Before You Say Goodbye to Summer

The only thing worse than cooking at the end of a work day is to cook at the end of a hot summer work day. Yes, it is August 31st and tomorrow is supposed to be unseasonably cool weather; but I'm a firm believer that there are some dog days of summer left, so I'm leaving you with a few easy recipes that work well when it's summer time and the livin' ain't easy.

SLOW COOKER HOISIN PORK WRAPS Ingredients:

1 (2 lb) boneless pork roast, trimmed of fat

5 tablespoons of hoisin sauce

1 tablespoon grated ginger root

1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder

2 garlic cloves, minced

10 (10 inch) flour tortillas

3 cups shredded lettuce

1/2 c. sliced green onions

1 (15 oz.) can mandarin orange segments, drained

Directions:

Place pork roast in slow cooker. In a small bowl, combine 4 tablespoons of the hoisin sauce, ginger root, five-spice powder and garlic; mix well. Spread mixture over pork.

Cover, cook on Low setting for 7 to 8 hours.

About 15 minutes before serving, heat oven to 300 degrees F. Wrap tortillas in foil. Heat packet for 10 to 15 minutes or until warm.

Meanwhile, remove pork from slow cooker; place on cutting board. Stir remaining tablespoon hoisin sauce into juices in slow cooker. Shred pork with 2 forks; return to slow cooker and mix well.

To serve, spoon about 1/2 c. pork mixture on each warm tortilla. Top each with lettuce, onions and orange segments. Roll up.

Makes 10 Sandwiches

Cooks note: I might increase the hoisin sauce at the end to 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons. Also, this recipe was from Betty Crocker. But you knew that already, right?

CHIPOTLE BARBECUE BURGERS WITH SLAW

Ingredients:

1/2 c. dry breadcrumbs

2 T. barbecue sauce

1 T. chopped chipotle chiles, canned in adobo sauce

1 teaspoon bottled minced garlic

1 pound lean ground beef

1 large egg

Cooking spray

2 c. cabbage and carrot coleslaw

1 T. reduced fat mayonnaise

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon cider vinegar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

4 hamburger buns

Directions:

Combine first 6 ingredients. Divide mixture into 4 equal portions, shaping each in a 1/2 inch thick patty.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add patties to pan; cook for 4 minutes on each side or until a meat thermometer registers 160.

Combine coleslaw and next 7 ingredients (through pepper) in large bowl; toss well. Place 1 patty on bottom half of each bun; top each serving with 1/2 c. coleslaw mixture and top half of bun.

Nutrition Information: 4 Servings, 358 calories, 9.1 g. fat, 32.1 protein, 36.3 carb, 2.6 fiber (Source Cooking Light Magazine)

Cook's Notes: We sometimes add extra barbecue sauce on top of the burger. Yummy and light. The burger with the chipotle has a nice kick.