Crock Pot Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Posted in Recipes Reel by meganandeggs

We just spent a week in New England, freezing our butts off, visiting my family. What stinks is we both, & my entire family, ended up getting the flu. We tried to hide from it but no matter what, it came for us, knocked us on our asses & in bed for four days. We didn’t get to do too much with the 30 degree temperatures but it was great to go home, visit with everyone & catch up.

I got to meet two of my cousin’s new babies & one of my very best friends ask me to be a part of her wedding party. All & all it was a pretty successful trip.

One of my favorite parts of coming home, besides catching up with family & friends, is being able to eat at all of my favorite local restaurants that we don’t have in Orange County. (Check out my Instagram for posts from last week’s trip… & what we are eating @MeggOliver) There is my favorite burger joint, amazing Italian dinners, fabulous brunch places & of coarse… some Connecticut pizza.

The food in Connecticut is much different than California. During the summer we are very seafood driven along the Long Island Sound. Local clams, shrimp, and even lobster can be found in any restaurant you go to. Many seafood shacks even close up for the winter before they have to resort to using frozen fish. During the winter in Connecticut most people get back to warm comfort food.

We started our trip with a topping covered pizza, was able to try out a new brewery… which was amazing… headed for Mexican & drinks to celebrate a friend’s birthday & enjoyed a beautiful brunch with friends.

When we got back from Connecticut I went straight to work for seven days straight, & with nothing in the house it was pretty rough eating take out & mall food court food for the first few days. But now we are back into the swing of things, recovered from our sickness & I am back to cooking. One easy recipe I have made a lot this fall & winter so far has been these pulled pork sandwiches. They are super easy & well yum.

My favorite part of them is not actually the meat at all. Instead I am dying over the massive amount of coleslaw I make to top the sandwich. And good news for me… Chris hates cabbage. So I make this coleslaw & literally put it on everything for a week. I top it on salads, sandwiches, as a side…anything! I love it. Try it out & let me know which you like more… the pulled pork or the coleslaw. Beware… this is a small batch recipe. The pulled pork only makes 3-4 sandwiches. But the coleslaw can go on for days.

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Pulled Pork:
1-1.5 lb. boneless pork loin
2 garlic cloves
2 tsp garlic powder
½ tsp paprika
¼ tsp dry mustard
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
½ cup BBQ sauce
1 tsp chili powder
1 Tbsp. honey

Cole Slaw:
½ head of purple cabbage
½ cup mayo
1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
½ tsp pepper
1 carrot, shredded

1. Mix all of the coleslaw ingredients in a bowl. Toss with tongs and refrigerate. Allow to sit for until the pork is done and all of the flavors have mixed together.
2. Place the pork at the bottom of a crock pot. Top with all of the seasonings. Cook on high 4-5 hours.
3. After 4-4.5 hours shred pork inside crock using two forks. Cover and allow to cook on low for another 30 minutes.
4. Assemble sandwich by adding coleslaw on top of the meat on a sandwich bun.

5Jan2016

Almond Vanilla Biscotti

Posted in Recipes Reel by meganandeggs

Is there any cookies better than Christmas cookies? The answer is just plain old no. There is nothing better, or more Italian, than a big old tray of cookies after dinner with coffee, espresso, & a little Sambuca or Limoncello. Ahh I love Italian family dinners.

One of my aunts does most of the cookie baking during the holidays. I think a lot of families have one person who is the cookie connoisseur, & she is definitely ours. A few years ago she made all of her nieces a little cookie cookbook & it is one of my favorite gifts I have gotten. It is such a treasure to have all of her cookies together in one place.

Now I have been pretty honest… I not the best baker. But one of my 30 goals by 30 was to become a decent baker. I feel like everyone needs to have a little something in their back pocket as far as desserts. A dessert that doesn’t come from a box. So this past holiday season I decided I was going to perfect a Almond Vanilla Biscotti.

So I made them… probably four times. My coworkers loved them, our friends loved them & Chris’s family loved them.

Baking a single cookie three times can be a little intimidating. I wasn’t sure how it as going to come out. Hell I can barely cook a sugar cookie once & have it come out right. But these came out amazing! This weekend we are going home to Connecticut & my girlfriends & I are getting together for a little girls brunch. I defiantly plan on making these & seeing what everyone on the east coast thinks of them. Maybe I will even run some over to my aunts so I can have the professional herself judge them. Wish me luck!

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½ cup butter, softened
¾ cup sugar
3 eggs
3 cups flour
1/2 cup sliced almonds
2 tsp almond extract
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp baking powder

1. Preheat the oven to 350⁰ and lay parchment paper over a cookie sheet.
2. In a large bowl mix together butter and sugar until smooth. Add in eggs one at a time and beat into mixture.
3. Stir in almond and vanilla extract.
4. Stir in flour and baking powder until mixed throughout. Do not over mix. Add in sliced almonds.
5. Lightly flour your hands and divide the mixture in half. Shape the dough into two 10 in long rolls. Place the rolls e5 inches apart from each other on the cookie sheet. Flatten until they are about 3 inches wide.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until lightly golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes.
7. With a sharp serrated knife, cut the rolls into ½ inch slices. Lay the slices on the same cookie sheet and bake 8-10 minutes.
8. Flip the cookies over and bake another 5 minutes. Allow to cool and enjoy with a cup of coffee.

21Dec2015

Herb Chicken Dumpling Soup with Veggies

Posted in Recipes Reel by meganandeggs

OOhf it has been over 10 days since my last recipe post. Christmas is sneaking up on us over here in Orange County & we are not ready. On top of my crazy holiday schedule at the store, Chris has been studying for a professional exam to get a title at the end of his name, we are getting ready for a trip to Connecticut to see my family in January, & of course we had to spend our annual Christmas day at Disneyland. Oh & last week Chris had a last minute, emergency dental surgery. Oh what fun.

There has been very little time for writing & pretty much no time for cooking. The high was 58 the day we spent at DLand & it was pretty cold for us So Cal kids. After spending the entire 14 hours at the park we needed to heat up by scarfing down some herb chicken dumpling soup! Yumm!

And honestly, is there a better way to heat your house (or 800 square feet apartment) by cooking? No, nothing is better.

So when I started blogging a few years ago, one of the first food bloggers I found & truly started following was Christina over at Dessert for Two. When I starting making my chicken soup this time I wanted something different. I didn’t want rice in it & honestly I was far too lazy to go to the grocery store & get a pasta.

So I started searching the internet & came across Christina’s recipe for Easy Chicken N Dumplings with Collard Greens and Confetti & I had to try to dumplings. They were amazing! A perfect carb for loaded herb chicken soup. So here is my soup recipe topped off with Dessert for Two’s fabulous dumplings & while you’re at it, check out her amazing cookbooks that came out this year here & here. I have them both & they are perfect!

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2 Tbsp olive oil
5 carrots
5 celery stalks
1 parsnip
2 cups baby spinach
48 oz chicken broth
2 cups water
1 lb chicken breast tenders
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 tsp rosemary
1 ½ tsp thyme

Dumplings from Dessert for Two:
½ cup flour
1/8 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 Tbsp butter, softened
¼ cup milk

1. Remove butter from refrigerator and bring to room temperature. Set aside for later.
2. Season chicken on one side with one half the amount salt and pepper, and 1 tsp each of thyme and rosemary.
3. Chop all veggie and cook them until tender in olive oil.
4. After 8-10 minutes, add chicken broth and water.
5. Cut chicken in ½ cubes and add slowly into soup while stirring so chicken doesn’t stick together.
6. Allow to cook on medium to medium-high and pull out all ingredients for dumplings.
7. Mix flour, baking powder, and a pinch of salt in a mixing bowl. Add room temperature butter and mix together with your hands. Make sure the butter is distributed evenly though the mixture. Add milk into mixture. I used a plastic spatula to make sure all of the flour mixture is moistened.
8. Flour a cutting board and your hands. Place dough only cutting board and shape into a thin rectangle about ¼ inch thick. Add flour to top and cut dough into small squares. Drop dough into cooking soup one at a time stirring regularly.
9. Allow to cook another 10-15 minutes, adding the remaining salt, pepper, rosemary and thyme and enjoy.

10Dec2015

Stuffed Acorn Squash

Posted in Recipes Reel by meganandeggs

Hi friends, how is everyone’s December treating them? Can you believe that we are only 15 days away from the big day!!? 15 days & let me tell you, I have about 2 gifts actually purchased. Oh boy. How are you guys doing with holiday shopping? This year I am blaming my procrastination on this stupid cold that I have been trying to kick for the past week.

I have tried it all, tea, vitamins, OJ, sleep, the great outdoors, & finally I even succumbed to meds. Uhg I hate taking pills, especially pills that are the size of a nut. Really Mucinex, you can’t make it a little smaller?

Fun fact, I didn’t actually swallow a pill until I was 19 & had mono for three months. Swallowing pills still brings back terrible memories.

Anyway, I pulled up my big girl panties, took some Mucinex for the past few days, slept a little longer than normal & I am hoping that will do the trick.

Since I’ve been feeling so down in the dumps, I haven’t really been in the mood to make big meals, or really even eat them. I’ve actually been so lazy that I even suggested we ordered Dominos last night. Eww. When I have been cooking, I have been sticking to small easy meals that are healthy to try to pick my immune system. Acorn squash, my new fixation, is one of those meals.

This isn’t my favorite version of this amazing little vegetable. I am keeping that one for myself for now, but this is right up there with some of the most amazing things in the world. You know, like pink ponies, meowing kittens, & never ending brownies. Truth is, you can really whip up any concoction you’d like for the filling, & as long as it is as green, & veggie filled as this is, with a little truffle oil on top, I can guarantee it will probably be just as good. Enjoy!

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1 green acrorn squash
6 green onions
1 large garlic clove
½ cup mushrooms, chopped
4 oz spinach
1 Tbsp panko bread crumbs
Salt and pepper
Truffle oil

1. Preheat the oven to 400⁰.
2. Chop green onions, garlic, and mushrooms and place into small pan with olive oil. Cook until mushrooms are tender and add spinach. Cook until spinach is just starting to wilt.
3. With a sharp knife, cut the stem of the squash off and discard. Then, laying the squash on the cut edge, slice the squash down the center to half it.
4. Scrape out the seeds from the middle and throw them away. Drizzle olive oil on the inside of the squash, and salt and pepper. Spread with a brush.
5. Fill the center of both pieces of squash with mushroom and spinach mixture.
6. Place ½ Tbsp of panko bread crumbs onto each squash to cover mushroom and spinach mixture. Drizzle truffle oil onto of panko and salt and pepper.
7. Bake for 45-50 minutes, until top begins to brown.

7Dec2015

Simple Turkey Meatloaf

Posted in Recipes Reel by meganandeggs

Helllooo everyone! How was everyone’s weekend?? Anytime I get two days off in a row I am beyond pumped! Especially during the month of December. That is like unheard of.

This weekend we headed up the coast to see a friend perform in a Christmas show & celebrate another friend’s birthday, which is pretty exciting for us. We don’t spend too many weekends at home, but we usually aren’t able to spend too much time with our friends so it is always so much fun when we get to hang out and catch up.

I would be lying to you, though, if I were to say that I wasn’t paranoid that our refrigerator full of veggies is going to go bad on our two nights away. Yes, I get paranoid over leaving for two nights. I am a freak! We went major grocery shopping on last Monday night and totally stocked up on veggies and meats that we were desperately lacking. I was good & froze all of the meats we haven’t cooked this week but I always feel like it is a race against time to eat all of the fresh vegetables we buy.

How do you guys make sure your veggies don’t go bad? I try to stock up on carrots and celery & other root veggies that won’t go bad as quickly but what do you do with all of those tomatoes?!!!

One of my favorite ways to quickly use all of the veggies in the fridge, besides making some sort of soup or a quiche, is pulling out a pound of turkey meat & throwing together an amazing meatloaf. What is great is you can totally use whatever you have in there. BBQ sauce, ketchup, mustard, and any and all veggies.

This is a very simple version of my meatloaf, with just the essentials in it. Usually I add spinach, broccoli & even peppers inside.

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1 lb ground turkey meat
1 medium carrot, grated
2 celery stalks, chopped
½ cup brown onion, chopped
¼ cup ketchup
⅓ cup BBQ sauce
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
⅛ tsp dry mustard
½ cup panko

1. Spray loaf pan with cooking spray and set aside.
2. Chop onions and celery, set aside. Grate carrot and set aside.
3. Empty turkey meat into large bowl. Pour carrots, celery and onion into bowl and mix with your hands. Ensure to mix fully so that vegetables are evenly dispersed.
4. Add ketchup, bbq sauce, salt, pepper, dry mustard and panko. Mix with hands again. Pour into loaf pan.
5. Bake at 375° for 50-60 minutes.