Mango Basil Pork

Tonight I had a delicious creative adventure in my kitchen.  To be honest, that’s where most of my creativity is manifesting itself these days (hmm, is someone trying to tell me something here?).  So far though I’m no chef, and I know my techniques would get me laughed out of most of my favorite kitchens.  Seriously, I am constantly having aha moments when I watch foodie videos.  I recently watched a video that showed how to quickly strip kale off the stalk by sliding your hand down it and thought wow, why couldn’t I think of that instead of wasting my precious free time meticulously hand plucking each leaf?  I know I have much to learn in the kitchen, but I enjoy coming up with new flavorful dishes.  Lately I’ve been playing around with mangoes, having been inspired by this brilliant recipe for Mango Blueberry Quinoa Salad.

My version of the Mango Blueberry Quinoa Salad

Since it’s a little early for basil to be growing in my backyard, I ended up buying a big bag of the herb that needed to be used up and I loved the mango/basil flavor combo.  Thus the Mango Basil Pork dish was created!

Mango Basil Pork

I’m a fly by the seat of my pants kinda cook in the kitchen, which means when I make up a new dish, sometimes it will never be the same again.  I’ve decided I need to get better about writing things down while my path to creation is still fresh in my mind.  I’ll just say that if you’re the kind of cook who craves exact measurements from your recipes, you should probably look elsewhere.

Ingredients:
-1 pound of pork stew meet
-1 meyer lemon + zest of 1 half of lemon
-mango nectar (I used Trader Joe’s)
-1 garlic clove, diced
-About 10 fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
-salt & pepper to taste
-1 or 2 dribbles of extra virgin olive oil
-1 small red onion
-2 T tapioca flour
-Half a bag of frozen mango chunks (Trader Joe’s)

Marinate 1 pound of pork stew meat in the following (I let this sit for about 5 hours):

-Juice of 1 meyer lemon + zest of half
-Mango Nectar, eyeballing it I’d say I had about a half and half lemon/mango mix
-garlic
-fresh basil
-salt & pepper to taste (I should note here that my pepper grinder has lavender mixed in with the pepper, so I got a bit of lavender in there as well)
-a dribble or two of olive oil
-Pinch of Cumin
-1-2 dashes of chili powder
(Add sautéed chili peppers, habaneros or Thai hot peppers, depending on your spiciness threshold and taste for peppers)

Once the pork is sufficiently marinated, begin cooking. If one of the ingredients is done before the others, that’s fine, just cover to keep warm. You’ll be combining everything in the end anyway.

-First take the small red onion and cut lengthwise into about 1 inch strips, caramelize these in a separate pan

-Next, heat some more olive oil in pan and place pieces of pork in, browning on all sides

-Place marinade only in separate sauce pan, and heat up (here I added in the rest of my Mango Nectar from the bottle (I’m guessing it was about 1/2 – 3/4 of a cup).  Once this is simmering, gradually whisk in about 2 tablespoons of tapioca flour to thicken.  Next add in half a bag of frozen mango from Trader Joe’s.

Once pork is cooked, add onions and mango sauce all together over low heat.  At this point I tasted to see what might be needed.  My conclusion was it needed some spiciness to it and then I knew I should have trusted my previous instincts in the grocery store to get some chili peppers (and maybe even some habaneros!).  I shied away from my instincts.  Never shy away!  So I ended up adding a pinch of cumin and a couple dashes of chili powder instead.  Next time I will be spicin’ it up big time!

Gluten Free Tuna Noodle Casserole

This ain’t yo mama’s tuna noodle casserole! Quinoa pasta and chopped hazelnuts replace the wheat ingredients in this tasty dish. This is seriously the best tuna noodle casserole I have ever tasted, if I do say so myself.

1 seared tuna steak (Trust me, once you make this with freshly cooked tuna you will never go back to the canned stuff.)
Half of 1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic
1 stalk of celery
1 small box of sliced mushrooms (I know, I’m a bad person for buying pre-sliced, but that’s minutes of my life chopping mushrooms that I will never get back.)
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp tapioca flour
Thyme, Dill, Salt & Pepper to taste + a pinch or 2 of Tumeric
1 box Quinoa pasta, spirals
About a cup of shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 – 1 cup chopped hazelnuts

Trader Joe’s has frozen steaks that are well worth using in place of a gross old can of tuna. Oil a pan, bring to medium high heat, salt your steak and throw it in the pan (don’t let it stick!). Give it a couple of minutes and then flip it over. You want it to have a nice browning, and about medium rare since it will be going into the oven later. Pull the meat apart with a fork and knife. I kept mine pretty chunky. That way you can tell you’re eating tuna.

Start cooking your pasta.

Oil a skillet or wok with half butter, half oil (about 1 T each) and add chopped onions and garlic, then the celery, then the mushrooms. Cook until all of these are almost tender. Add cup of milk and herbs, and sprinkle with tapioca flour. Stir it up and let it come to a boil, stir a few times, continuing to let boil. When it has thickened up a bit, turn off heat.

Mix together the tuna, veggie/milk mixture, pasta and the cheese. Honestly, I’m not really sure how much cheese was used, I just kind of eyeball it and/or stop when my arm is tired of shredding. Pour into a 9×13 buttered pan. Shred some more cheese onto the top of the dish. Chop up hazelnuts (I love my vintage nut chopper for this, though if you are going for a more true breadcrumb consistency then maybe a food processor is for you, but personally I love the bigger hazelnut bits in there) and sprinkle over the cheese. Put in the oven (which by the way you should have preheated to 425) for about 10 – 15 minutes, until the cheese is all melty and the hazelnuts are golden brown.

Prepare to meet your new favorite gluten free comfort food!

Blueberry Banana Baked Oatmeal

Tags

agave, baked oatmeal, banana, blueberries, breakfast, gluten free, healthy eats, sugar free, yeast free

Baked Oatmeal seems to be all the rage these days.  Just one taste of this delicious stuff and it’s easy to see why.  For people like myself who have issues with eating things like wheat and yeast, breakfast can sometimes leave us feeling left out of all the fun.  After playing around with a couple different recipes, here’s what I’ve arrived at.  The brilliant thing about this recipe is that it’s so versatile.  Don’t have blueberries?  Add a chopped pear instead (or whatever fruit you like).  Don’t like walnuts?  Try using raw cashews or pecans as a substitute.  Can’t find agave at your local supermarket?  Use maple syrup, but make sure it is real, not some corn syrupy wanna be.  Don’t like chocolate?  Huh??  What’s wrong with you?  Okay, I guess you can take those out if you must.

Ingredients

• 2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• Zest of 1 orange
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup walnut pieces, chopped
• 1 cup blueberries
• 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 2 cups milk
• 1 large egg
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup agave nectar
• 1 ripe banana, peeled, sliced

1. Preheat oven to 375°F and butter one 9×13 baking dish.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the oats, baking powder, orange zest, cinnamon, nutmeg salt, walnuts, blueberries, and chocolate. Transfer to baking dish, making sure to get an even distribution of berries, nuts and chocolate.
3. In another large bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, butter, vanilla extract, and agave.
4. Arrange the banana slices on the top, then pour the milk mixture over everything. Make sure the liquid ingredients cover the oat mix evenly by slightly tilting the pan until everything is covered.
5. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until the top is nicely golden brown and the milk mixture has set. Let it sit for a few minutes before dishing out the warm deliciousness.  Enjoy!

Orange Maple Herbed Pork Sirloin Roast

I’ve been going through a pork roast phase lately.  I never used to be such a fan of the “other white meat” and limited my cooking experience with it to pork chops and bacon.  But a recent food sensitivity test revealed that I have slight issues with most proteins with the exception of beans, nuts, beef and pork.  So there has been a good deal of experimenting with new dishes, including a few pork roasts.  I think tonight’s version might just be my new favorite.  I love when a new dish is developed by chance.  If I hadn’t made baked oatmeal for breakfast (which required orange zest, but left a slightly naked orange to be used), this new pork dish wouldn’t be with us tonight.  I was simply meant to be.

Preheat oven to 400. Add just a bit of EVO to the bottom of a glass pan.  Place roast in the pan.

Cut up 2-3 sprigs of Rosemary and a few Thyme sprigs along with a couple cloves of garlic. Mix with salt and pepper and a few glugs of EVO. Juice half an orange, add in a little bit of orange zest and a couple of glugs of maple syrup.  Pour over the roast and make sure most of the herby goodness sticks to the pork.  Stick that bad boy in the oven.  My roast was about 2 lbs and took about 2 hours (I cook until the temp is at 170 to be safe, though the USDA says 145 is ok.  If you like living on the edge go for 145, but I must say that I haven’t had an issue with dryness).  I do spoon the juices over the top of the meat about 2-4 times while it cooks.  For this roast, I added the other half of the juiced orange and another swig of maple about halfway through the process.

Wash the Winter Blues Away

Tags

oregon, tide pool, glorious sunshine, bird feeding, beach, coast, west coast, sunshine

I’ve heard rumors that there are people who enjoy winter weather, but personally I am skeptical that these people exist.  I think there should be some kind of law passed that says you have to leave your holiday lights on through the entire month of January, just for my own sanity.  After a month of gloomy January weather, I’m ready for some serious sunshine.  So when I found out late last Friday that it was going to be sunny and in the mid 50s – 60s on the Oregon coast, I began contemplating.  Combine that with the fact that not only did Alex and I have a rare entire weekend off together, but there was also a special running at our new favorite hotel on the beach (complete with ocean view and fireplace), and I knew that the cosmos must have aligned.  I went home and informed Alex of our new weekend plans.

Just under two hours away from our destination, I dusted off my sunglasses and prepared to enjoy the scenic drive to the coast.  I don’t even think I knew how much I needed this getaway until we arrived and felt the stress and doldrums wash away.  

For the next 24 hours it was all wave watching….

beach combing…

sunset watching…

bird feeding…

brunch eating…

tide pool exploring…

and lots of basking in the glorious sunshine!

It’s Ms. Honey Badger to You

As printed in Erin Parker’s “Am I There Yet?” Newsletter
by Megan Cox – Guest Columnist

While Ms. Parker is busy gallivanting about the world being a sparkling entertainer, I am usually sitting in my grey-walled cubicle dodging
monotonous office work. Earlier this year I read an article stating that “Advertising Account Executive” was among the top 10 most stressful jobs. Even though what advertising professionals do doesn’t exactly matter in the same way that say, pilots and EMTs who havethe fate of human lives in their hands every day do, somehow seeing my line of work in this list somehow justified my nail biting habit a bit. But it’s not just me – we are all clearly a stressed out bunch of people lately.

There are few things that get me through my days. Clandestinely scrolling through Erin’s newsletter on my ipod has been one of them. Other stress relievers include staring deeply into my sprinkle ring, devouring bars of Cadbury dark chocolate, dreaming of one day having my own lavender and blackberry farm, and thinking about what the honey badger would do.

My boyfriend Alex loves watching online videos, mostly of animals doing silly things, preferably cats. Personally, I’ve never been big on this form of entertainment since I find about 98% of amateur videos tobe utterly boring and anti-climatic. I’ve come to realize that video watching is his way of releasing stress. Focusing on things like a cat repeatedly jumping into a box and then out again allows him to let go of his crappy day at work. Me, I prefer
yelling at the other cars on my way home. I always thought watching silly videos was a waste of time, but I guess that getting my road rage on, while cathartic, isn’t exactly the most healthy form of stress release. I’m learning the art of decompressing a little less toxically, but I never knew how much a silly video could affect my life until I was introduced to Randall and his famous honey badger video.

I find it hard to believe by now that there is anyone out there who hasn’t seen this video, but if you haven’t seen it, please, I implore you, go to YouTube now and watch it. FYI, the official video is titled The Crazy Nastyass Honey Badger (original narration by Randall).

Randall’s honey badger isn’t just a funny video; it’s a way of life with the transcendental tagline of “Honey badger don’t care.” I cannot tell you how many
times I have whispered this line to myself as I am starting to get worked up over stupid email or a client’s request that feels like it’s about to ruin my day. I say the words and become one with my inner honey badger. And yes, it really helps to hear those words in a saucy gay tone that implies “I ain’t takin’ any shit from you, stupid.” Not only does honey badger not give a shit, (and why should he? He can get bit by a venomous snake with little consequence) he’s also a total badass, just taking what he wants.

We should all take a little life lesson from the honey badger. Whenever life or work gets you feeling so stressed you want to bang your head
against something, take a deep breath and exhale as you repeat to yourself “Honey badger don’t care. Honey badger don’t give a shit.” Your world will be a more peaceful place.

Mmojo?

Can someone please tell me what the heck this has to do with orange juice?! If you drink Minute Maid OJ, you’ll be proposed to 7 times? That makes sense.

Kitty & Beeswax

As spotted at the Urban Farmstore

The Photo Journey Continues

Last week I was working away on my blog post and suddenly (near the end of my post, naturally) my computer battery decided it didn’t want to be on anymore.  Of course when I logged back on, only the beginning photos and text had been saved.  I was so frustrated that I decided not to continue to re-blog the whole thing.  Yep, I quit.

And I let myself be ok with that.  I’m a quitter.  But I haven’t stopped taking pictures!!

I think I’ve started to become a better photographer already because of it.  I’m literally seeing things in a different light, realizing that some of the pictures I thought were awesome, actually needed more light and noticing that all the lights in our living room / kitchen have a yellow tint to them.  I’m on a lighting mission now.

I’ve even (with the help of my wonderfully assisting boyfriend) figured out how to do a custom white balance on my camera.  It’s amazing what you can learn when you actually read the manual!  I’ve always been averse to reading instructions – I like to dive right in and play with something.  Usually I figure things out eventually, granted it takes a little more time but that’s just my way I suppose.  Luckily for me I have a partner who likes to read the instructions!  And so I now have this photo of m lovely Tête-à-Tête Daffodils.

While most of the rest of the country has been digging out of their snow dump, we got some glorious sunshine this week.  Of course I was working most of the time, but did get out in the sun for my lunch breaks.  It is my opinion that if the rest of the country gets snow days, then Portland should get sun days in the winter to soak up the vitamin D!

What does it mean when I see my own shadow on Groundhog Day?  It means the sun is shining in Stumptown!

By Friday we were back to rain.  You know you’ve lived in Oregon a while when you begin to appreciate the rain.  I walked out of the office on Friday and took a deep breath of balmy, evergreen infused rain soaked air.  It was delicious.

That night, driving in the dark, Alex and I spotted a tree that appeared to have blooms on it.  It actually turned out to be these seed pods, which I spotted around town in various yards the next day.  I think they’re raspberry or blackberry pods.

I officially have spring fever!  Last night after browsing through my newly delivered Territorial Seed Company catalog, I decided I couldn’t bear to wait for seed packets to arrive in the mail, so I went to the store to pick out a few garden necessities.  I was pleasantly surprised to find rosemary and lavender plants!  I’m excited about all the new plants I’ve purchased lately and thinking about plans for my garden in our new place this year.

I’ve simultaneously been reading two books lately: Radical Homemakers by Shannon Hayes and Farm City by Novella Carpenter.  I had the pleasure of reading Farm City in my car with the sun warming me during one of our Sun-days here.  It’s a fascinating and dramatic tale of an urban farmer in Oakland.  It’s got me thinking about how to get my own urban farm going this year.

The idea of being able to grow and raise your own food right in your backyard greatly appeals to me, but don’t worry I’m not ready for chickens yet.  This year I want to branch out of my vegetable safety zone and try some new things.  In the past I have grown tomatoes, zucchini, basil, parsley & strawberries.  Yesterday I bought seeds for carrots, spinach and bush beans and I’m excited to see what the results might be.  When you rent (or squat as Carpenter does) your gardening land you have to be prepared not to get attached, which is no easy task when you nurture plants from seed to harvest.

This week in photos: food

When all else fails in the department of inspiration, photograph your food.  It’s January, so that means I don’t feel much like going outside when it’s cold, wet and dark to take pictures.

On Sunday my sweetheart made me eggnog french toast & bacon.  It was delicious!

Monday we stopped at the fancy Fred Meyer on Hawthorne.  I have a weak spot for petit fours.

A couple weeks ago we decided to make homemade vanilla extract.  Here’s the progress so far:

I found Cadbury eggs in the Valentine’s aisle this week and was quite excited.

We’ve been sick since we moved into our new place, so I thought some Phở would do us good.  Turns out there’s an awesome place very close to us called Phở Hung.

Just so you don’t think it’s all Cadbury eggs and petit fours I eat, here is one of the dozens of glasses of water I drank last week.

We had a lovely anniversary dinner at the Gilt Club last night including Moscow Mules, Wild Boar Poppers with Fig Jam, Hanger Steak (him), Scallops (me), Dulce de Leche (him) and Goat Cheese Carrot Cake (me).  It was scrumptious!  We also got a couples massage a few hours before dinner making for a very pleasant day!