Pulled Pork Tacos

I have a thermal cooker and I normally use it to make soup or broth. I decided to try something different and see if it could cook pork, specifically make pulled pork. To my surprise it worked out beautifully. I'm going to make pulled pork more often since it's virtually no work and it saves so much energy.

Pulled Pork Tacos

3-4 lbs pork butt
1/2 c water
2 t chicken stock
8 cloves garlic
1 small can tomato sauce
4 T ketchup
1 t chili powder
1 t Penzey's frontier powder
1/2 t cinnamon
3 t oregano
2 t salt
freshly ground pepper
1 T maple syrup
1 orange, juiced
1 lime, juiced
1 onion, minced

1. Saute onion and garlic.
2. Add rest of ingredients and mix well.
3. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes.
4. Add insert into liner and let sit overnight.
5. In the morning, bring to a boil. Shred pork.
6. Before serving, reduce sauce by boiling the sauce (and not the pork) for a few minutes.

Cinnamon Swirl Pumpkin Rolls

When it starts to get nippy in the air I look forward to all things autumn. It's pumpkin season so it means it's time to make all things pumpkin. ^_^ I made pumpkin cinnamon rolls this weekend using a recipe from King Arthur. The cinnamon rolls turned out amazing. My husband doesn't like sweets but even he went back for seconds!

Home made pumpkin puree

Homemade pumpkin puree


Place all ingredients into the same pot and mix.


Dough is all mixed and ready to proof.


Dishes to be washed. There are so few of them since this is the "dump all into one bowl" recipe. ^_^


Once dough has proofed, roll dough out and add the goodies!


Second dough proofing.

Time to eat!




King Arthur Recipe link

Butternut Squash Buttermilk Macaroni and Cheese

I have never made macaroni and cheese from scratch. Truthfully I've never craved macaroni and cheese and don't view it as comfort food as many Americans do. It's something which I will eat if it's there but not something I go out of my way to eat.

This weekend I bought a butternut squash at the farmers market because it looked cute and it's starting to come in season (hey, it's fall!.) I also had some leftover buttermilk which I'd used to make Buckwheat waffles (more on that in another post.) I googled around for ideas on how I could use both the butternut squash and buttermilk together. Strangely enough I kept coming up with butternut squash and mac and cheese, but no buttermilk. Well I decided to try making mac and cheese with the butternut squash and buttermilk.

The combination of the sharp cheddar and buttermilk was really nice. It wasn't overly cheesy nor was it too tangy from the buttermilk. The tang was very subtle. Also, unlike many recipes, I did not puree any of the butternut sqush. I left all the pieces whole since I like the idea of eating chunks of squash (and I don't need the cheese sauce to be sweetened by any pureed squash.) I roasted the butternut squash instead of boiling it to bring out the inherent sweetness of the squash. You can roast the squash the day ahead if you're pressed for time.



Butternut Sqush Buttermilk Macaroni and Cheese

1 2-lb butternut squash
1 c buttermilk
2 T butter
2 T flour
8 oz sharp cheddar
macaroni noodles
1/4 t paprika
salt and pepper
panko

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Cube the squash, drizzle with olive oil and roast for 25 minutes, or until fork tender.
3. Change oven temperature to 350 degrees
4. Cook macaroni until al dente (according to package instructions)
5. In a pot, make a roux opf hte flour and butter. Stir rapidly so there aren't any lumps!
6. When roux has come together add buttermilk slowly. Keep mixing so that all lumps are gone.
7. Add parika and salt and pepper.
8. Add cheese. Stir until melted. Once melted, turn off heat.
9. Mix in macaroni and butternut squash.
10. Pour into a pan. Top with panko crumbs (as thick or thin of a layer as you want.)
11. Bake for 25 minutes.
12. After 25 you may need to turn the heat up for a few minutes to briefly brown the panko.

Steak, Toasted Rye Bread and Kale

If I eat dinner by myself I'm normally too lazy to cook a real meal. Instead, I'll scrounge around in the refrigerator until I find something which might pass for dinner. This time I made a concerted effort to eat something which was a real meal. I defrosted and grilled a steak, cooked up some kale, and toasted rye bread. It was very simple to do and I should start making "real" dinners more often. Buttering the rye bread, then toasting it on the stovetop makes the bread taste amazing. If you try to take a shortcut and just toast the bread in a toaster, then butter it, the bread won't taste nearly as good.

Broccoli Beef

Yes, broccoli beef has got to be one of the most frequently ordered dishes at the Americanized Chinese restaurants. It is probably the next most popular dish right after General Tso's chicken.

For some inexplicable reason I had a huge craving for broccoli beef. I don't even really like broccoli beef that much but I just had a craving for it. The craving probably started when I saw someone order it when we were waiting for takeout from a Chinese restaurant (a real Chinese restaurant mind you, not a Mr. Chau's.) I made my broccoli beef with grassfed beef and it definitely satisfied my craving.

I found out how to make the beef texture taste just like the restaurants: baking soda. I've always known that baking soda is used extensively but I never realized the texture it imparts to beef. It makes the beef very tender. I'd do it again especially once I realized how easy it is to do. Add a few spoonfuls of baking soda to your cut up beef and let it marinate for about 10-20 minutes. After it is done tenderizing the beef wash it off and marinate the meat as normal.

Here's what our dinner table looked like:


I bought calla lilies to give it a more decorative touch. ^_^

Pierre Herme Viennese Chocolate Sables

I recently purchased Strauss European butter since it has a higher butter fat content than normal butters. A higher butter fat content is supposed to make for a tastier butter. I wanted to try it out in a recipe which showcased the quality of the butter. Of course this meant that a butter cookie would be the perfect thing to bake. Rather than a normal butter cookie I decided to try a French sable, which is a french version of a butter cookie. It isn't quite as heavy as a butter cookie and contains a "sandier" texture when you eat the cookie.

I came across the Pierre Herme Viennese Chocolate Sables recipe from this blog. The cookies really show case the quality of your cocoa powder and your butter. The chocolate taste is a refined one and isn't as sweet as a chocolate chip cookie. I wouldn't say the taste is subtle; it's not. Instead, the cookie is crumbly and you can really taste the depth of chocolate flavor with each bite. Give it a try and you won't be disappointed.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake and Grilled Asparagus with Prosciutto Salad

For a healthier alternative I decided to try to eat more salads. Thomas Keller has a recipe for Grilled Asparagus with Prosciutto, fried bread, Poached Egg, and Aged Balsamic Vinegar Salad. It was delicious. I followed the recipe to the letter (including frying my own bread.) I'd definitely make this again.



I've never had pineapple upside down cake. I decided to try Thomas Keller's pineapple upside down cake. I used a fresh pineapple. Divine. What more can I say? ^_^ It's a rich butter cake with pineapples and a caramelized brown sugar glaze.

I've seen recipes for both the asparagus with prosciutto salad and pineapple upside down cake on various places on the web. I'm sure you should be able to get the recipe from one of those sites.