Southern BBQ pork

 

 

CSA ingredient: Boston Butt pork

 

I received a botton Butt pork from my meat subscription and made this BBQ pork which was a huge hit. I wish I could remember where the orginal recipe came from but have had it for years.  Sorry I forgot a picture!  Best part is this is made in the crock pot so dinner is done when you are ready! 

 

Southern BBQ pork sandwiches

 

Ingredients

1 cup onions, sliced
1 tbsp chili powder
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup salsa
1 cup BBQ sauce
1 tsp cumin
1 pork roast (this can be Boston Butt, pork shoulder, pork loin- inexpensive cuts are fine for this since it slow cook in the crock)

 

1. Place meat in slow cooker.  Cover and cook 8-10 hours on low or high 4-5 hours until meat is very tender and internal temperature reaches 160 degrees.

2. Shred meat with forks and mix into juices.

3. Serve on buns. 

 

I used Trifecta BBQ sauce our families favorite and official BBQ of The Kentucky Derby Fesitival.  If you and/or your kids don't go for spicy use a sweet and mild BBQ sauce (Trifecta is sweet and mild).

 

Also I had some leftover mango and peach salsa in the fridge and used that- I think the sweetness and flavors from the fruit were really good in this!  If you want spicy add a salsa with a kick. for young kids stick to a mild salsa. You could use diced tomatoes for a really mild flavor or if you did not have any salsa on hand.

 

Side dishes: you can do a nice slaw or sweet potato fries. We just had salad with it and were all happy!

 

 

 



Apple Pie Ice Cream

Warning: this is not healthy, this is not from my CSA, this is not quick and easy but it is SO good. It is decadent and such a hit I had to share!  You need an ice cream maker for this one. 

Apple Pie Ice Cream

6 oatmeal cookies, crushed (make your favorite kind)

1 Tbs melted butter, divided

2 large apples, peeled, cored and sliced into bite sized pieces (green apples like granny smith are the best for this)

3 Tbs white sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

2 1/2 cups whipping cream

2 cups half and half

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs yolks, beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 cup dulce de leche or caramel ice cream topping

1. Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in the apples, 3 tablespoons sugar, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Cook until the apples have lightly browned, and the sugar has begun to caramelize, about 10 minutes. Remove from the pan, and chill.

2. Crumble cookies into bite sized pieces

3. Combine cream, half and half, and 1 cup sugar in medium saucepan.  Cook until mixture is hot about 6-8 minutes.  remove 1 cup of warm mixture and add egg yolks.  Stir and than add back to saucepan.  Cook over medium heat about 7-10 minutes until thickened but DO NOT BOIL or eggs will curdle.  When ready should coat back of spoon or about 160 degrees F. Pour into bowl.   Add vanilla 2 teaspoons of cinnamon and blend.  Allow to cool about 15 minutes than transfer to fridge and chill 3-4 hours until very cold.

4. Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions

5. Place soft ice cream into container and transfer to freezer.  Freeze about 30 minutes.  If you add mix-ins right after removing machine ice cream may melt while you are mixing and get icy.

6. Mix in cookies and apples.

7. Place back in freezer and freeze another 20 minutes.

8. Now drizzle caramel over top of ice cream.  Using a knife fold in caramel by passing knife back and forth only once.

9. Freeze about 4 hours or longer.  If frozen longer may need to sit about 10 minutes before serving to soften some.

Servings: 8

Yield: Yield 1 quart

Tip my favorite oatmeal cookie recipe is from a website called Once Upon a Chef and I make the Oatmeal Pecan Cookies- yummy!

Sweet and Sour Bok Choy with mushrooms

CSA ingredients: Bok choy

Ingredients

1 tablespoon canola oil

1 tablespoon hoisin sauce

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1/4 tsp red garlic chili paste (or more to taste)

1 cup sliced mushrooms (any kind you like baby bella was used above)

3 bok choy greens and stems

Procedure

Wash bok choy and thinly slice the thick white stems.  Chop the greens and keep the white and green seperate.

Heat oil in large skillet or wok.

Add mushrooms and white part of bok choy.

stir fry about 4-5 minutes until started to soften.

Add hoisin sauce, soy sauce and chili paste. Stir fry one minute.

Add greens and cook 2-3 more minutes until greens start to wilt and get tender.

You can find garlic chili paste and Hoisin sauce in Asian food section.  You can add more chili paste f you like it spicy.   The sweet hoisin and firey chili paste gives this the sweet and sour flavor. 



Fruit Kebobs

This has become my kids favorite snack to bring to events. They know I won't be the mom bringing any junk food when it is our turn for soccer team snack or today's Halloween party- but these simple fruit kabobs are always a big hit.  It is amazing how one marshmallow makes it transform from fruit to a treat! 

All you need is 3-4 kinds of fruit cut into bite sized pieces.  Today I used pinapple, grapes and strawberries but any fruit firm enough to stay on the stick will do.  Melons do well too.  Avoid fruit that will discolor rapidly like banana or apple though. 

Take a kebob stick and layer the fruit with the marshmallow in the middle.

Keep cool until reay to serve. 



Zucchini and onion omelet

Zucchini and onion omelet

CSA ingredients: zucchini and onions plus farm fresh eggs

I was making zucchini bread and had some leftover shredded zucchini and made this yummy omelet.  I will share the zucchini bread recipe later-it  needs a few more adjustments (currently 2/3 kids will eat it I am going for 3/3!)

Ingredients (Serves 1)

2 eggs
1/2 cup shredded zucchini (I use food processor to shred)
1/4 cup diced onion
1 tbsp milk
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp butter
1 ounce goat cheese

Procedure

Beat eggs, milk and salt and pepper in small bowl.  (I used one whole and one egg white so adjust to your taste and health needs).

 Heat up omelet pan or small frying pan.

 Add butter and melt. 

Add onions and zucchini and saute until tender about 3-4 minutes. 

Add eggs and stir gently to combine.

Top with goat cheese evenly over top of omelet.

Cover with omelet pan cover or plate. Cook until inside cooked fully. 

Fold in half and serve. 

2 recipe reviews Popcorn balls and Sage Chicken

These 2 recipes are not CSA ingredient recipes but one's our family recently enjoyed so I thought I would share. Both came from Cooking Light Magazine.  Sorry i did not take pictures.

Popcorn balls

This has a huge hit when we brought it for soccer team snack!

1 Tbs canola oil

3 Tbs unpopped popcorn kernels

2 Tbs unsalted butter

2 1/4 cups mini marshmallows

1 cup honey-nut toasted oat cerea

liter 1 ounce pretzel sticks, broken into pieces

1/4 cup chopped dry-roasted peanuts, salted

1. Preparation

2. Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add kernels; cover and cook 4 minutes, shaking pan frequently. When popping slows, remove pan from heat. Let stand. (We have a hot air popper and just popped 3 tbsp of kernels.)

3. Melt butter in a pan over low heat. Add marshmallows; cook 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Add 3 cups popcorn and remaining ingredients; stir. Cool 2 minutes. Form into 10 (3-inch) balls. Cool 5 minutes.

We omitted nuts for soccer in case of allergies.  Can also add favorite candies  like mini M&M's or candy corn for Halloween. We made them balls bigger than 3 inches.

Sautéed Chicken with Sage Browned Butter

4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 Tbs olive oil

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

3 Tbs butter

1/3 cup white wine or chicken broth

2 sage sprigs

1 Tbs minced shallots

1 tsp chopped fresh thyme

2 Tbs lemon juice

Fresh sage leaves (optional)

1. Place each breast half between 2 sheets of plastic wrap; pound to 1/4-inch thickness. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat; coat with cooking spray. Place flour in a shallow dish; dredge chicken in flour. Add chicken to pan; sauté for 4 minutes on each side or until done. Remove chicken from pan.

2. Add butter and sage sprigs to pan; cook over medium heat until butter browns. Discard sage. Add shallots and thyme; cook for 30 seconds. Add lemon juice; cook for 30 seconds. Serve with chicken. Garnish with sage leaves, if desired.

Servings: 4

Cooking Time: 25 minutes

This is a simple chicken dish with lots of flavor.  We have fresh thyme and sage in our herb garden so that is a bonus!  Kids love this. Only complaint was I did not make enough for seconds.  You could make this a pasta dish by doubling the sauce, adding 1/4-1/3 cup of reserved cooking water and serving on top of linguine. Rice or quinoa make a nice side with some veggies.Make sure to ound thin- makes a big difference in cooking time and flavor.  Also don't have any shallots than simply use 1/3-1/2 cup of finely chopped onion.

Meredith's Corn and Potato Soup

CSA ingredients:
corn
potatoes
red pepper
onion
(homemade veggie broth from CSA ingredients)- more to come in future post

This got 5 stars from all the kids!

Recipe:

1 tbsp olive oil

1  medium onion, diced

2 celery stalks, chopped

1 carrot peeled, and chopped

8 cups low-sodium chicken broth(or vegetable broth)

3 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cubed

4-5 ears fresh corn kernels, cut of of cob

1 spring fresh rosemary

1 red pepper, finely chopped

1 tsp fresh-ground black pepper

salt  to taste

1 1/2 cups cubbed ham

1/3 cup heavy cream

salt and pepper to taste

Chives, snipped 

1. Heat pot over medium-high heat.  Add oil and heat. 

2. Add onions, celery and carrot saute until getting tender about 5 minutes.

3. Slowly add chicken (or vegetable) stock.

4. Bring to a simmer and add potatoes. Cook until tender about 20 minutes.  Can add 2 corn husk while simmering to add flavor to stock.

5. Add corn, peppers, and rosemary simmer 5-8 minutes until corn tender.  Add ham the last 2 minutes to heat.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

7. Remove from heat and add cream- stir to incorporate.

8. Serve with chives on top.

Servings: 6

To make vegetarian omit ham and use vegetable broth.  I actually prefer vegetable broth for this even with meat if I have homemade vegetable broth. 

Kitchen tip: To cut kernels off corn put husked corn over bundt pan- put corn over center part and cut corn into pan.  It collects all the corn so you don't have stray pieces all over the kitchen. 

Kitchen tip: Simmer do not boil.  when you boil soup it gets fat on top- simmering does not seperate out the fat.

Kitchen tip: Don't try milk instread of cream if you don't want cream just omit.  The cream gives it a silky texture that is quite good though!

Kitchen tip: Left over corn- cut kernels off cob and freeze.