my day in the kitchen....bliss

I have been in the kitchen almost all day...and loving it. It is so great that the boys are at the age now that they can entertain themselves, with little supervision. I love it. I have been waiting for this age....when they get along so well, and they do. There are times when they fight and hit and bite, but those are not the norm these days. It's all about the brotherly love these days. It gives me Mama Time to do some projects, clean the house, and of course be in the kitchen doing my thing!


This morning I was not interested in anything in the cupboards or fridge. But I was hungry and I wanted something to eat. So I made myself some popovers. Popovers are really simple eggy thingys that puff up when baking and gets nice and crusty on the outside and a little eggy on the inside. I am sure there is a much more coherent definition....but that's just not me!! LOL!

I found the recipe on Allrecipes...and divided it to make just enough for me (the boys had eaten, I promise!)

Here it is.....
This makes three pretty good size popovers - You can make them in a muffin tin or in little custard dishes like I did.

Ingredients:
1/3 c flour
1/8 tsp salt
1 egg
1/3 c milk (I used whole!)
1 tsp melted butter
2 tsp butter - cut into three pieces and put one piece in each cup/tin you are using.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
Spray pan with nonstick cooking spray. Place pan on center rack of oven and preheat for 2 minutes.
Blend flour, salt, eggs, milk, and melted butter until it looks like heavy cream, about 1 to 2 minutes.
Cut chilled butter into 3 even pieces. Place 1 piece of butter in each cup and place pan back in oven until butter is bubbly (about 1 minute).
Fill each cup half full with batter and bake 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes.



Then they look like that....I drizzled some honey over them and enjoyed them with yet another cup of coffee.


Then it was time to put the pork into the Crock Pot to start cooking for the day. I had told Jason that we were having BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches for dinner....YUM! So I mixed it all up, put it in the crock pot, made note of the time....and let it go. I have to say that it was delicious. I bought some fresh kaisers, some sweet pickles, and put together a simple green salad to go with it. So BBQ Pork sandwiches it was....I didn't have some of the ingredients that were in the amazing recipe that Jen sent me, so I tweaked it with what I had. But promise that I am going to make them Jen's way again very soon. This was so simple to make, and to not have to turn on anything that makes heat? Come'on....it's perfect. The Crock Pot is my new best friend.


BBQ Pulled Pork

1 2-3 lb pork shoulder - trimmed of any excess fat (trying to be SB conscious)
1 large onion - diced
4 cloves of garlic - minced
2 chipotle chilis canned in adobo - seeded deveined and chopped 1 Tbsp adobo from the canned chilis
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup ketchup
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp paprika
salt & pepper


Put Pork into the Crock Pot. Mix all other ingredients together and pour over pork. Close up Crock pot, put on low....and take off for 8 hours! Then take out cooked pork, shred with two forks, put pork back into crock pot to soak up all the good juices, then pile onto fresh kaiser buns and enjoy!


Check this out...



Then just before dinner I decided what I want to make tomorrow for our FRG (Family Readiness Group - it's an Army thing) meeting......Lime Filled Cuppies with Coconut Cream Frosting. So I had to make some Lime Curd to use as the filling, right? I used Dorie's recipe for Lemon Curd, but switched out limes for lemons. Simple, easy, and I want to eat it right out of the pot!




Dorie's Lemon Curd

1 egg
6 egg yolks (I saved the whites to make some macarons)
1 1/4 c sugar
6 TBSP of unsalted butter - cut into 6 pieces
Juice of 4 lemons - I used 8 Limes


Put all the ingredients in a medium heavy bottomed saucepan, and stir with a heatproof spatula to moisten the sugar. Put the pan over medium-low heat and cook, stirring without stopping, until the butter melts and the mixture thickens like custard, 4 to 6 minutes. Keep your eyes on the pan, because the curd can curdle quickly. It is cooked enough when you can run your finger along the spatula and the curd doesn't run into the track you've created. Don't worry if the curd looks thin at this point - it will thicken more as it cools. Remove the pan from the heat and scrape the curd into a heatproof jar or a bowl. Press a piece of plastic wrap against the curd to create an airtight seal and cool to room temperature before storing in the fridge.

Recipe courtesy of Dorie Greenspan, Baking from My Home to Yours.....GO BUY IT! Here!

So that was my day! But don't worry....I mixed in playing with the boys, a trip to the grocery store, and some fresh air outside with the boys.

Hope you get a chance to try these awesome recipes. Thank you to Jen, from Piccante Dolce for sharing her BBQ Pork recipe.

Take care,
Tania
Love Big, Bake Often