Soon to come….

This is what’s been going on at home…I can’t wait to cook again!

That’ll do…

Now that crew has slowed down, I have lots more time in the kitchen! (and a whole lot more energy!) With the start of football season comes lots of comfort food. Chilis, soups, cheesy macaroni, beer….I could go on forever.

Yesterday was my first attempt at cooking a pork shoulder in the crock pot. I love North Carolina BBQ but I know I can’t recreate it. But I think I did a dang good job trying.

This is a great make ahead meal that feeds and army so it’s great for Sunday football parties. I ate three of them yesterday

Easy Crock Pot Pork Shoulder with Coleslaw

7-8 lbs pork shoulder
2 cups of water
2 tsp of cayenne pepper
1 tbs of red pepper flakes
2 tbs of cumin
2 tbs of garlic salt
1/2 cup of water
2-3 tbs of apple cider vinegar

I added the water and the pork strait to the crock pot. I would advise trimming some of the fat before it cooks instead of after. I waited and it seemed a little difficult. Place your shoulder with the water in the crock pot for 12 hours on low or about 6 hours on high.

After it’s done cooking remove the shoulder from the crock pot. Slice/shred/chop the pork, whatever suits your fancy. I don’t have the patience or the forearm muscles to shred it.

Remove the water from the crock pot and add your chopped pork back into it. Add a smidgen of water and 2-3 tbs of apple cider vinegar. You can add more if you like it a little more vinegar-y. Add in your spices and stir. Turn it on low for at least 4 hours. Give it a taste to make sure it is as spicy as you want it.

Coleslaw

This coleslaw is my Mom’s recipe and it’s my favorite. I’ve never had any other coleslaw like it. It’s simple and goes so well with the spicy BBQ or even a sloppy joe.

1/2 – 1 head of green or red cabbage
1 1/2 cups of apple cider vinegar
2 cups of mayo
Salt and pepper
Cold water

Slice the cabbage into thin strips and place in a large bowl. Pour cold water over the cabbage and add your vinegar. Let soak – I let it soak for about 3 hours. I like it to taste really vinegar-y so I could soak it longer. As Mom says, “the longer it soaks, the better it tastes.” Drain it very well. I patted dry a little too. Add the mayo. *note- 2 cups of mayo is for a whole head of lettuce. If you have less, adjust it to your liking. Then add your salt and pepper and refrigerate til you are ready to put it on your pork.

more hours in the day…

That’s what I wish for sometimes. Life right now is hectic, so pardon my infrequent posts. But right now, this is what consumes my life:

That’s me in the stern, doing all the yelling I’m a coxswain for the rowing team here in Richmond and I love it. Been doing it since college and I can’t get enough.

So that’s the reason for why I haven’t been doing my other recent passion: cooking. But stick around, I promise that I’m not going anywhere!

OK, now that’s out I’ll let you know about the fit of productivity I had today. Not only did I get painting done, I made a BANGIN pork chop with Mango Salsa. BANGIN’.

My friend brought over this salsa for a dinner party and we put it on burgers. This salsa can go on anything but I wanted to put it on pork chops first. YUM.

Pork Chops with Mango Salsa

2 ripe mangos, diced

2 tomatoes, diced

1/2 medium onion, diced

4 whole green onions, diced

1 jalapeno, rind and seeds removed, diced

cilantro, finely chopped

Juice from one lemon

Juice from one lime

2 tbs of olive oil

1 tsp of kosher salt

*Look at all the color!!

Combine the mango, tomato, onion, green onion, jalapeno, and cilantro. In an separate bowl combine the lemon and lime juice with the salt and olive oil. Stir to dissolve the salt. Pour over the mango mixture and gently stir. Let sit for at least an hour and serve at room temperature.

Pork Chops

In a small pan, add a little olive oil. Turn the heat on to medium-high. I sprinkled some Cajun seasoning along with some Ancho Chili powder and cumin. I seared the chops on either side for 2 minutes and then put the whole pan in the oven for 20 minutes or so. Top with the mango salsa and YUMMO!

The spices and the sweet salsa go so well together! Who knew!

Spicy Sausage and White Bean Soup

Earlier this week we had a very cold and rainy day and all I could think about was soup. It was a perfect day for soup and some hot rolls. I had originally planned on doing a sausage and bean recipe so I thought I would turn it into a soup. And boy! did it turn out!

This one is spicy, but if you want to make it mild, just replace the hot sausage with mild or sweet.

Spicy Sausage and White Bean Soup

3 tbs of butter or EVOO

1 package of frozen mirepoix (I used a ‘Cajun’ version with green chilis, you can chop up fresh veggies for this too)

2 cans of Cannellini or white beans

1 can of diced tomatoes

2 tsp of garlic powder

1 32 oz carton of beef broth, low sodium

3 hot Italian sausage links (or mild or even turkey sausage if you like), casings removed

3 cups of egg noodles

1 cup of parmesan cheese

cilantro, for garnish

 

In a large dutch oven or stock pot melt the butter and add the mirepoix. I used frozen out of sheer convenience. Cook on medium – high until tender and add your beans and tomatoes. Give it a stir and add half of your beef broth and turn heat to medium. Let the broth simmer. Add garlic.

While the broth is simmering, in a small saute pan add your sausage. Cook the sausage down and chop so that it resembles ground beef. Drain and set aside.

Cook noodles according to directions and drain.

Add the sausage and noodles to the bean and broth mixture along with the rest of the broth. Let simmer for another 15-20 minutes. (If you happen to be using dried beans that you soaked the night before, you will have to let simmer for over an hour or so) Once the beans are good and soft, serve with cheese on top and cilantro for garnish.

Soo good on a cold night!

 

 

 

Buttermilk Chicken

This past week has been a little rough – I’m nursing a cold (again) – and I am trying to stick to cooking and eating in this week. So in that valiant effort I plotted out my meals for the week and looked through all my cookbooks and magazines for some inspiration. I came upon a recipe for Chile Buttermilk Chicken in an old issue of Southern Living – man what a life saver!  I fooled with it a little bit but it sure did the trick. Quick, easy, and yummy!

Creamy Buttermilk Chicken

**in my opinion this recipe does best in a large 12″ pan that is oven safe. Means less dishes too.

3 tbs of butter, cut into thirds

3-4 boneless chicken breasts (but bone in would work too)

1/2 tsp of salt

1/2 tsp of cumin

1 1/2 cups of buttermilk

1/2 cup of flour

1 can of cream of mushroom soup

1 can of chopped green chilis

1 cup of shredded Monterey Jack Cheese

1 can of tomatillo sauce (or salsa verde)

 

Preheat your oven to 425. After trimming the fat from the chicken, sprinkle it with salt and cumin. Dredge them in the flour and then in 1/2 cup of the buttermilk. In your large sauce pan, add the butter and melt. Add your chicken, and sear each side for 2 minutes or so.

In a large bowl mix the rest of your buttermilk, can of chilis and soup. Remove the pan from heat and add the buttermilk mixture. Place the entire pan in the oven and cook until the chicken is cooked through. About15-20 minutes.

Pull out the pan – be careful! It’s hot! – and cover with the salsa verde and then shredded cheese. mmmmm……goooey. yummy…push it back in the oven to melt the cheese. Another 2 minutes or so.

I put it over some steamable rice and veggie mix but it would be sooo much better over brown rice or egg noodles.

Enjoy!

And the winner is…

ALEXIS! “My absolute favorite kitchen gadget is my bamboo steamer. It cooks fresh Veggies and fish perfectly while retaining so much fresh flavor! Plus its super easy to use ” Congrats Alexis! Watch out in your email for an email from teenykitchen!

Thank you thank you thank you to all my readers/friends/family for being so supportive of the blog! I love you all and here’s to many more years!!!

happy blogoversary!!!

*******THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED*******

 

I can’t believe teenykitchen has been blogging for a year! I’m super psyched – and to celebrate I’m doing my very first giveaway!!! I light of the cupcake success I had last week I am giving away the two things that helped me out the most:

Oneida 24-cup Cupcake Carrier

This caddy makes life so much easier if you are bringing your cupcakes to a pot luck or just keeps them fresh and neatly stored until you are ready to devour them! Which in our house isn’t very long!

And a bonus! The winner will also get:

OXO Good Grips Medium Scoop

This scoop is just right for cupcakes! It makes life so much easier AND limits the mess!

OK, here’s how it works:

To enter, leave a comment to this post telling us what your favorite kitchen gadget is. Contest closes Saturday at noon EST to leave your comment. One entry per email address and the winner will be selected using random.org. Prize ships anywhere in the US.

BONUS ENTRY: Like teenykitchen on Facebook and come back here and leave a comment on this post to get an extra entry in the giveaway!

Good luck!!!

Oneida and OXO did not sponsor this giveaway and don’t know anything about me or teenykitchen.

happy valentine’s day!

This post is a two part-er – a yummy restaurant review and DESSERT!

 

Valentine’s Day doesn’t ever work out the way we plan, so this year I just rolled with the punches. The hubby had to work so we went out to dinner to a fabulous wine bar in Carytown over the weekend. Secco had a great atmosphere; laid back and not pretentious. Service was great – we waited less than 10 minutes for a table and the bartenders were warm and welcoming. Great wine – we had the Zamau Priorat – and great food (a little pricey though). It was an absolutely perfect early Valentine’s Day gift from my hubby!

 

(Sorry for the bad pic – learning the camera on my husband’s new phone!)

 

So tonight, while my hubby is off working I tried to distract myself by having a baking marathon!! As you know, I’m not a very experienced baker, but I am trying. And having a blast doing it. Last night I visited one of the most delicious blogs in cyberspace: My Baking Addiction. I chose to make her red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.

Now, you have to understand that this is the first from scratch cake I have ever made. I always used a box so I was slightly intimidated. But I was going for it. Homemade icing and all!

And SUCCESS! The cake was amazing and moist and the frosting was sweet and yummy. Although it took me a while to get the right texture. I’m not quite at skilled at actually icing the cupcakes, but really, it doesn’t matter what it looks like. You just want to EAT IT.

 

After the red velvet, I had to make some cupcakes for the folks at work. So to save time (and another trip to the grocery store) I used a box chocolate cake but made some homemade icing. I have been dying to try the icing on the Cafe Mocha Cupcakes.

Let me tell you – this was the yummiest icing EVER. I can’t wait to make it again! I am actually debating eating every one of them and telling everyone at work I got robbed of my cupcakes.

INSANE it’s so good.

I hope you all had a great Valentine’s Day!!!

 

 

stuffed chicken breasts

I know it’s been a while, guys, but I promise I haven’t forgotten about you!

Last night I wanted to try something a little different and I was inspired by Ursala’s Tried and True’s recipe on Tasty Kitchen for Stuffed Chicken Parmesan.  I’ve been dying to try it since I saw it posted and boy was it worth it! The hubby loved it!

I apologize in advance, I went to take photos and my battery was dead!!!

Stuffed Chicken Breasts, adapted from Ursala Tried and True

2-3 boneless chicken breasts

1/2 package of frozen spinach, thawed, rinsed and drained

2/3 of a block of cream cheese, softened

1 clove of garlic, minced

1/2 cup of shredded parmesan

Sun dried tomato pesto sauce (I used Classico)

Preheat the oven to 375.

In a saucepan add some EVOO and add the spinach. Cook for about 5 minutes or so or medium-high heat. Add your garlic and cook til the garlic is fragrant. Turn down the heat to medium low and add the cream cheese in small chunks. Stir until it is all incorporated well. Turn the heat to low.

Pound down the chicken breasts so they are even and thin. Smear some of the cream cheese mixture on one side of the chicken – not too much though – and roll the chicken breast up. Place in a baking dish. You can use a toothpick to help keep it closed but I just placed it in the dish with the ‘seal’ side down and it stayed closed just fine.

Once you have ‘stuffed’ each one and put them in your dish, coat them with the pesto sauce. You can be generous here – don’t leave any chicken uncovered!

Bake at 375 for 35 minutes. Top with your shredded parmesan cheese. You’re just have to trust me that it looks amazing

Beef with Broccoli and Mushrooms

This week has been one big whirlwind! I started my new job and we are getting out half bath redo under way. It feels like there are not enough hours in the day! I had a hard time planning meals for the week, but we managed to eat in the whole week. Last night I pulled some steak out of the freezer and searched for some inspiration. What turned out was a beef and broccoli that the hubby inhaled. It was quick and simple and I never argue with that.

Beef with Broccoli and Mushrooms adapted from Ree’s Beef with Snow Peas

1 lb of steak cubes or beef stew chunks

½ cup Low Sodium Soy Sauce

2 tbs brown sugar

1 tbs of minced ginger

1 tbs of flour

1-2 small broccoli crowns, sliced

2-3 green onions, roughly chopped

1/2 lb of baby bella mushrooms

pinch of crushed red pepper

In a bowl, mix together soy sauce, brown sugar, flour, and ginger. Add sliced meat to bowl and toss with hands. Set aside.

Heat oil in a large skillet high heat.  Add half the meat mixture, reserving some of the marinade.  Sear the little bits of steak for about 3 minutes before giving them a stir. Add the rest of the marinade.  Add the broccoli, green onion, and red pepper and stir. Cover and let cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes.

Add mushrooms, stir, and cover. Let cook for about 5 more minutes. Give it a stir and you are good to go! I served it with saffron rice because it’s cheap, bright, and I love the stuff!