Pulled Barbeque Chicken

This barbeque dish was absolutely out of this world. I have not been able to rave about it enough. Not only do I love how easy is was, but the taste was really slow cooked and sensational. I plugged in my Crockpot, threw a few ingredients together, and eight hours later, I made a meal that will become a weekly tradition at our house. This will definitely please any palate!

Ingredients

3 pounds boneless pork shoulder roast, well trimmed (I used 4 chicken breasts instead because I am more of a chicken fan.)

1 package McCormick® Slow Cookers BBQ Pulled Pork Seasoning

1/2 cup ketchup

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/3 cup cider vinegar

I added about a tablespoon of honey

I added some extra honey barbeque sauce that I had in the fridge that needed to be used up as well.

DIRECTIONS

1. Place pork in slow cooker. Mix Seasoning, ketchup, brown sugar and vinegar until blended. Pour over pork. Cover.

2. Cook 8 hours on LOW or 4 hours on HIGH. Remove pork from slow cooker.

3. Shred pork, using 2 forks. Return pork to slow cooker. Mix and heat with sauce before serving. Serve on sandwich rolls, if desired.

Tips

Test Kitchen Tip: Use 3 pounds boneless pork loin roast in place of the pork shoulder roast.

Slow Cooker Tip: For best results, do not remove cover during cooking.

Chicken with a Tangerine Honey Glaze

I found this recipe in my Parade newspaper and few weeks ago and I thought it look amazing (its a recipe orginally by Bobby Flay). I am always looking for awesome new grilled chicken ideas (my husband and I grilled most weeknights)! If you like a smoky jerk chicken with a hint of sweet, this is the recipe for you. (It looks a little burnt in the picture, but that was just the spice rub on the outside of the chicken that "blackened" up a bit!)

Ingredients

3 cups tangerine juice or tangerine-orange juice (not from concentrate)

5 fresh thyme springs

1/4 cup clover honey

kosher salt and black pepper

3 tbsp spanish paprika

1 tbsp ground cumin

1 tbsp dry mustard powder

2 tsp ground fennel seeds

2 tbsp canola oil

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 8oz each)

2 green onions, thinly sliced, for garnish

Directions

Combine the juice and thyme in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened and reduced to about 1/2 cup, remove the thyme stems and discard. Whisk in the honey until incorporated and season with 1/2 tsp of salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Transfer to a bowl and let cool to room temperature.

Heat grill to medium high.

Stir together the paprika, cumin, mustard powder, fennel, and 1 tsp each of the salt and pepper in a small bowl. Brush both sides of the chicken with the oil, and season with salt and pepper. Rub the top of each breast with some of the spice rub and place on the grill rub side down. Cook, without touching, until they’re lightly golden brown and a crust has formed, 3 to 4 minutes. Turn the breasts over, brush the tops liberally with some of the glaze, flip them, and continue cooking until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center registers 155 F. Remove from the grill, brush the spice rub side with more of the glaze, tent loosely with foil, and let rest 5 minutes before serving.

Baked Ziti

This is definitely my favorite "go to" meal of the week: Baked Ziti! I love that it has a little more to it than spaghetti and it is sooo easy to make. And it is the best (and easiest) baked ziti that I have ever eaten (but I guess I am just partial). This recipe is for 2 people and we usually have atleast one night of leftovers.

Ingredients
1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce (I prefer Publix brand with mushrooms)
1 small shallot, finely chopped (if you like an onion flavor to your sauce, optional)
1 spaghetti seasoning packet
a 1/2 lb of hamburger meat (use more if you like it really meaty)
1 small can of mushrooms (I prefer the baby portobello can)
1/2 lb box of ziti rigati (make sure it has little lines; it helps to pick up the sauce)
1 bag of Mozzarella or 6 Cheese Italian
Butter
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees

2. Line a 8-inch square pyrex dish with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray or rub with butter (makes for easy clean-up)!

3. In a large saucepan, saute bits of onion until they are translucent and then add ground beef; brown. Add a little salt and pepper to give the meat more flavor

4. Once ground beef is browned, add the jar of spaghetti sauce. Once the jar is empty, to clean out all the sauce, pour the can of mushrooms and their juice into the jar and shake it around. Add the mushrooms and water to the sauce to give it extra flavor and to thin it out. Next, add the spaghetti seasoning packet to the sauce. Bring to a boil on medium high. Once the sauce has started to bubble, drop to temperature to a simmer and let it thicken.

5. While sauce is simmering, take a large pasta pot and fill it 3/4 of the way full. Cover the water and bring it to a boil. Once the water has come to a boil, salt liberally. This is your only chance to give the noodles added flavor. Poar in the box of noodles. Boil noodles as directed by your box. Make sure they are al dente (with a bite to them) because they will continue to cook in the oven. When noodles are al dente, drain them (do not rinse).

6. Pour warm noodles into the buttered, lined dish and add the sauce. Once the sauce is poured into the dish, take a handleful of the mozzarella cheese and add it to the sauce and noodles. Stir the noodles, cheese, and sauce until it is all incorporated together. Sprinkle the top of the noodles and sauce with the remaining mozzarella cheese. Once the dish is all assembled, take a tab of butter (or two) and break it apart on top of the cheese. This will help brown the cheese and give an added bit of flavor. Cover with aluminum foil.

7. Place in heated oven and baked for about 30 minutes or until cheese is melted and browned. About 15 minutes into the baking process, remove the aluminum foil from the top of the ziti. (The foil is there to make sure the ziti doesn't brown too quickly and burn). Enjoy!!

Wilton Cake Decorating Class - Week 2

My mom, my sister Sara and I are all taking a Wilton cake decorating class for beginners. We keep joking that we are taking this class so we can make our other sister Casey's wedding cake. But seriously, we have been REALLY excited about getting this thing started! The first week was basically a show and tell from our instructor Shelly on how to layer and frost our cakes to get us ready for our second class. It was a lot of information in only two hours, but I diligently took notes (wait... I thought I was done with "taking notes"!) and made sure I was prepared for our first cake. I went to Michaels/Walmart to get all my tools and ingredients. Then it was finally time for me to attempt the Wilton frosting recipe.

Classic Butter Cream (double recipe to ice AND decorate the cake)
1 cup solid veg. shortening
1 tsp of flavoring (I use Wilton clear vanilla extra)
2 tbsp of water (bottled water is best)
4 cups of icing sugar
1 tablespoon of meringue powder
a pinch of salt

For Stiff Consistency (used to make roses):
Cream shortening, flavoring and 1 tablespoon of water. Add icing sugar 1 cup at a time, after the second cup is incorporated add the salt, meringue powder and the rest of the water. Mix in the last 2 cups of icing sugar until blended thoroughly. Keep covered.

For Medium Consistency (use to make most piped decorations such as stars, small flowers, edging):
Take out desired cups of stiff consistency frosting and place in a Tupperware container or small bowl. Add 1 teaspoon of water for each cup of icing you are using and blend thoroughly.

For Thin Consistency (used for icing the cake): Take out desired cups of stiff consistency frosting and place in a Tupperware container or small bowl. Add 2 teaspoons of water for each cup of icing you are using and blend thoroughly.

Although I hit a few bumps along the way with my frosting consistency and making a huge mess, I was pretty happy with how my first cake turned out. The recipe called for four different colors for the rainbow, but I wanted a Gator cake, so I settled on two colors. The cake tasted pretty great and I am really looking forward to my next class!

Calzones

My husband and I went to the store and bought all the fixins' for pizza. But when it came down to it, we really wanted something different. There is a restaurant in Largo called The Pizza Shack which makes AMAZING calzones, so I thought I would replicate them for dinner. They were pretty easy to make and we really enjoyed them. Since they were SO big, we had them for leftovers a few nights later, and I think they might have been even better! I followed a recipe from Lizzie Marie Cuisine (cute little girl who does cooking videos) for these homemade calzones.

Ingredients
1 ball of pizza dough
Various toppings for inside the calzone (We used ground beef, mushrooms, ricotta, and mozzarella cheese)
Cornmeal
1 egg for eggwash
Marinara sauce

Directions:
1.Preheat Oven to 400 degrees

2.You can make your own dough (I will include a recipe I have used before for a nice sweet pizza dough) or use store or restaurant bought pizza dough.

3.Let the pizza dough rest for a little while to make sure it is done rising (we left it for an hour).

4.Cut the dough into either halves or thirds depending on the size of the dough ball and how big you want your calzone.

5.Spread the cornmeal out on a cutting board or counter and roll the dough out into a circle (about 8 inches in diameter). On one half of the circle spread your choice of toppings. Make sure you leave a half completely empty so you can close the calzone. Also, don't fill it too much because you will have a hard time closing the calzone. Once you have filled your calzone, take the egg wash and "paint" the edges of the calzone to help with closure. Pull the empty half of the calzone over the full half and press down with your fingers. Press the edges with a fork to make sure the sides are completely closed. Paint the calzone with the egg wash to gives it a nice sheen after it is cooked. Cut a few small slits in the top so steam can escape.

6. Place the calzones on a greased cookie sheet and let it cook for about 20-25 minutes (until top is golden brown and cheese is nice and melted).

7. Serve with a side of marinara sauce and enjoy!

Macaroni and Cheese

I have never been a macaroni and cheese fan until very recently when I stumbled upon this recipe by Martha Stewert. I have made it for various events (book club meetings, super bowl, movie parties, etc.) and I get all sorts of compliments about how amazing it is. I have also had so many people request the recipe as well. So, for those of you who love a real authentic mac and cheese, this is the recipe for you! (It is fairly time consuming, but really worth the work in the kitchen.)

You can easily divide this recipe in half; use a 1 1/2-quart casserole dish if you do.

Serves 12

6 slices good-quality white bread, crusts removed, torn into 1/4- to 1/2-inch pieces
The first time, I followed the recipe to a T and was kind of disappointed in the bread crumbs; the second time I crushed up ceaser croutons in the food processor and it made all the difference!
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus more for dish
5 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 1/2 cups (about 18 ounces) grated sharp white cheddar
2 cups (about 8 ounces) grated Gruyere or 1 1/4 cups (about 5 ounces) grated Pecorino Romano
I've made this recipe with both cheese and the Gruyere was just a little better. The Romano had a lot sharper taste and was a little overwhelming if you get a large amount of it. The big difference was the price (Gruyere was a lot more expensive).

1 pound elbow macaroni

1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Butter a 3-quart casserole dish; set aside. Place bread pieces in a medium bowl. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons butter. Pour butter into the bowl with bread, and toss. Set the breadcrumbs aside. In a medium saucepan set over medium heat, heat milk. Melt remaining 6 tablespoons butter in a high-sided skillet over medium heat. When butter bubbles, add flour. Cook, stirring, 1 minute.

2. Slowly pour hot milk into flour-butter mixture while whisking. Continue cooking, whisking constantly, until the mixture bubbles and becomes thick.

3. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in salt, nutmeg, black pepper, cayenne pepper, 3 cups cheddar, and 1 1/2 cups Gruyere or 1 cup pecorino Romano. Set cheese sauce aside.

4. Fill a large saucepan with water. Bring to a boil. Add macaroni; cook 2 to 3 fewer minutes than manufacturer's directions, until outside of pasta is cooked and inside is underdone. (Different brands of macaroni cook at different rates; be sure to read the instructions.) Transfer the macaroni to a colander, rinse under cold running water, and drain well. Stir macaroni into the reserved cheese sauce.

5. Pour the mixture into the prepared casserole dish. Sprinkle remaining 1 1/2 cups cheddar and 1/2 cup Gruyere or 1/4 cup pecorino Romano; scatter breadcrumbs over the top. Bake until browned on top, about 30 minutes. Transfer dish to a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes; serve.

Chicken Noodle Soup

My husband picked up Boston Market the other night and came home with not one, but two whole chickens. At $2.00 more, he couldn't pass it up. I got bored with the chicken and mashed potato leftovers, so I decided I would pull my homemade chicken stock out of the freezer (see recipe) and make some chicken noodle soup. And it is a great day for it since it has been rainy and gloomy all day! Thanks to jdsegarr (of thenest.com forums) for posting a great recipe compliments of Tyler Florence.

Chicken Noodle Soup

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 medium carrots, cut diagonally into 1/2-inch-thick slices
2 celery ribs, halved lengthwise, and cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
I omitted the celery because I hate celery!
4 fresh thyme sprigs (unfortunately, I only had dried...)
1 bay leaf
2 quarts chicken stock, recipe follows
8 ounces dried wide egg noodles
I used thin egg noodles because I just like them better.
1 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped (again, I only had dried... I really need to have my own herb garden, heh).

Place a soup pot over medium heat and coat with the oil. Add the onion, garlic, carrots, celery, thyme and bay leaf. Cook and stir for about 6 minutes, until the vegetables are softened but not browned. Pour in the chicken stock and bring the liquid to a boil. Add the noodles and simmer for 5 minutes until tender. Fold in the chicken, and continue to simmer for another couple of minutes to heat through; season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with chopped parsley before serving.