Tasty Thursday: Applesauce Pork Roast

I like roasting meat in the oven but some days it’s hard to find the time. The crock pot can be a great roasting substitute. The meat comes out moist and tender. And you can get it started in the morning, so dinner is ready when you get home.

Recently I had some pork loin roast and had the idea of cooking it in applesauce. Apples & pork are a good combination so I figured applesauce would be a good cooking sauce. The results were delicious!

Crock Pot Applesauce Pork Roast

• 2-3 lbs of pork loin roast
• 2 TB canola oil
• salt, pepper and rosemary – approx 1 tsp each
• 1 cup of applesauce
• 2 TB dijon mustard
• 1 TB of honey

In a medium size bowl, mix together the applesauce, mustard & honey. Set aside.

Season the roast with salt, pepper & rosemary. Then brown it on all sides in 2 TB of hot oil.

Put roast in crock pot and cover with applesauce mixture. Cook on low for 7-8 hours.

We served mashed potatoes and a green vegetable on the side. When I cooked it, I doubled the recipe and we used the leftover pork in a Peanut Noodle Salad. The sweetness from the applesauce with the spicy in that recipe were a delicious way to get two meals out of the pork.

Tasty Thursday: Chicken & Coconut Curry Soup

I’m so happy we’ve officially entered soup season. The past few weeks I’ve made soup for dinner once a week and I’m guessing it will be a dinner staple until sometime this spring. Now, keep in mind that I don’t like to make the same thing for dinner very often so this soup season requires lots of different recipes. I have a new one to share with you today – we’re having it for dinner tonight and I can’t wait.

Chicken & Coconut Curry Soup

Adjusted from a recipe seen in Crock Pot Soups & Stews

6 cups chicken stock (or broth)
2 cups water
2 cans (approx 14 oz each) lite coconut milk
1 leek, sliced into quarter moons
3-4 TB curry powder
2 stalks lemongrass, minced
1 TB fresh ginger, peeled & minced
6-8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 package (6 oz) baby spinach leaves
1 cup brown rice
2 limes
salt & pepper
cilantro, chopped

1. Combine ingredients through chicken in your crock pot and cook on low 10 hours or high for 6.

2. Remove the chicken from the crock pot and cut into bite-size pieces. Add back to the soup. Add spinach and rice and cook on high for 10 minutes.

3. Squeeze in the juice of the limes, season with cilantro and salt & pepper. Stir and then serve.

Note: Some curry is spicy but if you use yellow curry powder (look in your spice section) it is not spicy at all, just savory. If you want some heat add some red pepper flakes to taste or even a dash or two of hot sauce when serving.

Tasty Thursday: Shredded Beef Enchiladas

Typically when I make enchiladas I use shredded chicken or ground beef. Last week, however, I wanted to do something with shredded beef so I did a little experimenting and a little adapting, busted out the crock pot and came up with this recipe. It was a big hit (and the extra filling made some darn fine nachos the next day).

Shredded Beef Enchiladas

• 3-4 lb roast
• 2 jars of salsa
• 1 can of corn
• 8 tortillas
• 1 bag of shredded cheese

1. Put roast in crock pot and cover with salsa. Cook on low heat for 7-8 hours.
2. Shred beef and place back in the crock pot with the salsa & juices, add the can of corn (drained) and let cook for 15 minutes to combine and soak up more juice.
3. Assemble your enchiladas by adding a scoop of the meat/corn mixture to a tortilla with a bit of shredded cheese. Roll and place, seam side down, in a 9×13 pan sprayed with cooking spray
4. Top with sauce (see below) and more cheese. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Enchilada Sauce

adapted from Emeril Lagasse’s Easy Enchilada Sauce

• 2 TB butter
• 2 TB flour
• 2 TB chili powder
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 12 oz can of tomato paste
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp cumin

1. In a medium sauce pan, melt the butter, add the flour and make a light roux – just cook it for a minute or two.
2. Add chili powder, oregano & cumin and cook for 30 seconds. Add tomato paste and stock. Stir to combine and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. The sauce will get quite thick, you can add more broth if you’d like it a bit thinner.

Tasty Thursday: Ravioli Soup a birthday tradition

Growing up, we were allowed to pick whatever we wanted for our birthday dinner. (A tradition I extend to my children today.) Every single year I picked the same thing: ravioli soup. These are nothing like the raviolis you’re probably used to. They are small and instead of serving them in sauce, they are boiled in broth to make soup. It’s delicious and made all the more special because we only had it once a year. Making raviolis is definitely a labor of love (made significantly easier with a KitchenAid ravioli maker attachment I might add).

This year I’ve scored big because my mother taught my daughter how to make them and they are making me ravioli soup for my birthday dinner. Another example of how wonderful traditions can be, carried on from one generation to the next, centered around the dinner table.

Ravioli Soup

The Dough
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour, sifted
4 eggs
1 TB salt

Place flour and salt in bowl, make a well in the center and drop the eggs in. Add 4-5 tablespoons of water a little at a time and blend together. Once the dough starts to come together, use your hands to knead until smooth and elastic (5-10 minutes). Place in an oiled bowl and cover with clean towel or plate. Let rest for three hours at room temperature.

The Filling
10 oz frozen spinach thawed and drained completely or fresh spinach cooked just to wilted
1 1/2 lb ground beef (or a mixture of beef, sausage and veal)
1 cup grated Parmesan
3 eggs
Pinch of ground nutmeg and black pepper
Dash of salt

Finely chop spinach and place in a large bowl. Mix well with all other ingredients.

The Assembly
This is the part where you use your pasta roller and ravioli attachment if you have one, if not follow the instructions to do it by hand. It’s a great arm workout.

1. Separate the dough into four parts and repeat the steps for each ball of dough.
2. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough until it is very thin, as thin as you can make it. Lay it out on the counter.
3. On the bottom half of the dough, place small mounds (a teaspoon) of the filling approx 1 1/2 inches apart and the same distance from the sides of the dough.
4. Fold the top half of the dough over the bottom half, completely covering the filling. Press firmly between the mounds of stuffing with the side of your hand – you want to seal the dough together so really press firmly.
5. Using a pastry wheel cutter, cut along all of the rows to create separate raviolis. Set aside to dry for at least 10 minutes and then store in an airtight container until ready to use. You can also freeze them at this stage and use them within three months.

The Soup
Bring your favorite chicken broth recipe to a boil. Drop the raviolis in gently and cook for 12 minutes. Note, I make the broth in my crock pot all day. Then 30 minutes before dinner put the temp on high and drop the raviolis in to cook for that half hour. You can cook them directly from frozen. I highly recommend a sprinkle of Parmesan on top of the soup when serving.

Food Thursday: Beef in Red Wine Sauce

I have another crock pot option for you today. I love it because it’s one of those recipes that is so easy to toss together in the morning and then forget about until your house starts smelling delicious at dinnertime. Enjoy!

Beef in Red Wine Sauce

Based on a recipe seen in Simple Slow Cooker Recipes

• 2 pounds of beef stew meat, cut into 1 inch chunks
• 1 medium onion, quartered and thinly sliced
• 2 beef bouillon cubes
• 3 TB corn starch
• salt & pepper
• 1-2 cups dry red wine
• 1 cup of water
• 1 package of noodles, I used wide egg noodles

1. Put meat & onion in the slow cooker. Add bouillon and sprinkle corn starch, salt & pepper on top. Stir together to mix the corn starch around a bit. Pour wine & water on top. Cover & cook on low 10-12 hours or high for 5-6 hours.

2. Just before dinner, boil water and cook noodles according to package directions. Serve beef over noodles.

A note on the wine: I usually make this when I have some leftover wine that needs to be used. If you will be opening a new bottle, choose one that you would enjoy drinking. Since the meat will stew in the wine all day you don’t want to pick something that you don’t enjoy.