Someone mentioned they like quick/easy slow cooker recipes with fewer ingredients - can't get too much easier than this one:

1.5 lb pork tenderloin (can be bigger or smaller, doesn't really affect the recipe)
approximately 8 oz of root beer soda (I usually get a 2 liter of Roundy's root beer)
1 bottle of your favorite bbq sauce

Put the pork tenderloin in the slow cooker. Pour enough of the root beer into the slow cooker to come approximately 1" up the side of the pork tenderloin - this will depend on the size of your slow cooker and your pork. Cover and let cook all day.

Remove the pork from the slow cooker with a fork, leaving the root beer. Place the pork into a larger mixing bowl. With two forks, shred the pork. Add as much of the bbq sauce as you like - for a drier sandwich, add less, for a juicy sandwich add more.

That's it - you're done. We had this last night on silver dollar rolls with some coleslaw on top. Yummy! 

That would be me - slacker when it comes to posting. I admit, I haven't been as wordy as I should be on this blog lately. I've been busy... no excuse.

When my new slow cooker arrived (it was on back order... grrrr), I washed it, read the manual, set it up and ran to the grocery store to get a pork tenderloin and the makings for Chili. My grocery store didn't have the pork tenderloin I wanted (no seasonings for me) so I went with the chili. I normally don't make my chili in my slow cooker, but the kids and I were going to Tae Kwon Do and I wanted something warm to come home to.  So I put all of the ingredients in my slow cooker, gave it a good mix and covered it up.

(if you're a measuring type of person, I would say 1/2 tablespoon to 1 tablespoon of Chili Powder, Cumin and Onion Powder, 1 teaspoon to 1 1/2 teaspoon oregano.)

Cherry-Pistachio Biscotti

Family Circle Magazine

 

Directions

We had some friends over this weekend and the husband/dad and the baby are gluten intolerant. Since the baby is only 5 months old, mom has to avoid wheat as well. Whenever we have this couple over I take it as a personal challenge to make something they can’t easily go to the store and buy or go to a restaurant and have. I’ve made them gluten-free baked ziti and Sicilian chicken before, not to mention the molten chocolate cake (yummy see the recipe below) and the brownies.

This weekend we had them over for the Packer game on Sunday. At 11pm Saturday night our TV died. Long story short, we had to go buy a new TV on Sunday morning. So instead of my original plans, I went with the backup – homemade pizza. I ran to the grocery store at 8:30am and was home by 9:30 so we could go to the electronics store by the time it opened.

As my husband was setting up the new toy – I mean TV – I went to work on the snacks and pizza crust. Namaste makes a great line of gluten-free products. I’ve made their chocolate brownies before – they take an extra long time to cook (much longer than the directions state). The pizza crust is pretty much the same way. I made it according to directions and ended up putting it back in the oven for an extra 5 to 10 minutes to get the crust a little less spongy. The pizza turned out OK, but our friends were touched that we had made the effort for them. As they played a little Wii with my kids, I whipped up a banana bread with some gluten-free flour I had gotten previously at Whole Foods. When they left, I sent a still warm banana bread home with them. I’m wondering if they had any left this morning!

Here are some common gluten-free snacks that are always crowd pleasers:

Veggies and dip

Fruit salad or kabobs

Taco dip with corn chips

Potato chips and dip

Cheese and sausage with rice crackers (try the sesame ones!)

Try this molten chocolate cake for a special occasion – or any day that ends in “y”  :)

I use a cupcake pan lined with silicone cupcake liners instead of ramekins. It’s something I already have and works well. I also melt my chocolate in the microwave with short times and frequent stirring. If you have any questions about melting chocolate in the microwave, e-mail me.

 

Molten Flourless Chocolate Cake

Makes 6 servings (serving size: one 4-ounce cake)

From: Myrecipes.com

Ingredients

4 large eggs
1/2 pound (8 ounces) semisweet chocolate
2 ounces (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
 Cooking spray
 Powdered sugar for decorating

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425°.

2. Place a saucepan of water on high heat. Heat to a boil, then reduce to simmer.

3. In a mixing bowl, crack eggs and warm them over simmering water for 1 minute (hold bowl directly over the water, using a dish towel to protect your hands), whisking constantly.

4. Remove eggs from heat, and whisk for another minute until eggs are very fluffy. Meanwhile, put the chocolate and butter in a large, heatproof, stainless-steel or tempered-glass bowl; set it over the simmering water, making sure the water doesn't touch the bowl. Let the chocolate and butter melt; remove from heat. Let mixture cool slightly by stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes.

5. Once slightly cooled, fold the chocolate and butter into the whipped eggs until no more streaks show. Batter will deflate.

6. Spray 6 (4-ounce) ramekins or ovenproof dessert cups with nonstick cooking spray (or use foil cups, or even muffin tins). Fill them 3/4 of the way full and place on a baking sheet.

7. Bake for 10-12 minutes, depending on how gooey you'd like the centers. Turn the cakes out onto dessert plates, and serve immediately with a sprinkle of powdered sugar.

(This post was written on Sunday, but due to technical difficulties I wasn't able to post it until today. Thanks to Jeanne for her help getting my technical goof up fixed!) 

My boys had a play date today and were gone for most of the afternoon. My daughter, feeling left out, wanted to make a cake. She got out a cookbook and found a recipe for angel food cake. If you’ve never made an angel food cake before, it can be a fun cake to make if you have the right ingredients and equipment.

Luckily, I had picked up 18 eggs at the grocery store yesterday. I felt like doing some baking next week when the kids were at school. I didn’t realize that Emily would use most of the eggs today!

She mise en placed (a French term) by getting everything she would need for the cake ready. I told her I would help when she got to the part of needed 10 egg whites… This is where the “YUCK!” part comes in.

I told her to break an egg into my hand. Ewwwe! She wasn’t sure about it, but did as I asked and cracked the egg into my hand. She watched as I let the white drain between my fingers while the yoke stayed in my hand.

She thought it was cool and disgusting at the same time. Grandma was on her way over for the Packer game and got to our house as we finished with the 10^th egg. Grandma is an Educator Chef – she teaches people to be chefs. Grandma was barely in the door when Emily told her what I had done with the eggs. Much to Emily’s shock – Grandma agreed that using your hand is one of the easiest and most successful ways of getting a yoke out of an egg. 

After letting the yokes sit (and washing my hands very well) we started beating the egg whites. This is where the right equipment comes in. If you don’t have an electric mixer of some sort, I would not recommend making an angel food cake from scratch. I’ve tried making it with a whisk once and will NEVER do that again. Mixing yokes until the form peaks takes quite a bit of time with a whisk. Making angel food cake with an electric mixer is much more enjoyable.

After baking the cake, it looks pretty good. We still have to make the chocolate glaze she wants to put on it. The cake and chocolate glaze were YUMMY!

Here’s the recipe for Angel Food Cake that we made. It’s from the new Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book and can be found at their website www.bhg.com.

Directions

1. In a very large mixing bowl allow egg whites to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, sift powdered sugar and flour together 3 times; set aside.

Nutrition Facts