Pulled Pork & Slaw

I'm always looking for easy crock pot recipes that can cook for at least 8 hours. Those recipes that you cook for 4, what exactly is the point of that?? Or the ones that you basically cook everything before you put it in the crock pot? At any rate, I went looking around and I found this recipe on TastyKitchen.com. It was super easy and very tasty. 5 of 6 guests approved and yes, it was my son who didn't like it this time;)

For the Pork
1/2 C Ketchup
1/3 C Cider Vinegar
1/3 C Brown Sugar
6 oz Tomato Paste
2 T Worchestshire Sauce
2 T Yellow Mustard
1 1/2 t Salt
1 t Onion Powder

Whisk all this up in the crock pot. Cut a 3 lb Pork Sirloin roast into 3 chunks, turn the pieces to coat. Cook on low for about 8 hours and it just falls apart when you touch it with a fork.

For the Slaw

1/2 C Mayo
3 T Canola Oil
1/4 C Sugar
1 T Cider Vinegar
1/4 t Salt
1/2 t Celery Seed
1 t Onion Powder

Mix together and toss in a 14 oz bag of Coleslaw. Cover and let chill for at least 2 hours.

Cut your buns, throw some pork on and top with coleslaw. Tastes like a little bit of summer:)

Both recipes pretty much don't need the play by play but I did take photos of the coleslaw and the finished dinner.

Mix up the dressing
Toss your coleslaw in
Dinner is served

Touch the car

Shoppping season is right around the corner. Frazzled parents, new drivers, out of towners are all going to be driving in your shopping mall parking lots so I thought I would share a rule I had with my kids to keep yours safe.

When you remove them from the car or they get out themselves. They HAVE to touch the car until their hand is in yours. They can move around the car BUT their hand always has to be touching it. They have to do it EVERYTIME you go somewhere so it becomes their routine.

The reason for that is because if they are touching the car, they cannot get far enough away from you to get hit. They cannot wander away. You know they are safe while you get the stroller out or grab your purse.

And, when they were old enough to understand, around 3, I stood them in front of a parked SUV and said, "Can you see the driver"?

They said, "No".

I said, "They can't see you either...touch the car".

Out of habit I think my kids still touch the car when they first get out;)

Chicken and Dumplings

The weather is turning colder and I was in need of something comforting and warm. My Mom makes the best chicken and dumplings and I've never much paid attention to how she makes them, I just enjoyed them. I knew she used Bisquick and that was about it and when I called for the recipe, she said it was on the box, lol.

Well, the dumpling part is on the box but nothing else so I had to wing it since I didn't want to bug her again and I think it turned out pretty good.

Shopping list...

8 Chicken Bouillon Cubes
3 Chicken Breasts with skin and bone or 3-4 Cup diced cooked chicken
1-2 Potatoes
1/2 bag frozen mixed vegetables
1 can Cream of Chicken soup..I use 98% fat free
2 cloves of Garlic minced
1/2 small onion chopped
1 stalk Celery chopped
Pepper
Salt
Garlic Powder
Bisquick
Milk

When I make sticky crockpot chicken, I save the broth and whatever chicken is left in the freezer so when I make this, I throw it in too. The flavor goes up a HUGE notch.

9 C of Water
8 Chicken Bouillon Cubes
3 Chicken Breasts with skin and bone
2 cloves of Garlic minced
1/2 small onion chopped
1 stalk Celery chopped
1 t Pepper
1/2 t Salt
1 t Garlic Powder

Put all of this in a soup pot and bring to a boil. Boil chicken for about 25 minutes until it is cooked through. Remove chicken to cool and turn broth off. When chicken is cool enough to shred, pull it apart with a fork.

Now you'll need:
2 C Bisquick
2/3 C Milk

Mix this up to get all the lumps out. The dough is going to be a little sticky.

Bring broth back to a boil. Add chicken, 1/2 bag of frozen mixed vegetables, 1 potato chopped a bit thicker, can of Cream Soup, I used 98% fat free chicken. Now you are going to take a spoon, tablespoon size and drop some of the dough into the boiling broth. Continue until all the dough is gone and don't stack the dumplings on top of each other, give them their own space. Turn the heat to medium and cook for 10 minutes. Cover and cook another 10 minutes.

Chop your potato a little thicker
Shred chicken with a fork
Drop by spoonfuls into boiling broth
Reduce heat. Uncovered for 10 minutes
Cover for 10 more minutes
Little bit of comfort in a bowl

Taking a Bath

We get home from hockey practice and my son goes up to take a bath.

"Mom, where are the Epsom salts"? He shouts down from the bathroom.

"Open the cabinet, 2 shelves up on the left side above the towels, blue bag".

"Nope, they aren't here".

I walk upstairs and restate my directions..."open cabinet, 2 shelves up on the left side, above the towels, blue bag". I hand them to my son who mumbles, "oh, thanks".

What will he ever do without me??

Happy Birthday Krit

Kristen and I met back in High School when we made the danceline together. She connected to my left arm. We smiled and kicked our way through 3 years of High School together. That's where Crit and Krit were born.

Obviously being friends for 26 years, we've wiped our share of tears but we have shared WAY more gut busting laughs. We have so many "remember that" times, we could write a book.

What I love the most about Kristen is that she knows what I need before I do. She listens with her ears and her eyes.

Kristen isn't physically a big person but her personality is and her loyalty and love is larger than that. She is completely protective and I pity the person who hurts someone she loves because she also is pretty good at casting spells;)

Today is her birthday and I just wanted to let her know how FABULOUS I think she is!

Happy Birthday Krit!! Hope your day is absolutely MAGICAL!!

Pumpkin Bread

Yes, another Pumpkin recipe. But this bread is so yummy and it makes your house smell wonderful, I just had to share.

Pumpkin Bread

4 T Butter softened
1 C Sugar
2 Eggs
1 t Vanilla
15 oz Can Pumpkin
1 1/2 C Flour
1 t Baking Soda
1 t Salt
1 t Cinnamon
1 t Nutmeg
1/2 t Cloves
1/2 t Ginger
1/4 C Sour Cream (I use light)

Mix the first 5 ingredients, add the dry and sour cream. Mix thoroughly. Pour into greased loaf pan or mini pans. Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes for a full size loaf, about 20-25 for mini loafs. The bread should be golden brown. If you are unsure, you can insert a skewer or knife in the middle and it comes out clean, your bread is done.

Ready for the oven

Out of the oven and ready to eat

3 ingredient Muffins

My friend Karol turned me on to 3 ingredient muffins and when I said something, several people knew about them. How have I missed this EASY recipe?? I decided to give them a try and the result...YUMMY and yes, EASY.

My first batch were Lemon Poppy Seed and what you'll need:

Lemon Cake Mix
5 Snack Pak Lemon Pudding (I'm sure you could have used a can of pudding but this is what I had in the house)
2 T Poppy Seeds

Mix it all together, put in sprayed mini muffin tins and bake for about 16 minutes at 350. Makes 48 muffins. I know from Karol that you can also make these in full sized muffin tins without a problem.

I also made Pumpkin Muffins

1 Spice Cake Mix
1 15 oz can Pumpkin

Mix together and bake. These tasted pretty similar to my pumpkin cookies.Mix your cake mix and pudding together
Spoon into your muffin tins
Done