Pulled pork magic

Chunks of cooked pork in mixer

Watch the pork shredding
before your eyes

I love pulled pork but it can be a pain to 'pull' it.  I recently tried a shortcut that seemed to work quite well.

Cook your pork as you usually do, but make sure it is really cooked well and is very tender or this method will not work. 

Cut the pork into chunks and put it into your Kitchen Aid stand mixer.  Yes, I did say MIXER.  Turn the mixer on to about speed 2 or 3 and watch the magic happen.  Believe it or not, the mixer will 'pull' the pork for you.  If you have a few chunks that did not 'pull', just hand pull them.  It will be so much quicker to shred the pork and will save you lots of time.



Today's Kitchen Tip: Use cooking spray to eliminate stickiness

Have you ever tried to measure things like peanut butter or honey and find that half of it sticks in the measuring implement?  Today's kitchen tip will eliminate this issue.

Use a cooking spray (such as PAM) and spray the measuring spoon or cup before measuring your sticky ingredient.  Just pour (or scrape in the case of peanut butter) out of the cup or spoon and everything will come out easily.  This will stop things from sticking and you will get all the  peanut butter, etc., out of the measuring cup easily.

Or, if you are measuring oil, shortening, butter, etc., measure that into your spoon or cup first, then measure your sticky things such as honey or peanut butter.  They will slide right out.

Today's Kitchen Tip: Enriching egg substitute products

If you are trying to watch calories and fat, one way is to use egg substitute products.  While they will cut down calories quite a bit, you may find that they do not have as much flavor or richness as using a whole egg.

What we like to do is substitute one egg for 1/4 cup of egg substitute products to increase the richness and flavor.  This works well for up to about 4 eggs worth of substitute eggs.

Today's Kitchen Tip: Freeze marinated meats

I often buy meat in bulk and need to freeze some of it.  Most of the time I marinade meat and poultry before I cook it anyway, so I decided to save a step.  I like to place the meat or poultry in a Ziploc bag, add my favorite marinade and massage it into the meat.  Then I freeze the meat so that when I defrost it, the meat marinates at the same time.  This saves a step and a lot of time.

Keep in mind...if you think you will remember what is in the bag and what it is marinated with...you will not.  Make sure to label the bags properly so you won't have 'mystery meat' in the freezer.

Today's Kitchen Tip: Easy way to dice an avocado

I have seen tools in the kitchen store for working with avocados.  I love kitchen gadgets but this is not one I would purchase.  Dicing an avocado is simple.  Just cut the avocado in half through the equator, remove the seed then take a paring knife and gently cut strips through the flesh.  Cut lengthwise first, then cut across so you get nice even cuts. 

When it is done, the diced avocado can be scooped out easily and cleanly.  We used a spoon so that our diced pieces remained intact.

We will be posting several other hints on working with avocado over the next few weeks, so 'watch this space'.

Today's Kitchen Tip: See the right way to eat these six food items

Do you have trouble peeling hard-cooked eggs?  How about eating chicken wings....do you leave half the meat on the bone?  Today's kitchen tip is a little video showing how to eat 6 items (eggs, wings, oranges, bananas, and more) that you are probably eating wrong.  See the video for some fun hints.

Today's Kitchen Tip: Where can I buy unusual spices and herbs?

I love to try lots of new spices.  Sometimes I have to go online to get some of the more unusual ones.  Today as I was surfing, I found a site that had some of the most unusual spices I have ever seen.  Along with the list of herbs and spices, there was a botanical definition so you can learn a little about what you are buying.

So, if you are looking for spices but cannot find them on any of the usual places, try here.

Today's Kitchen Tip: Serve dessert in a chocolate cup

For Valentines Day, it seems like everything goes better in chocolate.  I love to make chocolate cups to put mousse and strawberries in.  Sure, you can buy them in the store, that is, if you can find them.  They are so simple to make, that it takes me less time to make them than it does to find a store that carries them.

Just melt and temper chocolate, then brush a few coats of chocolate into a silicone cupcake liner.  Place in the refrigerator to harden.  Once hardened, remove the silicone and fill with your favorite filling.

We have written instructions for making these cups so you can easily make them, too.

Impress your guests with easy-to-make chocolate cups.

Today's Kitchen Tip: Simple way to make smooth textured soups and sauces

Immersion blender

I make a lot of soups and sauces where I need to blend them to incorporate all of the chunks of veggies, etc., into the broth.  For example, when I make my tomato basil soup, I start with diced tomatoes and onions.  Once it is cooked, I do not want the chunks in the soup.  I want it smooth.

Sure, I can take some of the hot liquid and pour into either a blender or food processor, but that is messy and can be dangerous.  I prefer to use an immersion blender (also called a stick blender).  Just insert the blender right into the hot pan and it removes the lumps easily.  You still have to be careful that the liquid does not fly on you, but after a time or two of using an immersion blender, you will get the hang of it.

I NEVER put hot soup or sauces in a blender anymore. 

Today's Kitchen Tip: An interesting way to thicken soup

Corn Tortillas work perfectly.

I love to make soup.  Some of my favorites are slightly thickened.  I do not always want an opaque looking soup so using things such as flour just do not work.

When I make things such as tortilla soup or white chicken chili, I like to slightly thicken them.  I cut up a few corn tortillas and place them into the simmering soup.  I stir every few minutes and in about 10 minutes, the tortillas have disintegrated and my soup has thickened.  It will give your soup a slight corn flavor as an added bonus.

Do not try this with flour tortillas.  It will not work.

As an added bonus, many corn tortillas are gluten free so if gluten is an issue for you, this is a great gluten free option for thickening.

Today's Kitchen Tip: How can I make my meat look like a chef grilled it

One thing I love is the way a steak, chops, or any item for that matter, looks when it is grilled at a restaurant.  They not only get those beautiful grill marks on their food, but they usually serve their food with beautiful cross hatches.  Yup!  You pay a lot of money for those cross hatches, don't you.

You don't have to go elsewhere for your food to look (and taste) like it came from a restaurant.  It's easy to do yourself.  Here's how:

First, get your grill or grill pan (as in this photo) screaming hot.  Make sure it's oiled so food won't stick.  Place the food on the grill and DO NOT MOVE IT for a few minutes.  When it easily lifts from the grill, turn it 1/4 turn an grill for another minute or two.  Turn the food over and let it finish cooking. 

Keep in mind that meat will take longer than things like veggies or fruit, so use your judgment on how long to go before you turn the food.

This works for meat, vegetables, fruit...anything.  See how professional your food can look...and it does not take any longer to do this than just simply grilling your food.

Today's Kitchen Tip: How to brown meat

Meat always tastes better when it has been browned.  If you want to brown your meat properly, make sure you use a hot pan, some oil, then place the meat into the pan so that it does not touch.

Overfilling a pan will cause meat to steam, not brown.  I could fit another pork chop into the pan, but if I did that, there will be too many juices and our delicious pork chops would be drowning in liquid.  Nothing browns that way.

The rule to remember....do not overfill your pans.  It may save time but will ruin your dish.

Today's Kitchen Tip: Cook once -- eat twice

I love to cook, but sometimes I just do not have time.  To deal with getting meals on the table, I try to make items that can be transformed into something completely different easily.  I love to make roasted chicken (or buy one already roasted from the store for that matter) and make a meal out of that chicken.  I make extra so that I can transform the leftover chicken into something else. 

Today, I am using my roasted chicken leftovers to make some delicious chicken enchiladas.  I like to fill my enchiladas with frijoles, chicken, salsa, some sauce and cheese.  For the sake of speed, I can use canned enchilada sauce, canned frijoles and bottled salsa.  I roll them up, add some sauce and cheese on top and bake.  For this quick weeknight dinner dish, I used canned items, but when there's more time, this is even better with your own homemade filling.

A delicious dinner is ready in about 30 minutes.  Oh yes, you can prepare this the night before and pop it in the oven when you get home.  It also freezes well.

Today's Kitchen Tip: Easier clean-up for crock pots

I am trying to use my crockpots more but for the time it saves me in food preparation, it takes me much longer for clean-up.  The ceramic insert can be very difficult to clean with the baked on food.  I have scratched up the interior of a crockpot trying to scrape off the dried on goo.

I found that there are a few things I can do.  I have had good luck with spraying the interior of my crockpot with cooking spray.  That works pretty well. 

What works even better is a crockpot liner  that lines the interior of the crockpot so all the goo gets on the food safe liner.  They are available at grocery stores snd are not very expensive. I try not to use my crockpot without using a liner.  Clean-up is easy.  Remove the food from the liner then throw the liner away.  Clean-up is a breeze.

Today's Kitchen Tip: Try poaching chicken

I wanted to make some chicken salad and I usually use roasted chicken to make it.  I didn't have any handy but I did have raw chicken breasts.  I decided to poach some chicken since I didn't want any flavors from grilled or sautéed chicken to come through.

Poaching is a method of cooking used to gently cook foods in a flavored broth.  We love to use it for chicken and fish, but this tip focuses on chicken. 

We use a flavored broth because if you put chicken in plain water, the water will taste great; the chicken, not so much.

We happened to use chicken broth, carrots, celery, onions, pepper corns, garlic and a little lemon in our poaching liquid.  I will often use fresh herbs but today I did not.  I let the poaching liquid simmer for about 20 minutes for the flavors to blend.  Then I added the chicken breasts and made sure the breasts were fully covered with liquid.  I covered it, turned the heat down and let it simmer for about 20 minutes.  When the breasts reached 160 degrees F, they were ready.  They were full of flavor and perfectly colored for my chicken salad.  I also like to poach chicken in a Mexican-flavored broth and make enchiladas with the chicken.

Today's two-fer tip...don't throw away the cooking liquid.  It's perfect as a base for soups.

Today's Kitchen Tip: Look for Thai curry products containing a mixture of ingredients

I love to make Thai curry, but sometimes I just do not have all the ingredients required for my dish.  Many dishes use a lot of individual ingredients and if I don't use them often, they just go to waste.  That can be an expensive dish if I end up throwing so many ingredients out.

Yellow Thai curry.  Yum!!

I found that rather than buying all the ingredients required for Thai curry, I can purchase pre-made curry seasoning ingredients to make a fabulous dish.  I really like the Mae Ploy brand which is available at our local Lee Lee's and Mekong Market.  They have a fresh taste and stay fresh in the fridge for quite a while.

Sometimes Thai curry can be spicy and I like that I can control the spice level by varying the amount of the curry paste that I use.  You can make the perfect dish, no matter how mild or spicy you like your food.

Mae Ploy has various flavors such as yellow, green and red curry, as well as other flavors which I have not yet tried.

So pick some curry seasoning up next time you are in an Asian market and experiment with some Thai curry.  You will be glad you did.

Today's Kitchen Tip: Get your free healthy eating handbook

If you are trying to start the new year eating more healthy, Whole Foods Market has a healthy eating handbook available online.  It contains great information about foods you should eat, recipes, guides to spices and a whole lot more.  It even has a menu plan you can use to get started.

There seems to be something for everyone to get from this book and what can be better than getting some great information for F-R-E-E!!

You can download your own copy from the Whole Foods Website or view it online. 

Today's Kitchen Tip: Finding your spices easily

I like to experiment with recipes a lot.  That often requires buying a few new spices.  So with a counter, cabinet and drawer full of spices, how do I find them easily.

I tried using several different spice organizing gadgets from stores and never found any of them were very helpful. I did find a spice rack that lays flat in my drawer that works for me.  When I have my spices all laid out, I make sure they are in alphabetical order.  They are easy to find that way and I do not have to look thru lots of bottles before I find the one I need.  Just make sure to put the spices back in the correct order or you will have to keep hunting for the correct jar.

I purchased the ones in my drawer from  IKEA.  They were around $2 each.  I can store the spices flat, like shown.  For the smaller spice bottles like shown, I can also put a label on the jar top and stand them up.  I can get more spices in the rack when I stand them up.

It is so much more fun cooking when I can find everything quickly and easily.

Today's Kitchen Tip: Shake up your salad dressings

Now that you are making your own vinaigrettes (see our vinaigrette tip) and dressings, there is an easy no-mess way to mix the ingredients. 

Sure, you can put it in a bowl, use a whisk to mix it up, a spoon or ladle to serve it, then find something to store the dressing in the fridge.  OR, you can put all the ingredients in a bottle, add the cover, then shake, shake, shake.  You can serve right from the bottle, and if there are any leftovers, you can put the bottle right in the fridge for later use.  Make sure not to overfill the bottle or it may be difficult to shake.  This jar has way more room than is necessary, but you can tell, we have been enjoying this dressing for several days.

Do not forget to label the dressing with the date and flavors.  That way if you have several types in the fridge, you will grab the correct one.

Here are a few favorite dressings I like to make:  Orange balsamic vinaigrette, creamy ranch dressing, and cilantro ranch dressing.

Today's Kitchen Tip: Grating fresh ginger

If your recipe calls for freshly grated ginger, peel it (see instructions for how to do this), then use a microplane grater to grate it.  It works very well and makes this task very simple.  It works well because you get very small, almost paste-like pieces of ginger.  There's no biting into a spicy hunk of ginger this way.

This also works well for grating garlic.