Mexican Rice

Here is the rice I always made with Mexican dishes before I discovered Arroz Verde. I still make it often because it's fast - I rarely actually measure the spices because that makes it take longer. Gary originally found the recipe on allrecipes.com, and only has one slight modification by me (I reduced the water from the original a bit because I thought it was a little gooey.) FYI, Kristen and Kayla, this is what I made with the fajitas when you were here, though I didn't spice it enough then.

Serves 4 (I make 1.5 times this for my fam.)

3 T vegetable oil
1 cup uncooked long grain rice
1 t garlic salt
1/2 t cumin
1/4 c chopped onion (a lot of times I just sprinkle in dried  minced onion and call it good)
1/2 c tomato sauce
1 3/4 cups chicken broth (water won't make it bad, just not as flavorful)

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and add rice. Cook, stirring constantly, until puffed and golden. While rice is cooking, sprinkle with salt and cumin.
2. Stir in onions and cook until tender. Stir in tomato sauce and chicken broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

Ok, I will make one more suggestion - saute the onions before or with the rice. Sauted  things always taste better. Also, I have never seen the rice look "puffed." Don't despair, just 2 minutes or so, until it's a little golden.

Why am I posting these rice recipes? I just realized I promised I'd post this one, but now I have two I like. We usually have rice with our Mexican food unless I am too sick to cook much - it creates "Sad Gary" if we don't have any.

Arroz Verde

You want this rice. Allison made it for her baby blessing, and I needed the recipe right away. Just whip it up before you start cooking the rest of your meal,  then it will be done baking when you're ready to eat. I always did red rice before, but if I have time and ingredients I will choose this. Yeah, there's a lot of butter.  Let me know if you use less and it works. The spinach cancels the butter, right? It's delish!

In a blender, mix together:

1/2 cup tightly packed cilantro leaves

1 cup spinach leaves

1 can chicken broth

1 1/4 cup milk

1tsp salt

Heat in a skillet:

1 Tbsp. olive oil

3 Tbsp. butter

Brown in butter/oil mixture:

1/4 cup chopped onion, then add

1 clove garlic, minced, then add

1 1/2 cups long grain rice

Put browned rice mixture in the bottom of a 9x13 pan.  Pour green mixture over top.  Cover with foil and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes.

Pasta Primavera

Last fall some friends invited us over for dinner and served this dish . . . and I've been dreaming about it ever since. I got the recipe today and luckily had most of the ingredients on hand, so I changed my dinner plans and did not regret it for a second. This dish doesn't really have many seasonings, but it is somehow SO incredibly flavorful and delicious. I'm in love and so is everyone else in the fam.

Just a note on the ingredients. This is the type of dish that it's hard to go wrong with---you can really mix and match the ingredients here to customize it to what you have on hand and what your family enjoys. You MUST use pine nuts and asparagus and FRESH Parmesan cheese, however. Today I didn't have the fresh basil, so I made it without and that obviously changes the whole tone of the dish, but it was still delicious. So use it if you can (and if you like fresh basil, of course), but don't stress if you don't have it. I also think this would be amazing with some zucchini or yellow summer squash.


Pasta Primavera

4 Tbsp pine nuts
1 pound dried pasta of your choice (penne and rigatoni work well)
2-3 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 red onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
20 cherry tomatoes, halved
15 (or so) fresh asparagus spears, bottoms trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieeces
4 (or so) carrots
1 cup green peas (thawed if frozen)
8 button mushrooms, sliced
4 Tbsp fresh basil, finely chopped
1/2 chicken broth
2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
grated Parmesan cheese

Heat a skillet over medium heat; add the pine nuts and toast, stirring continuously for 1 minutes; set aside.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook according to package directions.

While pasta is cooking, heat 2 Tbsp of the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat and cook the onions, stirring, for 6 minutes or until soft. Add garlic and cook another minute. Add tomatoes, asparagus, and carrots and cook, stirring regularly, for 2 minutes. Add peas, mushrooms, basil, broth, salt, and pepper; cover skillet and cook 5 minutes. Add remaining olive oil and toasted pine nuts; stir to combine all ingredients.

Drain cooked pasta in a colander, and put the vegetable mixture in the bottom of the empty pot. Top with hot pasta and toss together gently to combine well and heat through. Serve pasta topped with a little Parmesan cheese.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Gary discovered this recipe at allrecipes.com quite a while back. It's easy and yummy, and you can make it just like that. However, given a few more seconds of your time, you can make it something spectacular. I'm talking really only a few minutes. I thought I had written this already, but puzzling-ly, I have not.

Here's what I did the other day:
1 large onion (or 1 1/2 medium/small onions), diced
2 T bottled minced garlic (if you're using fresh, use less, but this is my fast recipe)
1 jalepeno, seeded and diced

Cook those in the bottom of the pot (in a little oil) on low to release their flavors while you go get all of the cans out. Or, to speed things up, cook on medium-high. The flavors get locked in more, but oh, well.

Now dump into the pot:
2 cans beans (I like one black, one pinto, but whatever works)
2 cans diced (or petite diced) tomatoes
2 cans diced green chiles (if you already have them in the tomatoes, you won't need this)
2 cups frozen corn, or a can of corn (really, I just eyeball this, 2 cups is a guesstimate)
1 can Preston-canned chicken or size equivalent of canned or other shredded chicken (rotisserie works great), be sure to add the broth. If you don't you will need more broth than I used.
1 cup chicken broth (or water and boullion)

Stir it all up and season with:
A lot of cumin
A lot of chili powder
some salt
some pepper

Maybe next time I'll measure. But really, if it tastes bland, add more. Measuring takes time. :) It's how you like it.
You may need to add a bit of sugar or red wine vinegar to cut the acid. To taste. Make sure it's hot, but really, everything in there is cooked. It will taste better as it sits and the taste comes together, but you haven't got all day. Unless you do, it will be yummier.

Now, for the grand finale. Serve with:
lots of lime
Tortilla chips
sour cream
cilantro
green onions
avocado
queso fresco or cojita . . . or monterey jack or cheddar
hot sauce, should you feel inclined (just a teensy of Chipotle Tobasco, and yum!)

This is super fast. Of course all of the extras are not necessary, but they are really good. You can serve it plain with cornbread, too. If you don't have time to dice an onion you can throw in onion power, if you have no minced garlic, you can throw in garlic powder. You can leave out the jalepeno entirely, but really, it's good, and when seeded, not hot in the final product.

Pizza Crust

I've been looking around for a fantastic pizza crust recipe, and America's Test Kitchen delivered. It says it takes 1.5 to 2 hours to rise, but I often warm my oven to 200 degrees, turn it off, then put the dough in there.  Rises pretty fast - half an hour or so. I use this to make pizzas, obviously, but also to make stromboli (kids call it pizza rolls). Will write about that in a separate post. Can make a double batch in the Kitchen Aid, which is enough for 4 pizzas or strombolis (regular is, of course, 2).

1/2 cup warm water
1 envelope (abt 2 1/4 teaspoons) instant yeast
1 1/4 cups water, at room temperature
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 cups bread flour (I use whole wheat), plus more for dusting the work surface and hands
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1. Measure the warm water into a 2-cup liquid measuring cup. Sprinkle in the yeast and let stand until the yeast dissolves and swells, about 5 minutes. Add the room-temperature water and olive oil and stir to combine.
2. Place flour and salt in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle. Briefly combine the dry ingredients at low speed. Slowly add the liquid ingredients at low speed. Slowly add the liquid ingredients and continue to mix at low speed until a cohesive mass forms. Stop the mixer and replace the paddle with the dough hook. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Form the dough into a ball, put it in a deep oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and proceed with the recipe.
3. Let rise until doubled in size, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Press the dough to deflate; it is now ready to use in recipes.

You will ask the baking times and temperatures. It depends on the recipe. If you don't know, bake at 425 until it's done. Yum.

Turkey Osso Bucco

I just wanted to pin this recipe, but darn Pinterest is all about appearances, and there wasn't a big enough picture on the page. Bah. So now you get a very delicious dinner idea. We just had it for Sunday dinner, and LOVED it. Very easy to put together, too, especially since the herbs don't even need to be cut. Got the idea from Allison, and here is the original recipe. There is a gremolata that goes with it at that site, should you feel so inclined. We like it. I will chime in with what I did differently. I'm sure it's perfect as written by Giada, but I had the ingredients I had . . . I doubled the veggies, because I had them, and liked it. Here goes!

1/2 breast of turkey (cut into 3 pieces, preferably by the butcher) (I didn't have a whole turkey, so I used a turkey breast tenderloin I got from Sam's club. I had 1.5 lbs of meat, which I cut into 6 large pieces so it would cook faster.)
2 turkey thighs (didn't use this, see above)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup all-purpose flour, for dredging
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used less, since I had less turkey)
1 small onion, finely diced (I used a large onion)
1 carrot, finely diced (I used 2 big carrots)
1 celery stalk, finely diced (I used 2 stalks of celery)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 cup dry white wine (I used 1 cup apple juice, 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar)
4 cups reduce-sodium chicken broth (I had less turkey, so I only used 2 cups)
1 large sprig fresh rosemary
2 large sprigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
2 whole cloves garlic

What I did was delicious, but I think that since I used apple juice and less broth, I'd probably use less apple juice next time to keep the proportions right in the sauce. It was, however, still delish.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Pat the turkey with paper towels to dry and ensure even browning. Season the turkey with salt and pepper. Dredge the turkey in the flour to coat.

In a heavy roasting pan large enough to fit the turkey in a single layer, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the turkey and cook until brown on both sides, about 6 minutes per side. Transfer the turkey to a plate and reserve.

In the same pan, add the onion, carrot, and celery. Season vegetables with salt. Cook until the vegetables are tender, about 6 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the wine and simmer until the liquid is reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Return the turkey to the pan. Add enough chicken broth to come 2/3 up the sides of the turkey. Add the herb sprigs, bay leaf, and cloves to the broth mixture. Bring the liquid to a boil over medium-high heat. Remove the pan from the heat. Cover the pan tightly with foil and transfer to the oven. Braise until the turkey is fork-tender, turning the turkey after 1 hour. (I cooked it for 1 hour, 20 min, and it was very tender. Had I used the full amount of turkey, probably would have needed the full time.)

We ate ours with mashed potatoes and a green salad. YUM!

Oatmeal (Chocolate Chip) Cookies

From Better Homes and Gardens. I've never made them without the chocolate chips, because they're really the point to me. However, the original recipe is just oatmeal cookies, and you can stir in in raisins. But then you won't get any chocolate. Just a warning.

These have become Gary's specialty and they disappear very quickly wherever he takes them!

3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cup flour
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup chocolate chips or raisins (optional)

In a large mixing bowl or bowl of stand mixer, beat butter on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add brown sugar, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and cloves. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in any remaining flour. Stir in rolled oats. (I've never had any problems doing this with my Kitchen Aid.)

Drop dough by rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are golden. Cool on cookie sheet for one minute. Transfer to wire rack and let cool.

Breadsticks!

So, tonight I wanted to make some breadsticks, but since I hadn't planned ahead very far I needed something that would be FAST. I found this recipe and am completely converted . . . super easy, super fast, super super super delicious. Funnily enough, when I went to post the recipe, I realized that Kristen's last recipe was from the same blog---totally a coincidence, as I had never heard of this blog or checked out her site. Anyway, I highly recommend these breadsticks, and I especially love the method of patting all the dough out onto the pan and then slicing them on the pan. So much easier than the traditional method.

Quick and Easy Breadsticks


1 1/2 C warm water
2 T sugar
1 T yeast
1/2 t salt
3 1/2- 4 C flour
1/4 C butter
3/4 C grated Parmesan or mozzarella cheese
Johnny's Garlic Seasoning (*Note: I always use this seasoning from Our Best Bites)

1. Mix the water, sugar and yeast together in a measuring cup or in the bottom of your mixer. Let it sit for 5 minutes.
2. Add the salt and the flour, one cup at a time, until it is well incorporated. Mix on high for 5 minutes. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes.
3. Melt the butter and pour half of it into a jelly roll pan (large cookie sheet). 
4. Place the dough in the center of the pan. Let it sit for 2 or 3 minutes. Letting the dough rest makes it MUCH easier to shape. 
5. Spread the dough out flat onto the pan until it reaches all of the edges. Doing all of the spreading and cutting of these bread sticks, in the pan makes cleaning up your counter so much easier! 
6. Pour the other half of the butter onto the dough. Spread it around with your hands. Sprinkle the Johnny's Garlic Seasoning all over the dough, and then the Parmesan cheese. 
7. With a pizza cutter cut the dough into three rows lengthwise, and then into about 12 little height wise rows. 
8. Put the pan into a 170 degree oven for about 7-10 minutes. The breadsticks should rise about 1 inch.
9. Turn you oven up to 350 and bake for about 12 minutes, or until golden brown.
10. When they come out of the oven let them sit and rest again for about 5 minutes. Then redefine your cutting lines with the pizza cutter.

Crispy Cheddar Chicken

So I am posting this because it was so easy and really delicious (especially for it's simplicity) And you know if I am posting it then it really is easy and quick. Here is the link:

Crispy Cheddar Chicken

And then I made it with this because the blog suggested it. I am so creative:

Rice Pilaf With Almonds

Easy Teriyaki Chicken

I like the Our Best Bites teriyaki recipe a lot, but this is something totally different. It doesn't really have a thick sauce, and it's got a hint of lemon . . . the point of this is SUPER easy and quick. It's Deanne's recipe, so you know it can feed a lot of people fast.

1/2 cup water
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 tsp ginger powder, or more to taste (I grate in fresh ginger root. Way tasty.)
garlic powder to taste (I saute a little minced garlic before adding water instead)
lemon zest to taste

Let these ingredients come to a boil, then add chicken pieces. Let it simmer (a strong simmer), until the chicken is done. Serve over rice.

Chocolate Cherry Cordial Cookies

I found this recipe in Parade magazine around Christmas time, and decided to give it a try . . . good decision, these are delicious! It sounds like a lot of work to put a cherry into each cookie, but really it's not, especially if you give a jar of cherries and a bowl of dough to 3 little boys then make dinner while they get the job done.  If you don't have 3 little boys, you could maybe sub in girls. Interestingly, these cookies were better the next day once the flavors had hung around together for a little bit. Yes, I bought rum extract for this recipe, but now I have a reason to make them again, so I'm not disappointed with the purchase.

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp rum extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
30 maraschino cherries, drained and patted dry with a paper towel
2 Tbsp sugar, for coating

For glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp rum extract
4 tsp maraschino cherry juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, beat butter, sugar, egg, and rum extract until light and fluffy. Add flour, cocoa, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Beat well.

Flatten out about 1 Tbsp dough. Place a cherry on top; mold dough around it. Roll in sugar.Repeat with remaining dough.

Place cookies 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake 8 minutes. Cool on a rack.

For glaze, whisk ingredients; spoon over cookies.

Peanut Brittle

Well, guys, it's the Christmas season. Dad made some peanut brittle last night. I'm guessing most of you don't have the renowned "JC Penney Microwave Cookbook," so I thought I'd post the recipe here.

Peanut Brittle
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1-1.5 cups uncooked peanuts
1 Tbsp butter
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla

Combine first three ingredients and cook on high 10 minutes, stopping twice to stir. Immediately add remaining ingredients, stir, and divide onto two well-buttered cookie sheets, spread as thinly as possible.

*Dad always does this in the microwave. Try it out on the stove if you want to be a little crazy.

Sweet Potato Chicken Curry

I'm posting this in honor of DP's birthday, because he likes it enough to request it as a birthday meal. And it's totally and completely delicious. I will tell you that this dish is equally good with and without the curry. I make it both ways, just depending on what we're in the mood for. I have never used turmeric just because I never have it, but someday I will buy it so I'm keeping it in the recipe.

Also. I always always make this in the crockpot, so I've never followed these instructions precisely. But because I love you a lot, I typed it up so you can choose between the original method or the crockpot method. You will serve this over rice, and it's also delicious with a side of flatbread from OBB.

Oh goodness. You really need to make this! It's one of our favorite dishes. Oh, and it originally came from Cooking Light.


Sweet Potato Chicken Curry
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 bay leaf
1.5 tsp olive oil
1.5 lbs skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces
1.5 cups vertically sliced onion
1.5 tsp minced peeled fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves
1 14-oz can chicken broth
1 14.5-oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
2 cups (1/2-inch) cubed peeled sweet potato
3/4 cup canned chickpeas, rise and drained
1 cup frozen green peas
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

Combine curry powder, coriander, turmeric, salt, black pepper, and bay leaf in a small bowl.

Heat oil in a large Dutch over over medium-high heat. Add chicken to pan; saute 5 minutes or until browned, stirring occasionally. Remove chicken from pan. Reduce heat to medium. Add onion to pan; cook 10 minutes or until tender, stirring frequently. Increase heat to medium-high; return chicken to pan. Cook 1 minute, stirring occasionally.

Stir in ginger and garlic; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add curry powder mixture; cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add broth and tomatoes; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer 1 hour. Stir in potato and chickpeas. Cook, uncovered, 30 minutes. Add peas; cook 5 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Remove from heat; stir in lemon juice. Discard bay leaf. Serve over rice.

Crockpot Instructions
Saute onions and garlic; put in crockpot. Don't cut up the chicken! Just brown it, adding spices (including ginger) for last minute or two as instructed above. This really makes a huge difference in the flavor. Put it all in the crockpot and then add sweet potatoes, chicken broth, tomatoes, and chickpeas. I usually just do a whole can of chickpeas (or about 1.5 cups if I've cooked the chickpeas in advance).

Cook on low or high, depending on how much time you have. Today I'm doing high for about 4.5 hours. This will result in the most tender, pull-apart chicken ever. About half an hour before you want to eat, remove the chicken and dice it up. Don't shred it exactly; you just want chunks. Add the peas and finish cooking. Right before you serve this, stir in the lemon juice.

Really Delicious Chocolate Frosting

Kayla here... Hacking mom since I don't have access to this blog. Lily and I made this frosting the other day for some cupcakes and it turned out very yummy... she was eating it by the spoonful and I was tempted to join her. Just be sure to follow the directions exactly because if you don't it turns out kind of funky. I got it from allrecipes.

2 3/4 cup powdered sugar
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
6 tablespoons butter
5 tablespoons evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. In a medium bowl sift together powdered sugar and cocoa. Set aside
2. In a large bowl, cream together butter until smooth, then gradually beat in sugar mixture alternately with evaporated milk. Blend in vanilla. If necessary, adjust consistency with more milk or more sugar.

Tortilla Soup with Pork & Squash

While I was waiting for Violet to get some lab work done the other day, I stumbled onto this recipe in the Sept. 2012 issue of "Real Simple." Since I've had a butternut squash on my counter screaming to be used for a while, I made it tonight. It was super delicious--for once, Violet couldn't get enough of it. Definitely different from other tortilla soups I've had, but very very yummy. Also a good addition to the lineup because it's a crockpot recipe. It has a long enough cooking time that you truly can put this one in early in the day and then not do anything with it until dinner.

*Just a few notes before I get to the recipe: I used about 1 pound of meat and it was PLENTY! Seriously, I don't think this recipe could even support the amount of meat they are calling for. It would be overwhelming. I didn't use the jalapeno because I didn't have one on hand; I'm sure it's yummy. You can make the tortilla strips in advance and store them for a few hours in an airtight container--or just go with store-bought tortilla chips and you'll be fine. I also added a few shakes of cumin to the soup and it was absolutely necessary and yummy in my opinion. Also added grated cheese to the final bowls.

Tortilla Soup with Pork & Squash

• *1  2 1/2- to 3-pound boneless pork shoulder or butt, trimmed and cut in half
• 1  small butternut squash (about 1 1/2 pounds)—peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1  14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes
• 1  jalapeño pepper, seeded and chopped
• 2  cloves garlic, chopped
• 1  tablespoon  chili powder
• kosher salt
• *cumin
• 4  6-inch corn tortillas, cut into 1/2-inch-wide strips
• 1  tablespoon  canola oil
• *grated cheese, for serving
•  cilantro sprigs, and lime wedges, for serving

Directions

1. In a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker, combine the pork, squash, tomatoes (and their juices), jalapeño, garlic, chili powder, 4 cups water, and 1¼ teaspoons salt. Cover and cook until the pork is very tender, on low for 7 to 8 hours or on high for 5 to 6 hours (this will shorten total recipe time).
2. Fifteen minutes before serving, heat oven to 450° F. On a rimmed baking sheet, toss the tortillas with the oil and ⅛ teaspoon salt. Bake, tossing once, until crispy, 8 to 10 minutes.
3. Transfer the pork to a medium bowl and, using 2 forks, shred the meat; return it to the slow cooker. Serve the soup with the tortilla strips, cilantro, and lime wedges.

Swedish Cookies (Gingerbread)

I don't know how I ended up with this, but I have Grandma's recipe for gingerbread cookies. Here it is basically as she wrote it.

Swedish Cookies--Gingerbread men; good for children

[word I can't read] 15 minutes: 1 cup molasses and 1 cup shortening.

Cream together 1 cup sugar, 1 egg, 1 tsp vanilla. Dissolve 2 tsp baking soda in 1/2 cup hot water. Add hot water & baking soda to sugar & eggs. Sift together 6 cups flour, 1/4 tsp cloves, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp finger. Add to other mixture and stir until flour is well mixed.

May need more flour or to chill first.

Roll thin and cut with cookie cutter. Bake 10 minutes at 375. This dough doesn't stick to board.

--LouCeil

Hot Fudge Sauce

People. This hot fudge sauce is amazing. Whether you're having it on brownies, ice cream, or moon pie (like I did tonight in place of chocolate syrup), it's delicious. It reminds me of the yummy fudge sauce at Leatherby's. I've made this a few times and it has worked perfectly every time---just make sure you don't use too small of a saucepan or you'll have to babysit it so it won't boil over.

Hot Fudge Sauce

3/4 cup white sugar

3 Tbsp cocoa

2 Tbsp water

1 5-oz can evaporated milk

2 Tbsp butter

1 tsp vanilla

Combine sugar and cocoa in a saucepan. Whisk in water; stir over low heat until cocoa dissolves. Add evaporated milk and butter; bring to a boil over medium heat. Stirring frequently, boil gently 5-6 minutes or until sauce thickens. Remove from heat and enjoy!

*This stores well in the fridge. If you want to reheat some, just heat up the amount you want to use because heating and cooling the sauce repeatedly will make it grainy.

Mexican Sweet Pork

So, there are one and a half billion recipes for "Cafe Rio" pork out there. All of them are good. Never had one I didn't like. However, none of them are quite right. Even Our Best Bites, and you KNOW I worship that blog. I had it in my mind that the first recipe I got 5 years ago was too complicated, but guess what . . . it's not complicated at all. Dumping a few spices in is not hard. Just grab your measuring spoons and stand in front of the spice cabinet with your bowl. And guess what else? We really liked it better than the other recipes we've had  when I made it a couple of weeks ago. One HUGE tip - enchilada sauce is a major ingredient, so it's going to really alter the flavor of your final product. Find one that's really good, or make your own. That's what I've done the last couple of times.

As far as the lime-cilantro rice, I like Our Best Bites' version. Simple and yummy. Cook the rice in chicken broth if you want it to have an extra-good flavor.

As far as the dressing, I think I like the recipe that is already on this blog. Our Best Bites recipe has a better consistency, but needs tons more lime, cilantro, and green salsa.

Okay, on to the pork!

2.5 - 3.5 lbs pork loin roast (smaller works fine, too)

Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper and brown all surfaces on a hot skillet with a little oil in it. Place in a crock pot, then mix up the following:

1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cups Worcestershire sauce (I use Lea and Perrins)
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp powdered ginger
1 tsp salt
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
2 T dried minced onion (This is sooo cheap at winco. If you have none, use 1/2 cup regular minced onion.)

Pour on top of the pork, then cook on high for approximately 4 hours. You can also just dump all of the stuff right onto the pork, just mix it up in the crock pot. When the pork is done, shred it up, put it back in the crock pot, then mix up:

1 can enchilada sauce
1/2 cup dark brown sugar

Pour on top, mix it up, and you're good to go.

Some notes: Browning the pork roast was not in the original recipe I got from Helen the camp director. It's an Our Best Bites idea, and it makes it less greasy and a little more flavorful. However, you don't have to.

As far as juiciness: Some recipes have you drain all of the goodness it cooked in before serving. No, no, that cannot be done. I have thought it was a little flavorless each time I have done that. However, the juiciness can be a little much, so what I do is pour it all out, shred the pork roast, then pour back in however much I think looks right for the consistency.

As far as sweetness: Cafe Rio pork is really, really sweet. I haven't seen a recipe as sweet as it is. So, keep adding dark brown sugar if you would like it to be sweeter.

As far as Coke, reduced-Coke, Dr. Pepper, reduced-Dr. Pepper . . . all of the recipes I've had with those in there are good. However, the entire half cup of a good Worcestershire sauce tastes better than all of those. That's my opinion. Sarah said she'd like to make a few recipes side by side for a taste test. Go for it, peeps, and let me know how it turns out.

As far as the enchilada sauce - I cannot stress how much it matters that you use a good one. I don't know what's a good one, because I so rarely use red enchilada sauce. Let me know if you make a discovery. I used half El Pato, half tomato sauce, and dumped in chili powder, garlic salt/powder, onion salt/powder, and cumin until I liked what I was tasting. Sorry, not a good recipe, I know, but it was easy, cuz dumping is easy.

Chocolate Chip Cookies Dad Loves

Actually, he likes the dough.

To be fair, I got this recipe from AllRecipes.com.

1 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the vanilla and eggs one at a time. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; stir into the sugar mixture. Finally, mix in the chocolate chips. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are golden. Remove from baking sheet to cool on wire racks.

I usually leave the oven at 350 because I'm lazy and forget to change it. But it shouldn't be a problem if you're just eating the dough...

Cream of Chicken Soup

I mentioned on another post that I often make my own cream of chicken soup to add into recipes. It's basically a white sauce and is really easy as long as you make sure you're using real butter. It takes maybe five minutes and is definitely cheaper and probably a lot healthier than using the canned version. I will say that it doesn't taste exactly like the canned, so there are some cases when I would rather use a can because I want that particular flavor. Most of the time, however, this is a yummy improvement anyway. On to the recipe!

Cream of Chicken Soup

1 Tbsp flour
3 Tbsp butter (REAL!)
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup milk
salt & pepper, to taste

Melt butter in small saucepan over medium-low heat. When melted, whisk in flour. Whisk until smooth and bubbly. Remove from heat and slowly whisk in chicken broth and milk. Return to heat and bring to gentle boil, whisking constantly, until soup thickens. Add salt and pepper to taste. Substitute for one can of soup.