Oink.Oink.

I love pulled pork.  I unfortunately do not own a smoker ( But Santa if you are listening, I've been a really good girl!) so I go the crock pot way. It's so easy and delicious. I know you will enjoy it as much as I do.
This recipe is very simple, and the left overs freeze well too.

Ingredients:
1 Pork Shoulder (I like the bone in)
Cumin
Garlic Cloves
Onion Powder
Salt
Pepper
Chili Powder
Paprika
Cayenne

Cut small slits into the pork and stuff with garlic cloves, about 3 per pound.
Place meat in the slow cooker and cover generously with the rest of the spices.
Cook on low for about 3 hrs per pound. Shred and serve with your favorite BBQ sauce.

On a side note you can re use the leftover on a pizza, or a burrito.
Left over BBQ Pork, cheddar, jalapenos tomatoes, grilled onions.

Enjoy!!

Fire and Ice: Grilling in the Snow.

I love food but I have a few weaknesses; Anything grilled and pizza (I'm an American after all). When the two are combined, you can usually find me drooling not far from the scene. One of my favorite things about pizza is how versitile it can be.  There may not be a spouse out there for you, but there sure is a pizza soul-mate waiting for you.

This is my pizza soul-mate.

Grilled Curry Pizza.

Ingredients:
1 c.  Cooked Curry Chicken and Vegetables ( I usually use leftovers, but you can always make it fresh.)
1lb of pizza dough
1/4 cup Mango diced small
1/4 cup Shredded Mozzarella
4 oz of goat cheese
Olive Oil

Preheat the grill to about 450 F

Ok, first thing to tackle is the dough. You can either make it yourself, or pick up a ball of it at your local grocery/pizza place. I use a real simple recipe that I found online (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/quick-and-easy-pizza-crust/detail.aspx) and of course some of my own twists as well. I use honey instead of sugar. This particular pizza also goes very well on Nan, an Indian flat bread.

After you have made or purchased your dough you are going to have to form it. I like a thin round pizza. I'm a New Yorker, what else do you expect? You can either roll your dough with a rolling pin or toss and stretch it.
Once your dough is formed and your grill heated you will want to take everything to the grill with you. I like to prep everything ahead of time that way when I am ready for it I can just grab and go.

Once the oven is hot enough I like to use an old kitchen towel or bush to oil the grill grates with the Olive Oil.
After the grill is heated and the grates are oiled you will place your dough on the grill.

This will all go very quickly, so it is best to be prepared.

You will assemble your pizza as follows:
          Spread the curry mixture on top of the do.ugh. On top of the curry you will add small crumbles of goat cheese and lightly sprinkle the shredded mozzarella over top. The last thing to go on the pizza will be the mango. Now you just watch and wait. It should take about 5 minutes for a nice crispy crust and bubbly gooey cheese.

My SD card is stuck in my camera. Pics to follow as soon as I can get it out. Or after I smash it, buy a new camera and cook another pizza.
Enjoy!

Lunch Lady Confessions

Have I ever told you I am a former lunch lady? No, no not the kind that Adam Sandler Sings about

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP-dbTvwrYs)...well I did wear a hair net, and I do have this weird beauty mark thing.... OK anyways, yes I was a lunch lady. The title was actually Kitchen Manager, but I knew what it meant. 

But man, I could get those kids to eat anything, I tell you I have a gift for this sort of stuff. The stuff that consists of tricking kids into eating healthy food. The staff was amazed at what I was doing with such a small budget and a small staff (ME).  I loved my job. I kept things as natural and healthy as I could, and the kids loved it. So here's one of many "Kid Friendly" recipes I'll be posting.

Turkey Tacos

1lb of ground turkey (I try to substitute ground turkey for ground beef as often as I can)

1 8oz jar tomato sauce (you know that unseasoned sauce in the little jar) 

1 1/2 tbs ea. Onion powder, Garlic powder, and dried oregano

2(+) tbs Chili Powder

1/2 tsp ground Cumin

1/2 med onion diced 

1 sm. red bell pepper diced

1/2 15 oz Can Kidney beans drained and smashed (optional)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Note-The spice amount can be increased to your tastes, I myself prefer a little more cumin, but for the kids, i choose to keep it a little more basic

In a large saute pan brown the meat, onion and pepper, until turkey is cooked through, then drain most the grease. In a separate bowl mix the spices with the tomato sauce and add a 1/4 c. of water. Pour this mixture (And beans if desired) over the taco meat and let simmer until sauce is thickened. 

 The beans aren't necessary, but they are great for a couple reasons: 1. They stretch your dollar big time 2. High fiber, High protein, Low fat. That's pretty much all you need to do for the taco filling, most of the work in this recipe (and with most kid friendly recipes) is the presentation..

What do most kids love, what food don't they complain about? Pizza? Yeah, I agree. SO make their food resemble it.

I take one tortilla, put about a quarter cup of taco meat, and a sprinkle of cheese over 1/2 of the tortilla. Then I make a quesadilla out of it. I like to use my panini maker, it makes them nice and crisp with out any oil. I've been known to sneak chopped fresh tomatoes into them as well.

For the adults I leave the meat and tortillas out with different toppings (cheese, lettuce, onion, tomato, etc) as normal.

The best part about this is that essentially it's almost like having two different meals, a kid meal and adult meal, but its really all the same, just served differently.

Also- These tacos freeze really well. Just double the recipe and freeze half for a later date, or freeze the leftovers.

Mom, where's my pumpkin?

To give you a little background info I lost my job about a month ago. It sucks. Luckily my other half has a good job, and for now we are surviving. But some of the little things haven't been so tangible to us. Just ask our 3yr old "B". "Mom where's my birthday party? I need some balloons!" "Mom where's my pumpkin??"

The birthday party is on hold, two more weeks and we can do. But if we get a pumpkin, and a costume, that could F*^k up our budget for the oh so important party, which is no longer important now that Halloween is approaching... oh the indecisive mind of a toddler.. So what to do??

I'm calling these my mock pumpkins.

1 Glass Jar (or more)
 Masking tape
Orange Paint (or in our case, acrylic pink and yellow paint mixed.)
Tealight candles

I don't normally have an abundance of patience, it's a gift I never received. But this craft was right up my alley. First thing we (I) did was make 3 triangles out of masking tape (eyes, nose) and then I made a crescent shape (mouth) with the tape as well and had "B" help me put the face together on the jar. Let me tell you that crescent shape was a pain, it looks like the pumpkin jar is smirking, but oh well, she's enthused. Ok, now that the face is stuck on securely, we paint. Have your little one or you paint the entire jar orange, let it dry and then CAREFULLY peel off the tape. (I have to admit I did touch up a little after I removed the tape because some of the paint came off). I used acrylic paint for this, it stuck pretty well. I'm not sure how tempera would do, but its work a shot, maybe mix it with some clear nail polish?

Anyways it was a nice quick little craft, and now we have pumpkins! One less thing on her needs checklist :)

Note: I lit these up last night and decided that the eyes, nose and mouth needed to be blacked out, so I found some  black felt and glued them on where i had taken the tape off, now they look just perfect. Although "B" is not happy about the felt adjustment, I feel she will get used to it.

Why did the chicken cross the road?

So I wouldn't eat him! (Lame?)

Ok first of all I would like to state that I really need a to get my camera situation in order ASAP. For now let's try to make due, but I promise I'll do it soon... Ok lets make this chicken.

I love chicken. Its so versatile and I'm pretty sure it was one of the first meats I started cooking. So I figured I should post a chicken for three days blog too.

I like to start with a whole chicken. lets say for this post it's a 6 lb chicken (about average I believe)

So let's cook this whole chicken first:

Day 1
     1 Whole chicken
      2 fresh lemons
      8-10 cloves of fresh garlic
     Olive Oil
      2tbs margarine
     Salt and Pepper
      2tsp Paprika
      Butchers Twine

Preheat the oven to 375 F.
Now we get to prep the chicken. First thing you will want to do is remove the gizzards from the inside of the bird. Then you will want to  tie the wings back with the butchers twine, the bird should be laying on his stomach , then twist the wings behind his back/neck and tie together, it should like he's relaxing with arms behind his head.

 After the wings are tied you will turn the chicken so he is laying on his back. Now mix the olive oil, margarine,salt, pepper, paprika so it form a paste like concoction. Then life the skin away from the breast by inserting your fingers between the skin and the breast and separating them through as much of the chicken as you can. Once the skin is separated take the margarine paste with your fingers and spread under the skin. This will give you a nice crisp skin. After the outside is prepped, insert the lemons and garlic cloves into the cavity.( I like to sandwich the garlic in between the lemons.) Then tie his legs together so it looks like he's waiting in line for the restroom (legs crossed).

 Place the bird in a roasting pan and form a foil tent (cover the pan with foil). I usually roast my chicken 20 minutes per pound, so a  6 lb chicken would take about 2- 2.5 hrs. I take the foil off about 1/3- 1/2 way through the cooking time and let it finish cooking uncovered.I take my chicken out of the oven once it is at about 155-160 F. I cover it back up with foil and let it rest, it will also finish cooking while it's resting. It should read 165 F with a meat thermometer once it is done.

                                                 Um, yum!

 Day2

 1 Chicken carcass (lemons and garlic still inside)
 1/2 of the left over chicken meat
 1 onion quartered (more if you prefer)
  2 whole carrots in half (more if you prefer)
  3 celery ribs, cut n half(more if you prefer)
  3 GArlic cloves
   SAlt and Pepper to taste
   1/2lb egg noodles, boiled

 Ok, making your own stock/broth is so easy, there is really no reason not to. First place the veggies and garlic at the bottom of a big stock/soup pot, then ontop of them place the chicken carcass. Fill with just enough water to cover the carcass. Bring to a boil and then let simmer for about an hour, or untill veggies are tender and broth looks like broth ( it should have a yellow beige tint to it.). Once the broth is at it's desired strength remove the carcass. Then add the portion of meat you have set aside, and the noodles along with any other spices you might want (i like to add oregano and nutmeg) and let simmer for about 10-20 minutes.  you're going to want to cut the veggies a little small when you ready to serve, but aside from that it's done, that's it! Homemade chicken noodle soup.
   -Note homemade chicken stock refrigerates much differently then store bought, it will have a more gelatinous texture when its cold, but have no fear  it will return to normal once its warmed up.

Day 3
   Left over chicken meat.
   1 package crescent rolls
   1 package Philadelphia Italian style cooking creme
   1 cup chopped fresh spinach
    2tbs grated parmesan cheese
Preheat oven to 375 F (or whatever your package of rolls suggests)

In a larg bowl mix leftover chicken, cooking cream, chopped spinach, and parmesan cheese. On a clean non stick surface unroll the crescent rolls. Now instead of tearing them apart you are going to form squares from two  triangles of dough by pressing the seams together.

 Then in the middle of the rectangle  you will place about a quarter cup of the chicken mixture. Then fold up the corners towards the center of the dough (where the mixture is). It might look a sloppy, but I usually just turn them upside down so the smooth part is on top when I cook them.

Ok, now place them in the oven and cook them until golden brown. And there you go,a delicious, quite elegant meal made from leftovers in less than 1/2 hour. You can't ask for more than that, can you?

3 days of pork?? Seriously?

Three Days of BS (Beef Suppers)

 I chose to use top sirloin steaks for these recipes, not only are they delicious but they are also very affordable.When I buy my sirloin  steaks they are usually cut into smaller, individual steaks. I prefer the smaller steak for two reasons: 1. Its much easier to set aside how much you will need for each recipe 2. It takes up less room in the fridge.

Lets say you have about 2 1/2 lbs of the steak at hand

Day 1:

   Marinade:3 tbs Olive Oil (Good Olive Oil is really the only way to go)

                   1/4 cup Good Balsamic Vinegar

                   2tbs Worcestershire Sauce

                   2tbs ea Dried Parsley, Dried Basil, Dried Oregano

                   1/2 tbs ea minced garlic and minced onion

                    Salt and Pepper to taste

                            Mix the above ingredients. Place the steaks in a dish or freezer bag. (I prefer a dish, like a Pyrex dish, because then I can just broil them right in the dish.)Pour the marinade over the steak and let it marinade for at least 5hrs. Please do remember to take your steak out of the fridge atleast 30-45 minutes before you intend on cooking it so it is room temp. before you start cooking it. Now you can cook these steaks either in the oven under the broiler or on the grill. A couple quick tips: Don't turn your meat more than 2 times, 4 times max; Don't ever turn with a fork or anything else that will pierce the meat, USE TONGS!

The steaks I use I usually pretty thin  (about a 1") , I cook them for about 2-3 minutes on each side for medium (pink in the middle). As I said this can work either on the grill or in the broiler. Also- I do keep the marinade in the dish while the steak is cooking if I'm broiling it. Once the steaks are to your desired doneness remove and let stand about ten minutes. I usually serve these steaks with some form of potatoes and vegetables. I'll post side dish recipes at a later date.

Ok so know you have eaten and you have massive amounts of left over meat. What to do? Firs thing i would do is slice up the meat, very thinly with a Sharp knife ( a good  knife is a great investment). And portion out the meat, that way its less to think about later. Also if you are in a constant time crunch, check out your freezer or even fresh produce sections of your local grocery store for pre-diced and sliced peppers and onions, they are a serious time saver!

Now on to the rest of the BS....

Day 2

       Cheese Steak Stromboli:

                 1 medium red pepper diced (or green or yellow, any pepper will do)

                 1 small yellow/white onion diced

                 5-6 white mushrooms sliced

                  1/2lb leftover steak, sliced thin

                  1/4lb sharp Provolone sliced cheese

                  1/4 CUP shredded cheddar cheese (optional)

                  1/4 lb mozzarella cheese shredded

                  1/4 lb cream cheese (softened) 

                  1tbs minced garlic + 1 tsp minced garlic

                  Pizza Crust (store bought or your own)

                  Olive Oil

            1. Heat saute pan on low with about a tbs of Olive oil in it, Heat oven to 450 F ( or what your store bought crust recommends)

             2. Prepare veggies (slice dice etc) and add to the saute pan, cook slowly and allow the veggies to caramelize  also mix cream cheese, mozzarella, and 1tbs of minced garlic to form a cheese spread.

             3. Meanwhile  roll or unroll your crust onto a baking sheet, it should be in a rectangle shape to form the Stromboli. Now we will start the layering: 

                             a. You layer all of this down the CENTER of the Stromboli. The first thing to go down will be the slices of provolone Cheese, then on top of that you will spread the cheese spread you have made.

                             b. By this time the veggies should be just about done throw the steak in the pan and mix it a little so its combined well,then place on top of the cheeses. Then ontop of the steak/veggie mix sprinkle the cheddar the cheese

              4. Then finish forming your stromboli, roll the sides up over the enter and close the ends. ((I'll start posting pics soon, but for now I found this video on how to form the Stromboli 

http://www.howdini.com/howdini-video-8602865.html)

              5.Cut four slits along the top of and then bake for recommended time or until golden brown.

              6. Once its done i like to brush it with a little olive oil that has been mixed with minced garlic , just for added visual appeal.
          Cute and serve! I like it with a nice garden salad on the side.

Day 3:

     Steak Fajitas:

           1- medium onion sliced

           2 Bell peppers sliced 

           1/2-1lb steak sliced thin

           1 1/2 tbs ground cumin

           1 tbs garlic powder

           1/2 tbs oregano

           1/2 tsp paprika

           salt and pepper to taste

           Tortillas and toppings

                 1. First I like to mix all the spices together so they are well combined when I add them to the pan.            

                 2. Heat a pan with 2 tbs Canola Oil on medium heat, then add veggies and steak

                 3 Sprinkle the meat and veggies with the spice mix and combine well

                 4. Continue to cook on medium heat until veggies are tender, then remove from heat

                 5. Stuff tortillas with the steak and peppers along with any toppings you may choose

                        (At my house we usually have sour cream, cheddar cheese, jalapenos, salsa etc.)
  This is a favorite in our house, I like to serve it with a nice black bean and corn relish, or beans and rice.

Ok Folks, that's all for today. Enjoy the recipes and dinner!

                 

                 

About Bare Cupboard

Ok, I'll be honest with you. I am a novice blogger,and by novice, I mean I have no idea what I'm doing.  On the other hand, I am  a seasoned cook.I'm also a mother, a wife, a smart ass, a wanna be artist, a crafty person, an environmentalist  and did I mention a smart ass? I'm going to use this as a place to post the  stuff that I do, recipes, crafts, re purposing etc...

I'll try to keep it varied, interesting and simple. Ok, deep breath, here we go...