Judy's Slow Cooker Carnitas

I cheated on BSC. I cooked the carnitas the first week March. I bought the pork roast on sale at Sprouts and it was taking up too much space in the fridge. I modified the recipe according to what I had and what I have done in the past with a another carnitas recipe. I did not use any orange juice and instead of the beef broth, I used one bottle of beer (Dos Equis to specific). I cooked it for 10 hours in the slow cooker. I served it with white rice cooked with salt and olive oil, a Trader Joe's frozen pepper onion roast mix, cheese, salsa, and guacamole. Sort of like a burrito from Chipotle.

The result?? I had three critics this time and they all agreed that the only thing it lacked was salt, but otherwise it was really good. Next time instead of using the cumin/salt mix, I will stick to using seasoning salt. I will also add a cut-up onion into the pot in addition to the garlic to give it more flavor. I will most definitely cook this again-- soo easy and soo yummy!

Before it was all wrapped up into a burrito :)

Lisa's Pork Carnitas

I followed the recipe pretty closely, except that the lime I got didn't produce alot of juice. The meal was pretty good, but I think it need a bit more seasoning. It was also too much food for Roger and I. We still have a good amount of leftovers, and we've eaten it twice already for a meal. I might make this again if it's for a group of people.

Pork Shoulder $5.43
1 Orange $0.30
1 lime $0.24
Garlic $0.27
Beef Broth $0.50
Corn Tortillas $1.29
Cummin, Salt already in stock-no cost

Total Cost $8.03

With optional ingredients
Spanish Rice $1.99
Guacomole $2.00
Sour Cream $1.25
1 Green Chile $0.20
Pico De Gallo $2.79

Total Cost $16.46

Lisa's "Corned" Beef Cabbage

So after looking at Judy and Kathleen's corned beef, I was wondering why their beef looked pinkish. Then when I saw my "corned" beef, I realized why theirs were pink and mine was NOT. They actually got corned beef, whereas I just got beef brisket.

I also did not follow the recipe AT ALL. I did not use dry mustard, thyme, or parsley. I was way too cheap to buy a whole thing of mustard or fresh thyme. But it still turned out pretty good. But it just didn't taste like corned beef because it wasn't corned! I guess I'll have to try this again. I do like this recipe because you just put everything together and forget about it.

Cost breakdown:

Onions $1.00
Carrots $0.17
Cabbage $1.68
Beef about $8

Bread $3.19

Total: $14.04

Judy's Corned Beef and Cabbage

The Mister asked "Since when did we become Irish?" I replied, "Since I joined the Best Supper Club!" :p I cooked the corned beef and cabbage exactly as the recipe instructed to do so and used the entire seasoning pack that it came with. Like Kathleen, I also made Pioneer Woman's crash hot potatoes. In addition, I made Guinness Brownies for dessert and the Mister had a cold Guinness with his meal. The verdict, I know it's suppose to be salty, but the meal was way too salty for my liking (and I like salty!) I think to even out the saltiness, you need bread or drink a lot of Guinness to wash it down. When I asked my toughest critic, he replied "It tastes like Irish pub food." Meh, we both agreed the corned beef and cabbage was something we would have once a year. However, the crash hot potatoes was a HUGE hit. So I definitely plan on cooking that again when we have steak. The Guinness brownies were very rich and were hardly sweet at all. I will probably stick to regular brownies! Here is our St. Patty's Day Feast:

(Like Lisa, I don't have food photog skills like Kathleen!) With the leftover corned beef, I will be making reuben sandwiches as well :)

Kathleen's Corned Beef and Cabbage

I made this on Sunday and was very pleased with the results. I got my corned beef at Costco several weeks ago and was crazy surprised when I found a thick layer of fat on the underside of it. Did any of you guys get that too? I've never used brisket before so I don't know if that comes standard or what but I ended up trimming it all off (most of it anyway). I pretty much followed the recipe exactly except I added about half of the seasoning packet that came with the corned beef (after reading reviews). I wasn't sure what to do with the onions so I cut them in half. I love corned beef (looking forward to ruebens later this week!) so I really liked this recipe.

I served the corned beef and cabbage with the Pioneer Woman's crash hot potatoes. I made them at night which is why picture is so crappy. They aren't exactly "floury" potatoes but they are potatoes nonetheless!

Judy's Chicken Spaghetti

This was my first Pioneer Woman recipe! I thought the dish was good and so did the Mister although I had two fails.
Fail #1 I didn't used the cream of mushroom (because the last time I used it with the pork chops, I didn't like it too much) and so I went with the alternative Kathleen found instead. However, I realized that I did not have chicken bouillon like I originally thought I did, so I substituted the water with chicken broth. For some reason when I mixed everything up, the cornstarch didn't break down or thicken or do whatever it's suppose to do. It wasn't creamy and instead settled on the bottom of the casserole and turned kind of gooey during the bake.
Fail #2 With PW's wonderful step by step pictured directions, I somehow missed that you were suppose to put the last half of the cheddar cheese on top after the casserole baked not before, therefore I ended up with a melted cheesy mac and cheese type layer on top.
I used only thigh meat and two cups of cheese.
I will attempt to make this again, but I plan on using canned cream of broccoli (I like broccoli) and a different type of cheese. The sharp cheddar was, well, too sharp for my taste! I do look forward to making more PW recipes :)

Jennifer's Chicken Spaghetti

I made the chicken spaghetti for dinner tonight for my family. Overall, it was a success. I did make a few small changes. I used linguine instead of spaghetti and did not break apart the linguine into 2 inch pieces. I also did not have Lawry's seasoned salt so used Cajun seasoning instead - they have similar contents so it worked out fine. I added red pepper flakes for a spicier taste and used chicken breast. Next time, I'd try using a different kind of cheese and cook it in the oven for less than 45 minutes. This was so easy to make. I'd definitely make this again!

Lisa's Chicken Spaghetti

So I just finished making the chicken spaghetti...and i just tasted it...i think overall, it's pretty good but a little too cheesy for me...it's not that i hate cheese but not a huge fan...i can definitely live without cheese in my life.

the pioneer woman went easy on the cayenne pepper, and i think i went a little overboard with that and the black pepper...it has a nice kick for me, but for roger, i think it might be too much of a kick for him.

i pretty much followed all the directions and recipes...i used 2 legs and 2 thighs for my chicken and it was a perfect 2 cup! grated my own cheese because it was cheaper to get the block of cheese. only used 1 cup of chicken broth because i liked how the PW warned to not make it soupy, only wet enough to stir.

overall, i'd make it again!! especially because i can freeze and then just pop it in the oven!

Kathleen's Chicken Spaghetti

Pioneer Woman is the bomb! My chicken spaghetti was much more successful than my soup last week. Instead of using a whole fryer, I used two boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I only had half a box of (whole wheat) pasta and when I broke it up, it only ended up being 2 cups, but my pieces were smaller than PW's. I reserved chicken water, but didn't end up using it. And instead of the cream of mushroom soup, I used this cream of chicken soup mix with 2 1/2 cups of water. I also used a Mexican cheese blend (from Costco) instead of all cheddar and tried to cut back a little. I think I ended up using about one cup in the casserole and one cup on top. Lastly, I prepared this in two separate Pyrex dishes. I cooked one, and stuck the other in the freezer. Hopefully it will cook up nicely some day in the future. It tasted great! The only thing I would change is I would cut the onion into smaller pieces. Since it is only cooked in the oven, it was still a tiny bit raw, which I liked, but other people might not. Oh, that reminds me, I only used half an onion. But that's because I had an enormous one. I think half of it counted as one medium onion. I'm going to save it for next week's onion heavy corned beef recipe!

Jennifer's Potato Leek Soup

I didn't use a crock pot (I don't have one), but a regular pot worked just fine and was ready in less than an hour! I decided to saute the onions and garlic in some oil first before adding the rest of the ingredients. Because I don't like potatoes (unless they're fried ie. no potato taste), I substituted it with sweet potatoes (which I LOVE, especially when fried). I wanted a chunky soup, so I didn't use an immersion blender to soupify everything at the end. I even left the skin on on the sweet potatoes, because my mom said that the skin has the most nutrients. I will probably take the skin off next time though because it peeled off as it was cooking anyway and so now I have sweet potato skin floating around. =( As I was chopping up the white part of the 3 leeks, I thought it might be too much, but I ended up using all 3 anyway. It turned out fine! I used dried thyme, because I had that on hand and didn't add any heavy cream. I think I'd make this soup again, minus the sweet potato skins!

Kathleen's Potato Leek Soup

I pretty much stuck to the original recipe except I only had ground thyme so I used 1/4 of a teaspoon and I got some huge leeks from Whole Foods so I omitted the onion since I figured there would be enough onion flavor already. I didn't add the heavy cream at the end either. I was kind of bummed because I don't have an immersion blender and I really wasn't looking forward to Magic Bullet-ing hot soup in small batches...it just sounded like too much work. But the same day I was making carrot cupcakes and I was using my hand mixer and I noticed that one of the attachments was a blender! So my hand mixer saved the day and I blended that soup right up. I didn't realize until way too late that I was probably scratching up my stoneware. But surprisingly, there was not a single scratch when I poured the soup out. Hooray for that! I think the soup tasted alright. I'm much more into tomato based soups so it was...different. I was not my soup's biggest fan. In addition, my soup turned out...ugly. Unphotographable. I even saved some of the green part of the leeks to use as garnish but it just didn't look like food. I'll just leave it at that.

March Recipes

Our first month of the Best Supper Club was a success! Here's the next batch of recipes for March. Remember to check out the links and read other people's reviews for ideas and tips. Happy cooking!

CrockPot Potato Leek Soup Recipe - February 28-March 6

from A Year of Slow Cooking

3 large leeks, cleaned and diced (you only use the white part)

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

1 pound brown potatoes (weigh them--you'll only need 2 or 3)

5 cups broth (chicken or vegetable)

1/2 teaspoon thyme

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

2 cloves chopped garlic

1 cup heavy cream (optional)

Peel the potatoes and chop everything up and toss it in with the broth and the spices. If you are going to use heavy cream you don't add that until cooking is complete.

Cover and cook on low for 7-9 hours, or on high for about 4.

When the potatoes and onion are fully cooked and soft, use an immersible blender to soupify. If you don't have an immersible blender, blend in small batches CAREFULLY in your traditional blender.

Stir in heavy cream, if desired.

Chosen by Lisa.

Chicken Spaghetti - March 7-13

from The Pioneer Woman

2 cups cooked chicken

3 cups dry spaghetti, broken into two inch pieces

2 cans cream of mushroom soup

2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese

1/4 cups finely diced green pepper

1/4 finely diced onion

1 jar (4 ounce) diced pimentos, drained

2 cups reserved chicken broth from pot

1 teaspoon Lawry's Seasoned Salt

1/8 teaspoons (to 1/4 teaspoon) cayenne pepper

salt and pepper, to taste

1 cup additional grated sharp cheddar cheese

Cook 1 cut up fryer and pick out the meat to make two cups. Cook spaghetti in same chicken broth until al dente. Do not overcook. When spaghetti is cooked, combine with remaining ingredients except additional 1 cup cheddar.

Place mixture in casserole pan and top with remaining sharp cheddar. Cover and freeze up to six months, cover and refrigerate up to two days, or bake immediately: 350 degrees for 45 minutes until bubbly. (If the cheese on top starts to get too cooked, cover with foil).

Serves 8.

Chosen by Jennifer.

Corned Beef and Cabbage - March 14-20

from Darina Allen's Irish Traditional Cooking

4 pound corned brisket of beef

3 large carrots, cut into large chunks

6 to 8 small onions

1 teaspoon dry English mustard

large sprig fresh thyme and some parsley stalks, tied together

1 cabbage

salt and freshly ground pepper

Put the brisket into a saucepan with the carrots, onions, mustard and the herbs. Cover with cold water, and bring gently to a boil. Simmer, covered, for 2 hours. Discard the outer leaves of the cabbage, cut in quarters and add to the pot. Cook for a further 1 to 2 hours or until the meat and vegetables are soft and tender.

Serve the corned beef in slices, surrounded by the vegetables and cooking liquid. Serve with lots of floury potatoes and freshly made mustard.

Chosen by Kathleen.

Slow Cooker Carnitas - March 21-27

from A Year of Slow Cooking

2 pounds pork shoulder

1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (about 1 large orange)

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (about 1 large lime)

7 cloves garlic (whole intact)

1/2 tablespoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon cumin

1/2 cup beef broth

corn tortillas

sour cream, salsa, sliced avocado (optional)

Use a 6 quart slow cooker. In a small bowl, combine the salt and cumin. Rub mixture all over the pork, then plop into the slow cooker. Add whole garlic cloves. Squeeze on the citrus, and pour the beef broth evenly over the top.

Cook on low for 8-10 hours, or until the pork shreds quite easily with a fork. If your meat is still fully intact after 8 hours, remove and cut into chunks, then return to the crock and flip to high for about an hour or two.

Shred meat fully and serve or warmed corn tortillas with desired toppings.

Serves 6.

Chosen by Judy.

Lisa's Pork Chop

So after reading Judy and Kathleen's post, I decided to forego the sauce for the pork chop. I did everything else (didn't have the garlic salt though). Judy recommended to pair it with thai chili sauce instead which I did tonight. It was pretty good. Not great, but not so bad either...Roger liked it, so already that's two thumbs up. I'll probably cook this again because it was pretty easy to prepare and make. Good pick Judy and great words of advice!