Fried Oyster Po Boy Sandwich

My husband Bart, who is from North Carolina.

Oh Carolinas! I must be missing the East Coast because the past week, all I want is pulled pork, red velvet cake, collard greens and hush puppies. One thing I really missed was the oysters! They say that oysters are in season with the months ending in "ER", so basically, September, October, November and December. When in South Carolina, Bart took me to Calabash, North Carolina for some of the best seafood I've ever had. Calabash style seafood refers to fresh seafood, lightly battered and fried to order. It's DELISH!

I was able to find fresh shucked oysters the other day and I had to buy them, at $9.99 a pound, I was able to get at least 25 great oysters, perfect for a Po Boy Sandwich, or two, or three....

Ingredients:

Shucked Oysters

Flour

Oil

Salt

Look how plump this bad boy is!




Take an oyster and dip into all purpose flour.

Now dip it into an egg wash.

You only need 5 or 6 oysters per sandwich but I made a few extra to nibble on.

Add to hot veggie oil and cook for 4 minutes or until golden brown and crispy to the eye.

Once cooked, place on paper towels to drain excess oil. Sprinkle with salt.

I made homemade tarter sauce to add to the sandwich. If you don't like tarter sauce, just squeeze fresh lemon on the oysters.

Need tarter sauce? It's simple:

Take some mayo, sweet relish, some lemon or lime juice and onion salt. Mix well and let sit for at least an hour before you use it. I like lots of relish in mine. If you don't have relish, just chop up some pickles and add to the mayo.

Best Deviled Eggs Around

If anyone has ever been to a Guill Picnic, then they have tried Valerie's Deviled Eggs. I must say they are by the far the best deviled eggs I have ever tasted...and I've tried many as I'm a huge fan of the deviled egg. This recipe also calls for Miracle Whip, which, I know many of you don't like, but please just try it...you will be surprised! This recipe may sound simple but it's HUGE on taste. It's easy and good...what's not to love?

Here's my mom with Luke...isn't she cute. I think all my family is cute!

Deviled Eggs

Dozen Eggs

Miracle Whip

Mustard

Dash Apple Cider Vinegar

Salt

Pepper

Fried Crispy Bacon, chopped

Paprika

Boil eggs. Cut in half. Remove yolk. Mash yolks with fork well. In bowl, combine yolks, add miracle whip until creamy. Add a small amount of mustard and dash of vinegar. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add chopped bacon. Mix well. Fill egg white with yolk mixture and sprinkle with paprika.

Note: This is a to taste recipe....sorry. But just think, you keep to keep licking the bowl till you get it right.

If I get better measurements next time I make these, I'll post them.

Isn't my happy face so...well, you know...HAPPY?

He's happy because he knows he's so darn yummy!

Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Bart, Triston and I recently went back to the Carolinas for a family vacation before the baby arrives. Even before we landed in North Carolina, all we could talk about was the pulled pork BBQ we were going to eat. Boy oh boy, did we get our fill, we were in hog heaven, no pun intended. When we came back to Scottsdale, we also brought back with us 2 pounds of the chopped pork and sauce, needless to say, we ate it all within a few days.

Because we love BBQ, I decided I would try and make some pulled pork sandwiches. I use what a lot of folks in N.C. use, pork shoulder. I was able to find a 9 pound pork shoulder at one of my favorite stores and I broke out the crockpot. I decided that a family of 3 didn't need 9 pounds of BBQ, so I had Bart cut it in half. Because the shoulder bone was in the meat, we had to break out the hammer.....things we do for food, right?

I let the meat cook for about a day, on low heat with only white onions, salt and pepper and two cups of water.....and just let "nature" take it's course. The meat, when done, was so tender and started to shred itself!

I'm telling you, if you love pulled pork, you have to try this! It's unreal! My son, Triston who is only 6 was caught a few times going to the crockpot stealing bites before dinner. I love when my family truly LOVES what I made for them to eat. This is a keeper for sure!

We put the pulled pork on onion buns and I made skillet potatoes as a side as well as collard greens (I will blog those two recipes as well).

Pork Shoulder or Pork Butt

2 white onions

salt and pepper

2 cups of water

Extras:

BBQ Sauce

Buns

As you can see, 9 pounds is a lot of meat!

Cut up the onions and lay it on the bottom of the crockpot.

Because we didn't need 9 pounds of BBQ in our house, we cut it in half. The other half was wrapped up well and placed into the freezer for another time.

Place meat on top of the onions, add salt and pepper and 2 cups of water. Set crockpot on low and cook for a day.

This is what the meat looked like 4 hours into the cooking process.


This is what the meat looked like the next morning, look at the color, delish!

Remove all onions, broth, fat and bones from the pork and return to crockpot.

Add your favorite BBQ sauce and let simmer for another hour.

Peanut Butter Popcorn

Oh yes I did bust out with the green Shrek bowl

I found this recipe from Dish on Delish. I made it one night after everybody went to bed. I ate so much I was sick. I loved it but then again I love ALL things peanut butter. Try it out and let me know what you think.

Peanut Butter Popcorn

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup light corn syrup

½ cup creamy peanut butter

½ cup unpopped popcorn kernels

Pop corn in an air popper (I didn't have an air popper so I used what I had...one of these bad boys...

Once popcorn is popped, place in a large bowl. In a medium saucepan, combine sugar and corn syrup over medium heat. Stir until bubbly and sugar is completely dissolved. Remove the pan from heat and stir in peanut butter until smooth. Evenly pour the mixture over the popcorn and combine well. Let cool for 2 minutes before serving.

Jaime's Green Sauce

Okay, so I cannot tell you guys enough how much Jen and I both love Home With Mandy's cooking blog. I found this recipe...it's called Ninfa's Green Salsa. I've been dying to make it but couldn't find green tomatoes. And it didn't help the situation when Jen went to the Carolinas and didn't bring me any back either (Jen, I will never let you live this down). Finally, I found some green tomatoes at the local farmers market down the street from my house. They were organic Heirloom Tomaotes and they cost me $5.00 a lb...OUCH...but it was totally worth it. My friend Allison Day came over and helped me make it. It was phenomenol. Everybody ate it up so fast, I didn't even get a picture of the final result so I had to borrow the top photo of the salsa from Mandy (thanks for your permission). Seriously you guys, this is a keeper! Actually this post is probably just plain torture because it's not tomato season and I hate to do this to you guys but this salsa was amazing. Jen sent me a link on where to order green tomatoes (as if that's going to make up for her not bringing me any), and I think I'm going to order some...you can check it out here. I want to make this salsa again and I want to make Jen's Fried Green Tomatoes. Try this one out FOR SURE! Since we don't live in Texas and I'm sure no one that reads this, other than Mandy and my cousin Maureen, I'm renaming this "Jaime's Green Sauce"...I love to steal people's recipes.

Jaime's Green Sauce

3 medium-sized green tomatoes, coarsely chopped (you can substitute yellow if you can’t find green ones, but never use red)

4 tomatillos, cleaned and chopped

3 jalapenos, stemmed and coarsely chopped

3 small garlic cloves

3 medium-sized ripe avocados, peeled, pitted and sliced

handful of cilantro

1 tsp. of salt

3/4 cup of sour cream

This is the first time I've ever worked with tomatillos and they were really easy. Just peel the outer paper off and rinse under water to remove any sticky stuff.

Combine chopped tomatoes, tomatillos, jalapenos and garlic in a saucepan and heat on medium high.

Use a potato masher to mash up the tomato mixer a little bit to help the whole thing get started.


The mixture will come to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring often. After 15 minutes remove from heat and let cool slightly.


While that is cooling, cut up your avocado and add it along with the cilantro and salt to the food processor.


Mix that until smooth.

Add the tomato mixture to the avocado mixture and mix that until combined and smooth.
Pour the mixture from the food processor into a bowl and mix in the sour cream.

Add the avocado seeds to the mixture if not serving right away to keep the sauce from turning brown. This sauce was good warm but even better cold.


This sauce was amazing! We ate it with chips but Mandy suggested eating it with chicken or poured over enchiladas...mmmm, yum...enjoy!

Chinese Chicken Salad

My blogging BFF, Jaime made this salad for my baby shower a month ago and it was a hit, not only with me but for everyone! I received so many e-mails from friends asking for this recipe, so I got it from Jaime and made it a few times. I love it! It's so refreshing, crispy and absolutely delish!

3/4 to 1 cup oil - I prefer Olive Oil

6 Tbls red wine vinegar

1 Tbls soy sauce

4 Tbls sugar

2 packets from the Oriental Top Ramen Packets (sold in the soup section)

Additional items to toss in the salad:

Chicken breast

Toatsed Almonds, my favorite!

Red Onions

Toast the almonds until golden brown, I use olive oil to help with the toasting process.

Mix oil, vinegar, sugar, soy sauce and Top Ramen packets together. Just like any salad dressing you make, you can adjust it by adding a little more of any ingredient to your liking...however, I personally prefer sticking with the original. Drizzle over your favorite salad, I love Romain. Top with your almonds and don't forget to break up the uncooked noodles of the soup package as a "crouton" topper.

-Enjoy

BBQ Meatloaf

I hate all things puffy...meringue, chilli rellenos, quiche (except for Tammy's because it's so darn dense), and even meatloaf. I really don't like meatloaf. For years, I always thought it was puffy and tasted like mystery meat....kinda gross. But Scott loves meatloaf so once in a blue moon (thanks Crystal for bringing "blue moon" back), I like to sacrifice and bust out with my "stepford wife"-ness. So I searched high and low for a meatloaf recipe years ago. I found the BEST recipe but can't find it out now...uggghh. It was when www.NBA.com started and the commercial said it had everything even Penny Hardaway's mother's meatloaf. I tend not to believe what people say so I logged on and low and behold on the front page of www.NBA.com was Penny's mom's recipe. I made it!!! Oh mother...Penny's mother that is...it was DIVINE! But then again, anything encased in bacon can only be DIVINE..right? So if anybody happens to have the recipe or know the recipe, please let me know.

Okay, I'll stop rambling. Last year, I found this current meatloaf recipe on Food Network. It was a Paula Deen recipe so I knew it had to be good...fattening...but good. Actually, if you use lean meat, it's actually not to bad. I made it and I liked it. It wasn't too puffy and had great flavor. And the best part...the whole family ate it...even Gavin! WooHoo...that's a success in my book.

Barbecue Meat Loaf

1 1/2 pounds ground beef

1 cup bread crumbs

1 onion, diced

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

2 (8-ounce) cans tomato sauce

3 Tbls vinegar

3 Tbls brown sugar

2 Tbls Dijon mustard

2 Tbls Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup water, to thin sauce if necessary

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together the beef, bread crumbs, onion, egg, salt, pepper, and 1/2 cup of the tomato sauce. Form this mixture into a loaf and place it in a shallow pan. Stir together the remaining tomato sauce, vinegar, sugar, mustard, Worcestershire and the water (if too thick)...(I actually didn't add any water because I forgot, but it turned out great). Pour this sauce over the meatloaf. Bake for 1 hour, basting every 15 minutes with the pan juices (I didn't baste...I don't have time for stuff like that...and it turned out fine).

We ate it all or I would have made Scott a meatloaf sandwich the next day. Those are his favorite.

The Symphony Bars

Hmmm, so this is the 2nd batch of what I call, "The Symphony Bars". I was reading Mandy's blog and she featured Blondie Bars however she didn't have the recipe - therefore I searched for the recipe and was SO excited to find it. The pictures of her making it made my mouth water and I needed, REALLY needed to make this treat. The recipe I found was for just a Blondie Bar, no additions such as chocolate or nuts, so I added my own flare, Symphony Chocolate Bars, hence the name. This is SO easy to make and the ingredients should already be in your pantry. I suggest when you make this, eat it right after you pull it out of the oven with a scoop of Vanilla ice-cream. Yes, girls, it's THAT good.

Enjoy and thanks for the inspiration Mandy!

-Jenifer

Ingredients:

8 tablespoons of butter, melted (Iused margarine this time and there is a HUGE difference, so use the real stuff)

1 cup of brown sugar

1 egg, room temp if you can

1 teaspoon of vanilla or 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract

pinch of salt

1 cup of flower

8x8 pan, buttered

Mix melted butter and brown sugar, beat until smooth.

Beat in egg.

Add vanilla and beat again.

Add salt and flour.

Stir well.

Take two Symphony bars and break up into big chunks with a knife.

Add to the batter.

I had walnuts in my pantry, so I added a handful to the batter as well. This is optional.

Pour into the 8x8 pan and bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until set in the middle.

Serve with ice-cream or eat alone with a glass of cold milk.

Enjoy!