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Pork

Campfire Maple Chipotle Pork & Beans

By Jessica

This post may contain affiliate links. I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

So I may or may not have mentioned this recipe before. What
I haven’t told you is that I have made it before, more than once, and this my
friends was by far the best version I have ever made. The original recipe can
be found here. Man Barry knows where it’s at when we are talking maple and
chipotle. I am however convinced that the smoky campfire flavor that gets added
in when you cook it over a fire adds something that just sends it over the top,
over the moon in fact.
I probably could have eaten the entire thing myself, had it
not been for our other camping pals who were standing around hungrily with their
collapsible silverware. I think it was well received since it had cooled off
quite a bit and we sat huddled around the fire. There was just enough spice to
warm us up heart and soul so we could make it through the final wet and rainy
night at our camp ground. Chuck even said it was his favorite version yet.
Seriously give it a try.

Campfire Maple Chipotle Pork & Beans (Serves 4-6)
2 lbs lean pork, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 tsp black pepper
1.2 tsp cumin
1 tsp chipotle powder
½ cup brown sugar
½ tsp salt
½ lb apple smoked Bacon, diced
1 large onion, peeled & diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
½ cup beer (or water)
2 tsp chipotle powder
1 tsp salt
½ cup apple cider vinegar
1 tsp dried thyme
1 cup maple syrup
3 large bay leaves
1 (14oz) can pureed tomatoes
2 (14oz ) Cans navy beans, drained & rinsed

In a large bowl (or ziplock bag) combine black pepper,
cumin, chipotle powder, salt, and brown sugar, stirring well to combine. Add
pork and toss to coat. In a large Dutch oven sauté bacon over medium heat until
it is crispy. Drain the grease and add butter and onion to the pan. Cook the
onion until it begins to turn translucent 2-3 minutes, and add the garlic. Cook
for an additional minute before adding the cubed pork. Once the pork is cooked
through, about 5-7 minutes add in the beer, chipotle powder, salt, vinegar,
thyme, syrup and bay leaves. Allow the mixture to simmer and the liquid to
reduce  to about ½ before adding in the
pureed tomatoes and beans. Stir well to combine and cook for an additional 2-3
minutes before serving.
Camping tip 1: Prep everything ahead of time, combining the
pork with its spices in a ziplock bag, and the chipotle powder, salt, vinegar,
thyme, syrup and bay leaves in a reusable container to be added at once. It
also helps to drain and rinse the beans then place them in a container as well.
This all helps cut down on the waist while you are camping and the amount of
stuff you have to bring/remember.
Camping tip 2: Get a large fire burning for a few hours
until you have a strong bed of coals. Place your cast iron dutch oven right
over the coals and place some smaller pieces of wood around the edges to keep
burning. This will work for your medium high heat.
Camping tip 3: Don’t drain the grease, and don’t add the
butter. The grease will work as your butter, and add a bit more flavor. Besides
you don’t need animals sneaking around liking up your grease.
Camping tip 4: Final cooking time will depend on the heat of
your fire, but if you want the flavors blend you can allow it to cook all day,
adding water to keep it from getting to thick.

September 29, 2014 January 29, 2018 Filed Under: Camping Recipe, Recipe Tagged With: Camp Food, Pork

Apple Stuffed, Bacon Wrapped Maple Pork Chops

By Jessica

This post may contain affiliate links. I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

I was cooking when Chuck walked in the house and said it
smells like fall in here. He had those big bright, hungry eyes on and I’m about
to get something good smile. Swoon. I love that look.
Food. It really is the way to a man’s heart.
I had this idea in my head since I started to think about
apple picking, you know, sometime in June. It’s my favorite. I even made my
college roommates go with me pic from back in the day.
I did the unthinkable and actually bought apples from the
grocery store. I felt bad about it, I mean they are on the dirty dozen, it is
apple season, and I live in the apple state, but whatever. Chuck had a busy
week and this is one of those things that I knew would perk him up a bit. You
see we have been eating pretty good at home, and he’s been a sport about
putting up with a few more meatless, and vegan meals for me so he deserved a
good old fashioned treat meal.
Again. Food. I’m telling you it fixes everything.

I kept it pretty simple and let the natural flavors do all
the talking on this one and boy did they. It was the perfect blend of fall
goodness, slightly sweet, and a little smoky. We should have eaten it outside
in front of a campfire, but we were too hungry.
I served it with plain couscous, cooked in a bit of broth,
and a leftover raw cabbage & broccoli slaw. We needed a bit of green in the
mix with the rich delicious main dish. It was simply divine. Chucks week long
headache seemed to ebb away a bit after we ate. I’d like to think it had more
to do with the love that I put into this recipe, but it probably had more to do
with the bacon.

Apple Stuffed, Bacon Wrapped Maple Pork Chops (Serves 4)
½ tbsp unsalted butter
2 medium apples, cored and diced
1 shallot, diced
½ tbsp maple syrup
Salt & pepper to taste
1tsp paprika
½ tsp pepper
½ tsp salt
4 medium sized pork chops (about 1 lb)
8 slices of maple smoked bacon
Optional: Maple syrup

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a small pan melt the butter
and sauté the apples, and shallot until they soften, and caramelize, about 3-4
minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the maple syrup, adjust the seasonings
and set aside. Season the outside of the pork chop with paprika, salt &
pepper. Cut a pocket out of the side of the pork chop to allow filling. Spoon ¼
of the apple mixture into each pork chop. Using 2 slices of bacon wrap the pork
chop so that it is mostly covered with bacon, and the opening is covered. Place
in a medium sized baking dish and cook for 35-40 minutes or until the pork chop
is cooked through and the bacon crisp. (Optional: add a drizzle of maple syrup
on top for serving.) Serve warm. 

September 17, 2014 January 29, 2018 Filed Under: Recipe Tagged With: Fall, Pork

Apricot Pork Kabobs

By Jessica

This post may contain affiliate links. I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

 A quick and easy recipe for Apricot Pork Kabobs, that is a fun and flavorful for summer.
Apricot Pork Kabobs
Sometimes I get stuck in a rut when it comes to pork. I can dress it up Asian style, or with apples (such as here, and here), but other
than that I always seem to fall back on the simple rosemary and garlic staple, or shake & bake that I know a lot of us in the north east grew up with. I
have been trying to break that mold lately and it’s working out surprisingly well.
This recipe is so far one of my favorites. With only 4 ingredients it comes together super quick, and super inexpensive. Here it is
made for the grill, but it can just as easily be broiled in the oven as kabobs or even a whole loin. I did notice that the final product need extra sauce, and that some people (think Chuck) liked to use the sauce to dip their veggies in, so this recipe makes enough for that as well.

As for what to serve with it, the options are pretty much endless. A big green salad is perfect, since the sauce can act as a dressing,
and it goes wonderfully with blue cheese crumbles. Basically swap out the barbecue chicken in this recipe for these kabobs. I have also served it with simple roasted potatoes, or you could try a basic rice pilaf like this one. Since there is so much flavor in this recipe I think basic sides are a good
option.

Apricot Pork Kabobs
Prep time: 30 mins
Cook time: 15 mins
Total time: 45 mins
Serves: 4 Servings
Ingredients
  • 6 oz apricot preserves
  • 1 1/2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
  • 1 tsp ground garlic
  • 1 lb pork loin, cut into fist size pieces
Instructions
  1. In a small sauce pan over medium heat add preserves, soy sauce, and garlic and stir well to combine. Cook for 1-2 minutes or until the preserves have liquefied and the sauce has thickened.
  2. Remove from heat and pour about 3/4 of the sauce over pork, reserving the rest and cover.
  3. Let the pork marinade for about 30 minutes (up to 1 hour) before placing it on pre-soaked wooden skewers.
  4. Place kabobs on a preheated grill over medium high heat for about 3-4 minutes per side basting with leftover marinade.
  5. Once cooked through remove from heat and baste with reserved marinade. Serve warm with reserved sauce on the side.
3.3.3070
PS: Check out my newest post over on the Charming Blog; 10 Super Easy ways to Eat Healthier Now without Trying too Hard

September 3, 2014 January 29, 2018 Filed Under: Recipe Tagged With: Pork, Summer

Sunday Dinner: Asian Style

By Jessica

This post may contain affiliate links. I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

A few Sundays ago, if you follow me on instagram you know I made
a boat load of wontons. What you don’t know is that I made an entire Asian
inspired Sunday dinner that day. I meant to post it last week, but life got in
the way, it happens.

Regardless, I spent a peaceful afternoon watching New Girl and
folding these little babies. I used this recipe pretty much to a tee (Check this
girl out she knows what’s up), because let’s be honest I have no clue what I’m
doing here with most Asian flavors, aside from soy sauce. The one main difference
is that I followed the instructions on the back of the wontons package to
create the shape you see. These came out magnificent! I loved them! Like totally
completely loved them, and have big plans to make them again in the future,
maybe with a few more changes/additions. I did however get uber fancy and make
my own dipping sauce.

Wonton Dipping Sauce

¼ cup rice wine vinegar
¼ cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp sesame seeds for garnish

Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl and serve.
In addition to these guys I made Korean Style Beef in the crockpot.
It was totally inspired by this recipe, also from Damn Delicious, she’s
totally my new food blog crush can you tell? Anyway I wanted to make something
that was clean, so I took her photos, and general idea and made it my own. It
came out AWESOME! I am seriously proud of this one. It’s super easy and healthy
what more can you ask for? It’s definitely going into the I-have-to-work-too-late-to-cook-anything
rotation.

Clean Crockpot Korean Style Beef

1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
2 tbsp raw honey
1 tbsp sesame sauce
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
¼ tsp red pepper flakes
½ tsp ground ginger
2 lbs lean beef roast, trimmed of visible fat
10 mini sweet peppers, sliced thin
1 cup broccoli florets (optional)
Sesame seeds for garnish

In a small bowl combine soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, red
pepper flakes, and ginger. Place roast in slow cooker and pour the mixture over
the top. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours. Remove the
roast from the slow cooker and shred the beef before returning it to the pot
with its juices and mini peppers and broccoli florets. Cook on high for another
30 minutes. Stir well and serve immediately. 
To round out this meal I also added a little side salad of
bagged Asian slaw, simply because I felt more vegetables were required, and
after making all of the wontons I knew I would be to fried to make something
else.

Hope you guys enjoy this as much as I did. I’m also wondering what your favorite kind of take out is. I would really like to come up with some more easy, and clean takes on traditional take out so please give me some ideas!!

April 16, 2014 March 29, 2018 Filed Under: Recipe Tagged With: appetizer, Beef, Clean, Condiment, Crockpot, Menues, Pork

Perfect Fall Dinner

By Jessica

This post may contain affiliate links. I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

I read a lot of blogs, it’s kind of an addiction, but I figure
that there are worse things I could be addicted to right? I get a lot of food,
cooking and photography inspiration from blogs, I mean who wouldn’t with all
these talented people sharing themselves all the time?

I don’t always share the recipes that I “copy-cat” form my
favorite blogs, mostly because I feel like I’m taking some of their thunder and
that’s kind of lame. However every once in a while I come across a recipe that
simply just knocks my socks off and that I have to absolutely share. This is defiantly
one of them.

I usually love everything on Jenny’s blog anyway, but when I
recreated her Sunday dinner, with my own twists of course, I knew I struck
gold.

I almost always have cooked my pork loin the same way, the way
my mom does, and Momma Chuck, and probably everyone else I know  with rosemary as the main ingredient, and then
roasted for a good long while, until it is cooked through and usually dry (that’s
why there’s almost always gravy with it). I don’t know why we all do this (coincidentally),
but we do, we like it, I mean who doesn’t like rosemary? But once in a while it’s
nice to step out of the box and this recipe yielded a wonderfully tender, juicy
and succulent pork loin that I will definitely be repeating in the future.

Though I stuck right to the recipe for the pork loin I had
to alter the recipes for the braised cabbage and applesauce. The braised
cabbage was basically the same, except I do not have time to let it sit in the
oven for 2 hours, nor the desire to eat up that much energy, plus I like my
vegetables firmer. I also omitted the goat cheese, though it might be a nice
touch, it simply isn’t needed. The result was delicious! I’m also glad I came
across this recipe because aside from coleslaw I’m always stuck on how to use
up leftover cabbage. Just as an FYI the original Recipe can be found here.

Braised Cabbage

1
head of red cabbage, shredded

2 tbsp
of butter

½ cup
of white wine vinegar

¼ cup
of water

2 tbsp
of brown sugar

Preheat
the oven to 350 degrees. In a large oven proof pan melt butter and sauté
cabbage with vinegar, water, and brown sugar for 2 to 3 minutes until it begins
to wilt. Place in the oven for 25-30 minutes, stirring at least once. Serve

warm.

As for the Apple Sauce I just made my own recipe of apple
sauce, clean and delicious. I usually do it in big batches to have throughout
the fall season, so I make it in the crock pot for ease.

Clean Crock Pot Apple Sauce

10 medium apples, peeled & copped

½ cup water

2 tsp cinnamon

1 pinch nutmeg (optional)


Toss all ingredients into a crock pot and cook on high for 4
hours, stirring occasionally. Serves warm or cold.

That other delicious thing I added to this meal, that’s a
German Style Potato Salad that I made simply because I was craving it. It totally
deserves its own post, so you will have to wait another day or two for that
one.

November 4, 2013 December 4, 2017 Filed Under: Entertaining Tagged With: Clean, Menues, Pork, Vegetarian

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Hi, I'm Jessica. I'm an herbalist living in the great northeast with my husband Chuck, our two little boys, our dog Brody and a flock of chickens. I'm all about real, good food and good times with awesome people. I spend a lot of time outside, in my garden, and concocting potions and helping people feel their best. I also like tea, reading, and about a million other hobbies. I'm so happy your here on this adventure with me.

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