BBQ Pulled Pork

A few weeks ago I decided against my better judgement (and personal taste) to make one of my husband's favorite dishes. He loves BBQ pulled pork. I emailed a recipe to myself from a well-known website but was disappointed to find out that it was no longer a working link so I just winged it. I couldn't remember everything that it included but I did remember a recipe I passed on that sounded gross where you immerse the pork in root beer. Well, it was the only thing I had to go on. Turned out great and the husband loved it too!

BBQ Pulled Pork

2-4 lb boneless pork tenderloin (I just cut the bone off before cooking)
2 liters root beer, as needed
1 bottle BBQ sauce, as needed

Cook pork tenderloin completely immersed in root beer for 6-8 hours on low to medium heat in crock pot. When done cooking, shred pork with a fork removing all fat. Return to the warm crock pot and add the BBQ sauce and serve.

RAM Restaurant & Brewery

Today marks a big day in my blog's history! It's my very first restaurant review. I have been meaning to do one but never bring a camera or it's not a place worth reviewing. Tonight my husband and I went to RAM Restaurant and Brewery . It was our first time there so it is a perfect chance to review.

Brad got the BBQ Pulled Pork Bomber and it was twice the size of my burger. He really liked it .. a lot. It also had a little bit of coleslaw on the bottom of the sandwich and he really enjoyed the combo of that. This brought on conversation about how his grandmother made the best coleslaw. I personally don't usually like it so I don't make it. I promised to find and perfect a recipe from my grandmothers recipe book if he can't find his family recipe.

I got the All American Burger. I ordered it well done and I typically like it char-black .. so a little more than well done. It was medium. It was still very red inside. Also they forgot to put lettuce AND mayo on it. The guy that brought the food said this burger doesn't come with mayo normally. Check the menu for yourself online. It does. I ordered no ketchup or mustard in which they of course put on there.

We both got waffle fries that were okay. They were room temperature and a little too crunchy for me. Brad got the 71 ale on tap and it was only $3 which was great. Also, their pints are 18 ounces so you get more for your money. The beer was good and I think I could even drink a pint even though I don't typically like beer.

Because of all of the sending back of my food and mess-ups, the manager gave us a free dessert, our choice. We chose the carrot cake, which also came with a couple scoops of Edys vanilla ice cream and caramel topping. It was phenomenal.

Food: C
Drinks: A
Dessert: A
Service: B
Wait time: A (didn't have to wait at all on a Saturday night)

Pigs In A Blanket

Who doesn't like finger food!? Surely not anyone in this house. One night I decided to make a childhood favorite and I found an easy recipe on Home Is Where the Holman's Are blog . They looked wonderful and who can really resist a lil smokey wrapped in delicious carbohydrates.

Of course even with the simplest of recipes I have to complicate things. The recipe calls for a puff pastry and with my very little knowledge of cooking and even food itself, I didn't know what that was. Well, I was told it was in the freezer section so when I got there and couldn't find anything I just bought a package of Crescent rolls. Yup. Just plain ol' dinner rolls. They worked great and tasted fantastic. I was looking around that section asking myself what I thought would go well with a lil smokey and cheese. I bought two but only needed one so now we get dinner rolls with dinner tomorrow night. What a luxury.

Another thing that I changed in my recipe is to NOT use parchment paper because they stuck to it and it was almost impossible to get them off without a lovely paper attachment. Next time I will just spray the pan.

Pigs In A Blanket 

1 pkg Crescent Rolls
1 pkg Lil' Smokeys
1 block sharp cheddar cheese
1 egg
1 tbsp water
1/2 tsp garlic powder
flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut cheese into small, thin slices. Cut a small slit in the smokeys and insert the cheese. Roll out the crescent rolls onto well-floured surface and cut into small triangles. Roll each smokey inside each crescent roll and place onto greased cookie sheet.

Beat egg and mix in garlic powder and water in small bowl. Brush on the top of each pig-in-a-blanket. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Update - Been MIA

I have not posted and been MIA for a while and I sincerely apologize! First, my husband got sick for two weeks and had severe stomach pains and every test in the book, but finally just out of nowhere felt better. Thank goodness. During this time we decided to put our house up for sale and "upgrade" since there are so many good deals out on the market and we NEED a bigger place. That has been very time-consuming.

Also bigger place = bigger kitchen!!! I am going to be quite picky on my kitchen, especially since I got a promotion at work and can now work from home! YAY! =)

So all in all lots of good things happening but it's been busy. I have some recipes on stand-by I will post soon.

French Onion Soup

Do you ever go to a restaurant and think, "Man. Nobody could ever top this!" That's what I used to think about Applebee's french onion soup. Until now.

The recipe I found was in my Easy Crockpot Recipes cookbook from Borders and was easy enough. I adapted it a bit as well. I made it a little skeptical of how few ingredients it had in it thinking that something so simple couldn't be so tasty. Oh how I was wrong! This is the easiest, most low-maintenance recipe with the best results I have ever blogged! Cooks across the nation, prepare to get to know your crock pot intimately.

I served this with a side spring mix salad which is my all-time favorite salad because it has wonderful texture and taste. Soup and salad is the ultimate late-night dinner meal on a wintery night. This goes on my must make again list. My husband also agrees.

French Onion Soup

5 small sweet onions, diced

1-2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp worchestire sauce
2 cans beef broth
1 cup water
swiss cheese slices
french bread loaf, sliced about 1 inch thick

In a large skillet on low heat, warm the onions in hot butter for 20 minutes (DO NOT BROWN). Transfer onions to crock pot. Add in water, broth, sauce and mix well. Cook on high 6 hours.

When crock pot is finished, scoop out and discard 2/3 of the onion pieces and leave the rest in the broth. Scoop into serving dishes.

For the bread, if your dishes are broiler safe (most general household dishes are not) then you can place the bread right on top of the soup and cheese on top of that and broil in the oven for 2-3 minutes until golden brown.

If your dishes are not broiler safe, then you can use a cookie sheet and place the bread on it with cheese on top. Then broil for 2-3 minutes on top shelf of oven. When finished, simply place on top of soup bowls and serve!

Potato Soup Plus

It barely gets into the 50's and I have already gotten out of all of the winter gear, including my boots. Oh how I love my boots! Another love of mine is my crock pot. Well, we did have a bit of a spout a few weeks ago when the glass lid came flying into my face and cracked me in between the eyes. Other than that, however, it is a very frequently used cooking device in this household.

I used to make one thing and one thing only: beef tenderloin and veggies. Now I have discovered the wide world of soups, chicken and other marvelous dishes the crock pot can conjure up. I bought a recipe book from Border's a while back that was called Easy Slow Cooker Cookbook. It has a ton of easy recipes. And I love EASY!

The first one I tried this week was a potato soup and it was good, but could use some work. My husband said that it was too "potatoey" whatever that means. I mean .. it's potato soup!? Anyways, I thought it was just fine. I could go with a little more cheese in it (because of course he is used to O'Charleys cheese soup with like 3 pieces of potato). I adjusted the recipe below to what I will make next time. I am only going to use one less potato and see how that goes. I think the level of "cheese was good enough that if I take out one potato it should make a big difference.

I am also entering this marvelous crock pot recipe into Jolene's Culinary Adventures contest for October Tasty Tools! I will update on who won and a link to the recipe because you know it will be amazing!

Potato Soup Plus

4 medium potatoes, peeled, cubed (5 potatoes used in this recipe)
1 cup cooked, cubed ham
1 cup fresh broccoli florets, cut very fine
1 can cheddar cheese soup
1 can fiesta nacho cheese soup
3/4 can chicken broth
2 1/2 soup cans milk
paprika, to taste

Place potatoes, ham and broccoli in sprayed crock pot. In saucepan combine and mix soups, milk and broth until smooth. Stir into crock pot and cook for 7-9 hours on low. Sprinkle paprika when serving to taste.

Pumpkin Apple Streusel Muffins

I went to the store today to get some white chocolate chips to make some white chocolate macadamia nut cookies later. While there, I happen to look over at the canned pumpkin area and noticed the big empty shelf with canned pumpkin puree was not empty. I got curious and walked over to see what the big difference was between the pumpkin pie mix and the canned pumpkin. I have heard so much about this and how there is a huge shortage of the puree. Yeah, I snagged 4 cans. Might go back later to get 4 more.

So when I got home, I wanted to find the perfect recipe. I had just purchased two huge bags of apples planning on doing several different kinds of recipes. I found an amazing muffin recipe online and just had to make it. I miffed it a bit but it still turned out amazing! So here is "my" version of the muffins.

Pumpkin Apple Streusel Muffins

2 1/2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp baking soda
2 eggs, beaten
1 can pumpkin puree
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups apples, peeled, cored and chopped

2 tbsp flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3-4 tsp butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease muffin tray.

In a large bowl, sift together 2 1/2 cups flour, 2 cups sugar, pumpkin pie spice and baking soda. In separate bowl, mix together eggs, pumpkin and oil. Add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture until moist and fold in apples. Spoon batter into muffin cups.

In a small bowl, mix together last 4 ingredients, adding butter 1 tsp at a time. Spread over Muffins before baking.

Bake in oven for 25-30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.