Tormented Kitchen

I just realized as I was composing this recipe that it must appear that we eat lots of pork, perhaps it appears to be an unusual amount of pork. I admit I love pork, but we only eat it once every other week or so. It's just so much easier to come up with fun recipes like this to showcase pork. I have used this super-simple Dijon marinade on chicken breast and thin-cut beef steaks with success, so don't be afraid to use another meat. If you have any fresh herbs on hand, a small amount would be nice too. I'd suggest about 2 Tablespoons of minced thyme or parsley, maybe use some lavender if you want it sort of Frenchy like Herbes de Provence. Personally, we like to let the flavor of the meat stand out. It's also just one of those go-to quick and easy recipes when I'm worn out. I'll microwave a veggie in the steamer, usually frozen corn or fresh cauliflower or broccoli. I like to have box-mixes of rice pilaf or cous-cous on hand. Toss one of those in a pot when...

This past weekend, Justin, the kids and myself took a few days off and went camping. We travelled from Reno to Winnemucca and spent some time with our families before heading up into the mountains near Orovada. We set up camp with our tent and the canvas fly that attaches to the truck. We took the ATV's out and enjoyed the fresh air. Our second day up, we made pancakes and hot tea for breakfast.  Justin's family drove up mid-morning.  Any more, this has been an annual trip near Father's Day. Everyone fished for brook trout and took turns riding the ATVs. Eric was absolutely begging to go fish and take a ride. In the late afternoon, the guys cleaned the fishies and did the cooking. Grandma Rose fixed a salad, which we all enjoyed with fresh trout pan-fried with French bread. We set up a propane camp stove and cook the fish in a cast iron frying pan. You can recreate this at home on the stove. Just be aware frying splatters a lot, so protect yourself with long s...

I made these bars the other night. I was really in the mood for some chocolate chip blondies, but I was possessed to add oatmeal. I know what happends when you add oatmeal. Your food gets...oaty. And crumbly. And chewy. (That's not a bad thing!) Also, I added twice as much chocolate as I should have. Justin looked at these, took a bite, and looked at me funny. Too much chocolate for him. He was looking forward to regular blondies. Ha. Too bad. Yeah, I know I can over do things sometimes. I AM a chocoholic, after all. The really funny thing about these bars is that were so much better the next day. The vanilla really melded with the oats and they just tasted better. BTW, the kids made a huge mess eating theirs. It's a good thing they were just sitting on the kitchen floor. Ingredients 1 cup flour 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1 1/2 sticks butter (12 Tablespoons), softened 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar 1/2 cup white sugar 1 egg 2 teaspoons ...

This is one of those comfort foods that is quite versatile. It really hits the spot for dinner during cold weather. My mom has even made it for breakfast when she has visitors. You can make it without sausage and use it as a side dish. Then it's a lot like the stuff from Cracker Barrel. Just a thought, if you are trying to clone theirs, make sure to use cheddar cheese instead of the Colby-Jack blend I like. I would sautee the onions in a little butter to soften them up since they wouldn't get cooked with the sausage. I find if you use regular full-fat and full-sodium ingredients this is pretty salty and greasy.  To save a few fat grams and calories, use the reduced fat sausage, "healthy" version of the canned soup, and reduced fat cheese and sour cream.  I've never bothered to really look at the calorie counts, but it just makes sense overall. Ingredients 1 30-32 oz. bag of frozen hashbrown potato shreds, thawed 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup 1 8-oz...

My first experience with bubble tea was a few years ago in San Francisco. I was curious about it.  Gummy balls mixed with tea? It is not for everyone.  My first taste was loaded with anticipation. The tea was good and then I'd slurp up a ball. The balls in bubble tea are tapioca, so it's nothing truly exotic or gross. The balls are basically flavorless, so sipping the tea and chewing was novel.  Justin and his brother had fun shooting them at each other and nearby things. Bubble tea sometimes goes by other names like tapioca pearl tea or boba tea. I found some tiny tapioca pearls at the market on Oddie when I last went to buy glutinous rice.  They were so cute! You can also make juice drinks or plain teas with these tapioca balls.  Eric loved them, so I may end up sneaking them into soup just to get him interested in soup (I'm kidding. Sort of. He really doesn't like soup. Weird kid? Probably.) There happens to be a pho noodle restaurant close to...

  As a small child, I decided that I liked rice.  I liked it a lot. I liked it steamed with soy sauce at the Chinese restaurant, or at home from an Uncle Ben boxed mix, and my favorite was in Mom's rice pudding . Then one day, a guy I was seeing (back in college) took me on a date to a Thai restaurant.  It was very cozy and we had no idea what we were getting.  We pretty much pointed at things onthe menu and the waiter brought out amazing, delicious foods. One of those amazing things was dessert, sweetened rice with mango covered in coconut milk sauce. Khao Nieow Ma Muang. I was in love. With the food. Not the guy. (Sorry!) I tried making it at home using regular rice, trying to adapt my mom's rice pudding recipe with medium grain rice. (I had not realized back then that glutinous rice existed  I was only 19 and fairly naive). Then I tried aborio rice, then sushi rice. At some point I became aware of glutinous rice. Regular supermarkets did not carry it...

I know in some of my previous posts I have said how much I like Mexican food, and pork. In my youth, I was not really an adventurous eater.  Once I hit my teens, I started trying different things.  After I had left home for college, I started eating at a well known Mexican cantina on the south side of Reno. That is where I first tasted Carnitas. It was awesome! So much porky flavor concentrated in each bite! Since then, I have tried them at other restaurants.  They are all a tiny bit different from each other, but still delicious. My recipe is pretty basic. The use of OJ gives the pork a subtle sweetness.  You may find other recipes that use lime juice or broth or stock.  I will leave that decision up to you.  I have found simmering the meat and then frying it makes it very tender.  To shred it, all you need to do is apply a little pressure with a fork. Ingredients 3-4 pounds pork shoulder roast 1 teaspoon garlic sal...