Tangy BBQ Pork

I love, I mean LOVE barbecue! I don't mean cooking out on the grill. I'm talking about barbecue sauce, and not the kind out of the jar either. This recipe isn't the typical BBQ sauce. Thick and sweet with molasses and brown sugar. This particular sauce is tangy and definitely has a little bit of a bite to it. Not hot and spicy mind you. Just enough of spice to get your attention and SATISFY! Being a daughter of the South, I prefer my sandwich topped off with a bit of coleslaw. Now all I need is a tall glass of lemonade!

Ingredients & Directions:

1 2 to 3 lb. pork shoulder roast
Make a rub of 2 tsp. garlic powder, 2 tsp. Lawry's season salt and 1 tsp. pepper. Rub this mixture all over the roast and place in a crock pot with 1 bay leaf and cook on low for about 8 or 9 hours. When the meat is tender. Turn off the crock pot and begin to make your sauce.

Sauce:

1/2 c. water
1/4 cider vinegar
1/4 c. butter or margarine
2 tbs. sugar
2 tbs. Worcestershire sauce
1 tbs. mustard (the condiment, NOT dry)
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper
1 thick slice of lemon
1 thick slice of onion
1/2 c. ketchup

Mix all of the ingredients except for the ketchup in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce heat and simmer partially covered for 20 minutes. While the sauce is simmering, remove the roast from the crock pot and shred the meat really well. After the sauce has simmered for 20 min. remove from heat, discard lemon and onion and stir in ketchup. If the pot is big enough, add the shredded pork to the sauce and stir well to coat. If not, I'm sure you're smart enough to look for something that will work. ENJOY!!

French Vanilla Walnut Cookies

My daughter's friend told me these were "Heaven In A Cookie!" Let's think about this. Light, soft, warm and sweet. Sounds like Heaven to me! This is one of the many, and I mean MANY variations on the "Cake Mix Cookie". If you don't care for nuts, then just leave them out. They're still good; just not AS good.

Ingredients:

1 French Vanilla cake mix
1 egg beaten
1 stick melted butter or margarine
1/4 to 1/3 chopped walnuts
ground cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix all ingredients except for the cinnamon well. Make sure the melted butter isn't too hot. Otherwise it will cook your egg while mixing. I like scrambled eggs, but not in my cookies! You can mix this by hand, but I prefer to use my KitchenAid as I feel it gives me a better consistency of dough. Roll into balls, about the size of a small walnut and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Give each one a little tap to flatten out the top a little and sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake for 8 to 11 minutes, depending on your oven. Cool slightly and enjoy your own piece of "Heaven".

Marinated Bean Salad

Yeah I know, ANOTHER bean salad recipe! If I didn't get so many compliments on my bean salad, I wouldn't bother to even put this one up. But I DO get compliments at every picnic, potluck, etc... I take it to. AND I must admit that I also prefer my bean salad to anyone else's. Bean salads out of a can, out of a jar or even from the local deli doesn't hold a candle to this one! The best thing about this bean salad, as with all others I suppose, is that the longer it's able to sit in the fridge and marinate, the BETTER! Bean salad that has sweet PLUS tang! YESSS!

Ingredients & Directions
1 can cut green beans, drained
1 can cut wax beans, drained
1 can dark red kidney beans, drained
1 can garbanzo beans, drained
1 sm. red onion, cut into rings or diced
1 sm, green bell pepper, diced

Mix into medium sized salad bowl and make dressing as follows:

1/2 cup red wine vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cracked black pepper

Pour dressing over salad, tossing to coat well. Cover and refrigerate overnight or at least 8 hours. When ready to serve, pour off dressing but don't throw it out. You'll want to keep it to put the leftovers into before you put it back in the fridge.

Not Your Typical Broccoli Cheese Soup

When most people think of broccoli cheese soup, they imagine a bowl of broccoli pieces swimming in a thin cheddar cheese sauce. I'm not knocking other recipes. I have tried many variations and they have ALL been mighty tasty in my opinion. However, THIS one will grab your taste buds, slap them around and say "Wake Up!" You are in for A treat! My husband HATES broccoli and....well just about ANY green vegetable there is. But I make THIS soup? He is more than happy to be the good example to his kids and eat ALL of his veggies!

Ingredients:

1 16 oz. bag of frozen broccoli
1 16 oz. bag of frozen cauliflower
1 heaping cup of long grain rice
6 cans of Swanson chicken broth
8 oz. cream cheese
1 cup parmesan cheese
1 pint of half and half
1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder (or according to taste)
1 1/2 tsp salt (or according to taste)

Directions:

In a large pot, put in broccoli, cauliflower, rice and chicken broth. Heat over medium high heat until mixture comes to a boil. Reduce heat and boil gently until the mixture has absorbed most of the broth. Remove from heat and using a potato masher, mash the mixture until mushy! Place back on heat reducing the temp to simmer and add in the remaining ingredients, stirring to mix well and making sure that the cream cheese has completely melted into the soup. If the soup is too thick just thin it down with some milk. This soup is especially good with Chicken in a Biscuit Crackers!

Chicken Pillows

This is my daughter Aubree's absolute most favorite dinner and is what she asks me to make every year for her birthday. I must admit that I enjoy them very much as well. Just the name alone makes people say "OOOHH, that sounds GOOOD!" It's a little time consuming by the standards of some people out there, but once you taste them you'll understand why they are worth the extra time.

Ingredients:

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts that have been boiled and either cubed or shredded.
2 tbs. softened butter or margarine
12 to 16 oz. of softened cream cheese (depending on how much you like cream cheese!)
dash of pepper
2 cans of refrigerator crescent rolls
1 stick melted butter or margarine
1 box of dry Stove Top Stuffing w/seasoning that has been pulverized in the blender until you have fine crumbs.


1 can of cream of chicken soup
1/2 soup can of milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix prepared chicken with cream cheese, butter and pepper, stirring to mix well. Roll out crescent rolls and place an equal amount of chicken mixture in each crescent roll. Then one at a time, roll up each filled crescent roll, making sure to pull up and pinch the sides to hold in the mixture. Dip in melted butter and roll in seasoned bread crumbs. When you have all of the rolls done, place on an ungreased cookied sheet and bake for about 25 to 28 minutes.

In a medium sized saucepan mix the cream of chicken soup with milk and heat over medium low heat until heated through. This sauce is to go over the chicken pillows once they're on your plate. I always triple the sauce recipe and also use it as a gravy to go over rice.

Porcupine Meatballs

I like these because they have kind of meatloaf texture and flavor. The nice part is that they are easier to serve because you don't have to deal with slicing it like you do meatloaf. I serve them over rice using the sauce as the gravy.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs. of hamburger
2/3 cup long grain rice
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup chopped onion (optional)
1 tsp. Lawry's season salt
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/8-1/4 tsp. pepper
1 15 oz. can tomato soup
2 tsp. worcestershire sauce
1 cup water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix hamburger with rice, 1/2 cup of water, (chopped onion), season salt, garlic powder, and pepper. Form meat mixture into 1 1/2-inch balls. Place the porcupine meatballs in an ungreased 2-quart shallow baking dish. Mix the remaining ingredients and pour over the porcupine meatballs. Cover with lid or foil and bake at 350° F. oven for about 45 minutes. Uncover and bake porcupine meatballs 15 minutes longer.

Dutch Oven Potatoes

This recipe begins with a pound of bacon! How can that NOT bring a smile to your face? I never have the time to cook with my dutch oven on hot coals outside, so I just put my dutch oven inside my regular oven. Dutch oven purists may look down upon me, but I have never had any complaints from my family or friends when I serve this one up!

Ingredients:
1 lb. of bacon diced
1 lg. onion sliced
6 or 8 potatoes (depending on size) sliced
1 cup sliced or shredded carrots
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Heat your dutch oven on top of the stove and fry bacon and onions till bacon is cooked and onions are clear. Stir often so as not to stick. Remove from heat and add in remaining ingredients, stirring to coat well. Bake for 35 minutes or until potatoes and carrots are tender.

Now I've never tried it myself, but I've heard that sliced mushroom added to this dish is pretty tasty!