Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

Memorial Day is an important holiday to me. It’s about more than just a day off and great food. My Grandfather’s funeral was on Memorial Day.

My Grandfather was very important to me. He and my Grandmother lived within walking distance of my teenage home. I spent many hours with my Grandparents. My Grandfather took me for my driving test at 16 and spent hours in his station wagon with me teaching me how to parallel park.

My Grandfather served in World War II. He was a brave Air Force Navigator.

I honor and remember the sacrifices of our Military everyday.

Pulled pork says Summer to me.

Using the Slow Cooker says easy to me.

Paper plates are fancy, if the food on them is tasty.

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork, lightly adapted from a Fox4 Good Day recipe segment.

• 1 bone in pork butt, fat trimmed, approximately 4-6 pounds
• 1 can of Chipotle peppers in Adobo sauce
• 2 tablespoons paprika
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 tablespoons of mustard
• 1 teaspoon of turmeric
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• pinch of black pepper
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 yellow onion, peeled

Place all the ingredients except the pork into a food processor and pulse them into a paste.

Place the pork into your slow cooker. It goes without saying that you need to remove the meats packaging right?

Place the spice mixture on top of the roast.Cook on Low for 8-10 hours.

Drain any fatty bits and most of the juice. The meat will be fall off the bone tender.

shredded heaven…..

Return the meat to the slow cooker and use the “Warm” setting to keep it sandwich ready for hours.

Enjoy!

Irish Stew

Stew and whole wheat soda bread....a perfect pair.

Stew is one of those meals that feels like a hug in a bowl.

My family is Irish, Scottish, German. Our varied heritage means we embrace a little bit from each piece of our backgrounds. Well, mostly we embrace the Irish and the German. I should work on the Scottish.

Irish stew is one of my favorite dishes.

Most Irish stews are made with lamb. The reason, lamb is less expensive in Ireland.

Purist Irish stew is lamb (mutton), potatoes, onions, and water…

This is not a purist stew.

1. I am not using lamb, because of the higher price of lamb vs. beef and because the idea of eating a lamb always causes a mutiny in my household.
2. I add carrots, turnip, garlic and barley.

This stew recipe should work with either lamb or beef.

• 2 1/2 pounds of stew meat (I used beef)
• 1 medium yellow or white onion, diced
• 2 cups of carrots, diced or sliced
• 1 small turnip, peeled and diced
• 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour
• 1 clove of garlic, diced
• 4 cups of beef stock
• 1- 12 ounce Irish stout beer *optional* if you’re not adding beer, increase your stock my 1 & 1/2 cups
• 1/2 cup of pearl barley
• 1 teaspoon of thyme
• 1-2 bay leaves
• 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon of freshly cracked pepper
• 1 teaspoon of parsley
• potatoes *4 large potatoes peeled and diced, or 1 bag (about 4 cups) of small potatoes left whole*
• 1 Tablespoon of olive oil

Heat the oil in a cast iron dutch oven or large stock pot. Add the flour to the meat, coat the meat as evenly as possible. Brown the meat. Once the meat is browned (8-10 minutes), add the beer to the pot. Add the onions, carrots, turnip and garlic. Add the seasoning and spices. Add the beef stock. Add the pearl barley. Stir to combine.

Place the lid on the pot and cook on a medium heat for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. After 1 hour, add the potatoes. Stir to fully combine the stew with the potatoes. Return the lid to the pot and continue cooking for 1 more hour. (Total cook time, 2 hours).

The lid can be removed for the last 30 minutes to thicken the stew if you wish.

The finished stew

How do you make your stew?

Texas Sized Turkey Egg Rolls

Yes, I said turkey.

Turkey Egg rolls, large and in charge...aka Texas style.

We love egg rolls!

I recently tried my hand at making my own egg rolls, it went so well that I tried it again, this time with ground turkey.

Egg rolls trick my “Veggie Resistant” teenager into eating cabbage, carrots and onions.

The process is a little time-consuming, but well worth it.

Here is the ingredient list:

• 1 pound of ground turkey
• 1 tsp. minced ginger
• 2 (+) cups of cabbage, chopped *I use a bag of cole slaw shreds, the whole bag*
• 1/2 cup of shredded carrots
  
• 3 green onions, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 TBSP of soy sauce, 1 TBSP of honey and 1 tsp of minced garlic *I use this instead of 2 TBSP of Oyster Sauce*
• 1 package of egg roll wrappers
• *optional* 1/4 pound of bean sprouts
  

Brown the ground turkey and minced ginger....

Drain the fat, if there is any.

Add the veggies.

Add 2 (+) cups of chopped cabbage, carrots and onions.

Keep cooking….

Keep cooking to wilt the cabbage, and cook the carrots & onions.

Done.

Now…on to wrapping!

wrap your rolls....

Fold one end over the filling....

fold the sides in....

Roll the egg roll up. Repeat until all the filling or the wrappers are gone.

Bake for 10-12 minutes at 400 degrees on a greased cookie sheet (brush the tops with olive oil)

Frying In a large skillet (or cast iron pot) heat Canola oil to 350 degrees. Place the egg rolls *flap side down* into the hot oil a few at a time. Turning the egg rolls if needed. Cook until golden about 2-3 minutes.

Drain the egg rolls on a paper towel before serving.

Yum.

Since the iPhone is major awesome, I’m participating in the iPPP link up that Liz and KLZ host.

This week in FAIL….fishy edition

This has been my view since Thursday....mostly

I had one heck of a week last week. 3 visits to the doctor’s office, an x-ray, an MRI and a shot.

One doctor’s office visit was for my daughter, who stayed home most of the week with a sinus infection.The other 2 doctor’s office visits, the x-ray, the MRI and the shot were mine.

My knee has bothered me for about a year and a half. I had x-rays taken when it started hurting. The doctor said….bone spur in my knee. We began cortisone injections. I got very little relief from the shots. About 3 months ago the pain got worse. I did my best to ignore the pain, because I did not want to have surgery on my knee. However, the pain got so bad that it was affecting everything. I was sleeping more, grumpy and almost weepy at times.

Stupid? Yes.

I decided to make an appointment with an Orthopedic doctor. I had x-rays taken, yes I have a bone spur, but that is not the issue. I have OsteoArthritis in my left knee. After the x-ray I was scheduled for an MRI, to check for a Meniscus Tear. 45 minutes in an MRI gives you time to think or day-dream. I day-dreamed about new kitchen gadgets and new dishes….I’m a foodie through and through.

After the MRI.

I had to wait until Thursday for my results. Thankfully, there is no tear. Since there is no Meniscus tear, no surgery is needed at this time. I was given a shot. Synvisc-One. Right now, my knee hurts more than it did before the shot, which is so frustrating but it is feeling a little better each day.

I would really just like to be pain free. Is that too much to ask?!?!?!?!?

What does that have to do with a FAIL?

While at the doctor’s office this week, I watched a lot of Accent Health (by CNN) TV. On Accent Health I saw a recipe for Cioppino, which sounded interesting. I needed to make a few changes, because my people do not eat scallops and only 2 of us eat shrimp.

I used flounder and tilapia. I omitted the wine, because of the kids and used veggie stock instead.. The soup smelled lovely.

cooking away

Unfortunately, we did not love it. Three of us did not even like it.

Served with bread

It was too fishy or something. The fish overpowered the entire soup, and not in a good way.

We are calling this a FAIL.

Because of my knee, I may not post much this week.

Have you had any FAILS lately?

Slow cooker Monday

Pot Roast is a big favorite in my house.

I’ve made roasts in the oven and in my slow cooker, I much prefer the taste and texture of the roast when it is slow cooked.

I used my slow cooker to make a wonderful roast, then I took the roast to a

whole

‘nother

level

with a sour cream sauce and pasta.

The store bought additives

I bought some of the new Knorr homemade condensed stock. I really like it. I usually use homemade stock, but I rarely have homemade beef stock in the house. These condensed stock tubs melt quickly and each tub makes 3 1/2 cups of stock.

Directions:

• 1 roast
• 1 Knorr stock tub
• 2 cups of homemade cream of mushroom soup
• 1 package of Beefy Onion Lipton recipe secrets
• 2 TBSP of red wine (I used Cabernet Sauvignon)
• 1 TBSP minced garlic
• 1 cup of water
• 1 tsp of salt and 1 tsp of freshly cracked pepper

Layers, it's all about the layers

Cook the roast on high for 6-7 hours, until cooked and tender. Remove the meat from the slow cooker, allow it to rest for 20 min. Remove the fat and shred the meat.

Good enough to eat right now....

• Add 1 cup of sour cream to the broth in the slow cooker. Wisk to combine it to the liquid.

Making sauce out of broth

• Add 1 package of egg noodles to the slow cooker.
• Add the meat back in to the slow cooker.

adding uncooked noodles and the meat back into the pot

• Cook on high for about 30 minutes, checking once or twice to make sure that the noodles and meat are covered in sauce.

Ready to Nom

• Enjoy with a salad and crusty bread.

Served with a tasty spinach, bacon and cranberry salad

Please join Allie and me for our bi-weekly slow cooker link up!

What have you been cooking lately?

Related articles

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• Western Omelet – Slow Cooker (petitechef.wordpress.com)
• Slow it Down, Slow cooker beef stew. (adashofdomestic.wordpress.com)
• Slow Cookin’ Monday (adashofdomestic.wordpress.com)
• Slow Cooker Vegan Sweet Potato Chili from A Year of Slow Cooking (blogher.com)
• What’s in the Slow Cooker? (dishdashdime.wordpress.com)

Slow Cookin’ Monday

One of the fun things about cooking is experimenting.

The more comfortable you get in your kitchen, and with your kitchen tools, the more likely you are to get really creative.

I’m fairly comfortable with my slow cooker.  So, I mess about sometimes.

My, what large gnocchi you have.

On December 1st I cooked another turkey.  We’re “tentatively” calling it December Firsties. *it’s similar to Thanksgiving, but on December 1st* 

So, I’ve got left-over turkey (again).

I started out thinking White bean Turkey Chili.  I ended up with something more like a goulash.

Soup-ish stew-ey goulash....also known as kitchen sink soup-ey stew-ish something.....

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of pre-soaked Navy beans
• 6 cups of turkey stock
• 2 cups of shredded turkey meat
• 1 can of green chillies
• 2 TBSP garlic
• 1 cup of diced onion
• 2 cups of shredded carrots
• 2 TBSP cumin
• 2 TBSP dried (or freshly chopped) oregano
• 3 tsp black pepper
• 1 pinch of red pepper flakes
• 2 tsp of tarragon
• 1 can (or package of frozen) corn
• 1 package of potato gnocchi

What to do:

• Place the pre-soaked beans into your slow cooker.
• Add the turkey stock
• Add the remaining ingredients (except the carrots, corn and gnocchi)
• Cook on high for 4 hours.
• Add the carrots and corn, cook for 2 more hours
• reduce the heat to the low setting and add the gnocchi, cook on low for 1-1 1/2 hours.

Serve with corn bread, biscuits, or crusty bread.

Make sure to pop on over to Allie’s Blog and check out her slow cooker meal.

If you’ve got a recipe to share, please link up with us!  Follow the link below to add your post to our slow cooker link-up.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope all my wonderful friends have a great Thanksgiving!

I am thankful for every one of you.

Thank you for being you!

I’m off celebrating the holiday with my family.

If you’ve made a turkey, don’t forget to make turkey stock with it after you remove all the meat from the bird.

Place the bird and any left over raw veggies into a stock pot or your slow cooker and cover it with water.

In the stock pot, simmer for 2-3 hours or in the slow cooker, let it simmer over night on low.

Discard the bones and veggies, separate the stock into 2-4 cup servings and freeze for future soups and sauces.

I will be using some of my stock to make turkey and lentil soup on Friday.

XOXO. Have a wonderful day! I’ll be gone Friday. It’s a family day.

I’ll be back on Monday.

Turkey and Gnocchi Soup

One of the great things about Thanksgiving, besides the family time is left-overs….turkey to be specific.

What do you do with all that left-over turkey once you’ve eaten a few of the pre-requisite turkey and stuffing sandwiches?

I love using the left-over turkey to create new twists on recipes.

Olive Garden has this amazing soup. Chicken & Gnocchi soup. It’s so tasty.

I’ve copy-catted, or is it copy-katted?, it.

It’s not exact, but it is very similar. You can make this with chicken or turkey.

Here’s what you’ll need to make this creamy, dreamy soup.

• 2 cups turkey or chicken, cooked and diced

I used turkey cutlets in the soup since I’ve not cooked my turkey yet.

• 4 cups turkey or chicken stock or broth
• 2 cups cream
• 1/2 cup celery, diced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 cup carrots, finely shredded
• 1/2 cup onion, diced
• 2 cups fresh spinach, coarsely chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• 1 teaspoon freshly chopped parsley
• 1 teaspoon of tarragon
• 1/2 teaspoon of rosemary
• 1 teaspoon of sea salt
• 1 pound (package) of potato gnocchi
• Freshly grated Parmesan cheese – for garnish.

What to do:

• I used frozen meat, so I first cooked the meat in the broth, once it was done cooking I removed it from the broth. I cooled it, then diced it.
  I sautéed the veggies in a separate pan and then added them to the Stock/soup base.

• Sauté the onion, celery, garlic, carrots in the olive oil until they begin to soften.
• Add the turkey/chicken, broth, and & spices.
• Bring to a boil.
• Add the gnocchi into the boiling broth.
• Turn down the heat and let simmer for about 8-10 minutes.
• For thicker soup add 2-3 TBSP of corn starch or masa flour to a bit of the broth and stir it into the soup.
• Add the cream and spinach.
• Slowly allow the mixture to come to a boil and then turn it off.

I serve this soup with crusty bread and a salad.

What are your go-to left over meals?

Slow Cookin’ Monday…….

I’m going to talk about beans this week.  I think that beans are one of the items that I almost exclusively cook in my slow cooker.  It’s the easiest way I know to cook a big ‘ole pot of beans.

The rest of my posts this week will be Thanksgiving related.  I’m not going to talk about how to carve a turkey or the best ways to make mashed potatoes.

I am going to talk about what to do with your left over turkey.

If you’re linking up with Allie and me for this installment of Slow cooker recipes, please follow the link below to add your recipe post to the collection.

Make sure to check out Allie’s Vegan Pea soup, it looks mighty tasty!

For this week’s slow cooker post I’ve made Mayocoba Beans.

Here is a little background on Mayocoba beans.

This information is from Wikipedia.

“Yellow beans

Sinaloa Azufrado, Sulphur, Mayocoba, and Peruano (also called canary) are types of yellow beans.

Peruano beans (also called canary beans) are small, oval, yellow-colored beans about 1/2 inch (1 cm) long with a thin skin. Peruano beans have a creamy texture when cooked, and are one of the top-selling beans in Mexico City.”

These beans will need to be soaked overnight.  Some dried bean-ey things like peas and lentils don’t need to be pre-soaked.  Here is a link to a useful guide for prep-ing  dried beans, peas and lentils.

I pre-soaked a 2 pound bag of Mayocoba beans.   Once the beans were soaked, I placed half of them (about a pound) into the slow cooker and the other half I placed into two freezer safe bags for later use.

Later, these beans will be put to use.

The beans I have frozen will be useful for other recipes. You could also cook the whole bag and then freeze half of the fully cooked beans.

Mayocoba beans are great with rice or great for making  Frijoles Refritos (refried beans).

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of mayocoba beans, pre-soaked and cleaned
• 1 medium onion, chopped (about 3/4 of a cup)
• 1 clove of garlic, chopped
• 1 tsp of salt (or more to taste)
• enough water (or homemade veggie stock) to cover the beans.  I used 1/2 veggie broth and 1/2 water (6 cups total)

I am cooking my beans in my slow cooker on HIGH for 7-8 hours.  If you wanted to convert this recipe for stove top cooking you will need to cook it for about 3 1/2 to 4 hours.

Once the beans are ready, serve them with rice.

Or… make refried beans.

To make refried beans, add 4 TBSP of vegetable oil to skillet.  Add the beans to the skillet and add 2 TBSP of the cooking liquid to the skillet.  Mash the beans with a potato masher or the back of a large cooking spoon.  Season to your taste.

           

Simmer until the beans reach the consistency you want, add more cooking liquid as needed.

Enjoy your homemade refried beans.

Chicken Pot Pie

What could be more comforting or more fall – winter-ey than

chicken pot pie?

That question was totally rhetorical.

In my opinion, no store-bought pot pie will ever come close to the taste of a home-made pot pie.

I’ll be totally honest, home-made takes a little more time to make, but it is totally worth it.

Creamy, hearty and oh so good.

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The recipe I use is not my own. It’s an Ina Garten recipe.

Here is the ingredient list.

I use less butter than the recipe calls for. I will mark my changes in blue.

I use store-bought crust, but you can totally make your own.

• • 3 whole (6 split) chicken breasts, bone-in, skin-on I used boneless, breast fillets
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • Kosher salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon of minced garlic
  • 5 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
  • 2 chicken bouillon cubes
  • 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter I used 1 stick of butter
  • 2 cups yellow onions, chopped (2 onions)
  • 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • 2 cups medium-diced carrots, blanched for 2 minutes
  • 1 (10-ounce) package frozen peas (2 cups)
  • 1 1/2 cups frozen small whole onions I omitted the whole onions
  • 1/2 cup minced fresh parsley leaves

The directions and the full recipe are listed on the food network website.

How do you make your pot pies?

And now a teaser about tomorrow’s post……