Pork Tacos
As part of my 101 List, I set a goal to try new receipes and review half of them here. This one is a keeper. Here’s the recipe. 
Pork Tacos
- 1 can chipotles in adobo sauce
- minced garlic
- 1/2 medium onion, chopped
- 3 tbs olive oil
- 2 tbs honey
- 1 tbs cider vinegar
- kosher salt
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 3 1/4 c chicken broth
- 4 lbs boneless pork shoulder, cut into chunks
- fresh ground pepper
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 cinnamon stick
*In a blender, mix the garlic, chipotles in adobo sauce, onion, olive oil, honey, cider vinegar, salt and oregano.
*Pour the mixture into a dutch oven or deep saucepot and add chicken broth. Simmer till blended well.
*Add the pork, bay leaves and cinnamon stick. Cook covered in a 350 degree over an hour and 45 minutes. Uncover and cook another 30 minutes.
*Remove the bay leaves and cinnamon stick. Shred the pork with two forks and season as needed with salt and pepper.
*Serve with warm tortillas and toppings.
Optional Toppings
- radishes
- scallions
- salsa
- queso fresco (crumbled)
- fresh avocado
- lettuce
- red cabbage and jicama
- tomatoes
- mangoes
Notes…
__This is a recipe from the Feb/Mar Food Network magazine. I changed it a little bit. I left out the ancho and pasilla chiles (couldn’t find them at the Publix) and increased the chipotles from 2-3 to the entire can (about six). Not the best choice. Much hotter than the kids could eat. I ended up taking the pork out of the mixture about halfway through the cooking time and replacing the sauce with crushed tomatoes to cool it down some. Worked like a charm.
__You can also do this in the Crock-Pot. Just put it all in the CP instead of in the oven. Cook on high for five hours.
__The magazine suggests ‘upgrading’ your toppings. The odd sounding toppings are from them. The more traditional, from me.
__I started Weight Watchers recently, and this recipe will give you eight servings at 5 points per serving. With the queso fresco, salsa, radishes, and tortillas, the whole thing is 9 points.
Our Thoughts…
__Mike gave it a 4 out of 5, saying it was a different taste (pork, radishes, spinach, salsa and queso fresco) but a good different.
__Griff and Eliza both gave it a 5, which is rare around here and which probably means they won’t eat it at all the next time I make it. But Griff ate his with with radishes & Eliza had her’s with spinach, so it was a good meal all around.
__Me… I enjoyed it. But it was a lot of work. Now, sure, my toe hurts & I mostly just told Mike what to do, but it seemed like he did a lot of work. But it was tasty, and it would be a nice alternative to the typical tacos every now and then.
__And I would have taken a photo, but we gobbled them up way too fast.
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feeling all foody…
I mentioned that I would post photos of the veggie burgers and a review of the buttery radishes from Clinton Kelly’s book, so here goes. (And this is two toward my 101 in 1001 goal of trying and reviewing new recipes.)
I love radishes. I love that they’re spicy and crunchy. A little bit of salt & they’re perfect. And the recipe for these sounds amazing, improved by how simple they are.
Cut the top and bottom off the radishes so they’ll sit flat on the plate. Shmear butter on the tops and sprinkle with a nice, coarse salt.
I wanted to like these. I wanted to like them a lot. I didn’t like them. They weren’t bad, but they weren’t good. They were just odd, frankly. The smoothness of the butter should have been a nice compliment to the spicy radish, but it seemed more like two competing tastes in my mouth.
That said, I’ll try this again. I mean, it’s not like it’s difficult to shmear some butter and salt on top of a radish. Maybe it’s an acquired taste. I’ll keep trying, though the kids, I’m sure, won’t touch them.
The veggie burger, however, is one that we’re going to keep having. I love it. And I’m finding that as long as you use the basic recipe, you can add in whatever veggies and herbs you want to change the flavor ever so slightly.
In the burger in the picture, I used lots of shredded carrots and topped the burger with diced tomatoes. Laughing Cow swiss cheese spread on the whole wheat English muffin just adds to the creamy mouth feel of the burger (thanks to the beans).
Yum.
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in our house, blondes don’t have more fun…
A co-worker asked if I knew how to make blondies, and I said, ’sure.’ I mean, come on, how hard can it be? (Before I continue with this story, you should know I working the Miami unit, though not in Miami itself, and am one of the few non-Hispanic individuals. I’m assuming this is why my sweet little bilingual friend determined that I would be the best to ask for a dish called a ‘blondie.’) 
One of my 101 Things is to try new recipes & review them here, so this seemed like a good time to start. So I set about looking for a good blondie recipe. I found one with amazing photos at Smitten Kitten (I go to that particular blog just for the photos. They are amazing.) The photos make me think of smooth, creamy, lush goodness. The recipe was easy to follow, and the batter smelled tantelizing.
Smitten Kitten’s Blondies
8 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla or 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Pinch salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
- Butter an 8×8 pan
- Mix melted butter with brown sugar - beat until smooth. Beat in egg and then vanilla.
- Add salt, stir in flour. Mix in any additions (below).
- Pour into prepared pan. Bake at 350°F 20-25 minutes, or until set in the middle. I always err on the side of caution with baking times — nobody ever complained about a gooey-middled cookie. Cool on rack before cutting them.
Further additions, use one or a combination of:
- 1/2 to 1 cup chopped nuts, toasting them first for even better flavor
- 1/2 to 1 cup chocolate chips
- 1/2 teaspoon mint extract in addition to or in place of the vanilla
- 1/2 cup mashed bananas
- 1/4 cup bourbon, scotch or other whiskey; increase the flour by one tablespoon
- 2 tablespoons of espresso powder with the vanilla
- Stir 1/2 cup dried fruit, especially dried cherries, into the prepared batter
- Top with a vanilla butter cream or chocolate peanut butter cream frosting
The result, however, not so swell. While the photos show thick, goowy bars, mine turned out thin and dryish. I was so disturbed, I tried twice. Same result… big pan, small pan. The taste of the baked bars wasn’t like the smell of the batter. I have no idea what I did wrong, but obviously, something went awry.
Now, Mike liked them. Ate both batches. But he’s never had any discretion. That’s how we made it through our first year of marriage when I couldn’t cook at all. The man would eat dirt if you sprinkled it with a little cayenne pepper.
But anyway, I’m on a search for a good blondie recipe. If you’ve got one, send it to me.
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Veggie Burgers… really!
One of my goals for the 101 in 1001 Days was to serve my family one vegetarian meal per week. I haven’t been quite that consistent, but I did make some amazing veggie burgers last night. I got the recipe from the new Food Network Magazine (a subscription I got for free thanks to my Coke reward points!).
Now, I did adjust some of the recipe for us… no mushrooms. Ew. But if you like that sort of thing, saute some mushrooms in olive oil and spread over the top of the burger. The recipe also called for 1/3 cup of chopped walnuts, but given our nut allergies, we skipped that one just for kicks.
So here goes…
- 1 15 oz can kidney beans (I used white kidney beans), drained and rinsed
- 1 small red onion, shredded and squeezed dry
- 1 small carrot, finely diced (I used more than this. We like our carrots.)
- 1 cup dried breadcrumbs
- 2 tbs parsley
- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- kosher salt and fresh pepper, to taste
- English muffins
Put the beans in a bowl and mash with a fork until chunky. Put pretty much everything but the muffins in the bowl and mix. To be honest, I didn’t really measure anything. I just plopped stuff in till it looked good.I also threw in a small handful of shredded parm just for good measure.
Then, scoop out the mixture and make four burger patties. They’re delicate, so don’t try to grill them. Just put them on a hot skillet long enough to sear the sides and warm the insides.
While the burgers are warming, slice and toast the muffins. I used whole wheat muffins to give just a little extra fiber. When I took the muffins out of the toaster, I spread each side with Laughing Cow cheese (my newest favorite thing) so it got all melty.
Top with a burger pattie and mixed greens. Yummo.
On a scale of 1-5, I got a 4 from Mike and a 2.5 from Griff (though he ate the entire thing in about three bites). Eliza, of course, didn’t even try it. If it weren’t for bananas, apples and chips, that child would starve. Whatcha gonna do?
On the mama scale, it was a hit. I’ll make this one again. I loved it!
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Wordless Wednesday… Ninja Spaghetti
If you’ve read my Menu Plan Monday more than once, you’ll have noticed that I make Ninja Spaghetti just all the time. It’s my own creation… it’s culinary trickery.
And here are some photos so you can see for yourself the yumminess.
It starts off beautifully, right? There are bell peppers and onions and shredded carrots and edamame and spinach and Italian herbs.
Then, blend the whole thing. Add a can of crushed tomatoes and a small can of tomato paste. For extra veggie goodness, add a can of V8. It looks pretty awful now. You’ll be best served if you cover the pot at this point.
Seriously… your whole house is going to smell phenominal. And if they don’t see the yuckiness, they’re going to be eagerly anticipating dinner.
Add some pasta (and meat if you want), top with cheese and bake just until the cheese is all melty.
Veggie packed love. And only the mama knows.
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