly 6 hours and it came out very moist and pretty much perfect. We topped it with some fudge swirl ice cream and by golly was that delicious. We put the leftovers in the fridge and might I say, the refrigerated version of this recipe is like eating the softest, most delectable fudge you’ve ever had. Sure this recipe takes longer than your average cake recipe, but it’s well worth the wait. This cake came out better than any cake I’ve ever tasted. I don’t think I’ll ever look at a cake the same way again, haha. I would highly highly highly recommend this recipe to anyone who wants to show off some cooking skills or someone who is trying to impress a friend, relative, love/lust interest, etc.

Paula's Crock Pot Macaroni and Cheese

Recipe: Paula’s Crock Pot Macaroni and Cheese

From CookingWith Joey

2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni

4 tbs butter

2 ½ cups shredded cheddar cheese

3 eggs

½ cup sour cream

1 (10 3.4 oz.) can condensed cheddar cheese soup

1 cup whole milk

½ tsp dry mustard

½ tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

Boil the macaroni in water for six minutes. Drain.

In a medium saucepan, mix butter and cheese. Stir until the cheese melts.

In a slow cooker, combine cheese mixture and add the eggs, sour cream, soup, salt, milk, mustard and pepper. Add the drained macaroni and stir again.

Cook on low for 2 ½ hours, stirring occasionally.

Tips: I used regular brown mustard instead of the dry mustard, just because it’s what I had on hand. The main point is to add some kind of mustard because it makes it taste cheesier.

If you’re not a fan of adding eggs to your mac n cheese, you can simply omit them.

My Interpretation:

We left out the dry mustard because we didn’t have any. And we ended up adding about 2 cups extra pasta to it because the cheese to pasta ratio seemed very unbalanced, plus it gave us more food in the end. However, overall this recipe was absolute delicious. I might be biased because I love those over-flavorful foods (such as Paula Deen’s cooking with all her butter and whatnot), but this was the best macaroni and cheese I’ve ever tasted. If you’re looking for a healthy meal, this is not the recipe for you. But if you’re feeling skinny and want to indulge in some heavenly home-cooked food, this is what you’re looking for. We made this as a side with pulled pork (Crock Pot Pulled Pork in the next post) and green beans. Made for a very fulfilling, satisfying meal. :)

Crock Pot Pulled Pork

Recipe: Crock Pot Pulled Pork

From Cooking with Joey

Pork roast (shoulder cut works very well)

Any favorite barbeque sauce

Place pork roast in a crock pot. Pour about a cup of barbeque sauce over it. Turn on the crock pot to the low setting and let it slow cook for about 10 hours. You’ll know it’s ready when the meat easily falls apart. Remove meat from crock pot and pull it apart using two forks. Discard any fat. Place pulled pork in a large serving bowl and pour some of the meat drippings over it along with a little more barbeque sauce. Serve on fresh rolls or over rice.

Tips: Choose a barbeque sauce that’s sweet and smokey, like a honey or brown sugar variety. You could even add some brown sugar or honey and a few drops of liquid smoke to your favorite brand. You can find liquid smoke at your grocery store in the same aisle as you’d find barbeque sauce. Be sure to only use a few drops. A little goes a long way!

If you need to adjust the cooking time, figure one hour on high equals two hours on low. Basically, you’ll need a total of about 10 hours of cooking time, so you can do any combination of high and low, as long as you come out to 10 hours in the end. The crock pot is extremely forgiving, so if you should happen o let it cook for an extra hour, all will still be right in the world.

My Interpretation:

Incredibly easy and delicious. Period. All we did was put half the BBQ sauce under the pork and drizzled the other half of the sauce over top. Then we let it cook all day while we were in class and came home to the best dinner imaginable. We put our pork on soft dinner rolls with a side of green beans and macaroni and cheese. SO. GOOD. I would absolutely recommend this to everybody. We used Sweet Baby Ray's (because there's nothing better) Cola-Q flavor sauce. It's a fairly new flavor. Next time we want to try a few different flavors of sauce. (We have a crock pot with three seperate little cookers, so we can make multiple things at once.) We're thinking hickory, honey, and maybe brown sugar flavors. Suggestions? :)