Shredded BBQ Pork

I have been slaving, I tell you, slaving all day! Today was the first day in a good long while that I spend happily puttering in the kitchen without obligations breathing down my neck. It was about time too, I miss enjoying my cooking! So, tonight I bring you shredded bbq pork (courtesy of my slow cooker) and Oopsie bread with which to eat it, and lots of pictures to prove it.

Stage One: Porky Breakdown

Everyone should, on a semi-regular basis, have a giant hunk of carcass on their counter to break down themselves. I think it gives a greater appreciation for the food, plus it is just plain fun.

My pork butt was semi-frozen for ease of butchering and purchased in a two pack from Sam's Club. $1.68 is hard to beat for meat, so I am working on more ways to use this stuff. (Can you say tamales?)

Stage Two: Slow Cooker Love

My porkiness is now tucked neatly into bed and kept warm with its own personal heater and cumin and oregano aromatherapy. Its like a sauna for dead animal! A sauna that lasts 6-8 hours on low.

Stage Three: Photo Op, then Break for Lunch

Tada! This what completely relaxed pork looks like after the sauna. It feels so good it just wants to melt! So we loan it our buns (Oopsie bread in my case) to lounge in and escort it to the privacy of our stomachs.

(Oh, and I apologize for the wealth of contradicting fanatsys. I am high on pig.)

 Topped with some BBQ sauce and shredded cheddar, this was a truly delicious low carb dinner! The bread's flavor did not dominate the pork. It was JUST bland enough to complement without dragging it down, and it was strong enough to wrangle the filling, even better than a tortilla. I am looking forward to my stomach making some room so I can eat more!

I also made homemade baked beans (bacon, NOM!), and obviously Oopsie bread. I have pictures of that, eventually I will do a post on them!

Nutty Green Beans and Lemon Rosemary Chicken

It has been a long couple of weeks at the Bear Den. Honey Bear broke a hand and lost his job as a thanks for it, so our budget just took a major turn for the tight. My quest to go grain free has moved to the back burner, and I am forced to reevaluate the pantry stores. I like to keep at least a month's food on hand, but I have been getting complacent about it lately. Luckily we are well stocked for about six weeks, save a half dozen inexpensive items.

Before I buckle down and start the minimum wage job hunt to tide us over till Honey Bear heals, I am taking a week or so to enjoy his company. Help with the daily chores gives me a bit more time to putter in the kitchen, too, and it shows with dinner tonight. Granted when the grocery bill drops, time in the kitchen usually doubles, but I made it count while we had fresh stuff on hand. I really slowed down and took my time with today's meal, and I actually enjoyed cooking for the first time in a long time!

Anyway, I took a page from the Pioneer Woman and made Lemon Rosemary Chicken. This bird has been absolutely smothered in compound butter, and it looks happy even before it is cooked. Seriously, if I had to be roasted and eaten by a being of superior intellect, I would want to be caked in this stuff, too. 

It brings new meaning to 'butterball'.

I paired it with pumpkin sage polenta, and green beans with walnuts. The polenta was a huge hit, but it is hard to go wrong with polenta in this house. This particular breed will probably be eaten every fall from now on.

 

This needs to be doubled next time.

Mr. Chicken, after the sauna.

I take no credit for the chicken or the polenta recipes, but I can almost claim the green beans! I threw it together as a cheaper take on green beans amandine a few years ago, and it has graced our table many times since.

 

Nutty Green Beans 

1/2 cup walnut pieces

2 tablespoons butter

16 oz green beans, fresh or frozen, thawed, and air dried

1-2 cloves garlic, minced

salt and pepper

1 tsp lemon juice or 2 tbps chicken stock, optional

Toast the walnuts lightly over low heat in a cast iron skillet. Remove from pan when fragrant. Careful, they like to burn! Melt the butter in the same pan and toss in the beans, garlic, salt, and pepper. Saute over medium heat until everything nicely warmed and the garlic smells yummy, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the walnuts. Viola!

Lemon juice adds a pleasant brightness that cuts through the walnuts richness. If you are using it, just stir it in with the nuts at the end. The chicken stock should be added about a minute after the beans and garlic. It will thicken slightly and provide a lovely rich glaze if you use it.

20 Minute Stroganoff - Gluten Free in a Hurry!

I love cooking. And by 'love', I mean I hate it. It's all the time, three times a day. Then you are forced to clean up. Plus, it takes time. I love it, really, but it is a huge hassle! On a long day the last thing I want to go is jump into a hot kitchen and slave.

So sometimes, I don't. Sometimes I take easy stuff of a standard grocery store shelf and make that instead. This is especially true on grocery day, because I can grab two or three fast things and throw them together at the last minute. It might be a rotisserie chicken, or pre-cut stir fry fixings, but today it was 20 Minute Stroganoff.

I love this because the whole family eats it, it only needs like, four ingredients which I can get at my neighborhood market, and its frigging fast! (Neighborhood market means Walmart, by the way. As universal as it gets in this country.)

20 Minute Beef Stroganoff

1 lb ground beef

1/2 onion

1 12 oz package Heartland Gluten Free pasta

1 18 oz can Progresso Creamy Mushroom Soup

Cook the pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, brown beef in a large skillet, adding the onions in to sweat. Add the soup and heat, then stir in the drained pasta to coat.

See, was that hard? Fast 70's style comfort food, just like the Campbells like to make! Add some broccoli and you are good to go!

Spanish Eggs - No Sugar, High Protein Breakfast

I have a confession: I don't like sweets. Candy gives me stomach aches, cake just bothers me, and sugar-laden breakfast foods will turn a ravenous me into a me that doesn't want to eat for the rest of the day. When I am presented with a big pile of waffles, I start looking for bacon and eggs to top it instead of syrup and fruit. Fat is my drug of choice!

Still, this can make breakfast a challenge. Bacon and eggs alone gets boring, and potatoes take more time than I have patience for in the morning. Oatmeal, nah, never been a fan, and a belly full of milk and cereal is just unappealing.

I want fast. I want easy. I want fat and protein and FLAVOR in the morning. For my kids I will make a huge pan of scrambled eggs and melt cheddar on top and serve it with corn tortillas. For myself, I kick it up a notch and make what I call Spanish Eggs.

Contrary to the name, they are not Spanish, and they are not nearly as fancy as the name implies. They are an insanely easy, 5 minute breakfast that never gets old and fills me up with good protein and a fair amount of fat, with just enough carbs to kick start my day. Plus, they use up a little of the roast chicken that is pretty much always in my fridge.

I don't have pictures yet (I really need to get a decent camera!), but seeing as how I make this stuff once a week, you won't be left wanting for long. These would also be amazing with some crumbled chorizo in place of the chicken, or some standard breakfast sausage. You can also skip the meat entirely and they are still delicious and filling.

PHOTO UPDATE: Told you you wouldn't have to wait long!

 

Spanish Eggs

1 Tbsp butter

2 eggs

2 Tbsp of your favorite salsa

2 tsp milk

¼ tsp each cumin and oregano

salt and pepper

¼ cup chopped cooked cold chicken

Shredded cheddar

2-3 corn tortillas, warmed on a dry skillet, in the oven, or in the microwave.

      Melt the butter in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Meanwhile, whisk together the eggs, salsa, milk, and seasonings in a small bowl and pour them into the pan and sprinkle on the chicken. Let them set a bit while you start your tortillas warming, then stir the eggs and cook them gently for just a minute or two. Once they look almost done to your liking, top them with the cheese, then spoon them into the tortillas.

      Now, you have a warm, melty, savory taco of deliciousness to start your day off right, and look! No sugar!

Baby Steps from a Box

I hate Bisquick. When I learned how to cook, I felt like I had really graduated into cooking once I lost the crutch of mixes. I was determined to learn how to bake gluten free without it. How different could possibly it be?

Very.

It occurred to me after weeks of baking failure that there was nothing wrong with baby steps, even if it did mean paying an obnoxious amount for a mix. After all, it was just until I figured out the basics. It turned out I really needed that mix, because it would have never entered my brain to put eggs in biscuits and have them actually turn out. But they do, and while they do have a certain egg-y flavor reminiscent of waffles, they are good. Better when you break down the biscuit mix and make it from scratch. Which is exactly how I learned how to do it the first time, and exactly what I did with my cornbread recipe.

And they absolutely rock when you get farm fresh eggs with yolks that are a deep orange and are practically leaping from the whites. The batter gets turned a simply gorgeous yellow color, and there is nothing like really golden baked goods.

King Midas is jealous of this batter.

Not every recipe on that box was worth recreating. Pizza crusts that taste like biscuits are not my favorite. But lo and behold, I got myself a few baking skills, and you can't argue with results.

Like golden clouds of nom.

Yes, I am still learning, and still borrowing from quite a few places as I find my brand of gluten free. I just hope I can help a few people who are in the same boat along the way. So, my adaptation of those famous biscuits, gluten free style - 

 

Basic GF Biscuits:

2 cups gluten free flour blend with xanthan gum (I used this one.)

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1/3 cup shortening

2/3 cup milk

3 eggs

Preheat oven to 400*.

Combine the flour blend, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a medium bowl. Cut in the shortening (or other solid fat) using a pastry blender or two forks, until the mix looks crumbly. Combine the milk and eggs separately and beat the eggs well, then add to the flour mix. Stir in well, then drop by mounded spoonfuls onto baking pan lined with parchment or sprinkled with cornmeal.

 

 Bake 10-13 minutes, until lightly browned and looking nommy.

Pizza Win!

Before gluten became poison, we had pizza night every week. I spend months perfecting my recipe. It was tasty and light and easy to work with, and it was a very cool kids' birthday party activity. My heart broke a bit when I realized it was not feasible anymore, so I set to work pretty early on to find a pizza we could rely on. Wow, that was stressful. So many failures! Bad texture (I do not like eating blocks of gluey crust), too much prep work (sticky dough is a huge pain), and pre-baking the crusts made a simple dinner take way too long. Nothing was inedible, but nothing was worth doing twice.

I looked everywhere, and finally during a random trip to Whole Foods I found a baking issue of Living Without that had a master pizza dough recipe in it. It used a high-protein flour blend that was listed in the back of the issue, and it used easy to find flours. And best of all: no pre-baking! Just whip it up, lay it out on hot stones, top and bake. I spied my next pizza attempt.

While my Kitchen-Aid went to work on the dough and the stones heated, I crossed my fingers. I was thrilled with the firm, workable, non-sticky dough and how easy it was to roll out onto parchment. It was very strong, too, no random holes or stretching. As I slid the pizza-laden parchment onto the stones, I looked at my husband and said firmly, "That was way too easy. This better taste good!"

After a whole 12 minutes in the oven, they were done. Dinner had taken me all of 25 minutes to put together, with very little labor. Score.

Check it out. That is success on a pizza pan.

And best of all, it tastes good. Not great, but good. Strong, tender-chewy, and worthy of tweaking to perfection! I'll be working on it over the next few weeks and when I get it right I will post a step-by-step recipe. For now, this is my version of the one that made the cut:

2 cups gluten free flour blend (I used this one)

1/2 cup chickpea flour

1/2 cup millet flour

3 tsp xanthan gum 

1 tsp salt

5 tsp yeast

1 1/3 cups warm water

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp sugar or honey

Preheat oven and pizza stones to 440*. Proof yeast in water with sugar until foamy.

Combine flours, salt, xanthan gum, and any desired seasoning in a stand mixer and blend. Add yeast and olive oil, and mix on medium heat for 3-5 minutes. 

Roll out dough onto greased or floured parchment paper into 2 12-inch pizzas. Let rise 10 minutes if desired. Top and slide carefully onto hot stones and bake for 10-15 minutes. Slice and enjoy!