Thursday, April 14, 2011

Pork or Chicken Tacos with Cilantro Slaw (3 Star)

This taco meat is cooked in the crock pot to tender, juicy, and savory perfection. Either chicken or pork works well here. The top picture is pork and the bottom is chicken (made on separate occasions).



Shredded Pork or Chicken Taco Meat

1 onion, chopped
2 teaspoons sea salt
2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon smoked paprika (or regular if you don't have smoked)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
1/3 cup brown sugar
4 lbs boneless, skinless chicken or pork
1 cup chicken or beef broth
2/3 cup frozen apple juice concentrate
2/3 cup water
1 cup Salsa Verde (tomatillo salsa)

Garnish

sour cream
cheese
Salsa Verde

Put the chopped onion in the bottom of a crock pot.

In a small bowl combine all of the seasonings and sugar. Rub this mixture onto the meat and place in the crock pot. Pour the broth, juice, and water into the crock pot. Cook on LOW for six to eight hours or until meat is so tender that it just falls apart when shredded.

Remove the meat from the pot and shred with two forks. Place shredded meat into a bowl or serving dish. Add some spoonfuls of broth back into the meat so that it is moist but not soggy. (The remaining broth can be reserved in the fridge or freezer for use in a soup later.) Stir 1 cup of salsa into the meat and serve with garnish(es) of choice. This meat is actually better the second day, so make it a day ahead or make enough so that you have left-overs.



I like to serve this with homemade tortillas (click here) and cilantro lime slaw (click here). The spice blend in this recipe is inspired by a recipe from Prudence Pennywise (click here).

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Asian Noodle Salad (0 Star)

This salad, courtesy of Pioneer Woman, is chock full of colorful, crisp, sweet, and nutritious vegetables. The dressing is salty sweet spiked with lime, hot pepper, and cilantro. This is the kind of thing that Brandon and I love, but the boys don't consider edible.



Pioneer Woman's recipe makes a ton--she says it makes six servings, but the veggies alone filled my bowl to the twenty cup mark. Also, if you don't plan to eat this right away, my recommendation is to keep everything separate. Keep the salad in it's own bowl, dressing separate, and pasta separate, or the salad will wilt and the pasta will absorb the dressing and get mushy and gross. (Yes, I know this from experience.)

I used whole wheat pasta and I think this might also be good with quinoa in place of the pasta--I plan to try it next time.

Click here for the recipe.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Potatoes Ogg Rotten (3 Star)

Have you ever heard of "Potatoes Ogg Rotten" before? Aka, "Potatoes Au Gratin". Around here "Potatoes Ogg Rotten" is our little joke. My boys love this meal (except my second-born, of course). I add in a pound of browned homemade sausage and they love it even more. This time I also added in a couple of sweet potatoes and some carrots (it was worth a shot), but those got picked out so I'll probably skip them next time.



I use Pioneer Woman's recipe, and while it tastes great, I am irritated about the fact that the milk always curdles. I think it's because I use 2% milk with no cream. I read that milk with lower fat content curdles more easily. Bummer. I was trying to lessen the calories but maybe I should just go with the cream next time. (Any suggestions?) Or maybe just not worry about it since I'm the only one aware--the boys love it how it is. But it's not too pretty. Or creamy. Oh well!



Click here for the recipe.

Friday, April 8, 2011

Roasted Veggie Enchilada Casserol (1 Star)

Holy enchiladas, Batman! This was one of the best dishes I have ever made, as pronounced by me while Brandon and I devoured. The roasted vegetables were savory and earthy, and with the cheese, tortillas, salsa, and meat (not in the recipe but I chose to add) was an amazing combination. I did not expect it to taste as good as it did. I also did not expect any of our boys to manage to take any more than the required taste, but my third-born devoured several helpings and kept exclaiming, "Mom! Please make this again!" I will.



I hope my photo doesn't detract from my written praise. I took it after it had been in the fridge for two days (it was still heavenly to the taste buds, though) and the tortillas had disintegrated a bit and everything had kind of mashed together. If you want to see gorgeous photos of this dish, go to Perry's Plate from whom I got the recipe.

Click here for the recipe.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Texas Sheet Cake (4 Star)

I've shared my favorite homemade vanilla cake (here). Now it's time to share my favorite homemade chocolate cake. It is moist, tender, rich, and reminds me of my grandmother. My second-born enjoyed this for his birthday cake, recently.



It is (as the name implies) a sheet cake and so I didn't know if it would work as a different shape but it did. I used a 10 by 2 inch round pan and I baked it 25-30 minutes instead of 20.



This is a recipe that I got from my grandmother's file, but Pioneer Woman has the exact same recipe on her site so I will just link hers so I don't have to type the whole thing. And, of course, her step-by-step format is way nicer than anything I post here.

Click here for the recipe.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Mississippi Mud Brownies (4 Star)



I can't stop thinking about these brownies. I want to make them every day and eat them all myself. They are fudgy, dense, chewy, and my favorite part is the salty peanut butter on top. Another thing that I like about them is that they are made with cocoa powder, not unsweetened baking squares. It's cheaper that way, easier, and no sacrifice at all in flavor or texture.

I didn't even make them to the full extent of their wickedness because I didn't have marshmallows, pecans, or powdered sugar, but I'm excited for the day that I do. However, they were extremely good with just the chocolate chips and peanut butter.

I was a little unsure about this recipe at first, because it only calls for two tablespoons of cocoa powder in the brownies. I thought that there was no way that was enough but they turned out really good, though they were on the light side of chocolaty. The semi sweet chips added a lot more chocolate. However, if you do want them to have more intense chocolate flavor, then increase the cocoa powder and decrease the flour. I made them once as written in the original recipe and once with more chocolate. Pictured are the more chocolaty ones. I am posting the recipe with my changes.

Mississippi Mud Brownies
adapted from Tasty Kitchen

•1/2 cups All-purpose Flour
•1/3 Cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
•1/4 teaspoons Salt
•1/2 cups Unsalted Butter, At Room Temperature
•1 cup White Sugar
•1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
•2 whole Large Eggs
•3/4 cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
•1/2 cups Crunchy Peanut Butter (Smooth works fine, too. My favorite is Kirkland Signature's organic peanut butter.)
•2 cups Mini Marshmallows
•1/2 cups Chopped And Toasted Pecans
•2 cups Confectioner's Sugar
•1/8 teaspoons Salt
•4 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
•2 Tablespoons Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
•1/4 cups Plus 2 Tablespoons Of Milk
•1/4 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8×8″ square baking pan with parchment paper or foil. If using foil, spray it with cooking spray.

In medium bowl, combine flour, 1/3 cup cocoa powder, and salt. Set aside.

In large mixing bowl, beat together butter, sugar, and 1 teaspoon vanilla until creamy. Add the eggs one at a time. Stir dry ingredients into batter. Pour batter into prepared pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle with chocolate chips. Bake in preheated oven for 22-25 minutes.

When brownie layer is done baking, gently spread peanut butter over hot brownie. If you use a peanut butter that is thick, you can add a little oil and microwave until it's a little more runny. With mine, I didn't need to do this. Sprinkle the peanut butter covered brownies with marshmallows. Return to oven to bake for 3 more minutes, or until the marshmallows puff. Remove from oven and sprinkle puffed marshmallows with toasted pecans.

To make frosting, combine confectioners sugar and salt. In small saucepan, melt 4 Tablespoons butter over medium heat. When butter is melted, add the 2 Tablespoons of cocoa powder and 1/4 cup of the milk and heat until the mixture begins to boil. Pour this mixture into confectioners sugar/salt mixture and beat on high speed with an electric mixer until smooth and glossy. If frosting is not pourable at this point, add remaining 2 Tablespoons of milk (I didn’t have to do this). Lastly, beat in 1/4 teaspoon vanilla, then pour evenly over puffed marshmallows and pecans.

Let cool completely in refrigerator for 1-2 hours. Cut into squares and enjoy!



Click here for the original recipe.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Salsa Bean Dip (0 Star)

This is a recipe I came up with myself, and maybe I am a little strange, I don't know. But I like it and it is another healthy way to make veggies more enticing. All it is, is refried beans mixed with salsa. I use my homemade refried beans from this post. If I were to make it with canned refried beans (which I'm not sure I ever would because they just don't taste nearly as good) I would season them with stuff like liquid smoke, garlic powder, onion powder, chipotle powder, maybe some taco seasoning, etc. As far as amounts, I haven't measured, but I'm guessing it's somewhere between a one to one, or three to two ratio, the beans being the greater amount.