Pot Roast with Carrots and Thyme

You will need:

• 2 Pounds Chuck Steaks (cut into bite size pieces)
• 2 Yellow Onions sliced
• 6 Slices Bacon
• 5 Carrots Peeled and sliced into chunks
• 2 Tablespoons Flour
• 6 Dried Prunes
• 1 teaspoon Thyme
• 1 Cup Beef Stock
• 12 oz Can of beer of choice

In a large pot, cook bacon on medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon, let it cool, chip it up and save it for later. Add onions, salt and pepper to taste and cook over med-low heat until carmelized about 20 min. Remove onions, leaving the grease in the pot. Wash meat season with salt and pepper, now brown the meat in the grease. Once the meat has all been browned on all sides, add all of the cooked ingredients together back to the pot, then stir in the flour, Cook for a couple of minutes then add the beer. Stir well then add the beef stock, thyme and dried prunes. Stir well again, and then transfer the ingredients to a 13 by 9 inch baking pan, cover pan with foil. Cook in the oven at 325 degrees for 2 to 2 1/2 hours until tender.
Serve with Mashed Potatoes and Enjoy!

Baked Pork Chops with Crushed Tomato Sauce

You will need:

• Large package of boneless pork chops, (about 2 pounds)
• 1 Tablespoon Veg. oil
• 1 Can crushed whole tomatoes
• 1/2 Cup Ketchup
• 1/4 Cup light brown sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 Tablespoon Mustard
• Salt and Pepper

Put oil in a skillet, wash the meat put the meat on a plate and then sprinkle the meat with salt and pepper, brown the meat on both sides, then place the meat on a greased baking pan. Mix the remaning ingredients together in a mixing bowl and pour it over the pork chops. Bake uncovered for 45 min. to 1 hour until tender.
Enjoy!

Easy Homemade Cheesecake

You will need:

• 2 (8oz) pkgs. cream cheese
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• ready made graham cracker pie crust

Let cream cheese sit out at room temperature until soft, cream together the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla with electric mixer until blended well. Add the eggs and mix well. Pour into pie crust and bake at 350 degrees for about 40 min. Refrigerate several hours or overnight before serving.

Serve with fruit toppings if desired..... I like mine "plain" just like it is.

Enjoy!

Southern Fried Rice with Bacon, Ham, and Carrots

This quick Recipe is courtesy of my husband's mother...my version varies a little from hers because there is not really a recipe. The reason I say this is because she just throws it all together.... I was given no real measurements, but I have watched her years ago, and saw how she made this and this is what I came up with. Of course, I think it's not as good as her version, but it's pretty yummy. This is a recipe that you can season to taste and add what you like to it, .....you can vary the ingredients according to your taste buds seasoning with salt and pepper to taste on this. Rice is so versatile.

What you will need:

• 1 Box of Success Brown Rice (this is the boil in the bag rice and you will be using 2 of the 4 bags that the box comes with). Cook Rice according to the package directions and set aside or you can cook regular white rice or jasmine rice. 
• 4 Tablespoons Butter or Margarine
• 2 Slices Bacon (Optional)
• 1/2 Vidalia onion chopped or a couple of green onions chopped
• 1 Carrot peeled and grated
• 2-3  Slices of cooked smoked ham cut into small pieces, (I used about a hand size piece of left over ham steak, but you can purchase ham steaks or use the deli ham slices cut up)
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Cook rice according to package directions, set aside.
Cook bacon in a skillet on medium heat until it is done, (slightly crispy), remove bacon from skillet, and after it's cooled, chip it up and set aside for later. Add butter to the bacon grease along with the onion, and carrots, saute' until they are tender, about 10-15 minutes, then add the cooked ham and cook for an additional 5 minutes until it is warmed. Add cooked rice and cooked bacon back to the skillet, stir and salt and pepper to taste. Reduce heat to low, cover for about 5-10 minutes until ready to serve, stirring occasionally.

I serve this as a side dish with grilled meats or barbecue dishes and baked beans, but since there is meat in this dish you can always add more meat to the rice and serve it as a main dish.

Enjoy !

For a healthier lower saturated fat version, leave out the bacon and ham, and cut the margarine or butter by half. 

Cream Corn Casserole Old-Fashioned Southern Style

 This will feed a crowd and the ingredients will fill a 13 by 9 Casserole Dish, (sorry for the picture showing just half of a casserole dish...I forgot to take the picture, until we'd eaten half of it).

You will need:

• 2 Cans Cream Style Corn
• 1 Can Whole Corn (do not drain)
• Jiffy Cornbread Mix
• 8 oz Sour Cream
• 1 Stick of butter or margarine melted

Grease 13 by 9 inch casserole dish, mix all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl , pour in the baking dish, cook uncovered for 45 min. to 1 hour, at 350 degrees until light golden brown around the edges.
That's it. This is so easy and fast, tastes sweet creamy and delicious...I've been told that this tastes similar to the fresh cream corn grandma used to fix in the iron skillet.
Enjoy!