Crispy Carnitas

Full flavor right from the start, these are hands down the best carnitas I've made. I like to freeze some before the broiling process for a quick prep meal for my future self.

Crispy Carnitas
Adapted from Marks Daily Apple

• 3-4 pounds boneless pork shoulder - cut into 5 pieces
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 bay leaf
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 onion, chopped or thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup water
• queso fresco for serving...optional

Add all ingredients to a slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours. 

Preheat the oven on broil. Move meat to a cutting board (no liquid, cinnamon stick or bay leaf), shred, and spread evenly on a baking pan. Broil until meat is at your desired crispness. 

White Chicken Enchilada Casserole

White enchiladas for white people. If I had to put this in a food category I would said Ohio-Mex? Its definitely not Tex-Mex or Mexican. Its more casserole than enchilada and cheesy instead of spicy. Whatever it is, its delicious and there is a lot of it.  We froze some for a quick-fix later on.

White Chicken Enchilada Casserole
Adapted from Gimme Some Oven

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1 4 ounce can chopped green chilies
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 cup plain Greek yogurt or sour cream
• 24 soft flour tortillas, halved
• 2 cups shredded chicken, cooked
• 2 14 ounce cans white northern beans, rinsed and drained
• 3 cups shredded pepper jack or Monterrey jack cheese
• 1 avocado, diced
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves

Preheat the oven to 375F and grease a 9x13 pan with cooking spray.

Heat butter in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add flour while whisking constantly. Cook for a minute. Add 1 cup of chicken broth and whisk until combined.  Add the rest of the broth, green chilies, and cumin and whisk. 

Bring to a simmer and let it thicken for a couple of minutes. Stir in Greek yogurt and whisk until combined. Remove from heat and set aside.

Place 8 tortilla halves to cover the bottom of the pan. Spread 1/3 of the cheese sauce, sprinkle with half the chicken and half the beans and 1 cup of cheese.  Repeat with tortillas, 1/3 of cheese sauce, the rest of the chicken and beans and 1 cup of cheese. The final layer is tortillas, cream sauce, and cheese. 

Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes.  Remove foil and bake for 15 minutes.  Remove from oven and serve with cilantro and avocado on top.

Creamy Roasted Garlic & Mushroom Pasta

Savor this dish and try not to think about how there are only two more days of school left. Also try not to think about how your three year old isn't taking naps anymore.  Also try not to think about how construction on the house is going to take away the option of just throwing the three year old in the backyard. 

Yup, don't think about any of those things and just take comfort in pasta.

Creamy Roasted Garlic & Mushroom Pasta
Adapted from Gimme Some Oven
Serves 4-5

• 24 garlic cloves, peeled
• 20 ounces portabello mushrooms, large chop (any kind of mushroom)
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• salt and pepper
• 1 shallot, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 12 ounce farfalle pasta
• freshly grated Parmesan

Preheat an oven to 375F and bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

On a sheet of aluminum foil, lay out of garlic. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, salt and pepper. Fold the aluminum foil into a pouch and place on the corner of a baking sheet.  Spread the mushrooms out of the rest of the baking sheet and drizzle them with olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Roast for 25-30 minutes.

Cook pasta according to package directions in the salted water.

Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet oven medium-high heat. Add shallows and cook until they begin to brown.  Add the wine and scrape up any brown bits.  Add the chicken broth and thyme sprigs and cook for 5 minutes.  Add the roasted mushrooms, garlic, and cream and stir to combine.  Cook for an additional few minutes to thicken the sauce.

Drain the pasta in a colander and add to the sauce. Toss to combine and serve with Parmesan.

Slow Cooker Shredded Chicken

My cooking goals have come full circle since college when I first starting fending for myself.  I went from cooking to survive, to super healthy, to super from scratch, and now we are back to cooking in survival mode. I'm currently trying to rebuild my freezer stash after a bad back had me on the couch and nuking our dinners for a week.

Having shredded chicken in my freezer has been one of the biggest helps.  Simply remove from freezer, defrost, add a sauce and a carb and serve. So far we have had barbecue chicken sandwiches and chicken nachos.  Amazingly easy.

Slow Cooker Shredded Chicken
Adapted from Gimme Some Oven

• 6 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons pepper
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1/2 cup chicken broth - I used this time, not sure if I would use next time

Place chicken in a slow cooker and sprinkle with seasonings and broth. Cover and cook for 8 hours on low. Remove with tongs and shred.  Serve or freeze. I freeze in two cup batches which is enough for my family of 3.

Next time: I'm going to check it at 7 hours next time. This batch was a little too easy to shred. Almost mushy.

Burger Sauce

I don't care how you cook your burger, I just care what you spread on the buns.

[insert picture of hamburger]

Burger Sauce

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pickle juice
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ketchup
• 1 teaspoon yellow mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder

Combine and serve on a burger.

Rib Eye Steak

I'm tired of trying new recipes that have like 12 servings and the results being...meh. Especially when I look through it and think 'man, this doesn't really sound right' but I follow the recipe anyway because what the heck do I know. 

And I don't know much, but more than before like in one of the first posts when I was only using the Good Eats show and I bought round steak instead of rib eye. Whoops!

So I'm going through some of my old posts to plan meals for us that we liked before and to delete the stuff that we won't make again. I want to test to make sure stuff freezes well because some days reheating instead of cooking feels so good.

What I'm trying to say is, look out for some re-posts. I finally atoned from the round steak debacle and it was heavenly. 

Pan Seared Rib Eye Steak

Adapted from Good Eats

Serves 2 with leftovers

• 1 boneless rib eye steak 1 1/2 inches thick
• Grapeseed oil to coat
• kosher salt and ground black pepper

Place a cast-iron skillet in the oven and crank the heat to 450F.  Take the steak out of the fridge to start bringing it to room temperature.

When the oven reaches temperature, remove the skillet and place on the stove with the heat set to high for 5 minutes.  Coat the steak with oil and sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper.

Place the steak on the skillet and let it cook for 30 seconds (don't move it).  Flip with tongs and let it cook for 30 more seconds.  Then put the skillet (and steak) back into the oven.  Bake for 3 minutes, flip and bake for another 3 (2 minutes on each side for a rarer steak). 

Remove the steak to a cutting board and cover loosely with foil for 5 minutes. Slice against the grain or serve whole.

Notes: I used 450F while Alton used 500F. There was enough smoke pouring out of my oven that if we had a working fire alarm downstairs it would have broke from smoke damage. If I had the oven at 500F I'm sure my upstairs fire alarm would go off.

Serve with: 

Roast Sweet Potatoes - I used this recipe but didn't have any apples on hand

Blue Cheese Salad

• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• salt and pepper
• spinach
• blue cheese
• red onion (next time)
• walnuts
• blue berries

Whisk the vinegar, oil, salt and pepper together.  Toss with the remaining ingredients in a salad bowl.