Sunday dinner a la crock pot and a baby quilt....

So, I don't normally like using ketchup in recipes; but, in this case, it seems to work well.... What's for dinner tonight?....

Easy Crock Pot Pork Chops

4-6 pork chops
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
2-3 cloves chopped/crushed garlic
1 tsp chopped fresh ginger (1/2 tsp dry)
1/4-1/2 tsp crushed red chilies (optional)
1-2 tsp sesame oil (optional)
sesame seeds & chopped green onions to garnish (optional)

Place pork chops in crock pot (if you'd like to cut them into chunks go right ahead or leave them as is, your choice). For the sauce/glaze; mix the ketchup, brown sugar, soy sauce, garlic, ginger and optional crushed red chilies and sesame oil in a bowl and pour over the chops.

Cook for 8-10 hours on low, or 4-5 on high (the slower the cooking, the more tender the chops will be). Serve with sauteed or steamed veggies and rice or quinoa, and garnish with the sesame seeds and green onions.

Tastes much like teriyaki.... which is a bonus since my kids LOVE teriyaki!

This recipe is very easy to adapt to your own preference for taste... play around with it and see what you come up with. Alternatively, you can swap out the chops for chicken; and if you prefer more sauce, double it. You can also add a teaspoon or two of cornstarch mixed with a little cold water to the crock pot about 5 to 10 minutes before its done to thicken the sauce.... yummmm :P

Aside from dinner, I spent the three hours before the kids awoke, putting together a cute little baby quilt.... now, as I said previously, I am a complete newbie to the world of quilting - and it definitely shows! Puckering here and there and not a straight line of quilting anywhere! In my defense, my machine is the most basic machine around and is totally not meant for anything more than hemming pants and fixing seams.... I am; however, proud of what I've done so far, and I think the recipient will appreciate the time invested and the personal-ness (is that a word?) of the gift, at least I hope ;)

While putting the quilt together, I decided that, 1. I am a quilter, simply because I was quilting at the time; and 2. That if there are types of quilters, I can refer to myself as a 'Rustic Quilter' (I made that up to hide my mistakes... but, that's just me, always thinking of ways to see the bright side of things while being accepting of my faults).

I even went as far as cutting and making my own quilt binding! Something that at first seemed tedious and not worth the time; but, ended up being very therapeutic for me.... I enjoyed it, really.... a very strange thing to come to enjoy, but then again, I am strange :P

Here's a sneak peak of the quilt, just needs the binding sewn on then it'll be ready for gifting along with some other little tidbits!


Have a nice Sunday everyone ;)