Sweet Pork Chili

This is one of those, "let's see what's in the fridge to make dinner with" kind of recipes that worked out well and tasted quite good.

So this picture is the version without the beans added in.
That is a mistake. The beans are really needed here as they
add substance and help to slightly thicken the end soup.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs Boneless Country Style Pork Ribs trimmed and cut into 3/4" cubes
• 4 tbsp oil
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 Green Bell Pepper chopped
• 3 stalks of celery chopped
• 1 healthy Pinch of Salt
• 2 tbsp minced garlic
• 1/2 to 1 tbsp of chili powder (depending on your level of heat tolerance)
• 1 tsp onion salt or 1/2 tsp of salt with 1/2 tsp of onion powder
• 1 tsp granulated garlic
• 1/4 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp curry powder
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 3 oz of tomato paste
• 14 oz of diced stewed tomatoes with juice, not drained
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 15 oz drained and rinsed red kidney beans
• 1/4 cup brown sugar

Instructions
Before beginning to cook, be sure to prep everything and have it ready and waiting next to the stove. When cutting up the County Style Pork Ribs trim off excess fat and any silver skin that you find. The silver skin does not break down in the cooking process and is really inedible. If you don't know what silver skin is, just google it. Turn your oven on and set it to 350.

Put a large oven safe soup pot or, preferably, a dutch oven on the stove over med high heat. Heat the 2 tbsp of oil in the pot until shimmering and then add the pork. Let the pork just start to brown and then add the 3 tbsp of soy sauce. Stir it all together until all of the pork chunks are browned, but not necessarily cooked all the way through. Take the browned pork chunks out the pan and set aside for the moment. Just in case you didn't know, absolutely do not clean out the pot before the next step. Leave any browned bits in the pot.

Turn the heat down to medium. Add 2 more tbsp of oil into the pot, let it heat up, then add in the chopped onion, celery, and green bell pepper (also known as the trinity) to saute. Add a healthy pinch of regular salt and saute the vegetables until they are softened, the onions are translucent, and are fragrant. It is also okay if they are browned a little too. Add in the minced garlic, stir to combine, and cook for about 30 seconds. Add in the spice mix of chili powder, onion salt (or the regular salt and onion powder), granulated garlic, cumin, curry powder, and red pepper flakes. Stir this to combine and cook for 30 seconds which will give the spices a moment to bloom and get fragrant. Now add the 3 oz of tomato paste, stir it in, and cook for about 2 minutes. This will caramelize the tomato paste and build flavor. Don't worry if it starts sticking to the bottom of the pan, just don't let it burn. Dark brown on the bottom of the pan is fine. Black is not so great.

After the mixture has cooked for about 2 minutes, add the chicken stock, 14 oz of diced stewed tomatoes, 15 oz of Dark Red Kidney Beans, and the 1/4 cup of brown sugar. Stir all up until it is combined, making sure that you scrape the bottom of the pot to get up any browned and caramelized tomato paste goodness. Add back in the pork chunks, cover the pot with foil and put on its lid to create a tight seal. Put it in the 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. Be sure to scrape the sides of the pot when you take it out and do your final stir before serving.

Serve with whatever you like with your chili. Eat it straight or with a dollop of sour cream to mellow it out a bit.

Eggless Cookie Dough for One

My oldest daughter made this tonight for a treat that she could take to school. Worked well and tasted good, so we are adding it to the blog in case the original post disappears. Here's the link to the original recipe: Eggless Cookie Dough for One. It comes from the Like Mother, Like Daughter blog at https://lmld.org/

Eggless Cookie Dough for one is an edible chocolate chip cookie dough that you can whip up in minutes for a perfectly safe cookie dough treat!

Ingredients

• 2 TBS UNSALTED butter softened
• 2 TBS brown sugar
• 1 TBS sugar
• 1/4 tsp vanilla
• 1 TBS milk
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 6 TBS flour
• 1/4 cup milk chocolate chips

Instructions

**Microwave your flour for 30 seconds to 1 minute till it reaches an internal temperature of 160 degrees, to eliminate any risk of e. coli.

In a small bowl, cream together your butter and your sugars until mixed. Add in your vanilla and milk and stir to combine. Add in your salt and flour and mix until all combined. (Add a little more flour if mixture is too wet) Dump in your chocolate chips and stir them into the cookie dough.

Recipe Notes

**If you are also worried about the raw flour, its an easy fix. Put the flour on a pan and bake for 5 minutes at 350 degrees! Or microwave for about 1.5 minutes!

Enjoy this delicious cookie dough without the worry of eating raw eggs.

Country Gravy

1 lb ground sausage
1 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
4 tbsp flour
1 cup milk
1 tsp seasoning salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp granulated garlic
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil

Heat a 12-inch Skillet (preferably cast iron) over medium high heat with one tbsp of olive oil. Add the 1 lb of ground sausage to the pan and and break it up into small crumbles as it cooks. Brown the sausage until about 50% of the crumbles has crispy bits. Take the sausage out of a pan and put it in a bowl off to the side to be added back into the gravy later.

Lower the heat to medium and add the one tbsp of butter and 2 tbsp of olive oil back into the hot skillet. Once the butter and oil have melted and heated up, add the 4 tbsp of flour to the pan and whisk until it is combined. Cook the flour roux for about 1 minute then whisk in the 1 1/2 cups of chicken stock slowly. Stir the mixture with the whisk until it is smooth (no lumps) and thickened. Whisk in the 1 cup of milk until it is completely combined and the gravy starts to thicken again. Add all of the seasonings at once and whisk until combined.

As soon as everything is combined in the pan, and the gravy is the desired thickness, remove from the heat and serve.

Whipped Cream Cream Cheese Frosting

This comes from Allrecipes.com and is fantastic. Posting it here so I don't have to keep looking for it and in case it disappears. Here is the link to the original website.

"A decadent whipped cream and cream cheese frosting that has everyone asking if they can lick the bowl. It pipes very well."

Ingredients
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese

1 cup white sugar

A pinch of Salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

Directions
In a large bowl combine cream cheese, sugar, salt and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Add heavy cream and whip with whisk until stiff peaks form.

A new favorite salad!

We actually made this meal in October, but since it's a new year and we are attempting to eat healthier, it was time to share it. And it was SO. Yummy!!!

I found this recipe on facebook, at least a couple of months ago. I started following the page for healthy dinner ideas to throw into our mix- I don't follow the Whole 30 plan at all.

This is the photo that was shared with the recipe below.

Hawaiian Pineapple Salad - Whole 30 FB page 

Ingredients:
-mixed romaine greens
-grilled chicken breast
-fresh grilled pineapple slices
-diced avocado
-sliced cherry tomatoes
-diced purple onion
-lime wedges
-unsweetened coconut flakes

Directions:
1. Grill your chicken breast then slice after it is cooked
2. Grill your fresh sliced pineapple slices
3. Lay a bed of romaine lettuce on your plate
4. Then add the remaining toppings
5. Squeeze the limes over your salad as your dressing or you could add any whole30 compliant dressing you have. We love the lime with a little salt for a change up.
6. Sprinkle with shredded unsweetened coconut flakes

We have some picky eaters, lol, so we prepped the various ingredients and set it all out on the table for people to take what they wanted. I think we said something like lettuce and chicken plus at least two more things.

And I enjoyed it so much I ate it for lunch until all the ingredients were gone! We will definitely make this one again!
(and you can always grill your pineapple and chicken on the stove or under the broiler if it's too snowy at your house!)