North Carolina BBQ Sauce

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This sauce was a huge hit at our daughter’s graduation pig pickin’.  We cooked the pig in the sauce but you’ll want to add more to your plate when you eat your pork because it is that good!

Ingredients:

4 c. cider vinegar
1 c. brown sugar
1 1/3 c. ketchup
1/4 c. butter
2 T. hot pepper sauce
2 T. fresh lemon juice
2 T. Worcestershire sauce
2 t. crushed red pepper flakes
2 t. mustard powder
1 t. salt
1 t. fresh ground pepper

Directions:

1.  Place all ingredients in a saucepan.  Bring to a simmer over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 20 minutes longer, stirring occasionally.  Remove from the stove and pour into a heat-proof bowl.  Cover and refrigerate the sauce for 2 days.

2.  Strain the sauce through a mesh sieve to remove the red pepper flakes.  Store the sauce in the refrigerator.  Bring to room temperature before serving.

***I did not remove the red pepper flakes and I thought it was delicious that way.

Source:  www.fullybooked.com

Love and Concern for All God’s Children

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Today, we had a wonderful lesson at church about having love and concern for all God’s children
Here are some of my favorite excerpts
 
“I believe it is our solemn duty to love one another, to believe in each other, to have faith in each other, that it is our duty to overlook the faults and the failings of each other, and not to magnify them in our own eyes nor before the eyes of the world. There should be no faultfinding, no back-biting, no evil speaking, one against another, in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We should be true to each other and to every principle of our religion and not be envious one of another. We should not be jealous one of another, nor angry with each other, and there should not arise in our hearts a feeling that we will not forgive one another our trespasses. There should be no feeling in the hearts of the children of God of unforgiveness against any man, no matter who he may be. …

… We ought not to harbor feelings one against another, but have a feeling of forgiveness and of brotherly love and sisterly love, one for another. Let each one of us remember his or her own individual failings and weaknesses and endeavor to correct them. We have not reached a condition of perfection yet, it is hardly to be expected that we will in this life, and yet, through the aid of the Holy Ghost, it is possible for us to stand united together seeing eye to eye and overcoming our sins and imperfections. If we will do this, respecting all the commandments of the Lord, we shall be a power in the world for good; we shall overwhelm and overcome all evil, all opposition to the truth, and bring to pass righteousness upon the face of the earth. For the Gospel will be spread and the people in the world will feel the influence which will be shed forth from the people of Zion, and they will be inclined more to repent of their sins and to receive the truth.”

“In other words, all that has been revealed for the salvation of man from the beginning to our own time is circumscribed, included in, and a part of these two great laws. If we love the Lord with all the heart, with all the soul, and with all the mind, and our neighbors as ourselves, then there is nothing more to be desired. Then we will be in harmony with the total of sacred law. If we were willing to live in harmony with these two great commandments—and we must do so eventually if we are worthy to live in the presence of God—then wickedness, jealousy, ambition, covetousness, bloodshed, and all sin of every nature would be banished from the earth. Then would come a day of eternal peace and happiness. What a glorious day that would be! We have been endowed with sufficient reason to know that such a state is most desirable and would establish among men the Fatherhood of God and the perfect brotherhood of man.”

I could not put it better. As one woman said during our lesson today, “LIFE IS HARD, LET’S HOLD HANDS!”

I love that. We all need to show more love, more concern, more kindness to everyone. Those in and out of our faith, those that we agree with and those we disagree with. The world needs more love!
Let’s try to be more Christlike and love all of God’s children.

Pulled BBQ Chicken

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My neighbor told me this recipe over the phone. Super easy and satisfying.

Pulled BBQ Chicken in the Crockpot
Ingredients:
3-4 Frozen chicken breasts
1 onion
smoked paprika
garlic powder
a bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce- I used Stubbs original

Directions:
Slice up the onion and place on the bottom of your crock pot. Lay the chicken breasts over the onions. Sprinkle with smoked paprika and garlic powder. Pour some of the BBQ sauce over the top of it all. Cover and cook on low until chicken is cooked through.
Shred the chicken with a fork and add more BBQ sauce as needed.

Serve on rolls with lettuce or wrapped in a tortilla with blue cheese cole slaw.

Candy Corn Cookies

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Now, I’m normally a “make it from scratch” kind of girl.  But sometimes, well, you just don’t have the time or energy.  I had planned to make these cookies from scratch but then thought, “You know, it’s just as wonderful to have a time-saving way to make something cute as it is to have a scratch way to make something cute!”

So, if you’re the type of person who loves ideas using convenience foods, you’ll love this.

Ingredients:
2 logs of sugar cookie dough
food coloring

1.  Preheat oven according to dough directions.  Unwrap logs of dough.  Set aside about 1/3 of the dough.  Take the other 1/3’s and place into two small mixing bowls.  Color one of the 1/3’s orange and the other yellow.  (I used gel food coloring in orange and yellow because that’s what I had.  If you have liquid food coloring, use yellow and then yellow/red to make orange.)
2.  Line a loaf pan with a large sheet of wax paper (you want it to cover all the sides, not just the bottom…and allow some to hang over the sides).  Press the uncolored cookie dough into the bottom of the paper-lined loaf pan.  Make sure it’s even.  Then do the orange, then the yellow so that you have three even layers.  Fold the wax paper down over the top of the dough and press to help the layers be even and also to adhere them to each other well.  Chill for an hour.
3.  Use the paper to lift out the dough from the loaf pan.  Remove the paper.  With the dough on a cutting board, carefully cut the dough into slices about 1/3-inch thick.  Cut each slice into little candy corn shaped wedges (also known as triangles!).  Place on an ungreased cookie sheet, two inches apart.
4.  Bake for 9-11 minutes, or until the edges are just barely starting to get golden brown.  Allow to cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet.  Then carefully remove to a cooling rack to cool completely.

I could have sworn I had a picture of the loaf slice cut into diagonal candy corn shaped wedges, but apparently I did not.  Sorry!

These cookies are a little on the small side, but 2 logs makes a lot of them.  I only had time to cut and bake a few of the slices and that was over 2 dozen.  The rest of the dough I put back in the fridge to use later.

Source:  idea from Kathie Cooks

Hugs

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I am so so so so so tired.  In fact I believe this is the most tired I have been in a long time.  I have a almost 5 month old who has been waking me up every 1 1/2 to 2 hours at night, a 3 and 5 year old who are up at 6:00 a.m. everyday, a 10 year old who somehow can’t fall asleep until 10:00 p.m. every night despite the fact that I want to be in bed and asleep at 9:00, and last but not least I have a brain that won’t let me fall asleep when I can sleep because it keeps going over all the things I need to be doing.  We are getting ready for a move across the country and every time I start working on something for the move a child needs something from me that keeps me from getting what I need to do done.  In fact right now it is 6:30 a.m. and I have been awake since 4. I have now told my 3 and 5 year old to stay in bed until the sun comes up at least 5 times and have tried to settle the baby back into sleep twice since I have began writing this blog post 30 minutes ago.  Right now being a mom feels like too much!  When the house is finally quiet at night I lay in bed and try to think if I have had more positives then negatives with my children that day.  Did I use every teaching moment?  Did I snap at them when they were doing nothing wrong?  Did I talk kindly to them?  Did I love them enough?  

What can I do to make things right?  Last night as I was thinking and praying about all of this a song from my childhood came into my mind, it is titled Four Hugs a Day by Charlotte Diamond.  The song starts out with the lyrics:

Nobody gets enough hugs a day
‘Cause the minimum number is four
Now if you haven’t got Four hugs today
Then you better get some more….

As I laid in bed thinking about this song I decided that today my goal would be to give my children at least 4 hugs each.  If all else fails today, if I go to bed tonight completely exhausted, if I didn’t get any packing done and my kids have only eaten macaroni from a box, at least I can say that I hugged them and maybe today that is enough.

Mommy’s Hug

BY SHARON KNUDSEN

My mommy baked a cake today,
But Mommy didn’t hug me.
She made some puppets for a play,
But Mommy didn’t hug me.
She washed the dishes, clothes, and walls.
She picked up papers, shoes, and dolls.
She made my lunch and answered calls …
But Mommy didn’t hug me.
When nap time came, she tucked me in,
But Mommy didn’t hug me.
She saw a tear run down my chin,
And then my mommy hugged me!
She tickled, kissed, and hugged me tight.
I hugged her back with all my might,
And that made everything all right.
I’m glad my mommy hugged me.
Who wouldn’t want to hug these cute kids!  Today is going to be a good day!

Halloween Poison Cake

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You know, it’s scary how many Halloween recipes you can find on Pinterest.  All the boys and ghouls are pinning all their faves for their upcoming spookiest soirees.  Every year I get so excited and say “This is the year I am going to host a “Tim the Tool Man Taylor”  monster bash!”  And every year I don’t.  Maybe next year.  Anyway, here is a sweet treat you can try out, the trick is trusting the conversion equivalents.  The source for this recipe has included both, but I think next time I make this I will tweak it.


Ingredients:
375 grams sugar (2 cups)
250 grams soft unsalted butter (9 oz.)
3 large eggs
250 grams all-purpose flour (1 3/4 cup)
1 1/2 t. baking powder
pinch of salt
250 ml  milk, room temperature (1 1/8 cup)
2-3 t. almond extract (or vanilla or mint )
Green food coloring, to desired color


Cocoa Icing:

1 cup or more of powdered sugar
Unsweetened cocoa powder, about 1/2 a cup
A few T. boiled, lukewarm water (not sure how this makes a difference.  I just used tap water.)


1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2.  Line a 9 x 13 pan with parchment (I used baking spray with flour).
3.  In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.
4. In another bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.  Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well each time.  Scrape down the sides when needed.
5.  Add the flour mix to the creamed mixture alternately with the milk, mixing well.
6.  Stir in the almond flavoring.  Next add green food color.  Don’t use too much since the color will darken as it bakes (it really does!).
7.  Pour the green batter in the cake pan and smooth with a rubber spatula.  Place cake on lowest rack in oven to prevent over-browning. Do this for sure.  I didn’t and ended up with a zombie cake top  Bake for about 40-60 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.
8.  Transfer cake to a cooling rack and cool completely before frosting.  Cut the cake into squares.


ICING:


Mix ingredients together in a bowl, adjusting liquid/sugar depending on desired consistency.  It should have a thick pouring consistency that is easily spread with a spatula.

SOURCE:  Cake Journal.

Spider Deviled Eggs and Clementine Pumpkins

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Just thought a couple of healthy treats would be nice for a change around the Halloween season.  No need for recipes here, just a few simple instructions.

For the Spider Eggs:

Make your basic deviled eggs.  Use a half black olive for the body of the spider.  Slice the other half into 4 segments to make legs.  You’ll need one and a half olives to make one spider.

For the Pumpkins:

Peel a clementine.  Insert a cut piece of celery into the top opening for a stem.

Source:  pinterest

How’s Your “To Do” List?

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I was scrolling through Facebook this afternoon at work, kind of filling in some time and I came across this video.  I want you to take 9 minutes and watch this, pay close attention to the boy’s prayer, and grab a tissue.  I will not even attempt to write any more about it.  You will understand why once you watch it.

 
 

 

Whole Grain Buckwheat Pancakes

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I love breakfast.  Love it!  But when you’re trying to go dairy- and gluten-free, breakfast can be hard.  Well, hard if you’re like me and love carbs for breakfast.  Pancakes weren’t something I ate every morning but when they were gone, they were missed.  In the few months that I’ve been eating this way I’ve tried a few pancake recipes;  and they were okay.  When I found this recipe I really didn’t have high expectations.  And when I saw the batter, my expectations dropped even lower.  (Seriously, it looks like mud.  And don’t the pancakes look more like hamburger patties from a distance?)  But I was pleasantly surprised when I took my first bite.  So happy I decided to try these!

Ingredients:
1 cup whole grain buckwheat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 egg, separated
1 Tbsp. pure maple syrup
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 Tbsp. melted ghee
coconut oil for cooking

1.  In a medium bowl combine the dry ingredients (flour through cinnamon).  Whisk and set aside.
2.  In a smaller bowl, combine the milk, egg yolk, maple syrup, vanilla, and ghee.  Whisk well to combine.  Add this to the dry ingredients and stir well until just combined.
3.  In a small bowl, whisk the egg white until soft peaks form.  Fold this into the batter gently.
4.  Coat griddle at medium heat with coconut oil.  Pour batter onto griddle, forming 4″ cakes.  Cook until bubbles form on top and the edges are no longer shiny.  Then flip and cook on the other side until done.

Serve with maple syrup.  Like, the real stuff!

Makes 8 four-inch pancakes

Source:  mountainmamacooks.com (very slighly adapted)

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