Buffalo Chicken and Potato Casserole

When I made this dish, it was requested that I make it again tomorrow night! We really liked this one and you can increase or decrease the hot sauce to suit the taste of the family. My husband and I added more at the dinner table while the children liked it just like it is. All around family hit though. You can increase the amount of potato to stretch this meal without having to add anything else. I used 8 potatoes and one small serving of leftovers. 

Buffalo Chicken and Potato Casserole

Ingredients:

6 slices natural bacon, fried and crumbled

6-8 medium baking potatos, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/2 medium onion
1/3 cup olive oil
1 tsp sea salt
1 T paprika
2 T garlic powder
1/4 c to 1/2 cup or more of hot sauce

2 large boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

2 cups Sharp Cheddar cheese

*Annies Organic Ranch dressing (or blue cheese)

The How To's:

Fry your bacon, drain and set aside. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Chop up your potatoes and onion and place in a large bowl. In a measuring cup, mix olive oil, hot sauce  and seasonings together. Pour over the potatoes and toss to coat well.
With a large slotted spoon, remove the potatoes to a 13x9 baking dish, allowing remaining marinade to drain back into the bowl. Spread the potatoes in the baking pan and place pan in the oven. Place the cubed raw chicken in the marinade and toss to coat well. Set aside. Allow the potatoes to cook until tender and starting to brown. Remove from the oven and pour the chicken over the potatoes. Sprinkle with the chopped bacon and cheese. Return to the oven and bake approximately 15 minutes until the chicken is done and cheese is bubbling.

Serve with ranch dressing and celery sticks. Serves 4.
*We use Annies because most ranch dressings contain MSG or some variation of it. If you research MSG you will find that it is not a chemical you want to knowingly feed your family. If you can't find an organic dressing, you could always make your own. That will also ensure that your dressing is gluten-free.

GF Thai Meatballs

These meatballs meet all the family dietary requirements in our house. Dairy free, gluten free, and the kids love them. They can easily be made Paleo friendly by changing the peanut butter to sun butter. They are easy to make ahead of time and they go fast, so you might want to double the recipe.

Thai Meatballs

Ingredients:

1 T lard

1/2 red pepper, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup almond flour

1 t organic peanut butter

1 t texas pete hot sauce

1 T agave syrup

1 T fresh basil leaves, chopped

1 T lime juice

1 egg
1 T braggs liquid aminos
1 tsp sea salt

1 lb grass fed ground beef

How Tos:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Heat lard in a heavy skillet on  medium high heat. Add the chopped red pepper and saute until starting to brown. Add the garlic and continue to cook until garlic is brown and starts the caramelize. Remove to medium sized bowl. Add next 9(nine) ingredients to the bowl and mix well. Incorporate beef into this wet mixture, ensuring that the mixture is well combined. Form into 1" balls and place on baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes. Rotate meatballs and bake 10 minutes more. Drain grease off to pot for cooking rice. Make your brown rice using the drippings as your oil/butter. Keep meatballs in a warming dish until rice is ready.

Easy Pumpkin Apple Spice Cake

This one is super easy and tastes so yummy. Smells just like fall!

1 box carrot cake mix

1 can cooked pumpkin(1 1/2 cups home canned)

1 apple, peeled, cored and chopped into 1/2" pieces(1/2 cup dried apples, chopped)

2 T sugar

Lightly grease a 9x13" pan. Mix carrot cake mix and cooked pumpkin until well combined. Mixture will be thick. Fold in apple pieces. Spread in baking pan. Sprinkle top with sugar. Bake 350 for about 30 minutes or until knife comes out clean. Allow to cool slightly and then its ready to serve. 

Crockpot Sesame Chicken

Chicken is inexpensive and versatile. I always have one or two birds in the freezer for a quick meal. This recipe was so simple and the results were fantastic. I served it over fried rice but it could also be ladled over toast or mashed potatoes or even eaten plain!

Ingredients:

1 3-5lb whole chicken, washed with giblets removed
sea salt
1 cup of raw honey
1/2 cup Bragg's Liquid Aminos
1/4 cup dried onion(1/2 cup chopped, fresh)
1/4 cup of ketchup
2-4 cloves of garlic, minced
red pepper flakes to taste(we like ours kind of zippy and used 1 tsp)
2 T cornstarch, dissolved in cold water
2 T Sesame seeds

The How To's:

Wash bird, sprinkle with salt and place in the crockpot. In a bowl, mix honey, aminos, onion, ketchup, garlic and pepper flakes. Pour over chicken. Cover and cook on low for 5 hours.
Remove chicken carefully to a platter or large bowl, allowing to cool enough to handle. Whisk dissolved cornstarch into the remaining liquid. At this point I tasted the sauce. You can add more salt or garlic powder to achieve the flavor you want. Even adding some chili paste for heat if you like!  Since the cooker is still on low, the mixture thickens into a rich, tasty sauce. With a fork, carefully lift meat off the bones of the chicken*, placing meat in crock pot with sauce. Stir gently and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve with rice, stir-fried vegetables or anything else you like.

*Once I have the meat I need for dinner, I then take the remaining carcass, and set aside. After dinner, I remove any remaining easily removed meat and put the chicken bones in another crock pot with water and make broth or, depending on how much meat I left on the bird, chicken soup. You can debone the bird prior to cooking, but this was much easier. The meat fell right off. You could also use boneless breast meat, but the flavor won't be nearly as rich and the cost would increase dramatically for this simple meal.

Pizza Night

Everyone in our house loves pizza so I try to make it frequently enough so that the temptation to go out for pizza is silenced. It is very inexpensive to make your own, healthy pizzas at home. Tonight was pizza night and once again I tried to photograph it and once again they were made, baked and consumed before I got many pictures. I suppose this is a good thing. It means they really like my pizza, right? Since we are dealing with multiple food allergies, I decided long ago to individualize the pizzas rather than making one that will fulfill all needs but that nobody will like very much. That means two crusts for starters.  A gluten free crust and then my regular, whole wheat crust...

Regular Pizza Crust
1 1/4 cups of warm water
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp sea salt
1/3 cup of olive oil
1 T yeast
1 T sucanat or honey
3-4 cups of freshly ground wheat

Pour the water in a large mixing bowl. Add the next 7 ingredients. Allow this to rest until the yeast begins to foam. Add the flour and stir in, mixing well. Using the kneading paddle on your dough or your hands, knead your dough for about 10 minutes or until it is smooth and elastic with a nice sheen to it. Cover the dough with a moist towel and put in a warm place. Allow the dough to rise until double in size. Punch the dough down and divide into portions that suit your family and pan sizes. Place on a greased cookie sheet and allow to rise again.  The entire process takes about 4 hours, so I usually make the dough when I am making lunch. That way its ready when I want to make dinner.

Ready to make dinner? 
Now you can sprinkle some flour on your clean counter and place one of the dough portions on the flour giving it a good dusting. Working from the center, use your fingertips to gently push the air bubbles out of the dough. Gradually working around from the middle out and gradually increasing the circle size. You can use a rolling pin at this point if you are not comfortable spinning a pizza. Since my father owned a pizza restaurant when I was in college I can toss a pizza pretty comfortably but will use the rolling pin on the rectangle pizza that goes to my son. ;-)

The Gluten-Free Pesto Pizza is ready to put in the oven

Place the prepared pizza crust in an oiled pan of your choice. You can dust the oiled pan with a little cornmeal if you like a crisper crust. I have one round stone(a Pampered Chef stone I found at Goodwill), a round steel pizza pan with holes in it and one rectangular "Medium Bar Pan" from Pampered Chef as well as a flat stone that stays in my oven. My gluten free crust is pre-made and goes right on that stone, so I prepare that pizza on a flexible cutting mat which makes it easy to transfer to the oven.

I allow the pizza crusts to rest in their respective pans about 20-30 minutes while I prepare the toppings. We use goat cheese, raw cheese, grass-fed mozzarella, which is grated into individual bowls. We chop fresh veggies, sometimes I will caramelize the onions and peppers, slice pre-cooked uncured sausage or open a jar of canned pizza sausage and open a jar of our homemade canned pizza sauce and usually pull out some pesto as well. As I mentioned, we eat pizza a lot, so I do can my own pizza sauce and when I can find a good deal on fresh, grass-fed italian sausage, I either can that as well or fry it up and keep it in the freezer. I also store hunks of mozzarella, goat cheese or any other pizza-related items in the freezer in what I call the "Pizza Bag" so I can just pull it from the freezer on pizza-making night. If I open a jar of pizza sauce or pesto, I just put the partially used jar in the Pizza Bag as well. That way, nothing spoils and I am not required to run to the store for ingredients everytime the mood for pizza strikes.

Four custom pizza pies make everyone happy

Once all the ingredients are prepared, it's time to make the pizzas. I preheat the oven to 450 degrees and everyone is free to make their own pizza, but since we do this fairly often, the novelty has worn off, and I usually have a daughter helping me and we make for everyone else.
Each person has different requirements and that's why we all have our own "pans." Once all the pizzas are made, I sprinkle them with some oregano and a little more garlic, brush the edges with a little olive oil, and pop them in the oven. The thicker ones take longer and are softer(for braces) and the little gluten-free pizza made on an Udi's Gluten free crust goes in last because the crust is precooked and it cooks fast.
Usually they take about 20 minutes to cook and I rotate them from top to bottom so they all get evenly cooked. When everything is ready, we sit down and quickly polish off most, if not all of the pizza in one meal. And that is what pizza night looks like at our house.

Catnip

Catnip is now available in our herb garden. Cut fresh to order. Catnip (Nepata cataria) is a member of the mint family (Labiatae), but it isn't just for cats....

Internal uses: 

The leaves of catnip have traditionally been chewed as a remedy for alleviating toothaches. The inhabitants of Southern Appalachia have used it since the eighteenth century as a remedy for colds. Tea made from catnip has been used to relieve intestinal cramps and gas discomforts. Recent research shows that consumption of teas containing catnip has anti-cholinergic(Antispasmodic) effects. Catnip has been used for relief of insomnia and prevention of nightmares, and has a mild anti-spasmodic effect and is used to treat cramps. The juice from the leaves was used to stimulate menstrual flow. It has been used in the treatment of children’s ailments, such as colicky pain, flatulence and restlessness. The herb has also been used as a cold remedy, for hives, to promote sweating(diaphoretic), and a pain killer(anodyne). (Please refer to an herbal dictionary like for further information on these terms.)Since it promotes relaxation it is also used to lessen migraine headaches.

External uses: 

Poultices made from catnip have commonly been used for toothaches, though they can be applied to any part of the body. It has been used to reduce swelling associated with soft tissue injuries, like bruises and recent studies have shown it to have antibacterial and antiviral substances. Poulices have been applied to sore breasts of nursing mothers and to the neck for tonsillitis. Thymol extracted from catnip has beneficial antiseptic uses on the skin and in the nasal and pharyngeal passages. Catnip oil repels insects and has even been shown to kill termites. The flowering tops of catnip yield up to 1.0 % volatile oil, 78 % being nepatalactone, the main attractant to cats.

Catnip is easy to grow and use. Research it for yourself and see if you can use catnip in your home.
One of my favorite herbal books. A referral link to Amazon is shown below. There are a lot of herbal books out there. Find books that you feel comfortable with, that list interactions with any pharmaceuticals you might be taking and always use caution when using herbs as medicine.

 *I am not a doctor. It is important that you exercise caution when considering using any herb for medicinal purposes; seek professional advice and do your own research before using them.

Hot n' Brown

This recipe is a big hit at our house. When I make it, I never have leftovers and usually despite the fact that there are five of us eating, all six english muffins get eaten. Its pretty easy to make and if the cheese sauce is doubled, you have plenty to make a mac and cheese later in the week, or to pour over grits or have welsh rarebit later in the week. It really is a good sauce and the combination is so yummy. I typically make my English Muffins since they are rarely on sale and will post that recipe later this week. This is a great summertime recipe since it requires tomatoes and when Earth fare has its thick cut uncured bacon, I will buy extra and freeze it in 12-slice portions so I can make this whenever its requested. 
Ingredients:

3 heirloom tomatoes, sliced

6 English Muffins, lightly browned

Sliced turkey or chicken breast

12 slices cooked, uncured bacon

Cheese sauce

Instructions:
First make cheese sauce: Melt butter over a low heat. Stir in flour and salt and slowly add milk. When almost thickened, blend in cheese. Blend well and set aside, keeping covered and warm.  Next, fry bacon and set aside to keep warm.  When ready to serve dinner, split the english muffins and arrange on a broiling pan, broil  them till slightly brown and toasty. Remove from broiler and top each English muffin half with a tomato slice(or two), then some turkey or chicken slices(lunchmeat works well for this). Return to oven to heat well, watching carefully so it doesn’t burn; just long enough to get it hot. Place muffin halves on a plate, pour cheese sauce liberally over top and criss-cross bacon on top. Serve with a sharp knife and fork. Devour!!

Cheese Sauce

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

4 cups milk

3 cups grated sharp cheese

Oven Baked Southwestern Wraps

If you have ever had the Southwestern Eggrolls at Chili's, you will enjoy this healthy spin on their popular appetizer. This recipe can offer a lot less calories and a lot more nutrition packed into these yummy wraps. My calorie counter has these clock in at just under 400 calories each if you add a tablespoon of dipping sauce on the side. If there are any leftovers, they taste even better the second day.

Ingredients:
3/4 lb grass-fed ground beef
2 ears of corn, husks and silk removed
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, minced
1 tsp chipotle chili powder
1 small onion, diced(1/2 cup)
1 jalapeno, diced (optional)
1 small red pepper, diced (1/2 cup)
1 clove garlic minced
1/4 tsp sea salt
8 whole wheat tortillas(or corn, or gluten-free)
dipping sauce(see below)


Directions:
Lightly brown your beef over a medium heat. While your meat is browning, strip the kernels off your corn cobs into a small bowl, toss with the cilantro and chipotle chili powder and set aside.
When the meat is no longer pink, drain off the fat and add the onion, jalapeno and red pepper. Saute until tender and add the garlic clove, cooking an additional 2 minutes till tender. Set aside. Make your dipping sauce(below) and refrigerate. Prepare your tortillas if you are making them yourself.


Assembly:
Combine the meat and corn mixture. Place 1/2 a cup of the mixture(1/8th) into your tortilla. Fold in the ends and roll. Place seam side down in your panini press, cooking until outside is brown and crispy or place seam side down on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Repeat, using all your tortillas and filling. You can bake in your oven at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes until lightly browned and crisp. Serve with dipping sauce.  Makes 8 wraps.

Notes:
You can leave off the jalapeno and your dish will have a southwestern flair without much heat. Adding more or less of the jalapeno and adding more chili powder will help you to achieve the spice that pleases your family. You can also add about a cup of grated monterey jack or cheddar cheese to the meat filling after it is cooled if you like. We don't because of dairy allergies and the additional calories and the fresh flavor and textures make the cheese unnecessary. For gluten free, just swap the flour tortilla out for a corn tortilla or a gluten-free brand from the store.


Dipping sauce
1 ripe avacodo
1 tsp lime juice(or white vinegar)
1-2 dashes hot sauce(to your liking)
1/4 cup sour cream(or use yogurt or all mayonnaise)
1/4 cup mayonnaise
dash onion powder
dash salt
dash dried parsley
dash garlic powder
dash pepper

Gluten Free Strawberry Yogurt Cake

This cake is amazing. Its addicting and its going to be made again! It is sweet, so you could reduce the sugar, but we liked the tangy lemon combined with the acidity of the strawberries and the sweetness of the sugar. The glaze once dried gives a crunchy sweet crust and the cake is moist and delicious. YUM! For my wheat-eating friends, you could use a regular baking mix or combine flour with 1/2 tsp baking soda and 1/2 tsp salt for similar results.

Ingredients:

1 cup of grass fed butter
1 3/4 cups of Sucanat or evaporated cane juice or sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp lemon powder*
2 1/2 cups of Arrowhead Mills Gluten Free Baking Mix, divided
1 cup of Brown Cow plain yogurt
1 cup of chopped fresh strawberries

glaze
1 cup organic powdered sugar
1 tsp lemon powder
2 T water

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 10" bundt pan and set aside. In an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy on high speed. Add the eggs one at a time until well incorporated in the batter. Add the lemon powder and lower the speed to mix the flour and yogurt in. I switched to a batter attachment at this point. Alternate between adding the 2 1/4 cups of flour(dry) and the yogurt (wet) until you have a thick batter. Start with about a 1/4 of the flour, mix well then add a 1/4 or so of the yogurt and mix well. Repeat until you have used all of both the dry and wet ingredients. Do not overmix or your cake will be tough. Toss the strawberries with the remaining 1/4 cup of flour and fold into the batter carefully. Spoon the thick batter into the bundt pan. Bake for 1 hour or until toothpick comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool for a while before removing from the pan. Once it is cool enough, transfer to a plate and top with the glaze below. Serve warm or cool. Refrigerate any unused portions...if there are any.


Glaze
Pour all ingredients in a small bowl. Stir to mix well. Set aside until ready to use. If too thick, you can add a little more water until it is somewhere between honey and syrup in consistency.

*I get my lemon powder from frontier because I can't always count on getting organic lemons fresh from the store. You can use lemon juice(1 T of lemon juice is similar to 1 tsp lemon powder) but adjust your liquids or flour accordingly.

The Consequence Jar

"I can't do this...its too haaarrrdddd...."
"I don't want to get in my pajamas..."

We've all got whiners. Some more than others. I have one child that could win awards for his whining skills. I have tried time outs and more recently pulling privileges or special snacks. I find that I get really fed up with it if he's having a particularly whiny day. To some extent I understand whining. I don't want to clean the house and if I had someone to whine to, I just might, but when its a daily practice, an HOURLY practice, it needs to be curbed. So my futile attempts were made.

Now meet the consequence jar. Sitting on the counter in the kitchen, looking quite innocent. Inside are consequences for whining, or not doing chores, or bad attitudes...its really quite effective. And humorous at times. For example, one item says "clean the glass on the back door while singing a song" another says "hop on one foot while getting the mail" then the more serious..."scrub the toilet" or "sweep the front porch"  There are even some "grace" cards. Grace meaning, they get this incident free(no chore)but you never know what will happen next time.
I typed up a sheet of them and folded the slips of paper and put them in a glass jar on the counter. Its waiting for the first infraction...and within minutes we have one. He pulls a piece of paper from the jar and is told to "hand wash the dishes." Since its between meals he gets off easy with only about 6 items, but he starts to put up a fuss. I tell him if he would like to pull a second slip from the jar to keep on talking.

And there is silence.

So far, this has been very effective... :-)


Here are some other examples:

Empty recycling can in pantry

Rub mommy or daddy’s feet for 10 minutes

Clean your room

Wipe down upstairs bathroom floor

Clean a glass on back door while singing a song.

Clean out silverware drawer

Remove the magnets and pictures and wipe down outside of fridge.

Do 25 sit ups while singing "I will not _______ anymore" really loud.(fill in infraction for that time)

You have been given Grace

Vacuum garage floor mats

Scrub upstairs bathtub

Empty all garbage cans

Fold 10 pairs of socks

Sweep front porch.

Sweep back porch.

Clean out your closet

Dust living room

Wipe off railings on front porch

You have been given Grace

Write “I will not _______” on a sheet of paper 50 times(fill in infraction for that time)

Do 25 push ups while singing "I will not _______ anymore" really loud.(fill in infraction for that time)

Run around the house 3 times and pick 20 dandelion flowers for the chickens.

Wipe all the wood railings on the chairs in the kitchen and under the table

Wipe all the wood railings on the chairs in the dining room and under the table

While hopping on one foot, go get the mail.

Choose 2 items of yours to donate to Goodwill.

Vacuum your bedroom

Hand wash dirty dishes

Scrub your toilet while singing “I love to clean when I am misbehaving”

Pick up backyard putting all sticks in the burn pile

Pick up frontyard putting all sticks in the burn pile

Lomo Saltado

comfort food in Peruvian form

This Peruvian comfort food is traditionally served with rice on the side. I didn't find it necessary when we used more potatoes. Its very tasty and its quite filling and economical too since you don't need much meat to feed everyone.  You can use frozen fries, but fresh potatoes taste much better and you eliminate the added dextrose and preservatives that most bagged fries have. This recipe should serve 6, but you can easily extend it with more potatoes, adding rice or a side vegetable.

1 1/2-2 lbs of fresh potatoes, sliced and soaked before hand
3/4 -1 lb of grass-fed sirloin, ribeye, stir-fry beef or other steak
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar and 1/4 cup, divided
1/4 cup Braggs Liquid Aminos and 2 T, divided
1 large red onion, sliced thin
1 peruvian aji pepper sliced thin(optional)
1 large tomato, cored and chopped
Grass-fed Lard
Sea Salt
Black Pepper
Fresh cilantro, chopped


Slice and soak your fries the night before if desired.

About 45 minutes before you plan to eat, slice your meat in thin strips against the grain. Place in dish and pour the vinegar and liquid aminos over them. Toss and sprinkle with garlic powder. Let marinade. Meanwhile, cut up all your other vegetables and set aside. When all your ingredients are prepped, drain your potatoes and fry them in hot lard until light brown and crispy, draining them well and salting with sea salt. Set them in a pan in a warm oven to hold until you are ready to eat.

Heat a large skillet with a few tablespoons of lard. Add the drained meat and saute until juices just start to release. Move meat to a saucepan on low. Continue sauteing the meet until all is cooked and in the saucepan. Place the onions and pepper in the frying pan and saute till slightly browned and tender. Add more lard if needed. Add this to the sauce pan and add the additional 1/4 cup of vinegar and 2T of liquid aminos. This combined with the meat's juices forms your sauce. Add the chopped tomato to the saucepan and over and heat on low until the tomatoes begin to break down(about 10 minutes), stirring occasionally. I add a little more garlic powder and black pepper at this point to taste.

To serve, place a portion of hot fries on the plate. Ladle the meat mixture over the top of the fries and sprinkle with some fresh cilantro. Add a little of the sauce, which soaks into the fries and tastes delicious.

Marshmallow Fluff

 

Marshmallow fluff is not that hard to make.  Making it at home also eliminates all the chemicals that you will get if you get a jar of Fluff off the shelf. Making fluff with honey will impart a honey taste, but I find it quite pleasant and actually very addicting. Its actually very easy to make too.

Ingredients:
3 egg whites from pastured hens
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 cups of mild honey(clover or alfalfa for example)
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar

The How Tos:
In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer, place your three egg whites, sea salt and honey. Mix on a medium speed until the mixture starts to firm up. In the meantime you can be doing other things in the kitchen as the mixing process will take a minimum of 5 minutes. Once you see the mixture starting to show soft peaks, change your speed to high and continue to whip until you have a thick mixture resembling marshmallow cream. Lower the speed and gradually pour in your powdered sugar, sifting it if its not freshly made and is caking up a bit. You can add this to taste if you like. After adding about a cup, you will find that your fluff looks ready to use. The additional sugar only adds more sweetness. Once the powdered sugar is incorporated, you can whip on high again until it is mixed well and light and fluffy.

Gooey, sticky and just like fluff...only better!

Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
I used part of this batch as a frosting on a chocolate cake this afternoon. The rest will go to smore bars later this week.

Citrus Carnitas

This recipe is really tasty and another way to use the very versatile pork shoulder or pork butt. For the tortillas I used homemade corn tortillas made with masa flour, but you could also use whole wheat tortillas
While this recipe has several elements, they can be used in multiple ways. For instance, I had made the coleslaw to eat with fried chicken the day before and the left over tortillas could be used in the chicken enchiladas or baked until crisp and used to top tortilla soup. The key to putting this all together is planning. I start my pork butt the night before. Its fall-apart tender by morning and then I just have to cook off the liquid. Assembly is easy so its just a matter of getting all the parts together for the party.

Ingredients:
3 to 5lb pork shoulder or butt
1 large orange
2-3 limes
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
1 T ground cumin
1 jalapeno, cored, seeded and finely chopped(optional)
1 t sea salt, plus more to taste

Garnishes
fresh coleslaw
chopped cilantro
avocado
onions
pickled jalapeno slices

tortillas (corn or wheat)

The How To's:
Place your pork, fat side up in a crockpot. Squeeze the orange and limes over the meat. Spread the crushed garlic over the fat, sprinkle with the cumin, optional jalapeno and salt. Pour about a cup of water in, careful not to pour on the meat and wash off all the seasonings. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours. I do this the night before. You can also prepare your garnishes and even your tortillas then so its just a matter of assembly at dinner time.

Make your coleslaw and tortillas.

When the pork is tender, remove the remaining slab of fat from the top and slip off the chunks of meat from the bone and into a cast iron pan. Pour the remaining liquid over the meat and place over high heat, allowing the liquid to start to cook off and the remaining fat to render off. When the liquid is almost gone, transfer the skillet to your oven on broil to brown and caramelize the surface of the meat. I use the convection feature on my oven for this part. The liquid will completely disappear leaving a moist meat with an almost crunchy top. Do not stir the meat during the last part so it doesn't dry out.

To serve, place a spoonful of meat on a tortilla and top with your choice of garnishes. We used coleslaw and hot sauce for this meal, but I really like the onion and cilantro flavors as well. Another option would be to serve in taco shells or as tostadas. Its a kid-friendly meal and the leftovers are superb.

Coleslaw

Ingredients:

1/4 Bragg's apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup Sucanat or Rapadura

1/2 tsp celery seed

1 c mayonaise(homemade if possible)
1 T yellow mustard

2 c shredded organic cabbage

The How Tos:
Heat vinegar and sugar in a small saucepan until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and add the celery seed and set aside for at least 10 minutes. Meanwhile, shred(or chop) your cabbage and place in a large bowl and set aside. When vinegar mixture has cooled slightly, add the mayonaise and mustard and combine well. Pour over the cabbage and mix well. Chill for about an hour for best flavor.

Easy-Peasy Caramel Sauce

Caramel Apple Spice at Starbucks has me *needing* to have caramel in the house so we can make our own. Finding a caramel that is made with healthy and safe ingredients  that is under $10 a jar is a challenge all by itself so I really needed to figure out how to make it easily. Caramel is milk and sugar, right? So why not utilize some sweetened condensed milk to make it? Its really that easy...

Take one or two cans of sweetened condensed milk...This brand uses organic milk, sugar and sea salt. 

Place the unopened can in a crockpot. Add water up to the rim of the can. Cover and turn the crockpot on low. Allow to cook for about 18 hours. (I let the batch I photographed go for 24 hours) The label will come off in the water.

After allowing it to cook, remove the can(s) from the hot water and allow to cool slightly. Open it and your "caramel" is ready to use. It can be thinned with milk if it gets too thick but since I am using this to dissolve into cider, I am happy with its peanut butter type consistency. I spoon it into a pint sized mason jar, add a used lid and ring and stick it in the fridge until its time to use. The unopened cans are safe to stick on a shelf.


There you have it. No stirring constantly, no softball stages, no candy thermometers...its hands off for most of the time and easy to do when you don't have time to make the real stuff. Its great in cider or as an apple dip. Put it on ice cream or dip a graham cracker in it.

Now if you have a dairy free person in the house, I have a recipe for you that will work really well as a substitute.  I will post that soon!

Let me know what you think!