Make-Ahead, Freezable Carnitas

I have no new recipe for you today - just a helpful hint regarding an old recipe.  A few years ago, I had posted a recipe for my favorite carnitas.  It is still a regular meal in our house, since I can get pork shoulder cheap (and, well, it's just amazingly delicious).  And since they're large cuts of meat, I make a lot and freeze the leftovers.  I was recently able to get pork shoulder picnic roast for 69 cents/lb.  I bought almost 16 lbs and paid just under $11.  I fed 11 people (7 adults, 4 kids) dinner with some leftovers, plus bagged 3 more meals for the freezer.  You can get the recipe here.  And you can do a lot more than just make tacos or burritos with this meat.  We also like to make taco salad, quesadillas, nachos, tostadas, omelettes, etc.  This week we made burritos and filled them with carnitas, homemade pico de gallo, avocados, cheese, lime rice, lettuce, sour cream, and hot sauce.

Once the meat is done cooking in the crockpot (and before it's put in the oven), I divide it up into meal-sized portions and place into gallon zip-top bags.  I also divide up the reserved seasoning into snack size zip top bags.  Then I take a seasoning bag, lay it on top of the sealed gallon bag, roll them up together, and put a piece of tape at the top to hold it all in place.  This way the meat and the seasoning are together and I don't have to worry about losing the seasoning (or forgetting where I put it :)).  Before I fill the bags, I write what's in them, the date, and cooking instructions. When I want to eat it, I pull a bag from the freezer and defrost.  I heat the meat, then place it on a large pan (I use a jellyroll pan) and sprinkle with the seasoning.  It's placed it in a preheated 400 degree oven for 10-15 minutes or until crispy.  This makes for a quick and easy meal.  In fact, before I had my last baby, I made sure I had some of this in my freezer for after baby came.

Seasoning packet and meat ready to be rolled up.

The seasoning packet is rolled up inside of this and
the whole thing is secured with a piece of tape.

The finished product, ready for the freezer.

Chocolate Chip Cookies Revisited

Last March, I posted a delicious chocolate chip cookie recipe.  And while it is delicious, we've been able to improve upon it just a little bit based on some recommendations by one of Sumiko's friends from church, along with some of our own experience.  The recipe is almost exactly the same, but the technique has changed a bit.

Chocolate Chip Cookies 2
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter (real butter), softened
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 large egg
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl (I use my KitchenAid mixer, but you can also use a hand mixer), cream butter until pale yellow and shiny.  Add shortening and beat until combined.

Add sugar; mix until well-combined.  Add brown sugar and mix well.

The brown sugar should be packed tight enough that it
holds its shape once you take it out of the measuring cup.

After the sugars have been mixed into the butter.

Add vanilla and egg; mix well.  Add the flour mixture all at once, mixing until almost (but not completely) combined.  Add chocolate chips; mix just until they're evenly distributed and the flour has been incorporated.  Do not overmix.  I like cookies to be thick, so I've found that in order to get thick, chewy cookies, you first of all, need to make sure the butter isn't too soft.  The second thing is to scoop the cookie dough balls and then freeze or refrigerate them for at least several hours (see tips for freezing below).  I usually make the dough at least a day ahead.  Bake straight out of the refrigerator or freezer for 10-12 minutes, or until cookies are light brown.  Cool 1 to 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

This is when you want to add the chocolate chips.

In this batch, I used half chocolate chips and half M&Ms.

Tips for freezing:

• Scoop the dough into balls.  Place dough balls on a cookie sheet and freeze for 15-20 minutes or until dough balls begin to harden.  Place dough balls in a zip-top bag and freeze.  When you're ready for some fresh cookies, simply pull the desired amount of dough balls out of the freezer and place them on your cookie sheet.  You can bake them frozen, but add a little time to the bake time. 
• You can also freeze baked cookies.  Simply bake as instructed, wrap cookies or place in zip-top bag and freeze.

Spicy Black Bean Soup

Ok, so it's officially not winter anymore, but that doesn't mean I'm done eating soup!  At the moment, this is my favorite!  I stumbled upon this recipe and I'm so glad I did.  I did alter it a bit, though.  Because it has a bean base, it is very inexpensive but is so full of flavor!  I've been eating it over a little steamed brown rice to bulk it up a bit.

Spicy Black Bean Soup
2 cups dry black beans
2 bay leaves
2 Tbsp minced or pureed chipotles in adobo
5 cups water
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 large onions, diced (mine came out to about 4 cups)
3 celery ribs, diced
2-3 carrots, diced
2 cups frozen corn
6 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 1/2 Tbsp cumin
6 cups water
2 Tbsp chicken bouillon
1-2 Tbsp lime juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Place beans, bay leaves, chipotle, and 5 cups water in a large saucepan.  Cover and bring to a boil.  Once boiling, reduce heat to low/medium-low; simmer until beans are tender (1 1/2 to 2 hours).  If necessary, add more water as beans cook.  Once tender, remove from heat and set aside (don't drain them).

Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in a stock pot or Dutch oven.  Add onions, celery, and carrots; saute until tender and slightly browned.  Reduce heat to medium-low; add garlic, red pepper flakes, and cumin.  Cook, stirring frequently for about 2 minutes.  Add beans with cooking liquid, water, and bouillon.  Increase heat to high; bring to a boil.  Once boiling, reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove about 1/3 of the soup and blend in a blender until smooth or use an immersion blender right in the pot to get desired texture.  Return to pot; add frozen corn.  Simmer until heated through.  Remove from heat and add lime juice.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Serve with tortilla chips, sour cream (or Greek yogurt), avocado, cheese, etc.

Frozen Asparagus

Last week Save Mart had asparagus on sale for $0.99 per pound!!  Seeing as I love asparagus and we rarely get it for such a great price, I bought about eight pounds of it!  I probably would have bought more if I’d had the freezer space.  As I was paying, the checker and I were talking about what a great deal it was and she inquired about freezing it.  I had already planned on writing this post, but that solidified in my mind that I needed to do it now.

The first step to freezing asparagus is choosing good asparagus at the store.  You want to make sure the flower is tightly closed and not actually starting to flower.  It is edible once it starts to open up, but not as tender and tasty.  If the produce department is doing a good job, they will keep the asparagus in water to help keep it fresh.

When you get it home, you’ll either want to work with it right away or return it to some water until you can get to it.  When I buy a lot at one time, I like to use my cake pans to store the asparagus.  If you only have one or two bunches, a pitcher will do.  One to two inches of water will suffice.

When you are ready to prepare your asparagus for freezing, rinse it under cold water.  You’ll need to get rid of the tough end by snapping it off.  Don’t cut it off as you will not know where the tough part ends.  By snapping it, you will always remove the tough part and be left with the tender part.  You can see photos of this here.

Cut the asparagus into one- to two-inch pieces and dry on a tea towel.  The key to ending up with individually frozen pieces of asparagus rather than an asparagus ice cube is to remove as much of the water as possible.  Transfer all the cut and dried asparagus to a zip-top bag, remove as much excess air as possible, and store in your freezer.

You can cook this frozen asparagus just like you would cook fresh asparagus.  Just be sure to increase the cooking time.  My favorite way to prepare it is sautéing.  Olive oil, salt, pepper, and a little garlic powder—so yummy!  This lemony version is great too!

Now, one thing to consider when choosing fresh verses frozen is the cost of edible vegetables once the waste has been removed.  Out of about five pounds of asparagus, I had two pounds of waste after I snapped the bottoms (this included a little water weight from washing).  That means I actually paid $1.65 per pound for frozen asparagus.  Wondering how that compares to buying frozen asparagus, I checked out WinCo’s prices yesterday.  They sell a 12-ounce bag for $2.35.  That comes out to $3.13 per pound.  I saved $1.48 per pound by freezing it myeslf!

And those rubber bands that come with the asparagus?  Don’t throw those away!  Those are my favorite kitchen rubber bands.  I use them for all sorts of things, but mostly to close partially used bags of frozen veggies.

Waffles (and a fun Christmas breakfast!)

We love waffles at our house, so when I saw this fun Christmas idea with waffles on Pinterest, I just had to try it!  Then I realized I've never blogged my waffle recipe, so here I am killing two birds with one stone.

Waffles
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 cup oil
1 cup flour
1 heaping Tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder

Preheat waffle iron according to manufacturer's instructions and grease if needed.

Separate eggs, placing whites in a small mixing bowl and yolks in a large mixing bowl.  Beat whites until soft peaks form.  In the bowl with the yolks, add the milk and oil; mix well.  Add flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder and mix just until incorporated and most lumps are out.  Fold in egg whites to incorporate.  Pour batter according to manufacturer's instructions and cook.  If you'd like to freeze waffles, allow them to cool completely, then place in a zip-top bag and freeze.  To reheat, either place in the microwave or toaster until warm.

To make the Christmas trees:

For the trunk: Either make a normal waffle and cut into rectangles or use a piece of bacon.

For the tree: Add green food coloring to the batter; cook waffles.  If they come out too brown, turn the heat down on your waffle iron.  Because my waffle iron makes waffles that are so thick, in order to cook the middle of the waffle, the outsides ended up with some brown on them, but my daughter didn't even seem to notice!

When waffles are done, separate into triangles.  If yours are thin enough, you can just overlap them like this one here.  Mine are too thick, so I cut little triangles out of the bottom of each one and just fit them together like a puzzle.

Star: I cut a slice of an apple, then used a star cookie cutter to get the star.

Ornaments: I used M&M's because I had them on hand (they were left-over from my daughter's Halloween stash), but you could also use fresh berries (which, unfortunately, aren't cheap right now).

Snickerdoodles

I have to apologize for the lack of healthy recipes (or even recipes that can be served for dinner, for that matter) from me recently.  I seem to be going through a lull in inspiration, but I always have plenty of dessert ideas, so here you go!  And since it's Christmas, which is cookie baking time, I think I can get away with this one.  :)  These Snickerdoodles are so yummy!  They stay nice and soft and chewy!  The funny thing about Snickerdoodles is that the cookies themselves really aren't that good.  But then you roll them in cinnamon sugar, and they transform into addictive little morsels!

Snickerdoodles
2 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 sticks butter at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup sugar plus 1 Tbsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt.

Cream butter in a large mixing bowl; add sugar and beat well.  Add eggs and vanilla and mix until well combined.  Gradually add dry ingredients and mix until a dough is formed.  Roll the dough into 1-inch balls then roll in cinnamon sugar.

Place the balls 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake 8-10 minutes until cookies are crinkly, but soft.  Remove to racks to cool.  Sorry that I don't have a picture of the finished product!  Next time I make these, I'll be sure to post a picture!

The dough can be frozen for later use.  Once they're rolled in the cinnamon sugar, place them on a cookie sheet in the freezer until they're firm, then place in a zip top bag and freeze.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

One of the things that makes Thanksgiving Thanksgiving and Christmas Christmas is Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread.  We grew up eating it every year for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and it continues to be one of our favorite holiday treats.  The recipe we usually use is a secret, so I'm not sharing the recipe we grew up with.  Sorry!  However, I did find a recipe that is very similar to the one we grew up with, and I even made a couple small changes to make it even more similar.  It still isn't exactly the same, but it's pretty close and I think you'll like it!

One of the nice things about this recipe is that it's versatile.  You can make large loafs, mini loafs, muffins, or mini muffins.  You'll just need to adjust the baking time depending on what you're making.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup pumpkin
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup water
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease and flour bread pans or muffin tins (or line muffin tins with cupcake wrappers).

In a large bowl, combine sugar, pumpkin, vegetable oil, water, and eggs; mix well.  Add flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt.  Mix until combined, being careful not to over mix.  Gently fold in chocolate chips.  Pour batter into prepared bread pans or muffin tins.

Makes 1 large loaf or 3 small loaves.  I honestly can't tell you how many muffins or mini muffins it makes, as I've never counted.  Sorry!!!  If you're making muffins, fill each muffin tin 2/3 to 3/4 of the way full.  For 1 large loaf, bake for 75 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  For 3 small loaves, bake 50-60 minutes.  I don't have the times for the muffins, but next time I make them, I'll let you know!

Waiting patiently for the bread to bake!

Sometimes it doesn't come out of the pan very well.  It could be due to the fact that I've reused these disposable bread pans so many times.  Maybe it's time to invest in some real bread pans!

Yum!  So moist; so delicious!

Cranberry-Orange Relish

Before Kimiko and I were married, with families of our own, we spent every Thanksgiving with Doris, our Near to Nothing grandma’s cousin.  Now that we try to split our holidays with in-laws, unfortunately we only get to spend about every other Thanksgiving with her.  Yes, our great grandmother still has living cousins!

One of Doris’s specialties is cranberry-orange relish.  I am generally not a cranberry person, so I usually pass on the relish.  But everyone else always raves about it!  And I can tell you, it definitely looks a lot better than that can-shaped gelatin stuff.

As I was making this the other day, the boys were watching me and tasting ingredients.  To my surprise they really liked the fresh cranberries by themselves.  When it came time to try the finished product, they were both very hesitant, almost refusing.  But as soon as the first little morsel hit their tongues, their mouths turned up in huge smiles, and they gulped down the rest of the spoonful.

The key (and benefit) to this recipe is that it should be made the day before.  Not only does the resting time let the flavors meld together and mellow out, but who doesn’t appreciate a make-ahead Thanksgiving dish?  I made mine on Monday—that’s a week-and-a-half before Thanksgiving.  No problem!  I just tossed it into the freezer and will put it back in the fridge a day or two before the big feast.

Cranberry-Orange Relish

2 oranges, peeled, seeded, and quartered

1-12 oz. pkg. cranberries

1 c. crushed or chunk pineapple, drained

2 c. sugar

Place orange pieces, cranberries, and pineapple if using chunks in food processor.  Pulse until chopped to desired texture.

Transfer to bowl.  Stir in crushed pineapple if using and sugar.

Refrigerate overnight.  Yield:  about 5 cups.

There will be a lot of air bubbles in the freshly chopped
and stirred relish.  A night in the fridge will transform
the foamy mixture into...

...a colorful, appetizing turkey accompaniment.