Quick & Easy Mustard Pork Chops with Gnocchi

You guys! These are so easy, so quick and so delicious! They are going to be a definite staple in my weeknight cooking rotation. We just had them last night, and I had to share the recipe with you all, I felt it was too selfish not to. It literally took 15 minutes to make.

I felt I was so put together last night, came home from work, worked out, fed Baby KMW, was making dinner with some wine in hand and was ready to pat myself in the back when I realized I absolutely forgot to put a vegetable on the table...FAIL! I gave myself the excuse that I was supposed to travel to Boston this week for work (which didn't happen because of the snowstorm Juno), and I know Mr. KMW is not eating fresh veggies when I'm out of town. I'm pretty sure his thought is, who needs fresh veggies when you can eat Spam? Then I thought maybe I should pat myself on the back, I was supposed to travel for work, grocery shopped accordingly and we were not eating Spam for dinner!

Anyway, I made very few changes to the recipe, but did take a couple of short cuts. Also, next time I'm making this with bone in pork chops. So the cooking time will be a little longer, but the juiciness of bone in...totally worth it.

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Creamy Hungarian Mushroom Soup

I'm generally not a New Years resolution type of person, but the past couple of years I've tried to set some goals for myself. This year I have a couple of food related goals.

The first one is to cook out of all of my cookbooks. I have a cookbook obsession, and where I love flipping through them, I'm not great at actually making meals with them. The second one is to do a little bit better job of meal planning now that I'm back at work, and have pretty much figured out the daycare drop off, go to work, daycare pick up, come home and wash and prep a million bottles routine (boy am I regretting Dr. Browns...SO MANY PARTS!). My main goal is to cook 2-3 dinners a week, that will last us most of the week, and make some lunches. My approach is to make a big pot of something on Sunday; Stew, Soup, Short Ribs, Ragu, etc., a slow cooker meal and one quick and easy weeknight dinner. Last weeks meal plan is below. I also made chicken salad for sandwiches during the week, lets just say when the Seahawks aren't on, I have a much more productive weekend.

Sunday - Creamy Hungarian Mushroom Soup from my Moosewood Restaurant Favorites Cookbook
Monday - Leftover Soup
Tuesday - Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken Tacos
Wednesday - Leftover Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken, this time in Taco/Burrito Bowl form 
Thursday - My Grandpa sent us an Omaha Steak Package for Christmas so we tapped into that
Friday - Dinner out on the town!

I don't have a goal to blog more, if it happens it happens and if it doesn't, it doesn't. I've always told myself that I would just blog how ever frequent or infrequent I want to...it's for fun. Maybe I'll try to keep you up to date on my meal planning and share recipes I'm trying.

So this soup, it starts with creamy so it has to be good.

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Slow Cooker Cheesy Chipotle BBQ Chicken Sliders

To say it has been awhile is an understatement. The last time we spoke I was ready to pop, and a few days later Baby KMW was born! That means I've been soaking up all of the time I can with him while I'm on maternity leave.

I have still been cooking, although not as much as I did before, and the slow cooker continues to be my friend. I now have a really adorable sous chef, and while making this recipe I learned that his favorite ingredient is arugula, but only if pronounced ARUUUUUUUUUGULA!

As I just mentioned, I've already learned that the slow cooker is perfect for a new mom. I generally try to prep the food in the morning when Baby KMW is pretty happy and then we're free to gallivant around the rest of the day and hang in the evening with Mr. KMW. 

This slow cooker recipe is a result of a Twitter rant of mine about why the Chipotle in Adobo cans are so big, as I never use recipes that need the entire can. Yes, I can freeze it, but I of course don't label it well and have that debate of is that chipotle in adobo or tomato paste in that frozen cube? Then the Twitter universe, aka Amanda came to the rescue and sent me a recipe for Chipotle Chicken and Cheese sliders that used the ENTIRE CAN! I saw that I could easily transition it to a slow cooker and it was on our dinner table the next week. And you know how I never go small when it comes to my slow cooker batches, so we had it for several dinners and lunches that week. And it was delicious, I'll be making it again. 

It's also perfect for Football Season. If you are a fan of my Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Sliders, Slow Cooker Pulled BBQ Chicken or Slow Cooker Pulled Pork, definitely add this one to the rotation.

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Ready to Pop Baby Shower & An Amazing Waffle Recipe

As my due date has come and gone, I figured now would be a good time to do a post on my Baby Shower.  

My friend Janie hosted

and as always, her condo was well decorated and the food was delicious. If she wanted to quit her day job she could definitely become an interior decorator or personal chef.

The theme was 'Ready to Pop' and if we thought I was Ready to Pop then (5 weeks ago), you should see me now at 40 weeks + 3 days. She made melt in your mouth red velvet Cake Pop Balls. No frosting necessary, they were so decadent on their own. I refuse to admit how many I popped in my mouth.

The shower favor was Popcorn with some sort of deliciousness seasoning. I don't know what it was, maybe crack, because it was addicting. 

Who can find the dog in that picture?

She also

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Chorizo & Cornbread Taco Salad

One of our go to quick dinners is some form of taco salad or burrito bowls. There are enough meat, veggie and bean combinations, it adds enough variety for me...I get bored easily. They're quick to throw together, usually don't dirty too many dishes, can use staples you have on hand and are filling...making everyone happy! One of my go to Taco Seasonings when making the salads or the bowls is the Trader Joe's brand, it has a nice kick. This is the perfect I just got home from work at 7:30, am ravaged and my pregnancy bedtime is 9pm type of dinner. 

I had some leftover cornbread (I used this Skillet Cornbread from the Pioneer Woman) and was on a chorizo kick, which is how this not so pretty...but oh so delicious dinner came together. I mean, can you really go wrong with chorizo? I didn't use the Trader Joe's Taco Seasoning on this one because there were too many other flavors coming together. 

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