Category: Pork

Dandelion Greens with Bacon and Fig Balsamic

I received my first vegetable box this morning. I have wanted to start this for a while but the membership fee and costs seemed prohibitive to me. It made sense in the long run, but I didn’t want to deal with wait lists, pick up, etc. My belly dance instructor at the new gym I go to referred me to a place called Timber Creek Organics. I love them because there are no memberships fees, you can adjust your order, and even skip a week. All of it is tailor made for you! I decided to go the cheapest route of a basic vegetable box based on seasonal produce. No fruit these two weeks. I received a gorgeous bulb of fennel,onions, radishes, garlic,tomatoes,red leaf lettuce, cauliflower, and two bunches of dandelion leaves.

The first time I ever had Dandelion leaves was in a salad in the early nineties at the Royalton in NYC with my old roommate from college. I came home on the train with a full blown seasonal allergy attack. When I told my mother what I ate, etc she mocked me for a year because I ate overpriced weeds which I had no business eating with my allergies. She was harsh as only a mother can be.Anyway I haven’t had them since. I think my body could handle a salad, but I wanted something hot. Plus Certain Someone wouldn’t want a salad. I found this informative page and decide to cook them up with some bacon. A spoonful of bacon makes the medicine go down. Is it the most healthiest way? No. But it tastes good and he’ll eat it. I was craving pork chop too. Another food I haven’t had in a long time. Guess I’m fished out! I breaded the chops in a mixture of Parmesan Reggiano cheese. I learned this trick from Marie at Proud Italian Cook. Certain Someone loves it. I use it for chicken and pork.

Dandelion Greens with Bacon and Fig Balsamic

4 strips of bacon cut into cubes

1/2 onion

1 clove of chopped garlic

2 bunches of Dandelion greens washed and cut into pieces

a splash or 2 of Fig Balsamic Vinegar

1 tablespoon of natural sugar

salt and pepper to taste

Brown bacon. Drain fat. Add onion and garlic.Saute until translucent Add dandelion leaves and balsamic, and sugar. Cook until wilted.Salt and pepper to taste.

Good News!

First of all I just want to let you guys know who read this that I appreciate your support especially this past month. I am happy to announce all has turned out well for me and I have been offered a new position in the company that involves International work in Canada and the Caribbean! Same job, just new territories with exciting travel. I can’t tell you how excited I am about this. Technically it’s a lateral move but I feel it’s a promotion and it’s a direction I have always sought to go in. So I can take a deep breath now and get on with it.

To celebrate with a little snack before my Certain Someone comes home with celebratory take out, I made these little tasty snacks. Dates wrapped in bacon. No recipe needed. Just wrap your dates in bacon and secure. Bake on a high temp on a broiler pan to allow the fat to drain. Enjoy.

Sausauge Making Part 2

Not another sausage post! When you find something fun you want to improve on it. Last week or so I attempted sausage making for the first time. Certain Someone loved them and ate them all up. We both agreed however we didn’t care for the collagen casings. Maybe it was my cooking method. But we cut it away. Nevertheless who knew he would devour chicken sausage. I found natural hog casings on the Internet and decided to try them. They came dry packed in salt and I had to soak them for one hour.Natural Hog Casings reminded me of chitterlings( which I guess they are without the lings).
I took approximately 6 pounds of lean stewing beef and pork loin and ran it through the Kitchen Aid food grinder. Certain Someone and I had seen Tina Nordstrom make Swedish meatballs using pork and beef , and figured why not make our sausage this way. I added a leek to the grinder as well.I had made a seasoning in the spice grinder using juniper berries, a dried chipolte chile, mustard seeds, salt, brown sugar,garlic granules, and paprika. Juniper berries are common in marinades and German cooking. Next was the down and dirty part. I rolled up my sleeves to blend in my spices in the meat mixture. I attached my sausage hose and took one of the long hog casings. Amazingly that one casing was enough for all but a little meat! I still had about 11 more casings soaking I didn’t want to waste. They ran about $3.25 but I hate waste!So I figured you could freeze chitterlings, I would freeze the casings and that and re soak for another time.And I still have another dry pack from the order. The hog casing is very thin but durable. I had to use the smaller stuffer, but they expanded to accommodate the meat nicely. If your squeamish about meat and casing which a lot of people are then you may have a problem. I’m all about the process and its great to learn how things we take for granted are made. I feel way better about eating it. These sausages cooked up great. The casings didn’t slip, shrink or break way. They browned nicely. Certain Someone gave his approval. He has his supply for the mans weekend he planed. We are checking out the Boat Show(indoors) in this – 3 degrees weather outside.We can dream about summer days on the lake. And his games tomorrow. All in all it took me about 2 hours to process and cook. But that’s me .

Crock Pot Black Bean Chili

I haven’t been up to much food related this week. Certain Someone is still away on business. He does plan to return this weekend for my Birthday. So I’m happy about that. And then he’ll be grounded here for his third Thanksgiving.
This past Sunday I was seeking some comfort food after a self imposed hibernation. The social offers were plenty, but I’m at a point where I just want to chill in my nest. I have been reading some blogs here and there about warming soups and chili’s. I decided to pull put the old slow cooker and make a chili with slightly nontraditional ingredients. My meat was a a lean pork tenderloin. I had run out of chili, and decided to use my Berbere spice mix I had made up a while ago. This mix has dried chilies,chili powders, cloves, ginger, and the works.I figured it should add a interesting twist. I threw the following in the pot and cooked for 10 hours. I think I ate about two small bowls that night. I figured black beans are rich in anti oxidants, so it cant be all that bad.

Crock Pot Black Bean Chili
pork loin
6 tablespoons Berbere spice mix
6 tablespoons brown sugar
1 can tomato paste
1 cup chicken broth
1 bag pre soaked black beans
bay leaves
1 onion chopped
water
salt
pepper
cayenne pepper

Place all the ingredients in slow cooker . Add water to the halfway level. You may need to add more liquid as the dish cooks.Turn onto the 10 hour setting. At around the 8th hour the meat should start to able to fall apart as you pull it with a fork. Shred the meat and stir . Adjust seasonings to taste. Let continue to cook. Enjoy.