Weekly Menu 9/28+

I’ve decided to take a slower pace at getting back into the menu blogging, one that mirrors a little closer to the reality that we are living these days.  We are eating every day; goodness knows I won’t miss a meal on purpose.  However, I have not been cooking something new seven days a week. 

Prep work has definitely been the theme to my success in getting a meal on the table since school started. 

Two weeks ago I made a pork roast in my Dutch oven (thanks again J&C and S) while at church.  It was great to come home to lunch already cooked.  And to aid in my lunch Saturday evening I pre-mixed some coleslaw and also mixed up some cucumber salad (peeled and sliced cucumbers, sour cream, mayo, a little vinegar, a little more sugar than vinegar, dill, salt and pepper).

For the pork, I rough chopped an onion, had one and a half apples that were already peeled from an apple cake that I made for Saturday night, and rough chopped those.  Seasoned well with salt and pepper and added about an inch of water.  Then I baked at 325 in the covered Dutch oven for four hours.  It was super tender when I got home and very moist. 

The remaining pork was shredded and put away for another meal; Pulled Pork Burrito Bowls.  I saw this idea on food network while I was in the gym working out (Ten Dollar Dinners).  Of course I modified the recipe on the show to fit our tastes and current dietary desires. 

I heated the pork in a hot skillet to crisp up the edges, and make it like carnitas without all of the extra fat that typically comes with carnitas.  On the show they also had rice as a base, then beans, topped with the meat, then some cheese, topped with sour cream.  I did chop two tomatoes and one avocado and then mixed that with some jalapeno ranch dressing I had.  The idea on the show was to give the flavor of guacamole without having to buy so many avocados.  I thought it was great, so I did that too. 

For dessert, I spread butter on flour tortillas, then sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and baked in a 375 degree oven for about 10 minutes until they were puffy and crispy.  I cut them into wedges and then poured a mixture of melted chocolate chips mixed with whipped cream.  I think I used ¼-1/3 c chocolate chips, and 1-2T of cream; again just giving the flavor of the expensive ingredients. 

I looked up the recipe and it called for 1/2 c of chocolate chips and that was going to be a LOT of chocolate.  Not that that is a bad thing, but the idea was to not have too much left over.