Barbecued Pulled Pork Sandwiches

1 pork shoulder roast (about 2.5 lbs)
1 bottle (18oz) barbecue sauce
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp brown sugar
1/2 med onion, chopped
8 hamburger buns
1/2 cup chicken broth if needed

Notes/Story: Place roast in crock pot, cover, and cook on low 10-12 hrs or on high for 5-6 hrs. Remove roast from crock pot and discard cooking liquid. Shred pork with 2 forks. Return pork to crock pot. Add barbeque sauce, lemon juice, brown sugar and onion. Cover, cook on high 1 hr or on low for 2 hrs. Add chicken broth if pork is a little dry. Serve shredded pork on hamburger buns.

I was craving pulled pork and found this recipe in a slow cooker cookbook mom gave me for Christmas I think. Tasted great!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

2 eggs
1 cup sugar
8 oz canned pumpkin
3/4 cup oil
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:  Mix eggs and sugar. Add the pumpkin and oil.  Mix well.  Add the dry ingredients but add the flour last. Fold in the chocolate chips.  Bake at 375 for 15-17 minutes. 
Story:  On Monday Aaron moved a TV for his neighbor (Pat) from Pat's house into the garage. The next day she brought over two loaves of chocolate chip banana bread.  After eating a few slices, it made me really hungry for pumpkin chocolate chip bread or muffins! So on Thursday I went to the store, got the ingredients, and proceeded to make a batch of muffins. They are tasty and moist!

Chicken Rollatini with Spinach

8 thin chicken cutlets, 3 oz each
1/2 cup whole wheat Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese, divided
6 tablespoons egg whites or egg beaters
5 oz fresh spinach (finely chopped)
6 tbsp part skim ricotta cheese
6 oz part skim mozzarella
olive oil non-stick spray
1 cup of your favorite marinara sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Notes/Story: Wash and dry cutlets, season with salt and pepper. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly spray a baking dish with non-stick spray.

Combine breadcrumbs and 2 tbsp grated cheese in one bowl and 1/4 cup egg beaters or egg whites in another.

Shred or finely chop 1.5 oz of mozzarella cheese and combine with remaining grated cheese, spinach, 2 tbsp egg beaters, and ricotta cheese.

Lay chicken cutlets down on a working surface and spread 2 tbsp of spinach-cheese mixture on each cutlet. Loosely roll each one and keep seam side down.

Dip chicken in egg mixture, then in breadcrumbs and place seam side down in a baking dish (no toothpicks needed). Repeat with the remaining chicken. When finished, lightly spray with olive oil.

Bake 35 minutes. Remove from oven, top with sauce then cheese. Bake until cheese is melted and bubbling, about 5 more minutes. Serve with additional sauce on the side and grated cheese.

Made this recipe April 1st, 2012. Mom and I prepared it the night before and then had it for lunch after meeting. Tasted and smelled great!

Crustless Quiche-Low Carb

8 ounces of sausages (I used the pre-cooked because we had some on hand, and it was easy)
8 eggs
Fresh Spinach (About 2 or 3 cups or use as much as you would like)
1 Cup shredded Cheddar cheese - you can use Pepper jack if you like
1/2 Cup whipping cream or half and half

Serve with 1/4 cup Salsa

Directions and Story:  Preheat oven to 400 degrees, Spray 10 inch pie plate with cooking spray
Beat eggs and add crumbled sausage, chopped spinach, cheese, and cream

Bake for 40 minutes or until center is set. Let stand 5 minutes before cutting and serve with a fruit salad.

Story-We are on a low carbohydrate diet, so this recipe is easy and the total carbohydrates per serving is 9 grams. Everyone liked how it tasted, we could add other ingredients that would vary the taste, too. A successful Sunday evening meal.

Cowboy Cookies

Adapted from:
http://www.christmas-cookies.com/recipes/recipe524.laura-bushs-cowboy-cookies.html

Cream the following indgredrents in a large stand mixer (I use my trusty Bosch )
1 1/2 Cup butter (room temperature)
1 1/2 Cup sugar (granulated)
1 1/2 Cup brown sugar
4 eggs
1 Tablespoon vanilla

Add and mix well
3 Cups all purpose flour
1 Tablespoon Baking powder
1 Tablespoon Baking soda
1 Tablespoon ground cinnammon
1 teaspoon salt

Add
3 Cups chocolate chips
3 Cups oatmeal
2 Cups cocoanut
2 Cups chopped pecans

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 12 minutes. the cookies I make are about 2 inches in diameter when baked.

Story:Will and I are on a serious diet, I reluctantly agreed to NO baking for the first couple of weeks of the diet....One of my top 5 hobbies is baking, so it's been hard to start a sewing project to get me out of the kitchen..(Hurry guests come and visit so I can cook and bake again) I was looking for a recipe that would include indgredients my current customers (Will and Grandma) would like...and I found this 'Cowboy Cookie' recipe that makes a substantial amount of cookies and includes pecans, (Will) homemade (Grandma) and Chocolate (Me).......Plus this week of no baking resulted in Grandma getting store cookies for tea time. Yesterday she said  "I would have thought THEY would have homemade cookies one of these days"
So...I thought it was time again to bake some cookies that can go  into the freezer until Grandma's tea time.

Oreo Dessert

1 pkg of regular Oreos
1/2 c. of butter
1 lg box of instant chocolate pudding
2-8 oz cool whips
8 oz. of cream cheese, softened
1 c. powdered sugar

Notes/Story: Crush the whole package of cookies either with a food processor, or in a bag and a rolling pin. Save a 1/2 c. to sprinkle on top of dessert when it's done. Pour remaining crumbs in a 13x9 pan. Melt butter and pour into crumb mix. Stir it up good and press crumbs in bottom of pan to make a crust. Make chocolate pudding according to package directions and let it setup in the fridge. In a mixing bowl blend cream cheese until nice and smooth and then add powdered sugar, mix. Then fold in 1-8 oz thing of cool whip. Top oreo layer with cream cheese mix, then pudding, then your last 8 oz thing of cool whip, and then sprinkle remaining Oreo's on top. Cover and refridgerate until ready to serve.

I made this for our girls' weekend for Sunday after meeting. It was super!

Dorito Casserole

2 pounds ground beef- browned  (I usually used less, either 1 pound or 1 1/2 pound-whatever we had on hand)
1 medium onion
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can cream of onion (or cream of mushroom soup)
1 can enchilada sauce (mild)
1 bag dorito chips
Shredded cheese
Ripe (black) olives

Directions and Story: Line a 9 X 12 inch pan with 1/2 of a bag of largely crunched Dorito chips.
Brown hamburger with onion and salt and pepper to taste.  Add soups. Add enchilada sauce.
Pour over chips, sprinkle with cheese, olvies and the remainder of Dorito chips
Bake 350 degrees for 25 minutes

I made this quick easy casserole often during the years the kids were busy with activities in high school.
We usually had all of the ingredients on hand and everyone liked how it tasted.