Today we are kicking off a week’s worth of slow cooker recipes. For this first one, I used a huge package of baby back pork ribs from Costco. It weighs between 8 and 9 pounds and I found that that was a bit too much to fit in my slow cooker.

As you can see, I cut the slabs in half and one of the halves didn’t fit in.

I could have wrapped it up and put it in the freezer, but instead, I cooked it in some beer, then grilled it and slathered it with ready-made BBQ sauce, and gave it to Connor for lunch when he stopped by. Perfect!

Also, I tell you to use diced tomatoes, for the ease of it. But if all you have are whole tomatoes (like I did) you can easily cut them right in the can by using your kitchen shears. Easy Peasy!

To begin with, all you need are these few ingredients.

Oh, and the can of tomatoes too. I almost forgot! (plus the garlic isn’t pictured, what the heck?!?)

These ribs and scrumptious beans make for a hearty bone-warming winter supper.

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Getting back into the swing of it, blogging-wise, has been harder than I ever imagined it would be. Since I missed it so much, I thought I’d fall right back into the rhythm. Um, not so much!

I want to blame it on the holidays. Thanksgiving, out-of-town family, Christmas, even more family from out-of-town, New Year’s, and more family have made it hard to want to sit down at the computer and “work.” But that’s really not it. I blogged religiously for more than 5 years, through every major holiday and life event, so I can not claim that the season is the issue.

I’m just out of the habit, and until I get back on track, posts will be spotty. I’m now prepared for that reality and I hope that you’ll stick with me through this transition.

Marissa & Jeff drove back to Austin on Saturday. They had flown in two weeks ago but drove back so they could take all their wedding and wedding shower gifts. They made it back in record time, arriving home, safe and sound, by mid-morning on Sunday.

On Friday night, for their last dinner at home, I made a pan of super-easy and super-yummy tamale enchiladas. So yummy, in fact, that I couldn’t get a photo of the pan before they were all but gone!

I bought the tamales from a young woman who was selling them at Connor’s apartment building. She had two adorable little ones in-tow, so how could I say no?  I bought a dozen green chile-chicken tamales and a dozen red chile-pork tamales. I should say, that’s what I thought I bought, she accidentally gave me only six green chile (1 bag) and a dozen and a half (3 bags) of red chile.

A few nights before, we enjoyed 6 of the green and 6 of the red, served in the traditional style. That was nice, but to my taste, tamales are a bit dry. So serving the remaining dozen red chile tamales enchilada-style was way more fun!

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I may have mentioned once or twice before that Connor does not like berries. Not raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, or blackberries. He won’t eat berries or anything berry flavored.  It blows my mind!

To add insult to injury, Dave doesn’t like citrus! He won’t eat an orange, a grapefruit or even the sweet candy-like clementines. The saving grace is that he will eat foods and dishes with citrus in them.

I know, they are strange men!

For Sunday supper, I made pork chops with strawberry salsa. Being the thoughtful mom that I am, taking Connor’s tastes into account, I also made chimichurri sauce to accompany the chops.

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Pork + Slower Cooker = Perfect Match

Honestly, when I lay my eyes on a large cut of pork, I always think of the slow cooker. With very little initial effort, the cooker turns the meat into the most tender and moist meat there is.

In these parts, it’s a family favorite, no matter how I fix it.

This recipe, in particular, using a few key spices, Coke and salsa, is one of Connor’s favorites. So much so, that he insisted I take a photo of his “clean plate” which was clean before the rest of us even finished on a taco. Growing boys… always a pleasure to feed!

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My BFF, Peggy, and I try to walk in the early morning hours at least 4 or 5 days a week. Either she drives to my house or I drive to her’s and we walk our neighborhoods.

When I entered her house a couple of weeks ago, I smelled something delicious. She said she had made Green Chile Stew for a family dinner.

From the smell alone, I knew I HAD to have the recipe. I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned it before, but Peggy’s a great cook. She didn’t have a written recipe but she did share that she’d found a new product at Trader Joe’s that made her stew super easy.

Do Tell!

Hatch Valley Salsa! I’m not sure how long they’ll have the salsa in stores since Hatch chiles are seasonal, so get over there and grab a bunch while you can.

After our walk, I drove directly to Trader Joe’s and bought seven jars of the stuff!

Then … on the morning of the Craft Party, I browned up a bunch of pork and when Peggy came early to help me set up, I made her help me put the stew together. Below is the delicious result!

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This summer, when we were out of town, my full-size freezer in the laundry room was accidentally left open for a day.

It wasn’t all the “openers” fault.

Although the freezer is only a few years old, the seal had come loose and instead of figuring out how to fix it, I used duct tape to keep it closed.

Additionally, I had a little chalkboard chef on the front of the freezer who told “would be openers” this:

“Do NOT OPEN! It is next to impossible to re-shut and keep shut.”

Unfortunately, the “opener” did not see or heed the chalkboard chef’s warning.

Even though I knew of the “freezer breach” immediately upon my return home, I avoided the freezer and refused to open it and face the music until two months later.

Nearly everything was a loss; homemade chicken and beef stocks, frozen citrus juices, handmade puff pastry, lobster broth, homemade mole, demi-glace, frost-burnt cookies and brownies, and quite a bit of meat. I threw out more chicken breast and chicken thighs than I’d care to mention.

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Sometimes I am shocked when I discover the recipes that I have NOT posted on this site in the last five years.

I found a pork shoulder in my freezer and decided that the best thing I could do with it was to make carnitas. I would have sworn, that by now, I would have posted my carnitas recipe. I typed “carnitas” in the search bar over there on the right … No, there was no carnitas to be found. Strange!

In the old days, I’d make carnitas one of two classic ways … deep-frying it in lard (oh my!) or slow roasting it in a hot oven for hours on end (not the best idea in the AZ summer!) … today, I use a slow cooker. OK, not only a slow cooker. Also a skillet at the beginning and a sheet pan, under the broiler, at the end.

The skillet, and a bit of olive oil, are needed at the beginning to brown the meat.  The slow cooker is used in the middle to make the meat fork-tender, without heating up the entire kitchen. Finally, the broiler is used for only about 10 minutes, in the end, to make the pork crispy. Soft meat (which is what the slow cooker produces) does not qualify as carnitas! Below is a photo of some of the meat scrapes from the bottom of the slow cooker, placed in a tortilla. This is what you don’t want! Soft, over shredded, soggy meat. This is not carnitas!

Even though there are three distinctly different cooking stages, the hands-on time is minimal. Totally worth it! [Read more →]

This is going to be “Connor Week” where I share with you the recipes I made for Connor’s birthday dinner. Yesterday was Connor’s Cake, a beautiful “candy cake,” today the main course is the star.

This is the second year in a row that Connor has requested baby back ribs for his birthday dinner. Last year’s recipe focused on the homemade BBQ sauce and the slow dry cooking of the ribs. This year, I slow-cooked the ribs in liquid and used the purchased sauce. Although this recipe is less labor-intensive, we all agreed, that both methods produced delicious results.

We had a “special guest” at the dinner this year. Connor has been house-sitting for nearly two weeks at Kim’s house while she and her family are in Machu Picchu. Connor wanted to spend the entire day here at home, so he brought along Kim’s adorable pooch, Charlie. Charlie LOVES Connor. Coincidentally, Connor loves Charlie too, and so do we!

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The following four ingredients take 5 minutes to assemble…

The resulting meat will be feeding your family and guests for days on end…

And they deliver the most versatile, easy, meal-making thing you’ll have had in your refrigerator in a long time.

Tender, juicy, and tantalizing Kalua Pork is amazing as is. Stuffed into a toasted roll – pretzel rolls being my personal favorite – is a meal in itself.

But there is so much more you can do with it; add to omelets or frittatas. Fill a wrap or toss into a salad. Pile into tortillas or crisp lettuce leaves, garnished with tomatoes, guacamole and salsa, for sumptuous tacos or lettuce wraps.

You get the idea – this stuff is versatile!

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This is the fourth and final tapas recipe from Peggy’s dinner party. But before I share it with you, I nearly forgot to mention that I brought a Stone Fruit Crumble for dessert.

This time around, I used plumcots in place of the apricots and plums. Have you tried plumcots before?

If not, be sure to search them out and give them a go. They are not only tasty … but so very pretty too.

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