Crock Pot Pork

This recipe is loosely based on a couple of recipes I found online. I'd gotten a boneless pork loin but wasn't feeling the love for my normal recipe so I looked around and cobbled something together. I served it with plain, shredded cabbage and it was amazing.

Ingredients:

• 2 to 3 pound boneless pork loin
• 4 to 5 cloves roasted garlic
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 t sage leaves
• 1 t rosemary leaves
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• Pepper to taste
• Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/4 cup brown mustard
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1 cup beer 

Directions:

1. Mix the dry ingredients together in a small bowl, not including the cranberries or garlic
2. Add the brown sugar, mustard and honey to the bowl and mix well
3. Pour some of this mixture into your slow cooker and put the pork on top
4. Top the pork with the remaining mixture
5. Sprinkle the cranberries and garlic around the pork
6. Add the beer
7. Cook on low for about 6 to 8 hours or until you can shred the meat easily with two forks
8. Shred the meat and enjoy!

Cranberry Upside-down Cake

There's so much goodness in this cake, I don't even know where to begin. I first had this cake four years ago in Boston. A dear friend and chef had made it for one of our Bible study dinners and I fell in love with the combination of rich sweetness plus the tartness of the berries.

I never did get her exact recipe, so I scouted around online and cobbled together this version. I made it yesterday for a Christmas Eve dinner and it's all gone today. I got heavy cream, intending to make whipped cream for the cake but forgot to bring it to our dinner and you know what? We didn't miss it one bit.

Ingredients: 

Topping:

1/2 C sugar
At least 2 T butter, softened
2 C fresh or frozen cranberries, not canned -- if using fresh, wash and sort; if using frozen, thaw and drain

Cake:

1 1/3 C flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
3/4 C sugar
1/2 C (1 stick butter), softened
1 egg
1 t vanilla
1 t fresh lemon zest
2/3 C milk

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350F
• Generously coat the inside of a 9-inch cake pan with the 2+ T softened butter
• Put the 1/2 C sugar in the cake pan and coat the entire pan with sugar (bottom and sides); there will be a lot of sugar remaining. Make sure it's evenly spread on the bottom of the pan.
• Place the cranberries in the bottom of the cake pan and make sure they're evenly distributed. Set the cake pan aside.
• In a small bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder. Set aside
• In a large mixing bowl, cream together the sugar and butter until the mixture is pea-sized or smaller.
• Add the egg, lemon zest and vanilla and beat until smooth.
• Add in the flour mixture and milk and beat at a low speed until just blended, or use a wooden spoon to blend.
• Carefully put the batter on top of the cranberries in the cake pan, making sure to cover the berries evenly. I used a spatula and dropped the batter onto the cranberries, almost like biscuits. Then I used the spatula to gently spread the batter around and cover the berries.
• Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out of the middle cleanly and the top of the cake has started to brown slightly. With my current oven, the cake baked for 45 minutes and I didn't use the toothpick.
• Let the cake sit for 10 minutes, then use a knife to carefully loosen the cake from the pan.
• Invert the cake onto a cake plate (you may need to tap the cake pan) and let cool completely.
• Enjoy!

Tortellini Salad

I got this recipe from my mother; the original recipe actually calls for goat cheese. However the first time I made it, I didn’t have any on hand, but I did have feta. I think you could use either kind and get good results; I’m just used to using feta. I like the flavor combination. 

Ingredients:

1 pound tortellini, cooked, drained and cooled (I use cheese tortellini)

6 sundried tomatoes, diced

6 roasted red peppers, diced

3 T olive oil

5 T balsamic vinegar

1—2 T oil from the sundried tomatoes (optional; I usually add just 1 T for extra flavor)

7 fresh basil leaves, chopped

2 ounces crumbled feta or goat cheese

Parsley to taste

Directions:

• Combine the oils and vinegar and whisk til thoroughly mixed.
• Pour the oil/vinegar mixture over the pasta.
• Mix in the rest of the ingredients.
• Chill before serving.
• Enjoy!

Baklava

I LOVE Baklava. Something about the sweet honey with the nuts just appeals to my palate. I recently received a large jar of fresh local honey from a friend of mine who has a bee hive. My first though to to make some baklava, and I wasn't disappointed!

Ingredients:
1 package phyllo dough
1 lbs of nuts, you can use any you want, I used a combination of almonds, walnuts, and pecans because that is what I had on hand.
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup of water
1 cup of sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup honey

Directions:

• Thaw the phyllo dough according to the directions on the box.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Butter a 9 x 13 pan.
• Bring 1 cup to a boil. Turn off heat immediately. 
• Add sugar, vanilla and honey. Stir until combined. Set aside to cool. 
• Chop nuts in a food processor and toss with the cinnamon.
• Roast the nuts until you can smell them. You can do this in the oven or in a large fry pan over medium heat.
• Place two layers of pyllo dough in pan, then butter. Repeat until you have about 8 layers. 
• Then add about 3 tbls of nuts over the buttered phyllo dough. Add two layers of phyllo dough, butter, add nuts on top. 
• Repeat until you only have about 8 layers of phyllo dough left. You should run out of nuts at about the same time.
• Cut the baklava before you bake it into whatever shape/size you desire.
• Butter the top layer then bake in the over for about 50 minutes.
• Immediately drizzle the cooled sauce over the baklava. 
• The baklava will soak up the sauce in a few hours, leave uncovered.
• Enjoy!

Lemonade

Lemonade is actually very easy to make at home. Homemade lemonade just tastes so much better than the stuff from a can. Next time you're at the store, skip the frozen concentrate and grab a bag of lemons instead.

Ingredients:
6 Lemons
1 Cup sugar
1 Cup water
Cold water

Directions:

• Bring 1 Cup of water to a boil. Immediately turn off the head. 
• Add 1 Cup sugar to the hot water. 
• Stir until sugar is dissolved.
• Cut 6 lemons in half and juice them. (You can buy a hand squeeze juicer at the grocery store for about $3 if you don't have one).
• In a pitcher combine the lemon juice, simple syrup. Fill the pitcher up with cold water. 
• Enjoy!

Fish Tacos

Don't let the multi-step directions scare you off. These are well worth making and add a nice variation on Mexi-Cali food. As always, dial down the jalapeno if you don't like it hot. As made, we get two generous tacos and one generous tostada from the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 T sour cream (for the crema)
• 2 T light cream  (for the crema)
• Hot sauce to taste  (for the crema)
• 1/2 C thinly sliced cabbage (for the slaw) 
• 4 or 5 scallions, thinly sliced (for the slaw) 
• 1 red jalapeno, half finely diced and half left whole  (for the slaw and for the fish) 
• 1 T fresh lime juice (for the slaw) 
• 2 T sour cream  (for the slaw) 
• 3/4 pound firm white fish like tilapia (for the fish, well duh this IS the fish)
• A bit of flour for dredging (for the fish)
• 1 to 2 T olive oil (for the fish)
• Tortillas (for assembly)
• 1/2 C finely diced fresh cilantro (for assembly)

Directions:

Crema:

1. Mix the sour cream and light cream together. It should be fairly thick.
2. Add hot sauce to taste.

Slaw:

1. Mix the lime juice and sour cream together in a small bowl.
2. In another bowl, combine the cabbage, scallions and diced jalapenos.
3. Add the lime juice/sour cream mixture to the cabbage mixture and toss well.

Fish:

1. Heat the oil in a skillet large enough to hold all the fish in one layer.
2. Add the half jalapeno to the oil and move it through the oil. Leave it in the pan to continue cooking.
3. Dredge the fish in flour (or toss the flour in a plastic bag, add the fish and shake gently to coat).
4. Sauté the fish in the skillet along with the jalapeno and cook until done.
5. Remove from heat and put the fish in a bowl. Shred the fish with a fork or knife.

Assembly directions:

1. Heat your tortilla.
2. (If you want cheese, add it now)
3. Place some diced cilantro on the fish.
4. Top with slaw.
5. (Add sliced avocadoes if you want)
6. Drizzle crema over your masterpiece.
7. Enjoy!

Lentil Soup

Yes, it looks like mud but it tastes oh so good.

This lentil soup isn't spicy-hot; I'd categorize it as spicy-flavorful. If you're worried that it will be too hot for you, you can always cut the cayenne in half. But I think you'll miss the flavor. As made, I got eight servings of soup from this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 16 ounces lentils
• 2 carrots, peeled and coarsely diced
• 2 celery stalks, coarsely diced
• 8 cups water or stock or a mixture
• 2 T olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, put through a press or otherwise mashed
• 1 16-ounce can chopped tomatoes
• ½ C minced cilantro leaves
• ½ t cayenne
• 1 t ground cumin

Directions:

1. In a large stock pot, combine the lentils, carrots, celery, and water or stock. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low.
2. Cover and cook until the lentils are done, stirring occasionally. My lentils take about 20 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil over medium heat in a small skillet and sauté the onions and garlic until soft.
4. Add the cayenne and cumin and stir well. Cook for about a minute.
5. Add the tomatoes (including the juice) to the skillet, and cook for a few minutes.
6. When the lentils are done, add the mixture from the skillet to the large stock pot and stir well.
7. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup. We prefer a fairly smooth texture; if you like your soup chunkier, just blend a little bit.
8. Enjoy!