Sunday Night Suppers: Crockpot Carnitas

I've been inspired again by The Pioneer Woman. I learn so much from her shows; mainly how to make quick, easy and flavorful meals. Being a carnitas lover, I finally decided to take the plunge and try them for myself. TPW made hers in a dutch oven, but I used my trusty crockpot. 

The beauty of crockpot meals is that you add a bunch of good stuff to the pot, cover it, and then hours later after you've ran your errands, taken a nap, and marathon watched a new show on Netflix, your dinner is ready. 

I combined TPW's recipe with a few I found online and came up with what turned out to be delicious carnitas. I bought a 2 lb. pork butt (or shoulder, which I think is essentially the same), and rubbed a few teaspoons of olive oil all over it. Then, rubbed in salt, pepper, garlic powder, and cumin. 

I then chopped one yellow onion, three jalapenos, two limes, and two oranges and added it all to the pot. Squeeze in the lime and orange juice first and add two bay leaves. 

At first I was apprehensive about not adding any liquid, but the longer it cooks, the pork begins to create its own juices. Trust me when I say, you don't need to add any liquid, but you do need to add more salt and cumin than you think. 

After nearly six hours on high in the crock pot, the pork will be ready to easily shred. If not sure, poke at the pork and see if it falls apart. I used two forks and added the pork, peppers, onions, and part of the juice to a Tupperware dish to store in the fridge.

Typically, you'd eat your carnitas right away, but due to other plans, we had them the next night. One of my favorite parts of carnitas is when they're crispy, so I added a little bit of olive oil to a pan and turned the heat to medium high. I added the carnitas, onions, and peppers in a thin layer and pressed down with a spatula. In a few minutes, they began to crisp. I flipped them over and did the same to other side. 

My husband loved them and so did I! Serve with warm tortillas and top with pico de gallo. For sides roll up corn on the cob with chili butter and cotija cheese in foil. Roast in the over for 20ish minutes on 450 degrees. I also made canned refried beans, but added chicken stock to thin them out and added some cumin.

The recipe is delicious the first time around and tasty as leftovers. Plus, the pork butt was only about $7. Another supper success!

Next crockpot recipes to try: kalua pork and black bean and chorizo soup. 

Roasted Chicken and All the Veggies

For someone who doesn't make a huge effort to eat vegetables (besides potatoes), I was able to use everything from my last CSA box before getting the new one today. One of the vegetables that I was nervous to use was fennel. Technically, I think this is an herb...plant...root something? 

I have never cooked with fennel, but lo and behold Ree Drummond a.k.a. The Pioneer Woman came through with an episode that featured chicken with fennel. I don't know about you, but I am a devout Food Network watcher, her show in particular, and record every episode so that I can watch them before going to bed. What can I say? It's soothing. 

In this particular episode, she made sheet pan meals and one of them was chicken thighs roasted atop a bunch of vegetables. Easy. In the crisper, we had carrots, onion, green beans, and the fennel. I bought a lemon at the store and chicken thighs, which together totaled under $7. 

Similar to what she had done on the show, I mixed olive oil, salt, pepper, and lemon juice and dipped the chicken thighs in it before laying them on top of the cut up vegetables. I  squeezed more lemon over everything and sprinkled with a little more salt and lemon pepper seasoning. 

Into the oven (on a foil-lined sheet -- her tips are so great!) for about 50 minutes at 425 degrees and we had a healthy and inexpensive meal. 

I paired it with rice and beans, which was easy to make, too. Just use one can of kidney beans, one cup of chicken broth, and then add a package of frozen rice. The key is to simmer the kidney beans and broth together for awhile until it becomes thick. Then, add a lot of seasoning! I added salt, garlic powder, a bunch of cayenne, and bay leaf. They turned out really delicious! I'll add andouille sausage next time and make it a full meal. 

The fennel, which I have read has a licorice taste, was similar to an onion texture with a sweet-ish, almost citrus taste. It worked well with the dish. 

The thing I'm figuring out as I cook more and more at home is that I have been under-seasoning my food. It's not just lacking salt, but actual seasoning. I mean lemon pepper is a god send and I love heat with nearly anything. If chicken and vegetables seem too plain for you, think about spicing them up. What I made was enough for Sunday night supper plus leftovers for two. 

Budget-friendly and healthy -- win for us!

CSA Box: What I Got, What I Made

This past week I picked up my first CSA (community supported agriculture) box, which I'm sharing with my friend, Kim, who's received it for months already. I like vegetables, but have been pretty limited in using them and usually go for the trusty, steamed broccoli as a side to mostly anything I make that consists of meat and potatoes, which is about 80 percent of the food I cook for my husband and I. We're Midwesterners, what can I say?

Enter the CSA box from Be Wise Ranch and its bounty of fresh produce. What will I do with: 

• Baby Bok Choy
• Chard
• Satsumas (had to look this one up)
• Avocado
• Carrots
• Apples
• Green Beans
• Beets
• Butternut Squash
• Dates
• Lemons
• Spring Mix
• Zucchini
• Radishes

So far, I've used a less than half the items. The zucchini I used to make zucchini bread, kind of a cheat, since I'm baking it into something and not eating it in its natural form, but rather, shredded and mixed with wonderful things like sugar, butter and nuts. The bread turned out well, but the consistency lumpier than I anticipated and different than zucchinis breads of my past. 

This isn't too much of a surprise since my baking skills aren't that great. I messed up sugar cookies a few weeks ago. The kind where you just add egg and oil to the mix. They all melted into one, large sugary cookie, which I covered with frosting and tasted incredible. 

I think this is due to my problem with patience and exact measurements. I am an oven peeker to see if things are done cooking and I eye measurements and toss them in as I go. No nos in the world of baking, I guess.

I topped the spring mix with a dressing I made of balsamic vinegar, onion, pepper, lemon (also from the box!) and oil drizzled in. I added in random stuff like artichoke hearts and satsumas (oranges from the box), all which turned out pretty tasty. 

Finally, I made bacon-wrapped dates because how else are you supposed to eat them? 

Let me know if you have recipe ideas for what I can do with the rest of the ingredients!

New Year, New Recipes: Meatballs and Rice

Dieting has never been a resolution of mine because I just enjoy food too darn much. However, I did make a food resolution: try one new recipe a week. This helps me with my endeavor to cook more and eat more vegetables. 

My first recipe, though not vegetarian, was a success! I don't know if I can call it a new recipe necessarily, but since it's a short week, I am going to count it. 

Meatloaf is one of the easiest things to make. You only need ground beef (or turkey), an egg, breadcrumbs, and seasonings. I never make my meatloaf the same way -- I use what seasonings I have on hand and whatever additions I think I need.

I also never keep a refrigerator full of groceries because they usually go bad before we can use them, so I only shop for a few days at a time. I got one of those meat logs and divided it into thirds, the way my mom taught me, and used one-third to mix with the above mentioned ingredients and make meatballs. 

Voila new recipe! 

Meatballs and Rice

It's simple, easy, and most importantly delicious. 

You need: 

1 lb. (roughly) of ground beef
1 egg
1/2 cup or so of bread crumbs (I used the regular, unseasoned kind)
any spices that you think might be good (I used salt, pepper, garlic powder, and seasoning salt)
a few shakes of parmesan or cotija cheese

If you want measurements on the seasonings, I'd say about a teaspoon or two of each, but heavier on the pepper rather than salt. Mix all ingredients by hand until everything is incorporated and roll into meatballs. 

Cook on a baking sheet at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes until brown and cooked through. Option: the last five minutes of baking, pull out the meatballs and add BBQ sauce, then finish cooking the last few minutes.

Serve with rice, steamed veggies, and garlic bread. All of this is a meal for two for under $10! 

I would've taken pictures of the cooking process except another one of my 2015 goals is to take better pictures. That and my cooking mostly tastes better than it looks. 

Enjoy the eats!