Thai Pork Wrap-Ups

Trying to get into Back to School and fall activity mode, I did some pre-planning for easy meals. I just found this in the new Everyday with Rachael Ray magazine in an article on 16 FAST IDEAS and had it tonight. It is great for a quick meal. It comes together very fast. In this case, I made it ahead of time and popped it in the freezer - took it out and had it for a quick-on-the-go-dinner. These are ingredients that are easy to have on hand and ones I intend to make sure I have in. Whether I cook it a-up ahead of time or make it on the go, we will be having this one again. We really liked it.:)

**Two notes: 1. It says it serves 4. I have some large nephews that I could see eating all, or at least half, of this meal in one sitting. 2. If you like it spicy, feel free to add some extra sriracha sauce on top at the end. It is delicious!

1 lb. ground pork

1 clove garlic, grated

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

1/2 c chopped cilantro

1 Tbsp lime juice

1 Tbsp fish sauce

1 tsp sriracha

1 tsp brown sugar

1 head butter lettuce
veggies of choice -- bok choy, peppers, onions, grated carrots or zucchini, whatever you have on hand! It is a great way to add in a lot of veggies. Chop them and sauté them with the meat.

Cook pork and garlic in oil over high, 7 minutes. Off heat, stir in next 5 ingredients. Serve with lettuce. Serves 4.

Freezer Meals (Mostly Crockpot)

My daughter and I spent an hour and half prepping meals today to fill our freezer. Here is what we did:

Chicken Teriyaki

Pork Loin Teriyaki (used the same ingredients - teriyaki marinade, broccoli, carrots & pineapple, then added pork to one, chicken to the other)

Chicken Tacos

Beef Tacos (onion, peppers, salsa - one with chicken and one with browned ground beef)

Shredded Roast Pork (BBQ sauce, can of cola)

Pineapple Skirt Steak (pineapple, olive oil, lime, garlic and soy sauce)

2 bags of meat sauce

While she chopped and put together the most of the bags, I browned ground beef for tacos, meat sauce and lasagna, browned sausage for sauce and lasagna, cooked the sauce and put together the lasagna.

We labeled the bags and will just pull one out and pop in the crock pot when needed. I can't believe how easy it was with 2 of us doing it together and how much we got done. Yeah!

Slow cooker pork recipes

This Italian Roast Pork was so easy, delicious and done in 5 hours on LOW. I was concerned, but the thermometer read done! Nice meal to come home to!
http://www.familycircle.com/recipe/pork/italian-pork-roast/

I love my BBQ Ribs: I put a rub on them, then grill them, and finish them off in the oven with a mixture of BBQ sauce and beer. I tried these last weekend for a family get together, I wanted something in the crock pot so I could go to an AM soccer game and a PM baseball game and have things ready when we walked in the house. I may never go back to my original:)
http://www.familycircle.com/recipe/pork/asian-style-ribs/

Pork and chirrizo Burgers

I'm hoping to make these for dinner tonight, for a twist on a old favorite.
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/emerils-pork-and-chorizo-burgers-with-green-chile-mayo?backto=true&backtourl=/photogallery/burger-and-slider-recipes-for-game-day#slide_5

Sunday is Football Day in our house this Fall. Youth football games at one o’clock, and the Patriots after that (so far it’s been on tape delay because the games have all conflicted with the 1 o’clock youth games). It has worked for us, though, because I have been able to throw a meal in the crockpot and have dinner waiting when we come in to sit down in front of the game. Last Sunday I tried a new recipe, and (as usual) I didn’t have all the ingredients handy, so I improvised. It made so much that we had some other folks from my son’s team come back and join us, and it was such a hit that my sons asked for it again for dinner on Monday night — and there was enough that they could.

Crockpot pork carnitas (Based on Slow Braised Carnitas from foodtv.com)

3 lbs lean boneless pork loin, roughly chopped
15 ozs red enchilada sauce
15 ozs beef broth
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 chipotle pepper, roughly chopped
4 green bell peppers, roughly chopped
4 plum tomatoes, roughly chopped
3 T vinegar
½ bunch fresh cilantro leaves, roughly chopped (even better if you have a friend to do this for you like I did)
hard and soft taco shells, salsa, guacamole, cheddar cheese, sour cream

Season pork with salt and pepper and sear in skillet until it has a nice golden crust. Place pork in crockpot with enchilada sauce, beef broth, onion, peppers, and tomatoes. Cover, and simmer on low for 6 hours or until pork is tender.

Stir in cilantro and serve with taco fixings.

I served a quick black beans and rice side dish with this. Nothing beats a quick side dish, and I like this one because of the easy proportions, so put this in your mental file (and the ingredients in your pantry) for a rushed night. It would work equally well as a main dish if you add in a sausage like kielbasa or chorizo.

Quick black beans and rice

1 can Rotel tomatoes with green chile peppers
1 can water
1 can rice
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
¼ c cilantro, roughly chopped

Add tomatoes, water, and rice in saucepan, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. At the end of 20 minutes, remove from heat, stir in black beans , and let sit covered for 5 minutes. Stir in cilantro and serve.

Can also be served as a cold rice salad.

P.S. The Patriots won!

Fall flavors

In my last post, I extolled the benefits of the pressure cooker. Today it’s the crockpot. I’m reinventing the leftovers from last night’s intimate dinner party (roasted pork tenderloin with tomato-pear chutney and sweet and sour butternut squash) to be today’s game day repast for the boys (pulled pork). Nothing says “Fall” like pulled pork, yum. I just pulled out the crockpot out of the cabinet, threw in the little bit of leftover pork tenderloin (which I had roasted only with lemon pepper and garlic last night) and another pork tenderloin, because I’d bought the value pack of tenderloins on sale, along with the leftover chutney (about 2 cups), the leftover squash (about 1 cup), and a cup of my homemade BBQ sauce, put it on low and let it go. When the boys sit down to watch the UMass football game at 3:30, it’ll be falling apart and ready for some crusty bulkie rolls and pineapple-cole slaw. Bear in mind, that you don’t have to have the same leftovers to do what I have done. Whatever flavors you had together as your first meal will meld wonderfully into your new meal. Usually the key to pulled pork is some sweet (fruit or molasses or sugar) and some acid (vinegar), it’s also a good idea to add something spicy (jalapeños). In this case, the fruit from the chutney and the squash will just melt into nothing but flavor when the pork falls apart. You can also use a cheaper cut of pork, but I used what I had on hand because I had bought the value pack. Slow cooking is a great method for tenderizing less expensive cuts of meat, and the crockpot is the best for slow cooking on a day when you have a lot of things going on. As a final note, many of the meals you can cook and leave in the crockpot, you could also cook quickly, at the last minute, in the pressure cooker. Test out your favorites in various methods, or click on these links to try some of mine.

Tomato-Pear Chutney
The first time I made chutney of any kind it was tomato-pear chutney, from the pears from the tree in my yard about 10 years ago. The trees have since stopped producing usable fruit, but I was feeling nostalgic for the chutney.

2 ½ c plum tomatoes, coarsely chopped
2 ½ c pears, peeled and coarsely chopped
½ c raisins
½ c green pepper, diced
½ c onion, diced
1 c brown sugar
½ c white vinegar
1 t salt
1-inch piece fresh ginger
½ t dry mustard
⅛ t cayenne pepper
1 jalapeño, minced

Combine all ingredients in saucepan or crockpot. In saucepan, bring to a boil; boil gently, stirring frequently, until mixture is thickened and reduced about one-half in volume (about 45 minutes), stirring occasionally. In crockpot, simmer on low for 4 hours. Serve chilled or at room temperature. Can be packed in clean, hot jars, and sealed using the pressure cooker, or can be stored in the refrigerator for 2 weeks or in the freezer for 6 months.

Sweet and Sour Squash

3 T extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium butternut squash (about 2½ lbs), peeled, seeds removed, and cut into 1-inch cubes
3 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper, to taste
1/3 c balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 350°. Toss squash with garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper, and place in a single layer in a casserole dish. Bake for about 2o minutes, until squash is golden. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar before serving. Serve warm or at room temperature. Experiment with this dish with your other favorite vegetables. I’ve also done this on the stovetop, and with green beans and shallots or broccoli and golden raisins.