Pork Stew with Potatoes, Apples and Hard Cider

I doctored this recipe from Epicurious with DELICIOUS results!!
I skipped the pearl onions completely because 1) I don't really like them and 2) I think they are more trouble than they are worth. So proceed straight to the bacon! Because anything cooked in bacon is extra awesome...

Ingredients
5 slices of bacon chopped into 1/4- 1/2 inch pieces
Boneless Pork Shoulder, fat trimmed, cut into 2 inch pieces
Fresh sage
3 cups chicken broth
bottle of hard cider ( I used Hornsby's Crisp Apple)
4 yukon gold potatoes unpeeled, chopped
2 peeled, chopped fuji apples
Red wine
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons butter, room temp
1 tablespoon dijon mustard

Cook  bacon  in a pot and set aside on paper towels to drain while you cook the pork. In the same pot you cooked the bacon, cook the  pork shoulder (sprinkled with salt and pepper)  until browned.  Remove pork with slotted spoon and set aside. In same pot, brown shallots with fresh sage and pepper. Add chicken broth, hard cider, reserved bacon and pork. Add potatoes and apples.  (Note: at this point I gave the stew a whiff and it smelled crazy sweet from the cider so I added a healthy pour of red wine, because to me,  stew = red wine.)  Cook for 30-40 minutes (or longer if you want!).  Meanwhile, make a paste of the butter and flour in a small bowl. Add to the stew and stir well. Then add  the mustard. Cook for an additional 7-10 minutes. And voila! Amazing, hearty, thick pork stew.  It is a little time consuming but it is realllly worth it!
* I would have taken a picture of it, but we ate it all before I thought to snap a picture:)

Sweet Potato Soup Experiment

I did a little experimenting tonight, well, this afternoon actually. Last night's crock pot dinner was delicious, but was a little too acidic for the babe. So tonight I decided to do something with sweet potatoes, since she goes gaga for them and I'd been craving soup, so soup it was.
So here it is:
3 peeled, cut up sweet potatoes
3 small mangoes peeled, cut up (they don't have to be tiny, you're going to blend them anyway)
chicken broth
limeade (I was out of lime juice)
curry powder
cinnamon
minced ginger
allspice

If I hadn't intended on giving it to Callie, I probably would have made it spicier by adding some crushed red pepper and a ton more ginger or maybe even my favorite new ingredient, green curry paste.

Put on high for 4 hours. You could probably put it on low, but I pretty much forgot about making dinner until about 2pm, so high it was!

After the time was up, I put the delicious smelling chunks in the blender. It was good, but it was missing something. I thought some broiled toasts with melted gruyere or something like that would be good on top, but alas, neither ingredient was in my house. So I topped the soup with some crumbled goat cheese and some black pepper and voila! Bowl of awesome. That came off more Charlie Sheen than I anticipated...but there it is. Bill said it "smelled like fall."
It was a nice meal to enjoy while watching the Sharks beat the tar out of the Stars. A nice change from the previous night's meltdown against the 'Hawks. There, now this post is not just about food. Done.

I feel pretty good about my experiment. I always feel a little uneasy experimenting with the crock pot, because, well, if it doesn't work you've been cooking something for 4-8 hours for nothin'! Luckily it turned out.

Oh and if you're interested in what last night's dinner was, here it is.
Chicken breasts
can of fire roasted tomatoes
peppercinis
green olives
jar of grilled marinated artichokes
dry white wine

Crockpot on low for 7 hours. Amazing.

Baby Sweet Potato Fries

Now that Callie is eating table food, I am trying to get away from just giving her purees so she can work on feeding herself. She loves sweet potatoes (yams) so I decided to try a baby friendly version of sweet potato fries.
I took a sweet potato, peeled it and cut it into small, baby friendly sizes. Tossed it with some olive oil, ginger and cinnamon. Then put it in a single layer on a baking sheet covered with foil. Bake at 350 for about 20-30 minutes, depending on how mushy you want them. Callie loved them!!


My taste tester approves!

Lemon Ricotta Cookies

So I've been bitten by the holiday cookie bug. Big time! I came across this recipe from the food network and thought I would give it a try. The cookie itself is pretty decent. More cakelike than I thought it would be. The icing didn't taste all that fabulous though. You could definitely taste the powdered sugar. So, being me, I added ginger:) I had Bill try it and he said it was good. Not the remark I was looking for. I am looking for a truly great cookie. He recommended using the topping I use for my famous crack muffins. Which is basically lemon zest mixed with sugar crumbled on top. So that's what I did. I'm not convinced it is truly great, but it is definitely lemony!

Crock Pot Cookin' Mama

Oh my god. This thing is amazing!! Thank you to Valerie for convincing me to finally get a crock pot. Not that it took a whole hellofa lot to do...Just a cookbook (Make it Fast, Cook it Slow) and some tales about how easy and fast it can be to cook a meal. I had really been missing having some cooked food at home. I always loved to cook and I had been struggling to even make it to the grocery store with Callie to buy pasta! This thing is freaking amazing! The cookbook is based on this woman's blog where she decided to spend a year using her crock pot.

I made my first dish yesterday: Chicken Coq Au Vin. I took 6 chicken thighs (which I'd never used before) some bacon, carrots, potatoes, mushrooms, chicken stock, red wine, thyme, rosemary, salt and pepper and threw it in the stoneware, set the timer for 8 hours. And that's it! I was able to get it done in about 10 minutes while Bill and Callie were still snoozing in the morning. By the time Bill got home from work it was a thing of beauty. The chicken basically felt apart and it was delicious! I think next time I might try chicken breasts or finding skinless thighs as it was a little oily. I am definitely a convert.

Today it is going to be mediterranean chicken. This one was even faster! Chicken breasts, and some choice items from Whole Foods' antipasto bar: green olives with feta, peppercinis, artichoke hearts, sundried tomatoes and some diced tomatoes. It took maybe 2 minutes to throw it all in the pot. And voila! If it tastes half as good as it smells right now I'm pretty sure it will be devoured just as quickly as last night's dish!