Stuffed Summer Squash

*** THIS IS NOT A CROCK POT RECIPE ***

I decided to do a bit of experimentation on the family today that used the bounty that is beginning to come from the gardens this time of year ... So I dcided to go with a zucchini version of stuffed peppers

The kids pronounced it a success ... Except for the oldest daughter, but she's not a big zucchini fan to begin with.

From Oh Crock!!!!!

ingredients
1 HUGE zucchini
1 large yellow summer squash (looks like a yellow zucchini)
3 cups hashed brown potatoes
1 1/2 lbs ground beef/hamburger
2 cups mixed shredded cheese (I prefer a pizza mix since it's meant to get melty)
2 cup broccoli

instructions
Set deep water on stove to boil on back burner & preheat oven to 350•F
1. first size your pans making sure it is large enough to hold both squashes at the same time - if you don't have an oven-safe skillet large enough, use a rimmed baking sheet.
2. Brown the hamburger until no longer pink. Removed from pan and drain, do not wipe pan but you can take out the drippings if you want.
3. Add a little oil to the pan and add the hashed browns, cook for 5 minutes each side.
4. Slice the top 1/3 off the length of the zucchini and squash. Scoop out the insides leaving about 1/4 inch on inside of shell - kind of like a dugout canoe.
5. Chop up the insides that you scooped out (removing any large seeds) about the same size as the hashed brown bits.
6. In large bowl mix together the insides, the hashed browns, and the hamburger (chop smaller if need be)
7. Chop the broccoli and add to the mix, sprinkle in 2/3 of cheese mix. Blend thoroughly with your hands or spoon.
8. place boats in boiling water but turn off the heat and let sit 10 minutes ... You may have to do this twice flipping it if the squash is longer than your pan.
9. Pat inside of canoes dry and season to taste.
10. Pack meat mixture into canoes heaping it up a little. Place them carefully back in the skillet or on the pan they will be baked on.
11. Top with the remaining cheese (I put the extra filling into a loaf pan and baked it right along with the skilleted canoes)
12. Bake for 1/2 hr.
Let stand for a bit after removing from oven so cheese can set up. Slice into serving sized portions ...

YUM!!!
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Things I'd change:

Add some chopped onion in with the hashed browns or hamburger depending on how you like them ...

Use smaller zucchini and cut off the ends, then hollow it out all the way down - Then stuff it with filling ... When cooked, slice into rings ...

Use some bread crumbs or cracker crumbs in meat mix to help absorb some of the moisture which comes off the squash boats as they cook ...

Use sausage instead of hamburger to change taste (not breakfast kind, something with some bite) but will have to rinse out as much of the fat as possible ... Although it herbed stuffing mix is used, then the slickness would not need to come from the meat.

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This definitely going to get made again

The recipe leaves plenty of room for variation as you can see.

And it was easier than it sounds like above ... If you do more than one thing at a time (like cooking hashed browns &soaking canoes at the same time) you will really save time.

Spare Ribs & SaurKraut

This is an old family favorite from my mother, but she would do hers on the stovetop for special occasions and top it all off with dumplings once the spare ribs & kraut were removed ... she saved it for occasions in the winter as much as possible so the steam would help heat the house.

I did a version using the crock pot and a fry pan.
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Spare Ribs & Saurkraut -- 4th gen American Style
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1 slab of spare ribs, cut into 1 or 2 rib sections (hopefully they will be more meat than fat)
1 T Old Bay
2 tsp lemon pepper
1 tsp Garlic Garni
2 large, or 4 small whole bay leafs
1 cup water
1 jar saurkraut (bagged kind can work too)
2 tsp caraway seed
1/2 stick butter

put rib sections into a gallon sized bag and add the Old Bay, Lemon pepper, Garlic Garni, and shake well to mix up and coat all peices, squeezing bag to work spices into meat.  Place half of bay leaves on bottom of crock pot, put in the ribs, top with last half of bay leaves.  carefully pour water into crock so that it doesn't knock the spices off the meat.
Cook on low for 6 hours.

Dzia Dzia John's Favorite Kraut

Open the kraut and drain off the brine (reserve it to add to the ribs above if you wish, it will help to tenderize the meat - my kids don't like it, but hubby & I sure do).
Rinse the kraut under cool water to rid any extra brine and squeeze the water out very well without bruising the kraut.  You can do this by hand or put a plate on top of the kraut in its strainer with a can placed on top for a few hours -- nice if you have the time.
Heat a cast iron or heavy fry pan (you need the heat), melt the butter swirling it to coat the bottom of pan - use a pan that is large enough so the kraut is no more than 1" deep. 

JUST BEFORE SERVING RIBS:
Now there is two way of doing this:

#1 - put the caraway into the butter and let it 'bloom' for a few seconds to release the oils ... some people (cough, cough, hubby) find this too strong ... add the kraut on top, stir to incorporate the seeds throughout the kraut.
#2 - put the kraut in the pan and then add the caraway, stir to spread evenly.

reduce heat to medium and let the kraut sit for 5 minutes - you will be tempted but don't stir it, you want a nice browning.  use your turner to flip the kraut in small sections and brown the other side the same way.

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Follow Up:
well it tastes very different without the brine in the pot, and the ribs I had were rather meatless ... but they were sooooooo tender that I swear you could have eaten the bone (ha ha) ... 3 out of my 4 kids absolutely love the kraut made this way - in fact its the only way they will eat it! 

I served it with mashed potatoes for my one child who simply hates kraut in any form.

here -- try some good Polish food for supper this weekend!  You'll love it!Now from here its the same:

Pork Chops & Au Gratin Potatoes

Yesterday I decided to go with a family favorite - just in the crock instead of using the oven or stove top ....

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Process:

First I started with frozen pork chops which I bought in a family pack while the prices were still low (just over $1/pound) and then split up, bagged, and froze for later use .... if I had my Food Saver vacuum sealer up & running, they would last up to 2 yrs in the freezer!

Anyhow - I only had to let them sit out long enough to be able to separate the chops from each other to make them fit into the crock a bit better.  for a family of 6 I had 5 chops (at the time I bagged things up, my oldest was away from home) so one had to be 'sawed' in half for the two youngest who wouldn't eat a full chop anyhow.
I then added 1/2 cup water just to keep things from drying out ... I also added my basic spices too (Garlic Garni/salt/pepper) ... and put it on low ... this was about 10am

I also got my potatoes going as well .... I used two boxes of just the store brand variety (hey, every penny counts these days)

following the basic stove top measurements (yes I used the box), I put just the potatoes and water in the second crock for 1 hr on high .... after 1 hr I lowered the temp to low and then added the milk & butter as per direction, making sure the butter was cut into thin-ish slabs so it would melt evenly & quickly - once melted, then I added in the sauce mix being careful that there weren't going to be lumps later.  Add one thoroughly drained can of whole kernal corn

I then left everything alone for 5 hrs (about 3pm) when I stirred the potatoes - leave the chops be.  then every hour there after I stirred the potatoes ... by 5pm they were ready to eat, but the sauce was a bit thin I thought. 

We didn't actually get around to eating until 6pm when I got tired of waiting for hubby to get back from the dr's office ... dr was running behind ...

Okay so how did it turn out???

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NUMMIES: UCKIES: =====================

Pork was fork tender, flavor had cooked all the way thru the meat - it didn't need any sort of catsup or sauce to give it good flavor.  The potato slices held their shape well. 

My daughter liked it so much she wanted to take the potatoes to school in her lunch and she loved being able to get every bit of meat off the bone unlike when they are stove or oven cooked - she just poked the meat and the bone fell right off!

The Pork wound up drowning in moisture by the time we ate - this made it tough to get the meat out of the pot in a single piece.  No matter what I did, tongs/fork/spatula, the meat would fall apart as soon as it was touched (but it still tasted good) .... the sauce of the potatoes was thinner than if cooked on the stove - nor did it have the nummy crunchy edges that you get if cooked in the oven.

Suggestions for next time:

use less water in both the pork chops & potatoes ...

for the pork: instead wrap them individually in foil and then cook them up -- if they are wrapped tight enough, I would think one could fill the empty space inside the crock with water and cook them that way.  One would have to be careful opening the packets though because of the juices which would be trapped inside.

for the potatoes: I have heard you can saute onions in butter in the crock over night, these would taste very good in the potatoes and would eliminate the need to cut up the butter later.  One onion for the same amount of butter as called for in the recipe should suffice.  I would also add a bit of spice to it - they were sorely lacking in it.

this is definitely a meal I'd do again with just a few changes.