Monthly Archives: May 2015

Cooking, Main courses

Pulled Pork

Pulled pork for sandwiches made in a Crock Pot.

Gather the following ingredients:

Pork shoulder or tenderloin
Rub – Find one you like or combine chili powder, garlic powder, paprika, cumin, and red pepper
Apple Cider Vinegar
BBQ sauce

Crock Pot

Buns

Optional topping:
Coleslaw

Cover the pork with the rub liberally. Place the pork into the crock pot, fat side down.

Pour 1/3 cup of apple cider vinegar onto the bottom of the Crock Pot.
– Dot not pour over the meat.

Cook for 6-7 hours on low.

Pulled Pork with BBQ sauce, just stir.
Pulled Pork with BBQ sauce, just stir.

When the pork is able to be pulled apart with two forks remove it from the Crock Pot. Dump out the vinegar. Replace the pork and shred the meat.

Cover with your favorite BBQ sauce, stir, and cook for another hour.
– Sweet BBQ sauces can burn, and become bitter, if cooked too long in the Crock Pot which is why you wait until the end to add it.

Place the pulled pork between 2 buns and eat.

Add coleslaw on top of the pulled pork if desired.

Cooking, Salads

Coleslaw

A simple salad, coleslaw.

Gather the following ingredients:

Cabbage
Carrots
Miracle Whip
Apple Cider Vinegar
Sugar

Miracle Whip, sugar, vinegar, cabbage, and carrots
Miracle Whip, sugar, vinegar, cabbage, and carrots

Slice or chop the cabbage and carrots in a vegetable slicer.
– I don’t have one either. I chop the cabbage with a knife, bigger ones work best. I slice the carrot with a potato peeler.

Add Miracle Whip to cover the cabbage and carrots. Mix in 1 tbls. vinegar and 1 tbls. sugar to 1 cup of Miracle Whip.
– In my experience increasing the vinegar and sugar when increasing the Miracle Whip is not always a good idea. Especially the vinegar.
– It can take a surprisingly large amount of Miracle Whip to cover the salad depending on how covered you like the vegetables.

Stir and you are finished. Put in the fridge to chill.

Serve as a simple side dish or add to the top of a sandwich.

Cooking, Main courses

Spaghetti Casserole

Spaghetti Casserole – almost like mom’s

Whenever I made mom’s spaghetti casserole it just did not get the praise that hers does, so I made a few modifications.

Gather the following ingredients:

New York Strip – 3/4 lb. or more
2 tbsp. Olive Oil
Spaghetti
Marinara Sauce
Can of Artichoke Hearts
Shredded Mozzarella 2 cups

Large frying pan
Large pot
Large glass pan

Slice the New York Strip into 1/2 inch cubes. Heat the Olive Oil in the frying pan. Sear the outside of the steak to seal in the flavor, maybe 5 minutes on medium heat.

– The meat should not be cooked through. It will finish cooking in the oven.

Fill the large pot with water and heat on medium high until it boils. Take a large handful of spaghetti and break it over the sink. Add to the pot and cook as directed.
– I bite one of the noodles to check to see if it is done. It should be the same color all the way through and not taste pasty.

Drain the spaghetti and add the cooked noodles to the bottom of the glass pan.
Pour 1/3 of the marinara sauce over the noodles and stir. You just want to color the noodles slightly.

Marinara sauce over steak, artichoke hearts and spaghetti.
Marinara sauce over steak, artichoke hearts and spaghetti.

Drain the artichoke hearts and pour them over the noodles evenly.

Spread the cubes of steak over the top of the noodles evenly.

Cover all with the rest of the marinara sauce. Spread the sauce as evenly as possible.

Sprinkle the mozzarella over the top.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook for 30 minutes. The cheese should melt and turn slightly golden.

I like to sprinkle garlic salt over the top before eating if I do not have garlic bread or French bread to eat with it. This dish is very good the next day.

Cooking, Snacks

Doritos and Peppers

Doritos, Peppers, and Cheese

Having a party, or just a after school or work snack and you need this little treat.

Gather the following ingredients:

Doritos
Cheddar Cheese
Hot Peppers

Cookie sheet

Arrange the Doritos upon the cookie sheet without too much overlapping.

Sprinkle the Cheddar Cheese over the top.

Spoon hot peppers over the top as desired.
– I got mine at Pot Belly, but they sell jars of peppers, cauliflower, carrots, etc. at the grocers as well. You can also use jalapenos.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Melted cheddar cheese over hot peppers and Doritos.
Melted cheddar cheese over hot peppers and Doritos.

Cook the chips for 3-4 minutes until the cheese melts. Any longer and the chips will burn.