Spicy and Saucy Verde Pork Enchiladas

Ever since these creamy chicken enchiladas changed my perspective on enchiladas as a whole, I've been excited about experimenting with different flavor combinations, sauces, and components.  Whenever my parents sent me some shredded pork roast, I knew I wanted to transform it into something delicious and flavorful. 

These enchiladas utilize all my favorite green things- green chilies, jalapenos, cilantro and avocado- alongside tender pork roast and a creamy sauce that pulls everything together. You can always cut back on the spiciness by using mild green chilies and deveining the jalapenos, but I loved how the cool avocado balanced the peppers out. 

This is a great recipe to double. You can always freeze half for later, or enjoy the leftovers-they're pretty amazing. 

What You'll Need:
12 white corn tortillas 
2 cups shredded roast pork 
1 tsp olive oil 
1/2 large yellow onion, diced  
2 tsp garlic, minced
1 large avocado
2 cups shredded Monterrey jack cheese 
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour 
2 cups chicken broth 
1/2 cup heavy cream 
1 cup sour cream 
2 4oz cans diced green chilies 
1 small bunch cilantro, diced 
1 jalapeno, diced

What To Do:
Preheat oven to 350.

Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan and add onion, stirring occasionally until translucent. Add garlic and continue cooking for one minute more. Add half of a can of the green chilies, shredded pork, and salt and pepper to taste and cook for a couple minutes, until heated through. Add a splash of heavy cream, ensuring that all of the filling is moistened. Turn off heat and cover until ready to use. 

Meanwhile, melt butter over medium-high heat. Whisk in flour and cook for 1-2 minutes. Slowly stir in chicken broth. Allow the sauce to come to boil and to thicken. Lower heat to low. Add in the remaining green chilies, jalapeno, cilantro, sour cream, one cup of cheese, and stir well. Allow sauce to simmer until all ingredients are completely incorporated. (If desired, before adding the sour cream or cheese you can blend the sauce in a blender to get a smooth consistency and light green color.)

As the sauce simmers, microwave your tortillas 2-3 at a time, wrapped in a damp paper towel. Once heated, fill each tortilla with a generous scoop of the pork filling and two slices of avocado. Roll together, fitting into a baking dish. 

Once all of the tortillas are filled and rolled, pour your sauce over the tortillas, being sure to get every enchilada. There should be more than enough sauce for these saucy enchiladas. Cover with the remaining cheese. 

Bake for 30 minutes or until sauce is bubbling. Broil for just a moment at the end for a nice browned top!

Serve with rice and beans, chips and salsa, and guacamole or your favorite Mexican side dishes!

original recipe. 

Carnitas Five Ways

Well, hello lovelies! I hope that y'all had a beautiful week while I was away on spring break. I can't believe that it is over already. 

Sad. Day. 

I have been overwhelmed with goodness from my trip with my OMBC students this past week and I am truly sad to see it come to an end. I learned a lot and look forward to sharing it with you soon!However I am really not motivated right now to just mentally process all of that or to go through photos and construct posts, so for now I will leave you with this: 

five ways to eat carnitas (slow cooked seasoned pulled pork). I posted the recipe last year. It's fabulous, really. I made a big batch before midterms last week and found fun ways to eat it up!


Tacos
flour tortillas with carnitas, chipotle cream, avocados and sour cream. These went great alongside a Cherry Coke. 

Carnitas Quesadillas:
Buttered flour tortillas, layered with carnitas, cheddar cheese and refried black beans, topped with avocado and served with jalapeno cream sauce (sour cream, jalapeno, lime, salt, pepper). 

Carnitas Rice Bowl
wasn't that pretty so I didn't take a picture. I layered brown rice, carnitas, black beans, pico de gallo, sour cream, etc etc. 

Late Night Snack
garlic toast with avocado, carnitas, a fried egg and chipotle cream (sour cream, lime, chipotle seasoning)

Carnitas Stuffed Poblano
a poblano pepper stuffed with rice, tomatoes, onions, carnitas and goat cheese, served over creamy chipotle sauce. 

I really hope that if you haven't tried this fantastic and budget friendly meal-maker that you will! It is quite versatile and reheats beautifully. 

AND

Come back tomorrow for an exciting announcement!

Carnitas Stuffed Poblano Pepper with Creamy Chipotle Sauce

Poblanos are fantastic, especially when stuffed with seasoned pulled pork, rice and veggies. This is a delicious meal with a beautiful presentation. Impress your friends with this meal and make it look like you worked a lot harder than you did ;) 

What You'll Need:
serves 4
for pepper:
4 poblano peppers
1 tbsp olive oil, plus 1 tsp
1 cup carnitas
1 cup cooked brown rice
1 roma tomato, diced
1/2 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced 
a handful goat cheese crumbles 
for sauce:
4 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup salsa
1 cube chipotle seasoning 
for topping:
extra goat cheese crumbles
avocado slices 

What To Do:
Preheat oven to 375. Rub poblano peppers with olive oil and lay out on a baking sheet. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until soft and charred in spots, turning once. Remove from heat and allow to cool for a couple of minutes.

Meanwhile, saute onions with olive oil over medium heat for 3-4 minutes. Add rice and garlic cooking about five minutes more, stirring frequently. Add tomatoes, rice, and carnitas and stir well, heating it through. Stir in goat cheese crumbles.

Slice peppers lengthwise and carefully remove veins and seeds. Stuff each pepper with filling. Place back into the oven for 10 minutes. 

While the peppers are cooking, begin your sauce. Over medium heat, combine cream cheese, salsa and chipotle seasoning, stirring occasionally, until the cream cheese is completely melted and it is a uniform consistency. Season with salt and pepper to taste and adjust with more cream cheese to thicken or more salsa to thin it out. 

Pour a spoonful of sauce on your serving plate, place pepper on top, sprinkle with extra goat cheese crumbles and serve alongside avocado slices! Delicious. 

original recipe

Crockpot Carnitas

If you follow along with me on Twitter or Instagram, you know that I could eat tacos

every

single 

day

and never tire of their deliciousness. 

This recipe was so low maintenance and I've been eating the leftovers for five days now. Seriously, what is there to not love about tenderized, flavorful pulled pork? This stuff never dries out and pairs well with so many different flavors!

I actually used a 3 lb roast and reduced the cooking time by a couple of hours. It still made enough to feed a small army. You can also substitute broth, ginger ale or cola for the beer.

What You'll Need:

5-6 pounds pork shoulder roast (or butt)

1 tablespoons canola oil

8 ounces of your favorite beer

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 tablespoons smoked paprika

1/2 tablespoon cumin

1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder

1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

What To Do:

Combine seasonings together in a bowl and mix until combined. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add oil. Once hot, add pork and sear on all sides until golden brown (about 2 minutes per side).

Add pork to the crockpot and sprinkle seasonings all over. Pour in beer, then cook on low for 10-12 hours. Check once or twice if possible and if needed, add more beer (I did not add any). Before serving, use forks or kitchen tongs to shred pork. Let sit on low or warm for another 20-30 minutes before serving.

Recipe from How Sweet Eats

Top your taco with your favorite toppings! My go to is avocado slices and sour cream but you could also mix and match the following:

• diced onion
• cilantro
• avocado slices
• pico de gallo
• diced mango 
• sour cream/ greek yogurt
• sliced jalapeno
• fresh squeezed lime 
• layer in bowl with rice, pinto beans, meat, and top with any of the above

Apple Butter Pork Tenderloin

This flavor combination is out of this world. Pork and apples were meant to be together! 

I've learned a lot about how different cuts of meat should be prepared since I first tried this recipe and have modified it to work much better for a pork tenderloin.

It is very tender, juicy and bursting with beautifully contrasting sweet and savory flavors!

What You'll Need:

(serves 4 to 6)

2 (1 ½ pound) pork tenderloins 

seasoning salt to taste 

2 cups apple juice

½ cup apple butter

¼ cup brown sugar

2 tbsp to 1/4 cup water

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

What To Do:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Season the pork tenderloins with seasoning salt, a sprinkle of brown sugar and cinnamon. Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a large frying pan. Sear the tenderloins until browned on each side. Remove from pan. Place tenderloins in a baking dish. Pour apple juice over the pork, and cover the dish with a lid or aluminum foil. 

Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven. While the pork is roasting, mix together the apple butter, brown sugar, water, cinnamon and cloves. Start with 2 tbsp water, and add more to thin out the sauce as desired. After 20 minutes, remove pork loins from the oven, and spread the apple butter mixture over them. Cover, and return to the oven for 40 more minutes. 

Slice the pork into medallions and serve with a side of the roasting juices! 

Recipe adapted from Moms Who Think

By the way, if you like weekly or monthly meal plans, this site has lots of them!

Pork Chops with Apples

One of my favorite food combinations is pork and apples. During Austin Restaurant Week, I tried Perry's Steakhouse's famous pork chop and apple sauce and it totally changed my perspective on pork chops. An apple butter smothered pork loin made into the regular rotation last year and when I saw this recipe on The Pioneer Woman Cooks, I knew I had to try it! I made it a couple weeks ago with some very positive feedback from David and my taste buds. This can get a little pricey if you go for the real maple syrup like I did, but I thought it was worth the investment.

So when I mentioned that I was thinking about making it for dinner on Monday, it quickly went from a dinner for two to a dinner for six. Thankfully, it's really simple to adjust to different quantities. And the recipe itself is easy- the most time consuming part was chopping up the apples and making my side dishes. The sauce for this dish is such a perfect combination of savory and sweet and it was perfect for keeping leftovers flavorful and moist. 

Ten points to anyone who knows which HIMYM character hated the word moist! 

Ingredients

• 6 whole Boneless Pork Chops, About 1/2-inch Thick
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• 2 whole Gala Apples, Diced (or more, if you love apples like I do)
• 1/2 cup Dry White Wine (or substitute diluted white vinegar, or chicken broth)
• 2 teaspoons Apple Cider Vinegar
• 3/4 cups Pure Maple Syrup ( or a little less if you want a more savory taste)
• salt and pepper

Heat a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add olive oil and butter and heat until butter in melted.

Salt and pepper both sides of pork chops. Brown them on both sides until nice and golden. Remove pork chops from the skillet and set on a separate plate. Don't overcook them here- you're just getting a nice color on them for now.

Reduce heat to medium. Add apples and stir to combine them with the oil and butter that remains in the pan. Pour in wine and vinegar, then whisk along the bottom of the pan to deglaze it. Cook until liquid is reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Pour in the maple syrup, then add a dash of salt and pepper. Stir, then return pork chops to the pan- be sure to get all the juices from the plate too! Cover the pan and simmer on med-low for 20 minutes. At this point the chops will finish cooking through and the apples will soften.

Serve pork chops and spoon the apple-maple sauce over the top, allowing the liquid pool around them.

 I served mine with loaded mashed potatoes, crispy green beans, mushrooms and garlic bread. This is a meal sure to impress, whether you're hosting a dinner party or... watching The Cowboys like us...

Recipe adapted from The Pioneer Woman