Pork Loin Roast with Apricot Glaze

Last time Chris went to pick up pork from our awesome local farm, The Blue Jingler Farm, he asked if they ever had tenderloins or roasts, as we usually just got the standard pork chops, sausage, and ground pork.  He bought a bone-in loin roast of approximately 3lbs.  Jack asked for Chris' email address and said he would send us a recipe that they often use and really enjoy.  It was a crockpot recipe and we set this up for a great Sunday night dinner.

We loved this - we couldn't stop saying how good it was!  The sweetness of the apricot combined with the mustard was wonderful.  The pork was delicious and just falling off the bone.
Thanks Jack & Cheryl for this great recipe!!

Ingredients:
3-5 lb. boneless pork shoulder roast or pork loin (We used the pork loin)
16 oz of Apricot Jam 15.75 oz.
¼ - 1 cup of chicken broth, depending on the size of the roast.  (We used a cup.)

2-3 tablespoons of Dijon-style mustard (We used 3 tbsp - Chris loves mustard!)
1 large onion, chopped

Trim the fat from the roast. (Chris prepared this and did not trim the fat!!  We just separated it once cooked.)
If necessary, cut roast to fit into a 3 ½ to 6-quart slow cooker. Place meat in cooker.
Combine preserves, broth, mustard, and onion; pour over meat.
As you can see, we used the big crockpot; I would use the smaller one next time so the meat is more engulfed in the sauce; but this came out great regardless!

Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 10-12 hours or on high-heat setting for 5-6.  This time we cooked it for 6 hours on high.

Transfer the meat to a serving platter and cut. Skim fat from the sauce, if need be.

Spoon some of the sauce over the meat.

We served with brown rice as recommended and broccoli.  We will most definitely be making this again; so so good!

Sweet Corn Bake

My friend and I prepared this recipe to serve with the Taco Stuffed Shells.  We followed this recipe from allrecipes.com exactly, it was great.

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup masa harina (a mexican corn flower, found in the ethnic section of the grocery store)
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups frozen whole-kernel corn, thawed
1/4 cup cornmeal
1/3 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder


In a medium bowl beat butter until it is creamy. Add the Mexican corn flour and water and beat until well mixed.  Set aside.
Using a food processor, process thawed corn, but leave chunky. Stir into the butter mixture.
In a separate large bowl, mix cornmeal, sugar, cream, salt, and baking powder. Add to corn flour mixture and stir to combine.

Pour batter into an ungreased 8x8 inch baking pan.

Smooth batter and cover with aluminum foil.

Place pan into a 9x13 inch baking dish that is filled a third of the way with water.
Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven F for 50 minutes.  Remove the foil and bake for another 10 minutes.

Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes.

Enjoy as a sweet compliment to a spicy meal!

Taco Stuffed Shells

When I found this recipe I was so excited to make this twist on the traditional shells!  When my husband saw it, he insisted that I make it this weekend :)  I made a double batch because we had friends over for dinner, but I will write it up as a single batch.  I adapted from this recipe on BlogChef.net.  I eliminated the cream cheese and added more veggies.  They came out great!

Ingredients:
1lb ground beef
Taco seasoning (I make my own, as described HERE)
1 can diced tomatoes

1 chopped bell pepper

1/2 chopped onion

1 box large pasta shells

1 jar salsa
1 cup taco sauce
1 cup reduced fat mexican cheese (shredded)

Cook the ground beef and drain off fat.

Add the chopped pepper & onion to one side of the pan to cook.  I offset the pan on the burner so the peppers & onions are getting most of the heat.

Mix the vegetables & beef together and add seasoning.  Add the diced tomatoes.

Allow the mixture to cool so it can be handled.

Cook shells according to package instructions.

Stuff the shells.  Top with taco sauce and cheese and bake at 350 deg F for approximately 30 minutes.

Serve with the mexican corn cake recipe provided above!  The sweet of the corncake works great with these spicy shells!

***Variation***
As I said in the beginning of the post, I made a double batch.  After preparing one batch, there was a little less than 1/2 of the beef mixture left.  I decided to make bean and beef shells for the second half, so I mixed in a can of refried beans to the remaining mixture.  They came out great also!

Grilled Sirloin Steak

Not too much in the way of directions for an amazing recipe here...just wanted to show how awesome the grassfed beef we get is!  We took advantage of a warm spell we had and uncovered the grill for this quick, delicious dinner.

The meat comes frozen and thaws best if you put it into the fridge the day before you plan to use it, rather than trying to speed up the thawing process by leaving it out.
Allow the steak to sit at room temperature for about 1/2 hour before grilling.

Make sure that hungry dog does not eat steak.

Season steak.  We really like Simply Organic's Chophouse Seasoning

Preheat the grill to medium-high.

Grill each side approximately 5-7 minutes, depending on the thickness of the steak.

Slice & serve!  Leftovers make great steak sandwiches for lunch, or beef for use in beef barley soup!

Asian Chicken Stir Fry

We love asian foods & flavors.  This is going to be hard for me to blog because we just add sauces to taste, but I will do my best!

Ingredients:

1 package of asian stir-fry noodles
1 package of chicken breast, approximately 1 lb.
1/2 head chopped broccoli
2 peeled, chopped carrots
1/2 yellow onion
1 bag of frozen asian veggie mix (or more fresh if you have it!)
1 tbsp chopped garlic
~2 tbsp of asian Five-Spice Seasoning
Sesame oil for stir-frying
Kikkoman Thai Style Chili Sauce (this is so good)
Hoisin Sauce
Low Sodium Soy Sauce
House of Tsang "Hunan Smokehut Spicy Grill Sauce (this is also great stuff)

Cut up chicken breast into small (bite size or 2-bite size) pieces.

Heat up some sesame oil and vegatable oil (1/2 and 1/2) in a large skillet or wok.
Add garlic & chicken, stirring frequently to cook.  Sprinkle with the 5-Spice Seasoning.
When chicken is about 1/2 way cooked, add the onion.
Once onion has cooked for a couple minutes, add the fresh chopped vegatables.  Add a bit of soy sauce (about 5 shakes).
Cook noodles according to package instructions.  I prefer boiling to soaking since it's quicker.
Once the chicken is cooked through and the fresh veggies are softened a bit, add the frozen vegatables to the mix.
::This is the part that is at your discretion.  The Smokehut sauce and Thai Chili Sauce are the spicier ones, so if you want it to be more mild, add more of the regular Hoisin than these::
I add about 2 large tablespoons of each of the Smokehut sauce and Thai Chili Sauce, and about 1 tbsp of the Hoisin.  Add the noodles into the mix, and serve!  The noodles will soak up the sauces so serve quickly after mixing or you will just have to keep adding sauce as it will dry out!

Enjoy!  I like to serve this with a big salad; use a rice wine vinegar & oil to make it a bit asian as well :)

Semi-Homemade Pizza

Another quick & easy dinner, for which you can use whatever meat/ veggies you have!

You will need:
Pillsbury pizza crust (the thin crust is really good!)
Tomato sauce
Mozzarella cheese  (we were out of shredded mozz, so we shredded up a few string cheeses!)
Whatever toppings you like:  I love green pepper & onion, Chris prefers onion & pepperoni

Bake according to package instructions.
Serve with a big salad.  Yumm!!

Italian Herb Bread

I served this bread with the stuffed shells (and a salad).  I didn't take a picture, but you know what bread looks like.  It came out great.  My breadmaker takes 3.5 hours from start to finish, so I timed it to be coming out at perfect timing, we ate a lot - it was delish!

This recipe is from the Oster recipe book that came with the machine.  This is for a 2lb loaf, made in a breadmaker.

1 1/4 cups water
1 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp salt
3 1/2 cups flour (I only had 2 cups bread flour and supplemented with regular, it was fine)
2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp dried parsley (I was generous w/all the herbs)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp active dry yeast

Put wet ingredients then dry.  Form well for yeast, avoiding contact with wet ingredients.  Use the "french" setting, and medium crust.  Press start.  Enjoy in 3.5 hrs!