Pulled Pork with Peachy Salsa

Howdy Folk's!

 

Another year is coming to an end and everyone here is talking about New Year's Resolutions.  Or the way Gladdie put's it, New Years Revolutions.

 

 

 

 

Last year, I vowed to call my friends more frequently & cook more new and healthy recipes.  I did soso on the calling friends more frequently (it's hard to chat on the phone in this household) and I did very well on cooking more new and healthy recipes.  One such recipe is Pulled Pork with Peachy Salsa.  What I'm about to share with you sounds totally crazy, but turns out fabulous.  Trust me. :)

 

Add a bottle of Dr. Pepper to a pork roast.  There, I done said it.

 

 

 

Now, if you are still with me, toss in an onion, a jar of Roasted Tomato Chipotle and let it simmer for several hours till the meat is nice and tender.  Oh, FYI-- this can totally be cooked in a crock pot, but mine was a bit small for this huge roast.  Well, it's just that easy, and your house will fill with a spicy-sweet aroma of something really good cooking.

 

 

 

While the pork roast was simmering away, I made a fruit salad to compliment supper.

 

 

 

And I got all kinds of creative-wild and made up a batch of Peachy Salsa to be eaten with the Pulled Pork, taco style.  I was fresh out of the usual cherry tomatoes so I tossed in cherries instead.  The result was unexpected and delightful.

 

 

 

 

To assemble the tacos, I placed the shredded pork on a warm flour tortilla.

 

 

Then topped with the Peachy Salsa.

 

 

 

And rolled it all up.  Easy as-- Pulled Pork and Peachy Salsa tacos.  :)

 

 

 

 

I was concerned the kiddies would think it might have too much heat or spice, but the fruitiness of the salsa offers a cool respite of contrast.  The result is totally YUM.  However, you can always tone down the heat if need be, by not adding as much of the chipotle sauce.

 

                                     


In other news, Jean met a tall, handsome fellow (an older man) at the mall that I approve of:

 

 

Gotta love that.  Hehe.

 

We all went to see Rise of the Guardians yesterday.  Troy was in shock by the Jack and the Beanstalk previews; that movie looks like it will scare the shorts off him!

 

 

 

Gladys posed with Santa for once!  I think she has warmed to him now, since Christmas and confirmation of making the Nice list.

 

 

Best Wishes for a Happy New Year Everyone!

 

 

 

Pulled Pork with Peachy Salsa

 



(Serves 8-10)
Pulled Pork adapted from The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients:

For the Pork:
4-5lb pork butt (may be called pork shoulder)
salt & pepper
1 large sweet onion
1 jar chipotle sauce
20oz Dr. Pepper
Flour tortillas

For the Peachy Salsa:
1 cup chopped sweet cherries
1 can chopped peaches
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 jalapeno, minced
salt
juice of 1 lime


Directions:

1. Cut onion into quarters then separate layers into the bottom of a 5 quart (minimum size) crock pot. Trim pork butt of excess fat then cut into 4-6 large pieces and season well with salt & pepper. Lay seasoned pork on top of onions then add Dr. Pepper and chipotle sauce.  Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or until pork is tender enough to easily shred with a fork.
2. Remove pork pieces from the crock pot and shred, then place into a bowl and set aside. Strain juices through a double layer of cheesecloth and add back to shredded pork. Serve with Peachy Salsa in flour tortillas.

Peachy Salsa: Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well

 

Calzones

 

Hey You!

Yes, You. 

 

What's going on?  Nothing much here.  Except-- I made really yummy calzones yesterday for supper! :)

 

 

Yeah!  I rolled out some homemade pizza dough.

 

 

Then I added pesto, sausage, and artichoke hearts.

 

 

 

 

Cherry tomatoes and mozzarella cheese.

 

 

 

Next, I bundled it all up in a cute little calzone package.  Snug as a bug!

 

 

 

The beauty of this supper is that it is totally customizable.  The little kids choose tomato sauce, cheese and sausage as their fillings.

 

 

 

These were so good and I stand by the filling I chose-- it was delicious!  So much so, that the kids tried a bite of mine and next time I make these, they want the same toppings that I had.  It's all about choices with kids these days!  :)

 

 

Calzones

(makes 4)

 

Ingredients:

 

1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast

1 cup warm water

1 T olive oil

1 tsp. white sugar

1 tsp. salt

2.5 cups flour, divided

Desired toppings for filling.

 

Directions:

 

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Add the oil, sugar and salt; mix in 1 cup of the flour until smooth. Gradually stir in the rest of the flour, until dough is smooth and workable. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface for about 5 minutes, or until it is elastic. Lay dough in a bowl containing 1 teaspoon olive oil, then flip the dough, cover and let rise for 40 minutes, or until almost doubled.

 

When dough is ready, punch it down and separate it into 4 equal parts. Roll parts out into thin circles on a lightly floured surface. Fill each circle with toppings and fold over, securing edges by folding in and pressing.

 

Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 20 minutes.

 

 

Baked Spaghetti

 

When I think of comfort food, I think of Baked Spaghetti.  Not just any ole baked spaghetti either, but the kind Mom used to make me as a kid.  This is the BEST dish on earth!  It's cheesey, (of course), includes bacon (what BEST supper wouldn't), and is SWEET, (literally).

 

 

 

 

I know sweetness and spaghetti at first thought might not blend well, but trust me, in this dish it's so wonderful.  The contrast between the salty bacon, tangy gooey cheese, and sweet sugar topping is the ULTIMATE indulgent supper.  For this reason, I tend to only make this supper on special occasions.

 

 

Start off by cooking the bacon till crisp.  Then crumble most of it into a glass casserole dish. 

 

 

 

Next, pour a can of tomato juice over the bacon.

 

 

 

Add a cut up green pepper.  I cut mine in big chunks to make it easier for the hubby to pick out.

 

 

 

Add the cooked spaghetti noodles and Colby cheese to the dish.  Mix everything together really well and all those flavors marry into something wonderful.  Right before it's ready to go into the oven, top with a bit more cheese (I topped it off with Colby Jack), and bacon. 

 

 

 

Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees and it will come out looking something like this:

 

 

 

Now, after scooping some onto your plate, sprinkle on a teaspoon or so of sugar while it's nice and hot.  Trust me, this is the way to eat this Baked Spaghetti.  It is the BEST!

 

In other news, Santa came by the house and left gifts under the tree for all three kids!  Yes, folk's I am proud to say it was another year of the kids on the Nice List!

 

 

 

Later Christmas Day, the older kids came over with the in laws.

 

 

 

We had a house full of fun!  We played karaoke-- singing and dancing.

 

 

 

 

Dressed up the pets and took their pics.  Natch.  :)

Oh, the spotted dalmatian mix is Freckles, she is a very old gal now, and she lives with Gracie.

 

 

 

Dustball and Sophie just love the matching sweaters I made for them.

 

Here's a better look:

 

 

Hub aka Glenn Jr., invited his delightful girlfriend, Cindy to join us for Christmas Dinner. 

 

 

 

 

The day went by very quickly, with the living room once again a sea of gifts, kids, and wrapping paper.  :)

 

 

Glenn kept them all in line with his new Star Wars Light Saber.

 

 

 

Grace is such a happy girl, and she announced that she published her poems!

 

 

 

This is clearly how Christmas went by in a flash and looked for me:

 

 

 

Seriously though, it did get cut short a bit due to Mother Nature.  A blizzard was predicted to hit and the warnings were to stay off the roads.  So, everyone went back home in time to miss the worst of it.

 

Troy was psyched for sledding:

 

 

 

Once the blizzard hit, we went out in it to see how bad things were.

 

 

 

It seemed like a rather normal snow storm. 

 

 

 

We checked on all the plowers.

 

 

 

Then we made it home safely.

 

 

 

And went sledding.  :)

Grandma's Pumpkin Rolls

 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! 

 

On Christmas Eve, I started off my day by opening the big doors on the advent calender.   

 

 

 

 

Then I made my favorite holiday treat EVER--Grandma Miller's Pumpkin Rolls! 

 

 

They are not the easiest to make, but the little bit of extra preparation is totally worth it, as these are the BEST EVER.  Start by gathering all the ingredients.

 

 

Next, prepare the jelly roll pan (a cookie sheet with sides), by lining it with greased wax paper that has been sprinkled with flour.

 

 

The cake part itself isn't so hard to mix up, first beat the wet ingredients well, then add the dry.

 

 

 

I actually measure the ingredients in this recipe, cause I want it to turn out exactly like Grandma's.

 

 

 

When the batter is ready, pour into the cookie sheet, over the wax paper, and sprinkle with nuts.  The nuts are totally optional.  Grandma would usually make one roll with nuts and another without (for little ones or anyone who didn't care for nuts).

 

 

While the cake bakes, prepare the filling by mixing together butter, cream cheese, vanilla, and powdered sugar.

 

 

 

If you like, the powdered sugar can be sifted as added, to help fluff the filling even more.

 

 

 



I enjoy using the sifter and this way I am assured of a smooth and creamy filling with no hard sugar lumps.

 

 

 

After the cake is baked, while it is still very warm, roll it up in a clean towel and let it cool that way.  Once it has cooled, unroll it, remove the towel. and spread the filling, then roll it back up.  That's it!

 



 

 

 

My nephew, Little Robbie, (who was my taste testing guinea pig growing-up), has a theory about food.  He tells me, the best desserts out there has swirls and the second best stuff has strips.  :)

 

 

 

Over Christmas, we had tons of goodies around.

 

 

 

The cheese and sausage plate was a huge hit with the kiddies.

 

 

 

Gooey Lemon Bars:

 

 

 

Ham and Potatoes:

 

 

 

Tiny Smokies drenched in BBQ:

 

 

 

The best and only thing I wanted to eat, other than pumpkin rolls, of course, was Baked Spaghetti.  More on that in the next post.

 

 

The drinks in the house consisted of wine (from the in laws), whiskey, and pop.  The kiddies all had Sprite, or Dr. Pepper, even the older ones.

 

 

 

I usually don't ever drink alcohol, (I'm more of a water or ice tea kinda gal), but I did try a sip of wine. 

 

 

 

 

Next, was present time!  We exchanged a few gifts on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

 

 

 

I think this is the kiddies favorite part.  Sophie's too.  She actually opens her own gifts, especially if what's inside is an opened bag of doggie treats.  :)

 

 

 

At the beginning of 2012, Troy seen the monster trucks and got to get in one.  He was ecstatic about this gift:

 

 

 

All the kiddies were very happy, even teeniebopper Jean. 

 

 

 

Out of all the gifts we got, Troy's were the most interesting.  For one, he did it all himself, from acquiring the gift, to wrapping it.  For two, he is six years old.  Glenn got a page of Jean's math homework from Troy.  He thought his Dad could use it since it looked important. 

 

 

 

Me, I got a pair of boy jeans from a box of clothes that is ready to be donated.  Troy thought I would like them since I like trying on my jeans so much.  (I refuse to buy jeans in a bigger size and keep checking to see if I can squeeze into my old ones yet.)  They were a boy's size 8, and I was flattered.  :)

 

 

 

Gladdie made me these beautiful earrings:

 

 

 

And a reversible bracelet.  It's reversible because I can put it on either way and it still has the letters MOM.  Clever ahy?

 

 

Grandma's Pumpkin Rolls
(Adopted from: Libby's Pumpkin Rolls)

Ingredients:

CAKE

• 1/4 cup powdered sugar (to sprinkle on towel)
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
• 1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)

 

 

FILLING

 

• 1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
• 6 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Powdered sugar (optional for decoration)

Directions

FOR CAKE:
PREHEAT oven to 375° F. Grease 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan; line with wax paper. Grease and flour paper. Sprinkle a thin, cotton kitchen towel with powdered sugar.

COMBINE flour, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt in small bowl. Beat eggs and granulated sugar in large mixer bowl until thick. Beat in pumpkin. Stir in flour mixture. Spread evenly into prepared pan. Sprinkle with nuts.

BAKE for 13 to 15 minutes or until top of cake springs back when touched. (If using a dark-colored pan, begin checking for doneness at 11 minutes.) Immediately loosen and turn cake onto prepared towel. Carefully peel off paper. Roll up cake and towel together, starting with narrow end. Cool on wire rack.

FOR FILLING:
BEAT cream cheese, 1 cup powdered sugar, butter and vanilla extract in small mixer bowl until smooth. Carefully unroll cake. Spread cream cheese mixture over cake. Reroll cake. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving, if desired.

COOKING TIP:Be sure to put enough powdered sugar on the towel when rolling up the cake so it will not stick.