Sweet Pork (enchiladas, burritos, etc.)

Ingredients:

6 pounds boneless pork roast

1 12 oz. bottle taco sauce

1 12 oz. can Coke

2 cups brown sugar

Directions:

Cook pork in crock pot with a little water about 6 hours, until it shreds easily. Two hours before serving, shred pork and return to crock pot (discard juice from pork). Pour taco sauce, Coke, and sugar over pork and mix well. Cook for 2 more hours.

*To make enchiladas, make the pork and substitute it for the chicken in this recipe.

To make burritos, fill tortilla shells with rice, black beans, cheese and pork. Fold in both ends and roll up. Place in a 9x13 baking dish with fold side down. Do not try to squish too many into one pan. Cover with green chile enchilada sauce and add more cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

You can also serve it on rolls like a pulled pork sandwich.

*YUMMY, YUMMY, YUMMY.....

PF Chang's Banana Spring Rolls

Ingredients:

ripe bananas
egg roll wrappers
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon chinese five spice mix*
oil for frying

coconut pineapple ice cream (by haagen dazs)

caramel sauce

strawberries, raspberries & blackberries
mint, for garnish

*chinese five spice is made of: cinnamon, anise, ginger and cloves. if you don't have it, shake into the sugar a tiny amount of those spices instead.

Directions:

Preheat two inches of oil to 350 degrees in a saucepan. Set two small bowls side by side, one with a scoop of brown or white sugar mixed with the five spice, one with water. Separate the egg roll wrappers you are going to use, one per half banana. Cut banana in half crosswise. Coat banana in sugar and place in the wrapper. Spread water all over the edges of the dough and roll it up like a burrito, sealing the ends by folding and pushing the dough together with your fingers. If a halved banana is too long, trim the edges to fit the dough. Prepare all the banana pieces before frying. Fry one or two at a time, carefully turning to brown evenly on all sides. Remove from oil and slice rolls in half. Serve warm over pineapple-coconut ice cream, with berries and a drizzle of caramel.

*This is very good but I still need to mess around with the cooking time. I had the temp. up to high and it browned the outside but it wasn't crispy, it was still soft, but it tasted good none the less. If you can find spring roll wrappers, those would probably work better but I don't know where you get those. I served this family style with a large scoop of ice cream in the center, spring rolls circling around it with strawberries, raspberries and blackberries sprinkled all around and the caramel sauce drizzled around on the plate (not really on top of the ice cream). My 1 1/2 year old daughter loved this and had fun eating it by herself and picking off the fruit with her fingers.

Fruit Dip

Ingredients:

8 oz. cream cheese

16 oz. marshmallow cream

1/4 c. heavy whipping cream

4 T. favorite flavor JELLO powder.

Directions:

Mix ingredients together and serve with fruit. Strawberries are the best for dipping.

*I had these ingredients just sitting in my fridge and pantry and my mother-in-law and I came up with combination. Very good and easy!

Crepes

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour, sifted

4 tsp. granulated sugar

pinch of salt

2 large eggs

1 1/4 cups whole milk

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

1 T. unsalted butter

Directions:

Combine flour, sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl. Whisk in the eggs and just enough of the milk to form a soft paste. Combine the remaining milk and cream in a measuring cup and slowly add to the flour mixture, whisking to form a smooth batter.

Strain the batter into a medium bowl to remove any lumps. Cover the batter and set aside for 30 minutes. This will allow time for the flour to absorb all of the liquid. Heat a crepe pan or a heavy 7 in. non-stick saute pan over medium-low heat. Dab some butter on a paper towel and wipe the pan with a little butter.

Pour 3 tablespoons of batter into the pan and swirl to coat the bottom thinly. Cook until the edge of the crepe is light brown, about 1 1/2 minutes. Loosen the edges gently with a spatula. Carefully turn the crepe over. Cook until the bottom begins to brown in spots, about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Transfer to a plate. Repeat with remaining batter.

*I actually have a crepe maker and it is WAY easier than doing it with a pan. But these are great and can be used for breakfast, dessert, or dinner depending on what you fill them with. I love yogurt, fruit, whipped cream and powder sugar for breakfast and french vanilla ice cream and strawberries wrapped up and topped off with whipped cream and chocolate sauce.... YUM!

Mini Pastries

Ingredients:

1 box pastry puff (freezer section near pie crusts)

8 oz. cream cheese

7 oz. marshmallow cream

variety of fresh fruits

Directions:

Lay out pastry puff and cut with cookie cutters. Place on cookie sheet and bake as directed or until just starting to brown. While pastries are baking, whip together the cream cheese and marshmallow cream. prepare fruit by cutting into thin slices. If you are not serving right away, dip fruit into a little water and lemon juice to preserve color. After the pastries have cooled to room temp, spread the cream spread on to each pastry and decorate with fruit.

*This is such an easy dessert but it is really yummy. It is actually geared towards kids so that they can help make them. Use fun cookie cutter shapes and make them look pretty.

Chili glazed Shrimp & Noodles

Ingredients:

3 T. Sesame oil or Peanut oil

2 tsp. minced garlic

1 lb. large shrimp, peeled and deveined

1/2 c. thinly sliced green onions

2 c. sugar snap peas with ends cut off

1/4 c. low-sodium soy sauce

1/4 c. honey

1-2 T. chili sauce (located in the asian section) add more if you like it spicy

1 tsp. ginger powder or freshly grated ginger root.

2-3 c. rice noodles, cooked (located in the asian section)

Directions:

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add oil to pan. Add garlic and shrimp. Stir-fry 1 minute. Mix soy sauce, honey, chili sauce, and ginger in bowl. Pour over shrimp and add green onions, snap peas, & rice noodles. Toss everything together coating it all in the sauce. Serve in a bowl with chopsticks! :)

*I found a recipe that had some of these ingredients together but I thought it was quite bland so I changed it up and created my own. James liked the original recipe only so-so and then I made it a second time with my changes and he loved it! I think from shrimp being frozen to the dish on the table took me only about 20 minutes! A great recipe to make when short on time and need something quick.

Spinach Raspberry Salad

Ingredients:

8 c. fresh spinach or 1 bag baby spinach

1 c. fresh raspberries

1/4 c. red onions, chopped (opt.)

Dressing:

2 T. raspberry vinegar or balsamic vinegar

2 T. raspberry jam

Mix together in a blender, then add slowly;

1/3 c. canola oil

Directions:

Combine vegetables then toss with dressing. Can change to orange salad by replacing the jam with orange marmalade and fresh raspberries with mandarin oranges.

*I am always looking for different green salads and this one was so easy to make and so delicious.