Month: April 2016

Slow Cooker Spiced Brisket with Vegetables

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My husband and his paternal side of the family were raised Jewish. While we are not practicing the religion, we still like to acknowledge and teach our children about the holidays and traditions. This week is Passover and we wanted to have a special meal to celebrate. The star of the show this time was the Kosher Beef Brisket we got from Trader Joe’s. (I promise I’m not endorsed by Trader Joe’s, I just like it that much. I shop there all the time!)

I found a recipe online that I thought sounded very interesting. It uses a blend of spices I would never have thought would go so well with beef, but it works! The original recipe can be found here. There’s cinnamon, ground ginger, ground cloves, mustard powder, brown sugar, salt and pepper in the rub. At first, I’ll admit that I was unsure as it smelled a lot more like a Christmas Ham than a Passover Brisket.  But, after 8 hours in the crockpot, the flavors really came together and it was great.

Kosher Beef Brisket with Spice Rub

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Pho Bo – Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup

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Oh boy! Oh boy! What better way to wrap up an amazing anniversary weekend than making a big pot of soup and watching the season premieres of some of your favorite TV shows?! I think that big pot of soup being a big pot of Pho Bo is the answer.

My husband has been obsessed with pho for some time now. I was on the fence until we finally bit the bullet and made it at home. Now, I’m obsessed. I don’t know why the restaurant version didn’t do it for me at first, because I like it now. I think it’s just an acquired taste and that first homemade batch was the push I needed to finally appreciate the magic of the pho. It’s delicious, interesting and you actually feel good after you eat it. Obsessed.

Alright, so making pho is definitely a labor of love. It can be expensive to procure all of the ingredients and it takes forever. But note, some of these ingredients you will buy once and they will last you a long time.

My recipe today makes a TON of broth so make sure you take note and half or quarter the recipe to fit your needs. Today I’m using my 20 quart pot that I use for canning. We like to make a ton because it takes so long to make and you can freeze the broth for later. This will make about 6-8 servings, plus about… servings of frozen broth.

Lots of ingredients= Lots of flavor

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Deconstructed Wonton Soup

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If you’re like me, what’s the best part of the Wonton soup? THE WONTON FILLING! That little pocket of flavor is what makes the soup so delightful. The downside? They only give you 2 or 3 Wontons in an average portion- bummer! It’s just mainly all broth.

My husband and I had some leftover cabbage and whatnot and wanted to make a soup. Hmmm… what else to we have? Frozen ground pork? Why, yes. Stuff to make stock? Yes again! Ginger? Duh. Oh, what about Won Ton wrappers?! Ohhh yeah.

So, Won Ton soup without actually making won tons was the winner. Fancy folk would call it “Deconstructed”, even.

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Fresh Strawberry Margaritas (and more!)

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Here in Wilmington, NC, we have an amazing place called Lewis Farms that has rows and rows and ROWS of Strawberries ready for picking all summer long. They also have amazing ice cream from a sister dairy farm (I recommend a Strawberry Banana Milkshake or the Pineapple ice cream), tons of great plants (I get most of my vegetables and herbs for the garden from here every year), Blueberries, Blackberries and I’m sure I’m forgetting something because there is just SO much awesome stuff here! My 2 kiddos go completely nuts when it’s time to go pick strawberries. Of course, they both MUST have their own bucket and we’re not done picking until they deem the buckets filled to capacity. That’s a LOT of strawberries, folks. This is just HALF!
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Pork Tacos (and all the fixin’s!)

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Hi Everyone! I mentioned in my Cuban Style Pork Roast post that my husband and I wanted to try something new with the finished roast outside of the normal black beans and rice accompaniments. Again, those sides are killer and a go-to, but we just wanted something fresh and exciting!

We recently discovered one of our local Latino Supermarkets, Los Portales Supermarket, and after asking probably a few too many questions (we were giddy with excitement), we found out that there were housemade corn tortillas at the back counter. THEY WERE STILL WARM! swoon. So, tacos it was! I took to Pinterest as I normally do and decided this was going to be my menu:

  • Pork
  • Pico de Gallo
  • Mango Salsa
  • Salsa Verde
  • Pineapple Mango Hot Sauce
  • Avocado, Radishes, Onion, Cilantro, Cotija, Mexican Crema (or Sour Cream)
  • Corn Tortillas
  • Saffron Rice
  • Black Beans

(SEE, I still couldn’t resist the rice and beans!)

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Cuban Style Pork Roast

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This recipe is one that is very near and dear to me and the Kron family. My husband grew up in Miami and lived near his uncle and his wife, who is from Cuba. Boy, can that lady cook! This is one of her recipes that has been passed along throughout the years. This recipe is very adaptable to your tastes and can absolutely be played with. The key is the stuffing of the garlic prior to roasting. You absolutely can not overdo the garlic in this recipe… IT CAN’T BE DONE! I’ve tried. The garlic is where the pork gets most of the flavor so really go to town here.

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