Crock Pot Pulled Pork

Nice and easy...and amazing flavor!

1 (5 pound) pork butt roast
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 (12 fluid oz) can beer (I used Alaskan white wheat ale.  Apparently you can use root beer as well)
1 (12 oz) bottle barbecue sauce (I used Stubbs Sticky Sweet, has all natural ingredients)

Place the pork in the slow cooker, season top of pork with salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder (I just sprinkled away, not measuring).  Pour the beer into the bottom of the slow cooker and place lid.

Cook on high for 1 hour.  Reduce heat to low and cook for at least 8 hours or overnight (with our new crockpot, we did 7 hours).

Remove pork from the slow cooker and shred with two forks (I sort of forgot to remove it but really, it just fell apart with a meat fork so not sure I could have removed it if I tried!).  Discard juices and rinse out slow cooker crock (I ladled the juices out and into a strainer to catch the meat to add back in.  Doing this, I didn't get all the juices but it was ok.  A little juicer at the end but no complaints there!).  Return pork to slow cooker and stir barbecue sauce into pork.

Cook on medium for 1 hour (ours doesn't have medium so I did low for an hour).

Source: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/slow-cooker-beer-pulled-pork/ 

Crock Pot French Dip Sandwhiches

Nice and easy recipe with delicious results!

1 lg onion, quartered and sliced (I used about 1 tblspn of powdered onion)
1 beef roast, bottom round, rump, or other lean cut, about 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 pounds
1/4 cup water
1/4 dry white wine (or use 1/2 cup water total - what I did)
1 package au jus gravy mix
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
dash garlic powder
sandwich rolls or French bread

Place onion in slow cooker (I about covered the bottom).  Place roast on the onions.

In a bowl, stir together wine and water (or all water), au jus mix, pepper, and garlic powder.  Pour over roast.

Cover and cook on high for 5 to 6 hours or on low 10 to 12 hours, or until meat is very tender.
Note: we bought a Hamilton Beach programmable cooker and only took about 4 hours on high.  I highly recommend this crock pot!

Remove meat from liquid (it FELL apart! It was awesome!) and let stand for 5 minutes (yeah right, we just dove right in).  Slice roast thinly across grain (again, it fell apart, no cutting needed!).

Make sandwiches on bread with meat and onions (we used mozzarella cheese but provolone would work well too.  We did not do onions but will be trying it with green peppers and maybe caramelized onion next time).

Serve the cooking liquid for dipping (yes.  do this.)


Source: http://southernfood.about.com/od/crockpotpotroast/r/bl83c14.htm

Banana Bread

My family goes through bananas like no other!  Sometimes, they brown quicker than we can eat them.  What do you do with ripe bananas?  Make banana bread!  I always make the classic bread loaf but you can add nuts, chocolate chips, or any other fun addings you enjoy and/or make it into muffins if you'd like!  Most recipes I've found don't call for cinnamon but I like to add about 1/4 tsp to the mix and sprinkle some on top as well.  Spreading melted butter and a cinnamon-sugar mix on top just before its done is great too.

Here is an easy recipe I follow:
2-3 very ripe bananas, peeled
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar (3/4 cup if you want a little less)
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cup flour

Preheat the oven to 350 and butter/oil a loaf pan

In a medium mixing bowl, mash the ripe bananas with a fork (I use a mashing tool) until smooth.  Stir the melted butter into the mashed bananas.

Mix in the baking soda and salt.  Stir in the sugar, beaten egg, and vanilla.  Mix in the flour (this is where I add cinnamon).

Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 1 hour (check after 45-50 minutes and adjust if necessary).  To check: insert a toothpick into the center - if it comes out clean, its done.

Cool completely on a rack before serving (although we like to eat before its cool and add butter!).

Prosciutto-Wrapped Chicken with Shallot Sauce

I found this recipe in People magazine forever ago and, on a whim, tried it.  It was surprisingly easy and, not surprisingly (given the ingredients), delicious!  I am writing the directions directly from the recipe with my notes.

I prepared my chicken the night before so that my husband could just put them in the oven at dinner time before I got home.  I also made the sauce the night before and heated it up in the microwave when serving it.  My guess is that it would have been better fresh rather than this way but a great alternative as it takes a while to prepare (well, at least when you have hungry boys waiting!)

8oz. goat cheese, softened (I used crumbled from a container and only needed probably 2oz)
4 (6-oz) boned and skinned chicken breasts (I used 6 frozen tenderloins, thawed in the microwave enough to cut into them)
Salt, pepper to taste
1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves (I just sprinkled on some dried leaves, enough to make it look pretty)
20 (2x6-in) slices prosciutto (I bought packages of 6 and used 12 total, 2 for each tenderloin)
2 tbsp olive oil (I used coconut oil, probably about 2 tbsp...?)
2-3 shallots, thinly sliced (I bought two and only used 1.  It was the first time I've used shallot so I didn't want to overdo the taste.  Super cheap by the way!)
1/2 cup each white wine, chicken broth and reduced-fat milk
1 tbsp flour

Preheat oven to  350 degrees.

Chicken:
Cut lengthwise pocket in each breast and stuff goat cheese in pockets.  Season breasts as desired with salt, pepper, and thyme.  Wrap prosciutto evenly around breasts (I forgot to season the first three before wrapping and just seasoned the outside of the prosciutto instead - oops!  I don't think it affected the taste).

Bake in a lightly greased 9x13-in baking dish for 15-25 minutes or until thermometer inserted into thickest part registers 165 degrees and juices run clear (yeah, too complicated for me - I cut into a thick one to make sure the chicken was cooked).

Sauce:

(I recommend having everything ready to go before starting this.  I tried to get it together as I went and felt rushed and afraid of burning something!)

Cook shallots in hot oil in skillet over medium-low heat, stirring often (so they don't burn), 2-3 minutes.  Add wine and broth; bring to a boil.

Whisk together milk and flour; whisk into broth mixture.  Return mixture to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, 8-10 minutes until sauce thickens (it thickens a lot once you take it off the heat so don't worry about it being thick after 8 minutes).  

Spoon sauce over chicken and sprinkle with additional pepper.  

I served this with a small salad, a nice meal!  I should have taken a picture...I was hungry, sorry.

Cheesy Chicken in the Crock Pot

This one is from a tin of crock pot recipes and I hadn't made it in a while.  I've discovered that cooking overnight is best for me and especially with my older crock.  It turned out delicious and easy...and inexpensive. 

6 count or about 1 1\2 lbs chicken breasts
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 can cheese sauce (from the soup isle)
Salt and pepper
2 cloves garlic (recipe calls for garlic powder but I minced fresh garlic)
Pasta, rice, or potatoes to serve over (I used rotini pasta)
Parsley

Lay half of the chicken at the bottom of the crock pot and season with salt, pepper, and garlic. Repeat with rest of the chicken.  Mix the soups in a small bowl and pour over the chicken.  Cook on low 6-8 hours.  Pour mixture over the pasta of your choice and sprinkle with parsley.

When ready, I mixed the chicken and sauce in the crock so that the chicken shredded as I mixed.  After I cooked and drained the pasta, I mixed it all together.

Next time I would like to add in some red pepper flakes to spice it up!

Feta and Cream Cheese Chicken

I love feta cheese to make Greek-inspired salads and omelets.  Problem is that I never seem to use it all.  I found a recipe where you use the below cheese mixture to stuff chicken breasts.  I had frozen chicken tenders so figured I would make my own creation!

1/4 cup feta cheese
2 tablespoons cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon (rough estimate) Italian seasoning*
1 teaspoon (rough estimate) fresh lemon juice**

I pan-seared 4 chicken tenders in coconut oil and sprinkled them with pepper.  While they browned, I mixed all of the ingredients together in a bowl. Once they were cooked, I used a spatula and basting brush to spread the mixture on top of the chicken and let it melt a bit on low heat.

I served it with fresh, uncooked asparagus and a little salad. Yum!

* the original recipe called for basil but I used this instead since I didn't have basil
** this was my own addition and added a nice touch I think

Tilapia, rice, and broccoli dinner

This might easily be the tastiest, easiest, and most "elegant" dinner I've made yet!  I am pretty proud :-)

We bought some frozen tilapia that I wanted to use up so I got creative, using a recipe on the bag...modified.  In a small bowl, I mixed a chopped roma tomato, chopped green pepper, dried onion flakes, garlic salt, black pepper, and olive oil. This was all eye-balled.  The recipe also called for cilantro and lime juice but I didn't have those. Would have been a nice touch but didn't need them.  At least a bit of lemon might have added some nice flavor.

On a sheet pan, I made a little shallow bowl with aluminum foil, put the tilapia down, then spread the mixture on top. I closed the bowl and baked them for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. 

While the fish was cooking, I made some white rice (I always just make the quick rice with a bit of butter and salt) and steamed fresh broccoli.  For the broccoli, I shredded cheddar cheese when it was nice and hot from the microwave and let it melt.  We use white cheddar seasoning for popcorn so I sprinkled that, salt, and pepper and shook it to mix. 

Side note: one of the handiest gadgets I have from Pampered Chef is the large micro-cooker, which is how I steamed, drained and mixed the broccoli!

This all came together in less than a half hour and even my 6 year-old ate it all!