Carnitas recipe

I absolutely love almost any form of carnitas … or most any form of pork for that matter. What can I say, I am the daughter of two Iowans. 🙂

The absolute best way to cook carnitas is as follows:

Ingredients:

1 pork roast (about any size. We usually buy one that’s at least 4 pounds – the leftovers are so good)

1 tablespoon minced garlic

2 limes

1 bunch of cilantro

3 springs of green onions

2 tsps Sea salt

1 tbsp Sesame oil

1 tsp garlic powder

2 tsps pepper

1/2 white or yellow onion, cut into pieces

Cut one pork roast into chunks (say about 2 inches by 1 inch). Do not trim away most of fat, as this is part of the cooking process. Marinate for at least 4 hours in a large ziplock bag. For marinade: combine oil, the juice of two limes (save the rind of 1/2 lime), garlic powder and minced garlic, salt, pepper, 1/2 bunch of cilantro roughly chopped, and chopped green onions and pour into bag, shaking to ensure pork has been covered.

Fill stock pot about 1/2 full of water, throw in pork and marinade. Throw in rind of 1/2 lime, chopped onions, and remaining cilantro. Put stock pot on boiler, on high heat, and bring to boil. Turn down heat to medium, turn on fan on range hood, and let cook uncovered for about 2 hours. Water should evaporate, leaving only the melted pork fat at the end to cook the pork in. Before serving, remove any remaining fat on the pork. Cooked pork will be sinfully delicious and melt in the mouth.

You can serve any way you like, but our favorite way is on warmed tortillas with fresh cilantro lime rice, sour cream, shredded cheese, salsa and pico de gallo.

Apple cinnamon raisin French toast casserole

Brunch is quickly becoming one of my new favorite meals to make, and this is the perfect recipe for it. It is based off this recipe, with a few tweaks.

Ingredients:

1.5 sticks of butter

1 cup brown sugar

2 cups milk

6 eggs

1 loaf cinnamon bread (I used Pepperidge Farms)

2 cups raisins

2 large granny smith apples cut into small pieces

2 tablespoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

Melt butter, and mix in brown sugar, raisins, apples and 1 tablespoon cinnamon. Layer on the bottom of greased 9X13 pan.

Cut loaf of bread into small (approximately 1/2 inch X 1/2 inch) pieces, and layer on top of fruit mixture.

Whip eggs, remaining cinnamon and milk in a separate bowl until well mixed. Pour on top of bread, ensuring all pieces are moistened. This may require you to press down some bread.

Cover, and place in fridge overnight. In the morning (or evening – breakfast foods shouldn’t be kept only for morning :)), place in oven and bake at 375 degrees, covered, for 40 minutes. Uncover and bake for 5 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Serve warm with butter and syrup. And some sliced strawberries or other fruit. You know, to balance out the 1.5 sticks of butter.

Easy leftover recipe

There are a few things in life I am incapable of making anything but a huge amount of. Soup. Pasta. Mashed potatoes.

So yesterday, I stared at a large amount of mashed potatoes, and wondered what to do with them. Then, of course – Shepherd’s Pie!

This is easy, cheap, and if you cook a lot, you probably already have the ingredients in your freezer/fridge.

I made this in a bread pan since there are only two of us, and we didn’t need even more leftovers. But you can just increase the amount to any size.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp butter

About 4 cups of mashed potatoes

2 sprigs green onions

4 uncooked Grands biscuits

1 cup shredded cheddar

2 leftover cooked burgers, or about 1/4-1/2 pound of meat

1 cup whole mushrooms

Use 1 tbsp butter to heavily grease pan. Spread mashed potatoes to fill 1/2 the pan. Add 1/2 cup of shredded cheese on top. Layer mushrooms and green onions on top of this (cut up mushrooms into pieces first). Layer meat on top of this. (We had 2 leftover bison burgers, and I laid these on top uncooked. However, you could layer crumbled up cooked burgers, or ground beef, turkey, chicken … anything you have in your fridge) Flatten biscuits and spread on top. (It took 4 for me, but if you are using a larger pan it will take more) Cover as much of the top as possible. Break up remaining tablespoon of butter into small pieces, and lay on top. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Bake at 350 degrees until top is golden brown. If you used precooked meat, the casserole will probably be done in about 20-25 minutes. If you use raw meat, it will take up to 45 minutes.

Buttercream frosting = nectar of the gods

Sorry my posting has been so recipe heavy recently. Between long hours at work, and Matt working extra hard, crazy long hours at homework leaving me to take care of all house things … the energy for sewing just hasn’t returned. It will eventually.

The one thing that energy remains for? Chocolate kahlua buttercream frosting. Because it’s made of chocolate … and butter … and sugar. And there’s always energy for that.

I don’t follow the recipe for buttercream that’s on the back of powdered sugar. It’s too heavy on the powdered sugar/milk, too light on the butter. I like the frosting to be thick, and so rich that even a small brownie is totally satisfying.

Recipe:

1 bag of powdered sugar

1.5 sticks of butter (told you :))

6 tablespoons Kahlua

1/4 cup milk

1/3 cup cocoa

Beat with mixers until frosting is smooth, thick and whipped. Add more or less milk to reach your desired consistency.

Spread on cake, brownies, cookies, graham crackers … or fingers. It’s that good.

Loca for local

Last weekend, Matt and I checked out a great grocery store that was like a non-chain Whole Foods, with an emphasis on local groceries. For those in the Kansas City area, check out the Green Acres Market in Briarcliff Village. We certainly couldn’t afford to do all of our grocery shopping there, but we did get some fun things to try.

Our shopping loot:

Locally raised bison burgers

Locally made cheese (Shatto) – cheddar and havarti

Kalmata olives

Locally made pierogis

Locally made sourdough bread

Speaking of which, let’s talk about Shatto milk. This company is amazing. Their products are incredible, their marketing amazing, their packaging beautiful, and their taste outstanding. Plus, they are antibiotic/hormone free, locally made … incredible. Try their strawberry milk, their cheesecurds, their ice cream, their butter, their artesian cheeses … you can’t go wrong. They cost just a bit more but it’s worth every penny. Their milk tastes better than any other milk you have ever had. Plus, your milk comes in beautiful glass bottles that you can either return for a deposit or keep for so many useful things. We use them as vases and to water the flowers.

For those of you in the Kansas City area, stop by this market! It’s the perfect place to try something made right in KC, and to experiment with new foods for cooking.

And by the way, going to this store made me realize that my dream job would be to open an all local foods grocery store in the City Market. Ahhh heaven.

Snickerdoodles = heaven

Stack of yumminess

Do you see these? These are snickerdoodles, and they are one of the most underrated cookies in the universe. Everyone craves chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies, peanut butter cookies … all delicious. But these buttery, cinnamony delights can hold their own.

This is a recipe based on the Betty Crocker snickerdoodle recipe, only better.

Ingredients:

1.5 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup shortening

2 eggs

2.75 cups flour

2 tsps cream of tartar

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp Kahlua

To roll finished dough in: 1/2 cup sugar, 2 tbsps cinnamon

The key changes from the Betty Crocker recipe include the addition of Kaluah, of cinnamon in the cookie dough, of extra salt (a lot of extra salt), extra cinnamon in the sugar/cinnamon rolling mixture and a heavily greased cookie sheet.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Cream sugar, eggs, cinnamon, kahlua, butter and shortening with mixer until smooth. Add baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt, mix. Slowly add flour, mixing. When dough is finished, roll in balls (about 2 tablespoons big) and roll the balls in cinnamon/sugar mixture. Place on heavily greased cookie sheet.  Bake for 8-10 minutes. Watch carefully. Snickerdoodles very quickly go from underdone, to done, to burnt. Will make about 3 dozen.

Remove from pan to cooling rack immediately to avoid over cooking. Enjoy when warm and buttery.

Seeds for spring

Snow is predicted for here tonight through tomorrow – a total accumulation of 3-5 inches. We’ve had about 2 times more snow than normal and ridiculously cold weather. I’m home sick today – for the second time in two months. I needed a pick me up.

So, it was time to order seeds for the spring’s garden. Just the pick me up I needed. I can’t wait to get my hands back in the dirt, to have small bouquets of brightly colored flowers, and to make delicious food with fresh herbs and veggies from the garden.

I ordered everything from rareseeds.com, and can’t wait for it to get here! The company is based in Missouri, so the seeds are semi local (regional anyway), non genetically modified, and will enable us to eat local food grown from our garden. Happy.

Here’s the stash that’s on it’s way to our house in the next few days:

Yellow prairie coneflower

Blue flax

Siam Queen Thai Basil

Genovese basil

Slow bolt cilantro

Dill bouquet

Purple coneflower

Feverfew

Oregano

Tarragon

Thai sweet basil

Yarrow

Contender Buff Valentine Bush Bean

Royalty Purple Bush Bean

Amarillo yellow carrots

Cosmic purple carrots

Snow white carrots

The only things remaining to purchase are 6 tomato plants (variety of roma and heirloom), and a bag or two of onion sets for growing green onions.

By the way, seed gardening is such a bargain. I will be getting between 150-300 seeds of all of the above and the total cost was only $35. Woohoo!

Pretending to be a housewife

During the week, our nightly meals range from gourmet to down right embarrassing. Some nights we have steaks with red mushroom sauce, as mentioned previously, while other nights it’s Kraft Mac n’ Cheese or frozen pizza. With both of us working full time, Matt working on homework, and me commuting 50 minutes each way to work – by the end of the day we’re looking for something to fill us, and not add much more work.

The weekends, though. Those are different. I love making a fancy meal for my family one day a week. Spending hours in the kitchen is more of a hobby then, rather than a rush to feed hungry bellies before bedtime. Since we went out for our Valentine’s dinner last night, I wanted to make something special for my husband today. On the menu? Roasted chicken with crispy skin coated in olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic and green onions. Green onion and cream cheese mashed potatoes. Rhodes rolls (not exactly homemade, but we love these things). Carrots and celery briefly sauteed. Yum. And, since we are so fancy, to drink – sparkling peach juice from Target. Ha. Maybe it’s ghetto, but it’s tastier than most wine anyway.

Roasted chicken, rolls, green onion cream cheese mashed potatoes, celery and carrots.

Complete with vintage Archer Farms sparking peach juice. Haha.

* Pretty roses in back from Matt – one on Friday night when I returned home, one this morning when I woke up. I am so lucky to have him.

Mashed potato recipe:

5 large baking potatoes cut into thick slices. Boil slices for approximately 20 minutes, or until fork tender. Drain water, return to low heat.

Mash potatoes with fork, and leave skins on. It adds texture and a bit of vitamins. (Although, it’s mashed potatoes – not exactly a super food vitamin wise but sooooo tasty) Add to potatoes: 3 tbsp butter, 1/2 package (4 ounces) fat free cream cheese, 1/6 cup milk, 4 stalks green onions cut into small pieces, 1/4 cup homemade chicken stock (future post), and lots of salt, freshly cracked black pepper and garlic to taste.

Heat until all has melted and keep whipping until potatoes are tender. Enjoy!

The only downside to making a real meal? All of the dishes. Oh well. Now we’re down to our normal Sunday night – Matt’s doing homework, I am blogging, and the pups are taking turns snoozing beside me on the couch.

Just another Sunday night

Happy Sunday!