Porch end tables new look

So I have decided that I wanted to change the looks of a pair of tables that are kinda old and blah that sit on our front porch. We no longer have the hand rails on the porch blocking the view so now things will be more visible so I thought I would add some color.

Here is what they looked like before. 

Then I took computer paper and covered the glass by slipping it under the edge of the metal.

Then I needed to prime them with just 1 coat of a while spray primer. 

Then it was on to the neon colors. This is 2 coats of neon color. I know it might look odd having 1 of each now but I think in the end when it all come together it will be nice.

Boston butt leftovers with biscuits modified

Ok so time to finish up the left over boston butt we cooked. How you might ask well tonight the meat isn't the star of the show. Its the bread and potatoes.

So these are the biscuits that I made the other night to go with the boston butt leftover casserole but I changed things up a bit.

Modified biscuit recipe since I doubled and tried other ways

4 2/3 c all purpose flour

2 tbsp baking powder

1/4-1/2 tsp salt (i used less)

6 Tbsp sugar 

2 sticks (1 cup) frozen butter (I used 1 cup plopped in by a knife since I didn't have frozen)

2 2/3 c buttermilk (or 2 2/3 cup milk with a little vinegar)   (I didn't have buttermilk or enough regular milk so I used  1 1/3 cup canned evaporated milk and 1 1/3 cup water)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix all dry in a bowl with a spoon. Grate your frozen butter into dry mixture and mix around until butter is all coated. Then add buttermilk and mix.  I had to add roughly another 1/4 cup of flour to get it to not be as wet. I decided not to make biscuits but to just pour it all into the casserole dish and bake. Bake for 25 minutes. Near the end of that melt about a tablespoon of butter in the microwave for 30 seconds to melt. pull biscuits out and baste with butter then bake another 5 minutes.  When they come out I cut transferred to a different platter and then cut them. They did kinda want to fall apart some but that was ok for us. 

***I also added about 2 tablespoons of garlic powder, a handful of fresh chives, and a handful of cheddar cheese***

On to the other star the potatoes. I started with a bag of white potatoes because that is what I had.

I wrapped each in foil and made baked potatoes.

After you get the baked potatoes the fun starts. You want to cut them in half and hollow them out.

Now in the bowl that has the insides I added cheese, bacon, chives, butter, garlic powder, salt and pepper.

Smashed it all like making masked potatoes without any milk.

Now lets put those potatoes into a casserole dish and fill them with that mixture.

I baked them on 350 degrees until warmed and then broiled them for a few minutes.

Now for the meat. It was super easy. I just  shredded the meat, then drizzled some honey mustard bbq sauce and some tangy bacon catalina onto it. I covered the casserole dish with foil and heated it in the oven beside the potatoes. 

Once it comes out mix it up and ready to eat.  Just add sour cream to potato.

Leftover pork butt casserole

So wondering what to do with that leftover boston butt pork roast from the other night well look no further. How about taking those leftovers and creating a yummy casserole that no one would think was made from leftovers.

Well here is what ya do....  First layer the bottom of your casserole dish with the meat. The amount it totally up to you. I used about 1/4 of what i had left.

Then I used some leftover stir fry type veggies and layered those right on top of the meat.

Next I spooned some of the gravy that was left over from the boston butt the other night.

Then I put a few handfuls of shredded cheddar cheese on top of that.

Last layer is to cover it with the leftover chive mashed taters that were in the fridge. 

Pop that into the oven heat until it is all warm and bubbly.

After that is in lets make some biscuits.

2 1/3 c all purpose flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/4-1/2 tsp salt (i used less)

3 Tbsp sugar

1 stick frozen butter

1 1/3 c buttermilk (or 1 1/3 cup milk with a little vinegar)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix all dry in a bowl with a spoon. Grate your frozen butter into dry mixture and mix around until butter is all coated. Then add buttermilk and mix.  Put some flour on a tray and spoon out enough batter for a biscuit and roll around to coat and put into casserole dish. ( you want the biscuits to touch as they bake) repeat until all dough is used. Bake for 25 minutes. Near the end of that melt about a tablespoon of butter in the microwave for 30 seconds to melt. pull biscuits out and baste with butter then bake another 5 minutes. I rebasted them after they come out.

***I also added about a tablespoon of garlic powder, a handful of fresh chives, and about 1/3 cup grated asagio cheese.***

Then serve it all and if you happen to have some cheese crisps laying around you can add those too. 

Eat and enjoy.

Not your typical pot roast

Not your typical pot roast

Ok so we have all seen plenty of pot roasts over the years. You know the potatoes and vegetables on the bottom then the meat and either water or stock added to sit and cook all day. Well this is not that kinda of pot roast in any way other than I cooked it in a crock pot (slow cooker).

So cooking this meat only requires 4 ingredients. It requires a boston butt (mine barely fits in the crock pot), a can of cola (store brand or name brand doesn't matter), montreal steak seasoning, and cinnamon sugar.

First just open the butt and place it into the slower cooker. Next pour in your can of soda and sprinkle a little  of the montreal steak seasoning all over the top. Then shake the cinnamon sugar all over the top of the butt to completely cover it. Put on the lid turn it on and let it cook. Cook time will vary based on your cooker. In mine I put it on high  and let it cook about 6 hours. After time is up we pull it out and we have this amazing butt that shreds so easily and can be used in many ways.

 Here it is fresh from the crock pot. please be careful if u try to pull it in one piece like I did. Also save the liquid it cooked in to make the gravy.

So to go with this I just browned some tortilla is a cast iron pan that I lightly sprayed with non stick spray (I learned my lesson on it).

I also made a package of Knorr Spanish Rice which I didn't take a picture of but I made it per the instructions on the back.

Now onto the gravy. This was a first for me trying this and it worked great. I grabbed a deeper cast iron pot and let it start to heat as I put a sifter across the top and pour the leftover juice mixture from the crock pot so that it strained out the fat and any meat I missed out(only missed out a tiny piece). To this mixture I added about a cup of beef broth. I let that all heat up and used my whisk to skim the thin film of fat that started to sit on the top. Once that little layer was gone I took and added 2 cups of all purpose flour and used a whisk to incorporate the flour into the liquid and within minutes it started to thicken and in under 3 minutes I had this big ol pot of gravy. This could take a little longer if using non stick pot or stainless steel as they conduct heat a little slower.  Here is what I ended up with on this experiment.

This picture is only half of what it made. You can see the line where it was but I had poured half into a serving dish before I thought to get a picture to share. It turned out to be a big hit since everyone cleaned their plates and 3 of my 4 kids went back for seconds and thirds.  

Overall a great meal and now to find new ways to use the leftover gravy and more new ways to use the leftover boston butt. 

July 4th weekend

Wow what a weekend. Hubby had a 3 day weekend so we did a little house work and a then had some fun.

Saturday was nothing to special just some cleaning and yard work. Sunday I spent some time with hubby in the kitchen and we made a recipe he found for stuffed peppers and used some of our peppers from the garden. I totally forgot to take any pics of them this time but we will totally be making them again and will try to snap some pics then. We also introduced the kids to the Back to the Future movies from the 80's-90's.

Monday we just relaxed and spent several hours in the kitchen again making the following things and again had a blast spending time with hubby in the kitchen.

As you can see the pan was attacked before I could get pictures.

These are the cinnamon rolls that taste so yummy.

We also made a french coconut pie.

I found this recipe for the pie crust so we made it and that recipe gives you 2 pie crusts so we used one and have another left.

We also made these potato cakes and they were pretty good but not thrilled with frying them so going to try baking or using the griddle next time.

Well we ended our weekend with the kids watching the movie Harry and the Hendersons from 1987 and randomly watching fire works from people in the neighbor hood. Our kids love when we break out some older stuff. We have some other movies we can't wait to share with them.