Cajun Slow Roasted Pork

I made this a couple weeks ago and was incredibly pleased with the outcome. My husband said it was the best pork roast I have ever made. I went off a recipe I found in a magazine. But, you all know me... I have to add my own stuff to it! Don't be fooled by the list of the ingredients- this dish is NOT spicy.

Another quick note-
This recipe is GREAT for a busy schedule! You can saute the veggies the night before you serve it and throw it all in the crock before you head out the door in the morning. Or, if you are an early riser (unlike me!), you can do it all in about 30 minutes the morning of.



Cajun Slow Roasted Pork
1 small onion
1 celery rib
1 small green pepper (half of large)
3 tablespoons of butter (I used half butter/half olive oil)
3 garlic cloves, finely minced
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
1 boneless pork loin roast (about 4 lbs)

The night before-
Finely chop veggies. In a large skillet, heat butter/oil. Saute veggies until tender. Add garlic and cook for a couple minutes longer. Stir in all seasonings and pepper sauce. Let cool and refrigerate in an air tight container over night.

On the day of serving-
Place roast in crock pot. Cut several deep slits in roast. Heat up veggie mixture in the microwave until warm. Using your fingers and a spoon, open slits and stuff with veggie mixture. Dump remaining mixture on top of the roast, trying to cover any bare areas on the top and sides. Cover and cook on low for about 8 hours.

Transfer roast to a serving plate and keep warm. Pour roast juices from the crock to a small sauce pan.

Combine:
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons cold water

Whisk with fork until smooth. Stir into sauce pan. Bring to a boil and cook 2 minutes longer until thickened.

For me, my roast didn't produce that much juice. Maybe 1/2 a cup at the most. So, I ended up adding about 1/2 a cup of chicken stock to the sauce pan. You could also use water. If you just want to use the pork juices, I would reduce the water/corn starch mixture by half or it will be very very thick.

Serve with Roast.

Enjoy!

Holiday Baking and Snacks- Part 1

It's been awhile! I have a bunch of recipes and other cool things to post, I've just gotten behind. But, what better to get back in with then Holiday Baking and Snacks?

For the past 3 years, I make up gift bags stuffed with little bags of my favorite holiday treats. I normally give these bags away to co-workers and some of my parents' friends. One of my favorite gifts to receive is home made goodies. Here is a recipe I made that everyone raves over.




Emily's Party Mix
3 cups corn chex cereal
3 cups rice chex cereal
3 cups wheat chex cereal
3 cups small pretzels*
1 stick unsalted butter
3 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons seasoned salt
1 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder

Combine cereal and pretzels in a large microwavable bowl.

In a small, microwavable bowl, melt butter. Add all seasonings. Pour butter mixture over cereal and pretzels. With 2 large spoons, toss until shiny and coated well.

Microwave uncovered for 6 minutes. mixing thoroughly every 2 minutes. Pour on a baking sheets to cool.

*An alternative to using 3 cups of pretzels would be to add 1 cup of mixed nuts, 1 cup of bite-sized bagel chips, and 1 cup of pretzels. I didn't do that in this batch because I LOVE the chex and pretzels alone. But, feel free to mix it up a bit.

Enjoy!

Cake Decorating

Over the past year, or so, I have been increasingly interesting in decorating cakes. It might be due to working at Trefzger's Bakery on and off for 5 years. The girls there are AWESOME at decorating and I watched them carefully, picking up a few of their tricks.

For David's 20th birthday, I got Martha (owner of Trefzger's) to make him this cake. Each of the "sushi" pieces were not only edible, but delicious. The little dish of "soy" sauce was actually a mocha dipping sauce.:



For his 21st birthday, I wanted to try my hand at something creative. And, for the first time, I worked on a decorative cake. I labored over this cake for about 8 hours. The picture below is actually NOT the one I made. I searched everywhere and couldn't find the picture I took of my cake, BUT this is what I went off of and everyone told me my cake compared to this one looked exactly the same. All nerds out there should recognize it-- It's Link's Hylian shield from The Legend of Zelda:



For David's 22nd birthday, I went a whole lot more conservative. He's growing up, right? Plus, I got a new piping tip set and I wanted to try it out. He didn't want flowers or balloons, so I piped this blue shell boarder:



And, for my mother's birthday this past week, I made her a mandarin orange pineapple cake with pink roses and rose buds. I really wished I would have practiced making roses BEFORE the day we were celebrating her birthday. But, for only being my first time (and not having the patience or hand strength the make the roses over and over and over again until they looked perfect)--I think it looks pretty good: