Jason's Pulled Pork

So saturday I put a pork roast in the crock pot. I followed Jason's recipe to the tee. And it was so delicious. I was amazed how easy it was. I was nervous that I cooked it too long, but to my suprize it was fantastic. I used a pork rub, black pepper, and garlic powder to season. We enjoyed to so much that yesterday I put a chuck beef roast in the crock pot to see how it was. Well it was just as fantastic. Thanks for the great recipe.

Butternut Squash, three ways...

I love butternut squash. It's tasty and versatile and it's big. Oh, and it's super healthy too. So, when I make it, it's usually a multipurpose deal. This is a little blurry, but you get the picture:

BAKED SQUASH...

Just halve the squash and throw it in the oven. Ben and I were of different opinions regarding whether you put it meaty side up or down. In the end, I don't think it matters. I think it retains a little more moisture when you put it meaty side down, but it gets a little more of a roasted flavor meaty side up. For the record I guess I should disclose that we now usually cook it meaty side up and that's how Ben thought it should be (so I caved). Cook it for an hour to an hour and a half at 350 degrees, until a fork goes in easily and it's soft throughout. Then just scoop out the meat, add butter and serve with salt and pepper.

Usually when we bake a squash, we don't eat it all, so now I make....

BABYFOOD SQUASH

This saves a lot of money if you're at the babyfood stage. I just put it in the blender and add enough boiling water to make it the right consistency. Then, I pour or scoop it into ice cube trays. Once it's frozen, take them out and put in a plastic bag. They'll get less freezer burn that way, but be easy to access in single serving amounts.

OK, enough of that, here's the real recipe of the day...

BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP

This is for half a large squash. When I made this, Britta and Morgan wound up staying for dinner and Morgan was pleasantly surprised. I don't think she was particularly enthusiastic before she tasted it, but then she liked it.

Here's what you need:

One half a squash, baked (I know it's there twice but the first bowl is a lot prettier).
Chicken broth (about 15 ounces which is a regular can)
Salt and pepper
Nutmeg
One small yellow or white onion, diced (pretend that's in the photo)
Butter, about 2-4 Tablespoons (ditto)
About 1/4 cup cream or sour cream (ditto)


Saute the onions in the butter until they're translucent. I've used olive oil, but I don't think it's quite as good a flavor.

Add the squash and saute until it gets prettty mushy (how long depends on how long you baked it - the original recipe I adapted uses raw squash but I find baked is faster and easier and has a roasted flavor). Then add the chicken broth and cook it down for about 15 minutes on medium, stirring occasionally.

Add the salt and pepper to taste and then just about 2 dashes of nutmeg (be careful not to add to much, but do it to taste).

Take the mixture and put it in a blender.

Blend until it's got a nice creamy texture. If it's too thick, add more broth.

Remove from blender and put in bowls. Add about 1 T of cream per bowl and mix with a spoon prior to serving. If you want to get fancy like a restaurant, you can use sour cream and make a pretty design on top of the soup or just a dollop and a tiny bit of nutmeg.

I of course didn't get a picture of the soup in bowls because I was feeding my family plus Morgan and Britta and our neighbor Lisa who happened by at the right time. But it looks just like it does in the blender, only in bowls.

Enjoy.

p.s. Since it says "Clyde and Family", I thought I'd tell those of you who didn't know that it's actually Laura (Ben's wife, Amanda's aunt, Kara's sister-in-law) who posted this. Buen provecho!

Rosemary Cookies

These cookies are delicious. I first tried them at a delightful little bakery in Salt Lake. Rosemary is one of my favorite herbs, and I was so intrigued by the thought of using it in a cookie that I had to buy some. They are DELICIOUS!! Definitely in the top three of my favorite cookies. This is a modified recipe, since I wasn't sure how to find a good recipe for rosemary cookies. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
3 C flour
1 C sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 C butter, softened
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
3 Tbsp heavy cream
Rosemary

Stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or fork. Stir in the egg, vanilla, and cream. Add in quite a bit of rosemary. This dough seems like it will never lump together. I find it works best if you knead it with your hands. You want there to be quite a bit of visible rosemary in your dough. (See picture below)
Don't rely on your sense of smell, as the rosemary flavor comes out AFTER it's been cooked. It won't smell like rosemary much at all. The dough will kind of pull apart funny, as seen here:
You can either roll out the dough (like sugar cookies, or just plop it on like any other cookies. I did the plop method myself.
Bake at 350 on a greased cookie sheet for 5-8 minutes. You want the bottoms to be just barely golden brown. The tops will still look white. If you roll out your cookies, I would make the bottoms even lighter.

German Chocolate Cake

This recipe is way up there on my list of favorite cakes. Like- top three for sure. What really makes it is the frosting. It is kindof caramelized and chewy, and absolutely divine. Hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients (Cake):
2 C sugar
3 eggs
1/2 C oil
3 Tbsp cocoa
1/2 C milk
2 C flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1 C hot water

Beat together sugar, eggs, oil, and cocoa. Add milk, flour, soda, vanilla, and salt. Once that is mixed in, add the hot water. Pour into a greased 9x13 pan and cook at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes.

Ingredients (Frosting):

1/4 C milk
1/2 C brown sugar
1 C coconut
3/4 C butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 C nuts (traditionally pecans)

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Boil for a few minutes, then pour over a warm cake. It will be pretty runny. Just spread it out as evenly as you can. Broil it in the oven until it's starting to blacken on the tips. Delicious!

Chicken Scallopine

I got this recipe off thepioneerwoman.com. She has some amazing recipes. Check her out.
Linguine noodles cooked acording to package directions.
4-6 boneless chicken breasts
Flour
Salt and Pepper
2 Tbsp olive oil
4 Tbsp butter
Fresh mushrooms
1 Cup chicken broth or stock
1/2 lemon
1/2 cup heavy cream (you can use 1/2 and 1/2)
1 tbsp capers (optional)
chopped fresh Italian parsley (optional)
Parmesan Cheese

Flatten chicken to uniform thickness. I put between waxed paper and used a can of beans to flatten. Salt and pepper both sides. Dredge in flour. Heat butter and olive oil in large skillet over medium heat. Fry chicken until golden brown. Remove to plate and set aside.

Throw mushrooms in pan and stir. Add chicken broth and squeeze juice of lemon in. You can use less, or more, if you would like. Stir to deglaze pan, then cook vigorously for 1 min. to reduce sauce. I swore to Merlaine that I would never cook anything that had to be reduced, but it was very easy.

Pour in cream and stir, add capers and parsely and stir. Turn off heat. Add salt and pepper to taste. Don't undersalt.

Place pasta and chicken on plate and top with sauce, it will be runny. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. This may not be a very kid friendly meal, but very adult friendly. Yummy.

Breakfast Scramble

So, yesterday I went to a Williams-Sonoma class on Breakfast, and it's got me thinking about breakfast. So, this morning, I made an incredible omelet. Seriously- amazing. I don't usually like omelets that much, but this one was really, REALLY good!

Ingredients:
Butter
Mushrooms
Onion
Bacon
Eggs
Milk
Swiss Cheese (or other type of cheese)

So, I used a little more than half of a carton of mushrooms. I used plain button mushrooms, but I think it would be even better with baby bellas or crimini. I sliced them up thinly. Then I took about 1/4 of a smallish onion, diced really small. I put 1 Tbsp butter on a saute pan at med high heat and cooked the mushrooms and the onion together, after doing the salt and pepper thing, of course. Once the mushrooms were starting to wilt up pretty good, I added 3 slices of chopped raw bacon. I did have to use a paper towel to drain some of the grease, but it's better if you cook them all together.
Once those were about done, I put 6 eggs and 1/4c milk in a bowl and beat it. Then I poured it into a DIFFERENT saute pan, and did the scrambled egg thing. Once the eggs were almost done, I added the mushroom mixture and about 1/4c cubed swiss cheese. It needs to be cubed so you get pockets of cheese. When you grate the cheese, it just kind of mixes in. I used swiss because it was what I had, and it was good, but swiss doesn't melt super great. I might try a white cheddar next time. I like white cheddar better than orange.
Serve just as the cheese starts to melt.

Pulled Pork....Low and Slow

First of all, let's get one thing straight-the word ‘barbeque’ is a highly stylized way of cooking meats that involves lots of time. Getting together with your friends for hot dogs and hamburgers is not a ‘barbeque.’ You can call your social gathering a number of things, such as a ‘cook-out,’ a ‘get-together-to-grill-shindig,’ or a wienie roast, but please people, for the love of slow-cooked meats-DON’T CALL IT A BARBEQUE!!!
Ok, now that I’ve removed that heavy burden from deep with in my Texan soul that I had no idea I possessed, and we are all still friends, let's talk about pulled pork.
This ‘recipe’ is really so easy and can be used in so many ways, once you try it, you’ll wonder why you’ve never done this before. The pictures are a little bit out of order, but we’ll get through this together.

The first step is to prepare the meat. I like to use pork butt or pork shoulder, (I think they may actually be the same thing), but this would probably work with beef as well. I prepare the meat by cutting off some of the fat. A majority of the fat will be marbled and difficult to remove completely, but there will usually be a large chunk of fat that should be easily removed with a sharp kitchen knife. Then you place the chunk’o’beast in a a bowl or anywhere that you will be able to work the meat to add the spices. If you are really good , you might complete this step the day before to give your spices a chance to work their way deeper into the meat. Spice rub- I like to use whatever is at hand. Today it was dried crushed thyme, kosher salt, fresh-ground black pepper, and garlic powder, but really, this is the place to experiment and try new things. Once you have thoroughly covered your meat with the spice rub and are ready for the sear, you will need to sprinkle some oil onto the meat, preferably an oil with a high smoke point, like grapeseed or pecan oil (olive oil will do just fine). You need just enough to get a sizzle on your pan when the meat hits the heat.

Speaking of your pan, cast iron is my personal favorite for searing meats. When you are searing something like a roast, cast iron does not lose heat like other pans might, and the more you cook on your cast iron pan, the better it will make your food taste. Anyways, when you are ready to seal the flavor in the meat by searing it, you should have your pan ready. I like to go at least at medium heat to ensure a quick sear of the meat.

Some prefer a dry roast, which involves placing the dry roast in an oven for long periods of time at very low temperatures, like 200 F for 24 hours. That requires way more skill than I have. In addition, you run the risk of drying out your meat, and let's face the facts, nobody likes dry meat. I place my seared roast (which I roasted on as many sides as possible to a slight ‘char’ as is well documented in the pictures) in a crock pot, add tons of pepper (see 1st picture above) and lots of garlic. I like to use chicken broth, but I usually add water afterwards because straight chicken broth would be waaaaaaay too salty. I like to fill my crock pot with as much water as it will hold, so I start with adding two cans of chicken broth and, once the meat is in, fill the crock pot to the brim with water. Remember, the secret definition of ‘barbeque’ is ‘low and slow’ so the longer you are able to cook this-the better. Having a party on Saturday? Start the roast cooking on Friday morning and let it cook on low till the party. Once you have cooked the pork to your level of satisfaction, drain the water, remove the bone, and mash-up the remaining cloves of garlic (I am indebted to my wife for this little garlic scene, she added this step and my what a difference it makes). Then, using two forks, tear that pork apart. It will be juicy like you would not believe and soooooooooo soft. At this point you will really be able to tell what spices you used, and you will be able to add you favorite barbeque sauce to taste. My current kick is Sweet Baby Rays. The results are incredible, and the sandwiches you can make are out-of-this world. I’d have some pictures……but we ate it all too soon. Enjoy! And remember kids,.....low and slow saves the day.