It's starting to smell like Fall!!!!

Grace, Mom and I are down in Alma right now at Granny's house and I have a ton of pictures to share but for right now I'm going to share two new recipes I've tried! I recently signed up at myrecipes.com and also at southernliving.com so I receive e-mails with recipes and ideas on a regular basis. Let me tell you, my recipe book has grown tremendously since I started getting them!

This past week I received one that was 20 Slow Cooker Recipes and I printed off just about everyone of them because they all sounded delish! I brought them down with me yesterday when we came and had Mom and Granny go through to see which ones they thought sounded good to make while we were here. We all decided on the Chalupa Dinner Bowl and the recipe says to put it in large taco salad shells or over cornbread so we decided we would make homemade cornbread and also baked potatoes to put it over!!! Now I will say first that we have not actually eaten it yet. I put it all together last night and let it cook overnight and we will be eating it for dinner here in about an hour so I'll be sure to come back and let you know how it was all together! I have tasted it though and mmmmmm......yum!! Ok, here ya go!!!

Chalupa Dinner Bowl

1 lb dried pinto beans

1 (3 1/2 lb) bone-in pork loin roast

2 (4 oz) cans chopped green chiles

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 tablespoon chili powder

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 (32 oz) box chicken broth

1 (10 oz) can diced tomatoes and green chiles with lime juice and cilantro

8 taco salad shells

1 small head Iceberg lettuce, shredded

Toppings: shredded Monterey Jack cheese, pickled jalapeno slices, halved grape tomatoes, sour cream, chopped avocado

Rinse and sort beans. Place pinto beans in a 6-qt slow cooker; add roast and next 6 ingredients. Pour chicken broth evenly over top of roast. Cover and cook on HIGH 1 hour; reduce to LOW, and cook 9 hours. Or, cover and cook on HIGH 6 hours. Remove bones and fat from roast; pull roast into large pieces with two forks. Stir in diced tomatoes and green chiles. Cook, uncovered, on HIGH 1 more hour or until liquid is slightly thickened. Heat taco salad shells according to package directions; place shredded lettuce evenly into shells. Spoon about 1 cup pork-and-bean mixture into each shell using a slotted spoon. Serve with desired toppings.

Note: I used a boneless pork roast and it worked wonderfully and it was easier because I didn't have to pull it out in order to tear it into small pieces because it was sooo tender! I also used minced garlic instead of garlic cloves (it says on the jar how much equals 2 cloves), a can of regular Rotel instead of the one it calls for and after it cooked for the first hour and I turned it to LOW I added a glass of water to it to make sure it didn't get dry because Granny's crock pot is really big and not all of the roast was under the broth. I think the water really helped because it made it more brothy. And of course we are using the cornbread and baked potatoes instead of what it says and I'll be sure to take pictures of the finished product and let you know how it all was together too!!

Now....I also had some new dessert recipes and I brought them down as well! They were all pretty much pumpkin recipes because, after all, 'tis the season!! So, we decided on the Pumpkin Pound Cake with Buttermilk Glaze! We haven't tried any yet because it will come after our dinner but rest assured I'll give you a verdict on it as well!! I do know that it smelled absolutely heavenly in here and then I got the cake in the oven and my mouth was just watering over the smell alone!! I'm so happy that fall is here....it's just my absolute favorite!!

Pumpkin Pound Cake with Buttermilk Glaze

CAKE:
cooking spray
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup fat-free buttermilk

GLAZE:
1/3 cup fat-free buttermilk
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tbslp butter
2 tsps cornstarch
1/8 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. To prepare the cake, lightly coast a 10-in tube pan with cooking spray; dust with 1 tblsp flour. Spread pumpkin over 2 layers of paper towels; cover with 2 additional layers of paper towels. Let stand about 10 minutes. Scrape drained pumpkin into a bowl. (This drains the moisture out of the pumpkin to help make the cake's texture light.)

Place 3/4 cup granulated sugar, brown sugar, and 1/2 cup butter in a large bowl.; beat with a mixer at medium speed 3 minutes or until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in pumpkin and vanilla. Lightly spoon 3 cups flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine flour and next 4 ingredients (through salt) in a bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Add flour mixture and 3/4 cup of buttermilk alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture.

Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 55 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes on a wire rack. Remove from pan, and cool completely on a wire rack.

To prepare glaze, combine 1/3 cup buttermilk and remaining ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat; bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute or until thick, stirring constantly; remove from heat. Drizzle cake with glaze.


I'm hoping it tastes as good as it looks!!! I really do have several other pictures to share from our last couple of days but right now I need to make sure Grace isn't doing something she shouldn't be and finish getting stuff together for dinner!!!

Till then....