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.