Pork Nachos

I love slow cooked pork.  It just make the whole house smell so yummy… like I have a plan for dinner.  (Here are links to my favorites: Café Rio Pulled Pork and South Carolina BBQ Pork Sliders.)  But sometimes, I pull them out, and have no idea what else to do with all that pulled pork.  I stumbled across this video clip in my hunt, and I liked it, because it was something totally different.  It tasted great too.  You can follow the link for the salsa recipe, but I just mixed my own.

Pork Nachos (Sandra Lee’s Round 2 Recipes)

• 2 cups baked corn chips
• 1 cup leftover slow-cooked orange pulled pork
• 1 cup leftover corn and black bean salsa
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar
• 1/2 cup sour cream, optional

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F

In an oven-proof baking dish add half of the corn chips in a single layer. Cover with half the pork, half the salsa, and then half the cheese. Continue layering with remaining ingredients ending with the cheese. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until cheese is melted, bubbling and lightly browned. Top with sour cream, if desired, and serve hot.

Click here to see how it's done.

Butterscotch Chip Bars

This is such a fast and easy dessert- great one to make when you are in a hurry. And who, I would like to know, doesn’t love butterscotch chips. They never last long at my house, which is the only reason I wouldn’t make these. :)
Butterscotch Chip Bars (From 101 Things To Do With A Cake Mix)

• 1 yellow cake mix
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup oil
• 3/4 cup butterscotch chips

Mix together cake mix, eggs, and oil. Stir in butterscotch chips until stiff. Press dough into a lightly greased 9x13 pan. Bake 13-16 minutes at 350 degrees.

Blueberry Sour Cream Pancakes

Blueberries and sour cream were just meant to be best friends, I’ve decided. They just go so well together! I made some Sour Cream-Blueberry Bread a while back, and I thought it was such a happy mixture… and here they are again, like old friends, only much easier to make in a quick pancake. Blueberry pancakes are my favorite and my best! Hope you ENJOY! (P.S. I didn’t make the sauce for this one- I usually make a yummy sauce, but as you can see, I literally couldn’t wait to tare into this bad boys, and they stood on their own two feet without the sauce.)

Blueberry Sour Cream Pancakes (Taste of Home)

For the Sauce:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 cup cold water
• 4 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

PANCAKES:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1-1/2 cups milk
• 1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Directions

• In a large saucepan, combine sugar and cornstarch. Stir in water until smooth. Add blueberries. Bring to a boil over medium heat; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from the heat; cover and keep warm.
• For pancakes, in a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Combine the eggs, milk, sour cream and butter. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in blueberries.
• Pour batter by 1/4 cupful onto a greased hot griddle. Turn when bubbles form on top; cook until the second side is golden brown. Serve with blueberry topping. Yield: about 20 pancakes (3-1/2 cups topping).

Editor's Note: If using frozen blueberries, use without thawing to avoid discoloring the batter.

Nutrition Facts: 2 pancakes with 1/3 cup topping equals 332 calories, 13 g fat (8 g saturated fat), 79 mg cholesterol, 387 mg sodium, 48 g carbohydrate, 3 g fiber, 6 g protein.

Vanilla Pound Cake

This seems like such an incredibly appropriate post for today. My girls watched a “Strawberry Shortcake” episode earlier, and the theme song has been in my head every since, “…That girls so sweet, just like her name…” After watching it with them, (Yes… I watched it with them, thanks to my nursing child, I’m a bit hard up for quality entertainment around here. :) I came to the conclusion that she is a little TOO sweet- unrealistically so. You like a good, positive main character, but she was over-the-top unrealistic optimistic. I guess it is at least wholesome, right? They could be watching worse things, surely. Anyway, regardless of the cheesy cartoon, this is one SWEET dessert. Hard to beat an easy-to-make pound cake topped with yummy strawberry sauce!

Vanilla Pound Cake (marthastewart.com)

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
• 2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for pan
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 6-cup (8 1/2-by-4 1/2-inch) loaf pan; set aside.

2. Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition; add vanilla and salt. With mixer on low, gradually add flour, beating just until combined (do not overmix).

3. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, about 1 hour (tent with aluminum foil if browning too quickly). Let cool in pan 15 minutes. Invert onto a wire rack, and turn upright to cool completely.

Spicy Butterscotch Pudding

I’m just a puddin’ kind of gal. I dare say it is one of my absolute favorite desserts- I love soft mushy puddingy custardy things… I think it stems back to my childhood days when I would steal my little sisters banana strawberry baby food (which I still think is divine, and which I now steal from my own kiddos… but I assure you that that wasn’t my only reason for having another one. :) AND might I add that this is my new favorite pudding. Heavenly! I’m not big on “spicy” but just that slight hint of cayenne is kind of fun… but you can always leave it out, too. Just SOOO good and really easy to make! This one beats that box mix any day!

Spicy Butterscotch Pudding (Melissa d’Arabian from Foodnetwork.com)

• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup half-and-half
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 dash cayenne pepper

Whisk together the cornstarch, sugar and salt in a saucepan until smooth. Add the milk and half-and-half and stir to combine. Bring the ingredients to a simmer over medium heat whisking constantly. Cook until the mixture begins to thicken. Remove the pan from heat and stir in the vanilla, butter cinnamon and cayenne. Pour the pudding into 4 small serving bowls and chill for 1 hour before serving.

A Prize Winning Recipe...

Here is a little something I've been cooking up for the last nine months. He was slightly over-done (arriving a week late) but his deliciously kissable pink cheeks and all that rich dark hair have convinced me that this one is a winner for sure! :) Definitely "Lyd's Favorite"!

Pulled BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

Here is a fun way to switch up a typical sandwich.  I like Ellie’s recipes, because they are pretty fresh and easy, and they seem to be just a bit healthier than usual.  This didn’t pack of ton of flavor- I had to add a bit of salt, but it was still pretty good.

Pulled BBQ Chicken Sandwiches (Ellie Kriegor from Foodnetwork.com)

• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 (14-ounce) can low-sodium tomato sauce
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
• 5 tablespoons molasses
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke
• 1 whole rotisserie chicken, skin removed, meat shredded into thin strips (about 4 to 4 1/2 cups)
• 6 whole-wheat hamburger rolls
• 6 large green lettuce leaves

Directions

Heat the oil in a large saute pan over a medium heat. Add the onions and cook until they are soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more. Add tomato sauce, tomato paste, water, vinegar, molasses, pepper and liquid smoke and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 15 minutes. Add chopped chicken, return to a simmer, and cook an additional 10 minutes.

Split rolls. Place a leaf of lettuce on each roll, then pile on 3/4 cup of the chicken mixture onto the roll.

Per Serving:

Calories 440; Total Fat 12 g; (Sat Fat 2.5 g, Mono Fat 5 g, Poly Fat 3.5 g) ; Protein 36 g; Carb 47 g; Fiber 5 g; Cholesterol 95 mg; Sodium 400 mg