Oh Yeah! Pork Carnitas

Pork

• 3-4 pounds of boneless pork shoulder (may be called Boston butt) or 4-5lbs of bone-in pork shoulder

Spice rub

Note: This amount of spice works well for the amount of meat we normally use (3-4lbs), but it's a simple ratio so simply scale it for your amount of meat

• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp chile powder
• 1 tsp cumin (freshly toasted and ground if you can--it does make a difference)
• 1 tsp garlic powder

Braising liquid

• 3/4 cup orange juice
• Water to cover (for our pan that's usually about 2 cups)

Technique

1. Heat a dutch oven or other heavy bottomed oven-ready lidded pan over medium high heat with just enough vegetable oil (or lard if you have it) to cover the bottom .
2. Pre-heat oven to 300ºF
3. Cut pork into 1-2" cubes, trimming large sections of fat off (we need fat for the flavor, so just cut off any real large pieces). Toss pork pieces with spice rub.
4. Brown the cubed pork well in the dutch oven, going in batches so there is only one layer of meat at a time.
5. When all the meat is browned, deglaze the pan's bottom with the orange juice, stirring to break up the brown bits. Introduce all of the meat back to the pan and cover with water until it's nearly submerged.
6. Bring to a simmer, cover, and place in the oven.
7. Stir the pot after one and two hours, the pork should be very tender towards the third hour. When you're confortable with the tenderness, evacuate all the pork to a platter and begin to boil the braising liquid on the stove top.
8. After letting the pork cool for a few minutes work through with your hands to separate and discard any fat or gristle pieces that hadn't melted in the braise. Tear the meat into smaller pieces.
9. Turn your broiler on to high and place a rack towards the top
10. Toss the now shredded pork with some of the reduced braising liquid (that should have boiled down significantly by now) and spread in a single layer on a sheet pan.
11. Broil the pork for approximately five minutes per side until the outside begins to carmelize
12. Serve! We like it best in tacos, but there's no wrong way to eat carnitas.

Tips

• Carnitas saves in the fridge very nicely, we like to hold back an amount from the last step (broiling) just for the fridge. Later in the week we heat it up, broil and the result is undistinguishable from same-day carnitas.

Recipe Bio: I was at the store with Mom and found Pork Carnitas for just over $1 a lb. I bought 2 packages knowing that I had been wanting to try to make Carnitas for dinner sometime. I found this recipe on www.itsfordinner.com . We had them tonight for dinner and they were a HUGE hit! We ate them on warmed corn tortillas with shredded cheddar cheese and avocado slices, complimented with black beans, basmati lime cilantro rice and Juanitas Tortilla chips(LOVED these as well! got 'em at Winco) It was better than a restaurant and worth the work!

Delicious Clam Chowder

Ingredients:

• 3 (6.5 ounce) cans minced clams
• 1 cup minced onion
• 1 cup diced celery
• 2 cups cubed potatoes
• 1 cup diced carrots
• 3/4 cup butter
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 quart half-and-half cream
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Fry 2-6 Slices of Bacon in a Large Skillet. Remove Bacon to drain off fat. Add onions, celery, potatoes and carrots to the skillet and coat with bacon grease. Then add clam juice(from cans). Add water to cover the vegies, and cook over medium heat until tender.
2. Meanwhile, in a large, heavy saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in flour until smooth. Whisk in cream and stir constantly until thick and smooth. Stir in vegetables and clam juice. Heat through, but do not boil.
3. Stir in clams just before serving. If they cook too much they get tough. When clams are heated through, stir in vinegar, and season with salt and pepper.

Recipe Bio: A cold, dreary December day in Penryn and we needed something warm us up. I found this recipe online at www.allrecipes.com. We ate this with a warm loaf of Sourdough bread, YUM!

MRS.GREEN'S CALIFORNIA RELIEF MAP CLAY recipe:

2 cups flour

1 cup salt

4 teaspoons cream of tarter

2 cups water

2 tablespoons oil

mix all ingredients. Cook on stove (Medium heat) stirring. Let cool and then knead out lumps. Cover and refrigerate.

* I made 3 batches to have 25- 3 inch balls of dough. Clay will take 1

to 2 days to dry after making project.

Recipe Bio:Joshua made this in his 4th grade class. He loved it and wanted to make it again!

Mexican Black Beans (Cafe Rio style)

2 cans Black beans Rinsed and drained(the original recipe called for 1 can, but I thought it was too runny, You decided!)

1 and 1/3 Cup Tomato Juice

2 Cloves Garlic, Minced

1 tsp Ground Cumin

2Tbsp Olive Oil

1 and 1/2 tsp Salt

2 Tbsp fresh Chopped Cilantro

In a nonstick skillet, cook Garlic and Cumin in Olive oil over medium heat until you can smell it. Add Beans, Tomato Juice, and Salt. Continually stir until heated through. Just before serving, stir in Cilantro.

Recipe Bio: Mom made this for one of our dinner get togethers and it was a BIG hit. It will be a staple since we LOVE Black Beans in our family.

Chicken and Black Bean Tostizzas

It's a pizza… it's a tostada… it's a tostizza!

Prep Time: 15 Min

Total Time: 40 Min

Makes: 8

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 can (16.3 oz) Pillsbury® Grands!® Flaky Layers refrigerated biscuits
• 1 cup diced cooked chicken
• 1 cup Progresso® black beans, drained (from 15- or 19-oz can)
• 1/2 cup Old El Paso® Thick 'n Chunky salsa
• 2 tablespoons Old El Paso® taco seasoning mix (from 1-oz package)
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 1/2 cup bell pepper strips (1 inch long)
• 1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese (I used reduced fat shredded cheese blend)
  

DIRECTIONS:

• 1) Heat oven to 350°F. Separate dough into 8 biscuits. On ungreased cookie sheets, press or roll each biscuit to form 5 1/2-inch round.
• 2) In medium bowl, mix chicken, beans, salsa and taco seasoning mix. Spread evenly over biscuits to within 1/4 inch of edges. Top evenly with onions, bell pepper and cheese.
• 3) Bake 20 to 24 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown and cheese is melted, reversing position of cookie sheets halfway through baking time. If desired, garnish with sour cream and guacamole.

Nutrition Information:

1 Serving (1 Mini Pizza)

• Calories 340
• (Calories from Fat 150),

• Total Fat 17g
• (Saturated Fat 7g,
• Trans Fat 3 1/2g),
• Cholesterol 35mg;
• Sodium 970mg;
• Total Carbohydrate 32g
• (Dietary Fiber 2g,
• Sugars 6g),
• Protein 16g;

Recipe Bio: I got a smoking deal on Grands Biscuits and had some grilled Chicken breast to use up. This is what I found on the Pillsbury website and it was a hit at our house. We ate cantaloupe, Avocado, spinach, and chips and salsa with it.

Corn Chowder

Prep: 20 min
Cook: 35 min
Total: 55 min

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 6 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 6 cups canned vegetable stock (we used Chicken broth)
  
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 2 Idaho potatoes, peeled and diced(we used 5 medium potatoes)
  
• 6 ears corn(we used 3 ears)
  
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves

Directions

Heat the butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and thyme and cook until the vegetables are good and soft, 8 to 10 minutes. Dust the vegetables with flour and stir to coat everything well. Pour in the vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Add the cream and the potatoes, bring to a boil and boil hard for about 7 minutes, until the potatoes break down (this will help to thicken the soup and give it a good texture).

Cut the corn kernels off the cob and add to the soup. Season with salt and pepper and simmer until the corn is soft, about 10 to 12 minutes. Stir in the parsley and give it another little drink of olive oil. Ladle the soup into bowls and serve.

Recipe courtesy Tyler Florence

Recipe Bio: Jacob and I visited San Francisco for our 12 anniversary. We decided that it would be fun to have Sourdough breadbowls and Clam Chowder like we did when we visited SF in our dating era. We had a delicious dinner at Boudins on the Wharf and later decided to bring the yumminess home for our kids to try. We purchased 4 small bread bowls at a supermarket called Mollie Stone's in Sausalito the next day before we went home. We didn't have any clams to make clam chowder so we found this recipe online and it was great in the mini sourdough breadbowls. Yum!

"Lime Chicken and Shrimp Kabobs

Recipe courtesy Paula Deen, 2007

Prep Time:
10 min
Inactive Prep Time:
4 hr 0 min
Cook Time:
15 min

Level:
Easy

Serves:
6 to 8 servings

Ingredients

* 2/3 cup vegetable oil
* 3 limes, juiced
* 2 tablespoons vinegar
* 1 tablespoon sugar
* 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
* 1 red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
* 1 red onion, cut into 1-inch pieces
* 1 (16-ounce) can pineapple rings, drained, cut into 1-inch pieces
* 6 boneless, skinless, chicken breasts cut into 1-inch pieces
* 1/2 pound large fresh shrimp, peeled and de-veined

Directions

Special Equipment: skewers

In a small bowl, whisk oil, lime juice, vinegar, sugar, and crushed red pepper.

In a shallow dish or re-sealable plastic bag, combine bell pepper, onion, pineapple, chicken, and shrimp. Pour lime mixture over chicken mixture; cover dish or seal bag, and place in the refrigerator to for 4 to 6 hours to marinate.

Heat grill to 350 to 400 degrees F.

Using tongs, remove chicken, vegetable pieces, pineapple and shrimp from marinade, discarding the marinade. Onto the skewers, thread 1 piece of chicken; 1 piece of pepper, 1 piece of onion, and 1 piece of pineapple, alternating to fill the skewer. Do the same thing with the shrimp alternating shrimp, pepper, onion, and pineapple to fill the skewer.

Place chicken kabobs on the grill, cover with grill lid, and cook for 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked throughout, with no pink center, turning occasionally.

Place shrimp kabobs on the grill, cover with grill lid over and cook for 6 to 8 minutes or until shrimp turn pink, and are cooked throughout, turning once.

Remove skewers from grill and serve immediately."

Recipe Bio: Fathers Day 2010 we needed a good marinade for our Shrimp and Chicken Kabobs. We found this just before we cooked them but still used it and it was good. I think it would be better if you follow directions to marinade for several hours...MORE FLAVOR! Yummy and Healthy!