Enchiladas

The man & I purchase a HUGE pork loin from Costco a few months ago. It's been sitting in the freezer waiting to be eaten.

Tick.
Tock.
Tick.
Tock.

When his dad came for a visit, we defrosted it in hopes of having a family meal together with leftovers the next week. Unfortunately, we got 21 inches of snow, the roads became marginally passable, & the man's dad fled to sleep at airport. So, we had a 4-5lb. pork loin on our hands with only 2 mouths to feed.

Since it was already marinated, I roasted half of it with potatoes & carrots, & we ate the meat sliced. Normal reheated leftovers the next day. No big whoop.

But here's what I did with the other half. It's pretty easy & really delicious. The man's family normally makes this with chicken breasts (4 cooked in the skillet with oil, salt, pepper, whatever spices - then shredded).

Jeff's Family's Enchiladas
2-2.5 lb pork loin in marinade from store
2-3 cans of salsa verde (prefer Herdez brand)
1 cup of chicken stock
1 package of corn tortillas (18 used)
3-5 tablespoons of spicy sauce (we used Thai Chili Garlic sauce but hot sauce would work well)
1/2 - 1 cup of shredded cheese (we used chipotle cheddar)
1/4 cup of oil

1. In a slow cooker, place your pork loin, the spicy sauce, and 1/2 cup of water. Place on low for 6 hours. Pork should shred easy after this. If it doesn't shred easily, turn slow cooker up to high for another hour.
2. Shred all of the pork.
3. Heat salsa verde & chicken stock in stovetop until thoroughly warmed.
4. Place about 1/4 cup of oil onto plate or large shallow bowl.
5. Dip a tortilla in the oil to moisten.
6. Place the tortilla into rectangular casserole dish (or whatever you're going to use to bake the enchiladas).
7. Do steps 5 & 6 for all of the tortillas. Keep in mind that each enchilada is going to be filled. So, you'll want to make sure each looks "like a taco" in the casserole dish. Stack them next to each other. They'll hold each other up.
8. Add a tablespoon of the salsa verde into each tortilla.
9. Add a few tablespoons of the pork into each tortilla.
10. Add a tablespoon of the salsa verde on top of the pork.
11. Fold the tortilla ends over each other, & roll the tortilla so that the bottom is now on top.
12. Top with shredded cheese, & put into the oven until the cheese melts.

These are delicious & keep in the fridge for a few days. I hope you enjoy them!

Grrrravy & Pumpkin Bread review

I posted a recipe for pumpkin bread without trying it. Last night, I made Alton Brown's pumpkin bread recipe (without the seeds). I did add a little more cinnamon, & I pureed my fresh pumpkin innards for it.


"That one!"

It was GREAT! Super moist, delicious flavor. The man gave it rave reviews. He said it's a 4 or 4.5 out of 5 star recipe. The only thing keeping it from being a 5/5 is that it fell apart due to its moistness. SCORE!



We hope you had a happy Halloween!

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In my chicken pot pie recipe, I mentioned gravy as one of the ingredients. My sister (who also posts here) requested that I write out how I make my gravy. So, here it is.


Gravy
I feel like there are two schools of thought with making gravy. One way is to make a roux. The other is to add a thickener to fluids. I've made them both, but making a roux with gluten-free flour hasn't worked well for me.

To make a roux with regular all-purpose flour, you use 1 part melted fat to 2 parts flour. For example, I used to use one tablespoon butter melted & then whisk in 2 tablespoons flour. Let it cook while you whisk it. It's done when the roux turns a light brown (i.e. when the flour is cooked). Then, you'll add your stock/broth/fluid & boil it down.

The way that I made my gravy for the chicken pot pie (the gluten-free way):
I was reducing some chicken stock - maybe about 4 cups - on the stove. To it, I added a tablespoon or two of potato starch. (You could use corn starch too.) I whisked it until it wasn't lumpy anymore. If it wasn't thick enough after that, I added a smidgen more potato starch. Cook it until the starch is cooked. Then, I tasted it, added salt, pepper, tarragon, & anything else that I thought it needed.

That's it! I know it's not precise, but it was a "shoot from the hip" sort of recipe. If you guys want, just comment or email me & I'll make it more specific.