Kalua Pork

This is super easy and smelled so good cooking all day that I was pretty much counting down the hours till it was done.

10-12 pounds pork shoulder butt roast (don't substitute a leaner cut of pork or it will be dry)
1 bottle liquid smoke (4oz)
2 tablespoons sea salt (or hula salt if you can find it)
1 1/2 cups water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Trim roast of large pockets of fat (but leave some fat on there to help the pork stay tender while cooking). Place pork in large roasting pan (the aluminum, deep roasting pans you can buy at the grocery store work great if you don't own a heavy-duty roasting pan).

Rub 2-3 tablespoons of sea salt into pork. Pour the bottle of liquid smoke over and around the pork. Pour the water around the pork.

Cover roasting pan TIGHTLY with two layers of aluminum foil.Bake for 5-7 hours (don't uncover while baking - let the steam and heat work it's magic!).

Shred with two forks and serve with rice.

What I did: I used a 4 lb roast and still had tons left over for freezing. I got a covered stoneware baker for Christmas so I cooked it in there. I used the stoneware lid, but still covered the seal with foil, just to be sure the steam stayed inside since that is the key to cooking this. Since my roast was smaller, I used only 3/4 cup water but I still ended up using almost the whole bottle of liquid smoke, and I cooked it at 325 for 5 hours instead of at 375. The recipe is going to be really forgiving, so don't stress about it too much if your roast is a different size. You could cook in in a crockpot too. I served it on rice with fresh pineapple on the side. My husband ate it on a sandwich with bbq sauce and took leftovers to work for lunch in a tortilla. Leftovers will freeze well for use later in pork tacos, sandwiches, enchiladas, whatever you like.

Original recipe: http://www.mykitchencafe.blogspot.com/search?q=kalua+pork

Open-faced Chicken Parm Sandwich

Slice a loaf of whole grain Italian bread in half, then in half lengthwise. Lay 4 pieces of cooked chicken breast on the 4 slices of bread and top with baby spinach leaves. Pour some jarred marinara on top, then sprinkle with mozzarella and parmesan. Broil until cheese is bubbly.

Source: Parenting magazine, October 2009, p. 67

April 3-10

Sorry about last week, here are the new recipes I used last week:

Fish Topped Au Gratin Potatoes (not bad, but not that great, so I'm not posting recipe)
Stromboli Recipe here
Chicken Tetrazzini (made with leftovers from storebought rotisserie chicken) Recipe below

The plan for this week:

We still haven't gotten to the frozen lasagna and the pork tacos, so they are still on the list, new items are

Barbecue chicken with mashed potatoes and corn
Creamy chicken and Vegetables with Noodles Recipe here
Chicken Ranch Tacos Recipe here
Honey-sesame Chicken and fried Rice (use Sun Bird brand seasoning packet, look for it near the Asian foods and follow directions)
Spaghetti Sandwiches (recipe below)

I guess we are all about chicken this week!


Chicken Tetrazzini
7 oz spaghetti or linguine noodles
2 cups chicken or turkey broth
2 cups milk
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup butter
1/2 tsp salt
pepper to taste
2 cups cut up or shredded chicken or turkey
1 cup sliced olives or mushrooms
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1. Heat oven to 350. Cook and drain noodles - undercook them a little so they aren't mushy (they will cook in the oven too)
2. Mix broth, milk, flour, butter, S & P, in 3 qt sauce pan. Heat to boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute.
3. Stir in cooked noodles, chicken, olives/mushrooms. Spread in ungreased 2 qt casserole. Sprinkle with cheese.
4. Bake uncovered 25-30 minutes until hot and bubbly. Let stand a few minutes before serving.


Spaghetti Sandwiches
my mom used to make these with leftover spaghetti sauce. They sound a little weird, but they're good!

Bread
Mozzarella cheese (sliced or shredded)
eggs
milk
spaghetti sauce

1. Mix up eggs and milk just like you would for french toast, but without the cinnamon & vanilla, etc.

2. Dip one side of a piece of bread in the egg mixture, place on hot griddle egg-side down. Top with mozzarella. Dip another piece of bread and place it on top of the mozzarella, egg-side up. Flip the sandwich when one side is cooked and cheese is starting to melt. Cook other side until golden brown and cheese is melted.

3. Serve with hot spaghetti sauce on top.

Turkey Meatball Subs

This is another of my old stand-bys

Prep: 40 minutes
Cook: 20 minutes
Yield: 4 servings

whole-grain sub rolls
1 pound extra-lean ground white turkey breast
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp dried oregano
1 egg
1 egg white
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 14.5 ounce can Italian Style tomatoes
1/4 cup shredded reduced fat mozzarella cheese
**1 jar spaghetti sauce

Using a food processor, process one sub roll into fine bread crumbs. Measure out one cup of crumbs. (or just use 1 cup prepared breadcrumbs, like Progresso)

In a large mixing bowl, combine the turkey, garlic, eggs, oregano and crumbs. Shape into meatballs. Add meatballs to a skillet and brown on all sides. Add onion and cook, stirring frequently, until slices are limp and just starting to turn brown.

Add tomatoes and stir to coat.( ** I felt like it needed more sauce so I added about half a jar of spaghetti sauce)

Allow mixture to come to a slight boil, then reduce heat and cook for twenty minutes or until meatballs are cooked through.

Split remaining rolls in half lengthwise and fill with meatballs and sauce. Top with shredded cheese.

Pepperoni Pizza Burgers

I had this one on my list of things to make and it kept getting put off b/c I wasn't all that excited about it, but it turned out being pretty good.

1 lb lean ground beef
2 oz pepperoni, chopped (I used the less-fat turkey pepperoni)
1 beaten egg
1/4 cup fine dry bread crumbs
1 8 oz jar pizza sauce
1/2 tsp dried basil or oregano, crushed
salt & pepper
hamburger buns, split & toasted
shredded mozzarella cheese

1. In a medium mixing bowl combine ground beef, pepperoni, egg, bread crumbs, 2 TB of the pizza sauce, basil or oregano, S & P. Mix well. Shape into 6 patties

2. Grill burgers directly over medium coals for 14-18 minutes or until center reaches 160, turning once halfway through grilling.

3. Meanwhile, heat the remaining pizza sauce. Place burgers on bottom half of buns, top with sauce and some mozzarella cheese.

Source: www.bhg.com

Smoky-Sweet Pork

We are surrounded by BBQ places here in Texas & my husband said he would buy this. We had it on little mini slider-sized wheat buns & my 2 1/2 year old ate 2 of them!

Prep: 25 minutes
Cook: 1 1/2 hours

1 1/2 lbs boneless pork top loin roast or boneless pork blade roast
2 tsp cooking oil
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup BBQ sauce
1 cup chopped red onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup snipped pitted dates
2 TB finely chopped canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp bottled minced garlic or 2 cloves garlic, minced
bread or buns
lettuce

1. Trim fat from roast. In a large saucepan brown roast on all sides in the oil. Drain off fat. Add water, ketchup, bbq sauce, red onion, celery, brown sugar, dates, peppers, mustard and garlic. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered for 1 1/2 - 2 hours or until meat is tender stirring sauce occaisonally.

2. Remove meat from sauce. Pull meat apart into shreds with 2 forks. Skim fat from sauce. Combine meat with enough sauce to your desired consistency.

3. Serve on top of bread slices, or in buns, with lettuce (if desired).

What I did: I left out the dates. My roast was 1.8 lbs and was done before an hour and a half, so make sure you check it around an hour b/c you won't want it overcooked. I also pureed the sauce in a food processor after cooking it b/c I didn't want onion & celery chunks in my sauce.

Source: Better Homes and Gardens New Dieter's Cookbook