Crock Pot BBQ Pork

Ugh, this was so stinking good and I can't remember the recipe now. I thought I had saved it, but I guess not. And of course, I can't find whatever website I used for my inspiration. So here's what I *think* I did:

3-4 lb. pork roast
1 bottle BBQ sauce (Jack Daniel's BBQ sauce)
2 c. (ish?) beef broth
3T liquid smoke
1/4 c. dried chopped onion
salt, pepper

Season the pork roast with salt and pepper. Place in bottom of crock pot. Mix remaining ingredients and pour over. I know 1/4 cup of dried onion sounds like a lot but I know that I seriously used 1/2 bottle of dried chopped onion. I guess you could use real onion, but I didn't have any on hand. I also can't remember if I used 3T. of liquid smoke or 1/4 cup. I know, I suck. I guess I'll have to make it again. Either way, this is the basis and if you make it, I promise it'll be good. I mean, just look at the picture!

New York Deli II

I'm in the Rio Grande Valley this week which means...sandwiches? You would think being a hop, skip, and a jump, I would be engorging myself on Mexican food. However, last time I was down this way, I was less than impressed with the "Mexican" food. You see, apparently "real" Mexican food and Tex-Mex are waaaaaaaaaay different. I have found that I am a Tex-Mex gal. Real authentic Mexican food is too bland for my personal palate. Nothing seemed to quench my mexican food craving last time, so this time I'm carefully researching it. In the mean time, I hit a relatively new place to town called New York Deli II. Apparently, they did so well in a neighboring town, they opened up one in Harlingen, so it HAD to be good, right? RIGHT! I ordered a traditional corned beef Reuben. There was cheese on both sides of bread and a hearty amount of sauerkraut, something which most places just sprinkles on. With homemade Russian dressing! It was so good, and apparently so popular, that it comes in a bottle, like ketchup would. You also get your choice of potato salad, coleslaw or bagged potato chips. I went for the coleslaw after questioning the waitress about it's creamy-ness or vinegary-ness. She said she totally understood my concern, she's had that question before but the best answer she could give was that it's both.[I was glad to know I wasn't the first to ask!] So I decided to give it a try and was glad I did! The cabbage was finely shredded, like almost to the likes of sprouts, I mean that thin. It was crazy and I couldn't figure it out. But true to her word, the coleslaw was creamy with just the right hint of sweet and vinegar. I would recommend this place without hesitation. The only cons was that it's a small place, about 25 tables and it gets PACKED and LOUD during traditional lunch hours. So come early or late, or be prepared to scout out a table. I wish I had some pictures or they even had a website, but I was ill prepared, but trust me, this is a keeper!

Pros: Awesome sandwiches with quality meats and cheese, prompt waitress
Cons: Can be packed and loud at times
Will I Return?: HECK YES!
Rating: 5/5

BY THE WAY, if you happen to find yourself in Harlingen and at New York Deli II, make sure to grab a bag of cookies at the counter. They were from a local place that just had a tag that said "Dulce Vida." They looked like a cookie I remember devouring by the dozen in my past, although my old age prevents me from remembering where I got them. I just had to buy a bag, even though it was $4/dz. However, they were SOO delicious I am thinking of calling the number on the back to get some more before I have to leave town. They were two versions, one with powdered sugar and one with cinnamon and sugar. I opted for cinnamon sugar and they were absolutely fab. They just dissolve in your mouth to the texture of sand [I know it's a horrible analogy but the best way I could think to describe it.] DEFINITELY buy yourself a bag!

Weeknight Chili

I'm a soup kind of girl, BUT only in cold weather. So now that we have a burst of cold weather, I am in the soup mood! I had soup last night for dinner and I was so inspired that I decided to come home and make chili. With my Czhilispiel experience (and cheating and watching the pros there), I thought I could pull off a good chili with no recipe. I would say for a first timer I did pretty decent. It wasn't as full bodied as I would have liked, but then again I made it in an evening and wasn't able to let it simmer as long as I would have liked. I know the pros do different "dumps" to layer the flavors, but I was hungry! So below is a weeknight chili; you can make it without simmering it all day and it still tastes great! I like mine with cheddar cheese and cornbread. Since the hurricane, I lost my cornbread pan so I had to improvise with corn muffins and although they weren't they same, they definitely did the job. I like my chili pretty spicy and bold, so I didn't include measurements for spices (also, I have a real problem measuring spices). But chili is a very individual thing so don't be afraid to experiment with what you like (but just in case you're nervous, I'll put my estimate of spices in parentheses). I hope you have a chili day to enjoy some chili (pun intended)!


Fully Dressed with Cheese and a Cornbread Muffin

Weeknight Chipotle Chili

3 slices bacon
1 large onion, finely chopped
5 cloves garlic, finely minced
2 chipotle chiles, chopped, with 2 tsp sauce

1# ground sirlon
1# Chicken and Poblano Sausage, casings removed (found at HEB)

28oz crushed fire-roasted tomatoes
16oz Diced Tomatoes, Chili Style
16oz Diced Tomatoes, Sweet Onion
16 oz tomato sauce, no salt added
1 tomato sauce can of water
1 c. beef broth, no salt added
tomato paste

Salt (3T)
Chipotle chili powder (2T)
Dallas Dynamite Chili Powder (5T)
Lemon Pepper (1T)
Brown Sugar (2T)
Pepper (1T)

1/3c. flour
8oz cold water

Brown bacon in soup pot. Remove bacon and saute onions in bacon grease until opaque. Add garlic and chiles, keep sauteing until onions are translucent. Add ground sirloin and chicken sausage and cook until brown. (This is very important: add some seasonings HERE or else your meat will be plain jane.) When the meat is browned, add all of the tomatoes, water, beef broth and tomato paste. After the chili begins boiling, add seasonings to taste. After the chili simmers for ten to fifteen minutes, taste for seasoning and adjust. Simmer for as long as you can and constantly adjust as you go. When you can't wait any longer to eat, mix the flour and water and add to the boiling chili. Let boil for a few minutes longer and enjoy!

Bridal Shower

Before I post recipes, I just had to post pictures because I'm so proud!!! I threw a scrapbooking shower for my cousin's wife and of course I HAD to do a nice spread. They're wedding colors were fern and wine, so I decided to only serve food that were red and green, how clever, right? It actually wasn't as hard as one would think. A random lady stopped me in the grocery store to discuss women getting into Texas A&M (which while it was totally interesting, it was not the right time) so I got put behind schedule and didn't get to complete everything I had planned. But I was VERY pleased with the end result. I think the biggest compliment was having 9 ladies eat all 28 of my mini cheesecakes!

Chipotle Tortilla Soup

I love tortilla soup, but I don't like chicken in my tortilla soup. It's one of my weird quirks. I do however love veggie tortilla soup and my favorite restaurant puts zucchini in their tortilla soup. What do you know, my aunt and uncle had an abundance of zucchini about to go bad, so I decided to try and recreate my own. The results? Better than going out!



32oz. low-sodium chicken broth
32oz. vegetable broth
1 can chipotle diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can rotel tomatoes, undrained
1 can green chiles, undrained
12 oz super sweet frozen corn
2 can black beans, rinsed and drained
Poultry seasoning
Chipotle chili powder
super secret chili powder
Cumin
7 zucchini, halved and chunked

Garnish: Sour cream, avocado chunks, lime wedges, tortilla chips

Bring broths to a boil. Add remaining ingredients except for zucchini. Boil for 10 minutes, then drop to a simmer. About 15 minutes before serving time, add zucchini chunks. Cook until zucchini is soft. (If you are making this all at once you add the zucchini when you add everything else. However, I like to let my soups simmer for the afternoon and in that case, it has a tendency to break down. So add accordingly depending on how long you plan to cook it.)

The BEST way to eat this is to put some tortilla chips in the bottom of your soup bowl. Pour soup over it. Squeeze a lime wedge (or two) into the soup. Dollop with sour cream and avocado chunks (be generous). Mix in the sour cream to make it slighty creamy. Oh! So good!!!! I mean, of course, the soup is great plain, BUT this way, it's soooo good. In case you haven't gathered, this soup is awesome!

Apples Galore!

Okay, I admit it. I am ADDICTED to food blogging. Not only do I participate, but I have upwards of 10 different blogs listed on my google reader feed. A few weeks it ago, it seemed that ALL of them had some sort of recipe containing apples, one even had an apple week!!! After sifting through them all, I decided on an apple cake. Apple Dapple Cake to be exact. How can you resist a name like that? And once you look at the pictures, HOW can you resist a cake like that?

I had a little trouble with the cake, but I think it was my own fault. I didn't have an electric mixer NOR a 1 cup measuring cup NOR a sifter. I think I might have lost count when adding the oil. When I first mixed it as I thought was right, it was very stiff. Like I said, I don't know if I mis-measured oil or maybe it had to do with not having an electric mixer. Anyways, I added a little more oil and a tad bit of milk. It turned out GREAT! The cake was a little dense, but sooooo moist. I also didn't boil the syrup for long enough because I was worried that I was going to burn it or myself because I was cooking in a much smaller pan that anticipated. So I'm not sure if the syrup was supposed to harden or what. Anyways, in spite of all of this, the cake was DELICIOUS!!! It's in my refrigerator right now and it's going to be hard to share it the rest of the week. I know I *should* if I don't want to gain 10 pounds this week, but it's so good I just might not!


Apple Dapple Cake
(Slightly modified from The Southern Plate)

3 c. all purpose flour
1 t. salt
1. t. soda
1 c. oil
2 c. sugar
3 eggs
2 t. vanilla
3 1/2 cups raw apples, peeled and chopped fine
Mix oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Sift together flour, salt, soda. Add to first mixture. Fold in pecans and apples. Bake in tube pan at 350 for 1 hour (or until knife comes out clean).

Sauce

1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
3/4 cup margarine(1 1/2 sticks) (*I used 1/2c because that's all I had)

Mix and cook 3 minutes after it begins to gently boil, stirring constantly. Pour over hot cake while cake is still in pan. Let cake cool completely before removing.

Deconstructed Lasagna (with Spaghetti Squash!!!)

The spaghetti squash. Seemingly, a nice, quiet little squash. But inside, a hard winter vegatable that isn't in my everyday food vocabulary.

But I did it. Yes, I finally overcome AND conquered my fear of spaghetti squash. I bought one a couple of weeks ago at Central Market and it has since sat on my countertop. Looking at me everyday, taunting me, begging me to be cooked. Since today was a Sunday, I figured I had lots of time to cook another dinner in case I failed. I had planned to do a "deconstructed" type of lasagna, meaning use pasta, ricotta cheese and pasta sauce but not layered in a pan, just mixed in a bowl. I baked my spaghetti squash and it worked!!! I used the squash instead of pasta for my idea and it was fabulous! It has proved to me that you should take risks in the kitchen and you will be rewarded!!!

Deconstructed Lasagna with Spaghetti Squash

1 medium spaghetti squash
EVOO
Salt and Pepper

Fat Free Ricotta Cheese
Your favorite spaghetti sauce
Mozzarella Cheese

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Split the spaghetti squash in half. Clean out the stringy pulp and seeds. (You can save the seeds to roast like a pumpkin.) Place on a cookie sheet lined with foil. Brush with EVOO, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until fork tender.

Meanwhile, heat your spaghetti sauce or make your own. I prefer to make my own. I sauteed half a white onion, diced, in EVOO. Once the onion turned opaque and softened, I added two cloves of garlic and continued sauteing. Once the garlic had slighty browned, I added a large can of diced tomatoes with basil, garlic and onions. Season to taste with salt, pepper and italian seasoning. Simmer until the spaghetti squash is ready.

Once the squash has cooled enough to handle, use a fork to pull apart and "make spaghetti." While hot, mix squash with ricotta cheese. The squash should be hot enough to melt the cheese. Add sauce, top with mozzarella cheese and serve. Mangia!
(The first picture is the layered, "fancy" picture, but really, it's best when you stir it all together. SOOOOOOOOOOO good!)