Cooking All Day

It's a new week.  School is back in session.  And I felt like cooking today.  What did I make?  Well, my daughter Gennifer called me the other day from Sam's Club because she was looking for a pork shoulder to make Pioneer Woman's Spicey Pulled Pork.  She could only find the great big two pack and decided not to get it.   I have had pulled pork on the brain since then.  I have done pulled pork in the crock pot before, and I liked it. But this beat the heck out of any I have ever had before.  Truly, a terrific recipe!   Usually I am a bit of rebel when it comes to following a recipe.  I change things around to suit our taste, using the recipe as a guide.  This calls for  a 5 to 7 pound pork shoulder.  I bought a 4 pound pork loin which worked just fine.  Not the small tenderloins you usually buy in a two pack, this was one large whole piece of meat.  The rest I followed pretty much as written, except I was out of white wine vinegar and used sherry vinegar.
The recipe for the Spicy Pulled Pork  is as follows:
One 5 to 7 pound pork shoulder
1 onion, quartered
4 cloves garlic, peeled ( I used about 8 )
1 T chili powder, 2 tsp. ground cumin, 1 tsp. dried oregano, 1-2 T salt, to taste, freshly cracked pepper
1/2 cup brown sugar ( I used dark, it has a much richer flavor)
3 T olive oil
2 T white wine vinegar ( I used sherry wine vinegar )
Lime wedges, flour tortillas
Preheat oven to 300.  Using Cuisinart, blend onion, garlic, spices, sugar, olive oil, and vinegar until smooth.   Set roast into dutch oven or roaster, and rub mixture over roast, covering all sides.   Add 2 cups water, put lid on pot and let cook in oven for 6 to 7 hours.  Her recipe says to turn every hour.  I did turn once, but it was so tender that it just broke apart, so I didn't turn it anymore.  I checked mine at about 5.5 hours, since my roast was a bit smaller.  It was quite tender and ready to finish off.  To finish, increase heat to 425 and uncover roast for about 20 minutes, or until it is brown and crispy.  Remove from oven, letting pork rest about 15 minutes.  Then, taking two forks, shred the meat.  It will shred very easily,  Her recipe says to lay shredded meat onto platter, pouring juices over top and with fresh lime wedges around platter and serve with warm flour tortillas.  I left mine in the pan, shredding meat, and the juices were absorbed into meat.  I served it on large warm tortillas with a little bit of refried beans, and crisp shredded cabbage, with plenty of fresh lime squeezed onto top.  It was TO DIE FOR DELICIOUS!!  I mean...as my husband calls anything that is outstanding, "CRAZY GOOD!"  Here is what it looked like after cooking for 5 1/2 hours, and before shredding it.

 Here is the pot of pork all shredded.

 And here is how we had them, served in tortillas, burrito style, with shredded cabbage and beans and lots of fresh lime juiced squeezed onto it.

My husband and I both agreed that this was by far and away the best pork we have ever had!!!  Melt in your mouth delicious, and packed with flavor!  Wow!  I can't wait to get Ree's next cookbook!!!  I have made lots of things from her first one, and loved just about everything.  A lot of what she makes is good old fashioned home style cooking.  The kind I grew up on. My Mom cooked much the same way, and so do I.  There are some excellent recipes in her book, so if you don't have it yet, I recommend it highly!
After the pork came out of the oven, I made another batch of homemade granola.  There are so many recipes out there for this.  It is easy, and WAY cheaper to make it than to buy it. I start with whole oats. Some of my favorite things to add or chopped pecans, chopped almonds, coconut (although I didn't have any today ) and dark brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin seeds, and/or spice.   I use about 1/2 cup vegetable oil, and have also used agave syrup.  I like to add fresh vanilla, and dried cherries, cranberries, or other dried fruits. 

I keep it in a pretty jar on my counter and add it to my yogurt every day. 
Then I had a hankering for chocolate chip cookies.  My neighbor Sue gave me this new paddle for my Kitchen Aid mixer that has a rubber scraping attachment to it.  I love it.  It keeps scraping the bowl for you, keeping the dough all together.  This is the attached card that it came with.

 See the rubber sides that meet the edge of the bowl to scrape it?  It works great!!!

One of my many cute rooster dishes, holding two fresh eggs that Noah had just brought in from the coop for me. 

I made the dough, and then put it in Tupperware to make the cookies tomorrow.  I got tuckered out. 

Feels great to get back to having some routines again.   We are still having incredibly beautiful weather here in So. California.  Yesterdays gusty winds made for crystal clear skies today.  I can't imagine it will last too much longer, but for now we are enjoying this outside weather.  Surely there is some rain and colder weather in our future!!
See you soon.
XO  Kris