Balsamic Vinegar Cookies

You heard that right.  Vinegar in a cookie.  I recently discovered balsamic vinegar, and used it in my Lemon Balsamic Chicken Recipe.  I wanted to try balsamic vinegar in a couple different ways.  In my research on ways to use it, I discovered it can be used as an ice cream topping, so I figured I would give it a shot plain.  It has a nice aged grape taste with an acidic kick.  I decided I would give it a shot in a desert, so I found a recipe for balsamic vinegar fudge cookies.

Cookies with Cherries

This recipe is pretty simple and actually fairly healthy for cookies.  I like the cookies with the cherries because they add a nice bite to the cookies, but the cherries are optional, so you can skip that step if you want.  You will need:

1 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup cocoa powder
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup plain greek yogurt
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Optional:
1/2 cup dried cherries chopped
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

In a small saucepan place the cherries and 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar and just heat them up.  Let them sit until cool.  In a small bowl mix the flour, baking soda and salt.  In another pan, melt the butter.  Once the butter is melted, remove the pan from the heat and add the sugars and cocoa powder until well blended.  Now add the yogurt, vinegar and vanilla and mix thoroughly.  Add the flour mixture and stir until fully incorporated.  Stir in the cherries.  Drop by tablespoonfuls onto the cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes until the edges are firm when pressed.  Allow them to cool a few minutes in the pan and then transfer to a wire rack to allow them to completely cool.

Now comes the best part, dig in!  The balsamic vinegar enhances the flavors of the cookie, and the cherries absorb some of the acidic bite from the vinegar and give these little babies a nice punch.

Cookies without cherries

Pulled Pork

Normally I make my pulled pork differently, but today I decided to try something new.  I would normally just cook a pork beef roast in a crock pot with my favorite BBQ sauce for a day, and then pull it apart and let it cook a little more before eating.  Today I figured I would try something different.  I decided to cook the roast in the oven first with some rub, and then pull it apart and let it cook in the crock pot with the BBQ sauce.

Start by rubbing the roast with a meat rub of your choice. (I used 17th Street Magic Dust)  Then put it in a roasting pan or dutch oven and put it in the oven to cook.  You will want to cook your pork roast to an internal temperature of 155 F to 160 F.  That works out to about 20 minutes per pound at 350 F. (Since my oven has a meat probe, I set the oven to cook at 350 F until the internal temperature reaches 155 F.)  Since we will be cooking the roast more with the BBQ sauce, you can set it at the lower limit.

Once the roast is cooked, pull it out and let it rest for a few minutes before shredding it.  Put the shredded pork, less the fat, into the crock pot.  Sprinkle some more rub add any drippings after skimming the fat off of them and  BBQ sauce (I used Sweet Baby Ray's) until the meat is the reaches your preferred level of moistness.  Add a whole pineapple, diced.  Stir and set the crock pot for 2 hours on low to let the flavors blend.  Once it is done, serve and enjoy.

Pork, Cabbage and Apple Soup

I have been working on using all of my Bountiful Baskets before I get more, and so I was thinking what I could make that I already have all the ingredients for.  I found some sauerkraut in the fridge, and realized I had two heads of cabbage in there.  I also remembered I had some huge apples from a few weeks back, and in the freezer I had some pork chops.  I decided to make a pork, cabbage and apple soup.

You will need:
1 lb lean pork, cut into 1/2" cubes
1 tbsp olive oil
1 lb onions, peeled and quartered
6 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1 cup apple cider vinegar
4 cups vegetable stock
2 cups apple cider
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp caraway seeds
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 lb carrots, cut into 1" slices
1 head cabbage, cut into 1" pieces
1 lb apples, cut into 1/2" cubes
1 lb potatoes, cut into 1/2 cubes
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a large pot.  Coat the pork with salt and pepper and then add to the pot and brown.  Once the pork is browned, add the onion and garlic, and cook until the onions are translucent.  Add the cider vinegar to the pot to deglaze it.  Add the stock, cider, brown sugar, caraway, and Dijon and mix until everything is dissolved.  Add the vegetables and bring it to a boil.  Lower the heat and cook for about an hour until the potatoes and carrots are tender.  Add salt and pepper if needed.  Serve and enjoy!

This recipe is definitely a sweet and sour recipe.  I really enjoyed it.  I also used colored carrots since they are what I had in the fridge.  It added some nice colors to the soup.

Irish Potato and Carrot Soup

So it's been a while since I have posted something on here, but I finally have had some time to try a new recipe.  Not to mention I have needed to use up some of my extra potatoes and carrots from my Bountiful Baskets, and today was the perfect day to do it because we got around a foot of fresh snow this afternoon, and it is still snowing.  (At least it has warmed up from the -15 F that we had for the past several weeks.)

You will need:
2 tbsp oil (I used coconut oil, but you could use olive oil, or another oil)
2 pounds carrots, chopped
2 large onions, chopped
1 bunch of celery, chopped
1/2-1 head of garlic, minced
10 whole cloves
2 pounds potatoes, cubed
4-6 cups chicken broth
1 tbsp fresh grated ginger
zest and juice of 1 lemon
pinch of sugar (I used stevia, and it was good too)
salt and pepper

In a stock pot, or dutch oven, heat the oil over medium heat, and then add the onions, carrots, celery, garlic and cloves, and cook until the onions are translucent.  Add the potatoes, and then pour enough broth to cover the veggies.  Cook for about 25-30 minutes until the carrots are tender.  At this point, fish out the cloves, and then add the ginger, lemon zest and lemon juice.  Now you can either use an immersion blender, or pour batches of the soup into the blender and blend until smooth.  Add your sugar or stevia if you want to save on some carbs and calories.  Then add salt and pepper to taste.  Now curl up and enjoy with some cheese or garlic bread and a nice hot beverage.

Persimmon and Cranberry Crumble

Another surprise in my Bountiful Basket a few weeks ago was some persimmons.  While they taste really good fresh, I thought there should be another way to eat them.  I found a recipe for a persimmon and cranberry crumble.

It turned out really good.  Just a little tart, and mildly sweet.  Plus most of the cranberries didn't break open, so you would get a pop in your mouth every once in a while.  I served it with ice cream, and it was perfect.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Gather your ingredients:
10 very ripe persimmons, peeled and cubed
1/2 cup cranberries
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
2 tsp cloves
2 tsp cinnamon

For the topping you will need
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup oats
3 tbsp coconut oil
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Mix the persimmons, cranberries, honey, coconut oil, cloves and cinnamon in a bowl, and transfer to an 8 inch square pan.  Mix the flour, brown sugar, oats, coconut oil, ginger and cinnamon and sprinkle over the filling.  Bake in the oven for about 20-30 minutes until topping is golden brown.  Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Crock Pot Steak and Mushroom Soup

Another soup that I tried with the extra mushrooms I got in my basket was Steak and Mushroom Soup.  I added some potatoes to it and it made a very hearty soup.

To start you need:
2 slices bacon
2 pounds steak, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 cup chopped onions
8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
2 cups potatoes, cubed
1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
5 cups beef stock
1 tsp each thyme, oregano, sage
1 tsp salt
2 bay leaves
freshly ground black pepper
1 cup plain greek yogurt or sour cream

Fry the bacon, and then remove it from the pan and crumble it into the crock pot.  Brown the steak in small batches so the pan doesn't cool off too much, and add browned steak to the crock pot.  Saute the onions and mushrooms in the pan next.  When they are done, add the Worcestershire sauce to de-glaze the pan, and then add to the crock pot.  Add potatoes, stock, seasonings, bay leaves and salt and pepper to the crock pot and stir.  Cook on low for 8-10 hours.  You can serve it this way, or you can remove about a cup of broth and mix it with the yogurt or sour cream and add back in.  I forgot this step, and the soup still tasted really good.

Carmalized Onion and Mushroom Soup

I got about a pound and a half of mushrooms in my Bountiful Baskets this week.  I love mushrooms, but I needed to find a variety of ways to use them.  The first recipe I found was for a mushroom and onion soup.  Since it was snowing this weekend, soup sounded good, so I thought I would try that.  

The soup turned out great, and I must say it was very delicious with some french bread, and a little Italian Cheese blend on top.

You will need:

8 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced

3 tbsp coconut oil

2 medium onions, chopped

2 tbsp flour

2 tbsp thyme

5 cups beef broth

1/2 tsp salt

dash pepper

1 bay leaf

In a large saucepan, heat the oil, then add the onions.  Cook and stir over low heat for about 10-15 minutes until the onions start to caramelize.  Blend in the flour and cook until the flour is golden.  Add the mushrooms, broth, salt and pepper.  Cook until the mixture over medium high heat until it comes to a boil, then reduce heat and add thyme and bay leaf and cook for 15-20 minutes.  Discard the bay leaf and serve.  This was a really simple, and warming soup.