Sweet and Salty Pretzel Bites

Small Pretzels
Hershey Kisses
M & M's (plain)

Preheat oven to 200*.

Lay out an single layer of pretzels on a foil lined pan.

Place one Hershey kiss on top of each pretzel.

Place pan in oven until kisses are softened. 3 to 5 minutes is all you need.

When chocolate is softened, remove pan from oven and top each kiss with a plain M & M. Press down slightly to embed the M & M into the kiss. 

Let cool completely, then store in an airtight container.

This is Jonah's specialty. He makes them every year for Thanksgiving, using orange, yellow and brown M&Ms (sometimes we use Reese's Pieces), then for Christmas using red and green M&Ms. We decided to make them for Easter this year and used every color in the bag. Jonah pointed out that the Easter colored M&Ms were more expensive and we didn't need that big of a bag! And right he was! You can mix these up with different kisses as well. We like the Hugs because of the stripes! 
He has been making them for several years so it's good for little hands as well.

She gets her own show!

I love all cookbooks, but this one is special!

The Pioneer Woman apparently has a show on Food Network beginning in August. I have followed her for quite a while now and think she is a hoot....a real talent in many areas....one of which is of course COOKING! So last night I made one of her recipes, Sour Cream Noodle Bake. It is really good and if today wasn't a Friday during Lent, I might have eaten some for breakfast this morning!
Some may wonder how I got my husband to eat cottage cheese since he has a serious aversion to the stuff. He really just can't stand the sight of it. (If you're reading this Honey forgive me, please!)I just whipped it with my hand blender for a couple minutes and it came out like ricotta cheese. You could use a regular blender or a Magic Bullet, whatever you have to make it work for you.  Here is her recipe, copied and pasted:

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 pound Ground Chuck (I only used 1 lb)
• 1 can 15-ounces Tomato Sauce
• ½ teaspoons Salt
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• 8 ounces, weight Egg Noodles
• ½ cups Sour Cream
• 1-¼ cup Small Curd Cottage Cheese
• ½ cups Sliced Green Onions (less To Taste)
• 1 cup Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Brown ground chuck in a large skillet. Drain fat, then add tomato sauce. 1/2 teaspoon salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Stir, then simmer while you prepare the other ingredients.
Cook egg noodles until al dente. Drain and set aside.
In a medium bowl, combine sour cream and cottage cheese. Add plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Add to noodles and stir. Add green onions and stir.
To assemble, add half of the noodles to a baking dish. Top with half the meat mixture, then sprinkle on half the grated cheddar. Repeat with noodles, meat, then a final layer of cheese. Bake for 20 minutes, or until all cheese is melted.

Click here to see her original recipe post.

Pulled Pork

  bumped this to the top since I now have a pic!

2 lbs. pork roast
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 cups ketchup
1 cup water
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce

Place pork in slow cooker.

In a bowl combine all other ingredients. Stir well and pour over roast.

Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours, until meat falls apart.

Remove pork from crock pot and allow to cool slightly. Remove and discard any bones. Pull meat into shreds using 2 forks, or if cool enough, your hands.

At this point you can either return the meat to the sauce in the crock pot, or serve plain and let each person add their own choice of sauce. If serving plain, I do use a little of the sauce it was cooked in to help keep the meat moist. Serve on a buns or hoagie rolls.

We use KC Masterpiece bbq or plain ketchup for Jonah.