Pulled Pork Sammies!

I'm so excited that Sarah decided to host a crockpot recipe party.

Unfortunately my crockpot spends most of its time collecting dust (I prefer to cook lots of meals at once and stick them in the freezer for a later date). I do make steal cut oats pretty regularly and beans for beans and rice (neither of those are very exciting). I recently came across this recipe for Pork Sandwiches that is really easy and pretty tasty!

1 Sweet Onion, sliced
3lbs Pork Butt
Salt and Pepper
1 cup Barbecue sauce (whatever your favorite is)
1/2 cup Yellow Mustard
3 TBS tomato paste
1 cup Chicken Broth
The juice of 1 Lime

Place onions in the bottom of the crockpot. Season pork with s&p then place the Pork on top (fat side up). Mix together the bbq sauce, mustard, tomato paste, chicken broth, and lime juice. Cook on low about 6-8 hours. Remove, let rest 5-10 minutes, chop up.

Serve on buns with extra bbq sauce!

OR if you're coleslaw kind of people you can make some easy spicy coleslaw to put on top:

1/4 cup Sour Cream
1/4 cup Mayo
Juice of 1 Lime
1 TBS of hot sauce
1 package of coleslaw mix (with the bagged salad)
Salt and Pepper

Whisk together sour cream, mayo, lime, hot sauce mix in coleslaw season with s&p and let sit in the fridge at least 1 hour.

 

What's for Dinner?

Mexican Casserole

I found this recipe somewhere on the internet (I have no idea where) but I've changed it so much I think I can call it my own. There really is no good name for it, I call it Mexican stuff, Garrett calls it salsa. The first time I made this I put pasta in it, I thought it was good, Garrett said he would like it better with chips. So, that's how we do it. You could do it with pasta or rice if you wanted just remember to cook the pasta or rice only about half as long as you normally would. Other than that this is the easiest thing to make.

• 1.5lb Ground Beef if you only have a pound no big deal
  
• 1 package Taco Seasoning
  
• 2 15oz cans Corn (drained and rinsed)
• 2 15oz cans Black Beans (drained and rinsed rinsing gets rid of a lot of salt)
• 2 cans Rotel
  
• 2 15oz cans Tomatoes (drained)
• 1 cup Chunky Salsa
• 1/2 cup Sliced Olives
• 1/2 cup Taco Sauce
• if you are adding rice or pasta I suggest you add a 1/2 - 3/4 a cup of Tomato Sauce.

Brown your Ground Beef add Taco Seasoning, then mix with all of the rest of the ingredients add to your pans and freeze! Cook thawed about 20-30 minutes at 350, cook longer (obviously) if frozen! You can add some Cheddar Cheese on top and serve with chips.

So, so easy! And even picky Garrett loves it!

Chicken and Rice

CHICKEN AND RICE

This is before it's been cooked

I originally got this recipe from The Pioneer Woman she uses spaghetti instead of rice. I made it for Garrett in my first attempt at making a bunch of food and freezing it, he loved it and was super impressed because I took the chicken off the bone to make it (I will not eat chicken on the bone, so to take it off is a pretty big deal around here). I loved it because he would tell anyone that would listen that it was so much better because I used "real" chicken and any kind of praise goes straight to my head and pretty much gets you whatever you want! He did ask that maybe I try rice instead of spaghetti and I obliged. It's a staple around here now!

• 2-3ish cups Cooked Chicken on the bone remember!
  
• 1 bag Brown Rice Changed what PW does
  
• 2 cans Cream Of Mushroom Soup
• 2 cups Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese
• 1 Finely Diced Green Pepper PW does less, I say load up the veggies
  
• 1 Finely Diced Onion We LOVE onions so I again used more than PW
  
• 1 jar (4 Ounce) Diced Pimentos, Drained
• 2 cups Reserved Chicken Broth From Pot
• 1 teaspoon Lawry's Seasoned Salt
• ⅛ teaspoons (to 1/4 Teaspoon) Cayenne Pepper
• Salt And Pepper, to taste
• 1-2 cans Rotel PW doesn't use this I just added it on a whim (or by accident)
  
• 1 cup Additional Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Cook 1 Chicken-on-the-Bone (whatever kind you want). Since I'm a lunatic and buy free range vegetarian fed chickens I just got a whole one it was (slightly) cheaper, then I had to even cut it up (which is amazing since I would NEVER ever eat it like that). I boil the chicken, easy peasy! I'm scared to death the chicken will be under cooked so I think I cooked it close to 3 hours. It was probably a little long, if you have cut up chicken you can for sure do it shorter like an 1.5 hours I would say.

Pick out the meat to make two cups (if whoever you are cooking for is around remind them taking chicken off the bone is true love).

Cook the rice in the chicken broth I swear this makes it SO much better! Do not overcook or you will have mushy rice ick! Half the time it says is what I find to be the best about 20 minutes I believe. When this is finished combine it will all of the ingredients (except the additional 1 cup of cheese)

For all of my freezing stuff I buy the foil pans from the Dollar Store (I think these are 9 inch cake Pans). Evenly distribute into the 3 pans add remaining cheese cover and freeze! PW says they will last up to 6 months!

When I am ready to cook them I take it out of the freezer the night before and into the fridge I bake it at 350 for 45ish minutes if the cheese starts to burn put the foil back on for the rest of the cooking!

If you forget to take it out the night before you can still cook it (just bump it up to 400 and it will take awhile longer!)

Cooking and Freezing

I love cooking and freezing! First of all it really cuts down on the eating out I do with Garrett if there is something already made. Second, I know what's going into everything so that helps me not eat things I try to avoid, and lets me count the WW points. Third, I only have to clean the kitchen once! I HATE cleaning the kitchen!

With this one trip to the grocery store (and one trip to the place I buy my meat) and $130 I made the following things:

1. Chicken and Rice
   
2. Manicotti
   
3. Mexican Casserole (for lack of a better name)
4. Lasagna
5. Meatloaf Muffins
6. Black Bean Burgers w/ Mango and Avacado Salsa
7. Spinach Pesto
   
8. Cream Spinach
9. Twice Baked Potatoes

It doesn't look like so much when I type it out but, the Chicken and Rice and Mexican Casserole make three pans full (each pan is one meal for the two of us, as well as leftover lunch for one). The Manicotti and Lasagna make 4 pans full (the Manicotti might not be enough for two people but I only eat one with lots of veggies as a side and that leaves three) Meatloaf Muffins makes about 12 muffins. Black Bean Burgers make 6. The Spinach Pesto this time was my first time and it made a TON! I have no idea how long we will be eating that! The Cream Spinach I did not freeze but we ate it like 4 or 5 times with meals (dinner and lunches). And I made 22 Twice Baked Potatoes so that's enough for a small army.

Okay tomorrow I'll post the first recipe!

all things mini

First let me say that I realize yesterday's post hardly counted as a post. But, I was planning to blog when we returned home from our movie and we ended up going to the late movie which would put me in to today. So, I blogged from my pocket during the movie. *grin*

Brothers was not nearly as good as I had anticipated. It could have been done much better. But, sometimes that happens. Next weekend Lovely Bones starts and I cannot wait. The book is in my top five favorite books of all time, it may even be the number one. It has a lot to live up to but I'm excited for Natalie to get here so we can watch it together!

Here are the deserts that I made for Thanksgiving, I tested and tested to find out what pie crust was the best. I used four different from scratch recipes and tried them against all-ready-made crust (which got a unanimous not good vote).

There was Pumpkin Pie and Pecan Pie (neither of which I eat, so I didn't even try one of them. I tested the crust (which I don't like) and the filling (which I don't like). So, I had to trust my tasters (Garrett, Brent, and Grammy) to tell me if they were good or not. I got nothing but praise. Well, except when Garrett told me my pumpkin pie filling was not as good as his Mom's (don't worry I fixed it and used her exact recipe.) And, of course cupcakes with my secret frosting. I did white cake with vanilla frosting, white cake with chocolate frosting, chocolate cake with white frosting, chocolate with chocolate frosting. Garrett says I make the very best cake he has ever tasted, and the best frosting. I have the best plan for his birthday cake. shhhh don't tell him. I think it should be AMAZING!

I made so many mini deserts that if I never make another one it might be too soon. Rolling out the dough and cutting the smallest pie crusts ever and then repeating was a ton of work. By Thanksgiving my arms were so sore from all the rolling. Here is a better idea of how many I made.

If you want the recipe for Mini Pumpkin Pies or Mini Pecan Pies let me know. I'm sorry, but I won't share my cupcake or frosting recipe, I worked super hard to perfect it. But, I'd love to make you some!!

steel cut oats

For awhile I've been reading about Steel Cut Oats "better than oatmeal" and they are supposed to be super healthy and I'm all about (sometimes) eating foods that are closest to their raw form.

It's super easy and nice to have breakfast ready when you wake up, 1 cup of oats, 5 cups of water, some vanilla and let it cook while you sleep. Yummy!

Okay the truth is I don't know if I'd call it "better than oatmeal, because it is not better than Quaker Oats Peaches and Cream Oatmeal that comes in a box! Ha! But, it is for sure healthier!

Eggplant Parmesan

Eggplant is one of my very favorites, I've made it quite a few different ways but I've never tried Eggplant Parmesan because it is one of my favorites and I judge it very harsly and often times don't like it in resturants. But, I finally decided to give it a try. I used a few different recipies and made things how I thought would be best. The tomato sauce was SO good! The eggplant was PERFECT, and I can't wait to make it again! It was a lot of work and I made quite the mess but it was for sure worth it! Here goes, in pictures:

Saute a few cloves of garlic in Olive Oil, then add chopped Olives

This is after I sliced and breaded the eggplant I had added the sauce and the mozerella cheese and the grated parm, but before the oven.

After cooking! yummy goodness!

The sauce: garlic, olive oil, olives, tomatoes, onions, red pepper flakes, and some spices.

so yummy!

On top of penne!

disaster

For Easter I wanted to make chocolate cupcakes without a box! On a new favorite foodie blog I found this recipe...

I beat the butter, and the sugar.
I added the eggs one at a time, beating after each one.

I mixed all of my dry ingredients, then added it to the mixer.

It tasted SO horrible, I called Grammy in to try it.

It tasted like baking soda.
I was NOT wasting my chocolate chip cookies on the middle of these. I was going to throw them away, as fast as I could

But, grammy suggested I put these chocolate Easter eggs in them and see how they tasted cooked....

I started to smell something burning...

and I opened the oven.....

and saw that my cupcakes EXPLODED

um...ya...I guess 3/4 cup of baking soda was wrong....

Fear not I made the most tasty and cute vanilla cupcakes for Easter and they were a BIG hit...sadly they did not get their picture taken....

the most wonderful cupcakes!

Always start by washing your hands!

These are the only ingredients you need:
Chocolate cake mix
Premade cookie dough
(do not buy the wal*mart brand like I did because they only have 20 cookies and you need 24)Chocolate icing
Cupcake liners

and whatever your cake mix calls for
(mine called for oil and 3 eggs)

getting everything ready

mix up the cake batter just how the directions tell you

put your liners in the muffin pan

fill the liners about half full

then take the chocolate chip cookie dough and push them down in the muffin pan

um I was ready to eat one!

bake for 18-20 minutes at 350*

this one exploded a little bit...and it was everything I could do not to eat this warm piece of heaven

When they have cooled frost them....

at this point I was dying to know if they were as yummy as the looked on the blog that I saw them on

The anticipation was killing me!

so moist!

the first bite!

(when I saw these on Kelly's blog I just had to know what the looked like on the inside)

They really were probably the best cupcake I've ever had, and I prefer white cupcakes over chocolate but I cannot wait to make them again!

Cherry Limeade

I feel like I am a million years behind in blogging...so, today I'll give you my first recipe!

First you'll need to find two cute helpers who can cheese it up!

Also, a two liter of Sprite, 1 frozen concentrate of limeade, and a jar of Marciano cherries, and a lime for fun!

Mix all the ingredients, and stir!

Eat the rest of the lime and enjoy your Cherry Limeade!

It is just 1-1-1 and I used the cherries and half a lime to look pretty!