Easy Dinner

As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we are very much into service. We believe that by serving our fellow man or woman we are in the service of our God.  A form of service I love is feeding our church Missionaries, young men and women in our church volunteer their lives to this, for the young men it’s a period of 2 years, and for the young women it’s 18 months. They serve all over the world, they learn the culture and language where they serve, make life long friends, and lives are changed. They return changed as well, how do I know? Because 2 young men changed my life in 1991 and also we have had 3 sons serve missions and currently our youngest is serving his mission in Argentina. It truly is a special experience to be a part of. I love feeding the Missionaries in our church, whether they are young men or women, they bring a special spirit into our house.

Our youngest son, holding the sign, serving his mission in Argentina

P-Day (or preparation day) in Argentina. This is the day they can grocery shop, explore the area they are serving in, do laundry, write letters home. 

A few years ago 2 of the Elders we were feeding told our bishop that I was the best cook in our ward (congregation), I thought that was hysterical because I’m not a great cook. I have a sign in my kitchen that says, I know how to cook, I just don’t. I like to think of myself as brilliantly lazy. Here’s my secret for anytime I have people over, develop a few easy but really good recipes and stick to them. I have a few, and since the Missionaries tend to rotate in and out I can get away with never serving them the same meal twice. I can do an excellent pot roast, enchiladas, we do a Swiss dish called raclette, lasagna, and finally tonight’s meal, sweet pork. 

For this meal, I purchased a pork shoulder and cooked it in the crock pot overnight on low, fat side up. The only spice on it was garlic powder. Then this morning all I did was remove the fat, drain the liquid and shred the meat. To this I mixed 1 cup each brown sugar, ketchup, and Mexican Coke. Regular coke works fine too. Poured this over the meat and continued to cook on low for at least 4 hours. With this I will be serving black beans, corn, and cilantro lime rice.

For the beans, I  add a can of Rotel tomatoes with chilies. Drain the beans, add the tomatoes and heat. The corn is just frozen corn. If you can make white rice you can make cilantro lime rice. 1 cup rice, 2 cups water, the juice of 2 limes. 1 bunch chopped cilantro, 1 eyeball the amount of cilantro so whatever looks good to you, 1 tbs olive oil. I will usually add the lime pieces in while the rice is cooking too and remove them before serving. Bring all the ingredients to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Garnish with extra cilantro.

 The best part of this meal is what my family calls Crack Dressing. Again it’s easy because I am nothing but lazy. Also it’s fattening so I don’t make it often. I mix 1 cup buttermilk with 1 cup mayonnaise, the juice of 2 limes, ranch dressing mix, 1 bunch cilantro, and 1 1/4 cup Herdez salsa verde. This all goes in the blender and is given a good whirl. I make this a day ahead and refrigerate it over night. It’s really really good.

                                            

With this I serve my secret family recipe salsa, sorry I have to have given birth to you to give you the recipe, guacamole, our local grocery store sells a ready made that’s pretty good, sour cream, and tortillas, flour or corn whichever you prefer. 

For dessert again I went easy with a crockpot dump cake, canned peaches , yellow cake mix, and butter. Recipes can be found all over the Internet especially on Pinterest.
                                             

The best part? It’s so easy and I have satisfied dinner guests afterwards, and what can be better than that? 

Cheers,

Terri