Sweet and Sour Pork

We recently stumbled across this recipe in one of our favorite cookbooks and I can't believe we haven't ever made this before! It is simply amazing! A few days after we made this we were eating at a local fast-food chinese place *COUGH!(Panda Express)* Did anybody hear that? I didn't think so... Moving on... After eating their sweet and sour pork I was determined that I didn't think I would ever order it again. I'd rather just make it myself. It's. Just. That. Good.

Here's what you need:

2 lbs lean pork- I bought pork stew meat because it was lean and pre-cut into the perfect size.
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 c soy sauce
3 Tbsp oil
2 c carrots, cut into diagonal chunks
1 med onion, cut into chunks
1 green bell pepper, cut into chunks
1 can (20 oz) chunk pineapple
3 Tbsp cornstarch (yes for a seperate part)
3 Tbsp brown sugar
2 cups pineapple juice
1/4 c white vinegar
1/3 c soy sauce

Cut pork into 2 inch strips/chunks if you didn't buy the stew meat. Mix 2 Tbsp cornstarch and 1/4 c soy sauce. Marinate pork in this mixture for 1-2 hrs or overnight in refrigerator.

Pour contents of bag into hot stir fry pan with oil until evenly brown and tender- about 10 minutes. Remove meat from pan and add carrots and onions to the pan, using more oil if necessary. Cover and cook on low heat until tender-crisp, about 10 minutes. Add bell pepper and pineapple. Return meat to pan and cook for an additional 5 minutes.

While the meat and veggies are cooking, make the sweet and sour sauce. Mix cornstarch (3 Tbsp) and sugar in small saucepan. Add pineapple juice, vinegar and soy sauce. Cook and stir until thickened. Pour over meat and veggies and serve with white rice.

Enjoy!

Click here for more info on the cookbook I got this recipe from.

Bajio Sweet Rice

Oh man... I LOVE this rice. It is so sweet and delicious and goes well with any Mexican dish. Use it on your mexican salads, burritos or as a side dish, but any way you have it, it is just wonderful! And because it isn't spicy, the kids will love it too. I know mine does!


Here's what you need:

1/2-1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 of a white or yellow onion, chopped (add more or less to your taste)
1/2 bunch cilantro (we actually didn't use any because I don't like cilantro, but if you're going for authentic... haha ;)
1 1/3 cups white rice
3 cups chicken broth
1/4-1/2 cup sugar

NOTE: The amount of sugar it calls for makes this rice very sweet. You can change the amount of sugar if you want, but just remember it is supposed to be sweet. Also, if you let the sugar dissolve in the stock before you mix it in with the rice, the sugar won't sit on the bottom of the pan.

Put a little oil in bottom of pan. Saute chopped onion until translucent. Add the chopped cilantro (no big stems) and saute a minute more.
Add the rice, cooking until it is light brown (being careful not to burn).
Combine the chicken broth and sugar, letting sugar dissolve. Then stir into rice until combined. Bring to a boil.
Cover and let cook on low, med-low until rice is done, about 25-30 minutes. Fluff with a fork before serving.

I actually wish I had added a little bit of onion powder to this to help ground the sweetness, so if you want to try that, let me know how it turns out. :)

Stuffed Peppers

I hadn't ever had a stuffed pepper until just about a year ago. And let me tell you, I fell in love. I don't know what it is about it, but we have these almost every other week. I never liked spicy food growing up, and this definitely has a kick to it, but it has the perfect proportion of tomatoes, cheese, rice and bell pepper in each bite. Mmm...

What you need:

2-6 green bell peppers (depending on how many people you're making these for)
1 lb. pork chorizo
1/2 cup onion, diced
4 cloves garlic
1 can tomatoes
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 - 1 cup cooked white rice (depending on how many peppers you have to stuff- I'll explain later)
1 cup cheese

Cut the tops off the peppers and clean out the insides (remove seeds and white rinds on sides while keeping the pepper whole like a bowl) Boil peppers in water for around 15 minutes and set aside in a casserole dish.

While the peppers are boiling, brown chorizo. If you are using chorizo that has a casing, remove it before cooking it. You want it to be more like ground meat. We've found a very cheap chorizo brand at Walmart that is usually under $1 and doesn't have a casing. It is more like a spicy paste than a sausage. It comes in a plastic wrap with a green, red and white label. (Sorry for not having a picture- you'll know what I'm talking about when you see it though.) All you have to do is cut open one end and squeeze the chorizo out onto the pan. It doesn't "brown" when you cook it, so if you use that kind, don't worry about browning it first.

Add onions and garlic to skillet and cook until onions are soft. Season with a little salt and pepper. Stir in tomatoes, Worc. sauce and rice. Since there's usually only 2 of us, we only use about a 1/2 cup of rice so we don't have too much filling. But if you're making 4 or more peppers, use at least 1 cup of rice (you can add as much as you'd like to make more filling). Remove from heat and mix in cheese.

Stuff peppers and top with extra cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Serve with a little bit of sour cream and sprinkle a little lime juice on and enjoy!

*An alternate recipe for those with children or who don't like too much spice:
Only use 1/2 - 1/4 of the chorizo (or none at all if you don't want it) and use 1 lb. ground beef. Just brown the beef, drain grease and then start adding the other ingredients as called for above.

This recipe will stuff about 4 medium sized peppers, so if there's only 2 of you, save the extra mixture and use it with some refried beans to make a great burrito.

Delicious!

Jambalaya

(This was originally from my regular blog, but for the sake of time I just copied and pasted)

Last night I made jambalaya for the first time. And it turned out SO good! I was actually quite impressed with myself (hehehe) which is why I decided to post it on here for you all to enjoy as well. Seriously, you HAVE to try this!

It started out as an adventure- McKenzie and I walked to the grocery store just to pick up a few items that I needed, one of which being the Andouille sausage that is called for in the recipe. After walking all the way there and searching high and low for it, I decided to ring the service bell at the meat counter.

Butcher guy- "Hello, how can I help you?"
Me- "Do you carry Andouille sausage?"
Butcher guy- "Uh.... If we did it'd be over by the breakfast sausages."
Me- "Well this isn't a breakfast sausage. It's kind of like keilbasa, but... not."
(We walk over together to look at all the sausages)
Butcher guy (after slightly glancing in the general direction of the sausages)- "I don't think we carry that brand."
Me- "Andouille isn't a brand, it's a type of sausage."
Butcher guy- "Hmm...I don't think we carry it."
Me- "Uh... ok. Thanks anyway."

In all honesty I think the butcher guy had NO idea what Andouille is. I've never bought it before so I just didn't know exactly where to look. After searching all the different kind of sausages I decided to just get Keilbasa and call it a day. I grabbed the "spicy" variety and almost walked away when I noticed it had expired last week- gross! I put it down and searched thru all 20 or so of the same kind only to find out that they were ALL expired. (It's a smaller grocery store that we usually only go to if we need one or two things and need it quick. And this has actually happened a few times before...) I was disappointed and grabbed a "smoky" keilbasa instead (not expired), hoping that it wouldn't ruin the flavor of the jambalaya.

As I got ready to start making it, I realized I forgot to buy an onion. *doh!* But luckily we had half of one from a few days ago still in the fridge and I only needed half or 1/4 anyway, so it all worked out in the end. :)

Ok- so here's where the recipe begins. Micah found this on Food Network's website and it comes from the King of Cajan himself, Emeril Lagasse.



Ingredients-

1 chicken breast, diced
1 Tb Creole seasoning (recipe will follow)
2 Tb olive oil
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 chopped green bell pepper
2 Tb chopped garlic
1/2 can diced tomatoes
2 bay leaves
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
3/4 cup rice
3 cups chicken stock
5 oz keilbasa sliced (about 1/3 the package)

Creole seasoning (I made just enough to get to the 1 Tb called for in this recipe. If you want to make a bigger batch and save some for later, click on the link at the bottom to see Emeril's bigger batch recipe)

1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp paprika

Combine all ingredients thoroughly

Directions-

In a bowl, combine chicken and Creole seasoning and mix well. Set aside.

In a large saucepan heat oil over high heat with onion and bell pepper, 3 min. Add garlic, tomatoes, bay leaves and Worcestershire sauce. Mix well. Stir in rice and slowly add chicken stock. Reduce heat to medium and cook until rice absorbs liquid and becomes tender, stirring occasionally, about 15 min. (I covered mine with a lid and that seemed to help get the rice to cook through a little better)

While the rice mixture is cooking, start cooking the diced chicken over medium heat. Once it looks about done, toss it and the sliced sausage into the rice mixture. Let it cook until the rice is done and most the liquid is gone. (About 7-10 minutes)

Add salt and pepper to taste and BAM! (Sorry, couldn't help myself. I get all excited about Emeril...hehehe.)


Oh yeah, and this is for about 3-4 people.


This is the way we made it, but the original recipe calls for a few extra ingredients that we decided not to use (shrimp, hot sauce, celery). You can either try our way or click here for his original. (There are also like a million different jambalaya recipes by him alone, this is just the one we thought sounded best.)

All in all, I 'd say this was perfect. I actually enjoyed the smokiness of the keilbasa and will probably just use that next time anyway instead of fussing about the Andouille. This had just enough kick for us, but if you're adventurous you should try the hot sauce, add extra Creole seasoning, and maybe you can get your hands on some Andouille sausage...haha