With the help of a little push from a friend, I’ve decided to take the October Unprocessed Food Challenge from the folks at Eating Rules.

The Unprocessed rules are pretty simple and straightforward – if you can’t make it in your kitchen from whole ingredients, then you can’t eat it. It sounds a bit rough, but there are a handful of exceptions as well, that are universal for everyone taking the challenge. The Defining Unprocessed post gives a notable list of items that fall within the gray area and are allowed: pasta and bread, flour, beer/wine/spirits, cheese, milk/yogurt, coffee/tea, soy sauce (conditionally), sugar (conditionally), soy/almond/rice milk, and baking soda/baking powder/yeast. (As an aside, I have made bread with natural yeasts from my own home before – so I could do this one even if storebought yeast wasn’t allowed.)

There is also a Deliberate Exceptions clause:  “The idea is to decide on any exceptions before we start, if possible.  It’s not there for you to use your exceptions as a way to cheat in the moment. Instead, it’s about making an informed decision, in advance, about a particular food.”

I already eat around 90% unprocessed anyway most of the time, but lately I’ve been slacking off and allowing treats to slip into my days – much to the detriment of my weight and health. So I’m ready to get back on track anyway. I’m starting a few days late, but I have faith I can finish out the month.

I am going to note one Deliberate Exception here right now: I will not compromise social events to adhere to this. That doesn’t mean I will use social events as a reason to go crazy or give up on the challenge, but I will not turn down a bite or two of something a friend has made or grill them on whether or not they used natural sugars. For me this is about making an informed decision not to alienate my friends and family!

Plus, I plan to blog about what I’m eating … so I’m going to get this blog back on track too!!

[ October Unprocessed is a post from kara cooks. If you are reading it anywhere but in a feed reader, it has been scraped without my permission. The use of this feed or any kara cooks content on any other website is a violation of copyright. ]

Betcha all thought I’d fallen off a cliff somewhere, didn’t you? Well, all 2 of you who are still reading here, anyway! The truth is, I didn’t fall off a cliff or otherwise become totally incapacitated. I just got caught up in life. Work, family, relationships … all kinds of things overwhelmed me this summer and I pretty much let blogging slide – along with cooking, eating right, working out, and pretty much anything else. In fact, I fell into a bit of a funk over the summer and neglected a lot of things that I normally really enjoy.

It’s time to get my mojo back!

Here’s the deal; after the events of this summer, I made a promise to myself that the next 6 months are going to be for ME. I’m going to take classes, push myself to learn and do new things, and get back to the old things that I love to do that I’ve neglected for far too long. That absolutely means I’m going to start blogging again – and blogging on a wider variety of topics. The site is still going to be Kara Cooks, but it’s also going to be Kara Runs, Kara Learns, Kara’s House, Kara Does Things. Ok, yeah, and enough of talking about myself in third person.

I hope those of you who still have my blog in your feed will stick around for what’s to come. And maybe I’ll pick up some new friends along this journey as well!

[ It’s September Already! is a post from kara cooks. If you are reading it anywhere but in a feed reader, it has been scraped without my permission. The use of this feed or any kara cooks content on any other website is a violation of copyright. ]

Start by mixing about a cup of mayo with about 1/4 cup of pesto (maybe a little more, because I love pesto). Set aside about 1/4 cup for the sandwiches (stash it in the fridge for now).

I used boneless, skinless chicken breast tenders for this recipe, and I think they work best. You need a good bit of surface area for this – although I’d guess it would work well with whole or halved chicken breasts as well. Prep your chicken and put it in the remaining 3/4 cup of the mayo/pesto mix. Cover the bowl with some plastic wrap, and stash it in the fridge as well. Let it sit for at least an hour.

Cook the tenders however you prefer – if we’d had propane, I think I’d have grilled these, but as it is, I just cooked them in the cast iron skillet.  There’s enough oil in the mayo and the pesto that you don’t need to add any more.

While the chicken was grilling, I mixed up a light cabbage slaw, and sliced some tomato, red onion, and bell pepper.

When the chicken is done, spread some of the remaining (non marinade) mayo on the bread (I spread some plain pesto on there as well because, have I mentioned that I love pesto?). Put a few of the chicken tenders on, top with tomato, lettuce, and some thinly sliced red onion.

And … voila! A really yummy sandwich.

This was so good that H had 2 sandwiches and nibbled on the leftover chicken throughout the evening!

[ pesto mayo chicken sandwich is a post from kara cooks. If you are reading it anywhere but in a feed reader, it has been scraped without my permission. The use of this feed or any kara cooks content on any other website is a violation of copyright. ]

I am committed to cooking healthy foods from real ingredients. I work really hard to avoid processed and packaged foods (with a few guilty pleasure treat/exceptions) and to cook food from scratch. However, I’m also a realist and I understand that real life means sometimes making compromises. I’m as busy as most people … a full time job, a side biz, and a couple of blogs can keep me running. And on those days, sometimes being able to pick up something quick at the grocery store is a big help. Even then, I try to pick foods that fit my ideals and concerns about eating.

Going forward, I’ll be reviewing items like this periodically on the blog. If you have any foods or companies to suggest, feel free!

So .. moving on. I’m a big fan of Amy’s products. Their frozen foods are remarkably free of the usual tongue-twisting list of preservatives and chemicals and tend to taste pretty darned good.

Tonight I grabbed a box of the Cheese Enchiladas for my dinner.

On the pro side, these enchiladas were good. Really good. Yummy, filling, rich, cheesy, and just slightly spicy (for my taste, there could have been more spice, but I tend to like a lot of heat!). The ingredients list is simple and has 0g Trans Fat, no added MSG, and no preservatives. I had them with a side salad and some rice and it was a good meal.

On the con side, the box says that it contains 2 servings. Now, in my world one small enchilada is not a full serving. I ate both enchiladas and considered that a nice meal. Dividing this into 2 servings would have left me disappointed and unsatisfied.  Given that the box contains (according to Amy’s) 2 servings, the calorie and fat level was pretty high overall.  The box lists the following per serving:

Nutritional Facts
Serving Size: 4.5 oz
Servings Per Container: 2.0
Serving Weight: 4.5 oz
Calories: 240 Calories from Fat: 130
Total Fat: 14g
	Saturated Fat: 6g
	Trans Fat: 0g
Cholesterol: 30mg
Sodium: 440mg
Carbohydrates: 18g
	Fiber: 2g
	Sugars: 2g
Protein: 9g
Organic: 72%
Vitamin A: 15% • Vitamin C: 8%
Calcium: 25% • Iron: 6%

Which means by eating both enchiladas myself, I consumed 480 cals and 28g of fat. If you combine that with a salad with dressing and my serving of rice, my complete dinner was close to 900 cals. For a man or a very active woman, that’s probably ok. For someone who is trying to lose weight, or for a smaller woman, that’s a pretty substantial dinner. For me, that’s over 1/2 my daily allowance of calories in one sitting.

Overall? As with every Amy’s product I’ve tried – YUM. I highly recommend them for flavor and quality. But be sure and carefully check the serving sizes and calories, especially if you’re watching your weight or actively trying to lose weight. These can be diet-busters if you’re not careful.

Oh, and as a quick note, I meant to take a photo of the “real thing” before I dug in, but by the time everything was ready, I was STARVING and, well, I just plain forgot. Next review will have a photo. I promise.

[ review – Amy’s Cheese Enchilada is a post from kara cooks. If you are reading it anywhere but in a feed reader, it has been scraped without my permission. The use of this feed or any kara cooks content on any other website is a violation of copyright. ]

It started out with a recipe that came with the gin, but we found that as written it made a weak, somewhat flavorless drink. So we took matters into our own hands and developed our own version. We doubled the gin (of course) and removed the soda … to come up with a very martini-like drink with a lovely summery flavor!

Here’s the modified recipe:

• 2 parts gin (use a really good quality gin like Hendricks – this is what makes the drink)
• 1 part simple syrup
• 1 part lemon juice
• 1 part grapefruit juice
• 1 spoonful (a bar spoon, or about 1 tsp) grenadine syrup

Put all ingredients in a shaker with ice and shake for 30-45 seconds. Strain into a chilled martini glass and garnish with a twist of lemon.

[ painted lady – a drink is a post from kara cooks. If you are reading it anywhere but in a feed reader, it has been scraped without my permission. The use of this feed or any kara cooks content on any other website is a violation of copyright. ]

I’ve been having a hard time with blogging lately. Well, you can see that right? Since my last post was three months ago. Time, desire to cook, availability of light – all of them have messed with my mojo. It’s been a tough few months at work as well, as anyone who follows me on Facebook or Twitter knows. I know that’s had something to do with it as well.

I want to get back to cooking and shooting and blogging. It’s fun. It’s stress relief for me. And I really do eat more healthily when I cook.

One of the things I’m going to do is move my shooting area from the dining room to the living room. I know it’ll involve a little more setup when I have to take plates through the house, but the light is so much better by the front windows – I think it’ll be worth it. If I can be happier with my images, it’ll make me more inspired to blog.

Also this weekend I have been able to check in on the Penny de los Santos live broadcasts from CreativeLive and have been blown away watching her work and listening to her story. I haven’t been able to sit and watch the whole thing all the way through, so I will definitely be buying the set on DVD. Can I be her when I grow up?

Ok, so back to the food. I’m really working hard to make a meal plan and stick with it each week.  This past week I decided to invent a dish – chicken sloppy joes. Sloppy joes always go over well in our house, but I don’t always want to eat red meat or burger. I thought it should be pretty easy to sub canned white meat chicken for the beef; I’d just have to cook the sauce first and then add the chicken later.

I gotta say it worked pretty well. The flavor of the sloppy joes was there, but the calorie and fat level was way down. Also it made enough that we had leftovers for dinner the next night as well!

I don’t have any procedural pictures since I was totally unprepared and didn’t have charged batteries for my flash. Sorry. I can give you an ingredients shot, though.

Chicken Sloppy Joes

• 2 T olive oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup very finely diced carrot
• 1/2 cup finely diced bell pepper
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup shredded or chopped spinach
• 6 oz can tomato paste
• 6 oz can tomato puree
• 4-ish cups of water
• 1 T brown sugar
• 2 T chili powder
• 1 tsp mustard powder
• 2 T worcestershire sauce
• 2 12-oz cans white meat chunk chicken (drained)

Saute onion, carrot, bell pepper, and garlic in the olive oil until all the vegetables are soft and the onions are translucent. Add the spinach and cook until wilted (just a few minutes). Add the tomato puree and paste, the water, the sugar, and the seasonings, bring to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer for 10-15 mins.

You can use a stick blender to puree the sauce if you don’t want it chunky (or if you have kids and want to hide the veggies).

Add the drained chicken breast and simmer for another 10 mins, just to heat the chicken through and let the flavors blend.

Serve on a toasted hamburger bun (I like mine open faced, just to cut down on the calories and carbs).

This recipe makes enough for 6 healthy servings.

Calories: 172 | Fat: 3.2g | Carbs: 13g | Fiber 3.2g | Protein: 23g

[ Chicken Sloppy Joes, Blogging, and Photography is a post from kara cooks. If you are reading it anywhere but in a feed reader, it has been scraped without my permission. The use of this feed or any kara cooks content on any other website is a violation of copyright. ]

This is a version that I use when I make the Texas Caviar – it’s a slightly al-dente rice, rather than a soft fluffy rice. 

Start with your one cup of rice, measured into an ovenproof bowl.  I use my Corning Ware bowl, but an 8×8 glass baking dish works well, too.

Add in one cup of boiling water.

Add about 1 tbsp of olive oil and stir well.

Then cover the bowl – either with a lid or some well fitted aluminium foil – and put in a 375 oven for about an hour. I often use my toaster oven for this rather than heating up the large main oven. At the end of the hour, check the rice to see if it’s done and the liquid has been absorbed.

If the liquid has been absorbed, remove the rice from the oven and fluff with a fork.

As I said, this version, 1 part water to 1 part rice, makes an al-dente rice that is perfect when mixed into cold salads or for a rice that’s added to a casserole that will then cook further in the oven. If you want a fluffier, moister rice, use 2 parts water to 1 part rice and you might need to increase the baking time by 10 or so minutes to make sure all the liquid is absorbed.

Finally … variations on this: as long as you maintain the proper proportions of liquid to rice, you can flavor the rice any way you want. Substitute broth or stock for the water. Mix in a can of Rotel for a Tex-Mex rice, I’ve even used beer or a bit of wine for some added flavor. Just make sure if you use something chunky like Rotel, you account for the volume of the tomatoes and peppers and add a little extra liquid.

[ baked brown rice is a post from kara cooks. If you are reading it anywhere but in a feed reader, it has been scraped without my permission. The use of this feed or any kara cooks content on any other website is a violation of copyright. ]

For most people comfort food means something like mac and cheese, or maybe grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, or perhaps mashed potatoes with all the toppings.  Mine is similar; it’s that same combination of starch and cheese that makes the best comfort food … it’s just not what most people expect. So what is my ultimate comfort food? Oats and cheese.

Now wait. Hear me out before you start making those faces and exclaiming that oats need brown sugar and fruit, not cheese. Think about it for a minute … we put cheese in grits right? We put cheese in polenta. We put cheese in risotto. All of those things are grains of some kind … so why not put cheese in oats? It’s the same combination of starch and cheese as those other things.  You just have to be willing to push oats beyond the realm of breakfast food and let them participate in other meals!

So anyway … I decided that I needed comfort food. But I also needed a real dinner, with some protein and some veg. So I created my own version of the very southern shrimp & grits: shrimp and oats.  So I got a nutritious meal AND I got my comfort food on a gray and drizzly day.

Start with 1/2 cup of whole, steel cut oats. Don’t use the precooked instant version for this. You want some texture to this dish. Melt a tiny bit of butter (really tiny .. maybe 1 tsp) in a pot and toss the oats around until they’re coated. Then gently roast them over a low heat until they start to turn a light, toasty brown. If you get close, you’ll smell a rich nutty smell as they toast up.  Don’t skip this step .. the toasting of the oats gives them a deep, rich flavor that you just don’t get from starting with raw oats.

Once your oats are a rich golden brown color, add 2 cups of water (it’ll sizzle a lot, so watch out) and bring them to a simmer. Cook them for about 20 mins, stirring once in a while to make sure nothing sticks. When you can stir them and the bottom of the pan remains visible for a few seconds, your oats are done. They should be creamy and cooked through, but slightly al-dente.

(If you’re going to make shrimp with these, now is the time to set a large pot of water on to boil.)

Turn off the heat and add in about 1/3 – 1/2 of a cup of shredded sharp cheddar cheese. Make sure it’s sharp cheese (or extra sharp is even better). Stir well until the cheese melts and the oats look even more creamy.

In the meanwhile, toss your still frozen shrimp (assuming you don’t have fresh) into your boiling water. I like to season my water with a generous amount of Tony Chachere’s creole seasoning, but you can add whatever you like, or just boil them in plain water. Immediately cover the pot and set your timer for 2 minutes.  (You can also grill or saute the shrimp for this recipe, but in the interest of time and not swimming in butter, I just boiled them.  Plus who wants to grill in the rain!)

When the 2 minutes are up, remove the shrimp from the water quickly. They’ll continue to cook just a little bit out of the water, so don’t leave them in much longer. You don’t want them to be tough.

Then spoon the oats and cheese onto a plate or into a bowl and top with ~8 shrimp for each serving.

Serve with a tossed green salad (like the one I have here with spring greens, feta cheese, and my favorite quick and easy Dijon vinaigrette).

It’s super easy to make and so good. I really hope you’ll try oats and cheese (with or without the shrimp) at least once! I think you’ll like it.

Just in case you want a real recipe, here it is:

[ shrimp & oats & cheese is a post from kara cooks. If you are reading it anywhere but in a feed reader, it has been scraped without my permission. The use of this feed or any kara cooks content on any other website is a violation of copyright. ]

In keeping with my promise to start working through my archives of saved recipes from 2010, I pulled a recipe that was posted to A Chow Life back in February. It’s a variation of Rick Bayless’ Minced Pork Tacos with Almonds, Raisins, and Sweet Spices (from Authentic Mexican). The recipe helped me realize that it was ok to cook a sweet taco filling, which inspired me to play even more.

So this is definitely not the same recipe I linked (that was just my inspiration), and overall it’s less of a recipe and more of a “what I did”. Oh, and the photo isn’t pretty-pretty … but boy was it good.

You may recall that last summer I went peach-crazy and bought 60 lbs of scratch-n-dent peaches from the local farmer’s market. Part of what I made with those peaches were 10 quarts of a spicy-sweet peach chutney with lots of vinegar, onion, and garlic, and tempered with golden raisins and brown sugar. (Yeah, I know, I never posted the recipe or photos of those either. Sorry! If you’re interested, the recipe I used is here: Spicy Peach Chutney)

In the spirit of the recipe I had archived, but adapting to my own needs, I took my 1.5 pound pork loin and plopped it in the slow cooker, then emptied a quart of the chutney over it. I added about 1/2 cup of water (mostly just swished around the chutney jar to get the bits out), set the heat on “low”, and let it cook for about 6 hours.

After 6 hours I shredded the pork with a fork, and served it in white corn tortillas, with a little sour cream, and some shredded cabbage topping. I paired it with a mixed spring salad with some crumbled feta cheese on top.

To tell you how good it was? I had 3 tacos. H had 5. And scraped the bottom of the pot for whatever little bits were left! The pork was tender and moist, and the flavor was rich, tart with the vinegar and onion, but still sweet and slightly caramelized from the hours in the crock pot.

The only thing I would do differently next time – we agreed – is to add a couple of dried chili peppers to the crock pot to spice it up a bit. A little heat would have nicely offset the sweetness of the chutney.

I promise the next recipe WON’T be pork!

[ sweet pork tacos is a post from kara cooks. If you are reading it anywhere but in a feed reader, it has been scraped without my permission. The use of this feed or any kara cooks content on any other website is a violation of copyright. ]

Start with a 1.5 – 2 lb pork loin.  Take it out of the packaging and pat it dry.  Then brown it in a very hot dutch oven in a little bit of olive or canola oil.  Add some chopped garlic (I added 3 cloves!). Once the pork is nicely browned, pour a can of Guinness (or other dark beer) into the pot, cover it, and place it in the oven at 250 deg.  Cook it for 6 hours.  Don’t open the oven or peek until at least 6 hours are over.

When you take it out of the pot, just touching it with a fork will have it falling apart in shreds.  The first night I served this over rice.  The second night, I put the leftover shredded pork in folded over corn tortillas with some shredded lettuce, tomatoes, and salsa and made pork tacos.

Try it.  I promise you’ll like it!

[ slow cooked pork loin in beer is a post from kara cooks. If you are reading it anywhere but in a feed reader, it has been scraped without my permission. The use of this feed or any kara cooks content on any other website is a violation of copyright. ]

Here’s my list of links (brief though it is) for this week.  I have a ton of other stuff to get caught up on and a recipe (of sorts) coming up on Wednesday.  I promise.

• This Garlic Ginger Chicken by For the Love of Cooking is really appealing.  I’m always looking for more recipes to liven up chicken.  I’m definitely putting this on the list for this week.
• Pennies on a Platter posted this Hearty Tomato Soup – I know it’s one of at least a dozen tomato soup recipes I’ve saved, but tomato soup is such a comfort food on a cold afternoon.  You can never have too many variations.
• I don’t just read food blogs – I’m kind of obsessed with design blogs.  And every now and then one of them ventures into the realm of food.  It kind of goes together doesn’t it?  A comfortable home and comfort food?  So this sorta-recipe for a chickpea salad from Pure Style Home really caught my attention.  It’s the kind of thing that would be great to take to work this summer!
• As always, a recipe from Ree’s Pioneer Woman site makes it onto my list.  This Pantry Pasta for Two looks like a quick and easy weekday meal that I could whip up!
• My aunt lives in Brazil and has for the last 20+ years.  About every 4 years, she comes home on furlough and makes some fabulous Brazilian dish for us.  My favorite has always been feijoada – a black bean and rice concoction that is so incredibly good.  Elise’s recipe brought a smile to my face as it made me remember my aunt.
• Love and Olive Oil (isn’t that a great name for a food blog) posted this recipe for a Balsamic Onion Tart with Goat Cheese and Thyme.  Really what more is there to say than that.  MMmmmmm.
• Sea Salt With Food posted this recipe for Grilled Lemongrass Chicken, but really it was the photo that got me.  It takes me right back to my childhood in Singapore and eating chicken satay on the riverwalk of the Singapore River.  I have to make this just because!

Ok, not too bad a list of links.  This coming week I’m really working on a high protein, low carb plan.  The last couple of weeks have been rather carb laden and I feel the need to back off the starchy, bready carbs for a bit.  Wednesday’s recipe will highlight that.  It’s a really good slow cooked pork loin … and dead simple.  I promise!

Oh, and by the way, Friday is my birthday.  I don’t know what I’m going to do, but surely I can come up with something, right?

[ monday links – jan 24 is a post from kara cooks. If you are reading it anywhere but in a feed reader, it has been scraped without my permission. The use of this feed or any kara cooks content on any other website is a violation of copyright. ]

I re-read the Julie/Julia blog today – the original one on salon.com – and it inspired me to make Julia Child’s French Onion Soup. As it turns out I didn’t pay attention to the recipe exactly and wound up making something not anything like Julia’s soup. It was good, but not hers. Anyway … I’ll be posting the recipe and process later. In the meanwhile, here are this Monday’s links.

• For The Love of Cooking posted these Pork Medallions in Cider Sauce … they look pretty good and easy. A nice quick weekday dinner option.
• Cassoulet is something I’ve never made and always wanted to. This vegetarian version looks pretty good and would fit in nicely with my diet plan.
• It’s still cold enough for me to be wanting to make soup and this Roasted Cauliflower Soup from the Tasty Kitchen website looks really good.
• Spicy curry and tandoori recipes seemed to be showing up a lot this week, too.  The Chickpea Curry from the Gastronomer’s Guide and Tandoori Marinaded Chicken with Cucumber Lime and Chiles from The Bitten Word both look like something I’d like to try.
• Still looking for that perfect lentil recipe … maybe this Red Lentil Soup from Umami Girl will do the trick.
• Homesick Texan always has recipes that bring me right back to my grandmother’s house in East Texas.  The recipe she posted this week for Steak Fingers with Jalapeno Cream Gravy may not be diet food …but it’s sure comfort food.
• And finally this recipe for Chicken Paillards with Clementine Sauce from Bon Appetit looks like a great way to indulge my love of clementines while they’re still in season.

That’s it for the links today.  Hope everyone has a good week!!

[ mon links – jan 17 is a post from kara cooks. If you are reading it anywhere but in a feed reader, it has been scraped without my permission. The use of this feed or any kara cooks content on any other website is a violation of copyright. ]

Now that the holiday craziness has passed and we’re into gray and icky part of winter, I thought I’d try my hand at it. I’ve created my own sourdough before using a cabbage leaf – it went swimmingly until I had a busy week and forgot about it and it fermented. Yuck! But this time I’m determined to keep up with it.

My Day 1 starts just as hers does with 1/2 oz (by weight) of flour and 1 oz (by volume) of tap water. I won’t blog about it every day, but I’ll post periodically and let you know how it’s going.

[ sourdough from scratch is a post from kara cooks. If you are reading it anywhere but in a feed reader, it has been scraped without my permission. The use of this feed or any kara cooks content on any other website is a violation of copyright. ]

Start with a 2lb pork loin. Our grocery store puts them on sale every so often for $1.99/lb and I’ll stock up on the 1-2lb sizes and freeze them. Brown the pork loin in a little canola oil in a hot skillet. It’s easier for me to cut the loin in half so that it fits in my 12″ cast iron skillet.

Once the loin is browned on all sides, move it to your crockpot and add 1 medium yellow onion to the skillet. Be sure and scrape up all the yummy browned bits on the bottom of the pan as the onions cook.  Add the onions to the crock pot.

Then add the following: 1 can Hatch’s Green Chile Enchilada Sauce, 1 can Ro-tel Tomatoes, and 1 can diced green chiles.

Let this cook for 5 hours on low. You want the pork to be so tender that you can pull it apart with a fork. When it’s done, you’ll have a good bit of liquid in the pot as well … stay tuned because we’ll be using this!

Remove the pork from the pot and set it aside for a minute. Then measure out ~1.5 cups of the liquid and tomato/chile bits. Add them to a cup of rice and another 1/2 cup of water in a saucepot.

Bring the rice to a boil and then lower the heat as low as you can get it, cover, and cook for 20 mins, until the rice is done. Fluff with a fork.

In the meanwhile while the rice is cooking, you can pour off the remaining liquid into a smaller sauce pan and simmer it until reduced by about half. (You don’t have to do this, but I love the rich creaminess of the thickened sauce.)

Finally, while you’re waiting for the rice to cook and the sauce to thicken, shred the pork loin with a fork (or your fingers).

Finally, serve the shredded pork, over a scoop of rice, topped with a little of the thickened sauce and a few slices of avocado.

[ crockpot: pork loin & green chile is a post from kara cooks. If you are reading it anywhere but in a feed reader, it has been scraped without my permission. The use of this feed or any kara cooks content on any other website is a violation of copyright. ]

(This was the view outside my front door at about 11 last night … pretty cool!)

There was some really good stuff posted this last week.  Of course I still have my whole 2010 list to work through … but I’m gonna make an effort to include some of these as well.

• Eating Rules posted this Vegetable Pumpkin Soup that looks fabulous.  I think it may be the 3rd pumpkin soup I’ve saved this winter – and I’m determined to make all of them!
• I have always said that crab is my all time favorite seafood and crabcakes may be my 2nd favorite way to eat them (plain steamed in the shell comes first).  This Crab Cake recipe from Simply Recipes looks pretty good!
• I’m always looking for new things to do with chicken and this Lemony Chicken Saltimbocca from For the Love of Cooking is definitely something I want to try.
• I really really really want to like kale.  I do.  And it’s not that I hate it, but I haven’t yet found a recipe that flips my skirt up …  maybe this Sauteed Kale recipe from Elana’s Pantry will be the one.
• Noble Pig posted this recipe for Fragrant Peanut Lime Noodles.  I’ve made savory peanut/peanut butter recipes before and love them .. this one looks lighter than others I have and I’m thinking I might reserve it for a cold summer recipe.
• My stir fry tends to be pretty much the same every time – chicken, mixed veggies, soy sauce, and some sirracha.  Pretty basic and easy.  This Ginger Beef Stir Fry recipe posted by Annie’s Eats will be a nice change and something a little more structured to play with.
• Bon Appetit posted this list/link of food52′s Best Lentil Recipes. I’m still struggling with lentils myself – I like them but as of yet I haven’t found a recipe that makes me LOVE them.  I’m working on it.
• I rarely cook a chuck roast just because I have such a hard time getting them tender enough w/out over cooking them.  So this Tomato-Braised Chuck Roast recipe by Wicked Good Dinner (a name I love, btw) is one I really want to try.
• Finally, not a cooking recipe but something I desperately need to do:  How to Clean Your Dishwasher from the fine folks at apartmenttherapy.com

That’s it for this week’s links.  Stay tuned for a new and delicious crock pot recipe on Wednesday.

[ monday links – jan 10 is a post from kara cooks. If you are reading it anywhere but in a feed reader, it has been scraped without my permission. The use of this feed or any kara cooks content on any other website is a violation of copyright. ]

In the South, it’s a tradition to eat black-eyed-peas on New Year’s Day; it’s supposed to bring luck and prosperity. In my family we’ve always eaten a cold salad made of black-eyed-peas, black beans, corn, cilantro, and some kind of jar salsa (usually Pace). It’s simple and quick and tastes pretty good … and makes sure we don’t lose out on any possible prosperity or luck! However it’s pretty basic and mostly thrown together from a couple of cans. This year I found a Texas Caviar recipe online that is soooooo incredibly good that it’s going to become my new recipe not only for New Year’s Day, but for the whole year. I love the addition of rice for a little grain flavor and texture.  Plus it’s full of fresh veggies – a huge bonus over the “canned” version. The entire family raved about this … and it disappeared so fast.

The version below is based on the recipe posted by Endless Simmer; I changed the proportions and a few ingredients, however.

Start with the following, diced: 1 tomato, 1 small bell pepper, 1/2 a red onion, and 1-2 serrano chili peppers.

I kept the seeds and membrane in my serrano, but if you want a milder chili taste w/out the burn, remove the seeds and membrane before mincing. ALWAYS use gloves (or as I did, a plastic bag over my hand) when dicing chili peppers.

Next I added in a cup of frozen corn (it was mostly still frozen when I added it – it thawed as the salad set in the fridge overnight):

And 2 cans of drained and rinsed black-eyed peas.

I also added a cup of cooked brown rice (which I don’t have a picture of!) and some chopped cilantro (yummy!):

Then I mixed the dressing: 1/4 cup of olive oil, 2 Tbsp cider vinegar, 1 clove of garlic, 2 Tbsp dijon mustard, and the juice of one lime, whisking it well to blend.

Toss it all together and let it chill in the fridge for at least an hour before serving. I thought that this was at it’s best the next day after the flavors had a chance to blend. It’s a great stand alone salad, but it also works really well as a dip for tortilla chips if you’re wanting something snacky and still reasonably healthy to eat while watching a ball game.

I also think this would be pretty awesome made with black beans or a combination of beans as a cold summer salad for a picnic or party. I’m definitely going to experiment with it this summer!

[ texas caviar! is a post from kara cooks. If you are reading it anywhere but in a feed reader, it has been scraped without my permission. The use of this feed or any kara cooks content on any other website is a violation of copyright. ]

What a year it’s been! Not to be a complete cliche, but 2010 was a year of ups and downs, highs and lows, starts, stalls, and stops, and much craziness, both personally and professionally. Now that it’s nearly the end of the year, I’m a little introspective … and a lot ready to make plans and set goals and make 2011 something completely different.

Among the many goals I have for this coming year, several of them are specifically food related … so I’m sharing them here with you. Feel free to share yours in the comments or let me know what you think of mine!

1. Cook more!  I think this is pretty self explanatory.  I sorta slacked off on cooking things the 2nd half of 2010.  Not only did the lack of cooking affect my blog, it affected my health and my weight.  And besides I have over 1200 posts saved to my “recipe archive” folder.  At this rate I will have to cook 4 recipes a day to finish them all by the end of the year!
2. Start planning my Christmas 2011 food gifts early.  I know, I know … please don’t hate me.  But this year I didn’t have any lemoncello made or any vanilla .. and everyone asked me about it.  That means this year I need to get a head start on those things and have them aging in the back of the pantry.
3. Work on my food photography.  I made some progress in 2010, but not enough.  I really want to focus (no pun intended) on clean, crisp, beautiful photography and in developing my own food style.
4. Eat better.  As I said in #1, I slacked off some and it affected my health and my weight.  I want to make better choices, eat fresher foods, and try to eat more locally.
5. Blog more.  Yup.  I keep saying I’m going to do that and then … not.  But really, this year I’m ready.  I’m so ready.  It’s time to get my act together and start doing the things I love again.

So there you have it.  My food related goals for 2011!

Happy New Year, everyone!<

[ goals and thoughts and 2011 is a post from kara cooks. If you are reading it anywhere but in a feed reader, it has been scraped without my permission. The use of this feed or any kara cooks content on any other website is a violation of copyright. ]

]]>