New posts coming soon :)

Hey blog followers...new recipes with pics coming soon!!  Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes and Chocolate Chip Pancakes....YUMMY

Pasta Salad

I wanted something simple for dinner last night so I decided to do pulled pork sandwiches (one of my favorites), pasta salad and fruit....YUMMY 
I have also made my cole slaw recipe (posted on blog) topped the meat with the cole slaw and some of my homemade BBQ sauce.  It is pretty yummy that way too!

5 pound boneless pork butt shoulder
1 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
Sandwich buns
Sliced Swiss Cheese

Combine all seasonings in a small bowl and rub evenly over roast.  Place in a slow cooker.  Add water.  Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours.  Place pork on a cutting board and let rest for a few minutes while making BBQ sauce (recipe to follow).  Shred meat and either mix BBQ sauce or top sandwiches with it. 


BBQ sauce (I usually just dump everything in a bowl until it looks good.  So I hope that I get the measurements right for you)

1 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons prepared mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon vinegar

Mix together and serve over meat


Now for the pasta salad.......


I love pasta salads!  A while ago I came up with this one, I know its not anything too spectacular but my family loves it.  Jentri will have at least 3 helpings when I fix it :)
When I made this yesterday, I didn't have any olives :(

1 box (or half the box depending on how many you are serving) Angel Hair Pasta
Zesty Italian dressing (I have tried regular and homemade Italian but the zesty has the best flavor)
Roma tomatoes~sliced diced and seeds taken out
Cucumber~sliced diced and seeds taken out

Olives

Parmesan Cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions.  Drain, rinse and cool.  While cooling, slice, dice and deseed the cucumber and tomato.  Slice olives.  Once pasta is cool, put in a bowl and add as much (or as little) of the dressing as you would like.  I usually add enough to coat but not too much that it is swimming in it.  Add tomatoes, cucumber and olives.  Toss to coat then top with Parmesan cheese.  Chill for 30 minutes before serving

Hope you all enjoy these recipes.  Have a great day and happy baking/cooking

This post is linked up with http://www.makeaheadmealsforbusymoms.com/

Cake Pops

I am trying my hand at cake pops or cake bites (whichever you would like to call them)

I gathered all my ingredients
*Cake mix~you can either use a box mix or one from scratch.  Since it is my first time, I didn't want to use all my cake ingredients just in case they didn't turn out :)

*Frosting~again you can either use from scratch or in the container (I used the container just in case my family didn't like them)

*Lollipop Sticks~this is where they either become cake pops or cake bites

*Candy Melts~Wilton is the best

*Styrofoam block to put pops in

*Anything you would like to use to decorate with~sprinkles, tube gel, nuts....

Bake cake and mash up, once cake is cooled-really cooled like overnight cooled-crumble it up into a bowl.  Stir in frosting, a little at a time.  Once it reaches a nice consistency that will cling together when you roll it in a ball, you are there.  Stick in fridge (for about 1 hour), once it is nice and cool, start rolling into balls.  Size and shape is up to you  (you can use and ice cream scoop to make balls uniform).  Stick them back in the fridge.  While they are in the fridge, melt the chocolate candies.  The candy melts from Wilton are the best to use since they melt good.  Make sure that they are melted all the way through as it makes it easier for the chocolate to stick to the pops.  Take them out of the fridge-get sticks ready by dipping them slightly into melted candy before inserting them into cake balls.  This will help them stay in better. 

 This is where you can either put them in the fridge or the freezer.  When coating them with the melted candy, make sure that you rotate them for even coverage.  Decorate as you would like and put in the Styrofoam to drip dry :) 

I know it sounds like alot to do but when I made them, it wasn't that bad.  All the steps went by pretty fast and since you put them in the fridge you can do other things and it doesn't seem like you are in the kitchen ALL day baking. I just tried frosting a couple of them and you will definitely need to put them back into the fridge after you insert the candy sticks.  In fact, you could even put them in the freezer for about an hour to make sure that they will stay in the cake balls.

Some side notes for you all.....Make sure that when you make them on a hot day after you put the sticks in....FREEZE THEM!! I tried a few without freezing them and they come off the stick.  I put mine in the freezer for about an hour before I dipped them in the melted chocolate and it worked GREAT!!

Coconut Cake

This is a very old recipe that has come to me by way of my MIL and it was her Aunts Grandmothers recipe (or something like that).  It does call for a fair amount of oil, but it also makes 2 loaf tins :)    Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.  It is one of my favorites to make.  I like to serve mine with a dollop of cool whip.....YUMMY!

Coconut Cake (typed as written)

Grease and flour 2 loaf tins
 
3 cups flour mixed with 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt

In a large bowl beat 4 eggs; add 1 cup oil and 2 cups sugar; 2 teaspoons coconut flavoring.  Mix well.  Add 1 cup buttermilk and blend well with flour.  Then add 1 cup coconut; 1 cup chopped nuts and mix well,  Pour batter into loaf tins and bake one hour at 350.  When done punch holes in hot cake with ice pick and pour syrup (recipe to follow) over top and let stand for 4 hours before serving.

Syrup:
1 cup sugar; 1/2 cup water; 1 teaspoon coconut flavoring
Boil one minute.  Pour over hot cake 


The way I do it is I add the eggs, oil, sugar and coconut flavoring.  Beat on low until somewhat mixed because of the amount of oil.  Then I alternate the buttermilk and flour mixture starting with flour and ending with flour.  Then I add the coconut and nuts (I mix these in by hand) and pour into loaf pans.  For the holes in the cake, I use a tomato slicer/holder thing that I got from Pampered Chef.  Works great for it.  When making the syrup, cook on med/low until sugar is dissolved then turn heat up to med and bring to boil.  Make sure you keep an eye on the syrup so that it doesn't burn. 

I hope you don't let all of the added extras make it so you wont try this recipe.  it really is very easy to make and so yummy.  Let me know when you make it.  I would love your feed back on what you thought of it

No Bake Cookies

I usually do a 4x batch for these.  My family loves them! I am giving you the double batch :)

4 cups sugar

1 cup butter

6 tablespoons cocoa (I use Hershey's)

1 cup milk

Put in a heavy saucepan, heat until butter is melted.  Bring to a boil and boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and add:

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup peanut butter (creamy or chunky)

5 1/2 cups oats

Use whichever size scoop you would like and spoon out onto wax paper.  Let cool and set up then enjoy :)

If you are lucky, you will be able to let them sit and set up before they are gone.  But if it is my family, I am lucky to get them onto the wax paper and they are gone.  I also have to explain my oats.  I usually start with only 4 cups.  I stir them in and see how the consistency is.  If it is a rainy day, I will need to add more.  If it is a more dry day, I stay at the 4 cups.  If you add too many, they will be crumbly.  Once you make them a couple of times, you will know how much to start with. 

New posts coming soon :)

Hey my fav blog followers.  I have not forgot about you, things have been super crazy around my house.  I will be getting some new recipes out to you all soon.  Soon as in within this next week.....WOOHOO!!  I bet you are all excited, aren't you??? :) 

Thanks for all the support that you have given me.  You guys are awesome!

So excited!!

I got a call the other day from my aunt saying she had a job for me.  Turns out that she knows someone that is getting married and they wanted to know if I would like to make the cupcakes for them if the price is right!!  Keeping fingers crossed that my price is right.  That would be AWESOME!!!