S'mores Dip

In our house we love football. And, along with that, we love football food. I found a new recipe on Facebook last week and today we gave it a try. This one certainly didn't disappoint.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
Add 1 cup of chocolate chips and 1 cup of peanut butter chips to a cast iron skillet.
I added 2 tsp of Vanilla and stirred the chips to even them out in the skillet.
Top the chips with marshmallows.
Bake in the oven for about 8 minutes.
Marshmallows should be brown and melted.

Notes:

The original recipe said to bake at 450. I did that and the marshmallows were brown at 4 minutes and not quite gooey enough.  I turned off the heat and left it in the oven a few more minutes and this was perfection.

The vanilla was not part of the original recipe, but it was a great addition.

Pork Roast with Sweet Potatoes & Apples

I love Fall!  I get in the mood to cook again. Sunday dinner is almost always a crock pot meal when the weather is cool, and tonight will be no different.  I think this recipe may just become a new family favorite.

It began with a trip to the best grocery store ever -- Dierbergs in Des Peres. That place is awesome! It has every ingredient you could ever imagine all under one roof. If you live in the           St. Louis area, I strongly recommend a visit. This time I discovered McCormick Gourmet Recipe and Seasoning Mixes.  I bought four different flavors.  Tonight's dinner begins with the Bourbon Spiced Pork Seasoning.  There is a recipe  on the back of the package to roast this in the oven.  I adapted it just a little bit to make it work in the crock pot.

I started with a 2 lb  Pork tenderloin.  I salted it all over and let it sit on a cutting board for about 20 minutes while I peeled and sliced five medium-sized sweet potatoes and three Granny Smith apples.

I combined the seasoning packet with 1/3 cup of brown sugar.  1/4 cup of the spice mixture gets set aside to use later.  The pork tenderloin is drizzled with olive oil and then the rest of the spice mixture is rubbed into the tenderloin.  Into the crock pot it went with the cooking temp set to warm.  The sliced sweet potatoes went into the crock pot on either side of the tenderloin and the apples were placed on top of the pork and sweet potatoes.

The reserved 1/4 cup of spice mixture was combined with 1/4 cup of orange juice. That mixture was poured over the top of the apples and sweet potatoes.  The lid went on and it will cook for seven hours.

I am anticipating a yummy dinner!

Cucumber, Tomato & Onion Salad

Are you looking for a salad that's fresh and inviting?  For a hot summer's night or an early fall salad, you need to give this salad a try.

8 oz of cherry tomatoes halved
4 mini cucumbers (cut into quarters and then sliced)
1/4 of a red onion sliced thin
2 oz of zesty Italian salad dressing (or sweet Italian)
1/2 tsp salt
Pinch of cracked pepper

Slice the tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions into a glass bowl.
Toss with 1/4 cup salad dressing
Add salt and pepper and toss again.

This is so easy to make and it looks aweome.