Pork Carnitas

I found this recipe in my All You magazine.  It is a crock pot recipe and I definitely need the crock pot on busy after school days!

The pork turned out tender and had lots of great flavor.  Definitely a great easy recipe that produced great leftovers for lunches too!

Pork Carnitas

(All You magazine October 2011)

• 1 3 lb. boneless pork roast
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 large onion, quartered
• 2 cloves garlic, cut up

I always start with spraying my crock pot with non-stick spray.  When I remember this I am always happier when it comes to clean up!

Place your pork roast into the crock pot.  The recipe says to chunk your roast into 2 inch pieces with fat trimmed.  My roast was frozen, so I kept it whole which may help prevent it from drying out too!

Sprinkle pork with salt, chili powder, cumin and oregano.  Place onion and garlic over the top and around your roast.  Cover and cook on low until meat is tender and falling apart~about 6 hours.  Shred pork and serve hot!

Serve in tortillas with shredded cheese, lettuce, sour cream, avocado, spanish rice, beans, salsa or whatever you love!

Spicy Dr. Pepper Shredded Pork

Here is the picture finally!

Yummy!!

I have a picture of this wonderful yummy scrumptious pork, but my computer is being temperamental and wont let me download it!

I couldn't wait any longer to share, so you get it without picture (but go to http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/ and you can find her picture!).

It is only shredded pork and we have all seen shredded pork, but I have not had pork like this before!

It is tender and yummy and has a slight spice from the Chipotle peppers, which I have discovered that I truly love these peppers!!

My kids ate this fine, it was a little spicy for them, but oh so good! I ate the rest of the left overs today for lunch! In fact I thought about eating lunch at about 10 I wanted to eat this pork! So try it out and hopefully it isn't too spicy for your family!

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Spicy Dr. Pepper Shredded Pork

(The Pioneer Woman)

• 
  
  1 whole large onion


• 
  
  1 whole pork shoulder (pork butt) roast - 5-7 lbs.


• 
  
  salt and pepper


• 
  
  1 can (11 ounce) Chipotle peppers in Adobo sauce


• 
  
  2 cans Dr. Pepper (I bought a bottle, like the ones at the convenience store! It was a little less than 2 cans, but I didn't want to buy a case)


• 
  
  2 tbsp brown sugar

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Peel and cut the onion into wedges. Lay them in the bottom of a large dutch oven or roasting pan. I sprayed my pan with non-stick spray and clean up was a breeze!

Generously salt and pepper your roast. Set it on top of your onions. Pour the can of Chipotle peppers and the sauce all over the top of the roast. Pour in the Dr. Pepper. Add the brown sugar and mix with the juice. (I put a little Dr. Pepper in a cup and mixed in the brown sugar and then poured in the pan.)

Place lid on pot and set in oven. Cook for at least 6 hours, turning the roast over 2-3 times during cooking. Check meat after 6 hours; it should be falling apart. If not falling apart, return to oven for another hour.

Remove meat from pot when done and shred. Discard any fat. Strain off as much fat from the liquid in your pan and then place the shredded meat back in the pan. Keep warm until ready to serve. I was concerned about it being too spicy, so I put my shredded meat in another oven proof dish and poured some liquid into the dish to cover.

Serve on warm flour or corn tortillas with lettuce, cheese, sour cream, tomatoes, avocado, etc. Also good as nachos with tortilla chips! Mixing the meat with the lettuce, cheese, etc. helps the spiciness too!

Huevos Hyancinth

On Breakfast Wednesday last week we had the yummiest egg ever! I usually pass on the eggs, I like them but they are not my favorite! I would have to say yes to this egg!

YUM YUM YUM!

I didn't make them for my kids, wasn't sure how they would react. They like eggs, but they also like things to look the way they should. Todd and I had these and they were super good and super fast and easy! Definitely something you could throw together in about 10 minutes, which would just about include your cooking time too!

Huevos Hyancinth

(The Pionees Woman Cookbook)

• Butter for ramekins
• Thinly slice ham, turkey, or any deli meat (I used Ham)
• Tomato slices or salsa
• Large Eggs
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Crumbled or grated Monterey Jack or any cheese you like

Butter individual ramekins, and in each one place a piece of ham. Top the ham with the tomato slices or with salsa or picante sauce (a couple tbsp will do). Gently crack an egg ove the top of each ramekin. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Top each ramekin with 1/4 cup grated cheese or crumbled cheese.

Broil for 2-4 minutes, removing when the yellow of the egg is still soft but not overly runny. It took me about 7-10 minutes to cook mine. I wanted to make sure the whites were done!

Simple, Pan-Fried Pork Chops

I went to Costco and found that they had their pork chops on sale in the coupon book. I couldn't resist a good deal and bought some and then went searching the Internet to find a new way to cook pork chops! Well guess what???

Of course Pioneer Woman had a great recipe on her site! They were juicy, flavorful, easy and down right good! So go to Costco and get some of those pork chops (which I cut each pork chop in half width wise because they are sooo thick!! Twice as many pork chops now!) and enjoy them a new way!

Simple, Pan-Fried Pork Chops

(The Pioneer Woman)

• 7 or 8 breakfast chops, very thin Bone-in pork chops (I used the Costco ones cut in half)
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp seasoned salt (she recommended Lawrys, is there a difference in brands??)
• 1 tsp black pepper
• Cayenne Pepper, to taste (I just sprinkled some on all over the flour)
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1 tbsp butter
• Extra Salt and Pepper, to Taste

Rinse pork chops (she rinses, I didn't do that! Maybe I should???). Mix flour, seasoned salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper together in a dish. Salt and pepper both sides of your chops. I salt and peppered one side and then placed that side down in the flour mixture. Then I salt and peppered the other side when it was in the flour. After you have dredged each side in the flour mixture, place on a plate.

Heat oil over medium-medium/high heat. Add butter (I forgot this part!!). She said on her blog that this adds flavor and crustiness to the pork chop! When butter is melted and butter/oil mixture is hot, cook 3 pork chops at a time until no pink juices remain!

Remove to a plate and cook remaining pork chops.

Delicious and simple and serve with mashed potatoes (which I will share an AWESOME recipe for some tomorrow!!!)

Wild Rice Soup

I found this recipe on Sisters Stuff blog and had to try it! There is something about soup in the winter, the comfort and warmth of it that is super inviting!

This recipe is very easy, but one step gave me a little trouble! Don't burn the onions! I used dry onions and they got a little toasty and gave the soup a little bit of a burnt taste! So be careful and maybe add them a little later!

All in all it was a great soup and I loved that there were carrots added, but you really don't notice them if you have picky eaters! Also, the rice gave it a different taste and yum yum!!

Wild Rice Soup

(Sistersstuff.blogspot.com)

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 medium onion or 2 tbsp dried onion
• 1/4 cup flour
• 4 cups chicken broth (I am going to add 5 cups next time for more liquid)
• 1 cup cooked wild rice
• 1 cup cooked white rice
• 1 cup diced ham or chicken (I used chicken but she said both are excellent)
• 1/2 cup finely shredded carrots
• 1/2 tsp salt (I think it needs more salt, so maybe 1 tsp)
• pepper to taste

Saute onion in butter. (Be careful with this step and make sure to not burn the onions!) Blend in flour and cook for 5 minutes. (I am going to do less time, this might have been where I burned the onions) Add ham or chicken, rice, carrots, and salt and pepper. Simmer for 10-20 minutes and enjoy!

Barbequed Pork Loin Roast

My sister gave me this recipe from a Costco Celebrations cookbook! My sister altered it a little, I will put what we did in parenthesis. It turned out really really good and so easy. You barbeque the roast, but because it is sooo chilly outside we cut our roast up and made pork chops with it!

Super good, try it!!!

PORK LOIN ROAST MARINADE

• 1 1/2 lb pork loin roast
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 tbsp dry sherry (or apple juice)
• 1 1/2 tsp dry minced onions (chopped up an onion)
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 pinch garlic powder (minced 1 clove garlic)

Marinate overnight or 6-12 hours.

Barbecue til done!!

Ham Chowder

Anyone have any leftover ham?? This is our favorite soup recipe when we have ham, we almost always hope for leftovers!

The recipe is from allrecipes.com and serves 15, so I always half the recipe!!

Ham Chowder

8 cups chicken or ham stock

4 cups cubed ham

4 tbsp dried rosemary (always leave this out, no one likes it!)

2 lbs. bacon, diced

2 large onions, diced

3 leeks, diced (haven't added this either)

3 cloves garlic, minced

6 green onions, diced

6 large potatoes, cubed

1 lb carrots, cubed

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Pour stock into a large pot set over medium heat, and bring to a simmer. Stir in the cubed ham and 2 tbsp rosemary.

In a large skillet over medium heat, cook diced bacon until crisp. With a slotted spoon, remove bacon, and add to pot. Drain half of the bacon grease, and return skillet to medium heat. Stir in onins, leeks, garlic, and green onions; cook until tender, then add to pot.

Place cubed potatoes, carrots, and 2 tbsp rosemary in pot; simmer until vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. Turn off heat, and add cream to pot.

Ham Filled French Toast

This is Christian's Grandpa's recipe. It's really good, just give it a try. Just a warning it may be french toast, but it's a lot to eat in the morning. I usually fix this for a breakfast supper!

1 pkg. cream cheese - softened
4 ounces of mushrooms, sliced
a couple handfuls of chopped ham

In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Add mushrooms, ham 1/2 tsp. thyme and 1/4 tsp. garlic powder

Spread above mixture on 4 bread slices and top with remaining bread.

In a shallow dish beat 2 eggs, 1/2 cup milk together. Dip sandwiches in and cook on a greased griddle until golden brown and the filling is hot.

Meanwhile, combine sliced olives, 1 can of Italian-style stewed tomatoes and 2 tsp. cornstarch and heat until slightly thickened and warm. Spoon this sauce over the sandwiches and serve.

Sweet Pulled Pork

I found this recipe on Mmmm....cafe and thought it looked good and had to try it!

It was really good and super easy!!

______________________________

1/2 cup ketchup

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 Tbsp vinegar

4 Tbsp soy sauce

1 small pork roast

________________________

Place pork roast in crock pot. Mix ketchup, brown sugar, vinegar, and soy sauce until blended. Pour mixture over pork roast and cook on low for 4 1/2 hours. Shred pork.

Continue to cook on low for 30 minutes to allow juices to cook in.

Serve over your favorite rice!

Marinated Baked Pork Chops

I found this recipe on http://www.allrecipes.com/ and it has been a keeper.

The recipe doesn't tell you to marinate it, but I always put the sauce and pork chops together for a couple hours to marinate.

1 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp oil

1 tbsp worcestershire sauce

1 tsp lemon juice

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp ketchup

6 pork chops, trimmed

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Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, thoroughly blend soy sauce, oil, worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, brown sugar, and ketchup. Place pork chops in a medium baking dish, and spread with 1/2 the sauce.

Bake pork chops 30 minutes in oven. Turn, and spread with remaining sauce. Continue baking 30 more minutes, or until done!