This week I defrosted half of a big pork loin (from Sam’s). Cooked it today in the crockpot with halved sweet potatoes and the bit of carrot and celery I had. For liquid I use leftover chicken stock I had in a carton in the fridge. Added some spices. We enjoyed it and put leftover meat and sweet potatoes in fridge.
I decided to use the leftover liquid plus the rest of the carton of stock to make soup. Added some lentils I had and cooked on high a few hours. Then used immersion blender on it. The nice thing is that an elderly friend in hospital/rehab has requested lentil soup when she goes home. So some of it went into the freezer.
We got bored with the pork leftovers. So the last of it I made into a sort of mexican casserole.
I greased round corning casserole dish. Then I made layers of torn tortilla (mine were a little too big for the dish, which was fine), chopped pork with a bit of chopped onion, canned tomatoes with pepper, shredded cheddar. Baked covered at 350 degrees about a half hour, then cooked some more uncovered.
Just about any meat/fish can be turned into a Mexican inspired dish like tacos, enchiladas, etc.! Yum.
Speaking of pork…I made pork chops on Saturday with a light breading. Not my fav but H loves them. I had three pork chops left over. Last night I cut a sweet potato into bite sized pieces and roasted with olive oil, salt, pepper. Let them cool a bit and cut up one pork chop and then proceeded to make two GREAT salads with mixed greens, the sweet potato, pork chop, assorted other raw veggies, feta, pumpkin seeds . One for my dinner and one for my lunch today. It’s fantastic. The sweet potato got nicely charred and so some of them provide a “crunch” like a crouton might.
BTW, H would not eat pork chops on a salad or sweet potato - so he ate his pork chops as is!
We must be on a pork roll! We had new friends over Friday night for a casual dinner. We served a fruit/nuts/cheese charcuterie board with cocktails and then pulled pork sliders on Hawaiian rolls with all the fixings along with homemade coleslaw for dinner. Guests brought a delicious chocolate marbled chiffon cake with chocolate glaze–and they didn’t even know what a chocolate fiend I am. They are keepers.
We finally had two days in a row of cold weather last week. Just when I thought fall was finally here and I could start making more “comfort foods” the weather got warm again! 60s over the weekend then it was 72 degrees here today! Despite that, I went ahead with my plans for dinner and made chicken tortilla soup.
Acc to a local weatherman I follow on FB, temps will drop here at the end of the week. Looking forward to soup and stew on the regular rotation.
I think I’m gonna make a batch of split pea soup with ham. Basic recipe:
Dice some onion/carrot/celery (a cup each or so) and cook it in a pat or two of butter for about 8 minutes.
Add 4 cups chicken stock (or broth) and 4 cups water – bring it to a boil. Then cut the heat back to medium-low or so.
Add a couple bay leaves and a bag of split peas. Also add a little bit of salt, pepper, garlic, and thyme.
Cover that and let it simmer for 30-45 minutes. Stir occasionally.
Remove the bay leaves
With an immersion blender, blend it up to your desired consistency.
Add some cubed ham, cut the heat to Low, and just let the ham warm up for ten minutes. Then turn off the heat and let the whole thing cool for 10-15 minutes. you can use a ham bone instead, but it takes more work imo.
That looks delicious. Perfect for any meal (we love a savory breakfast). Imagine you could sub in spinach or kale or any greens for the chard if you didn’t have it.
Dh made the beef and mushroom stew tonight that @BunsenBurner shared a while back. Soooo good! I was surprised tho that it didnt seem like it made much. Or at least, for us, it was just barely three servings. I was hoping for leftovers! We will double next time to ensure we have adequate leftovers.
Note, we did not add the cream and did not serve with potatoes, or any starch. That would have extended the serving size a little. We didn’t want/need the carbs, although I’m sure it would have been fabulous over mashed potatoes or egg noodles.
Thanks for the recipe, Bunsen. It is definitely a keeper at our house.
Tonight’s comfort food will be Turkey Tetrazzini using the Good Housekeeping cookbook recipe. I’ll cut it in half since it’s just H and me. After hosting all week and coming down with a cold I figure I deserve some comfort.
