Pork Carnitas (Instant Pot)

*Notes: I used some super cheap pork chops that I got on sale and they were awesome. You could make this in a slow cooker and then just crisp them up at the end the same way.


Pork Carnitas

Source: Pressure Cook Recipes

Ingredients: 

3 ¼ pounds pork shoulder meat, cut into 2–3 inch cubes
1 cup chicken broth

Marinade
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon soy sauce
juice from 1 fresh orange or 3 Tbs orange Juice Concentrate
salt and black pepper


8 – 12 corn tortillas
Salsa (pico de gallo)
1 lime

Directions:
Peel and crush garlic, chop onion, cut pork into cubes. Combine marinade ingredients. Place pork, onions and garlic into the Instant Pot's inner pot and cover with marinade. Let sit for 20 minutes.

Add chicken broth to the inner pot. Close lid and pressure cook:

Pressure Cooking Method: High Pressure for 30 minutes
Pressure Release Method: 15 minutes Natural Release

Release the remaining pressure after 15 minutes and open the lid carefully.

Crisp Pork Shoulder Cubes by transfering the pork shoulder cubes onto a baking tray. Drizzle some of the cooking liquid on to each piece. (The cooking liquid should be mostly fat. If not, mix ¼ cup cooking liquid with 2 tbsp of vegetable oil and drizzle over each piece of pork. The fat & oil will protect the meat from drying out and the surface will crisp faster.)

Place pork shoulder cubes under a broiler or the top rack of a preheated 450°F toaster oven until the surface is crisped. Roughly 8 – 10 minutes.

Flip the pork shoulder cubes, drizzle each piece with more cooking liquid and place in the oven again until the surface is crisped.

If you are serving the Carnitas with corned tortillas, you can heat up the corn tortillas when the pork is browning in the oven.

You can shred the meat with forks or leave them as chunks. Serve hot, on top of tortillas and topped with salsa and lime!

Waffle Bar

David and I are always looking for good meals to make when hosting a large amount of people. Something easy, delicious, relatively inexpensive, and nice. When we were planning to host a large gathering of family of friends to celebrate the birth and the Baby Blessing (similar to a Christening, find more about our faith at www.lds.org) of our third child, we decided to have a brunch before church. After all was said and done we concluded that it had been a huge success and that we should blog the details so that we could remember what we bought and that it was a great idea. So this post is a little different, in that it's not really a recipe for a meal (I mean, we just used pancake mix for the waffles) but rather - it's the details for a waffle bar / family gathering. 

Waffle Bar
Serving about 30-40 people.

Food Supplies:
1/2 bag Pancake Mix (abt 5 lbs) - $6/bag
2- 50 ct bags Banquet Brown-N-Serve Sausages - $5.50/bag
Maple Syrup and Raspberry Syrup (purchased at Maceys) - $6
2 gal Chocolate Milk
24 eggs - $5

Asked people to bring:
Raspberries (topping)
Strawberries (diced, topping)
Strawberries (quartered)
Grapes
Mini Chocolate Chips
Whipped Cream
Orange Juice

Other Supplies:
3 waffle irons
2 electric skillets
Paper cups, plates
Plastic Silverware


Setup/Notes:
We found that 3 waffle irons was the perfect number. We started making waffles about 20 minutes before people started arriving and that was enough to give us a good stack so that waffles were still warm but we didn't have people waiting around for a waffle. We had eggs cooking in one electric skillet and the sausages cooking in another. There were plenty of toppings, with the fruit and the chocolate chips. I am glad that I grabbed the raspberry syrup, because although it was a last minute addition I think it made the whole thing feel nicer. (But I am glad that I didn't get a whole lineup of specialty syrups.)

We thought that this went really well and we'd definitely do it again.

Bacon Chicken

I really couldn't figure out what to call this. It's made in a skillet/on the stovetop so maybe "skillet chicken" (because most chicken I make is baked). It's seasoned with ranch dressing mix, so "ranch chicken"? It's got bacon and cheese. It's also got bacon and cheese, so maybe add to my numerous "chicken bacon ranch" list of recipes? I don't know. I gave up and just called it Bacon Chicken. Because it's got bacon and it's delicious. The end. 

As I said before- I usually bake my chicken and when I bake it, I like reallllly bake it. Basically bake it to death, until it's so dry that it's obviously done, no question about it. Pink chicken scares me a bit. I was throwing this together one night and realized that I didn't actually have time to bake it, so I just stuck it in a skillet on the stove and it was the juciest most delicious chicken I think that I've ever made myself. (I'm not really joking about baking my chicken until it's completely dry.)

Bacon Chicken

Source: The Peaden Kitchen

Ingredients:

8 chicken tenders (or 4 chicken breasts)
4 slices of bacon, cut into small pieces

1 tbsp dry Ranch Dressing Mix
1/2-3/4 cup cheese, shredded

salt and pepper, to taste

Optional additions:

1 tomato, diced
2 green onions, sliced
salt and pepper, optional

Directions:
Fry bacon in a large skillet until crispy. Remove bacon pieces from skillet with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper-towel lined plate. Place chicken in pan, season with salt, pepper and half of ranch seasoning, when first side is browned, flip over to second side. Season with more salt, pepper, and ranch seasoning. Top with cheese and bacon. After chicken has been cooked 2-4 minutes on each side, turn heat to low and let cook until chicken is done and cheese is melted.

(I've been told that this would be delicious topped with tomato and green onions. So next time I'm going to try that, too.) 

Serve immediately.

Mexican Haystacks

I looove this dish. It's got all the flavors that we love, but it's freshened up in a different application. Plus, the addition of the mango on top of the taco meat and rice is so refreshing (don't skip this ingredient - the mango really makes it!) This isn't the prettiest picture because we'd basically eaten all of the food before I remembered that I needed to take a picture so I just added the few remaining things that I had - but we've made this at least 4-5 times and never gotten a picture - so I knew I just needed to take a picture to get it on the blog, because this recipe is a keeper for sure! (We've also made this when guests were over and it was a huge hit.)  

Mexican Haystacks

Source: Adapted from Whole and Free and The Girl Who Ate Everything

Ingredients:

3 cups uncooked rice

1 bunch fresh cilantro

1 lb ground beef
2 TBS taco seasoning (chili powder, onion salt, garlic powder, cumin)

1 onion, chopped
¾ cup water
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened

salt & pepper to taste
2 cups salsa

Toppings: diced mango, diced avocado, black beans, corn, shredded cheese, sour cream, cilantro, salsa

Directions:
Start rice in a rice cooker. In a large skillet, brown ground beef and chopped onion. Add taco seasoning, salt, and pepper. When browned, add salsa and cream cheese. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer until cream cheese is melted. Add a tablespoon of water at a time until desired consistency is reached.  In the meantime, chop the cilantro, avocado, and mango and prepare remaining toppings. When the rice is done, stir in almost all of the fresh cilantro, leaving just enough to garnish each dish. 

Plate with rice on bottom, then meat mixture, then any of the desired toppings. 

{Leftover} Pork Chop Soup

I occasionally find pork chops for a really good price, and when I do I tend to stock up on them. I usually portion them out pretty well - but sometimes we end up with extra pork chops from dinner and I'm not sure what to do with them.  I was really pleased with the way that this soup turned out. 

Leftover Pork Chop Soup

Source: Very loosely based on this soup from the Food Network. Although they cooked their pork chops separately and laid them on top of the soup when it was done and I chopped up my leftover pork chops and added them to the soup. 

Ingredients: 

1-2 leftover pork chops, cubed

3 tablespoons butter or oil
2 carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 onion, chopped
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 can tomato sauce
32 ounces vegetable broth*
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 large potato, skin on, sliced 1/8 inch and then into bite sized pieces**
1/2 tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp dried Italian seasoning

(Notes: *I stock up on chicken broth and almost never have vegetable broth on hand. I know some people might frown on adding chicken broth to a pork dish - but I din't mind, that's what I use for just about everything. **When I made this soup, I also had leftover potatoes from the pork dish that I made. I just chopped those up and added them as well and it turned out perfectly.)

Direction:
In a large pot over medium heat, melt butter/heat oil and saute carrots, celery and onion until softened, about 6 minutes. Add the flour to the vegetables and blend well. Cook the flour until it achieves a slight blonde color. Next, stir in the tomato sauce and allow to slightly cook, about 1 to 2 minutes. Pour in broth while stirring and bring soup to a boil. Reduce heat and add the can of diced tomatoes and the potatoes. Simmer until potatoes are cooked through, about 20 minutes. Add the cubed pork chops to soup and simmer until warmed through.

Dinner Rolls {No Eggs + No Dairy}

I have two nephews (one on my family's side and one on David's family's side) and neither of them can have eggs or dairy, so I'm always on the lookout for "safe" things to make for everyone that they can enjoy as well. No point is making dinner rolls for everyone and then having to have a separate bag of rolls if you can find a recipe that is safe for them to eat, but still delicious for everyone else, too! My friends - these rolls are those rolls. Light, fluffy, delicious, quick to make (one blogger touts them as 1-hour dinner rolls), and quicker to disappear.

Dinner Rolls {No Eggs + No Dairy}

PheMonenon via At Home with Haley and adapted from My Kitchen Cafe

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1 tablespoon instant yeast
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon sea salt
4 cups all-purpose flour, lightly spooned into measuring cup, then leveled off

Directions:
In the bowl of a stand mixer, stir together warm water, yeast, and sugar. Let stand until creamy, about 5 minutes.

To the yeast mixture, add the oil, salt, and 2 cups of the flour - on low speed with the paddle attachment incorporate the flour to create a wet, sticky mixture. Still on low speed, add 1 cup of the remaining flour and incorporate. Switch to the dough hook and add the remaining 1 cup flour. On low speed, mix the dough to incorporate the final addition of flour until the dough has pulled away from the sides of the bowl. Turn the speed to medium and knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl and place the dough in the bowl - turn to coat. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 20 -30 minutes.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gently deflate into a rectangle. Cut it in half vertically, then each half vertically again into thirds so you have 6 equal strips of dough. Cut each strip of dough into fourths by cutting horizontally to make 24 little squares of dough. Take each piece of dough and cup it lightly under the palm of your hand on a clean surface. Press lightly and start rotating and rolling the dough ball quickly so that it forms a nice little ball of dough. (PheMomenon says that once you get some practice, you can do this with both hands at the same time and really speed up the process.)

Place each rolled piece of dough into a lightly greased 9x13 baking pan in rows of 4 about 1/2-inch apart. Cover the rolls in the pan with a lightly greased piece of plastic wrap and let rise to double while your oven is preheating to 400 degrees F (rise about 20 minutes). Bake for 13-15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown. Serve warm and enjoy!

Pot Roast

I didn't get a picture of this (yet) but it was definitely the best pot roast that I've ever made in the history of pot roasts that I've attempted to make - therefore, it must get recorded. 

Pot Roast 

Source: Recipes that Crock

Ingredients:
2-3 lb beef roast
5-6 potatoes, peeled and quartered
3-4 medium baby carrots, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 medium onion, quartered

2 pkgs brown gravy mix
2 c water


Directions:
Spray your crock pot with cooking spray. Rinse roast and brown in a hot frying pan for a couple of minutes on each side to brown. Place roast in crock pot, fat side up. Surround the roast with potatoes, onions and carrots.
Mix together one brown gravy packet with 1 c cold water and pour over the roast and veggies. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours (total). 

An hour before serving, mix together the remaining brown gravy mix and 1 c cold water. Pour over roast and veggies. Cover again for the last hour of cooking.