Cuban Pork .... my version anyway.

Yesterday was a crazy busy day. I had looked at my schedule wrong and thought I didn't work until 4 but actually worked from 2 - 11.  So 2 hours were gone from my day. Throw in an unexpected doctor appointment for the intense horrible pain in my shoulder and another hour is down the tubes.  Thankfully it was a quick trip and I was soon home but still had things to do.  I had set out pork stew meat earlier thinking I could figure out something to do with it.  Pork stew meat is one of my favorite things to buy.  It is so inexpensive and I can do so many different things with it. I almost always find it marked down at my grocery store so I had two packages for less than $2 each.

So I stood in front of my slow cooker looking at my pork stew meat and glanced over at my fruit bowl which held lemons and limes. Bingo! I seasoned the meat with my "house seasoning" (A big bowl of kosher salt, pepper, garlic powder, and seasoned salt that I use on everything I cook) and put it in the slow cooker.  Then I added half a jar of green salsa from the pantry, lemon juice, cayenne pepper, cumin, paprika, and chili powder.  I put the lid on, turned it on, then went off to do the rest of my housework. I did not measure my spices, I just threw in what seemed right for me. You all know how spicy you like things and you can always add more!

I ate a tuna sandwich before I left for work then gave the pork a stir and hoped for the best.  I left instructions to put the pork into tortillas with black beans or rice and some cheese.  When I returned from work I was so hungry!  There were leftovers so I made myself a taco out of what I called Cuban Pork.  I wasn't sure what to expect but it was so delicious!  The pork with the black beans and some cheese and sour cream made for a pretty filling taco.  We had enough for dinner, plus what I ate at midnight, and there is still plenty for lunches.

Pork stew meat is so versatile. There are lots different stews you could make. I've made a traditional stew with carrots and potatoes, or used sweet potatoes and peanuts to give it an African twist. I've gone the Asian route with it too but we are big fans of Mexican food here so that's how we use it most of the time. However you decide to use it just get some and use it!!

Our favorite chili

After years of trying different chili recipes I have finally found one that everybody can agree on.  It's good and filling and pretty inexpensive.  I usually buy ground beef when it's marked down and I can always find ground pork marked down to less than $2 a pound.  I use a mixture of beef and pork but you can use any kind of ground meat you'd like. This chili recipe makes a large amount.  It seems like a large amount to me anyway because there is only 4 of us.  We each eat a bowl for supper.  The boy will probably eat a bowl for breakfast. Yeah, don't ask, he's weird. And I'm taking a bowl to work with me for lunch.  The rest is going to be paired with macaroni for supper on Monday night. So it feeds us for a few days.

What I like about this chili is you can do what you want with it.  If you like peppers, throw 'em in there.  You like it hot?  Add some jalapenos and hot sauce.  Add more chili powder if you want.  Add less.  Add more beans.  Add less beans.  I have used less meat when I didn't have enough or a different combination of tomatoes like a big can of whole and a small can of diced.  Add some corn...well you get the idea. Do whatever you like to this chili.  It's still good.  My other favorite thing about this chili??  I cook it in the crock pot.  Walk away and forget it.  But you don't have to.  You can cook it on the stove
 too...but really, why would you!?!

Carol's Favorite Chili

1 lb ground chuck

1 lb ground pork

1/2 cp. onion, chopped

1/2 cp celery, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 (14 1/2 oz) cans kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 (14 1/2 oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 (14 1/2 oz) can pinto beans, rinsed and drained

1 can mild chili beans

1 sm. can tomato sauce

1 (14 1/2 oz) can whole peeled tomatoes

1 (28 oz) can petite diced tomatoes

1 pkg mild chili seasoning mix

2 tsp granulated sugar

chili powder - to taste

cumin - to taste

salt & pepper - to taste

Shredded cheddar, sour cream, chopped green onions - for garnish

In a large skillet, brown the ground meat with the chopped celery, onion, and minced garlic.  Drain the grease from the cooked meat and add to a large crock pot. (Or kettle if you're cooking it on the stove).  Stir in the beans, tomatoes, tomato sauce, chili seasoning mix, sugar, and the seasoning.  I don't usually measure, I just dump and taste it a couple of hours later and adjust them as needed.  Break up the whole tomatoes if you'd like with the back of a spoon. Put the lid on the crock pot and cook on high for about 4 hours. If you're cooking it on the stove bring it to a boil then cover and simmer it for 4 hours.  Garnish with sour cream, shredded cheese and chopped green onions if desired. 

That's it!  Perfect for cold snowy nights like we have here tonight.  Sometimes I make a big pan of cornbread to go with it but tonight we just used oyster crackers.  It is delicious!  Hope you enjoy it too.

It's a new year!

Happy New Year!  Hope the holidays were good to you.  We had a good Christmas here.  Until Christmas night when we were having supper at a Chinese restaurant and the 12 year old had an allergic reaction to crab!  Fun times! She had cracked some crab legs and gotten that juice all over her hands.  Then she got tired on the way home and was lying in the back seat rubbing her eyes and BOOM! We already knew she was allergic to shrimp, as am I, but she had no trouble eating crab or clams or fish.  But the doctor wants her to stay away from all seafood now and maybe give it a try in a couple of months.  And yes, she is wearing One Direction pajamas. If only they'd had Donny Osmond pajamas when I was 12.

Anyway, the holidays are over and our houseguests have moved on so life is getting back to normal, which for us is one problem after another.  Currently we are having car problems and also it's been so insanely cold.  The kids are home from school today because of the weather.  At this rate they will be in school until the 4th of July!

So we are back to our old way of cooking and doing things.  I usually buy a chicken marked down or at Aldis so it's around $4. I boil the chicken at the beginning of the week and we have enough meat for 2 meals and also about 8 cups of broth.  One of our favorite easy chicken recipes is Chicken Croquettes.  I try to make these when we've got leftover mashed potatoes so we can make potato patties to go with them.

Here is the recipe!

Chicken Croquettes

2 cps leftover chicken, chopped in the food processor

1  cp seasoned bread crumbs

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cp chopped onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp poultry seasoning

1/2 tsp dried parsley

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

Saute the chopped onion and garlic in a skillet sprayed with Pam until soft.  Mix the chicken, bread crumbs, eggs, and onion mixture together in a bowl.  If it seems really dry, just add another egg. Add the seasonings and mix well.  Shape into patties.  I make mine kind of small so we get about 8 patties out of this.  Heat some oil in a large skillet and fry the patties until they are golden brown.   

I also like to press my patties into some Panko crumbs before I fry them because it gives them a nice crispy coating.  I also just use the heels of my loaves of bread to make bread crumbs if I don't have any of the other kind.  You can change up the seasoning if you'd like, or add hot sauce, or whatever.  But this is a really inexpensive dish to make and the kids love it.   Stay warm out there!

I have a confession....

I don't use coupons.  It's out..I've said it.  I've watched TV shows about extreme couponing and I'm impressed that they can get so much for so little.  But they spend a LOT of time doing that.  Also I just don't see it working out for me and I'll tell  you why.  Living in a small rural area, we don't have Jewel, Kroger, and all of those big national chain grocery stores.  We have the Walmart, an Aldi, and a couple other little grocery stores and then in my tiny town, we have a little bitty 4 aisle supermarket.  We don't have double coupon days or rewards cards or anything like that.  When I worked in a large city, I adored shopping at Kroger.  I could spend hours traipsing up and down the aisles, looking at all the cool stuff.  I am a grocery store geek!

Another reason I don't use coupons is that I rarely buy name brand items.  I see people in the store who have Campbell's soup, and Tostitos tortilla chips, and Starkist tuna and things like that and I watch their total go sky high.  I was a brand name snob once but tough times call for tough measures and generic is my go-to brand now. Buying generic is usually, but not always, cheaper than buying name brand, even with a coupon. My final hold out was on things like shortening and flour but I've broken down and now buy generic or get it at Aldi's.  I bake a mean pie and it's just as mean with generic flour and shortening as it is with Crisco and Pillsbury.  No complaints here!  

Another trick that I use in the grocery store is that I buy mark downs.  I work at Walmart and usually I work until 10 p.m.  I get my groceries after work and their meat is just being marked down at that time of the night.  What is marked down is generally what makes the menu for the next week.  The other night I bought a 6 1/2 pound chicken for $4.31.  I buy a whole chicken every week and I boil it then shred the meat.  That gives us 2 chicken meals and a potful of chicken stock.  It also gives the outside stray cats a plateful of warm chicken stuff and bones which they love.  You can get 20-30% off meat by buying mark downs and they go straight to my freezer.  I have never had a problem with spoiled meat by buying mark downs. 

Sometimes you can even get boneless skinless chicken breast or tenderloins for pretty cheap.  Which leads me to my most requested recipe from the children....Hot Wings! I sometimes use actual chicken wings for my Hot Wings but more often than not I use boneless breast cut into strips or chunks.  I played around with my recipe quite a bit before settling on it and we think these taste very much like the wings you get from Hooters.  You can adjust the amount of hot sauce to your liking.  This isn't necessarily an inexpensive dish to make..that's why marked down chicken and butter from Aldi's helps!  And yes it has to be Crystal Hot Sauce!

Carol's Chicken Hot Wings

3 pounds chicken wings or BSCB cut into chunks

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

1 tablespoon Tony Chachere’s®Creole seasoning (can be ordered here!)

3 eggs

 ½ cup milk

1 teaspoon Crystal® hot sauce (can be ordered here!)

Enough canola oil to fill a dutch oven 2/3 full (approximately 1 ½ quarts)

1 cup of butter (2 sticks)

½ cup Crystal® hot sauce

1 teaspoon garlic powder

Pour the oil into a deep kettle or dutch oven and start heating it over medium-high heat.  Cut the wing tips off the chicken wing and discard.Cut the remaining wing into 2 pieces, the drummette and the wingette using a kitchen shears or knife.  Here's a handy picture so you know what I'm talking about. 

1.     

In a large bowl mix the flour, salt, pepper, and Creole seasoning. Set aside.  In a medium bowl mix the milk, eggs, and  teaspoon of hot sauce.  Put the butter, 1/2 cup of hot sauce, and garlic powder in a 2 qt saucepan and heat it gently, whisking occasionally, for 20 - 30 minutes.  Dip the chicken pieces into the flour mixture, then into the egg mixture, then back into the flour mixture.

When your oil mixture reaches 360° and it MUST be that temperature to cook the chicken properly, you can begin frying the chicken.  I cook 4 - 6 pieces at a time, depending on how big the chicken is. Cook until the internal temperature of the chicken is at 165° F.  The temperature of the chicken can be checked by putting the cooking thermometer probe into the meaty part of the chicken making sure it is not touching the bone.  The chicken will have a golden brown color.  The frying process takes approximately 8 to 10 minutes.

      Remove the chicken from the hot oil with a tongs and drain well on paper towels. When you've fried all the chicken, put them into a serving bowl. By this time your wing sauce will be piping hot and yummy so just pour it over the chicken pieces and stir them around a bit so the sauce hits all of them.  This is what mine look like in my extra fancy green plastic bowl. 

You can serve them with Bleu Cheese or Ranch dressing but the kids just like them plain.  This may not be the most budget friendly meal but it's definitely cheaper than eating them at the actual restaurant.  And if you wear your tightest shirt and tiniest shorts while cooking them, the atmosphere is the same too!