This cake is SERIOUSLY so easy, your two year old could make it. The oreo cookies act as the “cake” part and the frosting is the coolwhip. Pretty tasty with some fudge sauce on top. I’d let this cake sit out for a bit since it is kind of hard to cut at first.

The main ingredients. Milk to dunk the oreos in, 2 packages of oreo cookies. Any flavor would work with this. Heck even change up the oreo layers to make it interesting, and some cool whip.

Dunk some oreos in some milk and layer them on the bottom of the pan.

Frost the oreos with some cool whip. I used about half a container.

Repeat the layers until you run out of oreos. I tried doing this with one single package of oreos but I ended up running out towards the end and had to use 2 Golden Birthday cake oreos. So, a little portion of the cake will have regular oreos and birthday cake oreos. I’d suggest using two packages of oreos and two containers of cool whip the next time to get more layers.

Another pinterest recipe.

I used to have a long list of categories on this page that contained the weight watcher points and if it was a weight watcher recipe or not. For some strange reason that disappeared and I apologizefor that. I’m thinking about just having 3 different categories on my page now which would be Bacon, Weight Watchers, and Really Fattening recipes. I’ve been noticing a trend on my blog lately and those are the only three kind of recipes which people seem to like.

One of my favorite things to do on Saturday mornings is watch Food Network. My favorites are the Pioneer Woman, Ina Garten, Trisha Yearwood, and sometimes Giada (only when her boobs aren’t showing). I love to try recipes from either 4 of them and this recipe was on the Pioneer Woman. I recently went to Rib Fest and had these fabulous baked beans and I don’t really have a recipe for beans at all that I like. I saw her make these and decided to give them a try and they turned out really good. Not like the ones I had at Rib Fest, but since they had bacon in them that made them twice as good. I had these with some pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon. I was going to take a picture of the bacon wrapped pork tenderloin for another post, but sadly the bacon fell off the pork tenderloin.

Recipe from the Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

4 cups dry pinto beans
1 pound thick-cut bacon, cut into pieces
2 whole green bell peppers, diced
1 whole onion, diced
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons mustard
1 tablespoon chili powder, optional
2 teaspoons salt, more to taste
2 teaspoons black pepper, more to taste
4 cloves garlic, minced

Directions

Rinse the beans under cold water, sorting out any rocks/particles. Set aside.

In a heavy pot (cast iron), saute the bacon pieces until halfway cooked and the fat is rendered. Add the green peppers and onions to the pot and cook until starting to get brown, about 3 minutes. Add the beans and cover with water by 1 inch. Bring to a boil, and then add the brown sugar, ketchup, mustard, chili powder, salt, pepper and garlic. Reduce the heat to a simmer, place on the lid and cook until the beans are tender and the liquid is thick 3 to 4 hours.

I made homemade bacon for the first time. I’ve had quite a lot of free time to myself recently and will have a lot of it coming up pretty soon. I’m hoping I can find a job really fast or else I’ll be bored out of my mind.

Anyways… The first step to making homemade bacon is to find a good butcher. I went to the butcher where I live in Fargo, ND on University Drive. It’s a little nice meat place called Prime Cut Meats. The guy there was very nice. Ask for a pork belly loin. The total cost for 4 pounds of pork belly was $17.00. I didn’t think that was bad considering the cheapest pound of bacon I’ve seen here runs anywhere from 3.50 to $5.00 a pound.

If you ever watch Alton Brown on Food Network, he had an episode all about making bacon. I used his brine for this and let it soak in it for 3 days. That’s right, 3 days.

After the pork belly has brined in it’s juices for 3 days it’s time to smoke it. I used apple wood chips.

The temperature of the pork has to get to 150 degrees. I’m not sure if our smoker is cooking things properly but I set mine to 200 degrees and let it smoke for 2 hours. That’s how long it took to get done. I’m sure there’s other types of brines out there to try for making homemade bacon, and different wood chips to try. It’s all a matter of time before I try out a different recipe. I’d try making my own again. Too bad my nose is clogged up right now cause I have a cold. I couldn’t really smell the bacon’s wonderful goodness.

Scrap Iron Chef’s Homemade Bacon Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup sugar
1 cup salt
8 ounces molasses
1/2 gallon (2 quarts) water
1/2 gallon (2 quarts) apple cider
2 tablespoons course ground black pepper
1 (5 pound) piece raw pork belly from the loin-end

Directions

In a large non-reactive pot, bring half the water, 1 cup of sugar, salt, and 8 ounces molasses to a boil. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Pour into a large container with the remaining water, and the apple cider. Place in the refrigerator and cool to 40 degrees F.

Press the black pepper into the pork belly. Once the brine has cooled place the peppered pork belly into the mixture until completely submerged. Refrigerate for three days.

After three days have passed, remove the pork from the brine and pat dry with paper towels. Lay on a rack over a sheet pan and place in front of a fan for 1 hour to form a pellicle. Lay the pork in the protein box of a cold smoker and smoke for 4 to 6 hours. Chill the meat in the freezer for 1 hour to stiffen for easy slicing into strips of bacon. Slice what you need and keep the remainder in a freezer safe bag in the refrigerator or freezer.

Place the strips of bacon onto a sheet pan fitted with a rack and place into a cold oven. Turn the oven to 400 degrees F and cook for about 12 to 15 minutes, depending on how crispy you like your bacon. Remove from rack and drain on paper towels. Enjoy.

I am not sure if meatloaf is supposed to be smoked. Alton Brown said this was the best meat dish he had ever made on the show Best Thing I Ever Made. The recipe says to smoke the meatloaf for 40 minutes and then take the foil wrap off and cook it for another hour or so until the meat reaches 140 degrees. I did that and everything but the meat just didn’t have the smoky flavor to it. Can you guess what the secret ingredient in this meatloaf? He even said it on the show that it was the potato chips. I couldn’t really taste them at all in here. Overall the meatloaf did have a good taste to it. If I made this next time I’d cook it in the oven.

The next season of Food Network Star is going and I’m not really even interested in it at all. Food Network hasn’t even played the last guy’s show Justin Warner that won. I’m guessing his ratings didn’t do well? I really liked him, and I hope they have one of his shows on sometime soon. He’s supposed to be the next big Alton Brown.

Smoked Meatloaf Recipe from Alton Brown

Ingredients

2/3 cup ketchup
1/4 cup tomato paste
2 ounces chipotle peppers in adobo, with adobo sauce that clings to them, chopped fine
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
6 ounces ruffled kettle-style barbecue potato chips
3 cloves garlic
1 medium carrot, cut into 6 pieces
1 Fresno chile, seeded
1 medium onion, cut into 8 pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon dried sage
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 pound ground chuck
1 pound ground sirloin
1 pound ground pork
3 large eggs

Directions

Combine the ketchup, tomato paste, chipotle peppers and cocoa powder in a large mixing bowl. Remove 1/3 cup of the mixture and set aside.

Pulse the potato chips in the food processor until they are a coarse breadcrumb consistency, approximately 12 pulses. Transfer the potato chips to the bowl with the ketchup mixture.

Combine the garlic, carrots, chile and onions into the bowl of a food processor and process until finely chopped but not pureed, approximately 10 pulses.

Heat the olive oil in a 10-inch cast-iron pan set over medium heat. Once the oil shimmers, add the onion mixture, sage and salt and cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetables soften and begin to brown slightly, approximately 5 minutes. Add the mixture to the mixing bowl with the potato chip mixture and stir to combine and cool the vegetables slightly. Add the ground chuck, sirloin, pork and eggs and use your hands to thoroughly combine. Shape into a loaf that is approximately 12- by 4- by 2-inch. Make sure to press the meat into a compact, uniform loaf. Wrap the loaf in heavy-duty aluminum foil. Set aside at room temperature for 1 hour.

Heat a smoker to 250 degrees F. Place 1 hardwood chunk in the smoker’s wood tray.

Flip over the meatloaf pouch and poke 12 to 15 holes in the aluminum foil package to allow the fat to drain off. Turn the pouch back over. Set the meatloaf in the smoker and place a drip pan on the rack immediately below the meatloaf. Cook for 45 minutes.

After 45 minutes, open the foil pack and fold down the sides of the foil to create a shallow “pan” around the meatloaf. Brush with the reserved glaze. Insert a probe thermometer into the meatloaf and cook until the internal temperature reaches 140 degrees F, approximately 40 minutes. Remove the meatloaf from the smoker and rest for 30 minutes before slicing and serving.