Winter Recipe ~ Chile Verde with Pork

I claim in the description of this blog that I cook, but I haven't been showing that much lately. I have been kind of slacking in the kitchen, for one thing. Work is challenging these days, and I'm having a harder time finding the energy and creativity to cook interesting food when I get home. Plus, I think my years of having a food blog kind of burned me out on documenting my cooking. But I pushed myself to share this recipe with the blogosphere, because it is one of my favorites, and just needs to be shared.  

This Chile Verde recipe came from a Cooking Light Magazine years ago, and I wrote about it on my old blog. The reason I haven't deleted the old blog is because I still go back and refer to some of my favorite recipes on there, and this is one such recipe. This simple combination of tomatillos, poblano peppers, and pork doesn't take much work-- just a little time on the stovetop.

After taking the simple ingredients picture above, I had to laugh at the state of the kitchen. Because while I was getting dinner in order, Joe was preparing to bottle TWO batches of beer. This picture does not capture the chaos that was going on in our cute little city kitchen, but I swear it was comical watching the two of us utilize every inch of the counter space.

It's amazing how these plain ingredients can melt together into such a flavorful dish. And everything is supposed to start out chunky, too, so you don't even have to take the time to properly dice things. Win-win!

The ingredients melt down into this lovely stew, perfect for a cold winter night. With just the right amount of heat, and incredibly tender chunks of pork, I could eat this at least once a week. And now, by blogging about it, I will hopefully be reminding myself to make it again soon!

Chile Verde
from Cooking Light (2005ish?)

1 Tbsp canola oil
2 lbs pork shoulder, trimmed and cut into 1-inch cubes
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup all purpose flour
4 cups chopped onion
2 lbs small tomatillos, husks and stems removed and quartered
1 lb Anaheim or poblano chiles, cut into 1 inch pieces (I charred and peeled the skin, too)
6 garlic cloves, chopped
3 cups water
1 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp dried oregano

Heat canola oil in a stockpot over medium high heat. Sprinkle pork evenly with salt and pepper. Place flour in a large zip top plastic bag, add pork to bag, seal, and shake to coat. Add pork to pan and saute for 5 minutes, browning on all sides. Remove pork from the pan.

Add onion, tomatillos, chiles, and garlic to the pan. Saute about 8 minutes, or until tender. Add pork, water, and remaining ingredients to pan. (It will seem very chunky, but that's ok) Bring to a simmer, cook for 2 hours until pork is tender, stirring occasionally. If saving for the next day, allow the chile to cool to room temperature and then put in the fridge overnight.

Bits & Pieces Around the House

Life has been pretty calm around here, and I am not complaining. We had such a busy summer, with lots of traveling and socializing around Chicago, so I've welcomed the slower pace that came with the changing of seasons. Also, starting a new position at work a couple weeks ago has me working more "retail hours", which means fewer free weekends for hanging out with friends. I've been embracing this cozy time around the house, since i know in a few weeks it will officially be holiday season, with all the craziness that that entails. 

The condo is looking slightly festive these days.

I finally found an R at Anthropologie (they're always sold out!),
and I added it to our slowly growing gallery wall.

On a recent Sunday when we were both off work,
this guy worked some serious magic in the kitchen.
I LOVE sitting back and letting him take over!

Joe chose a french menu for the dinner, and made these pork and sage
stuffed veal rolls. So fancy, and delicious, too!

Cozy fall dinner.

I've been busy in the kitchen, too!
Just playing with my mini blowtorch, no biggie.

Nutella Creme Brulee.
(Need I say more?)

I hope your fall has been cozy and calm. Here's to a little more quiet time before the busy holiday season begins!

Healthy Eating Challenge

Two times a year, my coworkers are all invited to take part in a 28 day healthy eating challenge, commonly referred to as "The Challenge". The last one was right as I started working there, so I heard other people talking about it, but didn't participate myself. Joe and I both think of ourselves as pretty healthy eaters most of the time, but we're always up for a challenge in terms of making our diet healthier. So this year we're both on board, and as of Friday we started The Challenge for ourselves. 

Everyone has different plans for exactly how they're going to do the Challenge, ranging from eliminating cheese or sugar to all out strict vegan diets. We decided to make our challenge focus on a few of our usual vices, and to eat a mostly vegan diet for the next 28 days. Here's the specifics of our challenge:

- no coffee (drinking tea for now, hoping to cut out caffeine completely by the end)

- no drinking during the week, limited drinking on the weekends

- vegan diet, with the occasional exception of eggs

- limiting oil and salt

- reducing sugar intake

Last night, I was looking at vegetarian cookbooks and references I usually use, and I had a hard time finding many recipes that didn't include some kind of dairy product. One of the things I'm really trying to limit is cheese, because I really really really love cheese, and know how unhealthy it can be. I'm sure I'll be eating cheese again once the challenge is over, but I think it's good to try to cut back. I ended up getting online, and finding tons of great sounding options on vegan blogs. Last night we made these fantastic delicata squash with quinoa and cranberry stuffing, inspired by a recipe from the Vegan Yum Yum cookbook. This was one of the more delicious dishes I've made recently, vegan or not!

We've also made lentil chili from the Whole Foods Market website, and have a bunch of recipes from online picked out for this week. I think Vegan Dad will be one of my favorite sources of inspiration, starting with his Indian Style Potatoes and Greens. I'll keep you guys posted on recipes I really enjoy!

Lentil Chili. Not pretty, but tasty and filling!

So far missing coffee is probably the biggest challenge! I have a feeling it'll get easier as this process goes on, and maybe by the end I'll stop drinking it quite so much. Expect a progress report in a week or two :)

Weekend Recap: Single Girl Version

I don't always do "weekend recap" types of posts, but this weekend I'm going to make an exception. This weekend was a great one, because I had the whole thing off, and did only what I wanted to do for myself. Joe was out of town, so I took full advantage of having the time to indulge in whatever I felt like doing!

Friday was a wine tasting at a friend's apartment, with plenty of wine and fantastic food pairings. Surrounded by great company, I managed to enjoy the wine and conversation until after 2:00 AM! It was pretty much the definition of a great party, and I kept thing under control enough to have a ton of fun, without too much of a headache the next morning :)

I started Saturday with some necessary sleeping in, and started to clean up around the house. After some halfhearted attempts to coordinate with friends, I decided to go see The Help alone, a newer experience for me. If you haven't seen a movie alone, I'd recommend you give it a try! It's really nice to just soak up a movie without having to worry about anyone except yourself. The movie was followed by frozen yogurt for lunch, and an unavoidable visit to Urban Outfitters. After my late night out on Friday, I soaked up the idea of spending Saturday night at home, watching stupid TV and just relaxing. Oh, and by relaxing, I mean canning some corn relish, then sitting on the couch after it was done! I am weird, and totally ok with that... I did have to laugh at myself when I thought about the fact that my "single lady" weekend without Joe involved shucking corn on the porch and watching too much reality TV.

New infinity scarf from UO

All the relish ingredients were from last week's CSA box!

The corn relish turned out fantastic! 

I didn't actually relax much on Sunday, but I really enjoyed all the running around that occurred. I started by literally running around, doing a three mile run on the trail by my house. Then my friend Chelsi and I headed to the farmers market, to score some more fresh veggies to can. Once we had the produce we needed, we went to Wicker Park to check out the Sidewalk Sale at Big Star. IT WAS AMAZING!  We got there about 30 minutes before it was supposed to start, and it turned out they couldn't fight the crowds and ended up starting the sale early. I got TEN awesome beer glasses... for a grand total of FIVE DOLLARS. Yup, these suckers were $0.50 each, which is why I couldn't resist buying so many!

The glasses are a mix of US craft brewers, like Great Lakes or Ommegang,
and Belgian brewers like Chimay or  La Chouffe.

Of course, we couldn't leave Big Star without some of their amazing tacos, and getting there so early meant we actually got a seat on the patio without any wait! Then Chelsi and I went back to my condo to do some canning, and made a whole bunch of Dilly Beans and Spiced Beets from this book. I can't wait to taste the results!

Now my handsome husband is home, and I have to go snuggle with him on the couch! While I did have a wonderful weekend, it's never as good when he's here. Hope you all had a great weekend too!

Perfect Summer Dinner

First off, I have to say I could never be a professional blogger. I do love to blog, and to think of ideas to document and share with the online world. But I get lazy/busy/uninspired, and the blog posting goes to the bottom of my priority list. I was doing a great time for a while, because I was working random hours and had weekday time off that was perfect for sitting down to blog. Now I (THANKFULLY!) am getting way more 9-5 type hours at work, and I am having to change my timing on certain things. I have to figure out evening or weekend times to workout, I get to spend a lot more time with my cute husband, and I need to find some times that are good for posting to this here blog. So, stick with me while I sort this stuff out, and you won't be sorry :)

Now, on to the actual topic of this post. I completely agree with Colleen's post about savoring summer instead of rushing into thinking about fall, and I thought of this dinner idea a couple nights ago when I was trying to decide a use from some beautiful heirloom tomatoes we received in our CSA box.  It's really simple, just adding some pasta and homemade pesto to a traditional caprese salad. I used einkorn pasta, an ancient type of wheat that is full of protein, and small balls of fresh mozzarella that I quartered. The basil was fresh from the garden (or container on the porch!), and I mixed it all together once the pasta had cooled somewhat. This quick FIVE INGREDIENT dinner was even better tasting than I expected--fresh tasting and capturing the essence of summer produce. Perfect enjoyed on the back porch, soaking up some of the amazing weather we've been having in Chicago recently.

I'll welcome fall when it arrives, but look forward to savoring more summer while it's still here!

The Weekend... and lots of Basil

What do you do with a huge pile of basil?  Pesto, of course! We've been growing some very abundant basil plans on our porch, and we also got a bag of basil in last week's CSA box. I hate wasting food, and the basil out back desperately called out for some pruning.  Kept it simple with the Everyday Italian recipe, although I didn't use nearly the amount of olive oil that was called for. Basil, pine nuts, cheese, oil... that's pretty much it! I froze ice cube size portions for future use, easy to grab one or two at a time. 

The basil bunches totally reminded me of a bouquet of flowers!



What do you do with a bunch of pesto?  Pizza! And not just any pizza, but pizza with crust that was made using some of our spent grain from brewing.

He has to know by now that if he makes faces because I'm taking pictures,
then those faces will end up online :)

My weekend was something like this... Friday night- work on resume, make pesto, go to bed early. Saturday- work and babysit. Sunday- work and make pizza. Exciting, huh? The life of an hourly employee :) 

We did squeeze in a couple pints at the British pub a block from our house, which finally got its liquor license after being open for almost six months! We rarely eat out, and pub food is not my favorite, but we're excited to have a decent bar so close to our house! The heat and humidity cut us some slack last night, too, making for a great time to sit out and have a drink. Cheers!

Asparagus and Sun Dried Tomato Frittata

A frittata is basically a big omelet, similar to a Spanish tortilla. It is also an excellent way to use up some leftover meat or produce that is hanging out in your fridge. After canning asparagus a couple weeks ago, I had a lot of leftover ends of asparagus from trimming the vegetables to fit into the jars. You don't want the very bottom of the asparagus, which tends to be tough and stringy, but the other 2-4 inches between the end and the "jar-worthy" tips were leftover and begging to be used up.

I also had some goat cheese and sun dried tomatoes, some fresh basil, a bunch of eggs, and a little heavy cream.  Any leftover zucchini, ham, turkey, mushrooms, or other fridge lurkers could be great in this recipe, too. It's basically a catch-all, with lots of room for experimenting. Below is a very loose recipe for making a frittata. Try this tomorrow morning, for a delicious start to your Sunday morning.

First, saute any vegetables that are not cooked. For this recipe, that means cooking about 1 cup of asparagus spears, sliced into 1/2 inch rounds, in a little olive oil. Season with salt and pepper, and cook in a saute pan for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

In a large bowl, whisk together the following:

8 eggs

1/4 cup heavy cream

salt & pepper

1/4 cup sliced sum dried tomatoes

1 cup cooked asparagus

3 Tbsp fresh basil, torn

Wipe out the pan that you cooked the asparagus in, and warm over medium heat. Grease the pan liberally with oil or cooking spray, and pour the egg mixture into the pan. Dot the top of the eggs with pieces of the goat cheese and patiently let the frittata cook for at least 10 minutes, without stirring. Transfer the pan to the oven, and broil for 5-10 minutes, until the top is set. Loosen the frittata with a spatula, and flip over onto a cutting board. Cut into slices and enjoy!

P.S. I hate writing recipes, so this probably makes no sense! If you want to see another recipe for a frittata, click here for a more detailed recipe.

Preserving the Market

Remember my loot from the Green City Market last weekend? The bread was eaten almost immediately, and some of the beef was made into amazing hamburgers a couple nights ago. But the real treasure from this market visit was the beautiful asparagus that I'd been waiting all winter to buy.  

Last summer was the first time I canned a variety of pickled vegetables, but I had started this little hobby later in the summer, when asparagus were already long gone. So this year I knew better, and I had been waiting patiently for my first chance to get some local, organic asparagus that were worthy for the task at hand.

I used a recipe from my favorite book for canning, and everything went smoothly.  Now I just need to wait patiently for at least a few more weeks, to let the flavors really develop. I can't wait to see how they turned out!

If anyone wants the recipe, or some advice on canning, just let me know!

Chickpea and Spinach Vegetarian Tacos

These were the best accidental Cinco De Mayo tacos I ever could have imagined. You see, on Sunday I planned some meals for the week and made my usual grocery trips. It wasn't until mid-week that I realized I had planned to make Mexican food on Thursday, May 5. I tried to convince Joe I need to make margaritas to go with these delicious tacos, but for some reason he thought that was silly. No matter what you're drinking, though, these are some unique and delicious vegetarian tacos. The filling is healthy and flavorful, and the fancy toppings make these something special. I can guarantee this recipe will be gracing our kitchen multiple times this summer, and one day I'll finally see how well it pairs with a frosty lime beverage (apparently reserved for weekends!).

Chickpea and Spinach Tacos
from Epicurious

Serves 4

8 to 10 corn or flour tortillas

1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon ground ancho chile (or chili powder)
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
3 small shallot lobe, thinly sliced
1 (15 oz) can crushed tomatoes in their juices
1 (15 oz) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 to 2 1/2 cups lightly packed spinach leaves, stacked, rolled, and thinly sliced
Kosher or sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Toppings:
1 avocado, peeled, seeded, and cut into chunks
4 ounce feta cheese, crumbled
4 tablespoon roasted pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
Hot pepper sauce, such as Tabasco
1 lime

Preparation

Warm the tortillas and wrap them in aluminum foil to keep warm.
Pour the oil into a medium skillet over medium heat. When the oil starts to shimmer, add the ground ancho, stir to combine, and cook until it sizzles and becomes very fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the garlic and shallot and cook until the vegetables start to soften and slightly brown, 4 to 6 minutes.

Stir in the tomato and chickpeas and cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomato softens and starts to break down. Add the spinach and cook until the spinach wilts, 1 to 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Lay the tortillas out on a plate and divide the chickpea-spinach mixture among them. Top with the avocado and feta and sprinkle with the pumpkin seeds. Dash a little Tabasco on each taco, squeeze the lime over them, and enjoy!

Note:

To roast the pumpkin seeds, warm one Tablespoon of oil in a saute pan. When warm, add the pumpkin seeds, and a sprinkle of salt. Stir the seeds until they start to smell fragrant, about 4 or 5 minutes. Careful, they will pop a little!    **Be sure to buy pepitas, which are just the green inside part of the pumpkin seed. Regular seeds from a carving pumpkin are way too rough and stringy!**

Cooking Updates

As some of you know, I used to have a cooking blog. I guess I still have one, but I haven't actually posted anything there since December. I had been blogging about recipes and cooking-related topics for a few years, and got sick of always having to rehash about what I made, how to do it, and typing out detailed recipes. I'm living in the world of food right now, thanks to my job at Whole Foods, so I don't always feel like blogging about recipes on my time off.

However, I am still cooking a TON, and find that I do sometimes want to share my favorite recipes. I'm going to use this blog as a place to share occasional kitchen successes, while also talking to you about whatever else comes to mind. That's the beauty of having a blog... I can use it to talk about whatever I want!

I've updated the tabs up top. Below my header is a tab for Recipes, where I'll link up any food-related posts. I'll also continue to put links there for recipes that I like but don't feel like blogging about. Check back later today for a fantastic vegetarian taco recipe I made last week, and let me know if you're cooking anything tasty I should know about!

Homebrew Dinner

A few weeks ago, Joe and I went to the first Square Kegs homebrewers get together, and had the chance to meet other homebrewers at this event put on by the Lincoln Square Chamber of Commerce. The event was at Red Lion, a British pub that just opened up a block from our house, and we had a wonderful time meeting tons of cool people and drinking their tasty homebrewed beers.  Among the people we chatted with that night were two other married couples who enjoy brewing together, and we decided in our somewhat tipsy state that it would be a great idea to have a dinner at one of our houses, where everyone brought beer to share, and contributed one of the courses. Sounds like fun, right?



Great references for planning a beer dinner!



I adore hosting dinners at our house, so I took the initiative to email the other couples in order to get something officially planned. Last night we had everyone over to our house for dinner, and had an excellent time eating, drinking, and talking about beer! We did talk about other things, too, but obviously everyone enjoyed discussing favorite brew techniques, craft beers, and bars or restaurants around the city.



Yesterday happened to be my day off from work, so I had lots of time to prep dinner and to clean up the house. I also had time to rig up two tables next to each other, since our regular dinning room table is super tiny and only seats four people! Notice where the table cloth dips down?



As we were getting ready for dinner, I pointed out to Joe that we really didn't know our guests at all. Luckily, they weren't psychotic murders, but instead were smart, interesting, all around cool people! We had a fantastic time eating all of the food, and really enjoyed getting to know everyone. We ended the evening with a promise to do another dinner in the future, and I sincerely hope this happens. I think this dinner goes to prove that homebrewers are the best people out there!



Sonya and Jack brought an amazing assortment of cheese from Pastoral, and Pedro and Angela made delicious homemade biscotti and macaroons. I made grilled chicken, goat cheese mashed potatoes, and roasted green beans and cremini mushrooms. What a great meal we had!

Random Thoughts...

Last night Joe and I were discussing how much we love pasta salad. It's one of those "empty the fridge" types of dishes, and there are so many good variations of it. Last night I made a Greek-inspired version. They were out of orzo at my store, so I used fusilli. I mixed in kalmata olives, red pepper, tomatoes, shredded carrots, red onion, and feta cheese, then dressed it with some olive oil, salt and pepper, a splash of white wine vinegar, and some dried oregano. We both went back for seconds.

Yesterday I was having a very grumpy day, so I had a glass of wine after work, then went shopping at Forever 21. It's cheap quality, but sometimes I have to get my clothing fix on a budget. I got a couple cute tops, and some cheap (but nice fitting) skinny jeans. I am officially on the skinny jeans bandwagon. I also got these socks, which pretty much instantly improved my day...

My favorite cookbook for the last few months has been Moosewood's Cooking for Health. Every recipe we've tried has been excellent, and the recipes make healthy vegetarian eating pretty simple. These veggie burgers were made with quinoa, tempeh, and sweet potatoes, and they were incredibly flavorful!  I ate the last one for lunch today, nestled in a pita pocket with avocado and pickled peppers that my friend Paul made. A fantastic little lunch, if I do say so myself! Best eaten while indulging in some mindless tv, such as the newest season of Real Housewives of New York. I just can't help it.

We're Kansas City bound in the morning. Looking forward to a fun weekend catching up with family and friends!

This dinner makes me think it should be summer

This simple salad was supposed to be dinner last night, but I wasn't in the mood to use my knife very much! So I kinda set things out and got the eggs and potatoes cooking, then ate leftovers instead. It was getting late, and on nights when I need to go to bed early, I try to eat early enough to digest at least somewhat. So Joe* finished preparing the pieces for his salad last night, and talked about how tasty it was as I was getting ready for bed. The nice thing is that the recipe makes enough for four salads, so I was able to put all the pieces together again tonight for my own delicious dinner. I'm predicting this salad will make a few appearances this summer, paired with chilled white wine and a seat on our porch. That sounds like heaven right about now.

*Joe- also known as the best husband ever, who is nice and patient and cheerful when his wife is being totally grumpy.

Nouveau Niçoise Salad
from Eating Well



4 servings, generous 2 cups each

Ingredients
4 eggs
8 ounces green beans, trimmed and halved
8 small red potatoes
1/4 cup minced shallots
1/4 cup red-wine vinegar
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
6 cups mixed salad greens
2 6-ounce cans chunk light tuna, drained (see Note)
12 Nicoise or Kalamata olives


1. Place eggs into a pan and cover with cold water. Bring the water to a boil, and set a timer for one minute. After one minute, turn the heat off, cover the pan, and let the eggs sit in the hot water for 15-20 minutes. Gently remove the eggs from the water, and place in the refrigerator to cool.

2. Add the potatoes to the pot, and add fresh, cold water and another big pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, then boil for about 20 minutes, until the potatoes are knife-tender. Drain, and let the potatoes cool.

3. Bring water to a boil on last time. Add a big pinch of salt, and the green beans. Cook until just tender and bright green, 2 to 3 minutes. Drain the beans in a colander, rinse under cold water and set aside in a large bowl.

3. Meanwhile, combine shallots, vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Slowly whisk in oil.

4. Cut the potatoes into quarters or eighths, depending on their size. Add to the bowl with the beans. Add greens, tuna and the dressing. Toss well. Peel the eggs and cut into wedges. Divide the salad among 4 plates. Top with egg wedges and olives. Serve immediately.


Make Ahead Tip: Cook green beans, potatoes and eggs; dry, cover and refrigerate for up to 1 day.
Did you know hard boiled eggs are much easier to peel when the eggs are less fresh? It makes a huge difference!

Cooking First: I made steak!

No matter how much time I spend in my kitchen, there is always something new to try. Cooking a steak isn't exactly an intensive technique, but for me it was a huge accomplishment. Really, the milestone was not so much cooking the meat, but cooking and then eating a decent sized piece of red meat.

You see, I swore off red meat when I was 13, thanks to Oprah's episode on the dangers of beef, and my general pickiness about eating meat. I was a pretty average eater as a kid-- I had my aversions, but wasn't overly picky. As I got older, I grew into some of my tastes, learning to appreciate things like fresh summer tomatoes. I became a somewhat adventurous eater, trying things like escargot or frog's legs, and I started to feel like a bit of a fraud for refusing to eat any red meat. How could I be a foodie if I refused to eat a whole category of food that I wasn't even willing to taste! (Although I hate the word foodie, and the obnoxious outcomes of the recent food renaissance!)

Last spring Joe and I became vegetarian for Lent. During that time, I decided that once it was over, I was ready to try red meat again. It's funny how things have worked out, because we eat a vegetarian diet at least 75-85% of the time at this point... but I have learned to appreciate meat so much more when I do eat it. And it was only appropriate that a food and beer expert like Garrett Oliver would cook me my first grown up tastes of lamb and beef.

I've had some burgers since then, and sampled various cuts of beef and lamb with my food related jobs. Last week I suggested to Joe that we actually plan a meal that has meat as its main course, and he suggested steak. I grabbed the bull by the horns, researched steak cooking techniques from Anthony Bourdain and Thomas Keller, and bought some petite sirloin from Whole Foods. I also found a blue cheese compound butter recipe from Ina Garten, which was so indulgent and mind-numbingly delicious.  Roasted Brussels sprouts and boulangere potatoes (similar to this) rounded out the perfect dinner. I ended up only eating half of the steak, but I'd consider that a significant first step!

Also, let's talk about the butter. Four tablespoons of softened butter, 2 ounces of blue cheese, and a heaping tablespoon of minced scallions. You can blend it in your food processor, or if you hate cleaning your food processor, you can just smash it with a spoon until it's blended. Then, roll it into a log using some parchment paper, and toss it in the freezer for an hour or two. Top your steak with a big slice off the log, and be amazed. Then, save the rest of the butter for when you need to elevate a dish to a new level. Delish!