Sweet and Spicy Pork Butt Tacos

Taco with shredded pork;
light mexican cheese; hot sauce;
mixed greens; avocado; and  yogurt sauce.

I felt like dusting my crock pot off yesterday.  I have a great cookbook by America's Test Kitchen on slow-cookers.  I recommend it highly.  I decided to use their recipe with some modifications... (Like if I am buying a can of juice, I'll just dump the whole can in.. And also, the store I went to didn't have the dried peppers, so I bought canned - which I'm sure ended up being way easier.)

Ingredients:
Small piece of pork butt.  I used 1.5 pound and I think it was actually shoulder.  There was no visible fat on it. 
1 small can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
1 T cumin
1 tsp cloves
5 cloves garlic
12-oz can pineapple juice
salt and pepper

Directions:
Puree half of adobo peppers and sauce, half can pineapple juice, garlic cloves, cumin, and cloves.  Salt and pepper pork.  Place in crock.  Cover with puree.  Add rest of pineapple juice to crock.  Add more cumin, because you can't really have too much.  Cook on high for 5-7 hours or low for 8-10 hours.  Remove pork to bowl.  Let cool for 10 minutes.  Shred with forks.  Remove fat from liquid left in crock.  Discard.  Add about a cup of remaining liquid to pork.  Taste.  Salt if necessary.

Make tacos.  Save some for lunches.  Put a few portions in freezer bags for later.  When I make tacos I like to whip up a quick mock-sour cream.  Fat-free plain greek yogurt + garlic powder + lime juice + cilantro.  Mix to taste.

So That's What You Do with Kohlrabi

Super delicious.  Thanks to stumbling upon a @HuffPostTaste tweet 'WTF to do when your CSA gives you kohlrabi,' I discovered this recipe in their comments section.  It was simple, delicious, and can be good leftlover... I modified it slightly because recipes that call for half of a lemon seem ridiculous, in my opinion.  Just use the whole dang lemon...

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Serves ~ 4
Ingredients

1 kohlrabi bulb

1 green apple

1 lemon

1/2 C plain fat free greek yogurt

1 T honey

Salt and Pepper

Directions

Zest and juice 1 lemon.  Julienne the green apple, leaving the peel on.  Toss the lemon juice with the apple to keep from browning.  Slice kohlrabi greens off the top.  Cut the rough outside off.  Julienne the interior.  Add the kohlrabi to the bowl.  Add honey and yogurt.  Stir well.  Add a little salt and pepper.  Enjoy!  Best part is the leftovers will be just as good!

*** Update 6/21/13 -  Put 1/4 of this recipe on top of mixed greens with 1 oz pepper jack cheese, 1/4 avocado, and 1 boiled egg and you have the most delicious salad.  Ever.     

When Life Gives You Garlic Scape, Make Pesto

I discovered this pesto recipe last year when the CSA had garlic scape.  I had never heard of it before - but that's the beauty of the CSA.  Forced kitchen experiments.  I woke up Sunday morning, made coffee, and then on a whim decided to whip up this 4 ingredient deliciousness with my immersion blender before heading to Bob and Edith's for breakfast, since I had the ingredients on hand.  And it takes about as long to make as it takes to plug in the blender.

I used it as a cucumber dip today and at somepoint this week will probably use it on whole wheat pasta, with greens and chicken or something.  It is very fresh, lemon-ey, and garlic-ey.

Ingredients:
3 garlic scapes
1 lemon - zest and juice
enough olive oil to taste
enough parm to taste (I keep some in the freezer because I can't eat it fast enough.  Worked perfectly.)

Directions:
Put in immersion blender attachment or in a food processor.  Press the button.  Add more of something if you need to.  Eat however you see fit.

Clean Out the Veggie Drawer Tacos

 Today is CSA pick-up day!  I swear, it's like I get Christmas once a week in the form of a Lancaster Farm Fresh box. But in order to make room in my fridge for this week's delectables, I was having a bit of a backlog and needing to eat to make space.  My own damned fault, really.  I had the audacity to buy veggies in a grocery store.  Even though I am well aware of the fact that my second full time job is preparing and eating the CSA.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoy it.  I have gotten to the point of packing dinners to take to work to eat before happy hours.  Kale > bar food, in case you were wondering.  Anyways, I digress... My tacos:


Ingredients
1 T canola oil
1 summer squash diced
1 bunch asparagus diced
4 scallions diced
1 can black beans
1/2 bunch cilantro
3 small tomatoes
1 mango diced
avocado
2 limes
corn taco shells


Directions
Heat pan to medium heat. Add oil.  Add asparagus, squash, scallions.  Season  well with cumin, garlic  powder, and salt.  While that cooks for a bit dice mango, tomato, and cilantro.  Add rinsed can of black beans.  Cook for a few minutes more, seasoning more if needed.  Turn off heat and add mango, cilantro, and tomato.  Stir well.  Put 3 taco shells on a plate and microwave under a wet paper towel for 30 seconds.  Fill taco shells and top with 1/4 of avocado sliced.

I will be noshing on this all week.  I will probably eat it cold on a salad, cold on taco shells, we'll see.

An Awesome Sandwich with Honeycomb

I'm not even huge on sandwiches.  But man, this was a good sandwich.  An awesome hurried dinner for what became an awesome (somewhat unexpectedly so) evening.  A month ago, I bought some raw honeycomb from the Savannah Bee Company.  I stopped off at Whole Foods on my way home starving and with a desire to use this honey in my dinner - and with only literally like 10 minutes to change, put away groceries, and get out the door eating dinner as I walked.  I love the life I lead.  But my dinner became this.

Ingredients: 
1 cranberry flat sandwich bread thing toasted
4 pieces of uncured salami
small smear of brie like soft cheese slightly stinkier (the $5 cheese not the $12)
1 tsp honey comb
giant handful of mixed greens from the CSA

Directions: 
Assemble.  Devour.

CSA Breakfast Skillet

This was more photogenic in parts before they met the skillet.  But I hadn't had coffee, so I didn't think to take pics.  Use your imagination.  Super delicious start to this long day.

Ingredients:
1 tsp canola oil
1 small potato shredded - I leave the peel on (yukon gold)
1 scallion chopped
1 C spinach, stems removed
1 egg and 1 egg white beaten
1 oz cabot sharp reduced cheddar shredded
garlic powder, salt, hot sauce

Directions:
Heat iron skillet.  Add oil.  Add scallion, spinach, and potato.  Cook.  Add a splash of water if it starts sticking.  Add beaten eggs and cheese and garlic powder and salt.  Flip and cook.  Don't scramble.  Flip.  Done when eggs aren't runny.  Voila.  Put in bowl and top with hot sauce of choice.  Though Crystal is the best.

Second Attempt:  Same recipe as above but no eggs and I added 2 small diced tomatoes. 

Black-Eyed Pea, Quinoa, Avocado Salad

This is a fresh fun salad when the standard greens are boring you.  It was perfect for this gray, drizzly, not quite warm enough day.  I love salads like this, a whole meal if you want - with beans, grains, and veggies a plenty.  And will be just as good the next day.  I served it over arugula and with a small piece of salmon on the side that needed to be cooked.  I will no doubt be eating it on top of arugula for many more meals this week.

Makes 5 - 1 Cup servings
Ingredients:

Dressing: 
1T Dijon Mustard
Juice of 2 Mandarins
1T canola oil
dash of garlic powder





Salad:
1/2 C raw quinoa cooked to package directions
1 can black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained
1 avocado diced
handful small tomatoes diced or 1 large
1 red bell pepper and 1 yellow bell pepper diced
salt and pepper
arugula


Directions:
Start quinoa on stovetop.  1/2 C quinoa and 1 C water.  While that is simmering - dice all of the things that need dicing.  Toss everything together, letting quinoa cool a bit before adding into salad.