Authentic Pork Carnitas

**Pleas note this is an updated recipe but not an updated after pic.  My husband and kids ate the food so fast last night I did not get a picture of it. However this was by far the most moist, and flavorful carnitas I have made to date.
1 large 2-3 pound pork shoulder/butt
1/2 medium white onion chopped
6 cloves garlic chopped
1.5 tbsp sea salt or kosher
2 tbsp black pepper
2 Bay leaves
1 Tsp cumin
1 Cube chicken bullion

warm flour tortillas (or corn its a preference really)
1/2 white onion fine diced
cilantro fine minced

Combine all ingredients in crock pot and cook on low for 8-9 hours.  Shred with a fork and allow pork to simmer in juice for ten minutes. Serve. Mix diced white onions and cilantro. Place pork on warmed tortilla, top with onions and cilantro and enjoy.

Slow cooker BBQ pulled pork

 Pork:
4 - 5 pound pork shoulder
1 chicken bullion cube
1/2 tsp black pepper
3 garlic cloves minced
1/2 yellow onion chopped

BBQ Sauce:
1/2 yellow onion cubed
4 cloves garlic

 1 can tomato paste
2 Tbsp dijon mustard
3 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tsp onion powder
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 can pineapple chunks with juice

2 Tbsp pure maple syrup

Combine all ingredients for BBQ sauce in blender and puree until smooth.  Taste for seasoning.  I added a little more balsamic vinegar after tasting.  It is going to taste tomatoe-y until it's cooked down.  Add pork, half of sauce, and all ingredients for pork into crock pot.  Cook on low for 8 hours.  Store remaining sauce in blender, covered in the refrigerator.  After the 8 hours using a large spoon drain half of juice from cooked pork, shred and cover with remaining half of sauce.  Allow to cook for another hour until sauce thickens.  Serve and enjoy.  I served mine on a whole wheat bun spread with a little salted butter, and sliced fresh tomatoes.  The boys devoured it.

This sauce can be cooked longer, or even ahead of time.  You can simmer it on low for 2-3 hours then add it to any meat you desire.  The pork can be cooked a day ahead of time, drained and then put back in the crock pot with the sauce and cooked on low in the crock pot for 8 hours if you want the sauce to be really thick. 

Easy Stuffed Pork Chops

INGREDIENTS
4 bone-in thick pork chops
garlic powder
salt
pepper
Campbell's Golden Mushroom soup
1/2 cup water
1 box stuffing

DIRECTIONS
1. Heat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Prepare stuffing mix according to box directions.
3. Make a slit on the side of each pork chop to form a pocket. Season pork chops with salt, pepper, and garlic powder on both sides. Stuff each pork chop with the stuffing.
4. Arrange pork chops in a large baking dish. Bake for 45 minutes flipping the pork chops half way through.
5. In a bowl mix together the water and golden mushroom soup.
6. Pour the soup over the top of the pork chops. Cook in the oven an additional 15-20 minutes.

Baby Back Ribs

You begin prepping these ribs the day before. They are well worth the extra effort! They are juicy, tender and just fall off the bone.

INGREDIENTS
1 rack baby back pork ribs
favorite dry spices (I used Emeril’s rib rub, season all and pepper)
BBQ sauce
plastic wrap
aluminum foil

DIRECTIONS
1. Remove the skin on the back of the ribs. It acts as a barrier between the seasoning and the meat. Can start with a knife and peal the rest by hand.
2. Apply your dry spices to the ribs so that they are fully covered on both sides.
3. Tightly wrap in plastic wrap. Then wrap completely again in the foil. Let it marinate for 24 hours.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
5. Place ribs on the center rack and cook for 2 ½ hours. The plastic will keep them moist and cook them in your marinade and natural juices.
6. Remove ribs from the oven and open up the foil and plastic wrap. Do not remove the ribs from the wrap. They are tender at this point and may fall off the bones.
7. Let them sit in the juice and let them soak some of it up for 15 minutes. While they are sitting heat the grill to low heat.
8. Place the ribs on the grill and baste with the BBQ sauce. Let cook a couple minutes on each side constantly applying the sauce. Cut and serve.

Golden Mushroom Pork Chops - Update

I have updated the picture to my Golden Mushroom Pork Chops recipe. Check it out!

Split Pea with Ham Soup

INGREDIENTS
1 pound dried split peas, picked through, rinsed and drained
1 ½ pound ham bone
8 cups cold water
3 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 potatoes, diced
2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper

DIRECTIONS
1. In a large pot melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the onion, celery, carrots and potatoes cook, stirring until soft, about 6 minutes. Add the garlic cook another minute.
2. Add in the peas, ham, water, thyme, bay leaf, salt and pepper.
3. Bring to a boil then simmer for 1 ½ hours or until peas are tender, stirring occasionally.
4. Remove the bay leaf and the ham bone. Cut off any remaining meat, chop up and return meat to the soup. Return soup to a simmer. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Lemon garlic pork tenderlon - taking help from the store

Another cheapy. A few weeks back I was at the store shopping. I wanted pork tenderloin. They were out of the stuff that was un-marinated. I noticed they had one pre-marinated in a garlic lemon marinade. I hemmed and hawed wondering if I could actually buy something that someone else marinated. Finally I tossed it in the cart and figured I would give it a shot. I got home and realized I could not serve it like that I had to do something to make it my own so I threw together a quick glaze. The husband loved it so I made it again this week. Here is my taking help from the store meal.

1 Lemon garlic pork tenderloin
5 cloves garlic 3 chopped 2 sliced into quarters
1/2 cup soy sauce
5 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup water
2 pinches crushed red pepper
Black pepper

Preheat oven to 375. Combine soy sauce, water, lemon juice, crushed red pepper and diced garlic. Using a sharp knife poke 8 holes in your pork and slide your quartered garlic down into the middle. Place pork on baking sheet fat side up and season with pepper to you liking. Cover with sauce and place in oven for about 20 minutes or until pork reaches 155. I like to turn the pork once in the sauce half way through cooking. Allow pork to rest on counter until inner temperature reaches 160 degrees and then cut on an angle. Drizzle with sauce and serve. Some people may prefer to remove the garlic from the center first.

The pork tenderloin is $7.98 at my walmart. It serves 4 small portions or 2 large ones. I like to serve this with a simple potato and vegetable such as asparagus. The whole meal, with potato and veggie can be made for about 13.00. I had the soy sauce, lemon juice and garlic on hand.

Stuffed bell peppers take two - meals on a budget

As I told you last week I was going to start creating meals on a budget. This was the weeks first budget friendly meal. I'm not sure how to tally the cost since I had the sausage, garlic rice, and onions on hand. However this entree can be made for under 10.00 easily and serve up to 6 single portions.

1 pound pork sausage
4 green onions diced
1 pack mushrooms diced
1/2 white onion diced
5 cloves garlic diced
1 cup cooked white rice
1 pinch crushed red peppers
2 tsp ranch powder
1 cup diced tomatoes in a can
1/4 cup italian bread crumbs
1.5 cups monteray jack cheese shredded
salt and pepper
Olive oil

The first thing I want to say is, to make this meal vegetarian cook the sausage in a separate pan with salt and pepper. Remove your vegetarian filling and make your peppers and then add the cooked sausage to the remaining peppers and proceed to make them.

Preheat oven to 350. Cook rice. Cut tops off of peppers and seed them. Cut just enough of the bottom of the pepper off to make it stand straight. Lightly drizzle olive oil over peppers and place them on sheet pan in oven. Begin chopping all of your ingredients. Heat nonstick skillet over medium heat and add onions (white and green). Sauté and then add garlic and mushrooms. When onions and mushrooms have finished cooking add in salt, pepper, crushed pepper, ranch powder and tomatoes. Over medium heat brown sausage in seperate pan. Combine and cook about two minutes. Add rice and bread crumbs to mixture and combine. Remove softened peppers form oven. Drain oil from sausge and mix it into rice and veggies. Place small amount of cheese in the bottom of each pepper. Fill half of pepper with mixture. Add cheese and pack down. Fill with more mixture to tippy top and add more cheese. Place in oven for 10 minutes to allow cheese to melt and ingredients to combine.

Remember for the vegetarian version you want to stuff your peppers AND THEN add the sausage to the left over mixture.

Look at that melty gooey cheese

(vegetarian version)

Printable Version
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Mouth watering ribs

I've always done my ribs in the crock pot but today I felt like trying something new. My husband ate this and declared them perfect. So much so that he said he could have eaten just ribs for dinner and didn't even need the rice, corn, mushrooms or garlic bread. Here is tonight's recipe.

Rub
3 Tsp McCormick Pork rub
1 Tsp red paper flake
1 Tsp rib seasoning (mine had some nutmeg, cayenne and other good things)
1 Tsp garlic powder
1 Tsp pepper
2 Tsp brown sugar
2 Tsp adobo powder (I use Goya)

4 Tbsp lemon juice
4 Tbsp soy sauce

Preheat oven to 300. Place ribs on large cookie sheet. Combine rub and dust half of ribs with rub. Pour half of lemon juice and soy sauce over ribs. Cover with foil and bake 2.5 hours. Flip ribs (I needed two sets of tongs) and season with remaining rub and pour remaining sauce over. Cook another 2 hours. Remove foil, flip and cook for 20 minutes on low or warm to allow ribs to get a crispy top. Cut up and serve. The inside should be juicy and soft with a delicious crunchy outside!

Pork Fried Rice

INGREDIENTS
3 tablespoons oil
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 tablespoon sesame oil
1/2 pound cooked pork, chopped
1 1/2 cup frozen peas and carrots, thawed
4 cups cold cooked rice
4 green onions, chopped
1/4 cup soy sauce, plus 1/2 tablespoon

DIRECTIONS
1. Mix egg with ½ tablespoon soy sauce and ½ tablespoon of sesame oil.
2. Add 1/2 tablespoon oil to wok and add egg mixture. Cook egg then remove from wok and chop into small pieces.
3. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in wok. Add meat, peas and carrots, stir-fry for 2 minutes.
4. Add rice and green onions tossing to mix well. Stir-fry for 3 minutes.
5. Add remaining soy sauce and chopped egg to rice mixture and fold in. Stir-fry for 1 minute more.
6. Serve with additional soy sauce, if desired.

Spicy Pork Burritos

INGREDIENTS
2-3 pounds pork, cut in chunks
5 garlic cloves, minced
½ onion, chopped
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon corn starch
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 ½ cups Verde salsa
½ cup salsa
pepper jack cheese, shredded
flour tortillas

DIRECTIONS
1. In a large skillet, add vegetable oil, onion, and garlic. Saute on medium high heat until onions are translucent. Add pork. Season with salt, pepper, and cumin and cook until the pork is no longer pink, about 10 minutes. Drain any excess fat.
2. Stir in both salsas and corn starch. Cook on low heat about 10 minutes.
3. On a cookie sheet, place meat mixture and cheese in the center of a flour tortilla. Reserve the extra sauce from the meat mixture. Fold in ends of the tortilla and then sides forming a burrito. Broil in oven for 2-3 minutes until the tortilla turns light brown. Top burritos with extra sauce and cheese and place back in oven for another minute to let the cheese melt.
4. Serve topped with sour cream or guacamole.

Golden Mushroom Pork Chops

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 - 2 pounds boneless pork chops
garlic powder
salt
pepper
Campbell's Golden Mushroom soup
1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 pound mushrooms
2 garlic cloves, minced

3 potatoes sliced into wedges

1 cup baby carrots

DIRECTIONS
1. Heat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Season pork chops with salt, pepper, and garlic powder on both sides. In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Add in pork chops and cook until no longer pink, about 7 minutes on each side depending on pork chop thickness.
3. Remove pork chops. Add in remaining 1 tablespoon oil, mushrooms, potatoes, carrots and garlic to the skillet. Sauté about 5-8 minutes or until mushrooms are tender and potatoes have started to brown.

4. In a bowl mix together the water and golden mushroom soup.

5. Arrange pork chops in a large baking dish. Surround the pork chops with the vegetables, and then pour the soup over the top. Place in the oven and cook 20-30 minutes.

Grilled pork tenderloin

1 Pork tenderloin
3 Sprigs rosemary chopped
2 Sprigs Thyme chopped
3 Cloves garlic chopped
1 Pinch crushed red pepper flakes
1 Pinch salt & pepper
3 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 lemon juiced

Combine all ingredients in a zip log bag and marinate for a minimum of 20 minutes and a maximum of over night. Preheat grill to medium low and grill for 15 minutes. DO NOT TOUCH IT, CLOSE THE GRILL AND LEAVE IT SO IT WILL CARAMELIZE IN PLACE. Flip over and pour the marinade in the bag on top, and grill for another 10-15 minutes or until juice runs clear when cut open. Let rest for five minutes and then slice. You will see smoke when it is grilling because of the fresh herbs, but that is fine it just adds great flavor and depth.

Lime cilantro pork

2 pork small tenderloins
1/4 cup lime juice (fresh is best)
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/8 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup cilantro chopped
2-3 tbsp sugar
1 pinch crushed red pepper flake
5 cloves garlic chopped
1/2 cup white or yellow onion chopped
Salt and pepper
1/8 cup olive oil

Preheat oven to 360. Combine all ingredients (reserve salt) in food storage bag and marinate for about 20 minutes. Remove pork from bag and place on baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper and bake for 40 minutes or until no longer pink in the middle. In small saucepan boil marinade for five minutes and then reduce heat to medium low and allow it to reduce until thickened. At this point you will want to check your marinade for tartness. You may need a little more sugar or a little more lime depending on your taste. Allow pork to rest for about 5 minutes and then carve. Top with sauce and serve.

Sorry I totally forgot to take a picture of it plated, but you get the idea.

Spicy stuffed bell peppers

1.5 pounds Hot Italian sausage
1/2 yellow onion diced
5 cloves garlic diced
1/4 green bell pepper fine diced
5 Cremini or baby portobello mushrooms diced
9 slices mozzarella cheese
3 large red bell peppers
Dash red pepper flakes
1 Tsp pepper
1 Tsp salt
1 Tsp grill seasoning
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
olive oil for drizzling

Preheat oven to 350. Cut very bottoms of bell peppers off, just enough to make them stand upright on their own. Cut tops off and de-seed. Drizzle with olive oil and put in the oven for 10 minutes. In sauté pan break up sausage and add, onions, garlic, diced bell pepper, mushrooms, salt, pepper, and grill seasoning. When meat is browned add bread crumbs and coat all the meat with them. When bell peppers are done remove them from the oven and allow them to cool to touch. Place one slice of cheese over the top of the bell pepper and then push it down inside to form a bowl shape and coating the entire inside of the pepper. Add enough of your meat to fill half the bell pepper and then add a second layer of cheese (placing the cheese in there in a cup/bowl shape will make it so that your bell pepper is lined with cheese and you get some in each bite, similar to an ice cream drumstick being lined with chocolate). Place remaining meat into pepper and then place last slice of cheese over the top so it hangs over the sides. Place the peppers uncovered in the oven for 10 minutes. The cheese should melt over the top of the pepper and form a cheese lid. Remove and enjoy.

* For the mozzarella you can use either fresh or deli mozzarella. For this recipe I had the deli slice me up exactly how much I wanted. I didn't buy fresh this week simply because I wasn't making anything that would use it, and I wouldn't have been able to finish it before it expired. If you use fresh double the amount you use because the slices will be smaller and you will need to cover the same amount of area as a deli slice would.

** I realize most stuffed bell peppers are made with rice and other stuff. These are my all man meat bell peppers though, with none of the yicky girly rice and froo froo things.

** I also prefer sausage to ground beef because you get far less fat and water in the pan and don't have to do any draining, plus it is already seasoned.

Easy Herb Crusted Pork Tenderloin

INGREDIENTS
2-3 pound pork tenderloin
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried basil
2 tablespoon olive oil

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Combine salt, pepper, garlic, rosemary, thyme, basil and olive oil in a small bowl forming a paste.
3. Place pork tenderloin in roasting pan, and rub the paste mixture fully covering the pork.
4. Roast for about 35-45 minutes.

Slow cooker ribs with recipe update

I have included pictures of the main ingredients below so you can know what you are looking for at the store

Anyway I used my crock pot and I bought the Reynolds slow cooker bags. They kick major ass people. Especially since I don't feel like cleaning right now.

Here is my recipe it is for a half slab not a full slab, for full slab double recipe but I don't know how it would fit in the slow cooker

1/2 slab pork spare ribs cut into two halves (about 3-4 ribs on each piece)
1/2 bottle Sweet Baby Rays Original sauce
1/2 bottle Sweet Baby Rays Hickory & Brown Sugar sauce
1/2 bottle Lawry's Baja Chipotle Marinade
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup pineapple juice
1 ring of pineapple
.5 tbsp salt
.5 tbsp pepper
1 tbsp McCormicks Grillmates Spicy Montreal seasoning
1 tbsp McCormicks Grillmates Pork Rub
1 can Bud Lite

Combine all ingredients besides ribs and pineapple ring in slow cooker in off position. Mix well. Add ribs and turn in sauce several times. Put pineapple ring on top. Turn on low for 2 hours. Open and stir ribs and rotate top to bottom. Replace lid and turn to high for two hours. Ribs will be done. Please note, my husband does not like his ribs falling off the bone, he likes them tender but he still likes to pick up the bone and chew the meat off. This cooking method will give you chewy yet extremely tender ribs. If you prefer yours to fall off the bone you need to cook them all day on low!

**Updated to add: Tonight I made these and I guess I had run out of pineapple juice. I substituted for apple juice and the ribs were just as delicious.

I served these with my potato salad.

Asian glazed pork tenderloin with roasted asparagus and finger potatoes

Serving size 2

1 Pork tenderloin
Marinade:
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 orange, juiced
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup apple juice
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon ground ginger
4 clove garlic, diced
1 green onion, chopped
Crushed red pepper, pinch
Pepper

Asparagus:
1 Bundle asparagus
2 cloves garlic, finely sliced
salt & pepper
olive oil to coat

Finger potatoes:
about 20 finger potatoes, cut in half
2 cloves garlic, finely sliced
salt & pepper
olive oil to coat

Sauce:
Cornstarch
water

For pork tenderloin, combine marinade in bag and place pork in. Marinate over night. Preheat oven to 350. Remove pork from refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature. While pork is coming to temperature combine all ingredients for potatoes and place on left side of a cookie sheet. Roast potatoes in oven for 20 minutes. Remove cookie sheet and place pork in center. Combine all ingredients for asparagus and place on right side of pork. Roast uncovered for 40 minutes. While pork is roasting place marinade in small sauce pan and simmer on low for 35 minutes whisking often. At this point mix 1 tablespoon cornstarch with 3 tablespoons cold water. Slowly add mixture a little at a time until sauce thickens enough to coat a spoon. Allow pork to rest about 5 minutes then slice thinly on an angle. Top with a drizzle of your sauce. Pork will be soft enough to cut with a fork or butter knife.