Slow cooker meatballs and tortellini

This is an easy set it and forget it meal that tastes like you spent the afternoon in the kitchen. It was the perfect meal while watching football last weekend. 

INGREDIENTS

26 ounce bag of frozen meatballs

30 ounce jar of marinara 

4 cups of beef broth

1 tbsp. garlic powder

1 tbsp. Italian seasoning

salt & pepper 

1 -2 bags tortellini (fresh or frozen)

Add all ingredients to the crockpot except the tortellini and mix together. Cook on low for 4 hours. About an hour before you want to eat, add the tortellini and stir. Cook on low for another hour. 

Sprinkle with parmesan cheese before serving. We paired this with a 5 cheese Texas toast and side salad. It was delicious and so filling! I couldn't even clean my plate. 

Italian Meatloaf

 Ingredients:

1/2 lb. ground beef

1 lb. ground mild Italian sausage

1 small onion, finely chopped

1/2 C. chopped bell pepper

1 tsp. olive oil

1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 tsp. oregano

1/2 tsp. basil

1/2 tsp. parsley

1 egg, beaten

3/4 C. crushed ritz crackers (or you could use Italian bread crumbs)

2 slices white bread, crumbled

1 T. milk

8 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese, reserve 3/4 C. for topping (I used colby jack) 

1/4 C. parmesan cheese

1 C. marinara sauce, plus 1/2 -3/4 C. more for topping

In a small skillet, heat the olive oil over med. high heat and sauté the onion and bell pepper for 3-4 minutes, remove from heat. In a large bowl, add the meats, onion and peppers along with all remaining ingredients reserving 3/4 C. mozzarella cheese for topping. Combine everything well. Once it has all come together, place and mold the mixture in a baking dish of your choice.

Spoon 1/2 to 3/4 C. of the marinara sauce on top and spread around. Place in a 400 degree oven for 50 minutes. Remove from the oven and top with the remaining cheese and sprinkle a little dry basil over the top. Return to the oven for 10 more minutes. Make sure the meat is not pink before serving, baking time will vary depending on the thickness of your loaf.

I've never been a meatloaf fan but this was phenomenal. Almost like a noodle free lasagna. 

Oven fried porkchops

Review by Rachael:

Ingredients:

4 pork chops, trimmed

2 Tablespoons butter, melted

1 egg, beaten

2 Tablespoons milk

¼ teaspoon black pepper

1 cup herb-seasoned dry bread stuffing mix

Preheat oven to 425, pour butter into a 9 x 13 baking pan.

Stir together egg, milk and pepper. Dip pork chops in egg mixture, coat with stuffing mix and place in pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Turn chops and bake for another 10 minutes, or until no pink remains.

I thought I had everything I needed for this recipe, but turns out I didn’t. So I had to improvise… turns out I did have Italian flavored crotons, so I crushed those and mixed them with some flour. I also mixed in a little Italian seasoning for some more flavor.

My chops were very thick and did not cook in the 20 minutes this recipe called for. I turned them again and put them in another 10. Which ended up being too long. They were now cooked but on the dry side and a little chewy. Next time I would either use smaller chops or only do an extra 5 minutes and check them.

I would recommend making these as they were quick to whip up and the herb-seasoning mix would add some nice flavor.