Spicy Dr. Pepper Shredded Pork & More!

Last evening, we had some wonderful friends over for dinner and a couple rounds of "Apples to Apples."  The main dish was Spicy Dr. Pepper Shredded Pork, recipe courtesy of The Pioneer Woman.  I love, love, love this dish.  The meat is super tender, and the balance between the Dr. Pepper and chipotle peppers is perfect.  It can either be slow roasted in the oven or cooked in the crock-pot.  Totally delicious!  On the side, we had mashed butternut squash, broccoli salad, and honey quinoa rolls/muffins.  I just have an obsession with butternut squash...okay, not really "obsession," but I love to eat it.  If you cook it (cut in half or quarters with the peel on) in the microwave, it makes it easy to scoop out and mash.  I seasoned it with thyme, rosemary, sage, salt, pepper, and a hint of brown sugar.  Also delicious.  The honey quinoa rolls were a play off of the honey quinoa bread I made a while back. 

The broccoli salad is based on a recipe I found in an old church cookbook, however, I "remade" it.  Remade?  What?  Let's just say, I replaced regular mayo with fat-free mayo, bacon for reduced-sodium turkey bacon, and sugar for Splenda.  The result = 1592 fewer calories and 148 fewer grams of fat! (For the entire salad, NOT per serving.)  It was superb!  No one even guessed that I had messed with it.

Remade Broccoli Salad:

2 bunches of broccoli, cut into small florets

1/2 cup red onion, finely chopped

12 slices of reduced-sodium turkey bacon, cooked and crumbled

1/2 cup sunflower kernels

1 cup raisins

For the dressing:

1 cup fat-free mayo

1/2 cup Splenda

2 tablespoons cider vinegar 

I'm a big fan of dessert, so of course I made that too!  It was a "light" Caramel cake (about 320 calories per slice).  The recipe basically came from Paula Deen (Bobby's Lighter Caramel Cake).  However, if you look at her recipe, you would notice that it only involves one 9" cake, cut in half with filling and frosting.... Um, that is NOT much cake...not much at all.  So, I doubled the cake recipe, but because I use applesauce and not oil, the calories didn't really change.  I also used fat-free cream cheese instead of reduced-fat.  It was very moist and tasty!  Granted, Bobby's Caramel Cake (not the lighter one) is probably better, but it also has FIVE STICKS OF BUTTER!!! That is a lot of butter.  I think this is a much better alternative:

 I am very thankful for the good food and time spent with amazing friends last night!  Truly a blessing!