The Best Salsa Ever!

I have been on a quest to make the best salsa ever! My favorite salsa is the kind when you are eating in a restaurant and it is just the perfect blend of flavors. It has taken a while and I have tried many different recipes and most have been good. Not great, but edible. So while on my internet search I found this recipe from Pioneer Woman. And I have found it....the BEST salsa ever! It tastes as good or better than the stuff served in restaurants. :)

Restaurant Style Salsa
1 can (28 Ounce) Whole Tomatoes With Juice
2 cans (10 Ounce) Rotel (diced Tomatoes And Green Chilies)
1/4 cup Chopped Onion
1 clove Garlic, Minced
1 whole Jalapeno, Quartered And Sliced Thin
1/4 teaspoon Sugar
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/4 teaspoon Ground Cumin
1/2 cup Cilantro (more To Taste!)
1/2 whole Lime Juice

Note: this is a very large batch. I recommend using a 12-cup food processor, or you can process the ingredients in batches and then mix everything together in a large mixing bowl.

Combine whole tomatoes, Rotel, onion, jalapeno, garlic, sugar, salt, cumin, lime juice, and cilantro in a blender or food processor. Pulse until you get the salsa to the consistency you'd like. Test seasonings with a tortilla chip and adjust as needed.
Refrigerate salsa for at least an hour. Serve with tortilla chips or cheese nachos.

So incredibly tasty...it will be gone very quickly!!!

-Kelli

Winner, Winner...PORK dinner?

So I am in a four-family cooking group with some ladies around town and have been enjoying the extra time three days out of the week NOT cooking. Honestly, there is no better feeling than watching the busy day wind down to around four o'clock and not running into that horrid thought, "Oh no, what am I going to cook for dinner tonight?"
Knock. Knock. Knock. "Here's your supper! Enjoy!"
Dinner a'la doorbell.
It. Is. So. Lovely.
BUT I like to cook, don't get me wrong. I enjoy a few hours dawdling in the kitchen, messing up recipes and swearing to myself and my hungry husband that I'll follow the recipe more closely next time.
My point?
The recipe exchanging is one of the biggest perks of this food-group business. I have come across some real nuggets of gold. (And some real nuggets of...well...not everything everyone cooks is going to agree with my family.) It is a risk worth taking, having others cook for you three days of the week. Remember that delectible little frozen Texas treat a few posts back? That'd be a nugget a' gold there. And this one, this be a niiiice little addition to my collection.

Candied Piggy *

*not actual recipe name. (I don't know the actual name. What is it with these ladies not naming their recipes?)

1 pork roast (2-4 lbs)

2 cups salsa of choice

2 cups brown sugar

1 slow cooker

Combine salsa and brown sugar. Place over pork in slow cooker. (Maybe put a bit of water to thin it out a bit.) Cook on low 8-10 hours. Shred with fork and let it simmer for another two hours.

Pair with warmed tortillas, lettuce, tomatoes and cheese for succulent pork burritos, or grab some local naan (indian bread) or make it yourself (recipe a few posts back) and pinch it off in fingerfuls with the soft bread.

Seriously delicious sweet pork.

Happy Eating!

-Amy



Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

Yummy! So my step-daughter wanted a Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake for her birthday.

I knew where the perfect recipe was, it was at kevinandamanda.com.

I made my own adjustments, and the recipe I used will be posted at the bottom. But her blog was my inspiration. Since my step-daughter loves stars I decided to make her cake in a Wilton Star cake pan.

I made the chocolate cake, and I added Reese's Peanut Butter chips to it =)

Then I made the frosting...peanut butter buttercream frosting. Oh my goodness this was so sinful that I kept eating it. It tasted just like the Reese's peanut butter. =)

I then cut up some Reese's peanut butter Cups and put them on top. It was devilishly good!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

1 box chocolate 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 peanut butter chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a very large bowl, mix together everything except peanut butter chips. Batter will be thick. Stir in the peanut butter chips. Pour batter into cake pan of choice. For cooking time, I use the cooking times on the back of the cake box as a guide and usually add 10 mins to whatever it says. Then I do the toothpick check, and if it’s not done, I check on it every 5 mins after that. It usually takes around 45 mins for two, 9-inch pie pans.

Peanut Butter Buttercream Frosing

1 Butter
4 cups powdered sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

1/2 Cup Peanut Butter

In a mixing bowl, cream butter until fluffy. Add sugar and continue creaming until well blended. Add salt, vanilla, and whipping cream and then peanut butter. Blend on low speed until moistened. Beat at high speed until frosting is fluffy.