Apple Puff Pancake

We almost didn't get to have this tonight. My daughter was taken to the hospital from school with chest pains and we didn't get home til almost 7PM! Turns out my daughter is fine, a little stressed apparently, but otherwise fine. It's March break next week so she'll have a chance to unwind from the rigors of the seventh grade!

Tonight's meal was so worth the wait! This is SO good! I have tried many recipes for this, but this is the one that is best! My kids were so pleased with tonight's meal. My 2-year-old was the quietest at the table he's ever been...so busy taking one bite after another!

You need:
2 T stick margarine or butter (I used soft and it was fine!)
2T brown sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
2 large eggs
1/2 cup flour (I use 1/4 whole wheat, 1/4 all purpose)
1/2 c milk
1/4 tsp salt
1-2 baking apples (I used McIntosh)Peeled, cored, and thinly sliced

Set the oven to 400F. Put the margarine in a 9" pie plate and set it inside the oven to melt the margarine. Remove the pie plate and spread the margarine over the sides and bottom of the pan. Sprinkle the brown sugar and cinnamon on the bottom of the pan. Spread the apple slices over the bottom of the pan.

Beat the eggs slightly in a medium bowl with a wire whisk. Beat in the rest of the ingredients until just mixed. Pour the mixture over the apples. Bake 30 minutes or until pancake is puffy and a golden brown colour.

Immediately loosen the edge of the pancake from the pan with a thin knife. Set a plate on top of the pie pan and carefully flip the pan and plate over. The pancake will come out onto the plate upside down. That's how you want it. If you don't flip it, you'll never get apples onto each person's plate without a struggle. Flipped, the apples and caramelized sugar mixture is on the top when served. Also, the puff deflates soon as you cut it.

Serve it as is. The kids will add syrup to it if I put syrup on the table. But they'll eat it without, too! I like it as is!

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Green Goodness Smoothie

It's a HIT! WOW! I was hesitant to try this recipe since I have a child who won't eat green things. He saw the spinach leaves go into the blender and I was sure I'd lost him at that point. Wrong! He LOVED it! It's quite sweet and refreshing. Everyone loved it. It has a fibrous texture, but no one seemed to mind that at all. They have renamed it to "Monster Mash" and asked that we have some floating eyeballs (grapes) next time.

This served the five of us with some to spare! The two youngest got 6 ounces each and the rest of us had 8 ounces.

• 2 bananas sliced if fresh (I used frozen bananas)
• 2 cups fresh grapes, washed
• 3 cups fresh spinach, washed
• 1 whole apple cored, peeled and sliced
• 12 ounces plain yogurt

Add the yogurt and banana first, then all other ingredients. Blend until smooth. You'll need to push things down a couple times to get it all blended, but it all will.

Pour and serve!

I'm making this again tomorrow at the kids' request. How's that for getting the green leafies into them? Works for me!

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Easy Slow Cooker Pork Chops

I love crock pot cooking! I got started with it when I was a single working mom and got sick of the low-quality 30 minute meals I'd make for us when we got home around 5:30 in the evening. It was always such a mad dash to get dinner for us, while I had a hundred other things to take care of. The crock pot became my friend. I'd start a meal cooking in the morning and come home to roasts with potatoes and carrots, whole chickens, chili, etc. It gave me more time with my children who needed and deserved as much of me as they could get since I was the only parent in their daily lives.

This recipe is similar to one I bake frequently and since that one is a family favourite, I decided to try this one out as well. I'll report tonight on its success. I modified this for a family of six:

6 1 inch thick pork chops (fat trimmed)
1/2 one large onion
3 T chicken soup base
30 ounces apple pie filling (I make my own, but a can will save you about 20 minutes' work)
3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks.

While my pork chops were defrosting in the microwave, I peeled and sliced 8 medium McIntosh apples. One of my handiest kitchen gadgets has got to be my apple peeler/corer/slicer. My apple pie filling was done cooking and removed from the heat before the pork chops were done defrosting. How I make my filling: 8 peeled, cored and sliced apples, 1/4 c water 2 tablespoons brown sugar, 2 tablespoons margarine, 1 tablespoon instant tapioca granules, and cinnamon and nutmeg to cover them. Cook and stir on medium high heat until sauce thickens. I wasn't fussy on the perfection of the pie filling as it's going to practically disintegrate in the crock pot. I could have mixed it all together and put them in raw, but I wanted the flavours to blend so that they season the pork chops.

I sliced one half of a large onion and after spraying the bottom and sides of the crock pot and layered it on the bottom of the crock pot. Next I sprinkled 1/2 the soup base over the onions. Once the pork chops were thawed, I browned them lightly on the stove and lay them on top of the onions. I sprinkled the remaining soup base over the pork chops and piled the apple pie filling on top of that. This will cook on low for 4 1/2 hours, at which time I'll add the sweet potatoes. I'll lightly sprinkle the sweet potatoes with cinnamon and nutmeg because I like them like that. Then it will cook another hour and 1/2.

It's called easy, but I might have made it a bit more labour-intensive. Still, 30 minutes' prep time is as much as I do for chili or other ingredient-rich crock pot meals.

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