Pasta with Slow-Cooker Pork Ragù

After frequently making Bolognese sauce and enjoying making and refining its cousins like Ragout,

Borgognone, & Chili, I came across this recipe.

It's a good shortcut using the Croc-Pot, and duh, a pork butt (shoulder) is perfect for this.

I doubled the recipe for the size of our slow cooker and the cut of meat I had.

I also added cinnamon and celery.

It still needs some more spice though. Maybe bay leaf and a tiny bit of cayenne?

Ingredients

•2 large carrots, chopped

•2 medium onions, chopped

•4 cloves garlic, chopped

•2 celery sticks, chopped

•4 tablespoons tomato paste

•1 tablespoon dried thyme

•1 tablespoon dried oregano

•1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

•kosher salt and black pepper

•2 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes

•3 pounds boneless pork shoulder or butt, trimmed and cut in quarters

•3/4 pound fettuccine

 •1 Box of Rigatoni

•grated Parmesan, for serving

Try:

•Bay leaf (remove after cooking)

•½ teaspoon ground cayenne

http://realsimple.chtah.net/a/hBWDYjPBAuBI6B9F-$lB0lfzL.BAuBI6ky/nldr3-0

Panko Crusted Talapia or Chicken

This is an easy baked go-to. I won’t get into specifics right now, mainly because you can’t mess it up.

Play with it.

 

 

 

The preparation is “dry-wet-dry” – flour-egg-Panko. Get a pan of flour, get a bowl of beaten eggs, get a pan of Panko.

 

Prepare fish (like frozen tilapia) – pat dry, salt and pepper. I like to separate the filet in half so there are small strips and larger strips. Doing so makes them cook more evenly.

…or chicken breast, cut lengthwise similarly to what you would do with tilapia. You end up with a larger filet and a smaller filet.

1)      Dredge - Dry: flour – put salt and pepper (or any other seasoning you want.)

2)      Dredge – Wet: eggs beaten

3)      Dredge – Dry – Panko (mixed with grated parmesan cheese and whatever spice you like.) Press the Panko into the protein to form a solid 'bark'.
 

 Spray a cooking pan with oil. I usually use canola – anything that won’t smoke at high heat.

 Arrange on the sheet. Spray the cutlets again.

Bake at 400F for about 20-30 minutes watching the color. Flip half way through. When they are slightly golden brown the cutlets will be fine. It’s very forgiving.

Amanda's Chai Latte

• 7c water
• 4 tea bags
• 1t fennel
• 10 peppercorns
• 1/2c brown sugar
• 8-10 crushed cardamom pods
• 1t ground ginger
• 1 cinnamon stick

Boil then simmer for 20 min

Strain
 

Add 1c milk

Brandy Milk Punch (Paunch)

Brandy Milk Punch (or Paunch as we call it), has become a holiday favorite. It's simple and easy. It came from Brennan's in New Orleans by way of our friend Suzanna.

Here's my translation for a batch.

Ingredients (about 8 servings)

• 12oz Brandy
• 1c simple syrup (1:1 - 1c white sugar to 1c water heated and cooled makes a little more than you need.)
• 1qt half and half
• 2T vanilla extract
• 8 grinds (or dashes) of nutmeg

Serve on ice (if you like that.)

Zip Line

Setting up the backyard zip line has occupied my mind for some time. The good thing is that it works perfectly. Here are some notes.



Concept sketch:
Wow, I need to work on improving my sketching.

The kit:
 http://zlpmanufacturing.mybigcommerce.com/torpedo-zip-line-kit/

See also: 

• 24" Wide Rope Ladder - Review this product
• Ultimate Torpedo Zip Kit - Review this product

 

The hardware is pretty easy to set up.
Insert Manual Here

This is a good resource:
http://www.adventuregods.com/articles.php?region=225


Additional Materials:

I didn't have trees in a convenient spot, so set 4x4 steel posts - 24' 11GA cut in half (for 2 posts).

The posts need a 45 ° tie-back (guy cable) anchored. The anchor I used is called a deadman.

I used high capacity truck straps, chain, pipe and concrete. What I like about the design is the 45 ° which will have a footprint of 10 feet (at least in this application) can be removed when the zip line isn't in use. If I were doing a more permanent installation, I'd weld or fasten a steel tube and anchor it.

That's the gas line about 16" down.

Leader-of-the-pack

RIP Yuka Grrl: Born ~1998 - Gotcha Day March 2000 – March 12, 2015

Leader of the Pack:

Yuka Grrl, snowy 2005, Chicago

Yesterday was the end of an era for me and Peter. The final member of our original pack died, peacefully, in our arms. We’d had her for fifteen years this month—so she was somewhere between 16 and 17 years old.

We adopted Yuka from a shelter in Chicago. We were looking for another Shiba—and Peter said he was interested in a red girl. We heard there was a gentle red Shiba girl at a shelter that had not passed the temperament test—meaning after the vet had given her a nasal bordatella vaccine, she had jumped two feet away from him and snapped—so either this Shiba girl had to be taken by a breed rescue ASAP or she would be euthanized. I didn’t think that was a very fair “test” considering the snap happened after shooting something up her nose, so we decided to visit her.

When they opened the door to her cage, she tip-toed carefully over the pooling stinky water in the aisle of the numerous cages.  Finally free of her cramped living space, she immediately pooped and then settled down, away from us—aloof and watchful. Peter liked her immediately. She let me pet her, which was my “test,” and so we decided to bring her home.

Newbies to dog ownership, we thought Trooper would be the “top dog” because he had been the first dog in our house. But after being introduced at a park, we let our two dogs play at home, and Yuka immediately used her longer reach to knock Troop on his back. He got up to wrestle again, and she did it again. And then again.  Trooper seemed to quickly agree with the new hierarchy.

And so it was. Yuka led our pack, fairly, intelligently, and strongly.   

2003: the dog pack

She didn’t care about eating first or getting out the door first—those were tiny moments that were not about leadership. She led via her overall gentleness AND by keeping other dogs in check—if a foster dog bumped into her too roughly, she taught him some manners with a precise nip to the ear. If a foster dog growled at her, Yuka stood her ground and made him re-think his actions. They only made that mistake once; then they knew how to treat her and the rest of the pack. She was a good leader, wise beyond her years, and she helped us foster more than 50 rescue dogs for MSIR during her lifetime.

We finally realized our Yuka Grrl was NOT a Shiba at our first Chicago picnic back in 2001. We looked around at the small and dainty Shiba girls and realized our girl towered over them. And her coloring was different. And her head shape. And ear position. And tail. We started researching, and finally recognized our “ugly duckling” Shiba was in fact a beautiful Korean Jindo.

Yuka was Peter’s grrl—and there was no doubt he was her person. In Chicago, we’d go to obedience training together and the teacher would ask me to work with Yuka sometimes. Yuka obeyed quickly, always looking to Peter before agreeing to the task I’d asked. Her loyalty to him was unwavering.

Living in Chicago without any children yet, Peter and I were a little crazy with our dogs. We took them to Camp Dogwood, dressed everyone up as Superheroes for a Shiba-ween fundraiser,

Catwoman, Superman, Wonder Woman,
Batman and Robin

and even tried agility—with mixed results. Yuka actually was quite good, if not speedy, as she obediently went through weaves and up and down teeter-totters. One day at a practice agility meet, she spotted a tiny Yorkie peeking under a curtain in the ring. Hairs bristling, lips practically drooling, she leaned forward and I knew she was ready to pounce on the squirrel that was about to enter her ring. Barely spotting her distraction in time, I yelled “DOWN” at the top of my lungs—and she obeyed, thank goodness. But that was the end of her agility career.

Yuka was never a frivolous pup. She showed little interest in toys or squeakers, but would collect sticks and rocks in the backyard. She would sit in the sun outside for hours, or hunt squirrels, opossum, and even stray cats that dared to trespass her yard (but she never touched our kitties in the house). 

Her prey drive was a beautiful thing to witness. We loaded up the dogs and took them to Wisconsin for a lure-coursing dog rescue fundraiser. Going so fast you could barely tell where her body and Rico’s began or ended, she would charge after the plastic bag lure that taunted her until the end. Panting heavily, she’d stop for a while only to start chirping when other dogs ran their turns. We learned to fully stretch her legs out before she started or she pull a muscle as she extended everything in the run.

Once we’d had children, Yuka became our go-to girl again.

Yuka and Clara, 2006: Photo by Renny Mills

The Shiba boys could be bratty around kids, but Yuka was solid. In pictures, she sat next to the baby, because we knew if the baby fell on her, she’d be okay with it. We trusted her completely, because we knew she'd protect any of her family.

Yuka accepted “too much love!” from the girls willingly. –and this misidentified "Shiba" girl who was almost euthanized for snapping at a vet tech, did not snap at or bite anyone during her fifteen years with us--although she could offer a powerful bark that made many a delivery person think twice.

As she aged, she kept her mind—wagging her tail in greeting to us from her dogbed, even as she became less and less able to get to the door. Her hearing and eyesight declined more and more, and we had to stomp the floor sometimes to let her know were coming so she wouldn’t be startled when we touched her. This week, after her legs completely failed her, Peter and I knew it was finally time to say good-bye, even though neither of us were really ready to do so.

Rest in peace Yuka Grrl.  Our pack is waiting for you upstairs. We know you’ll be romping with Trooper (2014) , Rico (2007), Banzai (2009) and Xerxes (2007) and honorary member Tipper (2013).

Brined Smoked Turkey

Our Brined Smoked Turkey has surpassed an over a decade tradition of frying turkey in peanut oil. Gathering the family early to inject birds and find a safe place in the yard for hot oil may be a thing of the past.

 

The brine comes from Alton Brown. It’s the first thing I tried and it’s worked out well for a few years.

 

• 1 (14 to 16 pound) frozen young turkey

• 1 cup kosher salt

• 1/2 cup light brown sugar

• 1 gallon vegetable stock

• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns

• 1 1/2 teaspoons allspice berries

• 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped candied ginger

• 1 gallon heavily iced water

 

2 to 3 days before roasting:

Begin thawing the turkey in the refrigerator or in a cooler kept at 38 degrees F.

Combine the vegetable stock, salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, allspice berries, and candied ginger in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally to dissolve solids and bring to a boil. Then remove the brine from the heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate.

Early on the day or the night before you'd like to eat:

Combine the brine, water and ice in the 5-gallon bucket. Place the thawed turkey (with innards removed) breast side down in brine. If necessary, weigh down the bird to ensure it is fully immersed, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area for 8 to 16 hours, turning the bird once half way through brining.

 

Smoking:

For a smaller bird like above plan for about 8 hours. It’s very forgiving with the brine and enough smoke early on. The general guideline is 225F-250F @ 20-40min per pound to an internal temperature of 165F. Breast side up for course. I leave the plastic pop thermometer in and also put a roasting thermometer in. (You know, not touching bone in the middle of the breast.

 

 

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/good-eats-roast-turkey-recipe.html