Grilled Pork Chops

 

Grilled Pork Chops

1/2 cup water

1/3 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup vegetable oil 

3 Tbsp lemon pepper seasoning

2 tsp minced garlic

6 boneless pork loin chops, trimmed of fat

Mix water, soy sauce, oil, lemon pepper and garlic in a deep bowl. Add pork chops and marinate in fridge for at least 2 hours. 

Preheat the grill to medium-high heat and lightly oil the grate. 

Remove pork chops from marinade and shake off excess. Discard remaining marinade. 

Cook pork chops on the preheated grill until no longer in center, 5-6 mins each side, to an internal temp of 145°. 

Pork Arepas with Sweet Potato Chips

You guys!! This was so good. And if nothing else then just make the sweet potato chips because those were yummy by themselves. It looks like a lot of work, but it is worth it!
Also this is pork carnitas. I have a recipe up for pork carnitas, but used a different one for the arepas. I like this one for the arepas and the other one for street tacos. But you can try it for yourself and see what you like.

There are 4-5 things you have to make. Sounds like a lot but totally worth it. They are 1. The Arepa 2. The Pork 3. The Avocado Sauce 4. Sweet Potato Chips 5. Pickled Onions

Done early in the day.

Pork: Slow Cooker  (This is a lot of meat so you could probably half the recipe and be good)
4-5 lbs pork shoulder
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 Tbsp Salt
1 tsp Cumin
1 tsp Chili Powder
1 tsp Black Pepper
1 tsp Oregano
1/4 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper
2 limes, juiced
1/2 C Orange Juice
1 C Chicken Broth
1/2 C Salsa

Combine the salt, cumin, chili powder, black pepper, oregano, cinnamon, and cayenne. Rub the seasonings onto the pork. Put pork in slow cooker. Sprinkle the garlic on top. Add the lime juice, orange juice, chicken broth, and salsa. Cover and cook for 8 hours on low. Shred meat with fork. You can broil the pork after it is shredded to get the crispy pieces, but I always forget.

Pickled Onions  (We ate these without the onions and they were still good, but would have been awesome with them)
1 medium red onion, thinly sliced (I used a mandolin and it was awesome!)
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons Kosher salt

Combine vinegar, water, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk together until sugar and salt is fully dissolved. Place onion in a jar or bowl. Pour vinegar mixture over onions and let them sit. The longer they sit the better. Best if they sit for a day before eating them.

Make the arepas and prepare the sweet potatoes because you can fry them together. Then make the sauces as everything cooks.
Arepas
3 C white corn flour (Masa Harina or any brand of corn flour really)
3 1/4 C warm water
1 tsp salt
Oil

Pour warm water in a bowl and stir in the salt. Mix till dissolved. Add the flour. Knead the mixture. It will be very soft. Make sure there are not any lumps. Let the dough sit for 3-5 minutes. Add oil about 1/4 inch to a skillet and heat. Divide the dough into 8-12 pieces. Roll the piece into a ball and then pat them down into discs with your hand. Press your thumbs around the outside of the disc to form an edge. Put arepas in the oil to cook. Let them get golden brown on each side so it is basically cooked through. Pull them out when they have a dry fried exterior.

Sweet Potato Chips
2 Sweet Potatoes, Thinly sliced
Salt
Oil

Peel the sweet potatoes. Chop off the little ends and then thinly slice the potato. Fry the sweet potatoes in the oil. Let them get crispy. Add some salt when you pull them out of the oil.

Avocado Sauce 
1 avocado
1 C packed Cilantro leaves
1 jalapeno, ribs and seeds moved (I only used part of one)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lime, juiced
1/2 C water
1/2 C Olive oil
1 tsp Salt
1/2 C pistachios

Pulse all ingredients except the pistachios in the food processor until incorporated. Then add the pistachios and blend until smooth or little small chunks.

Assembly:

Cut the arepas in half and open. Add the pork, sweet potato chips, and onions. Spread the avocado sauce on the top half of the arepa. Put the two halves together and eat! So yummy!!

Chili Verde-Nate’s recipe

Chile Verde

3 pounds boneless pork butt roast, trimmer and cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 pounds tomatillos, husked
1 pound Anaheim chiles, stemmed, halved lengthwise and seeded
3 jalapeño chiles
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomoates
1 Tablespoon canola oil
2 onions, finely chopped
8 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tablespoon cumin
1/4 cup flour
4 cups chicken broth

In a 5 quart Dutch oven combine pork, water and salt. Cover and cook over medium heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover, increase to medium-high heat and continue cooking, stirring frequently, until all the liquid evaporates and the pork starts to brown. Tranfer pork to a bowl and set aside. Do not clean out Dutch oven. It will be used later.

While pork is cooking, line 2 cooking sheets with foil and spray with cooking oil. Arrange jalapeños and Anaheim peppers, cut side down, on one sheet. (They fit best if placed head to toe.) Place husked tomatillos on the other cooking sheet. Adjust top oven rack to 6 inches below broiler and bottom rack to the lowest position. Broil peppers on the top rack until the skin blackens and are soft, 15 to 20 mins. Rotate the sheet and flip over jalapeños half way through cooking. Put the Anaheim peppers in a ziplock bag and seal. Let them cool for 5 minutes. Broil tomatillos on the top rack until they blacken a little and become soft and begin to burst, about 15 mins. Watch chiles and tomatillos closely so you don’t burn them.

Heat oven to 325 degrees.

Remove the skins of the Anaheim peppers. Chop half of the peppers into 1/2-inch pieces and put in a large bowl. In a food processor, process remaining Anaheim peppers and all of the tomatillos u til smooth. Add those to your bowl of chopped peppers. Add tomatoes and their juice to the food processor and pulse 4 times until coarsely ground.

Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium heat. Cook onions until lightly browned, 6 minutes. Stir in garlic and cumin and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute. Slowly add broth, bowl of peppers, tomatoes and pork into the Dutch oven. Make sure to scrape up any browned bit from the bottom of the pan. Bring to a simmer. Cover Dutch oven and place in oven, on lower rack. Cook for 1 to 1 1/4 hours until pork is tender.

Once chili is done cooking, stem and seed jalapeños. (You can reserve the seeds if you want more heat.) Finely chop jalapeños and stir into chili. Season with salt and cayenne pepper to taste.

We like to serve the chili burrito style with rice and black beans on a flour tortilla.

**The chiles can be roasted and refrigerated up to 24 hours in advance**

Sheet Pan Veggies and Sausage

This is very simple and you can add and take away whatever you want really.

10-12 Baby Carrots
2 Red Potatoes
1 Zucchini
1 Yellow Squash
2 Bell Pepper, any color
1 Head of Broccoli
1/2 Onion
16 oz Smoked Sausage (I always use Eckrich) precooked

1/2 Tbs Dried Basil
1/2 Tbs Dried Oregano
1/2 Tbs Dried Parsley
1/2 Tbs Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp Paprika
Salt & Pepper
1/3 C Parmesan
3-4 Tbs Olive Oil


Preheat oven to 400. Line sheet pan with tin foil.
Prep the veggies by cutting them into small pieces so they all cook evenly. Slice the carrots in half. Chop the potato into bite size pieces. Chop zucchini and squash into bite pieces or slice thinly. Slice pepper and onion into medium pieces. Separate broccoli into small pieces, Place all veggies on pan.
Slice sausage into thick coins. Add them to the pan.
In a small bowl combine all spices and the oil. Amount of oil depends on how many veggies you have. Add salt and pepper. Stir it all together. Pour oil mixture over veggies and sausage. Mix it so it evenly coats everything on the pan. Put in oven for 15 minutes. Remove and toss veggie mixture. Put back in the oven for 10 more minutes or until all veggies are tender. Top with parmesan cheese.

Pork Carnitas

The longer this cooks the more tender the meat gets. It is delicious! We love eating street taco pork carnitas.


2 1/2 lbs pork shoulder (or pork butt)
1 Tbs lime juice
2 tsp coarse sea salt
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
garlic salt

Cut the pork into smaller chunks and remove any excess fat. Place pork in the crock pot. Add the rest of the ingredients minus garlic salt together in a bowl then coat the meat with the spices. Cover and cook on high for 4 hours. When tender, shred the meat. Salt the pork with garlic salt as desired. Serve pork carnitas on corn tortillas with any toppings. We eat it with onions, cilantro, lime juice, and guacamole.

Country Style Pork Ribs

4 pounds boneless country-style pork ribs
1 Tbs Steak Seasoning
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp Seasoned salt
1/2 tsp Chili powder
1 1/2 C BBQ Sauce
1/4 C Water

Combine the steak seasoning, garlic salt,  and chili powder together. Spray the bottom of the crock pot and put half of the ribs in. Rub the ribs with half of the seasoning mixture. Then lay the rest of the ribs on top of the other ribs. Rub the top layer with seasoning mixture. Pour the water into the side of the crock pot so you do not wash off any of the seasoning. Cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8 hours.
When the ribs are done, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet and put the ribs on the sheet. Drizzle the BBQ sauce over the ribs. Put pan into oven for 10 minutes or until the sauce is hot and sticky. 

Pork Egg Rolls

Just made this for dinner with Pad Thai. It was delicious and pretty easy. I buy a brand of egg roll wrappers from Smith's that I am absolutely in love with!

1/2 a head of green cabbage shredded (about 3 cups)
1/2 C carrot shredded
1 clove Garlic chopped (About 1 Tbs of chopped garlic)
1/2 C Green Onions (Green part of the onion is advised)
1/2-1 lb Ground Pork (I used the whole pound and it was delicious! Original recipe only calls for 1/2)
2 Tbs Soy Sauce mixed with 1 Tbs Water
Salt & Pepper to tastse
Oil for frying
1 package of egg roll or wonton wrappers


Chop up the cabbage, onion, and carrot and put in a bowl together. Cook the pork in a skillet on medium-high heat. Break up large pieces and cook through until it is thoroughly cooked. Drain excess grease. Add a dash of salt and pepper. Remove meat from skillet and set aside.
In the same skillet, add a tablespoon of oil and add in the garlic. Then add in the cabbage, onion, and carrot. Saute the veggies for 5-7 minutes or until they are softened. Add the pork back to the skillet. Then add the soy sauce and water mixture to the skillet. Mix all ingredient together.
Remove from heat and let cool to begin filling the wrappers.

Lay an egg roll wrapper out in a diamond shape with the point toward you. Add 2-3 Tablespoons of filling to the lower center part of the wrapper. Then roll up the point over the filling. Fold in the sides tightly and continue rolling until you get to the top point. Rub the top point of the wrapper with water to seal it to itself. Pull egg rolls in heated oil. Cook for a few minutes or until the wrappers are hard. I held the egg rolls up over the oil and let them drip off before putting them on a plate covered with a paper towel. Eat with sweet and sour sauce (On the blog and super simple)

Slow Cooker Pork Chops

I seem to always make the same pork chops over and over again. I found this recipe and was pretty impressed. We ate them over mashed potatoes.

4 Pork Chops
3/4 tsp Poultry Seasoning
1/2 tsp Salt
2 Tbs Butter
1 1/2 C Chicken or Beef Broth
1 Medium Onion, Chopped
3 Cloves Garlic, Minced

In a bowl melt the butter. Then add the broth, poultry seasoning, and salt. Pour mixture into the slow cooker. Add onions and garlic. Then place the pork chops in the slow cooker.
Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours.
We served ours with mashed potatoes or you can do veggies.

Bacon Wrapped Chicken

I usually do 2 chicken breasts and cut the breast in half then flatten them. Then it makes 4 total. If you want more, the original recipe calls for 4 chicken breasts, so I assume the inside mixture would be enough.
ALSO, I like my bacon not chewy. So before I wrap the bacon around the chicken, I usually cook it in the microwave a little bit so it is a little cooked before I wrap it and bake it.

2-4 Chicken Breasts
4-8 Pieces of Bacon
8 oz. Cream Cheese (softened)
2 Green Onions
Salt/Pepper
Garlic Powder


Preheat oven to 350. Mix the cream cheese, green onions, garlic powder, and salt/pepper together. Use a meat tenderizer to flatten the chicken breasts. (This is where I cut my chicken breasts in half, then flatten them.) Put a big dollop of the cream cheese mixture in the middle of the chicken breast. Roll the chicken up. (If you like crispier bacon, microwave the pieces of bacon to your liking.) Place two pieces of bacon criss-crossed under the rolled chicken. Wrap the bacon around the chicken (almost in an X) and secure it with toothpicks. Repeat with all the chicken breasts. Put in a 9x13 pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

Stuffed Green Peppers with Sausage

1 C Rice

4 large green bell peppers

1 large onion, diced

2 tsp.  olive oil

1 (16 oz) Sausage (I usually use Jimmy Dean's Sage or regular sausage.)

1/2 tsp. Oregano

1/2 C Parmesan Cheese

Salt and Pepper to taste

1/4 C Grated Mozzarella Cheese

Cook rice according to package. Preheat oven to 375.

Trim the bottom of the bell peppers so they can sit flat in a pan. Cut off the tops and remove the seeds. (You can chop up the excess pepper from the top if desired. Put it with the onions.)Place hallowed peppers in a baking dish that has been sprayed with non-stick spray.

Heat 2 tsp oil in a large skillet. Add onions and diced peppers. Let cook until softened, about 3-4 minutes. Remove onions and peppers and set aside. Add sausage to the skillet. Cook fully until lightly browned. Put the onion mixture back into the skillet with the sausage. Then add the spices. Let cook for 2-3 minutes. Next add the rice and parmesan cheese. Add your salt and pepper to taste. Cook so the mixture is warm. Stuff the peppers with the mixture. Tightly pack the mixture in the pepper with the back of your spoon. If you have extra filling put it in the dish around the peppers.

Bake peppers for 30 minutes. Remove and add mozzarella on top of the peppers. Put them back in the oven for about 10-15 minutes or until the cheese is melted. 

*You can cook the peppers before stuffing them so they are softer. It is totally a preference thing.*

Red Beans and Rice

This is true southern food and was a HUGE hit at Brielle's baby blessing. Even those from the south or who have visited the south thought it was amazing. :) Also, we calculated it and it cost 45 cents a person to serve this. Such a cheap food, filling, and delicious! We quadrupled the recipe and it fed 95 people. The original recipe says this is for 8 portions.

INGREDIENTS

1 Tbsp vegetable oil
12 ounces Andouille sausage, sliced or cubed (If in the south, we like Savoie's and use 3 links)
1 C finely diced onion
3/4 C finely diced celery
3/4 C finely diced green peppers
4 cloves minced garlic
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 smoked ham hock (you can find at your grocery store)
2 bay leaves
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, or to taste (our always came out so spicy so I only use a dash now)
2 quarts chicken broth or water, plus more as needed to adjust consistency (I did water and added bouillon)
1 pound red kidney beans, soaked overnight
About 2 tsp kosher salt or to taste
hot sauce to taste (I have yet to try adding this ingredient)

INSTRUCTIONS

Watch his YouTube video for instructions.

You can find the original recipe HERE.

Spinach Tomato Tortellini with Sausage

My boys love this tortellini. And it is so quick and easy to make. Refrigerated tortellini can be found in the refrigerated section. Usually it is by the lunch meats and cheese. You can substitute dry tortellini pasta. I prefer the taste and texture of fresh tortellini.

Spinach Tomato Tortellini with Sausage

20 oz refrigerated tortellini pasta

1/2 medium onion, diced

1 lb ground sausage

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 (14.5 oz) can petite diced tomatoes

2 cups spinach, chopped

1 tsp. basil

1/2 tsp. oregano

1/4 tsp. thyme

1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

Salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 Tbsp. Flour

Cook tortellini according to package directions.

While tortellini is cooking, heat a large skillet and cook sausage and onion. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds, until fragrant. Add tomatoes, spinach, and spices. Cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until spinach begins to wilt.

In a small bowl whisk heavy cream and flour together until smooth. Stir cream mixture into sausage and tomato mixture. Add parmesan and cook another 4-5 minutes, until thickened. Add drained tortellini and toss gently. 

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Damn Delicious 

Chinese Spring Rolls/Egg Rolls

Several years ago, 5 years to be exact, we had some friends invite us over for dinner. They made egg rolls. They were delicious and really easy to make. They were made with a pound of ground turkey, a bag of coleslaw mix and soy sauce wrapped in egg roll wrappers that can be found in the vegetarian section of the grocery store. We made them on a regular basis.

So when I came across this recipe on how to make Chinese Spring Rolls and they looked like the ones you get in Chinese restaurants, and looked pretty easy to make. I had to give them a try. Her other post for chicken spring rolls gives a much more detailed description on how to make them. I followed the pork recipe, and will be trying the chicken recipe next time. They are WAY better than my old recipe. I only got 20 rolls. But I only used 3/4 pounds of pork and maybe not as much cabbage as I should have, so that could be part of it. They can be eaten as a main course or served as an appetizer.

I found the Spring Roll Shells at Southeast Market, on 422 E. 900 S. (Near Liberty Park,) in Salt Lake City. They have all sorts of Asian items, and for much cheaper than what you can find in the regular grocery store. I bought rice noodles for pad thai for $1.99 and at Fresh Market they were $5.99 for half as many noodles. Their garlic chili paste, Siracha, sesame oil, fish sauce, coconut milk, massaman curry, and much more, are way cheaper too.

Since I had 5 wraps left over I filled them with cream cheese and raspberry jam and fried them up for dessert. They were amazing! The only thing is that the jam is too wet and immediately started leaking through the wrap. So they will have to be fried immediately.

Pork Spring Rolls

Chicken Spring Rolls

Turkey Spring Rolls

25 Spring/Egg Roll Wrappers, defrosted unopened at room temperature for 45 minutes or in the refrigerator overnight
1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with ¼ cup of cool water to seal egg roll
Cooking oil, for frying
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 pound ground turkey
½ head of cabbage (about 11 ounces)
6 fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems discarded
1 cup julienned carrots
2 cloves garlic, very finely minced
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine (or dry sherry)
1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
Freshly ground black pepper

1. To make the filling, in a bowl, mix together the soy sauce, cornstarch and turkey. Marinate at least 10 minutes. In the meantime, shred the cabbage and the carrots using your food processor or by hand. Slice the mushrooms into very thin strips (or you could use your food processor and pulse a few times to get a fine dice.
2. Heat a wok or large saute pan over high heat. Add the cooking oil and swirl to coat. Add the marinated turkey and stir-fry until no longer pink, about 2-3 minutes. Turn heat to medium-low, push the meat to one side of the pan. Add the garlic, cabbage, carrots, ginger and the mushrooms and stir-fry for 1 minute, until the vegetables are softened. Add the rice wine, soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil and black pepper. Continue to stir-fry for another minute. Scoop out the filling to a baking sheet and spread out to cool. Prop up one end of the baking sheet so that it tilts and will allow all the moisture to drain to one end. Let cool for 15 minutes.
3. Discard all of the accumulated juices. Use paper towels to blot the filling to rid of extra oil or juice..
4. Use 2 heaping tablespoon of filling for each egg roll
5. Keep the rolled egg rolls in neat, single layer and covered with plastic wrap to prevent drying. If you want to stack the egg rolls, make sure you have layer of parchment paper in between the layers to prevent sticking. Keep wrappers also covered with plastic wrap to prevent drying. Refrigerate up to 4 hours until ready to fry or freeze.
6. To fry the egg rolls, fill a wok or pot with 2 inches of high-heat cooking oil. Heat the oil to 350°F or until a cube of bread will fry to golden brown within 10 seconds. Gently slide in or lower the egg rolls, frying 4 to 6 at a time, turning occasionally until golden brown about 1½ minutes. Place on wire rack to drain and cool.
7. NOTE: To fry frozen egg rolls, do not defrost the egg rolls – just add them to the oil frozen, frying 4 to 6 at a time. Add an additional 1½ minutes to the frying time since they are frozen.

 

Pork Chops with stuffing

This is a recipe I grew up eating. My husband always asks for this recipe when I tell him we will be having pork chops for dinner.

Pork Chops with stuffing

4 pork chops
3 c. Bread, broken into crumbs
2 Tbsp. Butter
1/2 tsp. sage
1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning
2 Tbsp. Onion, chopped
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/3 c. Water

Brown pork chops in frying pan, all sides. Put pork in a casserole dish. Break bread on top of the pork chops. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over top of pork and bread. Mix a little, so the bread crumbs are moist. Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees. (If using thin cut pork chops, reduce cooking time.)

Spicy Pepper Penne

I got this recipe from my friend, Kadee. It is ridiculous easy to make and the best part, it is all done in one pan!

Spicy Penne Pasta

1 lb hot Italian sausage
16 oz penne or tube pasta
1/8 tsp. Rosemary
1/2 c peperoncini
1jar (7 oz.) roaster red peppers, drained and chopped (or you can use fresh peppers)
3 1/2 c. water
1/2 c. Heavy cream
1/2 c. Parmesan

In a large skillet, cook sausage. Drain. Layer pasta, rosemary and red peppers on top of  sausage. Add water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 12 minutes, or until pasta is tender. Add cream and Parmesan, toss to coat.

Smothered Sweet Pork Burritos

This recipe is amazing! I have tried several Cafe Rio sweet pork recipes and they are all overly sweet and taste mostly like coke and brown sugar to me. This recipe is the closest recipe I have found to the true Cafe Rio pork. I ate a ton of pork before it even made it to the burritos. The burritos are just as delicious.

The recipe can be found at Mel's Kitchen Cafe.

Korean Pork Tacos with Slaw

My husband likes to look over my shoulder as I am perusing Pinterest at night. He happened to see this recipe as I was pinning it. He served his mission in Korean and got super excited when he saw there was a recipe for Korean BBQ. He has talked about Korean BBQ many times before. I have thought about making Korean BBQ for him. I just don't know what would be a good recipe. I had pinned this recipe because I wanted to finally try and make it. My husband said it does not taste like Korean BBQ, but could not describe to me what Korean BBQ tasted like. But none the less, even though it did not taste like Korean BBQ, it was still delicious!

Shredded Korean Pork Tacos with Slaw

3-4 pound pork roast (the original recipe calls for beef, and you could use that as well)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 head garlic, peel (approximately 10 cloves)
1/2 onion, diced
1 inch fresh ginger, peeled and grated
2 Tablespoons seasoned rice wine vinegar (if you only have plain rice vinegar like me, use 2 Tablespoons rice vinegar and add 1 Tablespoon sugar and 3/4 teaspoon salt)
1 Tablespoon sesame oil
1 whole jalapeno, seeded and de-veined, diced

Place all of the ingredients in a slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours, or until meat can be easily shredded.

Right before serving, make the coleslaw.

Slaw

1 bag shredded coleslaw
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
2 Tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar (again add sugar and salt if using plain rice vinegar)
salt and pepper to taste

Toss together and serve immediately. Coleslaw will become wilty if you make it too early.

Serve on soft flour or corn tortillas with slaw. You can also add white or brown rice if you would like. I forgot about the rice, so we ate it just with the pork and slaw and it was yummy!

BBQ Pork Burgers

This is more of an idea, rather than an actual recipe. We have been spending a lot of time outside enjoying the nice weather lately. So have our neighbors. One of our neighbors was grilling one night. He was telling us that they were making BBQ pork burgers. We were intrigued. We don't eat ground beef. We rarely have turkey burgers because I always feel like they lack real flavor. I asked him about his BBQ pork burgers. He told me he just mixes BBQ sauce with his ground pork and slaps them down on the grill. He puts foil down first, just in case the burger falls apart. Which it will if you add too much BBQ sauce.

The other night I decided to make these BBQ pork burgers. I changed it up a little bit because I had some ground turkey that I needed to use up as well. So I mixed together the ground turkey and ground pork. I added some sauted red onion and then the BBQ sauce. They turned out delicious!

Since there isn't an actual recipe, here are some tips and the measurements I used.

I used approximately 1 pound of ground turkey and 3/4 pound of ground pork.
I added half a red onion that I had sauted in a little bit of olive oil. You could add the onion raw, but my husband hates onions unless they are fully cooked.
I added about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of BBQ sauce. Any kind of BBQ sauce will work.
Mix it all together well with your hands and form into patties. I separated my patties with wax paper to make it easy to pick them up and get them on the grill.
Use foil on the grill if you are afraid that your mixture is too wet and might fall apart. I could have done fine without using the wax paper, but it did make clean up really easy.
Add cheese just before removing from the grill and allow it to melt.
Serve on hamburger buns with BBQ sauce, (or ketchup and mustard), sliced onions, tomatoes and lettuce.

Enjoy!

Cajun Red Beans and Rice

This recipe has become one of our favorite dinners. The thing that makes this dish amazing in my opinion is the homemade buttermilk ranch dressing.

Cajun Red Beans and Rice

1 pound hot Italian sausage
1 cup chopped onion
2 (15.5 oz) cans red beans, drained
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
1 diced green bell pepper
1 diced yellow or red bell pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon thyme
1 tablespoon sherry
6 cups cooked rice
1/3 cup sliced green onions, for garnish (optional)
homemade buttermilk ranch dressing*

In a large skillet, brown sausage and onions; drain. Stir in beans, tomato sauce, bell peppers, garlic, oregano and thyme. Reduce heat to low; simmer 15 minutes. Stir occasionally. Stir in sherry during the last 5 minutes. Serve over rice. Garnish with green onions. Serve with homemade buttermilk ranch dressing.

*I use Hidden Valley Buttermilk Ranch Dressing mix and follow the dressing recipe that calls for mayo and buttermilk.

Enjoy!

Spicy Pulled Pork Tacos with Black Bean and Avocado Salsa

This recipe I got from The Pioneer Woman. She has some really good recipes. They aren't always the most healthy, but they are good! I took her Spicy Shredded Pork recipe and made a few minor adjustments. (I more or less added topping and made it into legit tacos.)

Spicy Pulled Pork Tacos

5 pound pork shoulder or pork butt
1 whole onion, cut into quarters
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon chipotle powder
1/2 cup brown sugar
4 garlic cloves, peeled
1 teaspoon oregano
2 teaspoons cumin
1-2 tablespoons salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar (I use apple cider vinegar since I don't have white wine vinegar)
8" flour or corn tortillas
black bean and avocado salsa (recipe to follow)
sour cream
rice
grated cheese

In a food processor, combine onion, chili powder, chipotle, sugar, garlic, oregano, cumin, salt, pepper, olive oil and vinegar. Pule until totally combined.

Place pork in a slow cooker and pour mixture over top. Rub mixture into pork, both sides. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4-6 hours. Shred meat and return to slow cooker with the juices. Keep warm.

Serve pork on tortillas with sour cream, cheese, rice and black bean and avocado salsa.

Black Bean and Avocado Salsa

6 Roma tomatoes, diced
2-3 avocados, diced
1 can white sweet corn (save drained juice and set aside)
1 (16 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
2-3 green onions, chopped

Mix all of the above ingredients together. Save juice from corn for dressing.

Dressing:
1 dry package Good Seasons Italian salad dressing mix
1/4 cup saved corn juice (add additional water if needed to make 1/4 cup)
2 tablespoons oil
1/4 cup white vinegar

Mix all ingredients together and pour over first mixture. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

The salsa is my sister-in-law, Jamie's, recipe. She is where I got all my amazing dessert recipes from that are on my blog. She just has good recipes all around.