Comfort Food Via The Slow Cooker

"I really don't dislike to cook, but what you cook is eaten so quickly.  When you sew, you have something that will last to show for your efforts"

                                                                            ~Elizabeth Travis Johnson

It's Tuesday!  I was actually able to get about four hours of hand sewing in on my Hawaiian Quilt yesterday.  I hope to get in more today.  I did have to take some time off to give myself a mani since my nails had been naked since Saturday afternoon.  I went with a new color for me, Zoya Clara.  I will post pics on that at a later date. 

I have been following the tutorial from Jaybird Quilts on hand sewing hexies.  She is giving a wonderful step by step tutorial!  I haven't started mine yet as I'm waiting on an order of Quilt Patis Hexagon Templates.  I had ordered them for a shop here in California but they were back ordered and finally said that I should try ordering them straight from the creator.  So today I called the "Home of the Original Quilt Patis" and placed an order and was told they will ship out tomorrow!  I can't wait.  Of course, I should probably finish the hand sewing on my current project before starting another.  I am going to be strict with myself and make myself finish the Hawaiian Quilt before beginning the hexies (well, I'm going to try really, really hard).

Here is today's photo:

This is a cactus on my back porch that I inherited from my friend, Garry.  I have no idea what variety it is so I am unable to give you any facts on the cute little plant.  If any of you know the variety, drop me a line and let me know, please.

Today I thought I would share a recipe with you.  One day last week I decided I really could use some comfort food and what better and easier way to prepare that than in the slow cooker.  This recipe comes from my favorite slow cooker cookbook "Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook".   I did alter the recipe slightly from the original.

Pork Chops and Mushrooms

Ingredients:
4 boneless pork chops, 1/2-inch thick
1 medium onion, sliced
4-oz can sliced mushrooms, drained
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
10 3/4-oz can golden cream of mushroom soup
3 tablespoons red wine

Here's what I used

Directions:
1.  Place pork chops in greased slow cooker. Top with onions and mushrooms.

2.  Combine soup mix, Worcestershire sauce, red wine, and mushroom soup. Pour over mushrooms.

3.  Cover. Cook on Low 6 to 8 hours.

Pork chops in my slow cooker

Pork chops with the mushrooms and onions on top

Pork chops with the soup mixture on top

This is so easy and smells so good cooking for most of the day.  The meat is extremely tender and my hubby loves all of the mushrooms (I scrape mine off - not a mushroom fan).  I served this with mashed potatoes.

My mother turned me onto to these frozen packaged mashed potatoes called Ore Isa Steam n' Mash Garlic Seasoned Potatoes. 

You just pop the whole unopened bag of potatoes in the microwave and follow the directions for cooking.  When finished cooking, dump them in a bowl and add some milk.  With minimal mashing, you have real mashed potatoes without all of the hassle of boiling the potatoes, endless mashing and trying to get the milk to potatoes ratio just right.  The one hint my mother did suggest was to warm the milk before adding it to the potatoes (the package doesn't tell you to do this) so that way your potatoes don't cool down from cold milk.  You might want to give them a try some time.

I have decided to join in Amy's Creative Side "One Thing, One Week Challenge".  My goal this week is to get at least half way through the hand stitching on my Hawaiian Quilt.  So today is a fairly short blog today as I want to get an earlier start on my Hawaiian Quilt.  I hope all of you are getting accomplished what you hoped to do this week - at least so far. 

And, of course, don't forget to enter my first GIVEAWAY!  The winner will be announced Monday!

Ta-ta for Tuesday!