Root Beer Pulled Pork Sandwiches

I don't know what world I've been living in but apparently everyone in the world has a recipe for a go-to pulled pork sandwich besides me.

Kind of like when I was dating my husband and he mentioned the movie Goonies and found out that I had never seen it.

"What?"..."What world did you grow up in?"

Am I the only person that didn't see that movie in my childhood?

Anyway, there are only 3 ingredients to these super simple pork sandwiches. And if you don't have a recipe for pulled pork sandwiches, this is the one for you. The pork is cooked in root beer all day long. You could use any flavor of soda really like Dr.Pepper or Coke but I prefer root beer. The root beer acts as a tenderizer and after soaking in it all day, the pork practically melts in your mouth. After cooking, drain the root beer and add your favorite BBQ sauce to the shredded meat. I used a pork tenderloin here but you could use a pork shoulder or butt which have more flavor but also more fat to pick out.

Root Beer Pulled Pork Sandwiches Recipe

Hawaiian Grilled Chicken

Back in college our friend Jeff was famous for his Hawaiian grilled chicken that was inspired from some tips from his Hawaiian buddy. One weekend Jeff threw a big Kirkland (Costco's brand) sponsored BBQ serving only foods with the Kirkland brand. That's when I tasted this chicken and fell in love. It's honestly one of my favorite grilled chicken dishes to serve a crowd. And grilling season is here!

Don't be a chicken thigh hater. I used to be but really the chicken does not soak up the marinade unless you use thighs. I like to marinate this overnight if I have the time so the flavors really get absorbed.

Jeff's recipe is for a ton of chicken so here is my downsized version.

Hawaiian Grilled Chicken

Source: Jeff Tibbitts

3 pounds of boneless skinless chicken thighs

2 cups soy sauce  (the soy sauce and water just needs to be a 1:1 ratio)

2 cups water

1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 bunch of green onions, chopped (reserve some for garnish)
1/4 cup of a white onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
1 (13.5 ounce) can of coconut milk

Note: Jeff says the real key is the soy sauce. Kikomen's is way too salty. He prefers the Aloha Shoyu soy sauce. If you can only find Kikomen at least get the low sodium kind.
Trim chicken thighs of any visible fat. Mix soy sauce, water, brown sugar, onions, garlic, sesame oil, and
coconut milk in a large bowl. Marinade chicken for at least 4 hours or overnight to make sure the flavor gets infused.

Grill chicken at a low heat so that the marinade does not burn for 5-7 minutes per side or until done. If you do not have a grill you can use a indoor grill pan.

Serve over a platter of coconut rice and garnish with green onions and a some additional soy sauce.

*Coconut rice can be made by just replacing half of the water in your rice recipe with coconut milk. A trick my SIL told me!

Oreo Pudding Cookies

Let's examine this cookie...

...bits of Oreo

...chunks of Cookies 'N Cream candy bar

 ...gooey melted chocolate chips

Um...you had me at Oreo.

I've actually never been a fan of pudding mix in cookies. Why? I have no idea. Maybe it was the same time I decided I hated mushrooms to which I have whole heartedly repented of. The pudding mixture makes the cookies so moist and they just melt in your mouth.

These are some of the best things I've eaten in a while.

And....I eat a lot of....things.

These come from my SIL Kristy over at Sweet Treats and More. Somehow we were born with the same palate so I trust everything she makes. I changed her recipe ever so slightly just to fit what I had on hand.

And thank goodness I bought 3 Cookies N' Cream bars just in case because my babysitter helped herself to one while we were out. Which I don't mind at all because it probably made her happy and I like happy people watching my kids.

Oreo Pudding Cookies

Source:  Sweet Treats And More

1 cup butter, room temperature

3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 (4.2 ounce) package instant Oreo Pudding mix
2 1/4 cups flour 
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 Hershey's Cookies N Cream Candy Bars broken into small pieces (I used 2.6 ounce King Sized bars)
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Note: I found Oreo Pudding mix at my grocery store but I also saw it at our Walmart and Target.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl and set aside. Cream together butter and sugars. Beat in pudding mix until blended. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well. Add the flour mixture and mix to combine. Stir in cookies n' cream pieces and chocolate chips. Batter will be thick.

Using a cookie dough scooper, place golf ball sized dough balls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. You do not want to overbake these! Let cookies cool for 5 minutes on baking sheet before moving to a cooking rack. Store in air-tight container. Makes two dozen.

Bloomin' Onion Bread

My husband and I waited tables at Outback Steakhouse while we were in college and ate our share of Bloomin' Onions. But the funny thing is we never actually ordered them. If a table ordered a Bloomin' Onion and canceled the order, the onion would sit in the window until another table ordered one which was usually just a matter of minutes. But every once in a while there would be a lull where no orders would come in and the "Bloom" was pronounced "dead", meaning it would not be served to customers, and all the servers got to eat it. For some reason we always came to work starving so when this happened we ate our little hearts out.

I don't know if there are other servers out there but I still have reoccurring nightmares where I'm in the weeds with all of my table - everyone needs a drink refill and all of my orders are wrong. I'm sooo happy when I wake up from that dream!

This naughty Bloomin' Onion Bread has cheese stuffed in every crack and is cut just like the Bloomin' Onion from Outback. My family loved this but really it's enough to feed a small army. It's a fun way to serve bread because everyone can just pull off a piece of cheesy onion bread. This would be a great appetizer or bread for a meal.

Bloomin' Onion Bread

Source: The Changing Table

1 unsliced loaf sourdough bread

12-16 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, thinly sliced

1/2 cup butter, melted

1/2 cup finely diced green onion

2 teaspoons poppy seeds

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut the bread lengthwise and widthwise without cutting through the bottom crust. This can be a little tricky going the second way but the bread is very forgiving.

Place on a foil-lined baking sheet. Insert cheese slices between cuts. Combine butter, onion, and poppy seeds. Drizzle over bread. Wrap in foil; place on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.
Unwrap the bread and bake 10 more minutes, or until cheese is melted.

Strawberry Shortcake with Almond Glaze

How was your Mother's Day? This year I really felt the love of my boys and my husband. Although I'm not his mother, my husband is always good about showing his appreciation of me as the mother of his children. Mother's Day is always a good reminder for me to be the best mom I can be...to have more patience, and to let my boys know how much I love them every day. 

My husband made this cake! Doesn't everything taste better when someone else makes it!



I had it good. I slept in and then the boys, including my husband, performed some songs in their jammies that Austin had learned at school. They gave me some roses and chocolate (which I ate for lunch). After church we headed to my friend Wendy's house where the boys made us steak, crab legs, salad, corn, and this amazing strawberry shortcake with almond glaze. 



Now if your first impression of this Strawberry Shortcake, is HELLO have some cake with your whipped cream...sorry that's just how we do it over here. AND John, who believes anyone can cook if they follow directions, was supposed to cook the cakes for 45-50 minutes and at about 35 minutes they were super done. So he shaved off the overdone sides of the cake and concealed it with whipped cream.  He said the presentation could be better but it was seriously so good. And I have a feeling he might request it for Father's Day so we'll have a chance to make it again soon here.

The almond glaze makes the cake moist, dense but yet still soft at the same time and pairs beautifully with the flavors of the strawberries. He always fixes strawberry shortcake for Mother's Day and this will be our version from now on.

Strawberry Shortcake with Almond Glaze

Source: The Sisters Cafe

1 yellow cake mix

1 cup sour cream

 4 eggs

1 small vanilla pudding mix (do not prepare the pudding)

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup water

2 teaspoons almond extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix all the above ingredients together for a few minutes until well combined. Pour the batter into 2 round cake pans that have been greased or lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for a few minutes and then gently remove from pans and allow to cool on a wire rack.

Almond Glaze

2 cups powdered sugar

3 Tablespoons butter, melted

2 teaspoons almond extract

1-2 Tablespoons milk, if needed

Mix the glaze ingredients together while the cake cools. Once cake is still warm but has cooled slightly, prick the cake with a large fork or the back of a wooden spoon. Spoon the glaze over the two round cakes letting it sink in. Save about 1/3 or so of the glaze and set aside.

Strawberries and Cream Topping

1 pint (2 cups) heavy whipping cream

3-4 Tablespoons powdered sugar

1-2 pounds of fresh strawberries, sliced

Whip cream with 3-4 Tablespoons of powdered sugar, using a mixer. Go here for a tutorial on how to make perfect homemade whipped cream. This cake is pretty sweet so you may not want to sweeten your cream as much as the tutuorial suggests. Wash dry and slice the strawberries and set aside.


Assembly:

Place one of the glazed cake rounds on a cake stand or large plate. Top with freshly whipped cream and a layer of strawberry slices. Follow with the second cake, more whipped cream and arrange more fresh sliced strawberries on top in a pretty pattern. Next drizzle the more of the almond glaze over the top and down the sides. Store in fridge until ready to serve. We like it chilled!

No-Fry Fried Ice Cream

Happy Cinco de Mayo! Growing up in Arizona I ate a lot of Mexican food and still could eat it everyday if I had the chance (and the metabolism). I remember as a child being astounded at the whole concept of fried ice cream. There was always a hopeful look to my parents after dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant. Please? Can we get it?

This No-Fry Ice Cream is a quick and easy Mexican-inspired dish that has all of the crunch of actual fried ice cream but without all of the calories and mess of spattering oil.

Top it off with some caramel or chocolate syrup, whipped cream, and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

No-Fry Fried Ice Cream Recipe

Easy Crockpot Pork Carnitas

Car-"KNEE"-tas.

Car-"KNEEEEE"-tas.

For some reason I can't say that word without a Mexican accent and drawing out the middle of the word as long and obnoxiously as I can. Seriously, I did all the prep for these pork carnitas in under a minute. They were moist, spicy, and great snuggled in a warm tortilla with some pico de gallo, avocado, cheese, and a squeeze of lime. John loved the pork on a salad with some of the extra sauce that it had been cooking in all day. I loved this dish because it uses pork tenderloin which is leaner and healthier than a pork roast.



You can't see but this pork is super moist.



These Easy Crockpot Pork Carnitas come from Kelle Hampton who is a mom who shares her life inspirations as well as her experiences with having a daughter with down syndrome. If you haven't heard of her blog start here to hear her story. Once I started reading, I was hooked on Kelle's outlook on life.

Easy Crockpot Pork Carnitas

Source: adapted from Kelle Hampton

2 pork tenderloins (about 1 pound each)
1 (15-18 ounce) jar of your favorite salsa verde
1 (10 ounce) can Rotel tomatoes
1 (4 ounce) can diced green chilies
1 white onion, chopped in large pieces
1/2 teaspoon cumin

Place all of the ingredients in a crockpot and cook on low for 8-10 hours or until pork easily forks apart. Serve buffet-style with flour tortillas, cheese, cilantro, avocado, tomatoes, lettuce, sour cream and a squeeze of lime. Make sure to get some of that yummy sauce the pork is in inside your tortilla. Add a side of Cilantro Lime Rice and black beans.

Trying to eat healthy? Make it into a salad by placing the pork on top of some lettuce with pico de gallo and a squeeze of lime.

Steak Chimichurri Nachos for Cinco De Mayo

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder. Have you ever met someone that is gorgeous but as you got to know them you found out that backstage behind the pretty curtains is an ugly show of human nature. I have. The opposite is true too. I've met people that aren't that attractive by the world's standards but as you get to know them now all you can see is this amazing, beautiful person and you are surprised when other people don't see it too.

These Chimichurri Nachos are the latter. If they were a school dance they would be girl in the corner shuffling her feet waiting for someone to ask her to dance. I made them last week and they were so good. They are lime flavored chips topped with grilled skirt steak, mozzarella, Cojita, and chimichurri sauce. But as I went to post them today I took a double take and thought I don't know if the rest of the world is going to understand how good these are by this picture.

They say Chimichurri is the ketchup of Argentina. They put it on EVERYTHING. My friend from Argentina had us over for dinner and made steaks with chimichurri sauce that were out of this world and ever since then I’ve been finding ways to put chimichurri sauce on everything. Even nachos!

What exactly is chimichurri sauce? It’s made out of chopped cilantro, parsley, garlic, vinegar, hot sauce, and olive oil. You can chop it all up by hand, but I find it easier to use a small food processor to do the work. A couple pulses later it’s done.


Do NOT over puree it or it will look like a green pea sauce.

Add a half of the chimichurri sauce to marinate the steak.

Steak Chimichurri Nachos Recipe

Edible Crayons for Teacher Appreciation Week...

After a couple of days the flowers are dead, they've got pens galore gathering dust in a drawer somewhere, and then there's the apple themed gadgets and boat load of apples. Seriously how many apples can one person eat?

What teachers want to make them feel appreciated is cash...cold hard cash. Show them the money.

These aren't my words, but the words of my babysitter, who also has been a school teacher for the last 23 years. She said it may sound unappreciative, but it's the truth. Times are tough. Apples aren't going to pay her bills and unless she can pawn the nice pen you gave her so that she can get her brakes fixed, she doesn't want that either.

I want to show my kid's teachers that I do appreciate all that they do. It's a job that is underestimated and so important. But NOW I'm scared to death to give my kid's teachers anything for Teacher Appreciation Week but cash or a gift card. But with teachers, teacher aid, and music teachers it all adds up. So I'm torn...

These Edible Crayons come from my friend Mandy from Gourmet-Mom-On-The-Go. We spent a couple of days together in the Betty Crocker kitchens and had so much fun. Mandy also won $25,000 in the Real Women of Philadelphia contest for one of her recipes. Talk about bringing home the bacon!

Who doesn't like pretzels and chocolate? I thought these would be cute as a snack for your child's lunch or stacked in a pencil box as a treat for your teachers (in addition to some cold hard cash of course :)).

So easy my sons helped me.

Edible Crayons

Source: Gourmet Mom on the Go

Pretzel rods

Colored candy melts or white almond bark with added food coloring

Crayon Labels (make your own or head to Mandy's site for a big selection)

Directions:

Break the pretzel rods in half. Don't worry if it's not exact, just do the best you can. Line a cookie sheet with wax paper or tin foil.

Warm candy melts for 1 minute in the microwave. Stir them and melt for additional time if they are not fully melted. You do not want to overcook the chocolate or it will get clumpy! Colored candy melts are easiest but if you can only find white add a little oil based food coloring to the melted white candy melts making sure that the chocolate is not hot or it will clump.

Now dip each end of the pretzel rods into the melted chocolate and place on the cookie sheet to dry. Once the pretzels are dry, print your crayon labels out on colored paper and cut them out. Wrap each pretzel with a crayon wrapper and secure with a piece of scotch tape.

A cute way to package these is in inexpensive pencil boxes.

Limeade Punch

I swore off making punch ten years ago when I made it for a bridal shower and it ended up looking like foamy dirty dish water. Not only was it a lot of work, it didn't even taste good. But just like mushrooms and fish, I decided even punch deserved a second chance.

A month ago I was in charge of refreshments for a church activity and on the way to the event our president called and asked if I needed her to pick up ice for the punch. The what? I had already made dessert, but drinks had completely skipped my mind. I needed something easy so I immediately texted my sisters, Shelly and Susan, on my way to the grocery store for their easy limeade punch recipe. It's a refreshing lime drink with a slight tart kick. People kept asking for the recipe and I was embarrassed to tell them it actually wasn't from scratch and only had 2 ingredients. Work smart not hard, right?

You can add sliced limes or even frozen raspberries to give a little color. The best part is that you can whip up a batch in the middle of a party without missing a beat. You can even be daring and try the Cherry Limeade version. Oh how I wish we had a Sonic out here!



Just know that if you do use frozen raspberries after a while they leave a red glow. I think it's pretty!

 Limeade Punch

1 (12 ounce) can frozen limeade concentrate
1 (2 liter) bottle Sprite
frozen raspberries or sliced limes for garnish
ice

Pour the frozen limeade concentrate in a large bowl and add the Sprite. I like my punch on the tart side so I add about 3/4 of a bottle of Sprite. Add ice, sliced limes, and frozen raspberries if desired.

Got Sonic Fever? Turn it into cherry limeade by adding the juice of 1 (10 ounce) jar of maraschino cherries. Add an additional can of frozen limeade for some extra tartness and garnish with the reserved maraschino cherries.