Southern Pulled Pork Sandwhich

3-4 lbs Pork Roast
2 Onions chopped
16 oz BBQ Sauce
1/3 Cup Honey
Cook in crockpot until chicken is cooked. (6-? hrs on high)
Good with Corn on the Cob!

-Alicia Warnock

Crockpot Sweet & Sour Chicken

4 Chicken Breasts
¾ Cup Water
¾ Cup Ketchup
½ Cup Sugar
2 Tbsp Vinegar
4 Tbsp Soy sauce
Cook in crockpot until chicken is cooked. (5-? hrs on high)
Good with White Rice!

-Alicia Warnock

Shredded BBQ Chicken Sandwhiches

4 lbs chicken breast
16 oz BBQ Sauce
1 Cup water
Cook in crockpot until chicken is cooked. (5-? hrs on high) Until chicken is shredded
Rhodes Rolls (follow thawing directions on package, allow yourself about 6 hours for them to defrost and rise) They are small so I would figure a couple per adult and one per child and then a few extra for afterwards with butter & jelly!

Cranberry Chicken

4-5 Chicken Breasts
1 can whole cranberries
1 cup or more of bbq sauce
Cook in crockpot until chicken is cooked. (5-? hrs on high)

-Alicia Warnock

31 Days of Halloween

Every year I see all these fabulous Halloween snack and meal ideas, but I never seem to get around to all of them. So this year I've decided to do some kind of Halloween item every day. It could be a meal, a snack, or drink, a dessert; just as long as it's one a day. I have a lot of time on my hands.Wait, no. I have a lot of cleaning to do that I want to avoid.

So anyway, I thought I'd post what I do on thisblog. I'll keep adding tothispost daily. I've got the first two weeks plotted out, and will be planning the next 2 weeks soon.So if you have any ideas post them!! Please;). Most of the ideas I have so far are from Family Fun magazine,Gourmet Mom on the Go, and from you guys posting ideas last year.

So here goes. . .31 days of Halloween. . .

(Click on each day to see the recipes)

Day 1: Banana Ghosts

Day 2: Black Bean Cat Crudite

Day 3: Cheesy Corns

Day 4: Blood and Bones

Day 5: Mini Witch Brooms

Day 6: Spooky Dinner

Day 7: Apple Bites

Day 8: Pumpkin Krispie Treats

Day 9: Lollipop Ghosts

Day 10: Potato Skin Ghosts

Day 11: Snack-o'-Lantern

Day 12: Witch's Brew

Day 13: Rebecca's Pumpkin Bread

Day 14: Pizza Mummies

Day 15: Caramel Apples

Day 16: Rice Krispie Day of the Dead Skulls

Day 17: Bobbing for apples

Day 18: Spider Cupcakes

Day 19: Pumpkin Rollups

Day 20: Butter Beer

Day 21: Monsters on a Stick

Day 22: Halloween Popcorn Ball

Day 23: Spooktakular Cupcakes

Day 24: Pumpkin Meal

Day 25: Pumpkin Seeds

Day 26: Worms in Dirt

Day 27: Mini candy pumpkins

Day 28: Monster Popcorn Paws

Day 29: Edible Eyeballs

Day 30: Hot Dog Mummies

Day 31: Not your mummy's meatloaf

Garlic Roasted Cauliflower

We were so tired of steamed veggies, no one was eating them. When I tried this recipe all of my family ate cauliflower! I got the recipe idea from Allrecipes.com but they used 2 tablespoons minced garlic and 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley instead of garlic powder. I went with the lazy way and it was still good.

• 2 teaspoons garlic powder with parsley
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large head cauliflower, separated into florets
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• salt and black pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (220 degrees C).
2. In a large casserole dish, toss cauliflower in olive oil and garlic powder until well coated.
3. Bake for 20-25 minutes, stirring halfway through. Top with Parmesan cheese and parsley, and broil for 3 to 5 minutes, until golden brown.

Savory Balsamic Pot Roast

I know I know. Pot roast seems so boring. But this pot roast is. so. good. Trust me.

Ingredients:

3-4 lb chuck roast
4 onions
1 C balsamic vinegar
3/4 C soy sauce
1/2 C water
1/2 C brown sugar
1 C beef broth
1/2 C white wine
4-5 bay leaves

Directions:

Slice onions. Place on bottom of roasting pan. Put on pot roast. Pour liquid over roast. Cook at 325 for 3-3 1/2 hrs. Add carrots and potatoes 45 min before done if desired.

Tangy Coleslaw

2-10 oz pkgs of shredded coleslaw mix (I usually just use one 16 oz pkg because that's what they have at the commissary and it works just fine)

dressing:

1/2 C sugar (I only use 1/4, because I think 1/2 is too sweet)

1/2 C mayo (I use fat free miracle whip)

1/4 C milk + 1/4 C buttermilk (Instead of milk and buttermilk, I do 1/2 C skim milk with extra lemon juice added to make a buttermilk substitute since I almost never actually buy buttermilk)

2 1/2 T lemon juice

1 1/2 T vinegar

1/2 t salt

1/4 t pepper

Whisk together dressing. Pour over cabbage in a large bowl and toss to coat. Chill in the fridge (says 2 hrs, but I think I usually just do an hour.)

Baked Beans

I told Colby I'd post this, but I don't know the proportions because I just kind of make it up as I go.

1 lb dried navy beans, picked through and rinsed

4-8 slices of really good bacon (depending on how much you want)

1 green pepper, diced

1 onion, diced

sauce (all measurements are guesses):

1 1/2 C Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce, whichever flavor you like best

3/4 C brown sugar

2 T yellow mustard

1 T cider vinegar

1 t Worcestershire sauce

1 t garlic

1/2 C water

1 t salt

1/2 t pepper

Cook navy beans by bringing to a boil in 10 C of unsalted water, covering and let simmer for 1 hour or until done. Drain off the cooking water.

Cook the bacon and then crumble it. Saute the onion and pepper in 1-2T of bacon grease (or in butter or oil if the thought of cooking in bacon grease repulses you--it does add lots of flavor, but I'll admit that it took me years before I was even willing to try it).

In a bowl, mix the sauce ingredients. Taste it and add more of any of the ingredients to get it to your desired flavor. (If this isn't enough sauce, just add a little more of everything...like I said, I just make it up, so I don't know exactly how much.)

In a 9x13, mix the beans, onion, pepper, bacon, and sauce. The sauce should coat everything well so that it doesn't get dried out in the oven. Bake 350 for 1 hour.

sun dried tomato and bowtie pasta

Again, cleaning out my recipe box I found this recipe. I thought I knew pretty much all the favorite recipes I had stored there, but I forgot about this one. Its very yummy-might be making it tomorrow!

1/4 bottle of pesto
or 2 tbl dried basil minced
1 1/2 tsp pine nuts
1 1/2 tsp oliv oil mised in blender

12 oz sun dried tomatoes
1 tbl olive oil
1 1/2 cloves garlic minced
1/4 lb fresh mushrooms sliced
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne
1/2 pck bowtie pasta

In small bowl blanch sundried tomatoes for 30 sec in boiling water. Drain well and slice tomatoes into small pieces. Sautee garlic in 1/8 C olive oil on medium heat. Simmer for 1 minute-don't brown. Add pesto, salt, cayeene, and tomatoes. Reduce heat to low and let mixture simmer. Mix w/ cooked pasta.

Seasonings recipes

Cleaning out my recipe box and found these. Which really would have come in handy two weeks ago when I needed taco seasoning!!

Taco Seasoning

2 t dried onions
1 t salt
1/2 t minced garlic
1/2 t cornstarch
1/2 t cumin
1 t chili powder
1/4 t. oregano

Chili seasoning

1 1/2 t flour
1 T dried onion flakes
3/4 t chili powder
1/4 t dried red pepper
1/4 t minced garlic
1/2 t. seasoning salt
1/4 t sugar
1/4 t cumin

Spaghetti Seasoning

1 t minced onion

1 T parsley flakes

1 T cornstarch

1 T salt

1 t instant minced garlic

1 t sugar

1 T dried green pepper

1/4 t basil

1/4 t thyme

1/2 t sage

1/4 t marjoram

1/4 t oregano

Grandma Maxine's BBQ Sandwich Sloppy-Joes

1 lb. ground beef, browned and drained

1/2 - 1 pound deli roast beef chopped or cut into thin slices

ketchup

mustard

brown sugar

salt and pepper

Brown ground beef in pan and drain. Salt and pepper to taste. Add chopped deli roast beef and heat through. Squirt on a bunch of ketchup, a little less mustard and brown sugar to taste.

Serve on buns or rolls.

This is Todd's Grandma's recipe and you can really add as much or as little of each ingredient as you like. We like to take turns tasting, to see if the mix is right.

Pulled-Pork Sandwiches in a Pot

-Pork roast (between 3-5 pounds)

-BBQ sauce

-salt and pepper

This is a crock pot recipe, so you can choose a less expensive cut of meat. Any kind of pork roast will do, and a little marbling in the meat actually works well with this recipe.

-Put pork roast in crock pot and cook for several hours. I usually cook mine on a higher heat for a few hours and then turn it down to low to finish.

-When roast is cooked, remove from crock pot and shred meat. The meat should fall apart easily.

-Put shredded meat back in crock pot (dump liquid out of crock pot first) and salt and pepper to taste.

-Add at least one bottle of BBQ sauce (depending on the size of the roast, you may need more) and warm until heated through.

-Serve on buns or rolls.

Thai Cucumber Salad

Facebook stalking gave me another recipe. This was posted by Mrs. Ashley Holloway who got it from Allrecipes.com (again, having trouble adding the link. . .anyone know why??). I haven't tried this recipe but it looks intriguing. I will be grabbing the ingredients tomorrow and will let you know how it goes!!

Ingredients

3 large cucumbers, peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded, and cut into 1/4-inch slices
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 cup chopped peanut

Directions

1. Toss the cucumbers with the salt in a colander, and leave in the sink to drain for 30 minutes. Rinse with cold water, then drain and pat dry with paper towels.
2. Whisk together the sugar and vinegar in a mixing bowl until the sugar has dissolved. Add the cucumbers, jalapeno peppers, and cilantro; toss to combine. Sprinkle chopped peanuts on top before serving.

mini cheesecakes

Thought I'd post what I am making for fathers day/celebrating Cole's bday.

Bry is a big fan of cheesecake, but we like different toppings. He's more into fruit-I'm into chocolate. The kids don't really love cheese cake, but they are into anything in a cupcake liner that they can top. So I'll be making mini cheesecakes and putting out mulitiple toppings (blue berries, strawberries, rasberries, toffee bits, crushed oreos, mini chocolate chips and chocolate sauce for us).

I got the idea and recipe by stalking Rebecca Price's facebook page. Her friend suggested this mini cheesecake receipe from Iheartnaptime.blogspot.com (sorry, having troubling adding the link in. . .). Here's the recipe as seen on their site. PS. kind of an amazing crafty site. You should check it out.

Ingredients:

14 Nilla Wafer Cookies
2 8oz packages cream cheese
3/4 C sugar
2 Tbs flour
2 Tbs powdered sugar
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 Tbs fresh lemon juice
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Foil cupcake liners

Optional Toppings:
canned pie filling
fresh berries
whipped cream
chocolate sauce
caramel sauce
lemon curd

Preheat oven to 375. Soften cream cheese if needed. With an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar. Add in flour and baking powder and beat to combine. Then add in eggs, one at a time, lemon juice, and vanilla. Beat to combine.

Fill a muffin pan with cupcake liners and place two vanilla wafer at the bottom of each one. Divide batter between 12 muffin papers, filling each cup up to about 1/4 inch from the top. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. They'll puff way up during baking, but they'll settle after being chilled.

When you take them out of the oven, place them on a cooling rack and let them cool completely. While they cool, they will sink down in the center. Don't worry- that's normal! It makes the perfect little well to fill up with the fruit filling. Before you top them, chill in the fridge for at least 4-6 hours or preferably over night. Then top and serve. I used a strawberry glaze and then put strawberries on top.

Tasty Toss Up

wanna see what i'm eating right now??

it's so yummy. It's my favorite pasta salad. I got it from my cousin Michelle's book club recipe book! The dressing it what makes it so delicious-so tangy. She adds tuna to hers which I love with it. You can hardly taste the tuna when you flake it and mix it in well (my kids are enjoying it right now totally blissful of the tuna factor). But if you are strongly opposed to it, leave it out, add flaked chicken or ham instead, or just skip meat all together!!

1/2 lb. pkg pasta curls

1-12 oz tuna drained and flaked

2 C thinly sliced cucumbers

1 large tomato seeded and chopped

1/2 C sliced celery

1/4 C chopped green bell peppers

1/4 C sliced green onion

1 C bottled italian dressing

1/4 C mayonnaise (i like miracle whip)

1 T prepared mustard

1 t dill weed

1 t salt

1/8 t. pepper

Make the noodles. Add the vegetables. Mix the dressing and add. I like to add parmesan to this btw. Cover and chill!!

(ps, I add whatever vegetables or pasta i have around)

(pps. what fabulous, summer recipes do you have??)

Hamburger Casserole

A friend here in Italy shared this with me. It's sooo good and very easy!

2.5- 3 cups elbow or ronzoni macaroni (or similar noodle)
1 pound ground beef
1 can mexicorn or regular corn, un-drained
1 can sliced or chopped black olives, un-drained
Chopped green onion and bell pepper, to your liking
1 Tbs. worcestershire sauce
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2- 1 cup water
Salt and pepper to taste
Cheddar cheese (or your favorite kind)

Cook macaroni. Brown beef. Add chopped pepper and onion. Cook until soft. Add all other ingredients and bring to a boil. Simmer 20-30 minutes. Pour over macaroni and mix well. Put in casserole dish and top with cheese. Cook at 350 degrees until bubbly (20-30 minutes). Really good!

Spanish Rice

1 tsp. garlic powder (or one clove crushed)

6 Tbsp. oil

2 cups rice

2 tsp. salt

1/2 onion, chopped

1/2 bell pepper, chopped

1 can tomatoes

4 cups chicken broth

* I also like to add a dash of cumin and a little cilantro. Season to taste.

-Brown the rice in oil. Blend the onions, peppers, garlic, salt, tomatoes, and broth in blender. Add to rice when rice is browned. Wait until boiling, then cover. Cook on low for 20 minutes.

Pasta Salad

1 lb. pasta

1-2 cans tuna

onions, chopped

pickles, chopped

olives, chopped

miracle whip

celery seed/salt

black pepper

garlic to taste

-Cook a box of pasta per box directions (I usually use salad or macaroni noodles) and rinse them under cool water when they're done cooking. (Better they're slightly more firm than cooked.)
-Dump a can or two of tuna into a bowl, chop up a can of olives and add them, chopped onion to your liking (if you use dehydrated onion, add to tuna water), and as many chopped up pickles as you can handle.

-Add a couple of scoops of miracle whip, a couple of dashes of celery seed (or salt), a pinch of black pepper (you can also add garlic, or any other such spice to spice it up)- mix it all together and add the noodles. Stir and chill.

My kids would eat this everyday if I let them. We scoop it with wheat thins for lunch.

Cheese cake ball

Ingredients
1 - 8oz pkg softened cream cheese
1/2 c. Softened butter (no substitutes)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 c confectioner's sugar
2 T. brown sugar
3/4 c. mini chocolate chips (must be mini)
Graham crackers or graham cracker stix

Directions
1. In mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla until fluffy. Gradually add sugars, beat until just combined. Stir in Chocolate chips.
2. Cover and refrigerate two hours
3. Place cream cheese mixture on a large piece of plastic wrap and shape into a ball.
4. Refrigerate for at least an hour.
5. If you choose, just before serving, roll cheese ball in pecans, chocolate chips, or peanut butter chips. Serve with graham crackers (you can even add flavors such as toffee chips or butterscotch)

Enjoy,
Jessica