Friday, February 21, 2014

Photo #30



 It just happens that both January 1st and February 1st were wonderful days to hike. I'm going to try to go every first this year. This was February. I hope you enjoy the picture.
-Kristin



Rodney Falls 2-1-14




















Friday, November 29, 2013

Photo #29

Hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving!

Thoughtfully,

Kristin

Friday, November 22, 2013

Photo #28

I missed Thursday's update, so here's your waterfall a day late:



I hope to get a few quick things up this weekend and next week talk abut homemade laundry soap!

Thoughtfully,
Kristin

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Photo #27

Here's a picture from a land far away from here:  Croatia

 I loved my trip to Croatia. If you love waterfalls it is definitely worth a look!



I hope you have a lovely day.

Thoughtfully,
Kristin

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Pork Loin Chronicles Volume 4

Now I will try to show the breakdown of how to make these dishes into a cooking cascade. In these instructions I will be assuming that you have a nearly 10 pound pork loin and want to make the same dishes I did.

Day 1: Take your thawed pork loin and cut it in half. Put one half back into the fridge, covered.  Cut the remaining half in half again. Prepare both halves in the dutch oven and roast.  One roast is served as roast pork today. The other half is sliced and marinated in barbecue sauce and put back in the fridge. Leftover plain roast can be added to the bbq pot if desired.

Day 2: Retrieve the marinating barbequed roast pork. Prepare bbq pork and bake. Take the raw refrigerated half of the pork loin and slice off 1/3 (about a pound and a half). Put the remaining 2/3rds back under cover and refrigerate. Take the pound and a half chunk and slice it into 2 or 3 strips about an inch and a half thick. Make the marinade. Marinade the pork strips in a covered dish or freezer bag. Place it back into the fridge until tomorrow. Enjoy barbeque pork sandwiches today and Chinese barbecue pork tomorrow.

Day 3: Take the marinating pork out of the fridge. Prepare Chinese Barbecue Pork according to the recipe.  While that is baking take the last of the raw pork and cut it into bite sized pieces. Follow the Slow Cooker Pork Green Chili recipe up to the step where it tells you to transfer the meat into the crock pot. Instead let it cool somewhat and return it to the refrigerator. Have Chinese bbq pork today!

Day 4: Finish the Slow Cooker Pork Green Chili recipe where it left off.  This is the biggest meal and it reheats well.

There you have it. Four days of different main dishes all from the same pork loin. The leftovers from these kept us fed for the rest of the week around here.

I hope you have a lovely evening,
Kristin

Monday, November 11, 2013

Pork Loin Chronicles Volume 3

I still had about 3 1/2 pounds of pork loin left.  What do I do with that? My friend Jinger Burton had just posted an amazing slow cooker recipe for Pork Green Chili that she said I could share with you. I tried the recipe on Saturday and my house did smell divine.

Slow Cooker Pork Chile Verde
Ingredients:
3 TB olive oil
1 medium to large onion - chopped
4 cloves garlic - minced
4 pounds boneless pork, trimmed and cut into bite size chunks
½ - 1 tsp EACH: salt, pepper, cumin
1 C tomatillos, husked removed and coarsely chopped
28 oz green enchilada sauce (or for homemade green chile sauce use fresh roasted green chiles that have been peeled, seeded, and pureed with ½ C water, 1 TB vinegar, & salt until smooth)
4 oz can diced green chiles (if using the enchilada sauce)
2 chopped fresh jalapeños (or to taste)
1 small handful chopped cilantro (or to taste)
Heat the oil and sauté onions and garlic until fragrant. Toss pork in a little flour with the salt, pepper, and cumin (adjust spices to your taste) and add to onions and garlic. Cook until the meat is browned on the outside. Transfer pork, onions, and garlic to the slow cooker and stir in all other ingredients.
Cover and cook on high for 3 hours. Reduce to low and cook an additional hour or two. I thickened mine a little bit with a corn starch slurry so it could be eaten easily in a tortilla with black beans and sour cream.
Delicious, and your house will smell absolutely divine.




I made it the quick way with the canned sauce and chilies. I served it without thickening it and added sour cream and black beans to my bowl.  Very good! One of my kids really liked it, too (without beans). My house did indeed smell divine. Thanks, Jinger!

Thoughtfully,
Kristin


Kristin



Sunday, November 10, 2013

Pork Loin Chronicles Volume 2

One of the next things I did with the pork loin was make Chinese Barbecued Pork.
I have meant to try this for a long time. I used a variant on this recipe.

This is how it came out:



It came out more moist than the pork I have eaten in Chinese restaurants, but no one around here thinks that is a bad thing. The kids liked the flavor as much as the restaurant pork. They also liked that the homemade stuff had a more natural color (I omitted the red food coloring that is usually added.)




This one is getting added to our more regular menus. If I fine tune it to suit us I will post my recipe here.

Thoughtfully,
Kristin