Oh, brother. It’s 9am on a Monday and I’m starting the week behind. Working furiously to get my meal plan up and attacking a pile of paperwork that has accumulated over the past two weeks. Our first Farm Girls Supper Club Saturday night was magical, with perfect weather, a full moon and delicious, seasonal food. Kelley Sullivan Low, from The Spread, prepared most of the food ahead of time and some things were finished on site over a mesquite-fired grill. We both developed the menu and brainstormed ingredients, and I sent her some of my cooking class and website recipes to work with, but she was the chef extraordinaire at the helm. I can not wait to post a full recap soon and show you the amazing photos of our long candlelit table. Yesterday was mostly spent in bed watching Netflix and zoning out. Please excuse any typos in this post, my eyes are still glazed over after this weekend. One more night of sleep and we’ll be back in business.
MONDAY
Fish is on the menu, but I’m not exactly sure which kind. My husband will head to Central Market on his way home from work to pick up the best option. Has anyone tried their curbside pick up service yet? Let me know how it went if so! My vote for dinner is trout, which I will pan fry with a quick lemon, butter and caper sauce. We have a refrigerator full of vegetables and I plan to do a big sheetpan of roasted carrots, broccoli and whatever else needs to be used up. I made homemade ranch last Friday, so we’ll have garden greens (or kale) with my kids’ favorite dressing.
TUESDAY
We have a cross town volleyball game, a homework tutor and a meeting for my soon-to-be high schooler. That sounds like a slow cooker night in the making! Pork carnitas in the slow cooker are one of my family’s favorite Taco Tuesday dinners. I need to get this recipe on my site, until then here you go. I like to have my carnitas in a bowl with some cauliflower rice and leftover roasted veggies from Monday night.
Slow Cooker Carnitas
2 1/2 pound pork shoulder (bone-in is more flavorful, but boneless is fine too)
1 tablespoon organic avocado oil
2-3 teaspoons kosher or sea salt
Fresh ground pepper
1 bay leaf
1 white or yellow onion, halved and sliced thin into half moons
- In a large sauté pan over medium-high heat, add the oil and warm until shimmering. Add the pork and sear until a crust forms, about 4 minutes. Rotate to sear all sides and the ends. To sear the ends, you may need to hold the pork with tongs and keep it in place.
- Transfer the pork to a Crock Pot or slow cooker and cook on low for 6-7 hours. After 6 hours, shred the pork with two forks or tongs and cover. If the meat shreds easily, change temperature setting to warm until ready to serve. If it doesn’t fall apart, keep heat on low for one more hour.
- To crisp the pork, place it in a single layer on a sheetpan and broil on the top rack of the oven until slightly browned and caramelized on the edges of the meat.
- Serve with corn tortillas, cilantro, avocado, pickled jalapeños, tomatillo salsa, pickled red onions and hot sauce.
WEDNESDAY
My son requested cheeseburgers for dinner one night this week. In his words this morning, “It’s meat Monday, mom, can we have cheeseburgers?” Ha! I love Ina’s recipe linked here, but I cut it in half for my family (budget 1/4 pound of meat per person; 1/2 pound if they are big eaters) and I leave out the pat of butter. Not because it doesn’t taste good! I also add 1/2-1 cup old-fashioned oats (I use Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free oats for everything) — it adds fiber to the burgers and helps keep them together. It’s our little secret (my family has no clue I add them). Salad on the side, hopefully with leftover ranch.
THURSDAY
I’m picking up my 8th grader from her school trip to Washington D.C. tonight and can’t wait to hear all about it! I’m trying something out tonight and I’ll let you know how it goes. Buffalo chicken drumsticks for my kiddos with carrot and celery sticks on the side. I’m following my recipe for buffalo chicken wings, but using drumsticks for kids and skin-on chicken breast for me. I’ll add a big pan of sautéd kale with olive oil, garlic and red pepper flakes.
FRIDAY
I’ll be prepping for my next Roundtop Cooking Retreat tomorrow, so I want a simple dinner. It might just be dry pasta with store bought Rao’s marina! If I’m feeling energetic, I’ll make a more interesting pasta like this cauliflower pasta with breadcrumbs or these lamb meatballs over orzo with tomato sauce and creamy feta crumbled on top.
Love the oatmeal in everything secret!
Chopped mushrooms are another good “healthy” filler!
My question is a little ridiculous (maybe too many anatomy courses in grad school?!), but I have a hard time dealing with pork shoulder – too many tendons, ligaments and fat, but my family loves carnitas. It’s ridiculous to use tenderloin because of the cost compared to a pork shoulder, do you have another cut recommendation?
I hear you! Sometimes the ligaments gross me out as well! You could use a pork Butt, which contrary to how it sounds, is located just above the shoulder. It’s a fattier cut, but in carnitas, the fat is rendered into the pan through slow cooking. You leave the fat behind and then crisp the meat under the broiler. The only other choice I can think of is pork tender… Let me know how it goes if you try something out.
For those of us that don’t have a slow cooker, could you do the carnitas in the oven in a dutch oven? If so, how would you adjust the cooking time?
You definitely could do it in a Dutch oven, but I haven’t tested my recipe that way so don’t know if there would be variations on temperature and cooking time. This looks like a good Dutch oven carnitas recipe:
https://whatsgabycooking.com/carnitas/