Pulled Pork- Jen's Savory Summary

Katie- happy to help!

This past Sunday was my first Sunday Supper including the littlest sister.  I was happy to finally make something for more than two people.  For some reason, I get more enthused when there are more people to cook for.  Also, having Katie here was such a huge help.  This girl loves to help cook.  I even gave her the bad jobs, i.e. taking the pork off the bone and she happily helped!

Dinner for Three!

So let me tell you why I love this recipe.  It all come down to this one sentence: cook for 8 hours.  I was so excited!  This weekend was hell for me.  I have my final tonight for my grad school class and I was just told I'm leaving for Hong Kong on Friday (let the freak out commence).  So the eight hours of non active cook time was a God-send and gave me so much time to just get stuff done.  Also, expect some Chinese food featured in this week's recipe with my impending trip!

Finished Pork with a side of beets!

Onto the recipe...it was super easy even for an non crock pot owner like myself.  Since I didn't have a crock pot I baked this bad boy for 6 hours at 225F.  The slow and low method always results in deliciousness.  I didn't cube my pork either.  This may of been a mistake since Katie had to shred off the pork from the bone after it was cooked.  This recipe resulted in a super delicous, tender, and flavorful pulled pork.  I also loved the fact that it didn't use a store bought BBQ sauce.  Instead you made your own delicious one.  Also, since we are a bread free family we had ours sans bun.  Even then it was still delicious!  Hope you enjoyed as much as we did!

Just Beet It!

On Friday, my adopted 21 year old daughter (technically youngest sister Katie) moved in with us for the summer.  Well, for two weeks, but we will call it the summer.  She is interning at a company up in the Boston area for the summer and is living in Boston University housing once the semester starts.  I love Boston in the summer and I think living here during this time will brainwash anyone to move here.   Sure, the winters are awful, maybe even downright horrendous, but the first few days of sunshine make me forget all of that.  I hope Katie falls in love with Boston as much  as I did the first time I was here in the summer.  It really is magical...


So this past weekend started our weekly trips to the SOWA market.  It has grown by leaps and bounds this year.  What used to take place in one parking lot with a few vegetable stalls and some homemade soup carts has multiplied into include three different areas, the food truck court, farmers market and vintage market.   This weekend we went to the food truck court where there were over 10 different food trucks to choose from, brand new ones too.  I was in street meat heaven!  

After the food truck court, we went over to the farmers market to see what vegetables were available for this time of year.  Turns out - not many.  However, there was a cage of live chickens that Ethel got a kick out of.  This farmers market was where  I was first introduced to beets and now I can't get enough.  Last night, I introduced Katie to beets and now she is obsessed!  They look scary but are oh so good.  

Beet Salad
3 large beets
1 log of goat cheese
Toasted hazelnuts
Olive Oil 
Red Wine Vinegar
Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to 350F.  Cut off the top and end of the beets.  Wrap in aluminum foil with a dash of oil and salt and pepper.  Place on a cookie sheet and roast for about 1 hr or until tender.

Remove from the oven and remove from the foil.  Peel off skin and chop into bite size pieces (be careful beet juice stains clothing but it will wash off you fingers).  Toss with olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt pepper.  Add goat cheese and toasted hazelnuts.
Enjoy!!
Jen

An Ode to Mom



Mom and Her Girls!



With Mother's Day fast approaching, I thought I would take some time to publicly say what a fantastic mother Jen, Katie and I have been blessed with.  When we were growing up, it was our Mom-Mom's kitchen table that was our favorite gathering place for snacks, sharing and some harmless gossip.  Now this has seamlessly transitioned to my Mom's kitchen island where I can comfortably go to bare my soul over some chilled Kendall Jackson and nibblies.  While it sounds cliche, she would truly do anything for her children and will always think of us as her little girls (it's true... she still refers to us as her chickies).  And conversely, we will always look to her for comfort, advice and love.  So just in case there was any doubt, Mom, we love you.  Happy Mother's Day.

Joanne

In case you want to make the mothers in your life feel special, here is a delicous quiche recipe to make for your Sunday brunch.  It's easy enough so you're not slaving away all day instead of spending quality time but still special enough for this holiday. 

Ingredients

Photo Credit - Real Simple

• 1 9-inch refrigerated piecrust
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• Kosher salt and black pepper
• 1 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 4 large eggs
• 3/4 cup half-and-half
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 8 ounces Gruyere, grated
• 4 cups mixed greens

Directions

1. Heat oven to 375° F. Fit the crust into a 9-inch pie plate. Place on a baking sheet.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add the onions and ½ teaspoon each of salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in the parsley.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, half-and-half, nutmeg, and ¼ teaspoon salt. Stir in the onion mixture and the Gruyère.
4. Pour the egg mixture into the crust. Bake until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Let sit for 5 minutes. Drizzle the greens with the remaining tablespoon of oil and sprinkle with ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper. Serve with the quiche. 

Pulled Pork Sandwiches



GO AWAY!



With the warm weather every year comes even more cooking possibilities in large part due to my friend, the grill.  When David and I bought our house three years ago, one of the very first purchases we made was our Weber grill and we have certainly put it to use.  This weekend was supposed to kick off the summer grilling season with us hosting a family barbeque.  Apparently Mother Nature had other plans.  So while I won't be featuring my world famous (OK maybe just household famous) chicken & shrimp skewers, I will be serving up another summer time treat, pulled pork sandwiches.

The best part of these sandwiches is that they literally take 15 minutes of prep work.  The secret behind this no muss, no fuss recipe... let me introduce my other friend, the crock pot.  I have made these pulled pork sandwiches on many occasions using this recipe and they are always a hit, especially when cooking for crowds.  While you can get even more low-key and use a store bought barbeque sauce, I prefer to smother my pork butt in a homemade concoction. 

I hope you enjoy pulled pork sandwiches...a delicious solution to a rainy day problem!!

Joanne

Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Ingredients

2 medium onions, chopped
1 cup ketchup
2/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup tomato paste
4 tablespoons paprika
1/2 tablespoon cayenne pepper
4 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
4 teaspoons salt
3 teaspoons black pepper
5 pounds pork butt, cut into 2 pieces
Rolls or buns

Directions

1. Combine all of the ingredients except the pork butt and the buns in a large slow cooker. Stir together with a spoon until well combined.  Add the 2 pieces of pork and place the lid on the slow cooker. Cook for 8 hours on low or until pork is tender and easily pulls apart from the bone.

2. Take two forks and shred the pork. Place the pork back into the slow cooker with the remaining sauce. Stir well and serve on rolls or buns.

**The ingredients in this recipe are definitely enough to feel a crowd.  If you want to make this for a weeknight meal just scale back proportionately. 

Enchiladas Verdes- Jen's Savory Summary

I had every intention of making this week's recipe. I seriously did.  I bought the chicken and had it sitting out on Sunday to defrost.  I even got the corn tortillas.  Then, Sunday happened....  

Apparently, I cannot enjoy a lovely day of day drinking like I used to. In college, this was a weekly occurrence, especially in the fall. Saturday football games, yes University of Delaware had football where we did tailgate, were centered around day drinking. These days, this Sunday of day drinking destroyed me.  I thought I could muster up the energy to make it on Monday evening, but the thought of anything green made me sick.  It was a full 24 hours since I had my last glass of delicious bubbles but I still was feeling "wicked hungovAH".  Instead of delicious enchiladas, I dove into the yearly supply of Omaha Steaks my father-in-law sends us.  So last night my meal consisted of a twice baked potato and a piece of fish.  

I hope you all enjoyed your enchiladas .. I hope to make them this Wednesday instead.  Maybe this hangover will be gone by then...