Egg Salad with Avocado

A while ago, I decided to cook out of my sister's cookbook for an entire month. One of the recipes I tried, we LOVED! But there are two requirements for one to enjoy this recipe: 1. you have to like egg salad, and 2. you have to like avocado. If you fit these requirements, I think you'll love this recipe like we do.

Here's what you'll need:

10 hard boiled eggs

3 T. mayo or Miracle Whip

1 tsp. Dijon mustard

1 T. freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/2 avocado, mashed, and 1/2 avocado, chopped

salt and pepper

lettuce

tomato slices

Using a pastry blender or fork, mash together hard boiled eggs and half an avocado.

Stir in mayo or Miracle Whip, mustard, and lemon juice; season with salt and pepper.

Carefully fold in chopped avocado.

Divide egg salad among toasted bread. Top with tomato slices and lettuce.

Yum, yum, yum!!!

B.L.T. w/ A.

I loooooooooooooooooooooove B.L.T.'s!!! I also looooooooooooooooooooove avocados. So, yesterday for lunch, I made B.L.T.'s with avocado and I was in HEAVEN!!!!! It's one of those simple pleasures in life. Enjoy!

Here's what you'll need:

Toasted Multi-Grain bread (or any bread)
cooked bacon slices
washed lettuce leaves
sliced tomato
sliced avocado

Slather your toast on one side with mayo or Miracle Whip. Place bacon on one piece of toast and top with lettuce, tomato, and avocado. If desired, season avocado with a dash or two of salt and pepper. Top with the other piece of toast. Cut in half and devour.

So good!!!

Breakfast Pockets

One Saturday morning, I had an itch to make something new and different for breakfast. After the wheels in my head were turning for a while, I decided to make my own breakfast pockets. It was so much fun to create something new for us.

Here's what you'll need:

10 eggs
1 lb. sausage, cooked & crumbled
2 C. shredded cheese
4 (7.5 oz) tubes refrigerated biscuits

Cook the sausage and set aside. Scramble the eggs and cook in the same pan that you cooked your sausage in, scraping the bottom to get all of the yummy sausage bits in your scrambled eggs. Cook until creamy and still wet. Add sausage and combine. Roll out biscuits into thin circles. Put a mound of the sausage and egg mixture on the center of half of the rolled out biscuits. Sprinkle cheese over the egg mixture. Place another rolled-out biscuit on top and press the edges to seal. Place on a baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 11-12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to a cooling rack and brush with butter. Serve warm. Makes about 20 pockets.

The kids and I really liked these. I also liked that we could just grab some out of the fridge, warm them up, and eat them on the run. But next time I'm going to try them with some country gravy or a cheese sauce to eat with a fork. Yummmmm!!!!

Monte Cristo Sandwiches

The first time I tried a Monte Cristo sandwich was when my friend from home/old roommate, Nicole, and I went out to lunch after we both had gotten married. She told me I had to try this sandwich she had found that was so good. So I did, and it was so yummy! I loved the french toast-like exterior and the melted cheese and ham interior. It was served with raspberry jam on the side for dipping, but I wasn't too fond of that, so I just ate it plain and it was good.


Well, I came across a recipe from The Prepared Pantry for a Honey Ham Monte Cristo sandwich. The fond memories of that yummy sandwich with Nicole came flooding back to me. I decided to try it. The result wasn't quite the same, but still good none-the-less, so my hubby and I thought. My kids, not so much. But this really isn't a kids sandwich.


Give it a try and see what you think.


Here's what you'll need:


8 slices of bread
3 eggs
2 T. milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. dry mustard
1/8 tsp. white pepper
8 slices of provolone or Swiss cheese
1/2 lb. thinly sliced deli ham (or you can use half ham and half turkey)
1/4 C. honey
2 T. prepared mustard


Mix the eggs, milk, salt, dry mustard, and white pepper together in a shallow bowl. Make the honey spread by mixing the honey and the prepared mustard. Set aside.


Spread honey mustard onto one or two pieces of bread. Top with ham, then cheese, and more ham.
Heat a griddle. Dip each sandwich lightly into the egg mixture on both sides of the sandwich. Place on the griddle and fry as you would french toast or a grilled cheese sandwich, turning when one side is golden brown.


Serve hot. You can serve it with seedless raspberry jam or honey, which is what I ate mine with. Yum!!

Southern Pulled-Pork Sandwiches with Sweet Coleslaw

Have you been thinking about what to make for your Super Bowl party? In case you have, I have an idea for you. And if you could care less about the Super Bowl, then just enjoy today's recipes, cuz they're GOOD!!!

I saw this idea once on one of my BHG emails I get, for pulled-pork sandwiches with coleslaw on top. I thought it looked interesting. I thought to myself, I have a good pulled-pork recipe, but I don't like coleslaw. And then I remembered eating coleslaw once at my mother-in-law's house and it was so good! But all I could remember about it was that it was sweet. So I did a search online for a sweet coleslaw recipe and I found one that my whole family (myself included) fell in LOVE with!!

Now I made one sandwich slathered in BBQ sauce and no slaw; it was good. The next sandwich I made was with the sweet slaw on top and it was AMAZING!!!!!! The tangy, chewy pork combined with the sweet, crunchy slaw - it is a PERFECT combination! That was all I ate for the next couple of days until it was gone. Trust me when I say, "It was AMAZING!!!"

Here's what you'll need:

Southern Pulled-Pork Sandwiches

3 lbs. pork roast, cut into equal pieces
1/4 C. brown sugar, packed
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 T. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 1/2 C. cider vinegar
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 C. water
8 soft sandwich rolls, split (I used my soft and tender rolls)
BBQ sauce for serving

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, combine sugar, cayenne, salt, and pepper. Cover pork pieces with the sugar mixture. Place into a roasting pan.
Now, let me just say this, this is how my butcher cut my pork roast. But I prefer to have bigger chunks rather than slices of meat so that when you shred it, you'll have longer shreds. I ended up with little tidbits of pork rather than shreds.

In a medium bowl, combine vinegar, garlic, and 1/2 C. water. Pour into roasting pan. Let me also say this, I should have used my biggest roasting pan and covered it with foil, since it doesn't have a lid. Cover your pan and place in the oven. Bake until pork is very tender and separates easily. For me, it took between 1 to 1 1/2 hours to cook. The recipe says to let it cook for 2 to 2 1/2 hours. I would suggest checking it after an hour or so and go from there.

Transfer pork to a work surface, reserving pan juices. Shred the meat. Transfer to a large bowl and toss with some of the pan juices to moisten.

And now for the next recipe:

Sweet Coleslaw

1 bag of coleslaw mix (just the shredded cabbage, carrots, and radishes - don't use the sauce mix if it comes with one)
2/3 C. Miracle Whip
3 T. oil
1/2 C. sugar
1 T. white vinegar
1/4 tsp. salt

Put the cabbage into a large bowl and set aside. In a small bowl, combine the Miracle Whip, oil, sugar, white vinegar, and salt. Mix well until creamy and mostly smooth. Pour over the cabbage; mix well to combine. Cover and refrigerate for 2-5 hours. Now that is VERY important to get the best flavor without making the slaw go soggy. After it sits for a couple/few hours, it'll be nice and moist and ready for sandwiches.

To assemble:

Take your sliced sandwich roll and on the bottom half, slather a little BBQ sauce. Place however much pulled-pork on the sauce, then top with however much coleslaw you want. Put the top half of the roll on and CHOW DOWN!!


If you would rather fore go the slaw on top, then just eat it with your favorite BBQ sauce.
But, for me, just try it with the coleslaw. I'm pretty sure you won't regret it!

Shredded BBQ Beef Sandwiches

Yay!! Recipes, finally!!! This recipe is one that we love and for three reasons: 1-it's really yummy; 2-it's super easy; and 3-it can feed a lot of people. About six months ago, when my baby was only a few weeks old, I hosted a luncheon at my house after church for lots of family members. As I pondered what I would serve for it, this is what I chose for the three reasons I love it. It was perfect!


Try it out; and even if you don't need to feed a houseful, size it down to what you need. Or you can make a lot of this and freeze it for future use. You can't beat a really good dinner, ready-made and homemade, that you just pull from the freezer and warm up!


Here's what you'll need:


Beef roast, whatever size you want - I went with a 4 lb. and a 2 lb. (6 lbs total) since I was feeding LOTS


Your favorite dry rub or seasoning - I like McCormick's GrillMates Montreal Steak Seasoning, but my favorite is the Kirkland Sweet Mesquite Seasoning that you can find at Costco


Your favorite BBQ sauce - I like KC Masterpiece


Cover your roast with your favorite dry rub or seasoning. Cook it in the crockpot until it's done (the length of time will vary with the size of roast you use - you could cook it overnight on low).


When it's done, remove the meat from the crockpot and discard the juices. Shred the roast and place back in the crockpot. Smother with BBQ sauce until you've reached your desired moistness. For the six pounds of meat that I used, we used an entire 45 oz. bottle of BBQ sauce. Let warm in the crockpot. Serve in buns or rolls or between two pieces of sliced bread. Like I said, super easy, really yummy, and can feed a lot of people.

You can easily freeze any that's left over to save extras for another day.  Just place in a freezer ziplock bag and freeze.  To serve:  Thaw and heat through.

Cheese & Tomato Sandwiches

Wowie, it's been a while! I'm so sorry for the absence. Life has just been CRAZY with four little kids. And I know that it won't be letting up, so I will do my best to post new recipes, but I can't make any promises. Though I have a TON of recipes just waiting to be posted!

The first recipe for today is a very simple sandwich that my family, growing up, ate frequently. Quick and easy - LOVE IT!

Here's what you'll need:

sliced bread
favorite cheese
Miracle Whip or Mayo
thickly sliced tomatoes

Place your bread on a baking sheet. Top it with your favorite cheese. Broil it in the oven just until the cheese melts (only a couple of minutes). Take it out and slather with Miracle Whip or mayo. Then top with tomato slices and enjoy!

How easy is that?! Yummy!!!

Meatball Sub Sandwiches

Do any of you ever get tempted by watching TV commercials around dinner time? I don't know if it's because I'm pregnant or not, but, boy howdy, almost any commercial I see that has food in it makes me start to think of when I'll be making it!

The commercial that has gotten to me the most is that Subway one with the Meatball sub sandwich. I'm not quite sure why that commercial over so many others; I think maybe it has to do with me thinking, "Why would I go and pay someone to make that for me when I can do just as good of a job at home?"

Just looking at it on TV, it looks so simple to make, so I decided to give it a try. I found that, yep, it is that simple!!

Here's what you'll need:

Basic Meatballs:

2 lbs. ground beef

2 eggs

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1 C. dry bread crumbs

4 T. dried minced onion

1/4 C. Worcestershire sauce

Combine all ingredients, except the ground beef, and mix well.

Add the ground beef and mix well again.

Using a 1/4 cup of meat, form into a large ball and place on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet.

Or if you want to use this recipe for regular meatballs in any other recipe, use a Tablespoon of meat and form into a small ball. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes for the large meatballs or about 15-20 minutes for the small meatballs, or until cooked through.

Now for the rest of the sub sandwich directions, simmer a pan of spaghetti or marinara sauce and place cooked meatballs in pan and cover with sauce. Cut open Bolillo rolls or any other sub sandwich bread rolls, butter each side and place sauce-covered meatballs (about three large meatballs per sandwich) in rolls. Sprinkle with Mozzarella cheese and broil until cheese melts and bread is toasty. You can spread more sauce over your meatballs before you serve them if you like them saucy, like I do.Take that, Subway! Super easy, really yummy, and it'll save you some money too!!

Cheesy Scrambled Egg Sandwiches

Scrambled eggs used to be something that I would just throw together and never really considered using a recipe for. That was until I came across an actual recipe for scrambled eggs. I though I'd try it, so I did. Now, I LOVE that recipe! It's what I use every time I make scrambled eggs.

After I got married, I would ask my hubby what he wanted for breakfast, and often times he would suggest egg sandwiches. Now it's something we, and our kids, love to eat. It's quick and easy, and warm - the perfect thing for a busy Saturday morning.

Here's what you'll need:

8 eggs

1/4 C. half and half or milk or cream

1/2 t. salt

1/8 t. pepper

1 T. butter

Whisk together the eggs, half and half, salt, and pepper. Melt the butter in a 10 inch skillet over medium-high heat, coating the pan. Add the eggs and cook while gently pushing, lifting, and folding them from one side of the pan to the other until they are nicely clumped, shiny and wet, about 2 minutes. You'll want them to be slightly wet since they will continue to cook when covered. Remove the cooked eggs from the pan quickly. Top with shredded cheese and cover with aluminum foil. This will keep the heat in and melt the cheese. It will also give you the time you'll need to toast and butter your bread. When your toast is ready, scoop some cheesy eggs on one slice and top with another. I happened to use some day-old buns I made with the breadstick recipe I posted last, but you can use any bread you may have on hand. This egg recipe is a perfect companion to pancakes, waffles, muffins, and so on. Yummmmmmm, give them a try!!!