pork

Instant Pot Crispy Pork Carnitas (Paleo, Whole30)

January 14, 2018

Can kids become possessed?

I really think mine was today.

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Slow Cooker Tacos Al Pastor

August 30, 2016

So I did my first Facebook Live cooking demo this weekend!!!!

Gah I was so nervous! But it was fun.

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Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas – SRC

February 23, 2015

I have major Wanderlust right now.

I don’t have the kind of life style that lets me travel as much as I would like, but I love to daydream that I could. I think that scrapbooker & designer Kelly Purkey leads such an adventurous life with all of her travels. I love to read her blog and check out what she is up to. You know when you type in the address bar and Google provides you with suggestions from previous seraches? Well, when I type in ‘K’ her blog comes up. Yeah, I guess I go there often…

Thankfully, I have a trip planned just next month to visit my best friend in Seattle. I seriously can’t wait to go. I haven’t seen her since she visited at Christmas a few weeks after Autumn was born. I miss her terribly ever since she moved away to Seattle, but knowing that she loves it there at least helps lessen the blow. Plus, it means I get to travel to see her!! We are going to cram so much damn stuff in that long weekend. Oh, and the food! And the drinks. I can’t even…

Anyway, back to reality…

I’m sharing such a wonderful, simple recipe today as it is my monthly Secret Recipe Club Reveal Day. I just love SRC as it gives me a little bit of an adventure to check out someone’s blog to make a recipe. Searching their blog for a recipe is like searching yelp for a great restaurant. It’s just a blast, I ask myself “I am in the mood for chicken? a dessert? a dip? should I make osmething with a slow cooker?” just like how you ask yourself ‘hmm, Chinese or pizza tonight.”

This month I took the slow cooker route with these Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas from Fantastical Sharing.

I was given Sarah’s blog this month. Sara is such a rock star with her role in Secret Recipe Club as a group organizer. She is so well organized, friendly, and just all around amazing. Sarah also has a blog full of recipes. FULL of recipes.

Plus, Sarah is due any day now!! I am so freaking excited for her. Her son Mason will be here soon enough.

I bookmarked so many recipes to consider, such as these Crock Pot Baked Potatoes, Dulce De Leche Cheesecake Bars, Kahlua Cake, and Buffalo Chicken Chili. I’m still determined to make those Dulce De Leche Cheesecake Bars!!

Ultimately, I picked this recipe because it was a Whole30 recipe! YAY! It made such great tacos. Plus, it was super simple. Which is fantastic all around, but made for such a great ‘cooking’ experience. I am getting burned out from all this Whole30 cooking. It just never ends! I want take out!! But this was refreshing as it took about 2 minutes to throw together. For real. Chop an onion, open cans, combine it all in a slow cooker.

This recipe is perfect when you know are gonna have a crazy day and need to get dinner on the table quickly. It will have everyone asking for more too!!

Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas

2 pork tenderloins (1 lb. each)
1 jar salsa verde
1 can Rotel tomatoes
1 can diced green chilies
1 white onion, chopped into

Process

Place all of the ingredients in slow cooker. Cook for 8-10 hours on LOW.
Shred with two forks. Drain off excess juices if you would like. Enjoy in tacos, with rice, or on baked potatoes.

Sourced from Fantastical Sharing

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Check out all the other great Secret Recipe Club posts this month!

And be sure to check out my 3 years of Secret Recipe Club posts!!!!

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Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive.

Homemade Paleo Breakfast Sausage (Whole30 Approved!)

February 17, 2015

We are half way through our Whole30 and it’s been going really well.

The biggest struggle is breakfast. Oh man, some days I just can’t figure out what to make!

It just feels so repetitive. Eggs, eggs, and more eggs. Gah!! Plus, finding breakfast meats is so dang difficult as 99.9% of store-bought bacon have sugar in them, as well as ham and breakfast sausage. Oh, dang you sugar!

But if you make your own breakfast sausage you can make it Paleo friendly, or even Whole30 friendly. When making it Paleo friendly you can use maple syrup, but you can make it more smokey when you are making it Whole30 friendly.

Either way, it’s so freaking good as you get to customize it exactly to your preferences. I am not a fan of fennel seed so I skipped it, although it’s often in sausage. But you can use it, or other spices, as you wish.

Now that I made this homemade breakfast sausage I am really doubting that I can go back to store-bought sausage. The fresh flavors in this sausage has me hooked. Plus, making your own gives you the opportunity to jazz it up to make it your own.

I really enjoyed the subtle smokey flavor from the liquid smoke that I used. I plan on trying other liquid smoke flavors to see how the different woods impact the flavor of the sausage. It’s really so fun thinking about how to playing around with the different spices will effect the flavors of the breakfast sausage.

You definitely can’t get bored when you are making your own homemade sausage!

Homemade Paleo Breakfast Sausage

Makes 8 patties

Ingredients

1 pound of ground pork
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper (add more if you like it spicy)
1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke (I used hickory)

Process

Put the pork in a large bowl, add all of the spices and mix thoroughly.
Divide the pork into 8 portions, then form into flat patties. If you are not going to cook right away, freeze individually on a baking sheet prior to storing in a container or plastic bag.
If cooking immediately, add a bit of oil to a nonstick skillet. Cook the patties over medium heat until both sides are browned and are cooked through, about 8-10 minutes.

Inspired by Nutmeg Nanny

Whole30: Days 7-9 Recap

February 14, 2015

I am documenting my Whole 30 journey to help me see how far I’ve come and to keep me inspired through the whole process. I’m looking forward to the transformation in how I approach food, cook with it, and enjoy it. Read why taking on this challenging dietary adventure is so important to me HERE.

{Day 7}

Sunday, February 8th

Price had to go into work today to make up time time he had missed from taking Autumn to the Dr on Friday so it was mainly just Autumn and I hanging around. I prepped food for Price but I got to do whatever for my meals. So I basically did whatever, and whenever. Like lunch at 2.30, very unlike me. But sometimes things are just ‘meh’ when it comes to the day and food.

Breakfast

Spaghetti squash with steak and veggies.

I got ta late start to breakfast so I just morphed it into lunch food. I used up the spaghetti squash, TJ’s Cruciferous Crunch mix, mushrooms, and some steak. I didn’t like that I make it into stir fry since once I was done with it it just felt weird to eat it for breakfast so I picked at it and ate the steak and some of the rest.

Lunch

Waffled Hashbrowns with a fried egg and salsa

This made up for my lack luster breakfast. I’m loving my Waffle Wednesday posts so I was excited to make this. I need to make more and more and more of these hashbrowns.

Dinner

Beef Burger Patty with grilled pineapple, guac & cilantro. Side of sweet potato fries.

I was struggling to think of what to make for dinner and ended whipping this up. It worked but I miss buns and ketchup. I think I only use ketchup for burgers and fries which is a vast improvement from when I used to eat it with everything. So I miss it with meals like this. But it was still really, really good.

{Day 8}

Monday, February 9th

We were getting pummeled with snow and daycare was closed so I stayed home with Autumn. It felt great that is was a

Breakast

Potato and veggie hash with 2 fried eggs

Lunch

Shrimp scampi with zoodles and an apple with crunchy almond butter

This lunch felt like a treat but I felt like I needed a treat as I was home yet again with Autumn because of the snow. Shrimp for lunch is such a treat! And it was a very good lunch. I make it scampi style with some oil, garlic, crushed red pepper, and some ghee.

And an apple with almond butter never hurts anyone. So good.

Dinner

Chicken breasts with a kumquat relish on a bed of chard and mashed potatoes (Modified Blue Apron Meal)

This was a winner! We loved it. It was so flavorful and hearty.

I forgot to cancel Blue Apron this week so I just ended up modifying the ingredients to make it Whole30 compliant. I skipped the sugar in the relish recipe and I swapped out the freekah for the mashed potatoes made with vegetable broth. And I made a pan sauce with the drippings in the pan after I cooked the chicken, some veggie broth, and almond flour. I have to make this one again.

{Day 9}

Tuesday, February 10th

Yet another snow day. The MBTA was closed down so I had to work from home (unless I drove in), but daycare was closed so I had Autumn at home, so no real working, besides a conference call. Price had to get in so he drove in. So just me and Autumn again! 🙂

Anyway, I feel that the biggest progress in this process

Breakast

Scrambled eggs with veggies, salsa mixed an an avocado, and pineapple

Price was still home when I made this so I enjoyed the company. Autumn ended up eating quite a bit

Lunch

Chicken with swiss chard mashed potatoes and asparagus

I’m always so glad when I make a lot of food when cooking something as it makes the next meals come together quickly. As in this one as I got to enjoy leftover chicken and mashed potatoes from the night before. I just quickly made some asparagus in a skillet and ta-da, all done!

Dinner

Pork Cutlets with a Beet, Heirloom Carrot, and Hazelnut Salad (Modified Blue Apron Meal)

There was not much to modify about this recipe to make it Whole30 compliant, just ditch the butter and use ghee. Simple! And we ended up with a delicious, filling dinner. Plus, it just meant that I only needed to dirty a pot and a skillet. Next time, if I use prepared beets I’ll only need to dirty a skillet- such a win!!

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I’m glad that I have stuck with Whole30 so far at this point without any slip ups. The strict restrictions have really helped me stay in check with what I was eating while at home, which is when I will most often snack on stuff like Ritz crackers or Goldfish crackers. It’s not about not even having them at home, since I have other similarly tempted things (chocolate pudding, cheese, etc), but more about controlling cravings. yay!

We had some great dinners so the repetitive nature of some of the foods so far is. I’m glad that I forgot to cancel the Blue Apron package as those dinners were fantastic!

Tropical Pork Pineapple Kebabs- SRC

July 30, 2012

Another month is wrapping up so it means it is Secret Recipe Club time! How is this summer flying by?!?! It is crazy! At least it has been jam packed with great food, lots of fun with family and friends, and some awesome adventures. It just makes me wish summer was so much longer.

This time I had the blog called Without Adornment by Bean. The blog is packed full of gluten free recipes, as well as other allergen free recipes. This is perfect for someone with allergies, as well as anyone who just likes great food. I immediately saw her Tropical Pork Pineapple Kebabs and knew they would be perfect for a satisfying summertime dinner.

The original recipe was just a guide with the ingredients, and not the amounts used. I generally cook that way so I liked that there was freedom to have my own stamp on this recipe. I added some soy sauce to the marinade just so it would not be too sweet for my liking. I also had zucchini in the fridge so I added that to the kebabs too. I served this with some rice that I prepared while Price grilled up the kebabs. Totally loving our new grill, this summer, and this recipe!

Beans recipe was gluten free which I respect because for a while last year I ate gluten free and enjoyed the process and felt better from it. Anyway, I did add the soy sauce for flavor but it does wheat so if you want this to be gluten free just be sure to use a gluten free soy sauce. Or you can use Worcestershire Sauce which is naturally gluten free instead of the soy sauce and has 80% less sodium than soy sauce.

Tropical Pork Pineapple Kebabs

Serves 4

Ingredients

For Kebabs

1 pound of pork tenderloin cut into 1″ cubes
pineapple cut into 1″ cube pieces, approximately half a pineapple
1 red pepper, cut into 1″ x 1″ pieces
1 zucchini, sliced into 1/4″ thick pieces
8 oz whole white button mushrooms

For Marinade

1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup pineapple juice
2 gloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon chili garlic sauce, known as sambal
1 cup of diced pineapple
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon of white pepper

Process

Soak 10 wooden skewers for at least an hour before using them.
Prepare the marinade first by combine all of the marinade in a bowl or large plastic bag. Mix thoroughly and then add the pork pieces to the marinade. Store in the refrigerator while the meat marinates for at least 1 hour minutes.
Once skewers are soaked and the meat is marinated, thread the pork, pineapple, pepper, zucchini, and mushrooms. Repeat the series twice and end with a piece of pork.
Grill the kebabs over medium-high heat. Using a basting brush, brush the kebabs with the marinade each time you turn the kebabs grilling each side.
Cook the kebabs until done with an internal temperature of the pork is 145 degrees. Let rest for about 5 minutes before serving.

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