Kitchen Fail!

I couldn't figure out what was wrong with this recipe it seemed so promising but the flavor wasn't there. Don't get me wrong, it was perfectly fine to eat but it just didn't pop. Then I looked over the list again and realized I forgot to put in the brown sugar. Whomp whomp. Being that we're on this whole clean eating kick and significantly reducing our sugar and unhealthy processed food consumption, Mr. Lawyer wouldn't let me add the sugar in at the end. So we just added some Dinosaur BBQ sauce to fix it up a bit....not that much more healthy right? I have a feeling that if done correctly this would be a good recipe...if you choose to leave the brown sugar out it's merely "meh".

So this whole healthy eating kick makes for boring blogging. We've been eating a lot of meals we know are healthy (like the veggie soup) and repeats (tonight: leftover pork with a side of roasted chickpeas!). Snooze. On the plus side I'm not craving a ton of sugar which means no baking and consuming an entire batch of cookies....but again boring blogging, my apologies. I'm hoping to experiment with some healthy carbs and more veggie dishes once I get organized. Actually I just want to eat refried beans and roasted chickpeas all week but that's also boring.

Bourbon BBQ Crock Pot Pulled Pork

(Pinterest!)

Ingredients
2 lb. pork shoulder
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
3/4 cup bourbon
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons tomato ketchup
1 large onion, sliced
Directions:
1. Season the pork with salt and pepper. Brown the pork on all sides and place in slow cooker. Add onions.
2. Mix the dark brown sugar, bourbon, soy sauce, Dijon mustard, and ketchup. Pour over the pork and onion mixture.
3. Set the slow cooker to low and cook the pork mixture for 8 hours. At the end of 8 hours, remove the pork let it rest for 10-15 minutes.
4. Using an immersion blender, blend the onions and the sauce to a smooth mixture.
5. Shred the pork and mix some of the sauce with the shredded pork. Serve with extra sauce if requested.

Dill Bread!

There is nothing like fresh homemade bread. I am partial to a warm slice of homemade bread, slathered with butter, and drizzled with honey. Yum. I went looking for this recipe because there is a lot of leftover dill from the dill steaks. This particular recipe called for cottage cheese but the comments said you could sub sour cream which was perfect because I had some leftover from my birthday/football play off party that I needed to use up. The bread texture is soft, the crust is gorgeous, and the flavor is delicate. I would have preferred a more pronounced dill flavor. I just found another recipe that used 1/4 cup fresh dill! I might go with that next time.

Look at beautiful golden brown!

Dill Bread

(Adapted from the Joy of Cooking)

Ingredients:
1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
3 cups flour
1 tablespoon minced onion
3 tablespoons chopped fresh dill, or 1 tablespoon dried dill or dill seeds
2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup cottage cheese (I subbed sour cream)
1 large egg
Directions:
1. Combine yeast and water in a small bowl and let stand until the yeast is dissolved, about five minutes.
2. Combine cottage cheese, sugar, onion, butter, dill, salt, soda, egg and dissolved yeast. Mix well.

3. Add flour and mix well. Knead for 5 to 10 minutes. Cover and let rise in a warm place for one hour.

4. Punch down and place in a greased loaf pan. Let rise for 40 minutes.

5. Preheat oven to 350 and bake bread for 35-40 minutes.

doubled in volume, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Rainy Day...

Might I suggest a steak and provolone grilled cheese on sourdough?

It hit the spot!

Steak Surprise!

I was off galavanting around Pittsburgh this weekend so Mr. Lawyer surprised me with a fancy Sunday Evening Dinner: Dill Steak! The recipe is HERE. It's fun to revisit old recipes. 

My Pittsburgh Booty: sharp provolone, rustic sourdough, and stuffed olives. It's all from a heavenly store down at the Strip. The perfect late lunch after a long car trip.

Baked Potato Redemption!

This summer the skinless baked potato didn't impress me much. Tonight I have obtained baked potato redemption! The skin was perfectly crisp and salty while the inside was nice and fluffy. This will be my go to recipe. I sense a baked potato bar in my future!

Perfect Baked Potatoes

(Pinterest find!)

Ingredients:

Potatoes

Olive Oil

Salt

Directions:

1. Scrub potatoes and pierce 4-5 times with a fork.

2. Coat in olive oil and salt.

3. Place directly on the baking rack and bake at 400 degrees for 1 hour.

Oh Dinosaur....

We were back in Syracuse this weekend to pick up our wedding bands so of course we had to eat at one of our favorite places: Dinosaur BBQ! There are so many yummy food places that we miss it's hard to make up our mind but we can't cram them all into one weekend so we've been rotating. Last time we went for amazing sandwiches at Blue Tusk and I have a pretty good copy cat recipe of Pastabilities Tomato Oil so we decided on good old Dinosaur. Plus there's nothing like seeing your Grandmother down a 1/4 rack of ribs and some pulled pork. Woo!

Behold the Big Ass Pork Plate. Heaven. I always go with the baked beans and spicy mac & cheese.

So we're eating this extremely healthy "calorie burning" soup for the week. A recipe courtesy of the Mother Unit: beef broth, celery, carrots, green peppers, scallions, green beans and tomatoes. It's the only thing I've every had that makes you more hungry after you have a bowl of it. 

Check out my sweet Dalek mug. It was a Christmas present from the Dork.

Chilly Day Drink

Mr. Lawyer makes the best chai tea. He brews a chai tea bag with hot water, then adds a mystical combination of milk and honey. I can't figure out the proportions at all, mine never taste as good! He even gets all fancy and serves it up with a cinnamon stick.

A Dinner Challenge

I do love a good challenge. What? It's five o'clock and I have no groceries or dinner plan? I sense a breakfast for dinner meal but let's make it super classy. How about a Pepper, Onion, and Gorgonzola Frittata with a side of maple turkey bacon? Excellent.

It got no complaints.

Pepper, Onion, and Gorgonzola Frittata

(Adapted from my Asparagus Blue Cheese Frittata)

Ingredients:
3 eggs
6 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 bag frozen peppers and onions
Olive oil spray
1/4 cup gorgonzola (I used a cheese spread)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degress. Saute peppers and onions in a frying pan until cooked through.
2. Meanwhile mix together eggs, egg whites, 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper, and milk. Add peppers, onion, and half of the cheese to egg mixture and pour into a greased pie pan/casserole dish. Sprinkle the remaining amount of cheese on top.
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and bake for 35 minutes.

Magic Leftovers!

Last night I saw an episode of Chopped where all the mystery ingredients were leftovers. It inspired me to transform the leftover buffalo chicken from my party into something amazing! I can never fit all of the chicken onto the french bread so a handful of chicken in a cheap box of macaroni and cheese equals some surprising delicious buffalo chicken mac and cheese! Easy peasy!

Boy Approved.

Chili Bar!

It's my birthday weekend and football playoffs....the perfect excuse for a party! I wanted something easy, low maintenance, and preferably sports themed. I saw an idea on pinterest for a chili bar, genius! You can make a large crock pot of chili for cheap and you don't have to worry about it staying warm. A rough budget is ten bucks: the turkey was five dollars a pound and the five cans of beans/soup were a dollar each (some were on sale and cheaper). Yay! I've been tweaking my turkey chili. This version has more spice and was a big hit. I always put in a ton of beans. Do not be put off by the long list of ingredients, making your own seasoning mix is essential! It's very easy and much better than the packaged taco seasoning. The toppings bar was fun! It was a great way to show off my new dishes too! We had cheddar cheese, sour cream, raw onions, green onions, jalapenos, mini cornbread muffins, and fritos.

The tea cups were the perfect size for serving the toppings.

My Turkey Chili!

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

1 pound ground turkey
½ cup chopped onion
1 can pork and beans
1 to 2 cans of chili beans (depending on your preferences)
1 large can undrained diced tomatoes
1 can condensed tomato soup
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon chili powder 

3-5 tablespoons sriracha or hot sauce
Directions:

1. First up make your seasoning mix! In a small bowl, mix together chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, red pepper flakes, oregano, paprika, cumin, salt and pepper.

2. Brown onion and turkey. Add the seasoning mix to the browning turkey and simmer for a few minutes.
2. Add turkey, tomato soup, and the three cans of beans. Stir in brown sugar, additional chili powder, and sriracha. Simmer until done, a couple of hours on low.