Kristy's Mango Peach Pulled Pork

Heather (Mike's wife) Morgan posted this on her blog and it sounded so good! And since it's a crock pot meal, it works for this month. I am posting it here and plan on making it when Matt gets back.

1 pork tenderloin

1-2 cup brown sugar
2 cups Mango Peach Salsa (or salsa of your choice)

Stir together brown sugar and salsa in a slow cooker. Add pork (frozen is okay if it'll fit in the slow cooker). Cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4-5 hours. Shred pork with 2 forks before serving. If you get the Costco pork and cook it fully, it pretty much falls apart on its own. It's super tender and juicy.

Serve on nachos, in tacos, or in a salad. The possibilities are endless and SO YUMMY!

**NOTE: I added the label to all the Crock Pot recipes we currently have the on the blog. There are 14. Just a few more days for this theme so let's get posting. Any ideas for next month?!**

Easy Chow Mein

Ok, so this recipe is kind of a make it however you want-type thing. Here are the ingredients we like to use, but you could pretty much add anything you want:

1 pkg. thick spaghetti noodles

2 eggs

green beans (fresh is best)

green onion, chopped as high up as you want

white onion, chopped in large strips

3 chicken breasts, cooked

water chestnuts

soy paste (you can get this at any Asian food store, thicker and stronger than soy sauce)

soy sauce

oil

Crack the eggs in a large wok or frying pan...let cook slightly. Add vegetables, and oil, soy paste, and soy sauce to taste. Once the beans are mostly cooked, add chicken and more soy paste and sauce. Add noodles last, with more oil, paste, and sauce to taste. Basically, the more paste and soy sauce the better...there are no set amounts. When the veggies seem cooked through, it is good to go! Very yummy and great leftovers.

Poppy Seed Chicken

I know, we all know this recipe, but I can never find it so I am posting here and now I'll be able to find it whenever I want. And no, it's not a stove top or crock pot, so I'm breaking the rules, too!

4-5 chicken breasts, cooked and diced
1-2 cans cream of chicken soup (depends on how creamy you want it)
1 cup sour cream
1 stack Ritz crackers - crushed
1 cube butter

Mixed chicken, soup and cream. Layer in 9x13 pan. Melt butter and add to crushed Ritz. Top chicken mixture and bake 1/2 hour at 350 degrees.

Serve with egg noodles.

Black Beans

Funny story...We had our grandmother dinner the other night for mutual and I was in charge of making beans for the dinner (which I found out about the night before). When I do beans, I do dry....so its a long process, it would have been nice to know a night earlier. Anyway, so I made them and then get a text at 6:10 (mutual is at 7:00)...."paula, did you remember that the dinner is at 6:00".

Ya, nobody told me and I didn't get that memo!

So now I have a ton of black beans that I need to use up.

Recipe:

Boil dry beans for 2 minutes, let sit in water for an hour, drain and rinse.

1 quart water
1 lb beans
garlic clove
1 cup dry onions
2/3 cups bacon bits
pepper

Put all ingredients in crockpot and slow cook for two days. Serve with any mexican food meal...or make a TON of burritos and freeze.

Aren't you all so proud of me for actually posting something on here?

Tres Leche Cake

First of all, Love, Love, Love the look of this blog, nice work Rachel.

Disclaimer: I know this is not following the theme, but Rachel said I could post it.
Since yesterday was Cinco de Mayo, I decided to make a Tres Leche cake. I have never had it, nor has Tyler but he has been asking me to make one for quite some time. I found this recipe here, which does provide good step by step directions if you want.

But here is the recipe:

• 1 cup All-purpose Flour
• 1-½ teaspoon Baking Powder
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• 5 whole Eggs
• 1 cup Sugar, Divided
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• ⅓ cups Milk
• 1 can Evaporated Milk
• 1 can Sweetened, Condensed Milk
• ¼ cups Heavy Cream
• _____
• FOR THE ICING:
• 1 pint Heavy Cream, For Whipping
• 3 Tablespoons Sugar

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 inch pan liberally until coated.

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Separate eggs.

Beat egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar on high speed until yolks are pale yellow. Stir in milk and vanilla. Pour egg yolk mixture over the flour mixture and stir very gently until combined.

Beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. With the mixer on, pour in remaining 1/4 cup sugar and beat until egg whites are stiff but not dry.

Fold egg white mixture into the batter very gently until just combined. Pour into prepared pan and spread to even out the surface.

Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn cake out onto a rimmed platter and allow to cool.

Combine condensed milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream in a small pitcher. When cake is cool, pierce the surface with a fork several times. Slowly drizzle all but about 1 cup of the milk mixture—try to get as much around the edges of the cake as you can.

Allow the cake to absorb the milk mixture for 30 minutes. To ice the cake, whip 1 pint heavy cream with 3 tablespoons of sugar until thick and spreadable.
Spread over the surface of the cake. Decorate cake with whole or chopped maraschino cherries. Cut into squares and serve.

Baked Potato Soup

I got this from the Family Favorites Website. It's mostly no oven, if you bake your potatoes in the microwave.But it was REALLY good. I thought it rivaled restaurant soup. Too bad I didn't have those cool looking breadsticks.

4 to 6 potatoes (baked, peeled, and cubed)

½ c. butter

½ c. flour

2 tsp. chicken
bullion

salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp. minced garlic

6 c. milk

16 oz. sour cream

10 bacon strips,
cooked and crumbled

1 can corn, drained

shredded cheddar
cheese

In a large saucepan melt butter on low heat. Stir in flour and seasonings. Gradually add
milk and turn heat up to medium. Add minced garlic. Bring to a boil, cook and stir 2 minutes until thick. Remove from heat. Whisk in sour cream. Add potatoes, corn, and bacon. Serve in individual bowls topped with cheddar cheese.

May's Theme

With summer looming (at least our here), I am looking for meals that don't require an oven. I used my oven today and we are still roasting, six hours later. We don't have AC so I really think limiting oven use is our best bet. So, that's what I'm looking for - no-bake, crock pot, stove top, skillet meals, etc.

Looking forward to all the fun and new recipes!