Loaded Sweet Potato Fries

I absolutely love sweet potato fries. I don't think there's anything better than a plate of sweet potato fries drizzled with some melted honey butter. Mmmmmm... Now, I know that sweet potatoes are really good for you and they have a lot of great vitamins and minerals. But, as the name suggests, this recipe is not meant to be health food haha! Don't say I didn't warn you! I had some left-over pulled pork so I loaded up my sweet potato fries with some of the left-overs. It was a match made in heaven!

Loaded Sweet Potato Fries
Makes: 4 servings

4 servings of sweet potato fries (that's 336g for those of you who use a food scale)
2 tsp honey
1 cup pulled pork
1/2 cup shredded Monterey jack cheese

• Cook the sweet potato fries by either baking them or deep frying them. I prefer deep frying; it makes them come out lighter and fluffier.
• Once the fries are cooked, pile them up on an oven safe plate. Then drizzle them with the honey.
• If you're using fresh pulled pork, sprinkle it over the fries. If you're using left-overs, reheat it first, then sprinkle it on the fries.
• Top the pulled pork with the shredded cheese. Place the fries under a broiler on high for about 2 minutes until the cheese is melted.
• Dive in!

Pulled Pork

If you've never made pulled pork before, it's truly the easiest thing you can possibly make. Just get a medium sized pork shoulder (sometimes it's called a Boston Butt roast), about 6 - 8 lbs, dump a whole bottle of sauce over it, then cook it in a slow cooker on low for eight hours. It's most commonly made with barbecue sauce, but you could use any kind of sauce you want. You could even make your own. For this particular one, I used Lowry's chop and steak marinade. It was really good! Once the pork is cooked, remove the bones with some tongs. Then, using the same tongs, rip apart the roast and kind of stir it at the same time so that it's eventually shredded. You could also do this with a pair of forks if you like it finely shredded (like us!).

Crunchy Pepper Jack Cheese Sticks

So, I have to admit that this is not my own original idea. I found this recipe on Life's Ambrosia via Pinterest. I have to say that I have -ahem- improved upon the idea a bit! Matt and I are totally addicted to pepper jack cheese and this just fuels our addiction even more. I think I may need to start going to PJC Anonymous hehe!

Crunchy Pepper Jack Cheese Sticks
Makes: 8 cheese sticks

8 egg roll wrappers
8 oz brick of pepper jack cheese

Yep! Just two ingredients!

• Preheat a deep fryer or heavy bottomed dutch oven filled with oil to 375° F.
• Cut the brick of pepper jack cheese into 4 long slices lengthwise. Then turn each slice on it's side and cut in half so that you have 8 even sticks.
• Freeze the sticks for one hour. This step is really important. Otherwise the cheese will ooze out into the hot oil and you'll have an empty wrapper.
• Place a cheese stick diagonally on an egg roll wrapper. Then brush two of the edges with water.

• Fold the wrapper in half over the cheese stick, then fold the small top and bottom flaps over like you would with a burrito.

• Brush some water on the smaller triangle that was just folded over the cheese stick. Then continue to roll it up like an egg roll.

• Now fry the cheese sticks until golden brown, about 3 minutes.
• Dip in marinara or sweet chili sauce.

Southern Fried Pickles

My sister-in-law, Erica is a true southern gal; born and raised in North Carolina. If you live around here, you'll know how rare it is to meet someone who is actually originally from North Carolina. Erica is a self described "terrible cook." However, I beg to differ. She has taught me a lot about southern cooking and tradition. Her Southern Fried Pickles are to die for! She has informed me that all southern women have their own recipe for breading and it's a heavily guarded secret. So consider yourselves lucky that she has decided to share her secret with us!

Southern Fried Pickles
Yield: 4 servings

16 oz jar of dill pickles
1 cup flour
1/3 cup plain bread crumbs
2 tsp seasoned salt
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cayenne powder
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk

• Preheat a deep fryer or heavy bottomed dutch oven filled with 1" of oil to 375° F.
• Drain the jar of pickles but do not rinse them.
• Combine the flour, bread crumbs, seasoned salt, onion, garlic, and cayenne. Set aside.
• Whip together the eggs and milk.
• Soak the pickles in the egg mixture for 1 minute.
• Toss the pickles in the flour and bread crumb mixture then shake off any excess.
• Fry the pickles until golden brown, about 2 - 3 minutes.
• Serve with ranch - we mixed a little sriracha sauce into our ranch!

Note: The first time I ever made these, I made the grave mistake of getting bread and butter pickles. It was terrible. I don't know how much more I can say about this other than, "just don't." Make sure to get dill pickles.

And in case you didn't think I was completely insane yet... This post has inspired the name of Erica's new puppy - Simon James Alexander Ragsdale Picklesworth III M.D. but you can just call him Professor Pickles for short.