My New Pulled Pork Recipe is Top Notch

CROCK POT PULLED PORK

2 & 1/2 lb or larger Pork Butt (I SOMETIMES GET Porketta but rinse off most of the seasoning.)

1 Cup Italian Dressing. (I made my own with Good Seasons using Balsamic Vinegar)

1/2 - 3/4 Cup Brown Sugar

1 Chopped Onion or 1 TB Onion Powder

3-4 Tb Prepared Mustard

3-4 TB Worcestershire Sauce

1 tsp salt

1 TB Liquid Hickory Smoke

Place pork butt in crock pot and mix the remaining ingredients and pour on top of butt. Allow to cook on High for at least 6 hours before checking for tenderness. A larger Butt will take longer of course. After pulling pork apart cook on High for another hour before serving. Continue to break the pulled and sliced meat up in that excellent juice! Turn pot to low until serving time.
NOTE: I just created this recipe after looking at several online. It’s a combination of several recipes, plus my own tweaks. Remember add or omit anything you want!

Crock Pot Spaghetti Sauce

I have a crock pot of spaghetti sauce going right now. Here's the rather simple, generic recipe;

SPAGHETTI SAUCE

1 LB Ground Beef Browned OR made into meatballs using your favorite recipe. You don't HAVE to bake the maetballs first. I've added them raw once even though it's not the norm..

3 (12 oz) cans of Tomato paste

6 cans of Water

2 Tb Olive Oil

1 heaping Tb of Onion Powder, (I would prefer chopped onion BUT...)

4 large garlic cloves minced

1 tsp each of dried Basil, Marjoram, and Thyme

2 Tb Brown Sugar

Stir the tomato paste and water until smooth with a whisk in the crock pot before adding the remaining ingredients and cook on high heat at least 4 hours before turning it to low until serving time.

NOTE: Omit the third can of tomato paste and add 2 cans of diced petite tomatoes and any other spices or veggies for Marinara sauce. Did you notice I don't use Bay Leaves? I haven't for years.. perhaps I should buy some and try them out in some recipes.

Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies are delicious, but they don't age well, perhaps from the margarine added? Eat them up right away- within a week. If not freeze them until you do. I got this recipe from my employer. I have a batch of this cookie dough sitting in my fridge right now.

SOFT CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

2/3 Cup stick Margarine softened

2/3 Cup Crisco

1 Cup Sugar

1 Cup Brown Sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

3 and 3/4 Cups Flour

1 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Salt

12 oz. bag Chocolate Chips.

Cream the fats, sugars, eggs and vanilla with a hand mixer. Stir together the dry ingredients and add them to the fat/sugar mixture 1/2 at a time. Now mix well and then add the chocolate chips last. Refrigerate at least an hour or even overnight before baking at 375 degrees for 8 minutes. Do NOT use an airbake pan as it affects the way the cookie spreads out! (I know this may sound crazy, but it's true!)

Cocoa and Toast - An Old Childhood Memory

When I was a teenager I remember eating Hot Cocoa and Toast every morning for breakfast while I was in high school, and you know we always dipped our margarine saturated toast into the cocoa before we took a bite. Mom used to make her own cocoa mix from scratch using Nestle Cocoa mix, Carnation Instant Milk and Coffee Mate.

I remember all four of us girls going with Mom to the local Commercial Bread Bakery to get the day old bread. Mom would come home with at least a half dozen loaves plus a loaf of Roman meal Bread for dad. You know why? Us girls ate a lot of bread, especially me and my sister Janet. Why I remember eating 4 slices of toast every morning for at least 2 years until I got sick of it. Back then mom used to buy these big one pound blocks of margarine that we buttered our toast with.

As I got older I learned to love the taste of hot cocoa from scratch using reconstituted Carnation Evaporated Milk and real Hershey's Unsweetened Cocoa Powder and sugar. I also learned to love the taste of real butter on my toast. But I now know that the PRIMO toast for dipping in my "from scratch" cocoa is my own homemade bread sliced thin for extra crunch! So you see I relive my old childhood memory of Cocoa and Toast almost every time I make a batch of homemade bread and happen to have a can of evaporated milk in the cupboard.

Sausage Gravy

1 Pound Sausage (I prefer Hatfield in a tube, or Jamestown in a tube, but have used the 12 oz tube of Jimmy Dean Sausage)

2 rounded TB flour

3 Cups milk or 1 (12 OZ) Can Evaporated Milk and 1 Can Water

Season to taste.

Brown the sausage so it's so dark bits and pieces stick to the bottom of your cast iron skillet. Drain all but 2 TB or so fat

Mix in the 2 rounded Tbs flour and let cook for a minute, then add the milk and water and stir until it thickens. If it's too thick add a 1/4 milk or water.

NOTE: The first time I had sausage gravy over buttermilk biscuits was at Marty's Diner on Route 6 but it's closed now. Bummer!

Pasta E Fagioli

I got this recipe from TOP SECRET RECIPES website 7 years ago. Of course I customized it! Here’s MY recipe and below it will be the one from the website.

My PASTA FAZOOL : )

1 Pound Ground Beef

3 – 4 Cloves garlic Minced

2 Cans Beef Broth

12 OZ Can Tomato Paste

2 Cans Water

2 15 OZ Cans Diced Tomatoes

1 15 OZ Can Kidney Beans

1 15 OZ Can Canaloni or Great Northern Beans

1 Cup Celery shredded in salad shooter

1 Cup Carrots shredded

1 TB Balsamic or White Vinegar

1 tsp Sugar

1 tsp marjoram

1 tsp basil

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 tsp thyme

1 TB Onion Powder

8 OZ Pasta – d itali or your favorite

DIRECTIONS

Brown ground beef and drain then add to crock pot with remaining ingredients. Let cook on high for 4 hours, after it comes to a simmer, on low for 8 hours. I cook pasta separately and add to serving bowl so it doesn’t get mushy.

************************************

TOP SECRET RECIPE’S PASTA E FAGIOLI

1 pound ground beef

1 small onion chopped

1 large carrot julienned (1 Cup)

3 stalks celery juleinned (1 cup)

2 cloves garlic minced

2 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes

1 15 Oz can red kidney beans with liquid

1 15 oz can great northern beans with liquid

1 15 OZ can tomato sauce

1 12 Oz can V-8 juice

1 TB white vinegar

1 & 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp basil

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp thyme

1/2 pound pasta d itali

Cook the same way as my recipe and add the pasta last cooking to your preference.

Crock Pot Rice Pudding

I made the Crock Pot Rice Pudding today. It took 4 hours for the rice to cook up tender. Then I mixed a 1/2 can of Evaporated milk with the sugar, eggs and vanilla and whisked 4 ladles of the hot rice/milk into the egg mixture to temper it. Then I poured the warm egg mixture back into the crock pot. The pudding did thicken to a rather thin mixture but I knew from past experience that the rice puffs up even more as the mixture cools and sets up in the fridge. I imaging it wouldn’t hurt to cook the pudding one hour instead of a half hour after adding the egg/sugar mixture. I sprinkled cinnamon on top of the pudding as it was cooling and placed a piece of plastic wrap on the surface of the pudding so a skin wouldn’t form. It is thickening up nicely. I just had to eat some even though it’s not quite set yet but noticeably thicker… it was delicious.

NOTE: It beats cooking it on the stove with a heat diffuser and having it stick and burn on the bottom of the pot, Like i used to in the good old days.

CROCK POT RICE PUDDING

Place these ingredients in 4 and 1/2 qt crock pot and stir let cook 4 hours on high:

1/2 gallon Whole Milk

1/2 Can Evaporated Milk (3/4 cup)

3/4 Cup plus 2 TB Medium Grain Rice (I used River brand)

1/2 tsp Salt

Now mix these ingredients in a medium-sized bowl:

1/2 can (3/4 cup) Evaporated Milk

1 Cup Sugar

3 eggs

2 tsp Vanilla

Now take 4 ladles (2 Cups) of the hot rice/milk and whisk into the egg/sugar/milk mixture very slowly to temper the eggs. Then pour the warm egg mixture back into the crock pot and stir well. Now leave the cover on and cook pudding with lid still on for 1/2 hour at least, although I imagine 1 hour wouldn’t hurt. Stir mixture every 15 minutes or so. The pudding is rather runny but the rice puffs up as it cools and thickens the pudding. I suppose after it is thickened you could bake it in a greased lasagna dish if you want a browned skin on top. Either way sprinkle the bowls/dishes of pudding with cinnamon before baking, cooling or serving.

NOTE: If you want to add raisins do it after you pour into your glass dish or bowl. Probably 1/4 to a 1/2 cup.

Pumpkin Puree - Discussion

Every fall I buy at least 8 pie pumpkins and make my own pumpkin puree for pies. Here’s my methods for preparing the puree:

For the past 10 years or so I have cooked my pumpkin in a pressure cooker, then I scoop the flesh from the rind and puree in my cone-shaped ricer. Do NOT peel your pumpkins! I manage to cut up my thumb every time I do. I found it much easier scrub the outside of the pumpkin and break off the stem if possible, then I cut my pumpkins in half and then quarters and then eighths and then to cut those in half! Then I remove the seeds and pulp with a spoon or paring knife and drop them into a pressure cooker with the handled perforated insert that goes in the bottom. I add a 1/2 inch of water and place the lid and steam vent regulator on the top. After it comes up to steam I turn down the heat to medium and let it cook 10 minutes. Then I quick cool it under cold running water to remove the lid and then place the cooked pumpkin in a bowl to cool while I fill the cooker with another pumpkin or two. I usually do this over and over again until I get a huge bowl of cooked pumpkin, enough to make at least 12 cups of pumpkin puree. I puree the pumpkin in my cone-shaped ricer with its wooden pestle or my equally effective plastic hand held ricer with interchangeable disc, (One of my favorite kitchen gadgets). I do have to rinse it between batches to remove the stringy pulp from the holes.

Now I have an alternate method that requires less stress, but it takes longer and probably uses less energy. This is the crock pot method. I prepare the pumpkin the same way but place the cubed pumpkin in my crock pots and let them cook on high 3-4 hours in a cup of water. Then I scoop the pumpkin from the rind and puree or rice it. I did this with butternut squash and it works wonderfully. I am definitely going to prepare pumpkin this way very soon. There seems to be a huge pumpkin harvest this year at the local farmer’s pumpkin patch.

Crock Pot Pulled Pork

2 & 1/2 lb or larger Pork Butt (I had a Porketta but I rinsed off most of the seasoning.)

3/4 – 1 Cup Italian Dressing. (I made my own with Good Seasons using Balsamic Vinegar)

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar

1 Chopped Onion or 1 TB Onion Powder

2 Tb Prepared Mustard

2 TB Worcestershire Sauce

1 tsp salt

1 TB Liquid Hickory Smoke

Place pork butt in crock pot and mix the remaining ingredients and pour on top of butt. Allow to cook on High for at least 6 hours before checking for tenderness. A larger Butt will take longer of course. After pulling pork apart cook on High for another hour before serving. Continue to break the pulled and sliced meat up in that excellent juice! Turn pot to low until serving time.

NOTE: I just created this recipe after looking at several online. It’s a combination of several recipes, plus my own tweaks. Remember add or omit anything you want!