What to do with leftover pork chops?

Sometimes I look in my pantry and refrigerator and think, "I have no idea what to make for dinner."  Usually if I stand there long enough, something catches my eye and voila, I know what we're having.  If you're having one of those days, here's an easy soup recipe for you to make :)  Serve it with a salad and warm garlic bread and you have a great meal.  Plus you'll probably have some leftovers to freeze for another one of those days when you're at a loss as to what to make.

3 Bean Soup
Ingredients:
1 Can Tomato Soup
4 Cans of Beans (I used red, black & butter)
Lg Can (28oz) Crushed Tomatoes
2 Cups Water
1 Cup Chopped Ham
2 Cooked Pork Chops, Chopped
1/2 Large Onion, Chopped
1 and 1/2 TBSP Minced Garlic
1 TBSP Onion Soup Mix
1 Tsp Salt
Grated Cheddar Cheese

1.  Pour all ingredients except cheese into a slow cooker.  Cook on low for 4 to 6 hours until soup thickens up.  Stir every so often, so soup won't burn.
2  When finished, top with grated cheese and serve.  Serves 6 to 8.

What to do with the end of the bbq sauce...

My friend Kimberly calls these the bottom of the jar recipes.  They are brilliant!  Saturday night I noticed that there was just a bit of bbq sauce left in our squeeze bottle.  It was probably 1/4 to 1/3 of a cup.  In the past I have turned the bottle upside down to get all of the liquid out.  This usually doesn't work.  Sometimes I'll add water to the sauce if a little water will work with the recipe.  This time, I made the recipe in the squeeze bottle.  It worked great!  Every last drop of bbq sauce was gone when I was finished with the marinade.  My only caution is that it works best if you have a funnel.  Surprisingly enough, I found I do not own a funnel.  The next time I visit the dollar store I know what I am investing in. 


Hopefully when Kimberly sees this post, she'll share some of her famous bottom of the jar recipes with us!

Pineapple Pork Chops Marinade
Ingredients:
BBQ Sauce Bottle with about 1/4 Cup left
4 TBSP Pineapple Juice
1/4 Cup Red Wine
1/2 TBSP Minced, Refrigerated Garlic
1/4 Cup Balsamic Vinegar Salad Dressing
1 TSP Jelly (use grape or a berry jelly)

1. Pour all ingredients into your bbq sauce bottle and shake.

I used this marinade on pork chops.  Let your pork chops sit in the marinade before cooking.  Then either grill or fry your pork chops.  If you grill your chops, continue basting chops with the marinade while cooking.  If you pan fry your chops, after browning both sides, pour marinade on top and let cook covered for another 5 to 10 minutes.  Top chops with a cooked pineapple slice for an added touch of flavor.  You could also use this marinade with chicken or fish.

What to do with new pork chops?

So the last two leftover recipes I tried did not go to well.  I tried to make banana pancakes for Celia and Charlie for breakfast, but they had too much banana and not enough pancake.  Charlie fed Celia's to our dog, Hammie, when I wasn't looking.  Then, tonight I made a cucumber bean salad for dinner.  It tasted okay, but just okay.  I think it's missing a spice.  As soon as I figure out what needs to be added, I'll post the recipe.  So my recipe tonight is not actually a leftover recipe, instead it's a beginning recipe for pork chops.  It's really good and smells great when cooking.  It's a recipe I created a while ago, so there's not as much detail as there is in my newer recipes.

Creamy Pork Chops

Ingredients:
4-6 Pork Chops
1 Can Cream Corn
1 Can Cream of Chicken Soup
1/2 Envelope of Onion Soup Mix
1/2 Can of Milk (use cream of soup can)

Layer pork chops in a crock pot or baking pan.  Pour all ingredients on top.  Cook in the crockpot on high for 2 to 2 1/2 hours or cook in the oven at 300 degrees until pork is completely cooked.  While cooking, baste pork chops with gravy several times to keep them moist.  Remove from oven or crockpot when pork is at correct temperature and let cool a bit.