Country Pork with Mushrooms

My goodness these days go by so fast! I always have lots to do but don't always feel like doing them, and at this point in my life, I can do what I want to most of the time.

This blog has been on my mind but I never quite get to it. Either I am busy trying to get my house in shape, I am too tired, or as on several days this week, my hands have been stiff and sore so didn't feel like typing. My oldest daughter and her significant other from Wisconsin came for a short visit on Saturday evening, so I did have an incentive to work on getting the house in shape last weekend.

But enough excuses for today. I thought I would just pop in here a minute and give you a quick recipe that I have made a couple of times in the last couple of months, and think is delicious and easy.

This recipe calls for country-style pork ribs but I think it would go well with any meat, not just pork.

COUNTRY PORK WITH MUSHROOMS

2 pounds country-style ribs, boneless
1 can cream of mushroom soup
4 ounces sliced mushrooms
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 envelope mushroom gravy mix
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
2 tablespoons cold water, blended with 1 heaping tablespoon all-purpose flour

Combine ribs, soup, mushrooms, salt, pepper, gravy, and paprika in crockpot. Cover and cook on LOW setting for 7 to 9 hours. Stir flour mixture into broth and cook on high HEAT setting an additional 15 minutes, or until thickened. Serve country-style ribs with mashed potatoes and corn.

Serves 6.

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In order for me to make this without making a trip to the store, I used what I had on hand. I did have the ribs in the freezer, but they were not boneless. I might have some canned sliced mushrooms, but I also have some dried mushrooms handy, so used those - didn't measure. I think the salt could be left out since there is plenty of salt in the gravy mix and soup. I discovered I didn't have any mushroom gravy mix in the house, but I did have a packet of brown gravy mix, and I added some dried onion flakes. I don't have any sweet paprika on hand so used the Spanish paprika I do have.

Since I used dried mushrooms I also added some water to the mix and I never did have to add any flour to thicken the broth. I can't tell you how much water I used, maybe 1/2 cup or more. If you add too much water, you can still put the flour in to thicken it.

As you can see, this recipe is quite adaptable to what you have on hand. The mushrooms could be a 4-oz can or fresh mushrooms if you happen to have them. When I have fresh it seems I never use all of them right away, so this would be a good way to use those up.

I think next time I will try this with chicken breasts.