The Best Lemon Pepper Marinade

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 small onion, finely minced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• fresh course ground black pepper, to taste
• grated zest of one lemon********* I love love to add 2 to 3 tsp of honey to this recipe!

Mix all the ingredients and use the marinade immediately with meat or fish in your choice of a zip-lock plastic bag or container. Cover or seal and marinate in refrigerator. Use this as a basting sauce as well, but bring to a rolling boil before using after using as a marinade. With or without marinading first, you will find that if you are grilling, this works best for most fish. (Note: if you want to add a sweeter caramelizing effect. Add 1-2 tablespoons of honey to the marinade recipe). It's great on chicken, fish, and pork chops!

Grilled Veggies With Couscous

It's getting that time of year again that I just want to add as many fresh veggies in our diet as I can. I love playing with new recipes, so I thought I would see how my family would like couscous. I found this recipe in an old magazine and changed the veggies to what we like in our family. You can add any veggies you want.

• 2 small zucchini, quartered lengthwise
• 1 package of brussel sprouts cut in half
• 1 medium sweet red pepper, quartered
• 1 small onion, sliced 1/2 inch thick
• Cooking spray
• 2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1 package (10 ounces) couscous
• 1/2 cup chopped green onions
• 4-1/2 teaspoons lemon juice

• Spritz vegetables with cooking spray; sprinkle with  salt and  pepper. Using long-handled tongs, moisten a paper towel with cooking oil and lightly coat the grill rack. Prepare for indirect heat using a drip pan.
• Arrange vegetables over drip pan and grill, covered, over indirect medium heat for 8-10 minutes or until tender, turning occasionally. Let stand until cool enough to handle.
• In a large saucepan, bring broth to a boil. Stir in couscous. Remove from the heat; cover and let stand for 5 minutes or until liquid is absorbed.
• Cut grilled vegetables into 1/2-in. pieces. Fluff couscous with a fork. Add the vegetables, green onions, lemon juice.

Creative Easter Eggs

The beautiful weather in Texas this week has given me a little spring fever. Along with spring fever I realized yikes Easter is coming up fast this year. My absolute favorite holiday! We have so many fun little traditions in our house for Easter, and  I love all of them! One of our traditions is that we don't just dye eggs, we try to be a little more creative and come up with something a little different with our eggs. Not sure what we will do this year, but here are some pics of our past Easter Eggs.

Shredded Pork

This isn't the best picture. As a matter of fact you are probably wandering what that really is???? First of all this isn't a recipe it's more of a great tip on how to make the best shredded pork. Ready??? Just buy a regular pork roast (not a pork loin) stick it in your slow cooker cover the top of the roast with liquid smoke and cook for 6 hours on high. That's it. Seriously, this is so yummy...it taste like you have been smoking it in the smoker all day. Not to mention it makes you house smell like you have been smoking it all day too! 

This shredded pork is great for sandwiches, taco, etc etc.. you will love it

.  This time we shredded it, put it over rice, and topped it with fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, and banana peppers (the yummy jarred ones). It was delicious!

Great Marinade for Steak

This is a great recipe for Pineapple Teriyaki marinade. I used it on steak, but really think I will try it with pork chops next.

1 - 6 oz. can pineapple juice
6 oz. teriyaki sauce
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. minced garlic

Mix all the ingredients in a resealable bag. Marinate any meat,  for at least 45 minutes or up to 24 hours. If the meat needs tenderizing, leave it in the marinade overnight. The pineapple juice does the tenderizing.This recipe is especially good on beef, pork, chicken, and salmon. Grill or broil as desired.

Susie's Valentines Cake Decorating Party!

I have always wanted to do a cake decorating party for one of my girls, and I have always wanted to do a Valentines Birthday party for Susie (since she was born in February). So this year I decided to combine the two. It turned out so cute, and was probably one of the funnest parties we have had.  It was a lot of work, but in the end worth it! I made all of those cakes plates (a dollar store candlestick, and plate glued together), and all of those mini cakes. So with that being said, if you plan to do a cake decorating party remember there is A LOT of prep work!

Canning my own Tomatoe Sauce

Ok so I read an article about the dangers of eating tomato sauce out of a can recently.......Ugh I hate that! We use so much tomato sauce in our house, it really is the one can food item that I always keep in the pantry. I hate that it's so NOT  good for you! So of course I had to try jarring my own. It turned out really good, but I'm not gonna lie it's a chore.  It took a long time and had a lot of steps. I will say it tasted so much better, and fresher, I will definitely try to keep making it!  Here is how I did it..... oh by the way this is the most basic recipe I could find.

• 8 lbs. supremely ripe tomatoes (a bit overripe isn't bad here either)
• 1 tsp. sea salt
• 4 Tbsp. jarred or bottled lemon juice
• 4 pint-size jars with sealable lids for canning

Preparation:

1. Rinse the tomatoes clean and pat them dry. Now you need to remove the seeds and skin. This can be done one of three ways: Option 1: Cut a small "x" in the bottom of each tomato and blanch them for about 30 seconds in boiling water, remove to an ice bath, slip off their skins, cut in half and squeeze out the seeds.
   Option 2: Roughly chop the tomatoes and run them through a food mill.
   Option 3: Whirl the tomatoes quickly in a blender and push the puree through a fine sieve.
2. Put the peeled and seeded tomatoes or tomato puree in a pot with the salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, stirring now and again, until the mixture is reduced by about a third, about 45 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, sterilize the jars and lids bring a canning kettle full of water to a boil.
4. Put 1 Tbsp. of the lemon juice in each of the 4 jars. Transfer the hot tomato sauce to the hot jars, leaving about 1/2 inch of head space at the top. Screw on the lids, put the jars in a canning rack, and lower them into the boiling water in the canning kettle. Process for 40 minutes.
5. Remove jars and let them cool. Store in a cool, dark place (a cupboard or pantry works great) until ready to use.