Smoked Chipotle Pulled Pork Quesadillas ~ Recipe

As you might have noticed, I'm on a slow cooker kick lately and this recipe is no exception.  You make the Smokey Chipotle Pulled Pork in your slow cooker during the day and then make the quesadillas right before you're ready to eat.  You can also serve this pork just as it is on a hamburger bun or use it as a filling for tacos.....it's very versatile.

Smoked Chipotle Pulled Pork Quesadillas

Ingredients:

3-4 pound pork loin roast

1 onion, chopped

1 tablespoon cumin

1 tablespoon oregano

1 teaspoon chile powder

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1/4 cup chipotle salsa or 1 tablespoon of chipotle in adobo sauce (sauce part only)

Flour tortillas

Shredded Cheddar Jack Cheese or Mexican cheese blend

Directions:

Place pork loin roast in slow cooker and top with onions, garlic, cumin, oregano, chile powder, and chipotle.  Set on low for 7-8 hours or on high for 5 hours.  

Once pork is cooked, remove from slow cooker and shred with two forks.  Return the pork back to the slow cooker to soak up all the juices.  This recipe makes a lot of pork, so you will only use part of it for the quesadillas.  Freeze remaining pork for later use or plan your weekly menu around other recipes using shredded pork.  

To assemble quesadillas, sprinkle shredded cheese on top of tortilla.

Place some of the pork mixture on top of the cheese on one side of the tortilla.  Heat skillet on medium and melt a little butter.  Once butter has melted place tortilla, as pictured above, into pan.

When the tortilla is in the pan, fold the cheese only side over on top of the pork mixture.  We don't want to fold the quesadilla before it goes in the pan because then we won't have butter on both sides of the tortilla.

Cook for about 3 minutes or until golden brown.  Flip quesadilla and cook until other side is golden brown.  Once both sides are cooked and cheese is melted, remove from pan and cut in half.

You can make as many of these as you would like or as many as your family can eat!

I like to serve these with some chipotle salsa, but you could dip them in any salsa your family enjoys.  Would also be great with some sour cream or guacamole as well.

Personally, I think two quesadillas is a perfect dinner serving and one is probably good for lunch.  Feel free to get creative here and add in any ingredients you would like.  

This pork is SO delicious, give it a try........you're going to love it!

Apple, Ham and Cheese Dinner Cups

My mom (Grandma Jane) came to stay with us for a week after baby Cass was born.  Whenever she comes after I have a baby she brings tons of recipes and does major cooking.  She completely stocked our freezer with easy-to-prepare meals and little shortcuts (like already cooked shredded chicken) to make my life easier.

Well, while mom did tons of cooking while she was here, there were a couple recipes she never got around to making, so I decided to try my hand at this one after she left - Apple, Ham, and Cheese Dinner Cups.  Mom forgot the recipe, so I lucked out and found it in our kitchen after she left.  She had already bought all the ingredients, so it was super-easy for me to whip up!  I called them dinner "cupcakes" to entice my girls to give them a try.

Apple, Ham and Cheese Dinner Cups

Ingredients:

1 can Pillsbury Grands Jr. Golden Layers Biscuits (10 count)

1/3 cup sour cream

1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/4 cup apricot preserves

3/4 cup chopped ham

3/4 cup chopped apple

3/4 cup cheddar or jack cheese

2 tablespoons chopped green onions

Substitution: I used left over pork loin (cubed) instead of ham in mine, but chopped, cooked bacon would be delicious as well!

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Pull out your regular sized muffin pan and spray with cooking spray.  Open biscuit can and stretch out each biscuit to about 2.5"-3" wide.  Place biscuit into muffin tray, pressing it so it's like a little cup that you can use to put your filling inside.

Mix sour cream, mustard and preserves together in a bowl.  Once mixed, add your meat, apple, cheese and green onions.  Divide the mixture among the 10 muffin cups.  Bake for 22-25 minutes or until golden brown.  I suggest using the middle rack of your oven.  

Serve two per plate along with a nice side salad.

Enjoy!

Mexican Taco Pasta Bake

Life with three kids is going pretty well.  Have I touched my sewing machine since Caspian was born? Well, no, not even once.  I'll get back to the machine eventually - it's always there waiting for me, ready to welcome me back with open arms.  But this little guy.......he's already growing up right before my eyes, so I am trying to soak up all the little baby time possible.

One of my biggest challenges has been preparing dinner because I'm never quite sure when my little guy is going to nurse.  He tends to want to eat right when I should be cooking dinner - go figure, right?  However, he seems to be doing a pretty good mid-afternoon nap, so I'm trying out some new recipes that I can prepare during the day and then just pop in the oven before dinner.

Today I'm sharing my latest recipe that I tried out last night.  I'm calling it "Mexican Taco Pasta Bake".  It's really all the flavors in a taco, but mixed is mixed in with pasta and cheese.  What could be bad about that, right?

The next time you want to prepare a meal ahead of time, give this one a try.  My husband even went back for thirds!  Would also be great to feed a crowd and your kids will love it too!!

Mexican Taco Pasta Bake

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef (or ground turkey)

1 lb. pasta (any shape)

1 onion, chopped

1/2 green bell pepper, chopped

1 can Rotel (tomatoes with green chile)

1 package taco seasoning

1/2 brick light cream cheese

1/2 cup Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

Topping:

1 cup crushed tortilla chips

1/2 cup Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

Garnish:

Sliced green onions, slice black olives, and sour cream.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook pasta according to package directions.  Meanwhile, brown ground beef in a large saute pan.  Remove beef from pan and drain on a paper towel.  Add onion and green pepper to pan and saute until cooked through.  Add back in cooked ground beef, taco seasoning and Rotel.  Stir to combine and cook for 3 minutes.  Add in cream cheese and melt it down into the beef mixture.  Once cream cheese is melted, add 1/2 cup shredded cheese.  

Drain pasta.  Pour beef and cheese mixture over cooked pasta and stir to combine.  Spray a large casserole dish with cooking spray.  Pour combined pasta and beef mixture into the casserole dish.

Sprinkle the top of the pasta with crushed tortilla chips combined with shredded cheese.  Place in oven and bake for 20 minutes.  Might need a little longer if it has been refrigerated.  Basically you are just melting the cheese and heating it through since all the ingredients are already cooked.

Serve with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of sliced green onions and black olives.

 

Lemon Lavender Tea Cookies

My mom and her husband, Allen (aka Pepo), recently attended the Lavender Festival in Blanco, Texas and they sent me this wonderful lavender cookbook and culinary grade lavender.  I had no idea there were so many ways to cook with lavender.  I thought these Lemon Lavender Tea Cookies would be just perfect for Matilda's "Tea for 2" party and they definitely were just right!

These cookies are light and contain absolutely no eggs, so they are definitely more of a shortbread.  Be careful though, because the dough tasted so yummy that I'm surprised I even got some cookies out for the party!

Makes 24 cookies
From the "Local Flavor of Lavender" cookbook
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon dried culinary lavender
2 cups all purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
2/3 cup sugar
Zest of one lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon milk

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

You will need to use dried culinary grade lavender for this recipe since that is what is suitable for human consumption.  Above is the lavender that was sent to me by my mom from the festival.

Finely chop 1 tablespoon of lavender.  If you have a coffee grinder used for grinding herbs, that would be a great thing to use or you could also use a food processor.  I opted for a basic knife.

Zest one lemon.  I like to use my microplane for zesting, but a box grater would work just as well.  Make sure you only zest the yellow part of the lemon.  The white can be pretty bitter.

Cream wet ingredients, lemon zest and sugar with a hand-mixer.  Then add in dry ingredients.  Stir until dough comes together.  It should not be dry, but not too sticky either.  If you think it is too dry, keep stirring, it will come together.

Place dough in refrigerator for 1-2 hours, until firm, or overnight.  Remove from refrigerator one hour before rolling out dough.  The next part is up to you.  You can make these like regular cookie cutter cookies and roll your dough 1/4" thickness and cut with a round or heart shaped cookie cutter.  Or you can do what we did, which was to roll the dough into two logs and slice the cookies, then coat them in sugar.  Either way, they will turn out great.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until cookies are slightly brown on the edges.  Transfer cookies to a cooling rack and let cool completely.

The dough can be made up to two days in advance and cookies can be baked one day in advance.  Freeze any leftover cookies for a sweet treat on another day!  These cookies will have your guests talking because they are delicious and a unique flavor.

The next time you have the ladies for tea or coffee, give these a try, they will love them, that is, if you don't eat all the dough first!

Goat Cheese and Ham Wrapped Asparagus

These Goat Cheese and Ham Wrapped Asparagus were a huge hit at Matilda's "Tea for 2" party.  And surprisingly it was the men who really gobbled these up!  They are a great finger food because they don't require a fork and are easy to pick up and eat while you socialize.

Serves 15-20
Ingredients:
2 lbs. fresh asparagus
1/2 lb. honey ham
8 oz. herb goat cheese
1/3 brick cream cheese, softened
30+ fresh chives 

Cut off the tough ends of the asparagus (approximately 1"- 2"). Cook asparagus.  Only cook for a few minutes in boiling water and then shock them in a large bowl of ice water.  You do not want to over-cook the asparagus because they will lose their beautiful green color.  You also still want them to have a good bite and not be flimsy.  I'd say, in this case, better to under-cook than over-cook.

Clean your fresh chives.  We picked these from our herb garden so they are super long.  You will need one chive per asparagus spear.

Combine your herb goat cheese and the 1/3 block cream cheese.  The cream cheese will help the goat cheese be easier to work with when spreading it on the pieces of ham.

Cut ham in half or thirds (we did thirds because our ham slices were very large).  Spread a very thin layer of goat cheese on each piece of ham.  Roll up asparagus in ham/goat cheese.  Tie with a chive to secure.  Place in a container to keep cool in the refrigerator.  Can be made a day in advance.

Remove from refrigerator just prior to serving.  Place on a serving tray.  I love using white because I think it makes the colors pop, but you can use whatever you'd like.

I would suggest discarding any un-eaten asparagus after the party if it has been sitting out for several hours.  These asparagus were eaten up SO quickly. I would recommend making more than you need and maybe bringing them out in two rounds so they don't spoil. 

Give this recipe a try - you're going to love it!

Summer Pasta Salad

I love a good pasta salad, don't you?  I've tried tons of different recipes and I don't know if I've ever met a pasta salad that I didn't really like.  For Matilda's "Tea for 2" party I wanted to do an updated version of a traditional classic.  This is my version of Summer Pasta Salad with fresh herbs, sun dried tomatoes, peas, black olives and asparagus.

Serves 15-20
Ingredients:
2 lbs. tri-color rotini pasta
1 cup zesty Italian dressing
1 cup Caesar dressing
1/2 jar of sun dried tomatoes packed in olive oil
10 fresh chives
Handful of fresh parsley
1/2 cup fresh basil
2 small cans sliced black olives
Half bag of frozen peas, thawed (run under hot water)
10 cooked asparagus spears, cut into 1" pieces

Directions:

Cook pasta according to package directions.  Once cooking is complete, rinse thoroughly under cold water to remove starch and set aside.

While pasta is cooking, make your dressing for the pasta salad.  Combine both dressings, sun dried tomatoes (with some of the olive oil), and all the fresh herbs.  Place in a blender and puree until dressing comes together.  Feel free to add any additional fresh herbs that your family loves.

Pour dressing into a large mixing bowl.  Combine pasta, olives, peas, asparagus, and dressing until pasta is fully coated.  Place in refrigerator to cool.  Remove from refrigerator 1 hour prior to serving and stir.  Can be made up to two days ahead of time.

 Garnish with fresh parsley or any other herbs.  We just happen to have a lot of parsley in our garden this year so that's what I chose to use.  My Grandma Marge always taught us to never serve a dish without a garnish.  I think she would be proud.

This is a wonderful dish for entertaining because it can be made up to two days in advance and only continues to get better the longer it sits.  You can add any vegetables that are in season or that your family enjoys.  I think this would be amazing with some grilled zucchini or roasted bell peppers.  Just make the dressing and see what you happen to have on hand - you can't really go wrong!

Strawberry Picking and Cinnamon Strawberry Muffins { Recipe }

Last week it was finally strawberry season here in Illinois!  My husband was out of town for the week on a fishing trip with his dad, so the girls and I decided to head to our local strawberry farm to pick some fresh berries.

At the farm they give each child their own small basket and then they give each adult a larger basket.  It's not a fancy place, but it was just the perfect place for this mama and two little ladies.

The girls were very busy picking their berries.  Savannah stayed very focused and picked a ton.  Matilda, however, eventually decided it was best just to eat all the berries she was picking that way her basket would be empty and she could wear it as a hat.

We ended up with a huge basket of berries.  Both the girls started just filling up mama's basket and we filled it to the brim!

Once we had all our berries picked, it was time to head home and figure out what to do with all these gorgeous little red berries.

Cinnamon Strawberry Muffins

Makes 18-24 muffins

So we had picked all of these berries and I knew we needed to make something with them because, especially with my husband being away, there was no way we were going to eat this whole basket.  I thought about strawberry scones and strawberry cake, but settled on strawberry muffins.  I added some cinnamon to make these a little different than your average muffin and oh.my.goodness - they are delicious.

If you have any berries lying around, give this recipe a try.  It's heavy on the cinnamon and heavy on the sugar - two of my favorite things.  And the tops get super-crunchy and delicious.  You're going to love it!

Ingredients:

1 lb. fresh strawberries, hulled and cut in half
3 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 sticks butter, melted
1 1/4 cup milk
2 eggs

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Prep your strawberries by taking the tops off and cutting them in half.  Some of our berries were pretty tiny so I just left those whole.

Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl, except for the sugar.  In a separate bowl, combine all wet ingredients.  Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and combine.  Toss your strawberries with the sugar.

Add strawberry/sugar mixture to the muffin mixture and fold in gently to combine.

Spray two muffin pans with non-stick cooking spray (you could also use muffin liners, if you prefer).  Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup and fill each muffin tin just about to the top.

Place in oven and bake for 25 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the muffins comes out clean.

Allow muffins to cool and then remove from pan.  If you do not plan to eat your muffins that day, I suggest freezing them.  Strawberries tend to make baked goods kind of soggy if they sit too long.

Place them in a freezer bag and lay them flat in your freezer for the initial freeze.  You can pull the muffins out one at a time when you are ready to eat them, microwave for about 45 seconds and they literally taste like you just pulled them out of the oven.  This is also a great technique if you have guests coming for a visit and you want to bake prior to their arrival or for a quick breakfast before work or school.

We only have one of these muffins left and looking at this picture is making me think, I need to walk immediately into the kitchen and pull it out of the freezer.  YUM!