Vegetable Barley Soup

Fall in NY is here. Its soup time.

Large Onion - diced
Shallot - diced
4 Celery stalks - diced
3 large carrots - diced
large zucchini - diced
corn - kernels stripped
large can diced tomatoes plus juice
2 quarts chicken or veggie stock
1 quart water
cup barley

saute onion, shallot, celery, carrots in olive oil until soft, add zucchini and saute until golden, add tomatoes and bring to boil. add stock and water and bring to boil. add corn and barley cover and cook 30 minutes. uncover and cook 10 minutes. Serve. add a dash of cumin and cayenne pepper if you like. EAT!

Easy Peach Pie (for Twitter)

EZ pch pi-2frznpicrst, 8ripepchsdicd. In pan mlt 2 tbsp btr+2 tbsp brwn sgr. + pchs ck mdm til sft. + 2 first crst, top w/2nd bk crdg 2 pkg

Fish Tacos with Zucchinipotle puree and tomato/cucumber salsa

Tomato/Cucumber Salsa
2 plum tomatoes seeded and diced
Cucumber peeled, seeded and diced
Quarter to half a Red onion diced
Cilantro chopped
Lime juice

-combine, mix, season with salt and pepper

Zucchinipotle puree
Zucchini diced
3 Garlic cloves
Half an Onion diced
Chipotle pepper (or two if you like it hot)
-Saute onion and garlic on med until soft, add zucchini and saute until golden, add quarter cup water cover and cook on low for 20 minutes until really soft. Puree with a chipotle pepper.

Cod - cut into 2-3in long pieces
Grill on foil or bake the cod at 400 for 12-15 min

Warm tortillas

Spread some zucchinipotle puree on tortilla, top with fish and the tomato/cucumber salsa. EAT!

Roast Pork Shoulder

This is unreal. Just plain good. The process is long but very well worth it. I went to the market Saturday and asked the butcher for pork shoulder and he said he only had boneless. I was a little bummed but said I'd take it. It came out awesome and fed 4 adults, and 4 kids ranging in age from 3 - 8 yrs old. It was a big hit.

Ingredients

fresh oregano leaves - a good palm full

fresh thyme leaves - from 5-10 sprigs

6 cloves garlic, peeled

Black pepper

olive oil

1 (5 to 6 pound pork shoulder, ask your butcher to tie it for roasting)

kosher salt

1 3/4 cups orange juice, and 1/4 cup lime juice

Cup water

Steps

In a food processor - drop oregano, thyme, garlic, a few grinds of the pepper mill. Chop and then start slowly adding oil while it’s running to make a moist paste.

Rub all over pork. Generously salt it. Place in really large ziplock or resealable container, pour half the juice in, seal and refrigerate overnight. Flip the bag or shake up the container a couple times to get all sides to lie in juice at some point. Take out an hour before cooking.

Preheat oven to 375. Take shoulder out, discard juice. Put shoulder in a large roasting pan or large Dutch oven. Put in oven for 45 min uncovered. Reduce temp to 275, add juice, plus cup of water, cover, cook 4 hrs. If you feel the shoulder needs browning, uncover and cook 30-40 min longer. Remove from oven, remove shoulder to platter, skim as much fat from sauce as possible and boil it for 15 min. Pour this sauce over the pork.

Slice it, shred it, eat it - make pulled pork sandwiches, serve with rice and beans, doesn't matter it’s just good.

Black Bean Soup

quick, easy, satisfying

2 cans black beans - drained and rinsed
an onion - diced
cumin
cilantro - chopped
water - a cup
chicken stock - a quart

saute onion in oil in a pot until nice and soft.
sprinkle in some cumin (about a tsp or 2).
add beans, water, stock and boil.
hit with couple generous pinches of salt and pepper.
simmer for 25-30 min.
add cilantro and serve hot.

like cheese? sprinkle some of your favorite on top - shred some cheddar, smoked gouda, jack, whatever.

want extra protein? throw in some shredded roast chicken.

Done!

Monday Oatmeal

I make this for the kids every Monday. Great breakfast to kick start the school/work week. Its a warming, put a smile on your face meal. I am sure its just as good any other day of the week too.


1 serving
1/3 cup "real" oats
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup milk
1/2 banana sliced
honey

put the oats, water and milk in a small pot and broing to a boil , stir, cover and reduce heat to low, cook for 8-10 minutes. stir in banana and some honey to taste. dig in!

"Guacamole" and Margarita

I like my guacamole with real pop. I add a good amount of lime and cilantro to really make it jump. I rarely add onion or jalapeno,.... but will, if I am feeling it.

Throw some of this in front of your friends with warm tortillas or some good chips and a nice cold margarita.........uh huh... that's right. Party time

Guac

• Avocado - make sure when you give it a squeeze it feels soft, not mushy, but definitely gives. Kind of like when you squeeze a stress ball.
• Juice from half a lime - none of that dried up, month old lime. Get a nice fresh one.

• Cilantro - I love this stuff. Grab about 5 stems of it, tear off the leaves, roll em up and give it a good chop - you should have a couple tbsp worth

Scoop the flesh out of the avocado into a bowl, squeeze the lime on, toss in cilantro, good pinch of salt and mix and mash it up with a fork. Done

Margarita

• Tequila 1.5 oz
• Triple sec, 1 oz (orange liqueur)
• Lime juice, 1 oz
• Pinch of sugar or not (or if you are have the time make a simple syrup - boil equal parts sugar and water until the sugar dissolves and let cool, use a tbsp of this in place of sugar)

Pour it in a cocktail shaker with ice, shake shake shake. pour it into a glass. Awesome!

BBQ Braised Brisket

sick and easy to prepare. great for a bunch of people. your friends will love you for making this. great as a sandwich served on a fat bun with cole slaw and a half sour pickle or as an entree with a side of mashed potatoes or corn bread.

Stuff

• Big slab of brisket - 3, 4 or 5 lbs
• Bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce - you'll need 1/2 cup per lb of meat
• Chicken or beef stock - you'll need 1/2 cup per lb of meat

Steps

• heat oven to 300 deg F
• salt and pepper your meat
• grill on high or sear the meat in a pan for 4 minutes per side
• put the meat in a baking dish
• mix your sauce and stock together and pour over the meat
• cover it and make sure the seal is nice and tight - dont want the liquids evaporating on you or the brisket will dry out
• get it in the oven and cook it for 3 and half hours minimum...the longer the better - ideally 4-5 hours.

take it out, pull meat out of sauce, let rest for 10 minutes or so on a plate, slice it, serve with sauce and enjoy!