Throw it in the Crock Pot :: Parmesan Honey Pork Roast

Sunday's in the Herre Home is day of relaxation, for it is said that it is the day of rest.

As Adam and I came back from church, he says to me that he just wants to have a chill Sunday, and since we just bought a pork loin roast, he wanted us to just throw that in the slow cooker and snuggle today.

Relaxing and kicking back, I wanted to do something different with my pork roast.  Normally, the brown sugar, honey, and garlic recipe from my Momma is what I use, but I decide to google different recipes.  I came across Leigh Anne's recipe at Your Homebased Mom, for her Slow Cooker Parmesan Honey Roast.  As y'all know, I like to take recipes and put my own little twist on it, so that is exactly what I did!  It looked delish and I knew that we had to try, and share with you!

 

It warms the whole house.  Once you put this in the crock pot, y'all's house with start filling with wonderful smells.  After about 5 1/2 hours, Adam and I decided to pair our dinner with my Mom's Rosemary Garlic Potatoes, and a side of veggies!  With the remaining liquid, I just put it on top of the roast, and had a little extra on the side for some dipping sauce.

450 degree oven, 10-15 minutes, then flip potatoes for another 10-15 minutes.

Throw this in the crock pot, sit back, relax and watch a movie, while your yummy food is cooking away.  After y'all try it, tell me what you think?  What changes you made, what you paired it with.

Have a blessed Sunday!

Baked Sweet Potato Quinoa "Anytime" Patties

Whenever we are preparing dinner, and we know that we really want sweet potatoes, but we're tired of having it the same way? 

{Baked, with maybe some brown sugar and butter?} 

Yeah I was tired of it too, y'all, so I went out there and found something COMPLETELY different, that I fell in love with and I know you will too!

Yep, there's sweet potatoes in this bad boy!

I found the recipe here, that I changed and added to in order to make it my own, and to create something a little different.

* Literally, eat these anytime, last night I had mine with chicken, but this morning I also had them with an egg on top!
* Makes about 14-16 patties (depending on your patties size, cause size matters. lol)

What You Need ::

- 2 medium to large sweet potatoes
- 1 cup quinoa (2 cups water) - we'll be cooking it
- 1/4 red onion (diced)
- 3 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 Tbls. thyme (rub between your fingers when putting in the pan in order to release scent)
- Dash of cilantro
- About a Tablespoon olive oil
- Coarse sea salt
- Olive oil for the fryin' :)

Directions ::

1. First, make sure those potatoes are ready y'all, so get your oven to 400 degrees, and bake them for 45 minutes. At about half way through, I took mine out and cut them in 4th's so that they cooked through, and were softer.
2. Cook your quinoa.  1 cup quinoa, 2 cups water, bring to a boil, once it has reach a vigorous boil, reduce heat to low (simmer) and keep on heat for 15 minutes.  Once cooked, take off heat and set aside.
3. In a pan, take your onions, the 1 Tbls of olive oil, and a hefty pinch of coarse sea salt, and sauté until the onions are translucent.
4. Add the garlic, and stir for 1 minute, add thyme and cook for about 30 seconds. Take off heat and add to a large bowl.  Add the {mostly} cooled quinoa to the same bowl and stir. Set aside.
5. Take potatoes out, peel them, then mush them up and add them to the quinoa mixture.  Add another 1/4 tsp of the sea salt and mix everything together.
6. Form a small golf ball size of the mixture in your hands, then squish together to form a patty.  Cook on medium heat, for about 2.5 minutes on each side, until crisp and browned.  Make as many as you want.   

* If not using all of the mixture, it will keep up in the fridge for about 2 days.  But they are so delicious I don't think that you would want to leave them that long!

Now, look at you making something delicious, healthy, and irresistible!

GO YOU!

Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramallows!

I know you are already intrigued by the title, believe me, I was too!  While working out, eating healthy, and seeing ALL of those beautiful, yummy sweets recipes, it was difficult to not try one out for y'all!

If you are a caramel lover, or a cow tail lover, then THIS is the recipe for you, and it is delish!

I found this recipe on Pinterest, which lead me to the recipe, here.

Y'all, this recipe gives us a caramel that we can make in 6 MINUTES!!!

YES, you read that correctly SIX MINUTES!

And it doesn't burn, like it would on the stove!

Here we go, guys!

Chocolate Dipped Caramallows

For the Caramel ::

1/4 cut unsalted butter (half a stick)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk

For Everything Else ::

mini marshmallows

10oz. dark chocolate, melted and tempered (I got two bags, just in case - which I needed.)

Sea Salt - not fine, if you can find flaked then that would be great

Step One ::

Before y'all get started, prepare a 9X9 pan by placing parchment paper in it to cover all sides.  From the original recipe, she recommends to put them in both directions, but mine fit perfectly without it being both.  THEN MAKE SURE YOU GREASE THE PARCHMENT PAPER, with nonstick spray or butter. (I used wax paper, and it didn't go so well, so make sure it is good quality)

Step Two ::

Put the butter in a medium microwave-safe bowl. Microwave until melted; about 35-40 seconds.

Next, add the sugars, corn syrup, and sweetened conduced milk to the butter and stir until well combined.  

Microwave for 2 minutes.  Take out and stir.

Microwave another 2 minutes. Take out and stir.

Microwave for a third time for 2 minutes. Take out and stir.

Then, pour IMMEDIATELY into the pan.

Tilt pan to make sure it is in corner, and tap the pan firmly on your counter, to make sure it's level.

Set aside for 1 hour.

Lift out the cooled caramel, place on counter and cool for an additional hour.

Step Three ::

Take a sharp, greased knife, and cut the caramel into 1 inch squares.

Step Four ::

Take a cookie sheet, and line it with parchment paper.  

Next, take a caramel square, stick a marshmallow in the middle and pinch all corners together (like a wanton) and then roll into a ball in your palms.

Press gently between your palms, then place on baking sheet.  (you will see the marshmallow fluff back up, it's okay!!)

Step Five ::

Refrigerate for 30 minutes. 

Step Six ::

Make sure that you melted your chocolate!  Then start taking your caramallows and drop them in the chocolate, one at a time.

Then, using a dipping fork (a plastic fork with the center tines snapped off) remove and gently tap off excess chocolate.  

Transfer onto parchment paper.

Sprinkle with a touch of salt.

Step Seven ::

Refrigerate caramels 15 minutes, until the chocolate has set.  

Store at room temperature.

BAM! There you go!  You just made, homemade Caramallows!  WHOOO! Go you!

A balance diet is chocolate in both hands. <3