Kalua Pork Crockpot Style

                                   To get us started. Pork.

                                                Because pork is amazing. 

So first off let's get what you need:

1. Crock pot or a dutch oven (at least something with a lid and heavy)
2. Pork butt or pork shoulder. I'm only making this for one person so my pork was 1 1/2 lbs. This will give me about three meals or so.
          2.a. These are the same thing and they also come with the bone in. Also try to get one with a lot of fat on it. The fat is what makes it. (sorry I didn't take a before cooking photo)
3. Salt. I use kosher salt but most recipes say to use Hawaiian red salt. I've never used it so I can't say if there is a difference or not. You can use pretty much whatever you want.
4.Liquid smoke. I use hickory because I like the taste. The hickory smoke is used for when you can't actually cook it traditionally. Outdoors cooking. (I would like this better I think but it's time consuming).

5. A fork or something to shred the pork with later.

Okay so here we go! I always cook this in a crockpot on high for about 5 hrs depending on how easily you can shred it or how "stringy" you like it. Anyways I imagine you would want to cook the pork in the oven anywhere from 275-325 F. Low and slowish. 

Get your pork out of the package and give it a rinse incase of bone bits. Then you want to score the fat using a cross hatch pattern on the top. I do mine about an inch apart.

Sorry it's not the best picture but it is what it is. 

DISCLAUMER!  I really like liquid smoke and salt on my food so the entire tablespoon of liquid smoke is usually meant for a 6 lb roast. Same with the amount of salt.


Now you want about 1 Tbsp of liquid smoke. Again this recipe is all about preference so if you want more or less liquid smoke go ahead and add it on. Especially if you get a larger roast. 

Now we get our friend salt. This is the best thing about this recipe is how customizable this it is. You need about a 1.5 Tblsp for this. 

So you can either put the salt on the roast first or the liquid smoke. Doesn't really matter. 

Now we wait. Wait.  Wait....check. Wait. Wait.

Oh hello it's been about 3 hrs! Lets break this up so it cooks quicker. Most other recipes say to take it out of the pot and shred it. I do the shredding in the juices.

This is the first shred. Now you might be worried that there isn't enough moisture in the crockpot. Go ahead and add some boiling water if you want to. I do it.

So now we want to check it about every hour or half hour or so. Continuing to shred it more.

So basically you just keep it going till it reaches a level of shred that is desirable to you. 

So one little thing I'll do sometimes and you may think this is gross but I'll add some vegetable shortening to it. I know I could use fat but most people generally have crisco on hand vs extra fat. I like it at least. 

  Here it is about the level of shredded I like it but you can go more or less. This time I added a bit to much water so it will be in the pot for  a little longer. Or I guess I could just take it out of the pot and leave some water behind.

Well if you have any questions feel free to ask. Also if you have done this recipe your own way at some point you can give me suggestions! Oh and if you would like to see me do a recipe ask for that as well!

Thanks! 

The rejuvenated food blogger. AKA Jess

Jalapeno, bacon and blue cheese burgers!

Yes it's that time again, the time when we dust off the old BBQ, buy some charcoal (or propane for those of you who use it) light up our grills and get cookin!

I'm not a big burger fan, in fact I would probably pick up a Ball Park hot dog before I grabbed a burger, even though I know what is probably in them.

But when I came across these blue cheese jalapeno burgers at a fancy grocery store, I decided that I would make them myself. I came up with this recipe on my own so I will not have any references for you just good advice and amazing burgers!

Ingredients:
2 lbs of ground beef (I like to use a higher fat beef but you can use lean if you like)
(If you want to invest the time you can buy a meat cut of your choice and use a meat grinder.)
6-8 slices (or more) of Mezzetta deli sliced tamed jalapenos (I have a picture down below)
2 oz give or take depending on your taste buds of crumbled blue cheese
3 cloves of garlic minced
1/2 small onion minced
3tsp Worcestershire
salt and pepper to taste
cayenne pepper to taste
3 or more slices of bacon cooked then chopped into a fine crumble
1 large egg
burger buns

Extras if you like:
red onion
lettuce cheddar cheese
pickles
mustard
ketchup
mayo (yeah I'm weird)
tomato

Tools you will need:
A BBQ :-) or if you can't BBQ you can pan fry them
charcoal or propane and starter fluid
spatula
mixing bowl
chef knife
cutting board
saute pan
tongs
aluminum foil or parchment paper
if you like you can buy rubber gloves. I use them when handling the raw meat that way I don't have to fuss around with washing my hands.

First you want to get your bacon cooking. I like to cut mine up before I cook it but you can cook it in whole slices. You want to make sure you get your bacon crispy but not burnt. Take the bacon out of the pan, discard the grease and chop it up into fairly small pieces.

You can go ahead and set the bacon aside and get out the onion, garlic and jalapeno. I want to say that you should get the pieces very small. I minced everything fairly small.

Sorry I don't have a picture of the onions but they were very fine.

Get out the ground beef and put it in a bowl with the bacon, onion, jalapeno, garlic and egg into the bowl. Now you can measure out your salt, pepper and Cayenne to taste and add the Worcestershire sauce.

Sorry my picture is blurry.

Mix these ingredients together well and add the blue cheese.

Now we're ready to make the patty's. So depending on how big you want your burgers you can get about 8 1/4lb burgers or you can do 1/2 lb or 1/3 pounders.

Go ahead and take your desired meat size and for it into a ball. I like to pass the meat back and forth between my hands with a little firmness. Almost like you are passing a baseball between your hands and rotating it. (Not sure if that's a good set up on imagery)

Place the meat on the parchment and flatten them out till they are still in a circle but about 1/4 inch thick or so. I put an indent into the center of the patties so when they cook the don't puff up in the center from shrinking.

Now your grill should be good and hot. You want to be able to keep your hand over the heat for only 4 seconds and it should be hot enough to cook with.

Since all homemade burger are different sizes I would suggest using a meat thermometer and checking the meat for doneness. 160 degrees is how hot you want ground beef to be. If you made your own ground beef you can actually cook it like a steak and can cook them medium or medium rare.

After about 10-15 minutes your burgers should be nice and done and ready to eat!

I'm also sorry for the lack of a picture of a completed burger but they were to good and I was completely caught up in eating them that I forgot.

You can serve a wide variety of things with your burgers here are some ideas:

Pasta salad

Potatoe salad

Macaroni and cheese

Tator tots

French fries

Salad

Chips



Pot Roast delicious!

So I think that pot roast is an American classic. I don't think you can get any closer unless you start talking about breakfast and fast food. But we aren't here to talk about fast food and breakfast, although breakfast is amazing, we are to talk about simple foods made delicious. Thinking back to when I was a kid pot roast wasn't one of my favorites but now that I'm an adult I find that I love it! Especially since I don't have to do anything with it for 4 hours.

What you will need:
about 20 minutes prep
and depending on the size of your roast 3-4 hours cooking

Ingredients:
 3-5lb beef chuck roast, brisket or bottom rump roast. (I used chuck roast and I personally think it's most traditional)
2 small to medium yellow onions
4-6 carrots
1 head of garlic (I'm a garlic feen!)
kosher salt (Regular salt is fine but kosher or sea salt clings better)
fresh ground pepper (Again regular is fine but you get more flavor out of the fresh stuff)
3 cups or so of beef stock
1 cup of red wine (optional)
Fresh herbs you can use rosemar, thyme, sage or oregano, even bay leaves are a good addition. But for my recipe I didn't use any only because I had none of them at home and no car to go and get some.
oil any type will do but if you want to feel healthy you can use olive oil

Optional side dish: These are delicious mashed potatoes!
1 russet potatoe per person you are serving
1/4 cup sour cream
4 TBLS butter
1 clove of garlic chopped
some milk or heavy cream

Tools:
An apron! I have no clue why I have beeen neglecting to put this in my tools list. I have lost many shirts to the ravages that are grease.
A large pot or dutch oven. (I use a dutch oven)
If you are using the dutch oven please don't use metal in the dish.
Wood or plastic spoons
Plastic coated whisk
Tongs
Chef knife
Cutting board(s) use plastic
cheese cloth and twine


Now to get us started!

Preheat your oven to 275. Yes that's right 275. Your roast will be in the oven for a while so it will cook don't worry.

Season your beef with salt (liberally) and pepper on all sides. I go one step further and I cut about six slits into my roast. Then I take about three garlic cloves and cut them in half and push them into the slits. This makes for some really amazing flavor especially when you are cooking it at a low temperature for so long.

Cut your onions in half and your carrots into two inch or so sections. Also take about 6 cloves of garlic and peel them.

Place your dutch oven or pot over medium high heat and let it heat up for a minute or so then add oil so it's hot but not smoking.

Add onion till brown but not burnt on both sides. Remove those and place them on a plate or cutting board.

No add your carrots into the same pot and brown these the same way.

Take the carrots out of the pan once browned place them with the onions.

Now it's time to brown your pot roast. If you need to you can add more oil to the pan. Go ahead and place the meat in the pan be careful though because oil will splatter a bit. Let roast sit for about a minute per side. You will want to brown each side, that's including the skinny sides which you will use your tongs to hold it up. When we brown meats it's called searing and helps keep in all the yummy goodness of the meat flavor.

 

Now that the meat is browned we will remove it from the pan and place it on a plate or cutting board. Add about one cup of your beef stock or red wine into the pot. With your whisk you will want to scrap the bottom of the pan. This is called deglazing and it will help get all the stuff stuck to the bottom of the pan into the broth.

After you do this you will return the roast to the pot and add enough broth till it reaches the midway point of the pot roast. Return the the onions and carrots to the pot and add the garlic cloves.

Now if you opted for fresh herbs this is where the cheese cloth and twine or string come in. Make about a 8X8 square of the cheese cloth and about 3 layers thick and lay it down on the counter. Take your whole herbs and place them in the middle. Grab all the corners and bunch them up in the middle. Now take your twine and tie it up. I recommend doing it this way then you don't have to worry about big pieces of spice floating in your dish.

Now you can go ahead cover it and place it in your oven. If you got a small roast say a 2.5 lb - 3 lb you will cook it for about 3 hours. If you have a 4 lb - 5 lb roast you will cook it for about 4 hours or until the meat falls apart.

Please note that during your cooking time your house will fill with delicious aromas that may cause spiratic eating. I will not be held responsible ;-P.

Now that you've waited diligently you sould have some amazingly soft carrots and onions and a pot roast to die for!

My pot roast was perfect for two people plus one left over meal. I hope you like it!

Bet you thought I forgot about the mashed potatoes didn't you?

Get a large pot, fill it with water and put it on the stove to boil. Salt it liberally.

Cut your potatoes into large but fairly even chunks and you can do this with or without peel.

Place them in the boiling water for about 20 minutes or untill they stab easily with a fork.

Meanwhile you can do prep work. Go ahead and peel and finely chop your garlic up. Set it aside. (Oh I have a trick for you. Can't stand the lingering smell of garlic on your fingers? Is your sink stainless steel? Rub your hands on your sink and it will remove the smell. You can do this with anything stainless. Or you can use gloves like me.)

Measure out your sour cream, butter and have about 1/4 cup milk standing by.

Once the potatoes are stabable strain them and then return them to the pan.

Add your garlic, butter and sour cream. Mix together well either with a fork or a potatoe masher. I used a potatoe masher and a wood spoon.

Then add your milk one tablespoon at a time till you find the right consistency you are looking for. I like mine creamy with small small small chunks. The roommates like big chunks in their potatoes so it's really just a preference.

Well I hope you enjoy everything and you can thank Paula Dean for those lovely mashers!

Baked Rigatoni with Turkey Sausage!

Get ready for cheesy, pasta, fulfilling goodness. With my own personal creation and all it's glory! :-P
This recipe is pretty much my own creation based off of me reading about 100 recipes that were similar. When I was a kid my mom would make this "goulash" recipe. I put quotes around it because now that I'm older I have found out what goulash is and what we had really wasn't that. But this recipe is pretty similar.

What you will need:
I will say you should need about an hour only becase there is a lot of prep work and I want you to have enough time.

1 1lb box of Rigatoni
1 4cup package of mozzarella shreaded
1 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
1 can of olives (I like the medium sized ones) for this you can buy two smaller cans of pre-sliced olives because I go ahead and slice mine right out of the can
1 jar of your favorite pasta sauce
1 19.5 oz package of Sweet Italian Turkey Sausage from Jennie-O
1 small yellow onion (you can use whatever onion you like and whatever size)
4 cloves of garlic
salt

Tools:
13X9 baking dish
1 Large pot
1 medium or large saute pan
a lid for the saute pan
large chef knife
micro planer or fine cheese grater
cutting board
strainer
aluminum foil if you like to line your baking dish

I always stress mise en place. Getting everything ready in advance makes your life so much easier.

Put your pot of water on and flavor with salt.

Place saute pan over medium high heat and let heat up for about a minute then add sausage. Follow the manufacturors instructions on how to cook the sausage through.

Chop onions to quarter inch pieces and dice your garlic. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350.

Add noodles to boiling water. These noodles will cook 8-10 minutes. Mean while keep an eye on your sausage and make sure to turn them so they are lightly brown all over.

Remove sausage from pan and cut into 1/4-1/2 inch pieces.

Wipe the sausage pan clean with paper towels and place back on heat and add olive oil and onions to pan. Cook the onions till slightly translucent and slippery. Add the garlic. Total cook time would be about ten minutes.


All ingredients should be cooked by now. Add the noodles, sausage and sauce to the baking dish. Open olives and strain them. Then add them to the noodle mixture.

Now add about half the mozzarella cheese to the mixture. Blend well. Take the rest of the cheese and the Parmesan and cover the top.

Place mixture uncovered in oven for 30 minutes.

Cheese should be slightly browned and mmmm mmmmm good!

Next time I will make sure to take pictures of the entire process. I forgot to ask my "camera" guy to take photos. Hope you enjoy!

Creamy Chicken & Noodles

I found this recipe via Campbell's website. It's really simple and easy to make but I amped it up by adding a couple of my own ingredients (I can't handle following recipes exactly :-P).

All you really need for this recipe is chicken, noodles, soup, cheese and about 30 minutes.

What you will need:

about 30 minutes
1 10 and 3/4 oz cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup of milk does not matter what fat content
1/8 tsp black pepper (I used 1/4 tsp)
1/3 cup fresh Parmesan cheese grated (I used about a cup)
2 cups cubed cooked chicken or turkey breast meat (you can use more if you like or less)
1/3 of a 12 oz package of egg noodles but I think you could use whatever noodles you would like
one small onion
5 cloves of garlic
garlic salt
black pepper
salt
olive oil
Fresh Button Mushrooms (optional, I was told that it needed mushrooms)
If you decide to add mushrooms I would half them or quarter them then lightly saute in some butter and garlic.

Tools:
large pot to boil noodles and mix ingredients (just have one pot and I recommend non-stick)
cutting board
large kitchen knife
measuring cup and measuring spoons
strainer
a medium saute pan
micro planer or a fine cheese grater
mixing spoon

For this recipe I recommend good mise en place which mean to have everything in it's place and ready to go. In other words have your :
onion diced into quarter inch pieces
dice your garlic
 grate your cheese
 get your pot of water ready on the stove with salt to taste (this is your only opportunity to flavor your noodles)
 and finally dice your chicken into bite sized pieces.

Have your water started for your noodles and put your saute pan on the burner a little higher up than medium. If it's an electric stove, mine is about a six.

Let the pan heat up for about a minute and add about a TBLS of olive oil to cook the chicken in. Lightly season the chicken with the garlic salt and pepper. Your chicken will cook about 5-10 minutes or at least till there is no pink in the middle and the temp is 165.

While your chicken was cooking you should've had time to add your noodles in. Egg noodle's take about 7-8 minutes to cook but check the makers instructions first.

Set your chicken aside in a bowl or plate and wipe the pan out with paper towels. Place the pan back on the heat add about another TBLS or two of olive oil and add chopped onions. Don't add the garlic yet it cooks faster than the onion. You'll want to cook the oinion in the pan till the pieces becoming a little translucent. Not see through but not white like you had originally had them.

Once the onions reach that point add your garlic. If your garlic gets a little brown don't worry it won't change the flavor if you burned it you'll probably want to start over.

Set the onions and garlic aside with the chicken.

Measure out your milk and open your can of soup. Pour your strained noodles in to the pan you cooked them in. Add the chicken and noodles. Pour in milk and soup. Add pepper. Also add the mushrooms if you made them.

After you get those ingredients mixed together well add the cheese. Keep the pot of ingredients over medium heat and cook till hot and bubbling stirring occasionally so as to avoid burning.

And VOILA'! Yummy warm and amazingly filling chicken and noodle. If you want you can make garlic bread from scratch or buy a store brand to go along with it.

Oh and because I wouldn't want to get hit for any copy right stuff and you might like the original recipe here is the link http://www.campbellskitchen.com/RecipeDetail.aspx?recipeId=24414&ref=%2fSearchRecipeTypeResult.aspx%3fRecipeTypeSearchId%3d5%26fMainIngredient%3d355%26RecipeType%3d5%26Cuisine%3d29%26TotalTime%3d%26fbid%3ddgwnfFj3UVt%26page%3d3&fbid=dgwnfFj3UVt

Chicken Stuffing Casserole

I found this recipe from another blog and I modified it and believe that I have made it better.

This is called chicken stuffing casserole. Here is the website that I got it fromhttp://www.quick-and-easy-dinner.com/chicken-and-stuffing.html.

This recipe will take 40 minutes to bake and about 15-20 minutes to prep.

What you will need:

4 chicken breast (you can do more if you want)
2 boxes of stuffing
2 cans of Campbells Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup
1 can of corn
Mozzarella Cheese ( I used the pre-shredded cheese and I use a lot)

You will also need:
13X9 baking dish (I use a glass one)
Cooking spray
Cutting board
Kitchen knife
Mixing spoon

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare the stuffing according to the manufacturors directions

Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces.

Place the chicken in the pre-greased baking dish.

Add the soup and drained can of corn in with the chicken. Thoroughly blend the chicken, soup and corn.

Cover the mixture with the mozzorella cheese.

Then cover with the stuffing.

Bake in oven for 40 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked, stuffing is browned and cheese is melted.

The original recipe said that you should use chicken broth to make the stuffing with. I used water the second time I made it and it was much better. If you use the chicken broth the dish becomes too salty.

I also added an extra box of stuffing and used more cheese.

Everyone liked my modifications I made. I think the next time I make it I will saute some diced onions and add some freshly chopped garlic to it for more flavor.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies!

There's something about cookies that are comforting. You find people who don't like chocolate or peanut butter but you probably would be hard pressed to find someone who didn't like a good cookie. Cookies are one of the most versatile treats out there. You can make anything from snicker doodles, chocolate chip, peanut butter or short bread cookies.

Today I have opted for on of my favorites, chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.

What you will need:

2 Sticks of butter softened to room temperature
1 cup of brown sugar packed down firmly into the measuring cup
1/2 cup of granulated sugar
1 tsp of vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cup of all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda (not powder)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt (optional)
3 cups of Quaker Oats
1 oz package of  chocolate chips (I use milk chocolate but you can use whatever you like)
you can add 1 cup of raisins if you like I left them out.

Equipment:
Oven mitts
large mixing bowl or a free standing
mixer
hand held mixer if you don't have a free standing mixer
spatula
rubber mixing spoon or wood works to (the rubber ones are better for the curve of the bowl)
medium bowl
sifter (optional)
cookie sheets
Non stick cooking spray

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

In the mixing bowl combine the softened butter and both sugars, mix till creamy. This may take a while but it will turn smooth.

Be sure as you are mixing the ingredients you are scraping the side of the bowl to get all the ingredients together.

Add the eggs and vanilla to the sugar mix and blend together well.

Take the dry ingredients and sift them together well. I would suggest using a sifter and the medium mixing bowl. If you don't have a sifter still use the medium mixing bowl and mix the dry together well.

After you have mixed them together pour the flour into the wet ingredients and put the mixer on low. If you mix at to high of a speed then you will have one big mess once the flour explodes everywhere.

Now you are ready to add the Quaker Oats. You can either mix by hand or use the mixer. I used the mixer for two cups of the oats and then mixed the third cup in by hand.

After you mix the oats add the chocolate chips in.

Spray down cookie sheet with the non stick spray. Make rounded one tablespoon size balls of cookie dough and place them on the cookie sheet.

Bake the cookies in the oven for 10-12 minutes. Until golden brown on the edges.

You should get about 4 dozen cookies out of this recipe depending on the size of your cookies. At the end you will have a nice big pile of delicious amazing chocolate chip oatmeal cookies! Enjoy and make sure you have tons of milk!