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Showing posts from 2012

5 Ingredient Crockpot Pulled Pork....plus water and BBQ sauce :)

Diana’s Crockpot Pulled Pork 1 frozen meat pork or beef roast put in crock pot Add sea salt, whole peppercorns, garlic, a sliced sweet onion and water to cover the pork about half way. Cook on low a LONG time. The longer the better. Usually about 10 hours. Cooking on high for half time doesn't seem to produce the same result. When the meat is fork tender, take the meat out and pick off any fat and then use 2 forks to string the meat. Dump on your favorite barbecue sauce over, always Sweet Baby Rays here! Craig likes the cooked onions dumped on his. Great with sweet potato fries.

Oatmeal Streusel Topping for Pie

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This topping recipe is perfect. Seriously. I've made a lot of different toppings and this one is really the best! I use my  canned apple pie filling  and that makes it a cinch to whip together a pie. And admittedly I pretty much always, ok more than pretty much, use store bought refrigerated crust. For some reason I hate the Pillsbury crust. It tastes very shortening-y and flavorless, so I find the store brand ones are much better. Someday I'll make one from scratch and then you can read that blog. Anyways...this is the streusel that takes the cake  is better than cake! Delicious and easy Oatmeal Streusel for Apple Pie Ingredients 3/4 Cup all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 Cup packed brown sugar 3/4 Cup rolled oats 1/2 Cup butter In a medium bowl combine 3/4 cup flour, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, brown sugar, and oats. Mix thoroughly, then cut in 1/2 cup butter until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle streusel on top of yummy filling already in the p

Cajun Frittata

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I made a new recipe tonight, from Central Market's Recipes, and it was a huge hit! As usual, I modified it a little and this is what I did: Cajun Frittata Serves 4-6 1 tablespoon butter 1 medium sweet potato, cut into 1/4 inch dice (about 2 cups) 2/3 cup sweet onion, diced 1/2 cup apple, cut into 1/4 inch dice 6 slices bacon, cooked and chopped (you can also use ham) 6 large eggs, whisked with 1 tablespoon  water until fluffy 2 1/2  teaspoons Cajun seasoning (available in Central Market bulk foods); or your favorite Cajun or Creole seasoning  1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese 1 1/2 cups grated mozzarella cheese Preheat oven to 400degrees F. Melt butter in a 10-12inch, oven-safe skillet over medium heat. Add yam and onion. Cook for about 10 minutes or until yam is almost tender. Add bacon and apple and cook for 5 minutes (at this point my skillet was dry so I added 1/2 Tbsp coconut oil). Whisk the Cajun seasoning into the eggs, pour over bacon mixture and shake pan to

Barbie Cake- take two :)

Guess what I'll be doing tonight at approx 7pm? Yup! Making another Barbie cake. Last year I did THIS . My dear Eliana is up for yet another birthday.....she'll be 4 tomorrow. 4 is making me kind of sad. It's that number that is for-sure-no-longer-a-toddler. It's also the age Jacob was when I met him. And he's 12 now, proof that the years really do fly by!  To think that I'll blink and Eliana will also be 12 freaks me out! For her birthday party tomorrow night she has asked for fettucini alfredo and a Barbie cake. I have 3 cake mixes all baked and chilling in the fridge and once she's in bed tonight I'll get to work. For now, I'm working on decluttering my kitchen counters. I swear, they are the catch all for EVERYTHING. It just builds up and builds up and then pretty soon my only cooking prep space is over the sink. I'm not kidding. This ol' house is great, but there isn't anywhere that is an office space or craft space or 'place

Easy Crock Pot Apple Sauce

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Who knew making your own apple sauce was SO easy? I learned how to make it last fall and am now making it again as our trees are full of apples and the neighbor is sharing his, too. I currently have two crock pots simmering full of apples. One with  Diana's Crock pot Apple Butter  and the other with Easy Crock pot Apple Sauce. I also have the dehydrator full of apple rings....my first time ever using the dehydrator that I bought used from a friend. It's gonna smell amazing in here in the morning! So, how do you make applesauce at home? Step 1 : Peel, core, and slice apples. I use a Pampered Chef corer/slicer (actually my dear hubby does it for me). If you have an immersion blender then you don't need to peel the apples. I will have one someday.... Step 2 : Fill your crock pot with all the apples. They 'shrink' as they cook, so don't be afraid to really fill it up! I use a 6qt crock pot, so it holds a lot of apples. Step 3 : Add any extras you want.

Taco Squash!

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Had this big beautiful squash from my garden and 1)didn't know what it was exactly and 2)didn't know what to do with it. Good ol' Facebook helped me figure out it's a summer squash, similar to zucchini but larger seeds and a meaty pulp you generally don't eat. A friend suggested making taco meat and putting it in the squash and baking it, covered with cheese. Wowza, good idea! This is my version of Taco Squash Large green summer squash, quartered, insides pulp and seeds scraped out 1 lb ground beef 1 red pepper, diced 2 medium carrots, shredded 3/4 cup zucchini, shredded 1 1/2 Cups frozen corn Taco seasoning powder Water 1 1/2 Cups cheddar cheese Preheat oven to 400. In a skillet, brown 1lb of ground beef. Add to skillet diced red pepper, shredded carrots, shredded zucchini, corn, and simmer with taco seasoning (packet/make your own/measure from Costco container/etc) and enough water to keep it 'wet' until veggies are tender

Paleo Peanut Butter Cups

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Did you ever think such a thing existed???? I didn't! Ran across this recipe and picture on a friend's Facebook page and I wanted to give her a hug. I hope to make these soon. Need to buy some coconut butter. Paleo Peanut Butter Cups Chocolate: 2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted 2 tablespoons coconut butter, softened 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Pinch sea salt Pinch cinnamon Stevia or pure maple syrup to taste Filling: 3 tablespoons unsweetened almond or peanut butter 1 tablespoon coconut oil A little sea salt A little stevia Just whisk all the ingredients for the chocolate together and then poor a teaspoon into 12 mini cupcake liners, let set in freezer for five minutes while you mix up the filling, put it in a plastic bag when your done, snip the corner and then squeeze a little bit into the center of each chocolate, then poor the rest of the chocolate over each cup and then let them set in the freezer aga

No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Cookies

These are easy, very tasty, and full of protein! No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Cookies Ingredients: 1/2 cup peanut or almond butter 3/4 Cup milk (regular, coconut, almond, etc) 3 cups old fashioned oats 1 tsp stevia/truvia 1 scoop chocolate whey protein powder (I avoid soy because in it's unfermented state it mimics estrogen in the body and causes hormonal issues) 3 Tbsp unsweetened baking cocoa Directions: Measure peanut or almond butter and milk into a microwave safe dish. Microwave on high for 1 minute. This is to warm the peanut/almond butter and help it break down. Set aside. In a new bowl mix oats, stevia, protein powder, and baking cocoa. Add the peanut/almond butter and milk to the dry mixture and blend. Place wax paper over a plate and shape the above mixture into 'cookies'. It will make 4 large size cookies but you can make it into however many you like. Then place the plate in the freezer for 45 minutes. They should be non-sticky and brea

Beginner (aka EASY) Delicious Kale Smoothie!

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I bought a big bag of already chopped Kale at Trader Joes a couple weeks ago ($2), planning to make Kale chips but I just haven't had time. Then I saw something somewhere about green smoothies and I thought maybe I ought to give it a try! I read a bunch of recipes and decided to make my own based on what I thought sounded best and what I had in my kitchen at the time. And yes, that all arguably took just as long as simply making kale chips.....anywho.... Diana's Kale Smoothie 1 ripe banana 1 seedless peeled orange 1/2 cup milk 1 tsp real maple syrup (or agave) 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce ( I used homemade) 2 cups kale (you can do stalk and all) Blend WELL. Should be a beautiful green color with only tiny specks of the kale, not leafy pieces. Then add some crushed ice and blend again to make it the smoothie consistency you want. Blender piled full and ready to go! I often add more kale once it's blended some and I can cram more in :) Green goodness! Y

Fudgy Peanut Butter Pie

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I made this dessert for my hubby for Valentine's Day yesterday and thought I'd share it with you all. He said it tastes like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup pie :) You start with a graham cracker crust. Feel free to make your own. I didn't :) Next you melt some chocolate and spread it in the crust and up the sides a bit. (ps. I mixed in pb chips with my chocolate, hehe). Then put it in the freezer while we do the rest. After this you'll mix up some PB, butter, and sugar (don't worry, the recipe is below). After mixing well you'll add some Ricotta and mix some more. Oh Ricotta, you are a glorious and multifaceted cheese, it is true. I took the PB/butter/sugar and Ricotta mixture out of the mixing bowl so I could use the mixer for the next step...making whipped cream. It's easier to make whipped cream with a cold bowl so after washing I put it on my porch for a minute. Twin Brook Creamery is a local creamery that sells their stuff in real glass bottles!