Pulled Pork

What's for dinner, pulled pork!

On sale right now at a couple of grocery stores is Boston butt pork shoulder for 99 cents/lb. I say buy it up and let the good times roll. The roast I cooked was so large I am going to divid it in thirds, one for eating and 2 separate meals in the freezer. We had it on rolls with potato salad and blackberry cobbler for dessert.

Pulled Pork

1 pork shoulder

1 can of root beer

a lot of shakes of liquid smoke

Put in the crock pot on low for about 10 hours. Remove and let rest 10-15, shred, and serve. I prefer to put the bbq sauce on my sandwich and not on the meat but that is just me.

Play Dough

What to play with, Play Dough!

Today we made play dough. We have never bought any but Eva has played with it at friend's houses. The recipe was totally easy but I had to add quite a bit more flour. Also, without a mixer I am not sure how long it was have taken to mix in the color.

The mixer did a lot of the work but my hands finished up. Eva requested blue, green, and purple for the colors. I love glass jars and have been saving jelly jars. These are the fit and active jelly jars from Aldi, I think they are cute.

Now with the play dough ready I choose a few cookie cutters, I have over 100! I picked ones that were totally open without crevices. A few essentials from Eva's kitchen like a rolling pin and spatula and she was set.

I was really jazzed when she grabbed the cookie cutter and knew right what to do with it. All in all a huge success.

Recipe from make-baby-stuff.com

1 c table salt

1 1/2 c flour, I needed a lot more

4 T oil, veg or olive

4 t cream of tartar

1 c water

food coloring

I dumped everything in my stand mixer. Turned it on and once it was all mixed together I just kept testing it to see if it was sticky and firm. I just kept adding flour until it was moldable. Don't worry, if you get a bit crazy with the flour, if it gets dry just add a little water. Once it was together I divided into 3 and added color to each, about 6 drops total. If you divid into 6 they fit into baby food jars. Store in air tight containers. Over time if they start to get dry just add a few drops of water. Have fun!

Hawaiian Volcano

What's for dinner, Hawaiian Volcano!

This is a great twist on chicken and rice. Cook extra rice when you do stir fry and extra chicken when you make enchiladas to have a fast Friday night dinner.

Hawaiian Volcano

Prepare all ingredients and layer in this order:

Brown rice

Cooked chicken, chopped or shredded

Pineapple, crushed or tidbits

Chow mein

Slivered almonds noodles

Green onions, sliced

Shredded cheddar cheese

Gravy (chicken broth slightly thickened)

Once you have layered, pour the gravy over the top as the lava that flows down. Enjoy!

Cream of ____ Soup, take 2

What's for dinner, White chicken enchiladas!

What's in the dinner, homemade cream of mushroom soup!

The first post on cream of ___ soup I posted a recipe but it did not get thick enough. Now that my mix was gone I decided to try another. I looked for one that had more thickeners in it. Once again, allrecipes to the rescue. I prefer to measure ingredients in weight because then you hadn't have 4 measuring cups and spoons dirty. So, as I made this recipe I scaled it in weight. I made one batch of celery and one batch plain. That way I could make plain for potato, broccoli, mushroom ect. One recipe fits into a pint size canning jar. I love storing stuff in canning jars. Cheap, buy in bulk, see through, glass, and homey.

Homemade cream of ____ soup mix.

2 c powdered milk, 5 oz

1 c cornstarch, 3 oz

1/2 c potato flakes, 1 oz

1 t onion powder

1/2 t garlic powder

1/8 t pepper

1/2 t marjoram

Put ingredients in the food processor and mix until blended. To make whisk 1 1/3 c broth and 1/2 c of mix in a small pot. Heat over med high heat, whisking until thick. Remove from heat and it thickens up beautifully. Make sure your broth is not hot because the cornstarch will not incorporate but clump up instead

For celery soup add 2 T dried celery to the mix in the food processor or simply saute 1/4 c, add mix, add broth, and whisk until thick. To dry celery it is really easy. You can dehydrate it or chop it finely and leave it out until it is dry.

For mushroom soup add 2 T dry mushrooms or simply saute 1/4 c, add mix, add broth, and whisk until thick.