Mojo Pork with Black Beans and Cilantro Rice

for the pork:
3-4 lb boneless pork butt, cut into 4-5 pieces
2 tbsp coarse salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 cup orange juice
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 small white onion, coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon dried oregano

for the rice:
2 cups long-grain rice
2 tsp salt
1 tsp olive oil
1 bunch fresh cilantro, stems removed and minced
3 tbsp fresh lime juice

for the black beans:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 small white onion, chopped
1 tbsp minced garlic
2 (15 oz) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 tsp oregano
1/8 tsp chili pepper flakes
1 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
2 tbsp red wine vinegar

1. Season pork with salt and pepper. Place all ingredients for pork in slow cooker, mixing well. Cook 8-10 hours, or until pork is tender and easy to pull apart. Cool slightly and shred with two forks.

2. Just before serving, bring 4 cups of water to a boil, stir in rice, salt, and oil, reduce heat and simmer, cover and cook until rice is tender, about 15 minutes. Stir in cilantro and lime juice. Set aside and keep warm.

3. Once rice is cooking, heat oil in a large saucepan and saute onion and garlic over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Add black beans, oregano, pepper flakes and cilantro; cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in red wine vinegar. Simmer or keep warm until ready to serve.

4. Scoop serving of rice into bowl, spoon black beans on top, then shredded pork.

Serves 6.

Adapted from Mission: Food

Read more...

Saltine Cracker Toffee

40 saltine crackers (or enough to line your pan)
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 cups milk chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 400. Line a rimmed cookie sheet or a jelly roll pan with non-stick aluminum foil. Place crackers in a single layer  - it's ok if they overlap a tiny bit to get the pan covered!

2. In a small pot, combine sugar and butter. Melt over medium heat, then increase to medium-high and bring to a boil. Hold at a boil for 3 minutes. Mixture should be a deep caramel color. Immediately pour over crackers. Spread to make sure all crackers are covered completely.

3. Bake at 400 for 5 minutes. Crackers will look bubbly.

4. Remove from oven. Sprinkle chocolate chips over the top and return to oven for 1 minute. Remove from oven and spread melted chocolate over the crackers.

5. Allow to cool in the pan. (After about 45 minutes, I moved the whole pan into the freezer for about 90 minutes to harden completely.) When completely cool, break into pieces.

(adapted from Tablespoon.com)

Read more...

Peppermint White Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
1.5 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp peppermint extract
3/4 cup white chocolate chips
3/4 cup Ghirardelli peppermint chunks

1. Whisk flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl.

2. Using a stand mixer, beat butter for 1 minute on medium speed (level 4 on my KitchenAid) until completely smooth and creamy. Add the brown sugar and granulated sugar and mix on medium speed until fluffy and light in color. Mix in egg, vanilla extract, and peppermint extract (I started on level 2, then increased to 4 as the wet ingredients were incorporated). Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl as needed.

3. On low speed (level 2), slowly mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. The cookie dough will be thick. Add the white chocolate and peppermint chips. Stir for 5 seconds to combine. Cover dough tightly and refrigerate for a full day (up to 3 days).

4. When ready to bake: preheat oven to 350. Remove cookie dough from refrigerator and allow to sit at room temperature for 10-20 minutes. After chilling, the dough may be crumbly, but will come together as you roll it into to balls for baking.

5. Scoop 1.5 tbsp of dough (large cookie scoop) and roll into balls, placing onto ungreased baking sheet (I did 9 cookies per sheet). Bake for 10-11 minutes, until just lightly golden brown around the edges.

6. Allow to cool 5 minutes on the cookie sheet, then remove to cooling rack to cool completely.

Notes: Cookies stay fresh covered tightly at room temperature for up to a week. Baked cookies freeze well for up to 3 months. Unbaked cookie dough balls freeze well for up to 3 months; bake frozen cookie dough balls for 1 extra minute, no need to thaw. (To freeze, prepare through step 3, chilling dough for 3 hours. Roll into balls, place in freezer on a tray for another hour, until solid. Place in zip-top freezer bag, labeled with the recipe, baking temp and time, and a use by date. When baking, simply remove desired number of dough balls from the freezer just before preheating oven).

Yield: 30 cookies.

(adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction)

Read more...