Resolutions

I normally don't do resolutions at the New Year... they're made to be broken, yada yada yada... like my cookbook resolution (the last one I made... and broke).

For whatever reason I've decided on a few resolutions (goals) for this upcoming year...

1. I'd like to waste less food.  When I was doing my cookbook resolution, I was doing an AWESOME job with meal planning - it was flexible, well thought out, and utilized the small kitchen space we had in our old house.  When we discovered Avery's food allergies, the meal plan went out the window, and so did my resolution.  Now, almost three years later I'm just barely getting back to a meal plan (it's really spotty) - but I feel like if I can plan it out better, I won't find food spoiling before I get to it.  I just feel so wasteful when I throw out perfectly good food.

2.  Blog more - I'm sure my family agrees...  If you look at the 'blog archive' on the right side of the page, you can see how my blogging has dwindled...

3.  Read more - I have always loved reading, but as any parent knows, it's not always easy to find QUIET time to read other than the books I read to the kids - I need to make a conscious effort to read for myself!

4.  I want to spend more time working on my OWN pictures.  I feel like such a picture hoard.  Friends and family think it's great that I take so many pictures, but they NEVER see any of them because they get lost in the abyss that is my time warp... and I always feel like my pictures have to be edited and 'perfect' before I show them to anyone.  So, I either need to suck it up and not worry about them being 'perfect' when I send them out, or I need to do a better job of allocating time to edit them.  (I chose the latter)

Here is an example:  I took this picture of Evan in February 2012...  I hadn't even looked at it until last week...

5.  Print my stinkin' pictures and put them in any kind of album... I was so good at that before the girls were born... and then they were born.  Avery and I were looking through Evan's photo album from his 1st year and she kept asking which picture was of her... when my answer continued to be that's not you, that's Evan, she started to cry.  Then I started to cry.  I need to print some stinkin' pictures of the girls and put them in any kind of album.  (see #4, these work hand-in-hand)

Hawaii :: the Kalua Pork Recipe

I have been sitting on this post for over a year... how sad...  but, I must say - this has become a staple recipe at our house - we make a big batch and freeze the leftovers for continued enjoyment!  Hope you enjoy it too!


Kalua Pork

We had the most amazing pork sandwiches EVER while we were in Hawaii.  They were called Kalua Pork Sliders/Sandwiches, so the first chance we got, we googled Kalua Pork so we could attempt to make our own.  Inspired by this recipe, and a couple changes, here is what we came up with (SUPER easy):

Ingredients:
3(ish) lbs pork butt roast
1/4 (ish) cups of water
1tsp liquid smoke flavoring
1/8 cup Hawaiian sea salt (or other coarse salt of your choosing)

Directions:
Stick everything in a 6qt. crockpot and cook on low for 8-ish hours or until the meat starts to shred nicely.  Serve on toasted buns with melted cheese, tomato and avocado slices, or wrap them in romaine lettuce... probably my favorite.

10 on 2sday

1.  I spent the weekend in Des Moines at a photography convention... AWESOME!  It's impossible not to be inspired... even a little... when you are surrounded by so many amazing photographers!  My challenge will be prioritizing all the things I NEED to do... 'cause leaving there with so many ideas makes you feel like you NEED to do everything!!

2.  I took a nap.  The sessions ran all the way to midnight and beyond on Sunday night, and I had to get back early on Monday morning so Dan could get to work... 4 hours of sleep gave me 'permission' to take a nap on Monday.

3.  I'll give you my nap timeline:
12:48pm - laid down
1:00pm - heard the girls yelling, got up to check on them
1:38pm - heard the doorbell ring, got up to check it out
2:00pm - must have drifted off 'cause I woke up suddenly out of a bizarre dream
3:00pm - Woke up to the sound of Evan yelling... "I pooooooooooooooooooooooooooped"

4.  And that would be why I rarely bother taking naps...

5.  The cupcakes I made for Avery & Brynn's birthday were purdy darn good!  I used a Duncan Hines cake mix that had no milk ingredients in it, and a Pillsbury tub of frosting that also had no milk products... (didn't even realize that existed!)  the cake called for 3 eggs, but I substituted 2 Tbls of applesauce & 4 Tbls of soy milk... and it turned out surprisingly well!  They did fall apart a little (that where the eggs normally come in).  Then I came across this site that said you can substitute flax seed  for eggs... I haven't tried it yet, but plan to...

6.  After the girls' birthday, Dan and I spent some sentimental time looking through my old blog posts.  Makes me really glad I blog... there were so many little moments and silly things that I would have forgotten had I not written them down.  And I'm glad you read my blog, because it keeps me motivated to write all those little things here!

7.  I had a random moment over the weekend when I realized... the girls just had their golden birthday!  They turned 2 on 2/2!!!!  And I didn't even put that together until it was done and gone!  But it made me wonder... what are you supposed to do for a golden birthday?  (I'm really asking...)

8.  Evan told me his first knock knock joke today.  It went something like this:

Evan: knock-knock
Me: who's there?
Evan: Evan

I didn't even know he knew knock-knock jokes...

9.  I'm really glad my friend Katie posted pictures of her kids playing with snow... inside!  Gave me the motivation to actually do it with my kiddos!  Evan has been asking quite a bit to go play in the snow, but it's been waaaaaaaay too cold for my taste... so I brought the snow inside, and the kids LOVED it!  They mostly did a good job keeping it on the vinyl table cloth I laid out.  But really, it's just going to melt and dry eventually anyway, so I set aside my anal-everything-has-to-be-clean-and-tidy (ha!) tendencies for a little bit...

BONUS!  The snow packed onto the bottom of the girls' boots and it turned into a skating rink!!

and of course... Avery still didn't want to wear gloves...

10.  The girls have quickly realized that when I pull out the vinyl table cloth, something fun is about to happen!  And I dared go somewhere I have never gone before... paint... dun, dun, dunnnnnnnnn... lets talk about my anal tendencies again...

 

I survived... the girls had fun... even when Brynn started painting on Avery... I had the bath ready and waiting!

...on a side note... attempting to make heart shapes with thumbs dipped in paint... not simple... they don't look so much like hearts as they do red blobs...

Recipe #10

Little Cheese Scones

This recipe gave me another opportunity to hem & haw. I could not figure out if I wanted to post the recipe for this or not.

I have decided not.

This "cook book" has cute flash cards with healthy recipes. The first recipe I tried from it were the little cheese scones (pictured below) that we ate with our Superbowl chili!

They weren't bad, they just didn't knock my socks off.

I have no intent to make them again, so I didn't figure I'd post the recipe, but if you would like the recipe, just leave a comment, and I will post it.

Recipe #9

The next recipe I tried from this book was for the girls' birthday cake we gave them on the night of their birthday. A few days before their actual birthday we had their 1 year pictures taken with a smash cake (and the butterfly wings), and I figured since they were still on a sugar high 3 days later, I'd try to cut out the sugar if I could for their mini-birthday celebration.

Carrot Cake
1/2 cup margarine at room temperature
3 eggs
3/4 cup unsweetened pineapple juice
1 cup whole wheat flour
1-1/2 cups unbleached white flour
1/3 cup wheat germ
1 tsp baking soda
3 tsp low-sodium baking powder*
1 tsp nutmeg
1-1/2 tsp cinnamon
3-1/4 cups grated carrots**
1 cup crushed pineapple, unsweetened and well drained

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Cream together the eggs and margarine and then stir in the pineapple juice. Add flours, wheat germ, baking soda, baking powder, and spices. Mix thoroughly. Stir in grated carrots and pineapple.
2. Coat a 9x13 baking pan with vegetable cooking spray. Pour in batter and spread to an even layer. Bake until center springs back when touched, about 30-35 minutes. Allow to cool before slicing.

This book also had a recipe for no-sugar frosting, but I didn't want to make it. I was lazy. I just used frosting from a tub. And quite honestly, even though the cake was pretty good, I am really glad I used "real" frosting. I am a bit of a sugar-addict (which is another reason I am trying to keep the sugar out as much as I can), so I'm not sure I would have liked the cake if I had used a no-sugar frosting. But, like I said, the cake was good - and making a no sugar cake even with a sugared frosting sure beats the alternative!


*The author notes that low-sodium baking powder (which I could not find at our local grocery store) is used at 1-1/2 times the amount of regular baking powder. So if you use the regular baking powder use 2 tsp, instead of the 3 tsp low-sodium.
**This was a pain in the butt, almost worth buying the pre-shredded carrots:

High Sugar Cake:

Low Sugar Cake:
*please note that Avery was still in sugar shock, can't you tell?

Recipe #8

I'm going back in time quite a bit to play catch up on all the recipes I've tried, and this book is one that I have found a few new recipes from.



I really liked flipping through this book, the author did quite a bit of research into the foods we eat, and the goal was to provide alternatives to all the sugary foods we (I) feed our (my) children. I was a little worried the food would be bland, but here goes:


Spiced Apple Bars
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup apple juice
3 eggs
1/4 cup margarine
1 cup unbleached white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
3 tsp low-sodium baking powder*
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1-1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup raisins**

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Coat an 8x8 pan with vegetable cooking spray.
2. In a mixing bowl, beat together the applesauce, apple juice, eggs, and margarine until well blended. Add the flours, baking soda, baking powder, and spices. Beat for 2 minutes at medium speed. Stir in raisins.
3. Bake 25-30 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.


I was concerned about this being a little bland. And, it kind of was. But my kids didn't notice. At all. I ate some of this, and I added a few drops of honey - which made it perfect, for me. My kids just gobbled and gobbled and gobbled it up! This is a definite keeper, and a much better alternative to the snacks that I normally feed the kids.

*The author notes that low-sodium baking powder (which I could not find at our local grocery store) is used at 1-1/2 times the amount of regular baking powder. So if you use the regular baking powder use 2 tsp, instead of the 3 tsp low-sodium.
**These provide quite a bit of sweetness to the recipe - if it isn't sweet enough for you, you could always add more raisins.

Cookbook Resolution Update #1

January
New Recipes Tried: 7
New Recipes Posted: 7

February
New Recipes Tried: 11
New Recipes Posted: 0


Sad.

I don't know what my dilemma has been in posting the new recipes I've tried. I do plan to post them. I just haven't. And I've got some great ones to share! Hold on to your hats, they're coming!

Recipe #7

My latest method of selecting a new recipe to try was to ask Dan what he wants to eat, then go search for a recipe in one of my many cook books.

He wanted chicken fingers.

And this is where I went to find them:

I actually tried one of her online recipes for chicken fingers some time last year, but I wasn't wowed.  Now these...

Chicken Fingers with Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce*
Vegetable oil, for frying**
1-1/2 lbs chicken tenders***
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 Tbls ground dry mustard
2 eggs
2 cups plain bread crumbs

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup grainy Dijon mustard
3 Tbls honey (3 gobs)

1. In a large, deep skillet, heat 1-1/2 inches vegetable oil over medium-high heat.
2. Season the chicken tenders with salt and pepper.  Set out 3 shallow dishes: Mix the flour and dry mustard in one.  Beat the eggs with a splash of water or milk in a second; and place the bread crumbs in the third dish. 
3. Coat the tenders in batches in the flour, then the eggs, and then the bread crumbs.  Fry the tenders in small batches, 6 to 7 minutes.  Drain on paper towels.
4. While the chicken is frying, in a bowl mix together the mayonnaise, grainy mustard, and honey to taste.

*I didn't actually make the dipping sauce, in fact, the recipe even included a salad to "throw" together - however, the list of ingredients didn't look like something I wanted to mess with... so I didn't... and we already had some yummy sauces we wanted to dip the chicken fingers in, so I didn't bother making an additional sauce.  Plus... grainy Dijon mustard?  What is that?  I figured if you knew what grainy Dijon mustard was, and wanted to make it, I may as well include that part of the recipe...
**The directions say to heat 1-1/2 inches of oil - well I had no idea what 1-1/2 inches of oil looked like, and I don't think I got it right, but I just ended up having to flip the chicken over about half way through the cooking time - I'd also recommend cutting into the chicken just to be sure it's not pink in the middle - one of mine was, so I just plopped gently set**** it in a little longer...
***I have no idea if you can buy "chicken tenders", but I just cut up boneless skinless chicken breasts so they were shaped like a chicken finger.


I was happy with this recipe because the breading didn't fall apart.  The other recipe I tried did, and we didn't like it.  Dan even suggested using the breading part to coat some of the tilapia I have in the freezer - I may just have to try that!

****Final side note - if you have never cooked with vegetable oil in a fryer - don't pick up what you are frying and "plop" it back in.  You end up with hot oil splashing all over.  Not necessarily saying that I learned from experience...

Recipe #6

First, I want to share this picture:


And then share this tidbit:
The fact that I made it out of this situation alive, is amazing.

Ok, I might be a little over-dramatic here, but not by much.

I have NEVER cooked a meal that required a pot or pan on every stove burner available ~ and it was an absolutely frightening experience. I was completely out of my element. By the time Dan got home from work I was a mess, and I probably won't do this again... anytime soon, anyway.

So here goes, out of the trusty Better Homes & Gardens cookbook:


Shrimp in Garlic Butter
1lb fresh or frozen medium shrimp in shells
2 Tbls butter or margarine
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbls snipped fresh parsley
1 Tbl dry sherry*

1. Thaw shrimp, if frozen. Peel and de-vein shrimp.** Rinse shrimp; pat dry with paper towels.
2. In a large skillet heat butter or margarine over medium-high heat. Add shrimp and garlic. Cook, stirring frequently, for 1 to 3 minutes or till shrimp turn pink. Stir in parsley and sherry.

*I don't really know what sherry is (a cooking wine?), but I didn't have any - so I improvised (woah) and used a few splashes of white wine vinegar... turned out pretty darn yummy!
**There is no sane reason, that I know of, to buy shrimp that has shells and veins. For goodness sakes, let someone else do this for you!!!!


The meal was yummy. I made the Fettuccine Alfredo that I tried a few weeks ago, and some steamed broccoli & cauliflower - but like I said, I was in way over my head. Four pots and pans, and three kids to maintain was a little much. Plus, I never time things right - the shrimp was done far too early, and I always start veggies too late. But when I mixed the shrimp in with the noodles, it warmed them up nicely.

The other thing I'd do differently was to cut the tails off before I cooked the shrimp - for no other reason than it was just more work to do when I had hungry children crying for dinner. The girls absolutely loved the shrimp! It hardly had time to settle on the high chair before they gobbled it up!

Recipe #5

I debated.

I decided.

I wasn't sure if I was going to count this as a recipe towards my resolution since (yet again) it didn't come from a cookbook.

Oh well.

It's new.

It counts.

It's my blog.

If you like sweet potatoes, I'm gonna guess that you will LOVE* this:

Sweet Potato Oven Fries (must click to get to the recipe)

These were scrumptious. Can't say much more than that - it's a great side dish!


*Ok, a little nervous about this statement, but I'm just gonna go with it!


Sorry, Mom - I know you only want to see grandkids... I'm working on it! :)

Recipe #4

I finally cracked open a REAL cookbook for dinner last night!



When I initially flipped open the book, I found a few I thought looked good but it was difficult to narrow it down to just one. So I let Dan decide. He told me to start reading off the names, and I started with Appetizers. And this is what he chose:

Chicken Satay with Peanut Dipping Sauce

1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp lime zest
1/4 cup lime juice
3 garlic cloves, pressed
1-1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1-in pieces
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1 Tbs snipped fresh cilantro

1. Combine soy sauce, brown sugar, lime zest and juice. Press the garlic into soy sauce mixture; mix well. Reserve 1/3 cup soy sauce mixture for Peanut Dipping Sauce. Set aside. Add chicken to remaining soy sauce mixture, cover and marinate in refrigerator 30 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 400 F. Place chicken with marinade in baking dish. Bake 18-20 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in center. Meanwhile, prepare Peanut Dipping Sauce by adding peanut butter and cilantro to reserved 1/3 cup soy sauce mixture; whisk until smooth. Serve with chicken.


This was in the appetizer category, but was easily made into a meal by adding some brown rice and asparagus. Quite yummy - and to me, any recipe that has more than two words in the title, sounds complicated. This really wasn't complicated.

The hardest part was probably zesting the lime.

But I would never have known that if I hadn't tried!!

Recipe #3

I still haven't broken into any of my actual cookbooks, but believe me, I'm getting there...


Shepherd's Pie

1 tsp vegetable oil
1-1/2 lbs lean ground beef
2 tbsp chopped onion *
1/4 tsp salt **
1/4 tsp mixed dried herbs (parsley, thyme, sage) ***
1-1/4 cups gravy or bouillon ****
1 can (12oz) corn kernels *****
2 cups mashed potatoes
1/4 cup grated Cheddar cheese

1. Preheat oven to 375, use a 9x13 inch baking dish
2. In a large skillet, heat oil over med-high heat. Add beef and cook until browned. Add onion and cook for 3 minutes or until softened. Stir in salt, herbs, gravy and corn.
3. Pour beef mixture into baking dish and cover with mashed potatoes. Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until potatoes are browned. Top with cheese and bake for another 5 minutes.


* Seriously, you must go here to find the EASIEST, SIMPLEST way to chop an onion!
** When we ate this meal tonight, it was a touch on the bland side. But then I realized that I actually printed this recipe from a book called Better Baby Food. It really is a great meal for the family, the kids all loved it, but you might want to add a little more salt - before or after, depending on who is eating it.
*** Just thought I'd share that I had the Simon & Garfunkel song going through my head every time I read this line of the recipe! And in all reality, I would probably add a little rosemary to this dish the next time I make it ~ and I do plan to make it again! Also, I didn't have any dried parsley, but I did have some fresh stuff that I forgot to put into my Fettuccine Alfredo dish, so I threw that in. Eh, I think I'll buy some of the dried stuff for next time.
**** I had no idea how to make gravy - I knew it had to be a little thick, but what I bought were bouillon packets and it had no directions on how to make it into gravy. The recipe called for 1-1/4 cups of gravy - so I put one packet into 1-1/4 cups hot water. Not thick enough. So I added another packet. Not thick enough. So I added it the way it was, and it made the dish a little watery, which wasn't terrible since the mashed potatoes soaked a lot of it up. I was informed that I should have added corn starch or flour to the mix to thicken it up - or buy a gravy packet that probably tells you exactly how to make gravy.
***** My hubby hates canned corn, so I used frozen white corn. I didn't measure it *gasp*, I just threw enough in to sprinkle the dish with corn (I don't like so much corn that it overwhelms a dish).

Recipe #2

The 2nd new recipe of the year was sent to me by my Aunt Elaine (hi!) last week, so I still haven't technically used any of my cookbooks yet, but I just couldn't let this recipe collect dust.

Before I go into it, let me just say - don't make this for only 2 people. You'll end up wasting a lot! (duh) I've got a whole pan sitting in my fridge that is going to go to waste, and it's just sad. But I do intend to make this again when my family is here in a few weeks for the girls' birthday celebration!!


French Toast Casserole
Giving credit to: Amber Fifield - don't know who she is, but her name is on the recipe - you are a smart lady, this recipe is YUMMY!

1 loaf french bread, cubed
1 8oz package of cream cheese, cubed
8 eggs
2-1/2 cups whole milk (I ended up using 2 cups skim, 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream left over from the Fettuccine Alfredo I made last week - but the author of this recipe said she used 1-1/4 cups whipping cream with vanilla and 1-1/4 cups whipping cream)
3/4 cup sugar
6 Tbl melted butter
1/2 cup maple syrup (the side note says to use REAL syrup, I did)

1. Spray 13x9 dish with cooking spray. Place 1/2 of the bread in the dish. Sprinkle with cream cheese cubes. Top with remaining bread.
2. Whisk remaining ingredients (butter will clump). Pour over bread. Press in bread to soak up liquid. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
3. Heat oven to 350 and bake uncovered 45 minutes or until lightly browned.


My oven is finicky - usually it cooks fast, but this didn't seem done after 45 minutes. The tops were golden brown, but the insides were a little mushy - the cream cheese didn't melt all the way, but it did melt when you dished it out. Who knows - but the flavor was quite good, not as sweet as you might think - which was perfect!

Recipe #1

My absolute favorite meal to have when I go out to eat is Fettuccine Alfredo. Since we rarely go out to eat anymore, I never eat it! (Ok, probably not a horrible thing since the dish isn't exactly low in fat...) So, it would seem fitting that I add this dish to our meal plans.

So here it is, my first new recipe of the year!

Fettuccine Alfredo
8oz uncooked fettuccine
1/2 cup margarine or butter
1/2 cup whipping (heavy) cream
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (I used shredded, not sure what the difference would be)
1/2 teaspoon of salt
Dash of pepper
Chopped fresh parsley (I just realized as I am typing this I forgot to use the parsley I bought for this meal... crap!)

1. Cook fettuccine as directed on package.
2. While fettuccine is cooking, heat margarine/butter and whipping cream in 2-quart saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until margarine is melted. Stir in cheese, salt and pepper.
3. Drain fettuccine. Pour sauce over fettuccine; stir until fettuccine is well coated. Sprinkle with parsley.



So easy! Why didn't I make this 10 years ago when I printed it out!?!?! The date on the print out was 10/4/99 from the bettycrocker.com website ~ and as many times I have moved over the past 10 years it has traveled with me in my pile-o-print-outs just begging to be made! (just affirmation of why I set the resolution that I did, I suppose) It was quite scrumptious - I threw in some cooked chicken & broccoli at the end ~ yummy, yummy!

cool find!

This was one of those impulse purchases that was worth every penny.



I found it at one of the bed/bath-type stores while Christmas shopping.



No more onion smell in my refrigerator when I don't use an entire onion!

Plus, it's just super cute (as cute as an onion shape plastic thing can be) and I don't waste plastic bags on partially used onions!!

Resolution

It's only November, but I have already been planning my New Year's resolution.

I have mentioned I'm a planner, right?

But first, I must brag just a little.

Since starting my quest to become a master chef...

Ha, I couldn't even keep a straight face as I typed that...

Since attempting to make meals for my family that don't come out of a box (around April-ish), I have tried 36 new recipes.

THIRTY-SIX!

That's gotta be a record, right?

No?

Oh well, I've tried 36 new recipes - some we've liked, some we haven't. But I'm darn proud of myself for trying them!

Back to my resolution.

Just about all of the new recipes I've tried, I have found online.

Yet, I have lots... I mean LOTS, of cook books. Actually, I have not counted them yet, but the entire cabinet space above my microwave is devoted to cook books.


My resolution for 2010 is to try 1 new recipe from each of the cook books I already have.

Do you find it ironic that I have so many cookbooks, yet I never really cooked before? Yeah, I think everyone who bought me cook books was trying to tell me something.

So, the reason I am figuring out my resolution now is because I am going to take the next couple months to actually organize and count how many cookbooks I have, and choose the recipes I want to try. I plan to head into the new year prepared!

I'll keep ya posted!

Wish me luck.

cuban?

My husband has been talking about wanting to make cuban sandwiches for the LOoOooOOoongest time. Ever since I discovered my love for cooking with a crock pot and started making this really yummy pulled pork recipe I found in the book that came with one of the crock pots we have. (I'm pretty sure that qualifies as a run-on-sentence)

Anyway, I have no idea what exactly makes a "cuban sandwich" a "cuban sandwich", so I referenced the almighty google to find a recipe for preparing the pulled pork that goes in it. And I still don't know what makes a "cuban" a "cuban."

But what I did do was go WAAAaaaAaaAAy out of my comfort zone. I found about 3 recipes online for cuban pork, but I didn't have the right ingredients for any one recipe. Well, if you remember back when I first discovered my love for cooking with a crock pot, I mentioned that I have a VERY hard time deviating from a recipe. You tell me 1 cup, by gosh, I'm gonna put in 1 cup. You tell me butter - there is no way I'm using margarine, unless of course it says one or the other.

But gosh darn I was planning to do the cuban sandwiches on Monday, and there was no way I'd be able to make it to the store. So my only option was to make it up as I went. Wow, was it hard to step out of my shell on that one. But I just pulled the flavors out of each recipe based on what I had in my kitchen and attempted to make cuban-flavored pulled pork. I had convinced myself it was going to taste disgusting, but in the odd chance it actually tasted good, I wrote it all down...

So I thought I'd share.

4-ish lbs pork shoulder, fat trimmed off
1/2 onion chopped in large chunks
2 cloves of garlic (peeled, but thrown in whole - and from what I have learned about garlic, you want to make sure you take the whole cloves out before you eat, but I couldn't find them - I guess they disintegrated into the meat??)
1 tsp jamaican jerk seasoning
1 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp thyme
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup apple juice
sprinkles of sea salt
1 cup-ish of bbq sauce

I put this in my 6 qt crock pot, but it probably would have fit in my 4 qt. I put the onions on the bottom, the meat on top of that, rubbed all the dry ingredients all over the meat, then poured the juices in. I had no idea how long it should cook for so I put it on high for about an hour, then I remembered Dan saying something about using sea salt, so that's about the time I remembered to sprinkle a little on top of everything. Then I turned it to low and it was there for about 4 more hours. One of the recipes mentioned putting some bbq sauce in towards the end, so I went ahead and put 1 cup of Montgomery Inn bbq sauce in, shredded the meat, and kept cooking for another 30 minutes or so. I never know how long to cook things for, and it always seems like my crock pots cook faster than any of the recipes call for, but I guess this was in for a total of 5-1/2 hours.



I was very happy with how this turned out. Very surprised, I must say. It's not like it was drop-dead, holy cow, yummy - but it was good!

And I'm certainly not posting the "recipe" so you can run out and make it as soon as possible. My goal is to hopefully inspire any of you who read this to try and think outside the recipe. I never thought in a million years I'd actually do it, but I did! And don't get me wrong, I still probably won't venture outside of tried and true recipes too much, but hey, I did it!

So I guess what I am saying is, if I can do it, so can you!!!!!!!




Oh, and before I forget, the way we ate the meat:

We threw it on a bun with a couple slices of ham, swiss cheese, pickles, and mustard. As far as Dan knows, THAT is how you make a cuban sandwich!

And let me say, that WAS drop-dead, holy cow, yummy!

The thing about cooking

Every time I try a new recipe, I am reminded why it took me so long to try cooking foods that don't come in a box.

I just have to say, I am quite proud of myself for trying so many new recipes lately, but it has been an uphill road for me. Ya know, figuring out how to use garlic and all, not having any idea that rice bubbles...

Sure I could get instant rice, and garlic in a jar... but where is the fun in that? Plus, it's more expensive...

So what I have figured out is that cooking can be confusing. There is really no standardization between a recipe and the grocery store. An example of what I mean; the new recipe that is in my crockpot right now called for 3 cooking apples. What the heck is a cooking apple? When I went to the grocery store in search of cooking apples, lo and behold, I didn't find any signs that said "cooking apples." It's Fuji, granny smith, braeburn, etc... I guess if you cook, you should just know what a cooking apple is.

A long time ago I tried to make something with green onions... Well, if you know what a green onion is, then you know they are not stored with all the other onions, and they don't look anything like what I knew at the time an onion looked like. So, do you think I actually bought green onions? Oh, HECK NO! That is probably what discouraged me from trying anything else new for a while... hmm, it's all making sense now...

And a few months ago I had to find tomatillos for a recipe I wanted to try.

Any ideas of what those are?

Fortunately the recipe I found was from the Crockpot Lady, and she takes pictures of all her ingredients - and I LOVE her for that! So I head to my local grocery store looking for tomatillos, not having any idea of what they are, and really not expecting to actually find them (we don't have a real big selection in our town). Of course, not there.

The next time we were in Cedar Rapids I stopped at a grocery store in hopes of finding some there. I had at least seen a picture of what a tomatillo looks like, so I started looking all around the produce section not finding it. But I did find a book that has every type of produce known to man (Ok, that might be an exaggeration, but what do I know?) But really, on a side note - did you know your produce section has a book? Even in our po-dunk town they have one. I had just never seen it before until I actually needed it. And then it magically appeared, kind of like the room of requirement in Harry Potter. Whoa, big tangent... Anyway, I flipped through every single page looking for a tomatillo and I finally came across the information.

Can you guess what family they are in?

Tomatoes.

Duh. It makes sense now. Tomatillos are little Mexican green tomatoes, imagine that, it was a Mexican dish I was trying to make. So, despite the green onion debacle, I looked in the area where they had the tomatoes and I was about to give up when I couldn't see any, until I looked down and found a little tiny shelf below all the tomatoes that had what looked to me like the tomatillos looked like in the picture. I don't remember what the sign said they were, but it wasn't listed as a tomatillo. I took my chances anyway.

Moral of this longer than I expected it to be story?

Kuddos to any of you who have no idea how to cook, but take chances anyway. That, and I really hope despite not finding "cooking apples," that our dinner tonight tastes good anyway.



Oh, and if such thing as a cooking apple exists - please tell me what it is, I really want to know.

Enchilada Casserole

I have to share this new recipe I just tried tonight...

Enchilada Casserole

Yummy, yummy, yummy hardly begins to describe it. It was really close to surpassing some of the crockpot favorites we have been trying lately. The only reason it didn't is because I do not believe any part of it is healthy. Well maybe a little part. just a little.

Here is what I changed:
*When I browned the meat, I added red pepper flakes to kick up the spicy factor a bit. Love me some spicy-ness.
*I used whole wheat tortillas
*I used a smaller dish (no idea what size) - so I ended up using a little less ingredients because I didn't have enough room to layer. (4 tortillas instead of 6 and a little less cheese)
*I should have used less corn (I used frozen white corn) - the recipe called for 2 cups, but I would have had only a small amount left, so I used a little more than 2 cups. It was too much. As Dan said, the corn should be an accent to the dish, not overpowering it. Probably could get away with only using 1 cup.


The best part of this meal is that Evan gobbled it up. He doesn't dig too many of the crockpot meals I have been making, so to find something he will eat is great!

All Clean!

Anybody ever have bubbles in their rice before?

I thought maybe I didn't rinse out the pan well enough.

Dan thinks maybe rice just does this.

It didn't taste like soap.

Who knows.

If all else, our insides should be all clean!