I tried these out today and they were SO easy. Such a great fall/Thanksgiving type treat. Since I'm not really a huge fan of pie, I'm pretty sure these bars will be making it to our Thanksgiving dinner.
Ingredients:
Bars::
1 box (1lb 2oz) carrot cake mix
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 eggs
3 Tbsp milk
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp maple flavor
Icing::
1 pkg (8oz) cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 to 3 Tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
4 cups powdered sugar
Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 15x10x1-inch pan with baked spray with flour.
2. In large bowl, beat bar ingredients with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Spread evenly in pan.
3. Bake 15 to 18 minutes or until top is evenly golden brown and bars spring back when touched lightly in center. Cool completely, about 2 hours.
4. In medium bowl, beat cream cheese, butter, milk, vanilla and cinnamon with electric mixer on low speed until smooth. Gradually beat in powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, until smooth and spreadable. Spread frosting evenly over cooled bars. Store covered in refrigerator.
11.08.2009
::Fruity Peanut Butter Pitas::
While we're out holiday shopping, I like to have something healthy for McKayla to snack on. She seemed to be getting bored of the usual dried fruit, etc. To make it a little more fun and even something I might snack on myself, we carry these around...
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/8 tsp each ground allspice, cinnamon & nutmeg
1 whole wheat pita bread, cut in half
1/2 medium apple, thinly sliced
1/2 medium firm banana, sliced
In a small bowl, blend the peanut butter, allspice, cinnamon, & nutmeg. Spread inside pita bread halves; fill with apple & banana slices.
*There are times we might not have apples around, so just bananas works fine.
*We use a lot of peanut butter, so when we have about half of a jar left, I just double the spice amounts in the jar and mix up the whole thing, this keeps us in a good supply for a while.
The mix works fine on plain bread, but bread doesn't travel as well inside my purse...lol.
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/8 tsp each ground allspice, cinnamon & nutmeg
1 whole wheat pita bread, cut in half
1/2 medium apple, thinly sliced
1/2 medium firm banana, sliced
In a small bowl, blend the peanut butter, allspice, cinnamon, & nutmeg. Spread inside pita bread halves; fill with apple & banana slices.
*There are times we might not have apples around, so just bananas works fine.
*We use a lot of peanut butter, so when we have about half of a jar left, I just double the spice amounts in the jar and mix up the whole thing, this keeps us in a good supply for a while.
The mix works fine on plain bread, but bread doesn't travel as well inside my purse...lol.
11.07.2009
::Pulled/Shredded Sweet Pork::
So, I'm not a huge fan of anything sweet on any type of meat, but I know my friend Jessica (who is such a cute & sweet mommy to 3 precious children) absolutely LOVES the sweet pork salad from Costa Vida. I must admit, I'm a fan of the steak and chicken...so, in my search for the perfect "knock-off" of their ranch dressing, I came across this for her. Figured some other people may be interested as well.
Ingredients:
4 lb pork shoulder roast (the more fat, the better)
1 cup of Pace Picante Sauce (medium works best, but mild is fine)
2 cups brown sugar
salt & pepper to taste
Directions:
1. Remove pork roast from packaging, rinse well under cool water.
2. In a separate bowl, mix picante sauce & brown sugar. Wisk together until sugar is mostly dissolved.
3. In a crock pot or slow cooker, place the roast in the cooker & cover with picante sauce mixture.
4. Place on medium heat, cover & simmer. Check every hour or so to rotate roast in the juices. The roast will eventually produce enough juices to make the right consistency, do not add water.
5. Once the roast is fully cooked, it will begin to fall apart. Use a fork to separate meat into smaller segments. Cover & continue cooking.
6. After 8 hours, continue to shread the meat until no chunks remain.
7. If appears to have too much liquid, turn the slow cooker to low & leave with lid off to simmer off excess.
So, that's it for the sweet pork...I've found a few things that make putting it together in a salad taste very close to the Costa Vida made one. To put together your salad:
1 head romain lettuce
1 can Bush's black or pinto beans
3 cups sweet pork
Pico de Gallo (see below)
Tortilla Strips
Cilantro Ranch Dressing (see below)
6 Flour Tortillas
Place a warm tortilla in a bowl or on a plate. Place approximately 1/3 cup of warmed sweet pork & 1/3 cup of warmed Bush’s beans on the tortilla. Place lettuce over the meat & beans. Sprinkle ¼ cup of pico de gallo over the salad as desired. Drizzle with cilantro ranch dressing and top with a healthy amount of tortilla strip crunchies. Serve and enjoy.
Pico de Gallo
1 cup diced tomatoes, seeds removed
1/3 cup diced red onion
1 jalapeno diced
1 Tbsp minced garlic
2 limes, juiced
1 Tbsp cilantro
Salt & Pepper
Mix all ingredients in bowl, stirring well. Chill.
Cilantro Ranch Dressing
(my personal favorite!)
1 pkg Hidden Valley Ranch buttermilk ranch dressing (prepare according to package directions)
2 tomatillos (they look like green tomatoes, you can substitute 3 Tbsp prepared salsa verde-found near the regular salsas)
cilantro-about 1/4 of a bunch
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup lime juice
1/8 tsp Tabasco
Peel tomatillos & cut into fourths. Clean & rinse cilantro & remove large stems. Pour prepared ranch dressing in a blender, & add cilantro leaves, tomatillos, garlic, lime juice & Tobasco. Blend until cilantro is finely chopped. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or until dressing has thickened.
Ingredients:
4 lb pork shoulder roast (the more fat, the better)
1 cup of Pace Picante Sauce (medium works best, but mild is fine)
2 cups brown sugar
salt & pepper to taste
Directions:
1. Remove pork roast from packaging, rinse well under cool water.
2. In a separate bowl, mix picante sauce & brown sugar. Wisk together until sugar is mostly dissolved.
3. In a crock pot or slow cooker, place the roast in the cooker & cover with picante sauce mixture.
4. Place on medium heat, cover & simmer. Check every hour or so to rotate roast in the juices. The roast will eventually produce enough juices to make the right consistency, do not add water.
5. Once the roast is fully cooked, it will begin to fall apart. Use a fork to separate meat into smaller segments. Cover & continue cooking.
6. After 8 hours, continue to shread the meat until no chunks remain.
7. If appears to have too much liquid, turn the slow cooker to low & leave with lid off to simmer off excess.
So, that's it for the sweet pork...I've found a few things that make putting it together in a salad taste very close to the Costa Vida made one. To put together your salad:
1 head romain lettuce
1 can Bush's black or pinto beans
3 cups sweet pork
Pico de Gallo (see below)
Tortilla Strips
Cilantro Ranch Dressing (see below)
6 Flour Tortillas
Place a warm tortilla in a bowl or on a plate. Place approximately 1/3 cup of warmed sweet pork & 1/3 cup of warmed Bush’s beans on the tortilla. Place lettuce over the meat & beans. Sprinkle ¼ cup of pico de gallo over the salad as desired. Drizzle with cilantro ranch dressing and top with a healthy amount of tortilla strip crunchies. Serve and enjoy.
Pico de Gallo
1 cup diced tomatoes, seeds removed
1/3 cup diced red onion
1 jalapeno diced
1 Tbsp minced garlic
2 limes, juiced
1 Tbsp cilantro
Salt & Pepper
Mix all ingredients in bowl, stirring well. Chill.
Cilantro Ranch Dressing
(my personal favorite!)
1 pkg Hidden Valley Ranch buttermilk ranch dressing (prepare according to package directions)
2 tomatillos (they look like green tomatoes, you can substitute 3 Tbsp prepared salsa verde-found near the regular salsas)
cilantro-about 1/4 of a bunch
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup lime juice
1/8 tsp Tabasco
Peel tomatillos & cut into fourths. Clean & rinse cilantro & remove large stems. Pour prepared ranch dressing in a blender, & add cilantro leaves, tomatillos, garlic, lime juice & Tobasco. Blend until cilantro is finely chopped. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or until dressing has thickened.
11.06.2009
How Time Flies
Wow...it has been FOR.EV.ER since I"ve blogged anything for you guys. Sorry! LOL, here's what's going on: McKayla had a great Halloween. (I'll be posting pictures soon!) She chose to dress as a bee! She was adorable. We went to Safe Trick-or-Treating down Main St. Her bucket was completely filled. It was actually spilling out and I had to put some of the larger items into my purse. Later that night, she went to a few houses in our neighborhood. I'm not sure, but it doesn't seem like a whole lot of people participated this year.
Here's something new, in order to further our childrens' education, McKayla's teacher has sent home a list of "homework" assignments that will need to be completed each week and turned in before Friday of each week. Since they are only 4-years-old, she's allowing them to turn in things late. Thanks to her for that, since I work full-time and have my own homework to trudge through. Here's how it is...she sent home a list of things they will be learning each week. This week, the color white and letter G. It is up to the parents to come up with something for the child to complete and turn in each week. I have been racking my brain to come up with fun things to help her out. I know this is the chance to involve her in several crafty fun things, but I just can't think of anything "kid-friendly" enough for her actual weekly assignments. If anyone has any suggestions on things, please please please let me know.
This week, we celebrated white by talking about all the things that were around our house or that she could think of that were white. I scoured the Family Fun website and they had a recipe for Snow Play Dough! To better illustrate the counting, I helped her measure and count each ingredient. She loves the dough! It's great, it looks just like snow would...if it were meant to be brought inside. She spends hours playing with it and forming snowflakes and snowmen. I'll be posting the recipe later tonight along with a few pictures!
Here's something new, in order to further our childrens' education, McKayla's teacher has sent home a list of "homework" assignments that will need to be completed each week and turned in before Friday of each week. Since they are only 4-years-old, she's allowing them to turn in things late. Thanks to her for that, since I work full-time and have my own homework to trudge through. Here's how it is...she sent home a list of things they will be learning each week. This week, the color white and letter G. It is up to the parents to come up with something for the child to complete and turn in each week. I have been racking my brain to come up with fun things to help her out. I know this is the chance to involve her in several crafty fun things, but I just can't think of anything "kid-friendly" enough for her actual weekly assignments. If anyone has any suggestions on things, please please please let me know.
This week, we celebrated white by talking about all the things that were around our house or that she could think of that were white. I scoured the Family Fun website and they had a recipe for Snow Play Dough! To better illustrate the counting, I helped her measure and count each ingredient. She loves the dough! It's great, it looks just like snow would...if it were meant to be brought inside. She spends hours playing with it and forming snowflakes and snowmen. I'll be posting the recipe later tonight along with a few pictures!
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