Tangy Pork Sandwiches with Spicy Slaw

I came across this recipe on Food Network and decided to try it out. I love pork roast, so figured it had to be good. Everyone really liked them, even my daughters friend who was over for dinner.

My husband and I ate ours like this.

The kids at them like this.

1 large sweet onion, sliced
1 (3 pound) pork roast
Salt and pepper
1 cup barbecue sauce
1/2 cup yellow mustard
3 tablespoons ketchup
1 cup chicken broth
1 lime, juiced
Hamburger buns, for serving (I like to butter my buns and cook them in a frying pan until toasty. Mmmmm)

Slice onions and place in the bottom of a crock pot. Salt and pepper roast and place roast on top of the onions. Mix barbecue sauce, mustard, ketchup, broth and lime juice and pour over roast. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours. Remove roast from crock pot and shred. Discard onions and return roast back to crock pot.

Spicy Slaw

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1 lime, juice
1 tablespoon hot sauce
1 (16 oz) package coleslaw mix

In a large bowl whisk together sour cream, mayonnaise, lime juice, and hot sauce. Add coleslaw blend and toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper. Place in refrigerator for 1 hour before serving. Serve on top of pork sandwich.

Strawberries and Cream Bites

Ever wonder why 4 year olds shouldn't be allowed to cook? Well, this is why.

They would cook their little brothers! Yep, she has him in a pot. I don't think I would be too happy either if someone was trying to cook me. And I thought she liked him.....

I took my girls to the store with me, and even though strawberries are not in season (or even on sale - yikes), they won. Since they won, I decided to do something with the strawberries to make them last a little longer. Not sure it worked. My 9 year old had a friend over and I don't think they even chewed, just bite and swallow - a bite in each hand. She asked me if I got a picture, and when I told her yes, she asked how to delete it so I would have to make them again tomorrow. The girls said they were "Yummy, Yummy, Yummy!!".

1 package sugar cookie mix, plus ingredients to mix (I used a 15.5 oz box)
8 oz cream cheese, softenend
2/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 cup frozen whipped topping, thawed (could use real whipped cream)
1 pound strawberries, sliced

Mix sugar cookie dough according to package direction. Roll dough out to between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick. Cut into 3 inch squares. Butter 2 muffin pans and place 1 square in each hole. Bake at 375 for 8 to 10 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool completely. Mix cream cheese, sugar and lemon juice until smooth. Stir in whipped topping. Spoon into the cooled cookie cups. Top with sliced strawberries.

Homemade Tortilla Chips

My kids think I am VERY cool 'cause I can actually make tortilla chips. Honestly, they are so very easy. Almost as easy as opening a bag of chips. They are so easy, in fact, that I almost feel silly for sharing the recipe (if it can even be called that).

I love that these chips are not only simple, but healthier and lower in fat than the store bought chips. And I guess it doesn't hurt that they make me a cool mom too. I will take cool however I can get it.

The chips are great with Quick and Easy Salsa and the salsa can be made up while the chips are baking.

Corn tortillas
Oil
Salt

Preheat oven to 375. Lightly brush one side of the tortillas with oil (I will sometimes use I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Spray - 0 calories). Cut each tortilla into 6 triangles (in half, and then each half in thirds). I like to stack 3 or 4 tortillas and cut them with a pizza cutter. Place triangles with the oil side up on a cookie sheet. Lightly salt and bake for 5 minutes. Turn the chips over and bake for an additional 5 minutes.

Apple Dumplings

I was looking through one of my cookbooks, trying to find something new for dinner and found this recipe. No, we didn't have it for dinner, I actually made it for an afternoon snack for the kiddos. Everyone really like the dumplings and they were pretty easy to make.

I got the recipe out of The Essential Mormon Cookbook.

1 (15 oz) package refrigerated pie crust
4 apples, peeled and cored
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup sugar

Unfold crusts on cutting board and cut each in half. Roll each piece to make a square large enough to wrap an apple. Place each apple on a square of dough. Sprinkle each apple with 1 tablespoon brown sugar and sprinkle evenly with cinnamon. Completely wrap crust around each apple and pinch together. Place apples in a baking dish and sprinkle with a little additional cinnamon and sugar. In a small saucepan compine the water and 1 cup sugar. Bring to a boil and pour into the baking dish with the apples. Bake at 375 for 1 hour or until tender and golden. Top with milk, ice cream or whipped cream.

Pineapple Lime Sunday Salad

I don't know where the name came from - well, the lime from the Jell-O, the pineapple from the pineapple and the salad from the fact that it is a salad, but the Sunday part baffles me. I did make it for Sunday dinner when I made it last, so maybe that's where the Sunday comes from. Hmmm

I have a bunch of canned pineapple sitting in my pantry that needs to be used. There are only so many things that I can come up with to use up the pineapple. This has to be one of my favorite ways to use it. I love salads that combine whipped topping, gelatin and cottage cheese. YUMMY!!

1 (8 oz) tub frozen whipped topping ,thawed
1 (20 oz) can pineapple tidbits, drained
1 cup cottage cheese
1 (3 oz) package lime gelatin

Combine whipped topping, cottage cheese and gelatin. Mix well, then fold in pineapple.

Pecan Toffee

My little guy (okay, big guy) wanted to help make some toffee. He even kindly volunteered to lick the spoon after spreading the chocolate on top of the toffee. See what happens when you mix an 11 year old with chocolate?

Toffee can use either white sugar (like this recipe) or brown sugar. The white sugar makes a lighter colored and milder flavored toffee.

1 1/2 cups pecans, coarsely chopped
2 cups butter
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup light corn syrup
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1 cups pecans, finely chopped - optional

Butter a 12”x18” baking sheet, cover with the 1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped pecans and set aside. In heavy 3 quart sauce pan, combine butter, water, corn syrup and sugar. Place over high heat and stir with a wooden spoon until mixture comes to a boil. Continue stirring until mixture begins to thicken. Reduce heat to low and remove wooden spoon. Clip on a candy thermometer and cook to 290 or soft crack stage. Remove from heat and pour over pecans. Cool at room temperature 1 hour. Melt chocolate chips and spread over top of candy. Sprinkle with 1 cup finely chopped nuts, then press lightly to make them stick. Allow to stand at room temperature 24 hours. Break into irregular pieces. Store in air tight container. Makes about 4 pounds.

Chocolate Mint Cookies

Theses cookies are absolutely delicious! But then again, anything with the chocolate mints in them (or the mints just plain), are awesome.

The kids like to help take the wrappers off the candy and press them into the warm cookies. When there's something that the kids can help with, it makes life a lot easier. It actually speeds things up for me. Instead of kicking the kids out of the kitchen 20 times, cleaning up whatever they decide to "help" with, and then whatever else they decide to "help" with while I was cleaning up the first mess...... I just sit them down and give them an extra special chore that they can do. I love to tell them what big helpers they are and how I don't know what I would ever do without them. Sometimes my sweet little 4 year old will tell me that I would have to do all the work all by myself without her and that I wouldn't even have my special taster girl. Man, she is a smart one!

3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 tablespoons water
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 (4.5 ounce) packages chocolate wafer mints (Andes)

In a saucepan over medium heat, cook the sugar, butter and water, stirring occasionally until melted. Remove from heat, stir in the chocolate chips until melted and set aside to cool for 10 minutes. Pour the chocolate mixture into a large bowl, and beat in the eggs, one at a time. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt, stir into the chocolate mixture. Cover and refrigerate dough for at least 1 hour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease cookie sheets. Roll cookie dough into walnut sized balls and place 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, be careful not to over bake. When cookies come out of the oven, Press one mint wafer into the top of each cookie and let sit for 1 minute. When the mint is softened, swirl with the back of a spoon or toothpick to make a pattern with the green filling of the mint wafer. For smaller cookies, break mints in half.

Recipe from  All Recipes.

Whoopie Pies

I have never had a whoopie pie before. They usually call for marshmallow creme in the filling and honestly, that didn't appeal to me. Well, I finally gave in a tried them when I saw a recipe for them in my February Family Fun magazine (but only because I had some buttermilk in the fridge I need to get used up). I didn't think that the marshmallow creme in the filling gave an overpowering taste. I really couldn't taste it too much. I actually thought that it made the filling perfect!

My sweet little 4 year old took on the job of putting the top on the pies after I had the filling in them.



2 cups flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup softened butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg

Filling
1/2 cup softened butter
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 cup marshmallow creme
1 teaspoon vanilla

Heat oven to 350. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper (I just greased my pans). In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. In a small bowl combine buttermilk and vanilla. In a large bowl beat butter and sugar. Add the egg and beat until smooth and creamy. Add half of the flour mixture and beat until combined. Add the butter milk mixture, mixing until just blended. Add the remaining flour mixture and beat until combined. Spoon heaping tablespoons of batter onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 10 minutes. Combine all filling ingredients and mix until well blended and smooth. Spoon a heaping tablespoon of filling onto the bottom of a cake and spread, then gently press another cake on top.

There's A Mouse In My House!!! And Green Chili, Black Bean Quesadillas

AHHH!!! There is a mouse in my house!! Or could that be my sweet little 2 year old? Like I have said before, she is a very efficient taster girl!



I asked my 4 year old what she wanted for lunch.
"Quesadillas!"
Silly me, I don't even know why I bothered to ask. She wanted quesadillas, and I wanted something a little different. I looked in the fridge and this is what we came up with.



1 (3 oz) package cream cheese
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons diced green chilies
1/2 cup black beans
8 (8 inch) flour tortillas

Mix together cream cheese and shredded cheese. Stir in green chilies and black beans. Divide the mixture between 4 of the tortillas and spread. Top with the remaining tortillas and cook in a flat bottom frying pan on medium heat for 1 to 2 minutes per side, or until cheese is melted.

Oatmeal Dinner Rolls

I love home made bread and rolls. There is nothing better than the smell of bread baking in the oven and then a nice, hot slice of bread, or a roll, fresh out of the oven. A little butter with jam or honey, yum!

These rolls are amazing! One thing that I love about them is that they stay nice and soft. A lot of rolls don't stay as soft the next day, but these do!



2 cups water
1 cup oatmeal
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 tablespoons yeast
½ cup warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
4 cups flour
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1/3 cup brown sugar

Bring water to a boil in a medium sauce pan, stir in oats and butter. Boil 1 minute stirring constantly. Remove from heat and let cool to 110 degrees. Sprinkle yeast and sugar over warm water. Combine oatmeal, yeast, flour, salt and brown sugar. Beat until smooth. Knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Place in greased bowl. Cover and let rise until doubled. Punch down and shape into 1 ½ inch balls. Place in greased baking dish. Cover and let rise until double. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes or until golden.

Fudge

I don't know why, but as soon as Christmas was over with, we started all over with the Christmas goodies - at least some of them. So that is why I am posting fudge in January.

I have tried a lot of fudge recipes and this one is my favorite. I like it because it doesn't have to be refrigerated and is not too hard - just perfect! My 11 year old can make it without much help too. Perfect fudge made by someone else? Sounds better than perfect to me, if that's possible.

3 cups sugar
3/4 cup butter
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1 (7 oz) jar marshmallow creme
1 cup chopped nuts, optional (I like pecans)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Place sugar, butter and evaporated milk in a large sauce pan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it comes to a full boil. Boil for 4 minutes, stirring constantly so it doesn't scorch. Remove from heat and add chocolate chips and marshmallow cream. Stir until completely melted, then stir in vanilla and nuts. Pour into a greased 9"x13" pan.

Recipe adapted from Kraft.

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

I love chicken cordon bleu, but don't so much like the time it takes to make. I was going through my fridge looking at what I needed to get used up soon (ham, sour cream, Swiss cheese) and had an ah ha moment - chicken cordon bleu casserole! I have to admit, it turned out fantastic! My sweet hubby thought that I went a little over kill on the cheese, but if you ask me, it's hard to have too much cheese.





6 chicken breasts, cooked and diced into small bite sized pieces
4 oz thinly sliced ham, diced (I used deli meat)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 (16 oz) carton sour cream
2 cups shredded Swiss cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix all together and pour into a greased 7"x11" baking dish. Bake at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes or until the cheese is all melted (mine was a little bubbly on the sides). Serve over rice, noodles or alone.

Parmesan Garlic Bread

My kids love garlic bread. I love that it is easy. It doesn't matter how much I make, it always disappears super fast. And there is usually a battle over the last slice. The kids will have a race to see who can eat their dinner fastest so they can have seconds of the bread. When the bread gets down to the last couple of pieces, or even the last piece, the race is on again to finish the piece they have so they can get the last piece. You'd think I was starving them and it was their last meal!



1 Loaf french bread - sliced into 1" slices
Butter
Garlic powder
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Butter 1 side of each slice of french bread and place on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle with garlic powder and then with Parmesan cheese (I use between 1 and 2 teaspoons per slice of bread). Broil on the top rack of the oven for 1 to 2 minutes - until the sides of the bread are lightly browned. Watch closely!! It doesn't take long for it to burn.

Cracker Candy

One of my friends made this for an enrichment meeting a year or so ago. My 11 year old kept begging me to make some toffee, so I tried this out.

Okay, time for a little honesty. I have a hard time getting over the fact that there are crackers in this toffee. Don't get me wrong, it really is delicious, but crackers and candy don't go together, at least not for me. I probably will try making it again, only add an extra half recipe of the toffee to help disguise the crackers a little better. The crackers don't give it a funny taste or anything, just a bit lighter texture. I guess that really could be a good thing. I'm sure it cuts the calories down quite a bit. My kids all liked it. My 11 year old was even surprised that it tasted like toffee and not crackers and told me that I did good. What a little sweetie!



1 sleeve saltine crackers
1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup milk chocolate chips

Butter or grease an 11"x15" pan. Lay crackers down in a single layer. Combine butter and sugar in a sauce pan and cook over medium-high heat. Boil for 3 minutes. Pour on top of the crackers and bake in a 375 oven for 7 minutes. Sprinkle with chocolate chips and spread when melted.

Pasta with Cheese Sauce aka Macaroni and Cheese

I don't know what it is with my kids, they love pasta with cheese sauce, but hate mac and cheese. Change the name and wada bing, wada boom.......they love it! I personally don't care for the stuff out of the box. I think macaroni and cheese has to be home made. Maybe the kids think of the stuff in the box when they hear macaroni and cheese and that's why they don't like it.

I was watching Drive Ins, Diners and Dives (I think that is what it's called) while we were on vacation and they were raving about macaroni and cheese from one of the restaurants. They told some of the things that were in it and I did my best to duplicate it. It sounded SO good! This is what I came up with. Don't know how close it is, since I have never been to the restaurant they were talking about. But hey, this stuff is great. Kid tested and approved!





1 (12-16 oz) box macaroni (I used a 16 oz box and will do a smaller box next time to make it saucier)
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
8 oz Velveeta, diced
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon dry ground mustard.

Cook macaroni according to package directions. Melt the butter over medium low heat. Add the flour and stir to make a paste. Slowly wisk in the milk. Turn the heat up to medium and cook until thickened. Stir frequently to prevent scorching. Add Velveeta, 1 cup of cheddar cheese and spices. Cook until cheese is melted. Stir in macaroni and pour into a 9"x9" greased baking dish and top with remaining 1/2 cup shredded cheese. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes until cheese is melted.

Pizzaghetti

I have been blessed with 5 darling little angels. That being said, I am to the point that I have to have something that the kids can either help with,



or that I can make before they catch me in the kitchen. Butter knifes are a moms best friend! Much better than Insta-care runs for stitches. As you can see, the girls job was cutting the olives. They were also VERY efficient samplers. Nothing gets by them!

I asked the kids what they wanted for lunch. The 9 year old yells out "French toast and spaghetti!"
Me "Really!?! Together?"
9 Year old "No Mom, next to each other." (Duh!)
4 Year old "EWWWW!"

In the name of compromise, we went with Parmesan Garlic Bread and Pizzaghetti. The 9 and 11 year olds did top their bread with the Pizzaghetti and eat it that way. The 4 year olds response? "EWWWW!"

When I got dinner on the table and the hubby was about half way finished eating, he said "You are so creative with food sometimes. The kids said they wanted spaghetti and I get an Italianish (I think he should be able to add words to my dictionary too. That's a good one) casserole with spaghetti." Creative? I gave him a "look". Not to worry, though. He assured me it was a good thing. *Blush* So I told him "That's 'cause I'm a creative genius". And he agreed. Boy, I have him trained!

Even though I would love to take all the credit for it, I got the idea from a lady who brought a similar dish to our family years, and years, and years ago, when my mom had my baby sister. Okay, maybe not that long ago. That would make me really, really, really old. I just don't think I am THAT old. The kids might, but I don't.

Linked on This Weeks Cravings #18.





1 (1 lb) package spaghetti noodles
1 (28 oz) jar spaghetti sauce
1 cup sliced or diced pepperoni
1 cup sliced olives
2 cups grated cheese

Preheat oven to 350. Cook spaghetti noodles according to package directions. Drain and mix with spaghetti sauce. Grease a 9"x13" baking dish. Layer 1/2 of the noodles, pepperoni, olives and cheese. Repeat with the other half of the ingredients. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes - until the cheese is melted.

You can use any pizza toppings you want/like. We like the pepperoni and olives. It is good with sliced mushrooms too.

Hamburger Stroganoff

I first tried hamburger stroganoff from a freezer meal group I was a part of. I loved it, and thought, I can make that. Well, guess what? I was right! It is fairly easy and I love it. I like to serve it over egg noodles, but the kids like the Wacky Mac pasta. I am usually out numbered 4 to 1, so they end up getting their way.



1 pound ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1 (10.75 oz) can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon garlic salt
1 cup fresh mushrooms, sliced

Brown ground beef and onion. Add spices, soup and mushrooms. Cook until mushrooms are tender. Add sour cream just before serving.

Yummy Corn

Happy New Year!! To start off the new year I thought I would share a healthy, low calorie, low fat, delicious recipe. Then I changed my mind and just went with delicious. I guess the corn even makes it healthy. Every time I make this, I get a ton of compliments. It is so easy and yummy. The kids even like it!

I got this recipe from my sister Riley. She calls it yummy corn, and, well, the name seems to fit perfectly. Thanks Riley!



1 (16 oz) bag white corn
1 (16 oz) bag petite yellow corn
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese
1/2 cup butter

Thaw the corn and drain any liquid. Put in a microwave safe bowl and top with cream cheese and butter. Microwave on high until the butter and cream cheese are melted - stirring every 60 seconds.