I am so tired I can’t even think of a somewhat catchy name for this post….
I pinned these {surprise!} and knew that I would serve them in slider form because let’s face it, everything is cuter on a small bun.
For the sliders I used about 1.5 pounds of chicken tenderloins {still frozen}, about 3/4 bottle {the small one} of Frank’s Red Hot Sauce and about half a packet of Hidden Valley Ranch mix. I cooked on low for about 6 hours ~ after 5 hours, I shredded the chicken with two forks, added 2 tbsp butter and kept it on low for another hour. Lightly toast up some little rolls and then load ’em up! These would make PERFECT Superbowl grub.
I added a little reduced fat bleu cheese topper {helllllooo, what is buffalo chicken without some bleu?} and served them with roasted yellow squash that I just cut into half moons, drizzed with a bit of olive oil, dusted with salt & pepper, tossed and roasted at 425* for about 15-20 minutes.
Dinner is done.
And so am I.
The Christmas cards are 90% done, our adopt-a-family gift is ready to go, my goodie ingredients have been purchased and I just need to get bakin’.
When we lived in the Bay Area, the kids and I would frequently visit Happy Hollow Zoo with our friends, the Cohens.
Each time I would exit the 101 onto Story Road, I would quickly notice it was littered with {Vietnamese Baguette} shops. I never really gave much thought to it other than the fact that there were so many.
I recently came across this post on Not Without Salt. Ahhhhh, Banh Mi! It immediately clicked that this was the baguette sandwich pictured in these store windows. I knew I had to make it…just by reading the ingredients alone, I could tell that this sandwich was right up my alley.
I chose to do more of a slider version and picked up these rolls…
The only changes I made to the recipe were substitute the fish sauce with soy sauce, use jarred jalapeños, and didn’t sear the meatballs in oil first ~ I just baked them from the get-go…about 22 minutes to be safe. Also, I made 11 meatballs instead of a dozen.
I slathered on the Sriracha mayo then halved one meatball and put both halves on one roll.
Added the colorful toppings…
…took a bite and almost died.
This sandwich was beyond amazing…the soft rolls soaked up the juices from the meat and the rice vinegar and literally molded the bread to the meatball. The carrot and radish provided crunch. A million things came together in this meal and if I knew then what I know now, I most certainly would have pulled off at one of these little Vietnamese eateries, ordered a banh mi and enjoyed it in the shade of a tree with my good friend, Nancy, while the kiddos ran around and played in the HH park {or watched the weird puppet show as we occasionally did while eating our lunch}.
Story Road took me to and from Happy Hollow many times. The memories of these visits with Nancy are some of the happiest days of our time in the San Jose area. The kids would run free, see all five animals at the mini zoo, ride old rusty rides, freak us out and disappear in the maze for a minute, laugh and play while Nancy and I chatted about this and that.
Nancy, I miss you terribly and would love it if we could share a banh mi and get caught up sometime soon!
But…he wanted a “real” burger and I could tell that he was eluding to a trip to Red Robin.
My penny pinching self sprung into action and after a quick trip to Trader Joe’s, created a burger bash for less than a fifth of the cost of a trip to RR.
Mini Burger Buns: $1.19
One Pound 80/20 Ground Beef: $2.49
Garlic Fries: $2.69
(I had all the other ingredients already on-hand)
I decided to make Pioneer Woman sliders ~ caramelized onions, blue cheese and Tabasco mayo!
And the TJ’s garlic fries are just like the ones from Gordon Biersch….garlic chunks galore!
But, the best part was that the kids ate them, too and I didn’t have to play short order cook and prepare 15 different things!
After devouring my heavenly doughy bagel from Noah’s yesterday morning, I got really lazy.
I had good intentions:
~ take down decorations from Holden’s party!
~ clean out/straighten up the garage
~ go to the grocery store
~ do some laundry
~ workout
~ make sushi for dinner
I managed to accomplish ONE of the above mentioned tasks…laundry!
Instead of carrying out the other five chores, I made some banana bread:
…and viewed this gorgeous rainbow after cuddling up on the couch and doing nothing ALL day:
Since I didn’t make it to the store, I raided the freezer for dinner and we feasted on Trader Joe’s Orange Chicken and some of Lola’s lumpia ~ not too shabby.
But today was much more productive. It was gorgeous and Jay played outside with the kids while I ran a couple errands. I decided to make pulled pork and potato salad for dinner.
I found this pork shoulder on sale and grabbed a BBQ pulled pork seasoning package. Thanks for the tip, Lisa!
Just trim outside fat off roast, plop into the slow cooker, combine seasoning packet with 1 cup ketchup, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar, mix and pour over pork….Voila! (Note: I am going off memory on the amounts above, but they’re close – just follow the EASY instructions on the back of the packet.)
8 hours on low or 4 on high and you will have this:
Hawaiian Sweet Roll Pulled Pork Sliders
Scrumptious.
I made some Spicy Ranch Potato Salad to go alongside. (Adapted from my sister’s Ranch potato salad recipe.)
This time I used 2 large russet potatoes (1.88 lbs.) since I only wanted a little bit of potato salad….uh, these 2 taters made a TON of tater salad! Normally I use a 3 lb. bag of red potatoes, quarter them and leave the skins on. This time I skinned the russets and cubed them before boiling. Once they are fork tender, drain, cool and add the following:
1/4 red onion, minced
2-3 stalks celery, chopped (I use a mini food processor) My sister also turned me on to using the leafy parts of the inner stalks which I used to trash. These add a lot of extra flavor so I throw in some chopped leafy parts, too.
2 hard boiled eggs, chopped
3/4 package Ranch dressing mix (I swear this is the secret to this recipe)
10-12 jalapeño slices, chopped
2 Tbsp. yellow mustard
1/4 to 1/2 cup mayo depending on your mayo threshold (I’m a mayo girl, but don’t like my potato salads too heavy – if that’s at all possible!?!)
Salt & pepper to taste
Mix all together and chill in ‘fridge for an hour or so before serving.
I was able to go workout while dinner was in the crock pot!
No, I haven’t taken down the decorations or worked on the garage, but there’s always tomorrow, right?
This week’s recipes:
Salmon Cakes & Parmesan Roasted Asparagus
(I picked up a couple gorgeous bunches of asparagus today for 97 cents a pound!)
Oh, and what do you think about flipflopfollies’ new look?
No more cheesy red flip flops and candy cane border!
