I love summer meals that don’t required me heating up my house.  For dinner I made Pulled Pork with Mango BBQ Sauce, Mango Macadamia Nut Slaw, and grilled corn on the cob.  

Pulled Pork
Pork roast (2-3 lbs for a family of 4)
Salt and Pepper
2 tsp. dried thyme

Place roast in a slower cooker, sprinkle with salt, pepper and thyme.  Cook on low for 6 hours.  Remove from slow cooker, shred meat with 2 forks.  Stir in the Mango BBQ sauce.  Serve on Hawaiian Sweet Rolls.

Mango BBQ Sauce
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 clove garlic (chopped)
1/4 cup finely chopped mango
2 tsp. brown sugar
1 tbsp. hot mustard
2 tsp. cinder vinegar
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
Splash of liquid smoke
3/4 cup Ketchup

Heat oil in a pan, add garlic and fry until golden.  Add mango and cook until very tender.  Add all remaining ingredients and simmer for about 10 mins. on low.  

Mango Macadamia Nut Slaw
1/4 cup light mayo
1/4 cup fat free half and half
Salt and pepper
2 tsp. cider vinegar
1/2 tsp. hot mustard
1/2 cup cubed mango
5 cups finely shredded cabbage
1/2 cup grated carrot
 1/4 cup dry roasted macadamia nuts (chopped)

Combine first 5 ingredients.  Add cabbage, carrot and mango and toss in dressing.  Sprinkle with macadamia nuts. 

Grilled Corn on the Cob
Peel back husks on corn, but do not remove them from the bottom of the cob.  Remove the silks.  Pull husks back over the cob.  Fill a sink with cool water and a generous amount of salt.  Soak cobs for a couple of hours.  Grill corn on the BBQ .

Maui Mango Ginger Granita
2 ripe mangoes
juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp. finely grated ginger
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup sugar

Blend the ingredients until smooth.  Freeze in a 9 x 13″ pan for at least 3 hours.  Scrape and fluff with a fork every hour until completely frozen.

Here’s how to cut a mango, cut both sides off the mango as close to the pit as possible.  Cut a grid of 1″squares.  Turn the side inside out to remove the flesh.  Peel the center piece with the pit and cut off any additional flesh.  Oh, and ginger root should be pealed with the back of a spoon (it just scrapes off) and then grated.

Ok, if you are afraid of canning, but love homemade jam – then you NEED to make freezer jam.  It is the easiest thing to make and your family and friends will be so impressed.  I’m all about ‘faking fancy’, this is definitely one of those recipes.

 Strawberry Freezer Jam
2 cups crushed strawberries
2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
4 cups of sugar
1 pouch of CERTO Sure-Jell Liquid Fruit Pectin

Crush fruit in a large bowl using a potato masher. Measure the exact amount of fruit.  Add sugar, mix and then allow to sit for 10 minutes.

Combine Pectin and lemon juice in a bowl.  Stir pectin mixture into fruit and sugar.  Stir constantly for about 3 minutes or until sugar is dissolved.

Pour jam into containers, I used Ball Freezer Canning Containers.  Freeze for up to a year.  It will keep in the fridge for 3 weeks (but yours won’t last that long – I’d give a container a couple days at the most).

The finished product!  Great on vanilla ice cream and crepes as well. And now for something to put that jam on.

Mix all dry ingredients together.

Using a pastry knife, cut the COLD butter into the flour until it looks like course meal. 

Add the milk and just barely combine the ingredients by tossing it gently with a fork.  The less you handle the dough the more tender it will be.

Roll out to 1/2 inch and cut circles.  Bake at 400 F for about 12-15 minutes.  Eat while they are warm.