Crockpot Challenge: Snack Mix, Sweet Pork, and more...

Wooh! I kinda got behind, eh?

And I'm sure you've all been obsessively checking this blog, hoping and wishing for new crockpot recipes to try.

All two of you.

Okay, so on to the recipes that I experimented with on my family...er...I mean, lovingly PREPARED for my family....

Slow Cooker Party Mix

4 cups Wheat Chex (wal-mart was sold out of the wally brand, so I got corn chex)
4 cups Cheerios
3 cups pretzel sticks
1 can (12 oz.) salted peanuts
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
2-3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon celery salt (erm...don't keep this on hand. and really, is celery all that salty? how do exactly do they even MAKE salt with celery? odd. anyhoodles, I used a mixture of garlic salt and onion salt)
1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon seasoned salt

In a 5 quart slow cooker, combine cereals, pretzels and peanuts. Combine butter, Parmesan cheese and salts; drizzle over cereal mixture and mix well. Cover and cook on low for up to 3 hours, stirring every 30 minutes. Serve warm or at warm temp.

I tried a piece after it had been cooking for a bit. And...eh...it was NOT crisp. So, towards the end we left the lid off or left it cracked open with a spoon. Then it all crisped right up.

And it was pretty good. We've been munching on this since Friday. Next time I would put less salt. But it was easy and enjoyable.

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Saturday night we had the missionaries over for dinner, so I made my most FAVORITE dish of late, Sundi's Costa Vida Sweet Pork. For those of you who read my writing blog(still just the two of you....:), this will be a repeat, but here it is...

Costa Vida Style Sweet Pork

1 small pork picnic roast or any kind of pork roast (a little goes a long way)
2 cups salsa
1 cup brown sugar 1 can Coke (we use caffeine free...still tastes marvelous)

Put all ingredients in crock pot on low all day long or cut up pork and cook on high for about 4 hours. (Tip: It tastes better if you cut it up into about 8 large pieces about halfway through the day). It's done when it falls apart or you can easily pull it apart with a fork. You can eat this pork in a salad with crispy cheese quesadillas cut up in pieces and sprinkled on top, in tacos or as sweet pork and cheese quesadillas.

We had this meet in soft tacos on Saturday and then in cheese quesidillas tonight. Super Yum!

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Hmmmm, Sunday's experiment was so-so.

I made this Asian Peanut Butter Pork and served it over rice. It smelled pretty good while cooking. And, surprisingly, the kids liked it (well, Sam kinda picked at it, but he didn't complain TOO loudly and he ate some) and I thought it was alight, but Ryan was definitely NOT a fan of the peanut butter sauce. And it wasn't nearly as good as the lady said it was. It didn't taste bad. It just isn't something that I'd really WANT to make again. It was just okay.

I have quite a bit of the pork roast leftover (minus the sauce). If any of you have a yummy recipe for leftover pork roast, please pass it on! Maybe some kind of soup or sandwich?


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Since we had our sweet pork leftovers for dinner, I put another dessert in the pot tonight.....

Hot Fudge Cake

1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup flour
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 3/4 cup boiling water
vanilla ice cream

Mix together 1 cup brown sugar, flour, 3 T. cocoa, baking powder and salt.

Stir in milk, butter and vanilla. Spread over the bottom of slow cooker.

Mix together 3/4 cup brown sugar and 1/4 cup cocoa. Sprinkle over mixture in slow cooker.

Pour in boiling water. Do not stir.

Cover and cook on High 2-3 hours, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Serve warm with ice cream.


This was pretty good! It made a cakey top and a hot fudgy sauce underneath. The family really loved it. And what's kinda, nice....it wasn't really my favorite thing. So, I could make it for them and not feel tempted to eat the whole dessert! eh. I mean...it's not like I ACTUALLY do that. Of course not. I can show restraint.

sometimes

But not when it comes to oatmeal raisin cookies.... or peanut butter ones....or sugar ones....okay. just cookies in general. yup. that seals it. no restraint can possibly be maintained while cookies are around.

How sad.