THE DAY IN THE LIFE + A RECIPE

 8:30 A.M. Today is the Kansas City's Super Bowl Parade for the Chiefs! What an exciting day! It has been a crazy year when we thought the Chiefs were "for sure going to the Super Bowl" to "we will never go playing like this" to " we are going and we are going to win". .

Today is also one of those days when I will be meeting myself coming and going. I honestly would have enjoyed going to the parade. The last time it was cold, but today it will be around 40, but I'm not going. It just won't fit in my busy schedule anyway. I will probably end up stopping and starting several times today but I do want to get this post out today.

I had planned to write this post last night but ended up talking to my sil Sondra who lives in Texas about her family trees on Ancestry. I've been working with my family trees longer than she has and so my understanding is a little greater than hers. By the time we ended, it was past my bedtime. She thanked me for helping her and mentioned the time. I told her I had meant to write a post for my blog, but me said I could just write it today. She doesn't have a blog so doesn't understand my dedication to it and my readers.

In between my happenings today I do plan to share the recipe I was going to write up last night with you...a slow cooker pork tenderloin. Our younger son Patrick would stop reading right now if he were reading this. He is a "grill man" or whatever you would call it. He won't listen when we try to tell him how good pork chops are cooked in the air fryer. He does cook/smoke awesome BBQ and other meats, but just not open to cooking meats any other way. 

It helps to reorganize your chest freezer ever so often if you have one. That's how we found the 2 lb pork tenderloin I cooked in the slow cooker. We knew we had one, but it was in the bottom of the freezer and you know what they say ... "out of sight, out of mind". Wayne took it out and we put it in the refrigerator to thaw. Then I went about looking for a new way to cook it so I would have a new recipe to share.

Looking at the clock, I realize I need to stop, eat some cereal, and then get ready to go get my nails done. I think I will chose a red dipping powder in honor of the Chiefs. I will be back after Gina gets finished. I will have about an hour before I eat some lunch and get ready to go play canasta with my friends. I should be able to watch some of the pre-parade activities while Gina does her thing on my nails. Until later... 9:15 A.M.

11:57 A. M. I'm back from getting my nails done. Love the color! (My hands remind me of my mother's slender hands when I look at this picture.)

Had an apple and got dressed to go to canasta, folded clothes and put a load of clothes in the dryer that I had washed before going to get my nails done all in about 45 minutes. The parade is starting so I'm trying to watch some of that even though I am recording it. Coverage doesn't end until 3:00 so I will have to watch the last of it tonight after I get home from church. I have to grab a little something else to eat for a light lunch before I leave to pick up Friend Fran. I realize I can't watch the tv constantly and type at the same time. I do fairly well but I do need to look down occasionally to think a bit about what I want to say. So I'm going to sign off until I get home from canasta later this afternoon. I will see then how much I can get written. 12:04 P.M.

8:50 P.M. Well, I got home from canasta about 4:15 P.M. but didn't have time to get back to this before having to leave for handbell practice because I needed to get to eat something for dinner. I went to a class at church straight from handbells and have finally gotten home. I'm tired but I'm determined to get this post finished and schedule it to be posted in the morning at 6 A.M. CST.

I did get to see the first of the parade before I left for canasta and then when Fran and I got to Friend Vicky's, she and Friend Ellen were watching the parade. We continued to watch it for probably 30 minutes but decided to go play cards since everyone was recording the event. I think I saw the most important part so will probably not watch it from the recording. Wayne has already changed his profile picture on Facebook to a baseball theme.

So I guess I will get back to the recipe for the slow cooker pork tenderloin. I made this two or three weeks ago and we enjoyed it for most of the week. The meat was so tender and warmed up nicely in the microwave. I enjoyed pork sliders for at least three days. You would never have known the tenderloin had been in the freezer for almost two years. 

I allowed it to thaw in the refrigerator and it fit in my larger slow cooker perfectly. It weighed two pounds which is what all of the recipes I found online gave instructions for. There were many different recipes to choose from. I noticed they all generally agreed to cook the 2 lb roast for 2 to 3 hours or 145 degrees F. I just tried to find a recipe that I might have looked at but wasn't able to find anything as simple as mine and since I don't remember if I found anything exactly the way I ended up cooking mine, I will not worry about it since I do remember how I cooked mine and go from there. 

I cooked mine longer than I could have because it registered higher than 145 degrees when I checked it at almost three hours. I would suggest checking the temperature at two hours and not feel like you need to cook it for the full three hours.

SLOW COOKER TENDER PORK TENDERLOIN

1     pork tenderloin - 2 lbs.

12   oz of root beer (I used one with zero sugar)

BBQ sauce

Spray the inside of a slow cooker large enough to hold the tenderloin.

Place the tenderloin in the cooker fat side down.

Pour 12 oz of a root beer over the top of the roast.

Cover the cooker and cook on HIGH for 2 to 3 hours or until the temperature of the center registers 145 degrees F.

Since it cooked faster than I thought it would, I turned the temperature down to KEEP WARM for 30 to 40 minutes.

Then I removed the tenderloin and placed it in a sprayed casserole dish that was big enough to hold the roast. (I discarded the liquid in the cooker.)

I covered it with my favorite BBQ sauce, covered the dish, and

placed it in a preheated 350 degree F oven long enough to heat the sauce (15 to 20 minutes).

I removed it from the oven and cut it in thick slices to serve.

It was so delicious.

I added additional BBQ sauce when I heated up some slices in the microwave to eat as sliders.

It is now 9:45 P.M. and I'm tired enough to go to bed but I want to play a quick sudoku game on my phone first. That will help relax me. It has been a busy day.

PATRICIA'S BUTTER CAKE COOKIES (ZERO SUGAR)

 I'm a little behind with some of my recipes, but will try to get more posts out this week to get caught up. 

I have taken on another responsibility at church so that will give me some more opportunities to share fantastic recipes with you. I mentioned this in an earlier post for the Zero-Sugar Cherry Cookies. We are trying to get the "Cafe" up and running in the Welcoming Center offering coffee, tea, and treats. So that one person isn't responsible for all of the treats (I did that three or four times and for some it could be overwhelming), I am trying to get an organized list of three different people who will be responsible for one batch (at least three dozen) of cookies or bars. I will try to get the recipes for the ones I don't make to share with you. What fun!

I made these not for the Cafe but for us. I used the leftover glaze from another recipe that I made and did take, but with my crazy life, I haven't shared that recipe with you, yet. Will try to write it up for tomorrow. They were awesome.

Like all of the recipes I make sugar-free, they can easily be made not so. I take sugar-recipes, and substitute sugar-free products to make them sugar-free recipes. You can do the same thing.

PRINT recipe.

PATRICIA'S  BUTTER CAKE COOKIES

1      box (16 - oz) Zero-Sugar yellow cake mix

2      whole eggs

1      stick (1/2 cup) butter

Your favorite glaze (you can buy a zero-sugar powdered sugar) or just dust with powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Empty the cake mix into a large mixing bowl.

Beat the eggs with a whisk.

Empty the cake mix into a large mixing bowl and then add the beaten eggs and the melted butter to the bowl.

 Beat with an electric beat until dough forms. (I do this with the electric beater because the dough will be thick and it is easier to blend.)

Use a cookie scoop that scoops a level tablespoon of dough.

Place scoops 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. I just got me some . Bake 10 to 12 minutes. I did the latter.

Cool 4 minutes on the sheet before removing.

Finish cooling on a wire rack. You can glaze them or not or

dust lightly with zero sugar powdered sugar.

This is the ones I glazed with the leftover glaze from another recipe. It was not zero-sugar, but so good. RECIPE here.

Store cookies in an air-tight container. If they last more than 2 days, store in the refrigerator. 

The recipe makes about 32 cookies.

' 

TACO SOUP

 I don't know where you live, but here in the midwest (Kansas City, Missouri) we are being truly blessed with a mild winter. It is February 7 as I am writing this and outside it is 51 degrees F with little wind, some thin clouds and plenty of sun shining. Yesterday it was 70 degrees, a tie from 1904 for the high temperature. Tomorrow evening we have rain in the forecast - not snow - but rain. I can't complain but I do feel for the northeast that I think is going to be getting the white stuff.

Sunday at Roxanne's Cafe where we often go after church on Sunday for a meal, Wayne got their taco soup. Other than maybe having some shredded cheese on it, he said it tasted pretty good. I checked it out in his bowl looking to see what was in it and then told him I could make him some this week. 

I had decided what I was going to put in it and bought the missing ingredients on Monday. This morning I remembered that our younger son Patrick makes taco soup so I checked with him regarding the ingredients he uses. He uses black beans and pinto beans, but I didn't have any pinto beans so I just added another can of black beans. He also adds a can of rotel, but I didn't have that either so Wayne suggested some mild salsa that we also got on Monday. I used ground turkey, but you could obviously use ground beef.

It was one of those throw some ingredients together, no written recipe, but Wayne was really pleased with my end results and was very thankful. I know he ate two bowls. (I went to Whataburger and got me a cheeseburger. I brought it home and really enjoyed it.)

PRINT recipe.

TACO SOUP

1      lb ground turkey or beef 

1      (1.25 oz) taco seasoning mix

1      (6 oz) can tomato paste

1      (14.5 oz) can diced tomato

1      (15.25 oz) can of whole kernel corn (drained)

2       (15 oz each) cans of black beans

1       (32 oz) container beef broth

1        teaspoon minced garlic

2        tablespoons minced onion

2        cups salsa 

shredded cheese and chips

Cook the ground meat in a large pot until done. Add the taco seasoning, tomato paste, tomatoes,

corn, black beans,

onion, garlic, and salsa.

Bring to a boil and then simmer until the soup is heated thoroughly and ready to serve.

I cooked mine probably 30 minutes.

Spoon soup in serving bowls,

sprinkle cheese on top and then

add chips.

 

(ZERO-SUGAR) CHERRY COOKIES

 Since I don't have enough to do, I find myself taking on another responsibility at church. Don't take that the wrong way. I feel I can't do enough for my church. AND since I love baking so much, what's another excuse to bake some more? Right? Right!

This time I'm baking treats for the coffee hour. We have two services - a modern one at 9:30 and a traditional one at 11:00. In the welcoming area between the Worship Center and the Sanctuary is an area with small tables and a bar area for making and serving coffee. Before the Worship Center was built, donuts were offered downstairs in the dining room between services. They were very popular, but was stopped when the Worship Center was opened. Then COVID hit and the church was temporarily closed and we moved to online services for a year.

Move to present-day and coffee is now being served in the "Cafe" area. There are no plans right now to bring back the donuts so I offered to bake some cookies, mini-muffins, etc. I've done it three or four times so far. That means I have another opportunity for more recipes to share with you.

One recipe I always try to make is something sugar-free. Many times the recipe I make wasn't a sugar-free recipe, but I made it one by the ingredients I used. That's the case with this one. The good news is you can make it sugar-free or not. Your choice.

This recipe is another one of those that I like because you have so much freedom with it. You can make the cookies for any special occasion by changing the flavor of the jello. With Valentine's Day coming soon, I chose a red jello. Not as red as I would like, but I didn't want to make a special trip to the grocery store when I had one I could use - the black cherry flavor instead of cherry or strawberry that would have been more red.

Another interesting story when I was making them - I wanted to add something else to the cookies, but wanted to keep them sugar-free. I thought about some unsweetened coconut and asked Wayne what he thought. He said personally he would like the coconut but since so many people don't like the texture or taste of coconut, I should not add it. I knew what he meant and decided to not add the coconut. I made two dozen cookies "plain" and had a little bit more dough so I thought I would add a little the coconut. When I formed the cookies, there wasn't any coconut showing on top so I just sprinkled a little coconut and pressed it down on top. I also picked up the stray pieces so they wouldn't burn on the cookie sheet as the cookies baked. Long story short - - they were the first ones eaten Sunday when I placed them out on the tray. They both tasted really good, but I must admit, I really liked the ones with the coconut. 

PRINT the recipe.

(ZERO-SUGAR) CHERRY COOKIES

1      Sugar-free/Zero sugar cake mix - yellow or white (I used a yellow one)

1      box sugar-free jell-0 (I used black cherry but use any flavor you wish)

1/2   cup oil or melted butter (I used oil)

2      tablespoons water

2      eggs

unsweetened coconut (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine the cake mix and jell-0 mix together with a whisk.

Add the rest of the  ingredients to a mixing bowl and mix well til combined.

I did use the electric mixer to do this and then scraped the sides of the bowl with my spatula.

Using a small cookie scoop - 1 tablespoon size, drop dough about 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Cool about 1 minute and remove cookies to cool

completely on a wire rack. 

Note: If you are adding the coconut to the dough,

press a little extra coconut on top of the dough and press lightly into dough. Remove any excess coconut that falls on the cookie sheet.

Store in an air tight container.

 

PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

 I have been in heaven the last few days after making some cookies from a recipe from Wayne's Aunt Myra Elizabeth. I have had the recipe for a long time but I'm not sure if I ever made them before. Maybe when we first got married. That's how long I have had the recipe. I remember she sent me several recipe that we had copied from her recipe cards and then stapled them to an index card. Her original card had a label at the bottom the said "Favorite recipe of". On this one she had written Bruce and Matthew, her sons.

I have seen other recipes for cake mix cookies but I'm not sure if they used a whole cup of peanut butter. Anyway, I decided to make them Sunday afternoon but use a sugar-free yellow cake mix and no-sugar-added peanut butter so we could eat them and not feel guilty. I also got the idea to make them an assortment of peanut butter cookies by removing an amount and adding something else to them. I ended up making two dozen plain peanut butter cookies, one dozen peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, one dozen peanut butter sea salt and caramel cookies, and one dozen peanut butter mini chocolate chip cookies. I forgot I was going to make some using peanut butter chips when I decided to use the mini chocolate chips. It was fun doing so and I have really enjoyed the variety in my cookie jar.

PRINT the recipe.

PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

1     pkg yellow cake mix (I used a sugar-free yellow cake mix)

1     cup peanut butter (I used a no-sugar-added peanut butter)

1/2  cup cooking oil

2     tablespoons water

2     eggs

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. (The recipe calls for an ungreased cookie sheet but Myra Elizabeth used Pam.)

Combine all of the ingredients and

mix well. Batter will be thick.

Drop from a teaspoon onto the cookie sheet. (I used my tablespoon cookie scoop.)

Press crisscross on each with a fork dipped in water.

Bake for 10 - 12 minutes (sometimes 15) til golden.

Cool on cookie sheet 1 minutes before removing. Cool on a wire rack.

I added different chips to small batches of dough to

make a variety of cookies. (chocolate chips, sea salt and caramel chips, mini chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, etc.)