June 11, 2022

Welcome to the weekend, my friends! Our weather has been absolutely spectacular this week. I’ve been walking most mornings and really loving it. 

ON THE BLOG this week: Slow Cooker Mexican Pork is some of the best-pulled pork you can make at home. On its own, stuffed into tacos or burritos, or served over rice, the pork is slightly spicy, with just enough heat to keep it interesting.

Crisp Pulled Pork Tacos are an irresistibly delicious way to change up your average taco night. With crunchy taco shells and plenty of cheese on top, this taco recipe is one of our favorite ways to use leftover pulled pork.

Tender pulled pork is simmered with Mexican spices for these Pulled Pork Enchiladas. The pork is layered with tortillas and plenty of shredded pepper jack cheese to make this cheesy, saucy, slightly spicy recipe. Whether you eat it with a fork or dig in with chips, this is going to be a dinner-time hit.

Pulled Pork Tater Tot Nachos start with piping hot cheesy tater tots that are piled high with crispy pulled pork. This dinner is a guaranteed two-thumbs-up meal in our house.

The Best Ever Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches start with the best ever perfectly chewy cookies. Over the years, I’ve made ice cream sandwiches using many different cookies. In the end, I simply love the way the flavor in these oatmeal peanut butter cookies adds to the overall awesomeness of this frozen treat.

What I’m CRAVING: This Caramelized Onion and Mushroom Pizza by Show Me The Yummy sounds absolutely incredible. I know that mushrooms are loved or hated in equal parts, but me? I’m an absolute mushroom lover for life.

What I’m WATCHING: Infinite. This movie was a win for the whole family. Not super deep, not preachy, just fun and action-packed. Just a warning though, you must suspend all disbelief when watching this one. (Clearly, as the entire plot is based on characters that remember their previous lives.) The plot holes and complete impossibility of it all are just part of the fun.

What I’m READING: He Who Fights with Monsters by Shirtaloon and Travis Deverell. This was such a fun read (actually a fun listen, as this was an audiobook for me.) The main character is a young Australian guy who wakes up one day in a mys

The Best Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches start with the best ever perfectly chewy cookies. Over the years, I’ve made ice cream sandwiches using many different cookies.

In the end, I simply love the way the flavor in these oatmeal peanut butter cookies adds to the overall awesomeness of this frozen treat.

Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches

I’m happy to tell you that I’ve found the cookie recipe that works perfectly every single time. This cookie recipe is adapted from my grandmother’s recipe for Monster Cookies and I suspect that it may have been YOUR grandmother’s recipe as well.

When I discovered that the Monster Cookie recipe in my best friend’s cookbook from her mom was almost the exact same recipe that my grandmother used, it became even more fun every time I made those cookies.

I love that we all have so much sentimental attachment to our family recipes.

In the past, I’ve made Monster Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches using the original recipe, but I found that with a few tweaks, it was even better.

By adapting that recipe to make it a little bit chewier and less crunchy, it freezes and softens beautifully when it is layered with ice cream.

Ice Cream Sandwiches

I love making ice cream sandwiches with homemade ice cream. This recipe for Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream is hands down the easiest and best one you’ll ever make.

For these sandwiches, I churned a batch of ice cream while I started making the cookies. Then I stashed the ice cream in the freezer while the cookies were baking and cooling. The ice cream was

Best Pizzeria Pizza Dough Recipe at Home [video]

Crisp on the bottom, chewy all over, air bubbles and flavor, Pizzeria Pizza Dough Recipe at Home is no joke to achieve, but this recipe is perfection. I promise. 

The thicker you make the crust edge, the more bubbly it will be.

The Secret?

It’s all about heating the pizza steel or stone for 30-45 minutes at 550, well and allowing the dough to ferment for 12-24 hours. But let’s start at the beginning.

Fermenting Pizza Dough

As that yeast is hanging out in the dough it’s creating gas bubbles (remember watching the yeast get bubbly?) from carbon dioxide. Bubbles in pizza crust make it more chewy! So think, pizza dough I want the bubbles whereas sandwich bread I want it all soft and dense, so no bubbles and I don’t want it to hang out and ferment as pizza dough does.

Picture this, a pizza gets slid onto the table in front of you and your friends and instantly you see those big bubbles, slightly blackened and softly calling your name. That’s due to perfect fermentation and perfect heat. 

Pulled Pork Tater Tot Nachos start with piping hot cheesy tater tots that are piled high with crispy pulled pork. This dinner is a guaranteed two-thumbs-up meal in our house.

Pulled Pork Tater Tots

All of my kids would probably choose pulled pork as their favorite meal, especially when it’s served in tacos, enchiladas, pulled pork mac and cheese, or hot and crispy, like in these street tacos.

When my oldest son Sam turned 13, Sean and I took him on a special trip all by himself. We flew to San Francisco and spent a few days exploring the city. (Scroll down to the bottom for a peek into that trip.) These pulled pork tater tots were inspired by a favorite meal from that trip.

Pulled Pork Totchos

Along the way, we found some great foods to eat. It was Sam’s first trip “just for fun” and he loved it. It’s always a lot of fun to travel and visit family around the country, but the joy of exploring an entirely new place is great in a different way.

Naturally, I put together a list of restaurants to check out while we were there. Sam’s favorite food during the trip turned out a tie between Tater Tot Nachos from Tacorea and Tostadas De Caracoles (snails baked on seasoned croutons with parsley aioli) from Zarzuela.

Can you even believe that my kid tried snails for the first time and absolutely loved them? At any rate, when I decided to recreate his favorite thing from the trip to share with you, the tater tot nachos were the obvious choice.

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Tender pulled pork is simmered with Mexican spices for these Pulled Pork Enchiladas. The pork is layered with tortillas and plenty of shredded pepper jack cheese to make this cheesy, saucy, slightly spicy recipe.

Whether you eat it with a fork or dig in with chips, this is going to be a dinner-time hit.

Pulled Pork Enchiladas

Slow Cooked Mexican Pork has been at the top of my favorites list for a while now and I’ve made it at least six times in the past few months.

Every time I made it, I kept thinking that the pork would be great in enchiladas, but we were enjoying it so much on its own, I never managed to try them until now.

Pulled Pork Enchilada Casserole

My middle son had been asking for “red” enchiladas ages and these Pulled Pork Enchiladas were made with red chile sauce especially for him.

The whole family loved them and there was barely a serving left in the pan. Over the past few years, I’ve since made them with red or green chile sauce whenever possible.

This recipe makes a terrific make-ahead freezer meal. If you are planning to freeze the enchiladas before cooking, layer everything into the pan and cover with foil or a lid and freeze.

A day or two before you plan to serve this, take it out of the freezer and place the pan in the refrigerator. Once thawed, bake as noted above.