Pork and sweet pepper kebabs

This pork kebab recipe comes from Cooking Light, and it is suuuuuuuuper simple.  The marinade gives the pork tons of flavor, and 'tis the season for grilling, right?  The sweet peppers are great too, but they're really a separate side dish, so feel free to substitute on that one.

PORK AND SWEET PEPPER KEBABS

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

1/4 cup lower-sodium soy sauce

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon ketchup 

2 teaspoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 (1-pound) pork tenderloin, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch cubes 

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

16 mini bell peppers

Cooking spray 

Instructions:

1.  Place first 7 ingredients in a large zip-top bag, stirring well. Add pork; seal bag. Refrigerate 1 hour, turning after 30 minutes.

2. Preheat grill to medium-high heat.

3. Remove pork from bag, and discard marinade. Thread pork evenly onto 4 (6-inch) skewers; sprinkle evenly with salt. Thread 4 mini bell peppers onto each of 4 (6-inch) skewers. Arrange skewers in a single layer on grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 3 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness.

Honey chipotle pork tacos (Crock pot)

This recipe comes from the Rachael Ray Show- I know her personality can be a bit grating, but she has some fantastic recipes, this one included.  I love Crock pot meals- even though I'm usually home during the day, being able to prep dinner early frees up my hands at the end of the day, when things start getting crazy around here (ie: being pulled in 3 different directions by hungry, tired kids).  Robert was a super-fan of this one, so I know we'll be making it again.

HONEY CHIPOTLE PORK TACOS (Crock pot)

Yield: 12 tacos

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 2-pound bone-in pork shoulder (I used a pork tenderloin)

Salt and pepper

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, grated

2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 tablespoons puréed chipotle in adobo

2 tablespoons honey

1/4 cup vinegar

1 cup water

12 6" tortillas (corn or flour)

Toppings- chopped avocado, cilantro, fresh lime juice, sour cream, shredded cheese

Instructions:

In a skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Season the pork with salt and pepper and brown all sides; then place in the slow cooker. In the same skillet, sauté the onions, garlic and cinnamon until softened and fragrant; remove to the pot with pork then add in the chipotle, honey, vinegar, salt, pepper and water. Cover and cook undisturbed for 4 hours on high.

Once the meat is done, discard the bone and shred the meat using two forks. Using a grill or gas burner, char up both sides of the corn tortillas, then build your tacos.  Top with avocado, cilantro, lime juice, a dollop of sour cream and shredded cheese.

Sweet pork tacos with avocado cream

I saw this recipe for Sweet pork tacos with avocado cream on fellow blogger Erin's site, Baking and Eggs. They were a big hit at our house, and we'll definitely be making them again!  The pork is cooked in the Crock Pot (yay!), and the avocado cream is simply fantastic.   I used a nifty trick from Pinterest to make crispy taco shells out of flour tortillas- have you seen this yet?  You heat your oven to 350 degrees, then drape flour tortillas over the grates of your oven racks and bake for 10 minutes.  The tortillas get crispy and make the perfect taco shell, with a flat bottom and all!!  Genius, if you ask me.

SWEET PORK TACOS WITH AVOCADO CREAM
Serves: 4

For the pork:
3 lbs pork loin roast or pork shoulder
2 cups salsa
4 oz can chopped green chilies
2 tablespoon brown sugar
1 onion, peeled and chopped
1 (15-oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed

For the avocado cream:
1 large avocado, mashed
2 green onions, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons low fat sour cream
juice of 1 lime
1/4 cup cilantro leaves, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
salt and pepper, to taste

To serve:
Hard taco shells or tortillas
Optional toppings include sliced onions, shredded cheese, salsa, and shredded lettuce

In the bottom of your slow cooker, combine salsa, green chilies, brown sugar, onion and black beans.  Mix well.  Add pork roast and cook on low for 7-9 hours.  Remove the pork and shred with a fork. Return meat to slow cooker and mix meat into the sauce.  Continue to cook another 30 minutes - 1 hour with lid off to thicken the sauce a little bit.

Meanwhile, to prepare the avocado cream, add green onions, sour cream, lime juice, cilantro, garlic, chile powder, salt and pepper to mashed avocado and mix well. 

To serve, scoop sweet pork into hard taco shells and top with avocado cream and any other desired toppings.

Slow-cooker parmesan honey pork roast

After seeing this slow-cooker parmesan honey pork roast recipe from Six Sisters' Stuff on Pinterest, I added the ingredients to my grocery list and fired up the crock pot!  We had a little trouble with the gravy because most (actually, all) of our liquid cooked off, so we ate it plain- and it was still delicious!  We'll make this one again.

Ingredients:

1 (2-3 pound) boneless pork roast
2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup honey
3 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp dried basil
2 Tbsp minced garlic
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water

* I made one small adjustment to the original recipe and seared my roast in a hot pan for a few minutes on each side before putting it in the crock pot. 
Spray slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray. Place roast in slow cooker. In a small bowl, combine the cheese, honey, soy sauce, basil, garlic, oil and salt; pour over pork. Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours or until a meat thermometer reads 160°.
Remove meat to a serving platter; keep warm. Skim fat from cooking juices; transfer to a small saucepan. Bring liquid to a boil. Combine cornstarch and water until smooth. Gradually stir into pan. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Slice roast; serve with gravy.

Red pork posole

Dinner last night was this red pork posole from Rachael Ray.  It was very good, but I have to be honest- it's a lot of work.  Several steps for all of the components, 2 1/2 hours for braising the meat, and lots of dirty pots.  The end result was delicious (ie: blog-worthy), but with a disclaimer about the time and effort required. The pickled onions and peppers are a must, and we substituted mozzarella cheese for the queso fresco.  Yum!

Char Siu pork roast (crock pot)

I love cooking in the crock pot- I can do the prep work and get dinner started during my kids' afternoon naps, which frees me up at dinnertime when things get really chaotic around here.  Last week we made this Char Siu pork roast from Cooking Light.  This recipe had Robert's name all over it- a big piece of meat cooked in Asian spices and sauces.  It was a winner!

Tacos al pastor with grilled pineapple salsa

We made Cooking Light's tacos al pastor with grilled pineapple salsa for dinner earlier this week. I loved the fresh pineapple salsa with the spicy pork. We used flour tortillas instead of corn (personal preference) and noted that next time we would cut the pork into smaller pieces for easier eating.

Pork carnitas burrito bowl

We made this pork carnitas burrito bowl for dinner last week and LOVED it!! You cook the pork shoulder in the crock pot first to make it nice and tender, then you crisp it up on one side in a pan. That would be fantastic all on its own, but its really out of this world when you add the rice, beans, and pico de gallo. Please try this one- I'm sure you'll love it too!

Grilled pork tenderloin sandwiches

We made these grilled pork tenderloin sandwiches from Cooking Light this week, and they were a big hit! So simple to make - no marinating required, the rub is typical pantry items, and the sauce is just two ingredients! YUM!

Burgers al pastor

Dinner last night was burgers al pastor from Mexican Made Easy. These burgers don't have many ingredients but they have a lot of flavor! (I did a mix of ground pork and ground sirloin instead of all pork - I'm a believer that anything called a burger should have some beef in it). Simple and delicious!

Cuban sandwiches

Dinner last night was cuban sandwiches from Cooking Light. I'm not really a fan of ham even though I love all other forms of pork, but it's acceptable in this sandwich because it isn't the star of the show. The stars here are the pork tenderloin, mustard sauce and pickles - these sandwiches are great!! I called several local bakeries and no one makes (or even sounded familiar with) cuban bread, so I subbed our favorite stand-in, ciabatta bread. And as usual, we replaced the swiss with provolone, a personal preference. Other than that, follow the recipe and ENJOY!!

Pork quesadillas

We had friends over on Saturday to watch basketball (and watch our brackets implode) while we munched on these layered pork quesadillas from Tyler Florence. These are a fun variation on a typical quesadilla because it uses pork tenderloin that is marinated in a DELICIOUS rub. The recipe calls for blue cheese, but I subbed monterey jack in half of mine because I'm not a fan of blue cheese. Yum!!

Brazilian feijoada

Dinner tonight was Brazilian feijoada, a pork and black beans stew. This is a slow-cooker recipe, which makes it a winner in my book, although it does take a bit of prep before you can just throw everything in for the long simmer. We garnished ours with orange slices, scallions, and hot sauce, and served it over rice. Expectations were high for this dish because I had to go to three different grocery stores to gather all of the ingredients (helpful hint: Fresh Market has beef short ribs every day, while Whole Foods only has them occasionally. In fact, I suggest calling around and finding a store that carries both pork shoulder AND the ribs before you venture out). Also, I kept an eye on it and added extra broth throughout the day when it looked too dry. Anyway, despite yesterday's frustration of hunting down those ribs, I licked my bowl clean and smacked my lips on this one. Robert nicknamed it Meat Heaven, so I think he'll be requesting this again.

Hoisin pork tenderloin

We made Cooking Light's hoisin pork tenderloin last week and it was a big hit! Our tenderloin was pretty thick, so our cook time was longer than what the recipe called for. It was delicious!

Blackberry jalapeno glazed pork tenderloin

We made Guy Fieri's blackberry jalapeno glazed pork tenderloin this week, and it was delicious. (I subbed chicken broth for the red wine in the glaze because Robert is allergic to it).

Grilled pork tenderloin and creamed corn

All my cooking magazines are featuring grilled recipes this month, so we fired ours up. We made pork tenderloin with Bobby Flay's Spanish spice rub and Rachael Ray's grilled creamed corn, and both were delicious! The cream cheese in the corn dish made it rich and creamy - yum!

For the Spanish spice rub:
* 3 tablespoons Spanish paprika
* 2 teaspoons ground cumin
* 2 teaspoons dry mustard
* 2 teaspoons ground fennel seeds
* 2 teaspoons kosher salt
* 1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

Grilled creamed corn
Serves 6

8 ears corn, husked
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
1 1/4 cups milk
3 tbsp cream cheese
Salt and pepper
1 pinch cayenne pepper

1. Preheat a grill to medium-high. Arrange the corn on the grate and grill, turning occasionally, until the kernels are golden-brown and softened, 8-10 minutes. Once cool enough to handle, remove the corn kernels from the cobs; discard the cobs. (You should have about 5 cups of kernels). Lower the grill temperature to medium.
2. Heat a large cast-iron skillet over the grate. Add the butter to melt, then whisk in the flour until combined and foaming, about 2 minutes. Gradually whisk in the milk and cream cheese and cook, whisking constantly, until smooth and thick, 2-3 minutes. Stir in the corn kernels; season with salt, black pepper and cayenne, and cook until heated through, about 1 minute.

Pork and pinto bean nachos

Dinner last night was pork tenderloin and pinto bean nachos from Cooking Light magazine. These are more work than your average nachos, but they taste better too so they are worth the effort! The beans are spicy, thanks to the chipotle peppers, the pork is juicy and tender, and the avocado topping is fantastic (Robert suggested making double the topping next time so we could really pile it on!).

Pork chops with white beans

Dinner last night was pork chops with white beans from Everyday Food. The only substitution I made was using boneless butterfly chops instead of bone-in rib chops. Also, after 10 minutes on the heat I was skeptical my sauce would ever thicken, so we mashed half of the beans to help it along. This was an easy and yummy dish - it's not your grandma's pork and beans!

Pulled pork sandwiches (slow-cooker!)

Dinner last night was pulled pork sandwiches cooked in the crock pot. My grocery store was out of pork shoulder roast, so I substituted a 4-lb pork loin. The meat was juicy and tender - leftovers were fantastic, too!

10.26.09 Pork and black-eyed pea chili

Dinner tonight was pork and black-eyed pea chili from Everyday with Rachael Ray. Robert went on and on about how much he loved this recipe - it's hearty, spicy, and delicious! It's a quick chili (30 minutes or so), and it's a great change of pace from a standard beef chili. Yum!