Kristen's Spaghetti and Meatballs

My friend Kristen made this on our trip to Chelan, and it was delicious!
Here's the recipe with her notes:

Aunt Doris Spaghetti and meatballs

Meatballs
1.5lbs hamburger (I don't use hamburger usually. I'll use combination of spicy chicken sausage and pork and add fennel and anise seeds to make it more "sausagy" if not using sausage. any combination ground meat works if you add spice)
1 C parmesan (I use the bagged shredded stuff from trader joes)
2TB oregano (I use heaping TBS of oregano & parsley and add Basil too)
2TB sugar (I use probably half)
2 tsp salt
2TB parsley
1/4 tsp red pepper (I use more)
1.5 C breadcrumbs (I use the Italian variety)
2 eggs
1/2 onion diced (or more)
2 cloves garlic (I use a lot more !!!)
salt and pepper

Bake balls 15-20 min at 350

Sauce
1 lg can 28oz tomatoes (crushed)
1 lg can or two small cans tomato paste
3 cans tomato sauce
1/2 can water (or more-eyeball it)
2 tb sugar (I use less)
6TBS parsley
3TBSs oregano
1/2 tsp red pepper

I add onion and garlic to this too. Just sauté it in some olive oil before adding all the cans.
Simmer sauce for couple hours. add water if needed. I don't like it too thick but not runny either
Add the meatballs last half hour or more if you want.

Slow Cooker Ham & Cheese Hashbrown bake

2lbs shredded frozen hash browns
1 stick melted butter
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 c. chopped onion (I cooked it first in some butter so it was soft)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup milk
1 cup sour cream
2 cups fully cooked diced ham ( I just used deli meat and sliced it up)
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

Spray crock pot with non-stick cooking spray. Mix everything together in a large bowl, transfer it to your crock pot. This makes a lot so plan to use about a 6qt size slow cooker or so. Place on med/low heat for 8hrs or high for 4hrs. You could also bake it in your oven for one hour at 375 degrees. We had this for dinner but it could also be served for breakfast!!

Bacon Potato Chowder

In slow cooker, mix:

2 can cream of potato soup

2 cans of milk

1 potato diced

1/2 onion diced

4 slices of cooked, crumbled bacon

dash of black pepper

Cook on low for 4-5 hours.

30 min before serving, add 1/2 cup of grated cheddar.

Tropical/BBQ Pork sandwich mix

This is a "dump and create" mix that I concocted one day. Sometimes those work, and sometimes they don't! This time, it really, really, really worked well, if I do say so myself!
Unfortunately, there are no exact measurements yet and probably won't ever be...:)

In the morning Put 4 pork chops (I use boneless) in your crock-pot. I dump them in frozen.
Then put in:
a "squirt" of mustard
a "big squirt" of ketchup
a "large handful" of brown sugar
the juice from 1 large or 2 small cans of pears or peaches (serve the fruit later with dinner!)

cook on low all day. When the meat is tender and done, take it out and shred or chop into tiny pieces.
Then thicken the "juice" from the crock-pot on your stove with corn starch in water. Make it pretty thick. Dump back in the pork, and you have a beautifully yummy tropical/bbq pork sandwich mix to serve on hamburger buns!