Tequila Lime Shrimp

I improvised these up as a quick protein to go with pinto beans and this slaw, for sort of a low carb  take on Mexican.

Broccoli Slaw with Salsa Verde

I loosely based this on a cabbage dish I like to order at a Mexican-ish restaurant downtown. I ended up using broccoli slaw instead of cabbage because it’s what Trader Joe’s had.

Crockpot Pernil

You can totally follow this recipe as is, and end up with a delicious meal. I made two major changes: creating cracklings, and just not making the hot sauce (as I already had homemade hot sauce at home). The cracklings step only makes sense if A) you’re as obsessed with them as I am and b) you have like an hour to tend to the stove while you’re doing it, which many people don’t want to do when they’re making a slow cooker recipe. I work at home, so it’s easier.

Warning: this recipe involves 18 hours of crock pot time! Plus an overnight marinade! Do not decide to make it that day. Obviously the recipe says as much, but it’s a good warning as I missed it on first read and had to bump this a day in the meal plan.

Another challenge: my pork shoulder wouldn’t fit in my slow cooker and I had to basically massacre it to get it off the bone and into the crock pot. Oops? As a result the “X side up” instructions weren’t super relevant for me.

What to Do with Crispy Fried Eggs

I’ve been making these crispy fried eggs from Smitten Kitchen lately, and they’re pretty versatile. They’re great for times when I want to top something with a little protein, and add a little texture in the process. So far I’ve had them:

*On top of a wedge salad

*Plain, paired with toast

*On top of a pizza-like toast in sauce, for brunch

My next idea: Topping roasted sweet potatoes and kale with one for an easy no-meat dinner.

Beer Cheese Soup

I used a super hoppy beer for this recipe, which I thought ended up being a bit of an issue here (the recipe calls for a pale ale, but mine was a local beer that leaned more IPA). John liked the bitter edge, though, so who knows. In general, a nice recipe that paired well with pretzel rolls, but the leftovers sort of languished in our fridge.

Missy Tries Chicken Pot Pie

I feel like I’m really falling behind on updating this site (I’ve got about 7-8 more recipes I’ve yet to archive), so apologies. And I’m even going to be lazy and link to this one instead of writing it all the way out. This was my first time making pot pie, as far as I can recall – that’s usually a John dish in our household. But as usual, a Smitten Kitchen recipe called out to me. My changes:

*I made this into eight servings rather than four to cut calories. I still found the servings satisfying.

*Because of that, I made three of them as individual pot pies and the rest as a casserole because I only had three containers.

*I used closer to 3 pounds chicken (about half white meat, half dark meat).

Really good, though! I would say it tasted even better reheated the next day because the sauce got thicker.

Steak Salad with Tomatillos

I was excited to see this Serious Eats recipe, as we’ve been getting a ton of tomatillos in the CSA, and it’s hard to think of things to make besides salsa verde and posole. This turned out great! I served this with a toasted tortilla for dinner.

Green Smoothie (Bananas, Grapes, Pineapple and Spinach)

This has been my go-to breakfast smoothie recipe since getting the Vitamix.

Becky’s Cuban Sandwiches

My friend Becky recommended this Bon Appetit recipe, and I really liked it. I used it as a base, with the following changes:

*I made the pork in the crock pot: same ingredients, on low for 8 hours.

*For the pickles, I just tossed some of my own homemade pickles with some turmeric and mustard to create the general flavor.

*I used prosciutto, potato rolls and regular jack cheese because it’s what I had in the house.

 

Missy’s Goulash

I made this so long ago that I can barely remember what I did (oh well). John is usually the one to make goulash in the family, but he was incapacitated and we had a bunch of bell peppers to use up, so I figured It’d be a good thing to make for dinner. I feel like John’s goulash is a little better (mine reminded me of pepper steak), but this was still tasty.