1 can frozen limeade
Tequila
Triple Sec
Limes
Pour frozen limeade into a pitcher. Fill the empty can with tequila and pour into pitcher. Then add 1/2 a can of triple sec. Stir until combined. Pour over ice and top with a squeeze a fresh lime.
Mix together equal parts grapefruit juice and tequila in a pitcher. Pour mixture over ice and top with gingerale.
Americanized Queso con Chorizo
1 lb Cream Cheese
1 lb Velveeta
1 lb Jimmy Dean Sausage
2 cans Rotel, undrained
Brown the sausage and drain on paper towels. In a saucepan, combine the cheeses, Rotel tomatoes with juices and sausage. Stir together until melted and blended. Devour with Fritos Scoops and tortilla chips.
Tom kindly prepared both of the meats, so I can't give any tips or changes here. I'm not sure if he cooked it in a slow cooker or not, but I'm sure you could.
2 to 3 tablespoons chopped canned chipotle chiles in adobo
1/2 cup ketchup
8 garlic cloves, chopped
2 teaspoons dried oregano
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 boneless beef chuck roast (about 3 pounds), excess fat trimmed
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a heavy pot with a tight-fitting lid, stir together chiles, ketchup, 1 cup water, garlic, oregano, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.
Cut beef into 4 equal pieces. Add to pot, and turn to coat. Cover, and bring to a boil; transfer pot to oven. Bake, covered, until beef is fork-tender, about 2 1/2 hours.
Transfer beef to a bowl. With a large spoon, skim off and discard fat from cooking liquid. Shred beef with two forks; moisten with cooking liquid as needed. Season with salt and pepper. Serve beef with tortillas and desired toppings.
Slow Cooker Pork Tacos
Don't be scared away by all of the ingredients (easy for me to say since I didn't make this!), because the pork was so flavorful.
3 whole ancho chiles
3 whole pasilla chiles
4 cloves garlic, unpeeled
2 to 3 chipotles in adobo sauce
1/2 medium white onion, roughly chopped
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
Kosher salt
2 teaspoons dried oregano, preferably Mexican
3 3/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
4 pounds boneless pork shoulder (untrimmed), cut into chunks
Freshly ground pepper
2 bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick
Put the ancho and pasilla chiles and the garlic in a bowl. Microwave on high until soft and pliable, 2 to 3 minutes. Stem and seed the chiles; peel the garlic. Transfer the chiles and garlic to a blender.
Add the chipotles, onion, 2 tablespoons olive oil, honey, vinegar, 1 tablespoon salt and the oregano to the blender; puree until smooth. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over high heat; add the chile sauce and fry, stirring, until thick and fragrant, about 8 minutes. Pour in the broth and reduce until slightly thickened.
Season the pork all over with salt and pepper and transfer to a large slow cooker. Add the bay leaves and cinnamon stick, then pour in the sauce. Cover and cook on high until the meat is tender, about 5 hours. (Or cook the meat in a large Dutch oven, covered, for 1 hour 45 minutes at 350 degrees; uncover and cook 30 more minutes.)
Discard the bay leaves and cinnamon stick. Shred the pork with 2 forks; season with salt and pepper. Serve the shredded pork in the tortillas, along with toppings.
Corn and Bean Salad
SALAD
2 cups canned black beans -
I use two cans of black beans and one can of kidney beans, drained and rinsed.
2 cups canned corn -
I use two cans of shoe peg corn
1 cup red onion, chopped
2 cups scallions, chopped -
I usually don't use because I forget to buy them.
6 pear tomatoes, chopped -
Never put tomatoes in mine.
1 red bell pepper, chopped -
I use two red peppers
1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
~ salt and pepper, to taste
DRESSING
2 small jalapeño peppers - I
sometimes include, sometimes omit and use cayenne pepper instead
2 cloves garlic
¼ cup chopped parsley -
I always omit this and use more cilantro instead.
¼ cup chopped cilantro -
No chance I'm measuring. I just use an entire bunch of cilantro.
1 cup mild olive oil
½ cup red wine vinegar
1 tsp cumin, to taste
For dressing, place all ingredients into a food processor (jalapeños and garlic mince better if thrown in first with machine running, then add herbs, etc). Combine red onion, scallions, tomatoes, bell peppers, corn and beans. Pour dressing over all. Serve chilled or at room temperature.
Roasted Veggies
Slice red and yellow peppers and red onion, toss lightly with olive oil. Roast at 425 for 30-45 minutes.
Chocolate Cake
I knew I wanted to make a chocolate cake with white icing, so I googled "best chocolate birthday cake" and came across this recipe from Kevin & Amanda's blog (nope, don't know them!) for "THE BEST Chocolate Cake" and I might have to agree... it was pretty darn delicious.
1 box devil’s food cake mix
1 small pkg Jello instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups mini chocolate chips -
I used regular sized chips and prefer that.
Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl (use your stand mixer if you have one), mix together all of the ingredients until blended. Stir in the chocolate chips. Pour batter into cake pan. In the
original recipe, she uses two 9" pans but says you can use whatever. I used two 8" pans and while the batter didn't overflow, it was close. Next time, I'm using four 8" pans. Use the cooking times on the back of the devil’s food cake box as a guide and add 10 minutes to whatever it says. Then check on it every 5 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
I cut my two 8" cakes in half so I'd have a four layer cake... increases the icing to cake ratio, which in my opinion, the higher the better.
Grocery Store Inspired Icing
Is there much better than the sugary sweet grocery store icing? Don't think so! This is not for those who favor less sugar but that's not a problem that I have!
1 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter
1 tablespoons vanilla extract
2 pounds confectioners' sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons milk
Preferably in a stand mixer bowl, cream together the shortening, butter, vanilla and salt until combined. Add sugar a little at a time until it's incorporated and then add the milk. Turn the mixer on high and whip for 10-15 minutes until fluffy. This is when the stand mixer comes in handy. If not, find something good on TV.
