Bready or Not

• Slice onion and place it in bottom of crock pot. Trim excess fat from pork and place it atop the onion. Sprinkle with cumin, salt, and pepper. Pour the full jar of salsa over the meat.
• Cook in crock pot for 8 to 10 hours on low, or 4 to 5 hours on high. About 30 minutes before eating time, shred the pork. Make sure it's all submerged in the sauce and keep on warm setting until meal time.
• This verde pork is awesome in taco shells, tortillas, salads, quesadillas, enchiladas, Mexican pizza, etc. It makes for happy leftovers, too.
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For the chocolate filling:

• Place the chocolate chips and condensed milk in a microwave-safe bowl and heat for 40-50 seconds, watching it the whole time--condensed milk can turn to lava if you're not careful! Stir well, and heat again if necessary; the chocolate chips should blend in. Once that happens, add the vanilla extract and stir in. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

For the cookie bars:

• Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Line a 9x13-inch pan with foil, overlapping the sides to make it easy to lift out later. Spray foil with nonstick spray or rub with butter.
• Place the butter and both sugars in a large bowl. Beat until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs and vanilla.
• In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients: the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Gradually add to the butter mixture until everything is well incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips.
• Place about half the cookie dough in dollops in the ready pan. Gently smooth it out to cover the bottom. Pour the cooled chocolate over the dough. Top that with the remaining dough in dollops; don't worry about covering the whole surface.
• Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the top is just golden brown. Cool completely. Use the foil to lift it out of the pan to cut. Store in a sealed container in the fridge, as the middle will soften at room temperature.
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• Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Line a 9×9 square pan with foil and apply butter or nonstick spray.
• In a medium bowl, toss peeled and chopped apples with cinnamon and brown sugar.
• In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.
• In a larger mixing bowl, whisk together the white sugar, vegetable oil, sour cream/yogurt, and vanilla extract until it's smooth. Add the eggs.
• Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until everything is just mixed.
• Pour half the batter into the ready pan. Sprinkle half the apples evenly over the top. Pour the remaining batter, smooth it out, then add the remaining apples.
• Bake for about an hour. It will pass the toothpick test when done. Cool completely and store covered in the fridge.
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To make Dulce de Leche

• (Note that you can buy canned Dulce de Leche on the Hispanic foods aisle in many grocery stores and skip this step! You can also make it in a crock pot or stove--look up these other methods online. Microwave is faster, but has some danger involved.)
• Combine sweetened condensed milk and corn syrup in a LARGE microwave safe bowl. You need the bowl large because the stuff will start to boil like an erupting volcano.
• Microwave on 50% power, stopping and stirring every 2 minutes. Start watching VERY CAREFULLY about the 5 minute point. It will start to boil over very quickly. Start doing 1 minute increments, stirring well in between. At the 10 to 12 minute point, it will thicken and look caramel-colored rather than white. It might look curdled but that goes away when you stir. Add in the butter and stir until it's melted. Set aside.

To Make the Brownies

• Preheat oven to 325-degrees F. Line a 9x13 pan with foil and butter it or spray it with Pam.
• In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars until fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine flour, espresso powder (if using), cocoa, and salt. Add dry ingredients into creamed mixture; mix until well blended.
• Spread about 1/2 of mixture in the prepared pan. This will just cover the bottom. Drop spoonfuls of Dulce de Leche evenly over this layer and smooth out. Sprinkle chocolate chips all over. Cover with remaining brownie batter; an offset spatula is great to smooth it to the edges.
• Bake 35 to 40 minutes. Cool and cut into squares.
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• Preheat oven at 325-degrees. Line a 9x13 pan with aluminum foil and apply butter or nonstick spray.
• In a mixer bowl, combine the butter, sugar, lemon zest, and extract. Beat until it's light and creamy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add lemon juice and stir.
• In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cornmeal, and salt. Slowly mix into the wet ingredients until it is just mixed. Dump the dough into the ready pan and use an uneven spatula to even it out.
• Use a knife to score the bars, gently cutting through to establish where it will be sliced again after baking. The dough is very sticky; wipe the blade between passes, and dab the excess back into the top. It doesn't need to look neat. Completely sprinkle the top with turbinado sugar or sparkling sugar.
• Bake until the shortbread looks dry and golden, about 35 to 40 minutes. Immediately use a knife to follow the previous lines and slice the shortbread into bars (when cool, the shortbread will likely crumble when cut). Set the whole pan on a rack to cool, eventually lifting them out by the aluminum foil to finish cooling.
• Store in sealed containers at room temperature. This lemon cornmeal shortbread is excellent for travel and shipping as it keeps well for at least six days.
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Start the chicken

• In the bottom of a 5 or 6 quart crockpot, layer the diced onion half, carrots, and garlic. Lay the chicken thighs on top and season them with salt and pepper.
• Heat the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Once it's melted, whisk in flour and cook for 2-3 minutes to create a roux. Once it's golden in color, add 2 cups of chicken broth. Mix it well as it rises to a boil; it'll thicken considerably.
• After about 4-5 minutes, pour the sauce over the chicken and vegetables. Add the remaining chicken broth/stock. Put the lid on the slow cooker and cook on LOW for 4 hours.

Add the dumplings

• Change the slow cooker to high heat. Shred or cut up the chicken; it's okay if it's not fully cooked since it has more time to cook. Stir the half & half into the crock pot, and put the cover on again as you make the dumplings.
• In a mixing bowl, combine flour, herbs, sugar, baking powder, salt, and pepper. Use a fork or fingers to crumble in the butter until it's evenly dispersed. Add in the half and half or milk until a sticky dough forms.
• Use a tablespoon to dollop the dough into the crock pot. Cover and cook for another 1 to 1 1/2 hours. The dumplings will expand to cover the top. The dumplings are cooked when they are soft and no longer raw and sticky in the middle.
• Serve immediately. Leftovers are fantastic heated in the microwave. If you need to make more dumplings, use the same recipe again and heat the leftovers and fresh dough on the stovetop.
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