Slow Cooker Thursday ~ Pork Chop & Potato Dinner

This is the recipe I have on my menu for tonight. If you read my post on Monday, you would know that I printed all those bookmarks I had and have organized them. Somehow this recipe was transferred to word and printed, but I cannot for the life of me find the bookmark on IE. It's like it was eaten or something... weird. Anyway, I can't remember if I got this from one of you fabulous fellow blogger cooks, or from a cooking website... so I cannot give credit for the recipe. If this is yours, please tell me! I haven't actually tried it yet, as it will be made for this night's dinner... but it sounds like it will be really good.

We will be at the hospital Thursday morning (I'm actually typing this Wednesday night) with Izzy to get her dental work done. We have to arrive at 6:30 a.m. and will probably spend most of the day there. After Izzy's near drowning accident, she did what they call neurostorming... this was extremely high heart rates, clenched fists, gritted teeth, high muscle tone so much so that her liver stopped working properly like an athlete that over trains. She was fed through a tube in her tummy called a g-tube. This neurostorming was terrible, and it lasted for about eight weeks. After we came home from the hospital, it was our mission to get her to be able to eat by mouth. I started with yogurt and Popsicles. I remember the speech therapist saying that we had to be so careful that she did not aspirate. Her motor skills are the main target of her damage... which includes everything you can think of including swallowing. Izzy passed a swallow study and we were able to have the g-tube removed about six months after her accident. This was pretty miraculous in itself. Her teeth, however, were still pretty tightly clenched. I was feeding her pedisure with a thickening agent to assure adequate calories in the beginning and then would try rinsing and brushing after every meal. The problem was her mouth was so tight I couldn't get her mouth rinsed well enough and the grinding during the neurostorms along with that caused her teeth to almost melt. The back teeth went first because I could get the front pretty rinsed. Now her mouth is much looser, we do a lot of oral exercises and I can rinse with clear water now and she doesn't choke. I still brush her teeth about four times daily. It was just too late. So, she is having her two front teeth pulled along with her little bottom tooth (she lost one little bottom tooth last month) and the rest of her teeth will require baby root canals and crowns.

I have had several people ask what was being done so I just wanted to share this with you. Please keep her in your prayers Thursday as she will be anesthetized. We haven't taken Izzy to the hospital since her release almost three years ago (another miracle). She is so healthy! We are blessed.

Okay, on to the recipe...

Pork Chop & Potato Dinner
What You
Need:
6 bone-in pork chops
1 T olive oil
1-30 oz. package frozen
hash browns, thawed
1.5 C shredded cheddar cheese
1-10 3/4 oz can condensed cream of celery soup (undiluted)
1/2 C milk
1/2 C sour cream
1/2 tsp seasoned salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1-2.8 oz can french-fried onions
What To Do:
Brown chops on both sides in a large skillet. Set aside and keep warm. Combine potatoes, 1 C cheese, soup, milk, sour cream, seasoned salt and pepper in a bowl. Stir in half the onions if using them. Place mixture in a greased 5-quart slow cooker. Place pork chops on top of potato mixture. Cook on high for 2.5 to 3 hours (until meat juices run clear). Sprinkle with remaining cheese and onions, if used. Cover and allow to cook for 10 more minutes or until cheese is melted.

Please head over to Sandra's blog and sign up to join in. There are lots of great slow cooker recipes to be made over there!