The Pioneer Woman's Restaurant Style Smashed Potatoes

Ingredients:

-5 Whole large red potatoes

-1 Stick butter, softened and cut into pieces

-5 Slices bacon, cooked and crumbled (I used Hormel real bacon crumbs heated up slightly)

-2 Whole green onions, slices

-3/4 Cups sour cream

-Salt to taste

-Peper to taste

-3/4 French fried onions (Safeway carries them by the canned veggie section)

Nuke or bake potatoes in oven or micro wave until fork-tender. Add to a large bowl and smash with a potato masher, or fork will work. Immediately add softened butter, green onions, bacon and sour cream and stir. Add salt and pepper to taste. Petra & I thought the French Fried Onions were best added on top after serving, that way they are still crunchy. Very delicious with barbeque chicken.

BBQ Pulled Pork

Beware, this is a cheater recipe and you only have to make it once to be hooked for life.:)

1 pkg. MCCormick Slow Cooker Bbq Pulled Pork Seasoning
3 lbs. or so boneless pork shoulder roast, well trimmed
1/2 c. ketchup
1/2 c. firmly packed brown sugar
1/3 c. cider vinegar

1. Place pork in slow cooker. I have used boneless or bone-in, shoulder or butt roast, whatever is on sale and it all works just fine. (Don't worry about the bone and fat till after it's done cooking if you're in a hurry--no prob.)

2. Mix seasoning, ketchup, brown sugar, and vinegar until blended. Pour over pork. Cover. * Hint--This would be a good time to plug your crock pot in and turn it on. Wallah! Now go back to bed. lol

3. Cook 8 hours on low or 4 hours on high. (I sometimes cook it 6 hours on high--I tell you, it is a very forgiving recipe.) Remove pork and liquid from crock pot.

4. Shred pork, using 2 forks, removing bone and fat if you ignored that step earlier. Return meat to crock pot. Pour 1 bottle of cheap bbq sauce over meat and mix in. Don't worry about fancy sauces with this recipe, it really does taste better with Kraft or Masterpiece, trust me on this. Heat thoroughly on high for approx. 30 minutes before serving. Serve over hamburger buns etc. with whatever your little heart desires.

Petra's fried rice

Petra's Fried Rice

Take 4-6 cups uncooked rice and cook it adding salt to taste

Cut up veggies and set aside in separate bowls per how you add them. 2 carrots, 1-2 bunch(es) green onion 3 cups broccoli, 1-2 cups celery (any amount will work it's just typically what I do)

Pre-cook bacon (full to a half pack) cut up into quarter size bits 

Take eggs, crack and whip in a bowl set aside.  (3-4 eggs) 

Veggies- Any or all of them

broccoli, carrots, celery, onion, green onion, frozen peas, snow peas

Other items- any or all Bacon, Egg, Chicken, Soy sauce, cold rice (pre seasoned is better, jasmine or brown rice has better flavor)

In a Wok or non stick skillet, fry bacon and set aside leaving the grease in skillet.

Using the same skillet with the bacon grease, add your brocolli and carrots, add soy sauce and cover stirring often and salting to taste. Fry until slightly tender.

Add your other veggies, possibly adding more soy sauce and salt. When your veggies are how you want them, add rice and bacon.

Then take your whipped eggs and pour over the top of the rice and stir in as you fry your rice. 

(Egg will be like what is in Chinese rice, little fragments instead of like when you scramble an egg then add it.)

Roasted Chicken and herbs

6-7 chicken breast
8 Potatoes
4 Carrots
1 cube of butter
1 tablespoon of oregano
1 tablespoon of basil
Poultry seasoning
Black pepper (fresh or chunky)
Chicken bouillon
water

Cut up your veggies, place in bottom of roasting pan, place chicken breast on top,
Mix up the herbs, melted butter, and sprinkle poultry seasoning, add a little bit of water. Pour over top of chicken and veggies, cover and bake on 350 for 1 ½ hours

About 30-40 minutes into the baking, open up and sprinkle more poultry seasoning and add your black pepper you thought I had forgot *wink

Serve with fresh rolls and salad.

Snacky Snack!

Ingredients:
1 Banana
1 Tsp. Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Milk

Cut up banana, put in bowl. Sprinkle Brown sugar on top. Poor milk over mixture. WahLah!-Snacky Snack!

p.s. Not sure why my family likes this, but hey it's easy and pretty Healthy!! :)

Emeril Essences

Sis. Jalea's Prime Rib Seasoning

1 1/4 c. Paprika
1 c. Salt
1 c. Garlic Powder
1/2 c. Black Pepper
1/2 c. Cayenne Pepper
1/2 c. dried leaf Oregano
1/2 c. dried Thyme

Put ingredients in a bowl and stir till combined. Cover your nose and mouth when mixing, or the cayenne will burn you. Will need a large container to store in.

*This mixture tasted wonderful the first time I tried it, but when I mixed up a batch, it was entirely too hot for me. I should have measured more carefully and used less cayenne.:)

Cheddar Cheese Ball

The Yummiest Cheddar Cheese Ball Ever

2 c. finely shredded cheddar cheese
1 8-oz. pkg. softened cream cheese
4 T. butter or margarine
4 T. milk
2 heaping T. finely chopped green onion
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 c. finely chopped ranch flavored Almond Accents
*4-5 pcs. of bacon, chopped small, cooked

--Put cheese, cream cheese and butter in mixing bowl. Add milk, green onion and Worcestershire sauce and beat till combined. Cover and chill for a couple hours. Take out of refrigerator and split mixture in half. Shape each half into ball and roll in Almond Accents. Cover each ball with saran wrap. Chill for 24 hours and use or put in freezer bag and use later. Serve with crackers, esp. Sun dried Tomato and Basil Wheat Thins!!

*This is a variation of the recipe I used to call Lizzy and get every holiday season until the year she started calling me to get the same recipe... Anyway, it's very yummy and almost impossible to ruin.