Cooking from the Couch: Carnitas and Pork Tacos

Carnitas are really easy and husband friendly. We had a family sized pack of boneless pork ribs to use up this week, but you can really use just about any cut of pork...although I don't recommend thin pork chops! Once defrosted, I have my hubbie put all the pork in a big zip lock bag with about half a jar of Mojo sauce (found in Mexican food section at your local grocery store). We let this marinate over night, then, my hubbie dumped it in the crock pot in the morning (sauce and all) and cooked on low for 6 hours.

I had the luxury of smelling this delicious pork cooking all day...it was almost too much to handle. When my hubbie got home, we whipped up a batch cornbread and a salad.

Cornbread:
We have this mix made ready to use. It is 4 c flour, 1 T salt, 1 c sugar, 1/4 c baking powder, 1 c lard, 4 c cornmeal. It makes about 10 cups of total mix. I just throw everything into the stand up mixed with the whisk attachment and let it do the work of mixing. Then, put in and airtight container and in the fridge it goes.

To make tonight's, cornbread, I used 2 1/2 cups of the homemade cornbread mix with 1 beaten egg and 1-1/4 cups milk. Mix just until dry ingredients and then pour in a drained can of corn. Mix well. Pour everything into a greased  8" square pan and bake at 425 degrees for 15-25 minutes. Super easy and extra yummy!


Pork Tacos (with leftovers)

We turned the oven on to slowly heat up the leftover pork some pimentos (or cooked green and red peppers). We let this heat up slowly in a covered dish at abut 300 degrees for 20 minutes. (or,microwave it)

While it was heating I had my hubbie make a batch of brown rice and white beans. The rice cooked on its own. Then, for the beans he put a can of white northern beans in a small pot with a little olive oil, 1 t cumin and 1 t cayenne pepper. Just let this heat up on low.

Then, once everything was hot are ready to go we had soft flour tortillas, the pork with peppers, some sour cream and cheddar cheese with the white beans and brown rice on the side. Super simple and a great use for the left over pork.

Cooking with Kids: Banana Bread

Today I hosted my monthly Cooking with Kids playdate. It ended up being at the end of August due to the bed rest situation. I was nervous at first about if I was going to be able to handle having all the kids over, my son home all day and still accomplish our project. I definitely still did more than I am supposed too, but it all worked out...only a few contractions during the event.

With hubbies help, we made 1 loaf of banana bread and 1 chocolate zucchini bread to share with the group.

We have a small group of 4 kiddos cooking today...our 5th slept through the whole thing! lol! So, I set it up so that everyone had their own job.

The two oldest boys (almost 2.5 yos) had the job of mashing bananas.

The two younger ones (almost 2yos) each had a set of ingredients to mix. To help make this easy, I gave each a bowl to mix in, all the ingedients, a whick to mix and  plastic measuring cups and spoons. (Oh and a notecard with the measurements)

One mixed the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder and salt. I gave this little one a sifter to play with while the others mixed. She loved it!

The other little one had wet ingredients: oil, sugar and 1 egg. His mommy helped to get all the ingredients in the bowl and then he did his best to mix it all together.

Then, the two older boys dumped all the ingredients in the big bowl and each took turns mixing it. By this time, I was having contractions, so to the chair I went. Mrs. S was nice enough to pour the batter into each childs own mini loaf pan.

Then, we gave the mini loaves back to the kids to add their extras. We had chocolate chips and nuts. Then, into the oven the mini loaves went for about 30 minutes (convection oven at 350 degrees). As payment for all their hard work, the kids were then given some "cake" to eat! Both types were a total hit!

The kids went off and plyed while their bread baked! Then, each got to take home their own mini loaf of banana bread! Complete success...especially because while I engulfed banana bread the ladies helped clean up! The kids were great though, no real mess to speak of!

If you haven't tried cooking with your kids yet or hosting a cooking playdate...try making banana bread. It is quick, easy and bakes up fast!

Banana Bread Recipe

1 3/4c flour,

2 1/4t baking powder,

1/2t salt,

1/3c oil,

2/3c sugar,

1 egg,

4 bananas

Mix dry ingredients in 1 bowl and the wet in another, then fold in together. Pour into pan....Bake at 350 degrees. For a 1 loaf pan bake 50-60 minutes. If using mini loaf pans or muffins, bake for 25-30 minutes.

This week's Cooking from the Couch Menu...

I was really drawing a blank this week on what I wanted to eat..go figure the pregnant girl with no cravings. Since it is coming towards the end of the month, I figured this would be a good week to work on cleaning out our pantry and freezer. So, we will make some classic dishes with a few alterations to accomodate what is available on hand. We have a lot of pork and chicken in the freezer along with a few other random things, so, let's see what we come up with.

Sunday: Carnitas with Cornbread mash
Monday: (LO meat) Pork Tacos with white beans
Tuesday: Grilled Pork chops with green bean soup
Wednesday: L.O soup with Ham and Cheese stuffed Biscuits
Thursday: A friend is bringing Cuban food
Friday: Southwest style Burgers with campfire potatoes
Saturday: Frito Pie

Again I will work to post recipes as we go along!

Cooking from the Couch: Spaghetti and Meatballs

One think my hubbie can make is spaghetti...I mean boiling water and setting a timer is right up his alley. So, I decided to make a very simple spaghetti and meatball recipe. It did not have all the glorious veggies hidden in the sauce like I usually do, but it was still simply delicious. Plus, all you non cooks out there won't have any more excused for takeout with this simple menu.

Spaghetti and Make-Shift Bolognese

First make the meatballs:
My hubbie brought me a huge bowl with:
1/2lb of extra lean ground beef
1/2 c bread crumbs
Salt and pepper
1 egg
1/4c milk
1/4c Parmesan

Once I mushed everything, I formed into1.5-2 inch balls. I placed each ball into a lightly greased cupcake pan. I have a huge 24 cupcake pan, so, I filled each cup. My hubbie put it in a 400 degree oven for about 7 minutes while I got up to wash my hands.

While it cooked, he started the water boiling in one pot. In another pot he poured in 1 large can of tomato sauce...you can use any spaghetti sauce unless you have a super picky eater like my hubbie. So, he put the sauce in a saute pan and turned on low. As it heated up he mixed in 1/2c chicken stock (I had him use the leftover veggie chicken stock from the chicken pies) and 1/2 c milk.

Once the meatballs are done, remove from the oven and carefully place in your sauce. I always encourage my hubbie to roll the meatballs around a bit to cover in sauce. Then, cover and simmer for 10 minutes or so.

You pasta should be ready now, so drain and add a splash of oils to avoid everything sticking together. Then put into individual pasta bowls with a meatball or two and slather in sauce. Garnish with a little bit of Parmesan! Mission accomplished..easy and delish!

Cooking from the Couch: Chicken pies

Tonight I was craving chicken pot pies, so, I put my hubbie to work. He brought me all the veggies  to prepare then, I walked him through the cooking process. He did great and it totally hit the spot.

Chicken Pies
Veggies of yout choice: potatoes, carrots, corn, green beans
3 breasts of boneless, skinless chicken
1 can cream of chicken soup (low- sodium)
1/2 c milk
Salt and pepper
1 can of biscuits

First, I prepared the veggies:
* I chopped up 3-4 potatoes into bite sized pieces.
* Cut baby carrots into thirds
* I de-stemmed the green beans and cut into thirds
* My hubbie opened a car of corn..I wasn't even going to try to mess with trying to cut corn of the cob on the couch...didn't sound like the safest option!

While I was chopping, my hubbie filled a stock pot half way with water and set it on the stove to boil. Once boiling, he added all the veggies (minus the corn) and boiled for about 10 minutes. You want the veggies to be al dente, soft but firm.

As he fished out all the veggies and returned the water to boiling. I cut 3 breasts of skinless boneless chick in half lengthwise. Then, he added to the water and allowed to boil for another 10 minutes.

In the meantime, my hubbie combined 1 can of low sodium Cream of Chicken soup with 1/2 cup of milk. Mix well with a bit of salt and a lot of pepper. Then, mix in the corn and veggies. Once the chicken was cooked, remove from the pot (save the stock you created...it will be a great veggie chicken stock for soups...freeze it for later). Chop up into bit sized pieces and mix into the veggies.

Pour everything into a baking, I had my hubbie pour everything into a deep dish pie pan, but you could use a 9x9 square or something similar. Then, he cracked open a tube of biscuits (I prefer the small cheap ones..not grands, but that is a personal preference!) and covered the top of out chicken pie with the biscuits. Then, Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Serve..it's delicious!

Boo Hoo Breakfast Brunch

I decided to have a few friends over for a Boo Hoo Breakfast. Many will be sending their little ones off to preschool for the first time. So, I though it would be filling to wallow together instead of alone...AND...what better way to do it than with some good ol' homecookin'!

Orange Stuffed French Toast

1 loaf day-old french bread
Orange Marmalade
Spreadable butter
2.5 cups milk (I will use low-fat milk for my diet conscious pals)

1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
6 large eggs (I will use egg beaters instead)

1. Cut loaves in half, then slice the bread 3/4 of the way through. Each slice should be about 1" wide. Spread one side of the bread with a thin layer of butter and on the other spread a nice thick layer of orange marmalade.
2. Mix remaining ingredients. Place in a ziplock bag prepared french bread loaves. Refridgerate overnight to allow all that eggy goodness to soak in.
3. Carefully remove from bag, Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. Serve warm.

Serve with:
Marmalade Syrup: warm up 1/2 c of marmalade and 1/2 c water.


I will also make a Yogurt Parfait: 1 layer of plain yogurt, 1 layer of sliced strawberries, another layer of plain yogurt and top with low fat granola. Mmmmm!!!

Teriyaki Chicken

This the easiest recipe. I usually would do this very differently, but I had to come up with something simple for mu hubbie to make. I had him cut 2 breasts of chicken in half and grill them. Then, once cooked he chopped up and drenched in Soy Vay Veri Veri Teriyaki Sauce. Super simple!!!

He served over brown rice and some steam fresh mixed veggies that he also lightly drenched in sauce.