Roast Pork, Spinach, Polenta

That is all.

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BBQ Salad

A few days ago a co-worker brought in a BBQ Chicken Salad from somewhere made with lettuce, corn, black beans, chicken and cornbread croutons. Cornbread croutons! Why didn't I think of that? Well, this salad isn't that.

This salad is just a mess.

1. lettuce
2. baked potato
3. some beans
4. pulled pork

It was still pretty damn good though. Even without any cornbread croutons.

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First Ever "Be Just Like Me for Free" Giveaway!

Updated: The winner is Mary from Shazam in the Kitchen! Congratulations Mary :)



1. goulash
2. rice with capers
3. fruit

I wasn't going to bother with posting this lunch. You've all seen it before. I wasn't going to talk about how much I love Jamie Oliver's spicy pork goulash recipe, or how he is totally going to be my new boyfriend. So I won't. But I do want to talk about this lunch container.

It's my favorite! Wanna know why? Because it's both yellow, AND orange. It seals. It holds a whoppin' 750mls. It cost less than one dollar and has held up like nobody's business. I actually bought two, thinking I'd need a spare. I don't. So guess what? I'm gonna give it to you! Or you. Or maybe you. And you don't even have to write a poem!

All you have to do is leave me a comment. Any comment. Unless it's mean. Cause I might delete it and then you won't win. I'll random number pick someone next Sunday (2/1/09) night after Big Love. And this is what you'll get!

A 750ml tight sealing container that is both yellow, AND orange. A brown bento belt. You don't -need- a belt, but how else will you attach your cute sunflower clip? Besides I like to wrap my utensil in a napkin and slip it under the belt and I know you wanna be just. like. me.



But wait Bob, there's more! Cause that's not the only thing I've over-bought. I'll pack it up with some accessories!



Oh, by the way. That box up there in the picture? That's mine. Yours is wrapped in plastic. You'll need to peel a crappy decal off the side when you get it but then you can just wash your hands and pretend it never happened. Nobody has to know.

Oh, by the way again. If you don't wanna be just. like. me. Why not be just. like. Shannon? Or pull out all the stops and be like Pikko! She's gonna make you work for it though :)

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Nothing if not Unoriginal

1. goulash
2. egg noodles
3. pseudo-snickerdoodles
4. grapes
5. thyme yogurt

I know I've said it before, but that Jamie Oliver goulash kicks major butt. Over noodles this time, but I think I prefer rice. The pseudo-snickerdoodles were just sugar cookie dough out of the tub rolled in cinnamon and sugar.

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Sweet Potato Pie

1. grilled spicy raspberry and chipotle pork chop which tasted of none those things
2. itty bitty teeny tiny squash
3. half of a big ass roasted sweet potato relieved of it's skin

I love roasted sweet potatoes more than sweet potato pie. There. I've admitted it.

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Back to the Mill with Pork Chops & Potato Salad

1. barbecued pork chop
2. potato salad
3. green beans & red peppers
4. Greek yogurt with honey
5. granola in Kitty's head



Adorable little long-eared wonder pup? Or insidious Sanrio virus causing grown women to crave tiny anthropomorphic plastic products? Either way, I was powerless to resist. I saw this tiny Cinnamoroll bento box at the gift shop at Maui Tropical Plantation. $4.95 and 40% off. So I had to buy it. Not just because it was cheap though people. I had to buy it because I remembered that I had THIS!



Sucker.

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Teriyaki Pork

1. teriyaki pork
2. rice
3. tomatoes
4. broccoli
5. yogurt with pineapple

I sure do need a vacation. Good thing I've got one coming up! This time next week I'll be soakin' up the sun. And eating. And sitting. Though now that I've written it I realize that's pretty much what I do everyday and it really doesn't sound that exciting, but Dude! I'm going to Maui. And my children are not. And that is most assuredly exciting. I know, you hate me, I'd hate me too.

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Cubans & Clafoutis

1. Cubanesque sandwich
2. chips and dip
3. pickles
4. cherry clafoutis

If you Google around you'll find folk's have some pretty strong opinions on what exactly constitutes a Cuban sandwich. As I have no stomach for controversy let's just refer to these delicious sandwiches as Cubanesque, shall we? There's a seeming dearth of Cuban bread out here in the desert by the way, but sweet Hawaiian bread subs in nicely.


Cubanesque Crock Pot Pork

Buy a pork butt that will fit in your crock pot. Salt & pepper it and shove it in the crock. Tuck in a rough chopped onion, a few garlic cloves and pour in a half cup of orange juice. Half 2 Mexican limes (or use 1/2 of a Persian lime) and add the juice. Poke 3 or 4 cloves into one of the lime halves and throw it in as well. Cook on high for about 4-6 hours until the meat is exceedingly tender. Done!


After this pork cooled enough to handle I sliced it thin and made sandwiches on Hawaiian rolls with a little mustard, sliced pickle and Swiss cheese. I very lightly buttered the outside of the bread. I used the two hot skillet method to grill and press the sandwiches until they were toasty and melty and plain overall luscious.

The clafoutis recipe was inspired by Kevin @ Closet Cooking closely following a recipe from Ceres @ Bacchus with only a few minor changes. I must say I'm a little sad that I lived the first 40 years of my life ignorant to the ways of the clafoutis. Never again will neglected fruit languish in my kitchen - clafoutis for all my friends!

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Jerky Pork & Mustard Beans

1. jerky pork
2. potato salad
3. tomato
4. mustard beans
5. peaches

The jerky pork is just slices from the rest of last night's pork chops that were marinated in a psuedo-jerk seasoning and grilled. I pretty much want to lick my screen thinkin' about it. Oh, and don't tell me you don't know what mustard beans are!

Mustard Beans
One can of good ol' Pork & Beans, drained and dumped in a pan. Add 1/4 cup of brown sugar and about 2 tablespoons of dijon mustard. Heat and eat.

No really, it's good!

While you're sitting there ponderin' the goodness that is mustard beans, why not pop over here and Haiku that Blog! Mimi is waiting.

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Homage to the Shack Tater

Other than my family there ain't a whole lotta stuff I miss about Arkansas. Catfish would be one thing, good barbecue would be another. Oh the barbecue. And when I say barbecue I mean pork. Pulled pork. With a vinegary sauce. And cole slaw. Put in on bread and it's a sandwich, put it on a spud and it's a Shack Tater. I do big pink puffy heart love the Shack Tater.

I still can't get catfish here, but thankfully Joe's came along or I might've had to move back. Joe's pulls some good pork, and makes a real nice sauce, but I sure do wish they'd learn to make good slaw. I've learned to love a slaw-less sandwich, but the tater? Needs the slaw. Sometimes, when you want it done right, you just gotta do it yourself.

1. baked potato
2. pulled pork
3. coleslaw
4. butter and sour cream
5. bbq sauce

Radishes are not a traditional accompaniment but do a fine job of filling up an empty space.

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Even My Leftovers Have Leftovers

1. cold peanut noodles with pork
2. cherries
3. itty bitty cakey thingy

One of the things that's hard to get used to with the kids being gone is how much food to cook. I made the noodles out of the leftover vermicelli from making spring rolls to use the leftover pork from carnitas and the pork that was leftover from the day before that. Even my leftovers have leftovers! Not that it wasn't delicious. I diluted the leftover peanut sauce with a little soy and water and tossed the chilled noodles to coat then added some sliced pork and topped with mint and sriracha. I'd eat it again.

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Pork & Beans

1. roast pork tenderloin with a chipotle & garlic rub
2. island black beans
3. pineapple salsa
4. cheesecake with strawberry puree

I don't really know why these are "Island" black beans. There really isn't much that's islandy about them. I do know that I bought a pre-packaged bean soup mix one time that was labeled that way, and we kinda liked it so I decided to make it without the mix, and it's kind of morphed into something else entirely. Not that there was anything particularly islandy about the mix either, but anyway, it's very delicious :)



Island Black Beans

2 cups of black beans (soaked overnight)
1 diced onion
1 chopped red pepper
2 sliced garlic cloves
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon oregano
1 tablespoon salt
couple of stems of thyme
chipotle pepper or 2 with a tablespoon or 2 of the adobo sauce
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

Put 2 cups of black beans in a pot with 8 cups of water and the chipotle(s) and bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for about an hour (or 90 minutes if you didn't soak them first). Meanwhile, caramelize an onion in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. When the onion is nice and brown add the garlic and the red pepper and cook until they are soft. Add this to the beans along with the bay leaf, oregano and thyme, and salt and continue to cook for another half hour or so, until the beans are tender. Add the vinegar and check the salt. I usually add some black pepper too, cause we like it.

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Move Along Here Folks, Just Move Along

Move along - there's nothing to see here. You've seen it all before.

Jamie Oliver's kick-ass goulash on egg noodles
my Phat Lunch peanut butter stuffed dates
strawberries

You may have noticed I'm still not making lunch for the spawn. I truly though they'd crack by now - come begging to me "oh please Momma please make me a lunch". Didn't happen. I can't help but wonder if maybe they just don't want me to pack lunch for them but are afraid they'll hurt my feelings with that truth. Maybe what seems nice and fun at home is just weird and embarrassing at school. Boo says that the lines are so long that sometimes she doesn't even get anything to eat at all and Boy says that the greasy cafeteria food makes him nauseated but the fact remains that they seem to prefer it to a packed lunch. At least for now.

In other news - don't forget to Haiku That Blog! Take another look at the totally awesome super cool prize that's on the line.

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Take That You Little Brats!

No, this is not some wannabe clever post about having bratwurst for lunch. This is a dig at my children. I got them back. Yes! How did I do it? Well, I cooked a really great dinner that they pretty much snarled at and refused to eat and then I, well, I packed up the leftovers for my lunch and gave them money for the cafeteria. Ha! Take that! As you can imagine they were devastated. Oh they tried to cover it well, but I knew the high-fives and general hilarity were just for show.




1. chard glorious chard
2. pork tenderloin
3. fennel and orange salad
4. giant strawberry
5. tiny banana

Revenge was sweet, but I think I can top it. Tomorrow I believe I will make up a huge pot of grits and eat it right in front of them. I won't let them have any! I am hardcore.

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Soy Vey!

1. teriyaki pork ribs
2. rice with sesame seeds
3. grapes
4. Mounds candy bar
5. bean paste apple

We love this meat. I use Soy Vey's Island Teriyaki sauce (no substitutes!) and boneless "country style" pork ribs. Nothing else. Brown the meat then slow cooker it for 6 hours or so with about 3/4 of a cup of the teriyaki sauce. That's it. Seriously. And it's delicious. Pretty much the only reason I own a crock pot! I added some jarred peppers to this to stretch it out a bit.

Isn't that little apple cute? I bought a whole package of these little fruits to put on cupcakes that I never made - so I decided to just eat them. That's how I roll.

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Not Lee's Sandwiches

I love me some Lee's Sandwiches. Specifically grilled pork, "Number 5" I like to call it. I love that sandwich. Fatty gristly pork, pickled carrot and radish, cilantro, jalapeno slices and some kind of mayonnaise. Not to mention dirt cheap. Seriously, what's not to love? What is that mayo stuff anyway? That's what I really wanted for lunch today. Well, that and one of those coconut raisin croissants. That my friends is good eatin'. But that wasn't meant to be. Instead I made do with this.

1. carrot and daikon pickle
2. spicy marinated pork cutlet
3. rice
4. mint and basil leaves
5. banh mo

About that pickle...Lee's Sandwiches is kinda chintzy with the toppings. You literally get 1 stem of cilantro and a couple of strands of the pickle on each sandwich. Not that you can really complain at $2.50 a pop, but still. Anyway, I always ask for "extra pickle" and the cashier/order taker person -always- feels compelled to tell me that it's not the sort of pickle that I think it is. Then I'm forced to explain that I understand what it is and that I really do want extra on my sandwich. It's really more bother than it's worth and rarely results in any appreciable difference on the sandwich. But there is hope! As you might can imagine, I was pretty freakin' excited to find it at my local Asian megamart this week. More about my LeeLee love later - in the meantime I bought a big old bag of this stuff (apparently called do chua) yesterday and I think I've eaten enough to satisfy any "pickle" cravings for the next couple of months.

Not sure how I feel about the pork. I don't think I care for the texture of pork cutlet. It was like the pork equivalent of the chopped "steak" that your parents always ordered for you at the local steak house because you were just a snot-nosed kid and rib eyes were for adults. But I digress. Pork shouldn't be mushy. It's wrong. I think I'll try this again with real meat, the marinade was incredible.

Pork Marinade

1 T brown sugar
1 T soy sauce
1 T white vinegar
1 T fish sauce
1 t sambal oelek
1/2 t ginger/garlic paste
thumb sized chunk of lemongrass - smashed and cut in half

This amount was plenty for a two-serving sized piece of meat. I only let it marinate for about half an hour because that's all the time I had. Not sure that it would have been a good idea to go longer with that weird meat anyway, but you of course will use real meat.

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Muliple Personality Disordered Bento

A little bit of this and a little bit of that and some of the other too! And what's with the Easter egg? Don't the children know it's Christmas?




Mine had...
1. krab sushi
2. sliced cucumber and red bell pepper
3. leftover potato salad
4. leftover grilled pork chop on picks
5. celery
6. Easter egg





Boo had the mostly the same except she didn't get the cucumbers and peppers but did have Kancho (aka Butt Poke) cookies and dip for her celery.

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