Thursday, August 25, 2011

Slow Cooker Mexican Pulled Pork

Slow Cooker Mexican Pulled Pork
•2 (8 oz) cans tomato sauce
•1 Tbsp chili powder
•1 Tbsp ground cumin
•2 Tbsp brown sugar, divided
•1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
•½ tsp salt
•3 cloves garlic, minced
•1 lb pork tenderloin
1.In a slow cooker, combine the tomato sauce, chili powder, cumin, 1 Tbsp of the brown sugar,cayenne pepper, salt, and garlic. Stir until well combined.
2.Carefully place the pork into the sauce in the slow cooker. Make sure it is all covered with the sauce. Cook on low for 8 hours.
3.Remove the pork from the slow cooker and shred the pork using two forks, pulling against the grain of the meat. Pour the sauce from the slow cooker into another bowl. Add the pork back to the slow cooker and add just enough of the sauce to make the meat saucy just like a bbq pulled pork. Then mix in the remaining 1 Tbsp of brown sugar for extra sweetness.

Yellow sweet shortcake, Lindsay's recipe

1 box yellow cake mix
2 eggs
1 stick melted butter
Mix together, should be very thick. Spread in a 9x13 pan.

16 oz powdered sugar
8 oz softened cream cheese
1 egg
Mix together until well blended, then pour on top of bottom mixture and spread evenly. Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes. Should just be starting to turn a golden color. Do not overbake.

To use this for strawberry shortcake, just do the yellow cake mix part and not the topping and bake for 25 minutes.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Easy Spinach Salad



Ingredients:
-Fresh Spinach leaves
-goat or feta cheese, crumbled (try the goat cheese if you never have, it's delicious)
-strawberries, chopped or blueberries (etc.)
-walnuts/pecans (plus sugar)
-raspberry or strawberry vinaigrette

Directions:
NUTS
In saucepan, saute nuts for a few minutes on medium high. Just barely allow to "toast". (You can do this in the oven, but the stove top is much faster and just as good). Pour sugar on top of nuts and mix constantly, until sugar melts completely. Do not allow sugar to brown. (You can take nuts off heat and finish stirring if needed to prevent burning.) Spread nuts onto plate and allow to cool. I like to sprinkle a little bit of salt on top of the hot nuts.
SALAD
Mix together all ingredients in large bowl. Only mix as much as you will eat because the salad dressing will cause the spinach to wilt overnight. Mixing salad beforehand in large bowl allows all the flavors to blend nicely before serving.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Hershey's Chocolate Cake and Chocolate Icing

CAKE INGREDIENTS
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup Hershey's cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE FROSTING INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup butter or 1/2 cup margarine
2/3 cup cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


CAKE DIRECTIONS
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine dry ingredients in large bowl.
Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla.
Beat on medium speed 2 minutes.
Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin).
Pour into 2 greased and floured 9" round pans. Also makes around 30 cupcakes (bake cupcakes 22-25 minutes).
Bake 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Cool 10 minutes, then remove to wire racks and cool completely.
Frost with "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Frosting (above). Also great with the cheesecake pudding frosting as seen in photo above.

FROSTING DIRECTIONS: 
Melt butter.
Stir in cocoa.
Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating on medium speed to spreading consistency.
Add more milk, if needed