Dilly Ham Sandwiches

This recipe dates back to pre-microwave days. It's the best ham sandwich ever! I think the credit goes to Pat for this one.

1 cup real butter
1/2 cup finely minced onion
1/4 cup mustard
1/2 teaspoon dill weed
1 lb. thinly sliced deli ham
sliced Swiss cheese
1 dozen potato rolls

Mix the first 4 ingredients and let set overnight in refrigerator. When ready to prepare, spread butter mixture onto split rolls. (If you can't find potato rolls, use sweet Italian or another good roll) Now pile on the shredded ham; top with cheese. Wrap in foil and store in freezer. To serve, heat foil-wrapped sandwiches in a 350 degree oven for 30 to 45 minutes.

These are great to have on hand in the freezer. If you prefer to heat them in the microwave, simply wrap the sandwiches in plastic wrap instead of foil. Heat carefully in the microwave, or the bread will become tough. I really prefer to cook these in a regular oven, because it seems to improve the flavor.

Spicy Peach Salad

Here's a good one. A bit different than your run-of-the-mill gelatin salad.

2 (3 oz) pkgs orange gelatin
1 1/4 cups cold water
1 large can sliced peaches
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1 large stick whole cinnamon
12 whole cloves

Drain peaches, reserving juice. Measure juice and water to make 1 1/2 cups liquid. Combine with the sugar, vinegar, and spices. Bring to a boil and simmer 5 minutes. Add sliced peaches; simmer 5 minutes longer. Remove peaches and spices from syrup; set aside peaches and discard the spices. Measure syrup and add boiling water to make 2 1/2 cups. Dissolve the gelatin in the hot syrup by stirring for 3 minutes, then add the cold water. Chill until mixture reaches the consistency of heavy syrup. Add the peach slices; pour into a serving dish. Chill until firm.

Copycats

This candy is, by general consensus, THE BEST THING IN THE WORLD. I'm not making this up. That's what people call it. We call it copycats because it's like a Snickers...but so much better, you'll never want a Snickers again. It takes a while to make, but it makes a metric ton (thereabouts), so unless you throw really big parties, you'll have some on hand for a while. AND without further ado, here is the recipe for Copycats.

Ingredients for layer one:

• 2 tsp butter
• 1 cup milk chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup butterscotch chips (the secret ingredient - you can't really tell they're in there, but you can definitely tell if they're not)
• 1/4 cups creamy peanut butter

Melt everything in a microwave-safe bowl, or on the stove over low heat if you want to be old school. Line a 13 X 9 pan with foil; spray with cooking spray. Pour in the chocolate mixture, spread evenly, and refrigerate until set (about 30 minutes).

Ingredients for nougat layer:

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup evaporated milk (we used cream to no ill effects)
• 1 1/2 cups marshmallow creme (one regular sized jar)
• 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups salted peanuts, chopped or whole or whatever

This time you will need the stove. Melt the butter over medium heat. Add the milk and sugar and bring to a gentle boil. Reduce to medium-low and stir for five minutes, then take it off the heat. Stir in the jar of marshmallow creme, the peanut butter, and the vanilla. Add the peanuts. Spread over the chocolate layer in the pan. Admire how lovely and candylike it is. Refrigerate until set.

Ingredients for the caramel layer:

• 1 package of caramels. Yes, I know this sounds like cheating. It is. That's okay.
• 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

Important first step: unwrap the caramels. Have a spontaneous caramel-shelling party. It won't take long, I promise. Combine the caramels and cream in a saucepan and stir over low heat until smooth. Keep stirring for a few more minutes, but don't let it boil! If it boils, your caramel layer will become caramel brittle and will crack teeth. If this does happen though, all is not lost. You'll just have to always let the candy sit to room temperature before eating.

Spread in pan. Refrigerate until set. Cue broken record.

Ingredients for the Fourth and Final Layer:

• 1 cup milk chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup butterscotch chips
• 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

Home stretch now, folks. Melt these ingredients in any way you see fit (microwave? stove? interior of your car on a summer day?), spread over the caramel layer, and refrigerate for at least four hours.

And now your candy is ready.

You'll want to keep it refrigerated, but take it out at least thirty minutes before you intend to eat it because otherwise cutting it will be murder. For you and the candy. Cut into tiny tiny squares because it is SUPER RICH and besides, that way you can eat more pieces and count them like treasure.

Share with your friends. Share with your enemies, and they shall become your friends.

Devil's Food Chocolate Cake

I've been searching lately for the perfect chocolate cake, and I think this may be it. It's dark and moist and tender and just dense enough. It goes great with homemade cream cheese frosting.

Ingredients:

• 3 oz unsweetened chocolate
• 1 1/3 cup flour
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Six tbsp unsalted butter (unless you're like me and never have the stuff around the house. I used salted and cut back the 1/2 tsp of salt just slightly)
• 3/4 cup boiling water
• 1 1/2 c sugar
• 6 tbsp sour cream or buttermilk
• 2 large eggs

Combine flour and baking soda in a small mixing bowl. In a larger bowl, melt the chocolate. Add the butter, cut into six pieces, then the boiling water. Stir until the butter is all melted, then whisk in the sugar and the sour cream, then the flour mixture, then the eggs.

Pour into two 9" cake pans lined with greased parchment paper or, if your cake pans have suddenly and inexplicably disappeared off the the face of the earth, pour it all into a 13"x9" pan and make a sheet cake. Bake for about 30 minutes at 350, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes away clean.

Wilted Spinach Salad

This is my new favorite salad. It's a combination of something my mom made once, something I found on the internet, and something I largely improvised.

Ingredients for four small or two large salads:

• 4 slices of bacon
• 2 tbsp bacon grease reserved from said bacon
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp Balsamic vinegar
• salt and pepper
• spinach or spring mix
• Stuff for your salad (I used black olives and sliced red bell pepper)

Cook the bacon until good and crunchy and reserve the 2 tbsp of grease. Crumble the bacon to be used on the salad. Make the dressing by combining the bacon grease, the sugar, the salt and pepper, and the vinegar. Zap it in the microwave until it's boiling, then pour it over the salad and serve immediately.

Pineapple Stuff

How have we not posted this before? This is a family classic. It causes great excitement wherever it goes, and great disappointment if it gets dropped upside down on the carpet as soon as you walk in the door with it.

So don't drop it. You'll make people sad.

Pineapple stuff has four ingredients: 2 sticks of butter, one cup of sugar, four cups of white french bread all torn up, and a 20 oz can of crushed pineapple.

Melt the butter and pour over the torn-up bread in a large bowl. Then add the sugar and pineapple. Stir well. Dump into an ungreased 13 X 9 pan and bake at 350 for an hour, or until slightly golden on top.

Simple, right? And it keeps warm really well in a crock pot.

Oh and also, it's totally health food. Because it has fruit in it, people.

Slow Cooked, Seasoned Pulled Pork

This is the best way to prepare pork, ever. I dream about this dish. I have to make up special occasions to have an excuse to fix this for dinner. The original recipe is here, which includes instructions on cooking it in the oven. Since I'm a crock pot girl, I'm just going to do it my way.

You need to start this recipe the day before you want to serve it. You'll brine it one day, and cook it the next.

First of all, you'll need a big hunk of pork. If you can swing it, buy a large Boston butt. I usually buy a seven pound butt for 5-6 people, and that works out to just over $2.00 per person, which is really not bad. Make sure it has a nice layer of fat on one side and a bone running part of the way through. We need this for flavor.

Now, let's make the dry rub:

• 1/2 cup brown sugar (leave it out - you'll use it again later)
• 1 tbsp salt (ditto)
• 1 tbsp onion powder
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp chili powder (get creative here with your leftover spices from the Crash Hot Sweet Potatoes)
• 1 tbsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tbsp paprika (or half regular and half smoked sweet paprika)
• 1 tbsp ground black pepper

Yes, it's rather like the sweet potato spice we just did. In fact, if you're like me and you're now keeping a container of prepared sweet potato spice on hand at all times, you could probably go ahead and just use that.

Now set that aside and work on the brine:

• 2 quarts cold water
• 1/2 cup salt
• 3 tbsp dry rub mix
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (you can put it away now)

Stir the salt into the water until completely dissolved, then add the brown sugar and dry rub mix and keep stirring. Finally, add the bay leaf. Find something large enough to hold the pork but small enough to fit in your fridge. You can use a large pitcher, a bowl, or a giant Ziploc bag. Make sure the pork is completely covered in brine solution. Leave it in the fridge for at least eight hours. I usually do more like 20 hours. I put it in the solution in the morning, then turn it before I go to bed.

If you're serving this for dinner, then you want to start cooking it first thing that morning. Take it out of the brine solution, and pat it dry with paper towels (this will help the dry rub stick). Then roll up your sleeves and press that dry rub onto every inch of the roast. Get it in all the little crevices. Don't skimp. Odds are there will still be some left when you're done. Keep it. You can mix it in with the finished product for some extra kick when you're done.

Now that your butt is sufficiently rubbed and covered in spice (that's a sentence I don't write every day), go ahead and drop it in the crock pot. I like to add about 1/4 cup water, but I don't think it's necessary. Now turn it on low and let it cook for ten hours or so. If you don't have ten hours, start it on high and switch to low after a couple hours.

When this thing is done, you won't need to pull it apart. You just look at it, and it separates. Your only job is to try and remove all of the bone and most of the fat. And to taste lots of samples and lick grease off your fingers.

Serve this however you want. I'd eat it plain, but we usually do sandwiches. This is supposed to be enough for lots of leftovers, but don't count on it.

It serves exactly as many people as there are.