Potatoes and String Beans

Real simple and easy to make during Lent, a liturgical time in the Church calendar. I really like this recipe because even though there is no meat in it, this dish is still a hardy meal. This can feed many people especially if you serve with rice, bread, or crackers.
Ingredients:

• 1 lb. of string beans (trimmed)
• 4 medium potatoes (peeled and cut into quarters)
• 1 medium onion diced 
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 
• 1 tbsp crushed basil
• 1 tsp garlic salt
• pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup water

Steps:

1. on a 3 quart sauce pan heat olive oil and saute onion until golden
2. blanch string beans and potatoes for 3-6 minutes 
3. drain and add to saute onion 
4. add all other ingredients to sauce pan and simmer until potatoes become tender
5. serve with crunchy bread for dipping

 I have this dish during Fridays of lent because its  a easy and enjoyable meal for my family. The softness of the vegetables is what makes it truly enjoyable to eat with bread. Eating Italian bread with this only made this better, and by letting the bread soak in the juices it makes the bread so delicious. This dish is also great to eat the next day, and doesn't only have be eaten during Lent. Also, this can be great meal for a cold day.

6qt Electric Pressure Cooker Pulled Pork

This is a moderate skill level pressure cooker dish. This is made to feed many people. A real party stopper and tail-gate winner. A dish that appeals to young and old, and easy to please those with a discerning taste.
Ingredients:

• 1 four to five pound pork shoulder with bone in
• 1 cup apple cider or juice
• 1 cup favorite bbq sauce and more for after cooked
• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar 
• Lowery seasoned salt for browning 

Steps:

1. remove thick skin from shoulder 
2. sprinkle Lowery salt all over shoulder 
3. brown all sides in pan with small amounts of vegetable oil 
4. place shoulder in cooker and add all other ingredients 
5. close top and pressure up high setting time for 60 min. 
6. when time is up release pressure slowly until safe to open top
7. pork should be tender to shred with forks, if not repeat cooking time for 20-30 min. more
8. after shredding shoulder on separate plate add some cooking liquid from pressure cooker to moisten pork
9. then add additional bbq sauce 
10. enjoy!

*Tips to purchase: rolls of your choice, cole slaw, pickles, and corn bread. My personal bbq sauce is

Sweat Baby Ray's Hickory and Brown Sugar. 

I absolutely love this dish, when my dad makes it for the whole family. It comes out so tender and juicy that the bbq sauce drips down from my face. Rice or bread is fine with this dish, because both absorb the bbq sauce greatly. There has been no bad reviews from my dad's friends on this dish because it's a dish that doesn't get closer to an amazing home-cooked meal.    

Pinwheel Cookies

Another simple recipe to add to the list. A cool-looking cookie with very simple instructions, and there are many different ways to change the look of the cookie. One can put aside more dough and add food coloring to make a rainbow pinwheel or endless color combinations.
Ingredients:

• Vanilla cookie
• 225 g salted butter, softened
• 200 g caster sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 400 g self-raising flour
• Chocolate cookie add 
• 25 g salted butter, softened
• 2 tbsp milk
• 6 tbsp cocoa powder

Steps: 

1. mix the softened butter and sugar for the vanilla cookies together until pale and fluffy
2. crack in the egg yolks and vanilla extract, beat it together
3. fold in the flour until fully combined
4. take just over half of the cookie dough out of the bowl and leave the rest to the side
5. beat the 25 g of butter, milk and cocoa butter into what's left in the mixing bowl
6. combine to make sure its evenly chocolaty (may be easier with a spoon)
7. roll both vanilla and chocolate cookie dough out between separate sheets of baking paper to about 1/2cm in thickness and the size roughly of an A4 sheet
8. lay the chocolate sheet on top of the vanilla one, peel back the paper and then roll the two doughs together like a swiss roll, make sure to keep it tight and no paper is trapped inside
9. let it chill in fridge wrapped in clingfilm for an hour or so to set up
10. preheat oven to 338 degrees fahrenheit 
11. slice the roll into discs 1cm thick, then lay it on a lined backing tray (keep space between each of them)
12. bake for 15 min
13. let it cool, then ready to eat

In the end, the work feels so accomplished, and the best part was that it is so easy to make. It tastes very delicious with the vanilla and chocolate combo. Some people cannot help themselves from eating the cookies before they are served to a group or person. Also, the ingredients used are more friendly to a normal household, then some sophisticated pinwheel recipe that requires different variants of goods that are unknown to some people.

Delicious Crêpes

Crepes are very delicious and can be healthy with the right extras. Something that can add a lot of flavor is fruits such as berries because of the diversity and color each contains. It can be a simple substitute to pancakes or waffles in the morning for breakfast or can be a very delicious desert at the end of a hard day.
Ingredients:

• Crepe:
• 100 g plain flour
• 2 eggs
• 250 ml milk
• 50 g  salted butter, melted
• Sauce:
• 150 g caster sugar
• 100 ml freshly squeezed orange juice
• 50 ml orange liqueur
• 50 g cold diced butter

Steps:

1. mix the flour and eggs in a bowl, and whisk it
2. put milk in gradually and whisk as the milk makes the mix very smooth
3. add a pinch of salt and melted butter
4. sieve the batter to make sure there are no clumps left
5. heat the sugar and orange juice in a sauce pan until the sugar has dissolved and let it bubble for 2-3 minutes
6. then light the liqueur on fire to give it a nice flambe affect
7. then heat a large non-stick pan over a med-high heat, then pour in enough batter to coat the base of the pan 
8. swirl it around to cover the whole bottom of the pan
9. flip or toss the crepe once the edges start to lift and the crepe has freed itself from the bottom and let it cook for another minute
10. repeat steps 7-9 until you have used up all the mix
11. to finish the sauce drop pieces of cold butter into the sauce pan and swirl it around so it melts and becomes shiny
12. fold the crapes and pour the sauce on top
13. enjoy

This is a simple recipe to follow, but will a little harder if one does not use the proper ingredients to make this easy dish. This is like have pancakes with syrup, but this is a little more complex than  pancakes. The crapes are light and fluffy, which make people want to eat so many of them because they are so good. I believe if one takes out some of the ingredients, it will make the dish incomplete and therefore, makes the dish not held up to its standard.