Slow cooker Carnitas

This dish is to die for!! And so incredibly easy to make. DH called it "The best pork EVER!" and wants me to make it every week. What's more, the very next day he bought another shoulder roast for this purpose, though we still had plenty leftovers. In fact, we got 3 meals out of it: one day's dinner, 2 days' lunch.

I followed some of the suggestions in the reviews of this recipe, and I added those changes in this post. Feel free to check the original recipe and decide if you want to make any changes at all.

Slow Cooker Carnitas - Adapted from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon crumbled dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 (4 pound) boneless pork shoulder roast
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 cups chicken broth

Directions

1. Mix together salt, cumin, oregano, coriander, and cinnamon in a bowl. Cut meat into big chunks and coat them with the garlic and the spice mixture. Place the bay leaves in the bottom of a slow cooker and pile the pork chunks on top. Pour the chicken broth around the sides of the pork, being careful not to rinse off the spice mixture.
2. Cover and cook on Low until the pork shreds easily with a fork, about 10 hours.
   
3. When the pork is tender, remove from slow cooker, and place on a baking sheet. Place in the oven preheated to 375ºF for 20 minutes. Shred the meat with two forks and serve.

Burrito, anyone?

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

I hadn't had carrot cake in ages, and I'd never made one myself. But now I'm dying to make this again, it's SO good! It's not super sweet (but that's why you have frosting, right?), it's just perfect.

I followed some of the adaptations suggested in the reviews of this recipe, and I've added those changes to this post. Feel free to check out the original recipe and decide for yourself if you wish to change anything at all.

Carrot Cake - Adapted from Allrecipes.com

(sorry about the lame pic, it's the only one I have)

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 3/4 cups vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup apple sauce
  
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
  
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  
• 3 cups grated carrots
• 3/4 cup chopped pecans

Frosting:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 3 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup chopped pecans

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.
2. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, apple sauce, white and brown sugar, and 3 teaspoons vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir in carrots. Fold in pecans. Pour into prepared pan.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
4. To Make Frosting: In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Stir in chopped pecans. Frost the cooled cake.

Buffalo Chicken Enchiladas with Creamy Ranch Sauce

I got this recipe from a dear friend, Chris, aka Code. I thought it sounded great when she mentioned she made this for dinner, but I had no idea. DH loves this so much, I would be making this every week inf he had his way!

Buffalo Chicken Enchiladas with Creamy Ranch Sauce - Found by my friend Code, from CDKitchen.com


Ingredients

• 1 can (10-3/4 oz size) condensed cream of chicken soup (I use Healthy Request)
• 1 cup sour cream ranch dip (Premade or dry mix with fat free sour cream)
• 2/3 cup chopped green onions
• 3 cups chopped cooked chicken **I use 2 chicken breasts, and get just a bit under 3 cups
  
• 3/4 cup purchased buffalo wing sauce **or whatever you need to coat your chicken
  
• 12 flour tortillas (6" size) **I can only fit 9 in my pan
  
• 3 cups shredded cheddar cheese **I use monterey jack, not a fan of cheddar
  

Directions

-Heat oven to 350F. Spray 13x9" glass baking dish with cooking spray.
-In medium bowl, mix soup, dip and 1/3 cup of the onions.
-In large bowl, mix chicken and buffalo wing sauce until coated.
-Spoon 2 Tbsp soup mixture down center of each tortilla; set remaining mixture aside.
-Reserve 1/2 cup cheese for garnish. Top each tortilla with about 1/4 cup chicken mixture and scant 1/4 cup cheese.
-Fold sides of tortillas over filling; place seam side down in baking dish.
-Spoon remaining soup mixture over filled tortillas. Cover tightly with foil. Bake 40-45 minutes or until hot and bubbly.
-Remove from oven. Uncover; sprinkle with reserved 1/2 cup cheese and remaining 1/3 cup onions. Return to oven; bake uncovered about 5 min longer or until cheese is melted.

**Honestly, I'm lazy. I followed the baking directions the first few times, but now I prepare the enchiladas, top it with the cheese and onions, bake it uncovered for 20 minutes, and I'm done. I didn't notice any difference, and neither did DH. It's fabulous!

BBQ Pulled Chicken

This is very tasty and easy to make. It's from The Rookie Chef, and I used the Coleslaw recipe she has as well, but I was making just a little bit for me only (DH is not a fan of coleslaw), so I didn't measure anything. It was enough for 2 meals for the 2 of us.

BBQ Pulled Chicken - from TheRookieChef.com





Ingredients:

• 3 chicken breasts
• 2 chicken bouillon cubes
• 2 cups of water
• BBQ sauce (I used hot and spicy!)
• Coleslaw
• Hamburger buns

Directions:

• Place chicken breasts, bouillon cubs and two cups of water into your crockpot. Heat on low for 7-8 hours depending on how fast your crockpot cooks.
• Take out chicken breasts and place in a bowl
• Drain and rinse out crockpot
• Gently shred chicken breasts with a fork and return to crockpot
• Pour in as much or as a little BBQ sauce as you prefer. Keep mixing so that you cover all of the chicken
• Turn crockpot to keep warm until BBQ has heated through
• Slap a little butter on your buns (hamburger buns, geesh) and lightly toast in the toaster oven
• Put a big scoop of BBQ pulled chicken on your bun, top with some coleslaw and enjoy!

Black Bean and Rice Salad

This is a good tasty dish. I made this while DH was out of town, because he doesn't like beans, and there's no way I would get him to try this. I did change a couple of things (just a couple, not that different really), which I will change here too, but you can check out the original recipe and see if you want to change anything at all.

Black Bean and Rice Salad - adapted from Allrecipes.com
**Note: the original recipe yields 8 servings. I modified the amount to make only 4.

Ingredients

• 1 tomatoes, chopped
• 1/2 large red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 jalapeno pepper, minced (make sure it's not too hot, and consider the lime juice will make it seem hotter)
  
• Juice from 1/2 lime (can be lemon)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh parsley (can be dried too)
  
• 1/8 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup frozen whole kernel corn, thawed
  
• 1/2 cup black beans; drain and reserve liquid
• 1-1/2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1/4 teaspoon minced garlic
• 3/4 cup instant brown rice
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine tomatoes, red bell pepper, jalapeno pepper, lime juice, parsley, basil, red pepper flakes, corn, and beans. Stir to combine the vegetables, then set aside.
2. In a medium saucepan, heat olive oil at a medium-low heat. Add onions and saute until they are translucent. Add garlic and saute for another minute. Pour in rice and toss to coat. Add reserved liquid from the beans, along with any additional liquid as directed on the rice box. Cook the rice to package specifications. Let the rice cool slightly.
3. Combine the rice and vegetable mixture. Salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Pumpkin Muffins with Cream Cheese Swirl

I had leftover pumpkin puree, so I decided to make these muffins to use it up. They're good, though I think mine turned out a bit brown... But they're tasty, and here they are:

From Girlgonegourmet.com

Ingredients

For the Muffins:
1 and 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cups canned pumpkin
3/4 cup canola oil
** I added a dash of nutmeg and a dash of cinnamon, just cause

For the Cream Cheese Swirl:
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a medium bowl mix the cream cheese, sugar and egg together using an electric mixer until smooth. Set the mixture aside.

In another medium bowl combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl mix the eggs, sugar and vanilla together until smooth. [Mix dry and wet ingredients and] stir in the pumpkin and oil.

Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray. Fill the cups 3/4 full with the pumpkin batter. Spoon about a tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture over the top of the batter. Using a toothpick swirl the cream cheese over the top of the batter in a circular motion.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes, or until the muffins pass the toothpick test. Allow to cool in the pan before removing. Store in an airtight container. **Keep an eye on them. I set the timer for 30 minutes and the muffins were already a bit too brown.

**The recipe says it yields 1 dozen. My guess is that that is 12 big muffins, I got 18 regular cupcake size muffins.

Apple Pie

This is only the second recipe I ever tried to make apple pie, and it made me happy from the start. I added a few things and I've played with the combination of apples. But the original recipe is Apple Pie by Grandma Ople

Apple Pie --- Adapted from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie
• 8 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and sliced **I use 4 Granny Smith and 3 Red Delicious or 4 Granny Smith and 3 Gala
  
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, vanilla, white sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer.
2. Place the bottom crust in your pan. Gently pour the syrup over the apples, reserving just a bit to pour on top of the crust if you want. Fill the crust with apples, mounded slightly. Cover with a lattice work of crust (I use a full crust). Pour the rest of the syrup on top, if you want (it gives the crust a crunchy consistency).
   
3. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) adn cover edges of crust with foil, so they don't burn off. Continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes, until apples are soft.

Pumpkin Pie

I bought two pie pumpkins a couple of weeks ago, and I finally make pumpkin puree with them a couple of days ago. The day I made it I didn't have time to bake a pie, but I was seriously craving it, to the point where I got a pie crust out of the freezer at 4:30 am, when I woke up to go to the bathroom. That morning I made pie and breakfast before 7:30 am.

I love this pie! I got the recipe from a friend of a friend on Facebook. Her name is Kerri, and I'm eternally grateful for the recipe. I'd never tried to make a pie until I started craving pies with the pregnancy, so my success with this one is all her doing.

Kerri's Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients

• 1 pie crust (I usually make this pie crust for this recipe)
  
• 1 cup packed brown sugar (light brown)
  
• 2 tablespoons of flour
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
  
• 1/4 teaspoon of ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
  
• 1 cup cooked pumpkin
• 1 large can of evaporated milk (not condensed)
• 3 eggs beaten
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 4 tablespoons of melted butter

** To make pumpkin puree, cut a pie pumpkin in half, scoop the seeds and clean the inside. Cut it in large pieces and put it in a por with about an inch of water, cover it and let it cook on medium heat for about 30 minutes, until it's soft. Separate the skin from the pulp, and get rid of the skin. Use a hand blender to make it smooth. You can freeze it for up to a year if you want.

Directions

1. mix ingredients together well and pour into prepared 9" pie shell
   
2. bake at 375 degrees for approximately 50 minutes (or til a knife inserted into near center comes out clean)

It's fabulous!! (I already ate half, it's too good!)

Weekly Menu

Lets see how this works. This is what I'm thinking for this week:

Fish sticks

Bruschetta pasta and pork chops

Pizza (not sure what toppings yet)

BBQ pulled chicken

Thai chicken pasta

Black beans and rice salad


I would also like to make these pumpkin muffins. We shall see.

I'll go with that, see how I do.

Marinated Boneless Pork Loin Chops

This recipe is fantastic. DH made it and we loved it so much, we actually prepared it for a party with DH's coworkers. It was a hit!

From Discovery Health's Just Cook This

Ingredients
6 boneless pork chops, about 3/4-inch thick, trimmed
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons fresh ginger root, chopped very fine
8 ounces Newcastle Brown Ale (or any good, dark and slightly sweet beer)

Put soy, brown sugar, ginger, and Newcastle in a container (large enough to hold the marinade and the chops) mix well then add the chops (like I needed to add the 'large enough' part, because if you put them in a container that was too small and everything started to spill over ... I'm pretty certain you'd know that was not what I intended.)

Refrigerate overnight.

Heat grill to medium-high and put on the chops. Grill until done to about 160 degrees—somewhere around 10-15 minutes.

Serves 6.

Thai Curried Chicken

From Discovery Health's Just Cook This

Ingredients
6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
One 14 ounce can light coconut milk
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons curry powder
2 tablespoons Asian chili paste
Zest of one lime plus the juice (no zester? no worry - just use the juice)
Cilantro, chopped fine for garnish
Cooked rice for serving

Trim chicken of any extra fat. In a large bowl, combine coconut milk, cumin, curry, chili paste, lime zest and juice, mix well.

Reserve about 1/3 of the sauce for after, but add the chicken to the rest. Mix well, cover and marinate—anywhere from 15 minutes to overnight.

Heat bbq or grill pan and cook chicken on both side until cooked though—those cool grill marks are perfect here. While the chcken cooks, simmer the extra sauce in a small pot to thicken.

Slice into strips, serve on top of rce with a little extra sauce and a sprinkle of cilantro.

Serves 6.

Mediterranean Chicken Wrap

Nothing like a fresh, tasty wrap! Seriously, give it a try!

From Discovery Health's Just Cook This

Ingredients
2 chicken breasts
1/2 lime
Olive oil
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
2 cups mixed salad greens, your choice
1/2 cup cucumber, seeded and diced small
2-3 ounces feta cheese crumbles
Roasted red pepper strips, the kind from a jar
Light Caesar Dressing
4 large whole wheat tortillas or wraps

Place chicken breasts in a large ziplock bag, add 1/2 tablespoon olive oil, season well with Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper and juice from half a lime — seal tight.

Using something heavy, flatten until the chicken is an even thickness of about 1/2 inch thick.

Heat a grill pan or skillet really well, and add chicken. You're probably not looking at more than 3 or 4 minutes a side (if your pan is hot enough) to cook the chicken yet still keep it moist — and moist is what you want.

Remove chicken from pan and cut into thin strips.

Dress salad greens with a little dressing. Warm wraps slightly in a microwave and put on flat surface.

Spread salad among the wraps and add to each: some chicken, some feta, some cucumber and some of the red pepper strips. Roll up, cut in half and serve.

Chimichito

This is easy, especially when you have to go shopping and after all that you don't really feel like cooking, and the rotisserie chicken is staring at you, calling your name. And honestly, anything that's baked instead of fried is good stuff... or lets say better stuff.

From Discovery Health's Just Cook This

Ingredients
2 cups cooked (rotisserie) chicken, shredded
1 4 oz can diced green chilies
3/4 cup red salsa
1/2 cup enchilada sauce
Four 8 inch flour tortillas
Cheddar Cheese, shredded
Light Sour Cream
Cilantro

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. In a non-stick pan, combine chicken, salsa sauce and green chiles, mix until just heated through. Heat tortillas in microwave about 30 secoonds to make them pliable.

Spoon 1/4 of the chicken mixture on each tortilla and roll up—sides in first then over the top to keep everything in. Place on a greased baking sheet and very lightly rub top of burrito with vegetable oil.

Bake until just starting to get golden brown,15-20 minutes. While they cook, warm the enchilada sauce.

Spoon warm enchilada sauce on a plate, place baked chimichito on top, add a spoonful of sour cream and sprinkle with cheese and cilantro.

Serves 4.

Bruschetta Pasta

This pasta is super easy, super tasty, and fresh! Can't go wrong with this one! You cna use any pasta you like. You can also use dry basil, it still makes for a very nice and tasty pasta.

From Discovery Health's Just Cook This

Ingredients
1/2 pound pasta, fettuccine works nicely
2 medium sized ripe tomatoes, seeds removed and roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped fine
6 to 8 large basil leaves, cut into thin ribbons
2 tablespoons olive oil
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese, shredded

Cook pasta according to package directions.

Put tomatoes in a bowl with the garlic, basil and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Drain pasta, add to bowl and toss well with tomato mixture.

Top with shredded Parmesan cheese and another few grinds of pepper.

Sesame Chicken

This is super easy and tasty. You really just need rice with it, though you can add some green to complete your meal.

From The Rookie Chef

Ingredients:

• Chicken breasts cut into thin strips **I use two
  
• 1/2 Kraft Light Asian Toasted Sesame Dressing
• 2 TBSP soy sauce
• 1/4 tsp. each ground ginger, garlic powder, crushed red pepper **I use fresh ginger and garlic if I have it, and I usually do
  

Directions:

• Cut the chicken into strips, throw into a pan with cooking spray
• Cook through
• Mix dressing and spices in a seperate bowl
• Add dressing mix to the chicken (still over the stove)
• Cook until heated through

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

This is definitely one of our favorites. Sometimes I make the crust from scratch, but sometimes I use store-bought. It's quick, easy and tasty!


Buffalo Chicken Pizza From Blogchef.net

Ingredients:
3 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (cooked and cubed) **Honestly, I use one large breast
2 tablespoons butter (melted) **I don't use the butter
1 (2 ounce) bottle hot sauce
1 (8 ounce) bottle blue cheese dressing (or ranch) ** I've only used ranch, not a fan of blue cheese dressing
1 (16 inch) prepared pizza crust
1 (8 ounce) bag shredded mozzarella cheese

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Pre-heat your oven to 425 degrees. In a small bowl combine cooked chicken cubes, hot sauce and melted butter. Mix well to coat the chicken.
Step 2: Spread blue cheese dressing over the pizza crust, just enough to cover the crust. Using the whole bottle is not necessary. Top with coated chicken cubes and mozzarella cheese.
Step 3: Bake in the oven until crust is golden brown and cheese has melted (about 10 minutes).

Chicken Stuffed Shells

First thing, I need to enter some old time favorites. And by "old time", I mean recipes I've discovered online in the past year. But you get the idea.

This is really good. I made this for my PIL, and they loved it!

From Blogchef.net (Picture from original website)

Ingredients:
1 box jumbo uncooked pasta shells
6 garlic cloves (minced)
2 chicken breasts (cooked and shredded)
1 (30 oz) container ricotta cheese
1/3 cup Italian breadcrumbs
1 ½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
1 ½ teaspoons dried parsley
6 basil leaves (torn)
1/3 cup half and half
28 oz pasta sauce
¼ cup parmesan cheese
1 cup mozzarella cheese

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees. Cook pasta shells according to package directions. Rinse with cold water, separate and set aside.
Step 2: Combine garlic, chicken, ricotta cheese, bread crumbs, half and half, salt, pepper, parsley, and basil and parmesan cheese in a food processor. Process until combined. If you don’t have a food processor, mix well with a spoon.
Step 3: Pour half of the pasta sauce into the bottom of a large baking dish. Stuff shells 1 by 1 with the chicken/cheese mixture and place in rows into the baking dish on top of the sauce. Top the shells with shredded mozzarella and pour the over half of the sauce over the top of shells. Bake in the oven at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.
(Makes 4 servings)

This is not a cooking blog

I'm a SAHM to be. I think cooking is a big part of it, as is being efficient with shopping and saving time and money. For that reason, I'm *trying* to get my act together before Lovebug arrives.

A part of that is planning weekly meals. I gave it a shot a few months back, but I was still not too good at it, mainly cause I found recipes and tried to shop for them, but inevitably I wouldn't be able to find an ingredient, that particular ingredient wasn't particularly cheap, or I would not feel like cooking that after all. Or worse, I would, but wouldn't be happy with the result.

I just wasn't very organized, and I also tried to do too much too soon. By this I mean I would literally have 3-4 new meals in a week, and who wants to try to cook something new every day of the week? I would end up making something else, or giving up and just agree to get take out or frozen pizza.

Well, I'm here to succeed this time around. I definitely need a way to organize those recipes I want to try, the old time favorites, and I need it all in one place. Hence, this blog was born. It's my recipe box. Sure, maybe I'll feel adventurous and share my own recipes, give reviews on recipes I make, post pictures of my successes and failures in the kitchen, but mainly, it's so I can find those recipes quickly when I need them.

If you're willing to come along for the ride, I hope you enjoy it. And I hope you find my recipe box helpful when you're looking for a new dinner idea.