Since the job search has essentially led nowhere thus far (other than a couple of phone interviews and scams), I decided to cook.  Cooking and baking always seems to lift my spirits, and makes me feel as though I have reached some level of productivity.

I spent the greater portion of Saturday (as well as a good part of Friday night) preparing a good ol' southern meal (perhaps I needed a little slice of home).  I began with my pulled pork...

Now this is fairly easy!  A pork tenderloin (it's a VERY lean cut of meat as far as pork goes, and is leaner than all beef), a slow cooker, some chopped onions, and my awesome rub are the base to this masterpiece!  Sorry, not giving away my entire recipe!!!  Anyhoo, after cooking the loin for 8 hours and finishing it off with an hour extra in my homemade Carolina BBQ sauce, I started on my Nana's German potato salad!!!  Now, I'm not a big fan of potato salad... Like, not at all!  HOWEVER, this particular one tops my list of favorite foods EVER!!!  It has a delectable smokey flavor, is mayo based (reduced fat Helman's is what I use), and the potatoes are sliced like scalloped potatoes rather than in chunks. Truly, words cannot express how great this stuff is!!!  Additionally, I made some of my Mom's southern style baked beans (YUMMY!).  My husband made some awesome cast-iron skillet cornbread, with actual corn and sharp cheddar inside, to complete the meal!!!  I was soooo impressed!!!

By 6:30, we finally sat down to eat the smorgasbord of our down home comfort food!!! Quite the meal! Gpops concurred, stating that I should cook for the cowboys (he watches a lot of John Wayne westerns)! ;)

Still riding the high of my previous day's feat, I decided to do a little baking today!!!!  Gpops is going on an RV outing on Tuesday and was tasked with bringing some deserts for his caravan participants.  Since my Nana's passing, undertakings such as this can be a little anxiety provoking to him.  Therefore, I happily stepped to the plate and made some beautiful treats that the group are sure to devour and that Gpops could be proud of!

DRUM-ROLL PLEASE..........................

Miniature Angel-food cakes!!!

The ones with the cherries are iced with lemon glaze and lemon zest.  The others (my personal favorite) are iced with burned butter  frosting... Now, nothing tastes burned about this heavenly icing!  It tastes a lot like butterscotch and takes only about 5 minutes to make!!!  I garnished these with a butterscotch mini-kiss and sliced almonds!


Anyone hungry yet???