take your sweet potatoes and stuff them.

The meat-department gods saw fit to put pork butt on sale this week, my friends. You know what that means: another installment in the "what do I do with all this leftover pulled pork" files! Today the answer happens to be, "Stuff it in your sweet potatoes", which sounds like not only an awesome euphemism but also a good culinary idea.

Everything is better with cheese. FACT.

Obviously, this project starts with the assumption that you have some leftover shredded pork butt. Mine was just plain, not sauced, but I'm sure that sauced-up pork would be just as delightful in this application.

You're also going to need some sweet potatoes, obvs. I used two medium-sized ones to feed myself and the Ginger Beast, and honestly, it was a lot. Next time I'd either just serve half a potato each, or use smaller potatoes.

Anyway - you can bake the sweet potatoes ahead in the oven if you're fancy, but I'm personally really fucking lazy about shit like that, so I just cut a slit in each of mine and throw them in the microwave on the "potato" setting until they're done. These two took about 12 minutes total, and I flipped them over halfway through.

Once the potatoes are cooked, split them in half and scoop out all but a little bit of the flesh from the skin (that sounds totally sinister, sorry). You want to leave a little rim around the edges so that the skins keep their general shape. The scooped-out flesh should go into a bowl big enough to mix some other stuff into. Also, side-note between you and me? This whole flesh-scooping thing is WAY fucking easier to do if you let the potato COOL DOWN a little first, says she who now sports steam-burns on her left. hand. Yes, that type of thing is probably obvious to most people, but a) I am the queen of impatient and b) I am not most people. So I'm just throwing it out there.

Where was I? Oh, yes, potato flesh in the bowl. To that, you're going to add the pulled pork. I used like two cups or so of pork because we are hungry, hungry hippos. Use less if you're on a diet or you hate the world or something. I also added a pinch of kosher salt, a shake of black pepper, a teaspoon-ish of ground cumin and a half a teaspoon-ish of ground coriander seed. Also, and this is KEY, the juice of one fresh lime. It's really good, trust me on this.

So, mix all that stuff up in the bowl until it's well-combined. At some point you should have pre-heated your oven to like 450 degrees - I should have mentioned that earlier, sorry. You also need a baking dish. Surprise! This is how my ADHD-addled brain actually works when I cook, by the way. All these recipes I post where I have measured nothing, timed nothing, and can only remember half of what I put in the pan? Welcome to my life, pumpkins. This is how I roll.

Side-tracked again, sorry. So, yes. We're stuffing the pork-mash mixture into the hollowed-out potato skins. It's probably best to do this once you've placed the skins IN the baking dish, otherwise you might end up with one falling apart, pork and sweet potato all over your floor, and the happiest dog in the history of life (assuming you have a dog. We do. He would have been ecstatic, trust me). Once you've stuffed the skins, you can sprinkle some shredded cheddar on top for extra tastiness. Put that whole mess in the oven and let it fester for...oh...I don't know, like 15 or 20 minutes? Long enough for the cheese to reach golden-brown deliciousness status. When you've achieved said crispy cheese enlightenment, BOOM...you're done. Well, the potatoes are done, anyway.

If you want to experience the delight of the side-dish as pictured, that's super simple as well. It's just a baby mixed greens blend (I like the Olivia's Organic saute blend, personally) that has been sauteed with some onion and chopped radish (JUST TRY IT, OK?! Stop making faces. I would not lead you astray. Much...). I use a dab of bacon fat as my saute medium for this, and I add the onions and radishes first to let them caramelize a little before adding the greens in, because those cook really quickly. Oh, and a pinch of kosher salt. Unsalted greens are sad greens, yo. The better your bacon fat, the better the greens will be, as well. Mmm, smokey!

AND, for anyone playing the Paleo / Primal game at home, this meal would easily be considered Paleo if you left off the cheese, and is Primal-compliant as-is. It's also gluten-free, cha-cha-cha!

fridge-emptying Paleo breakfast bake

I am not a morning person. That's not to say that I don't LIKE mornings, because they're actually my favorite time of day - but I do not like being expected to function in any sort of productive manner before about 10am. Trying to feed myself and my husband a decent breakfast tends to be at odds with my desire to maintain a sloth-like morning agenda.

Most mornings lately, I've been having a pumpkin smoothie for breakfast because a) it's fast and b) it fills me up. There's also some nutrition in there somewhere I'm sure - but the simple fact is, dumping things in the food processor doesn't take a whole lot of mental fortitude. That's key in the blurry pre-10am hours around here, trust me.

However, this coming week we're going to be traveling, which means two things (well, more than two, but for the purpose of this blog post, I'm saying two) :

 1. I need to use up some leftover food in the fridge, and

 2. I want to create as few dirty dishes as possible, because the less dishes I have to wash the night before going on holiday, the better.

To be fair, the less dishes I have to wash EVER, the better...but you know what I mean, I'm sure.

This breakfast bake checks both those boxes. Not only did it use up all the leftover bits in my fridge, but since I did the washing up directly after making it, it becomes very un-dish-intensive. Also, it gets bonus points for me not having to do anything TO it in the morning except put it on a plate and warm it up. BREAKFAST LAZINESS GOLD MEDAL! Literally the only thing lazier would be, like, cracking raw eggs into my mouth, which...no.

So, what I had hanging around was:

half a red bell pepper
half an onion
half a box of mushrooms
about 3/4 of a pound of pork sausage
nine eggs
one large Russet potato

Aside from the chopping involved, this could not be easier. I browned the sausage, then scooped it out to drain on paper towels while I sauteed the chopped veg in a little bit of the leftover fat. I washed the potato, poked it with a fork a few times, then stuck it in the microwave for about nine minutes. While the veg was getting soft in the pan, I cracked the eggs into a bowl and whisked them up. When the veg was read, I scooped it and the sausage into my baking dish (which I had swiped with olive oil just to ensure things wouldn't stick). When the potato was almost done, not quite cooked through, I pulled it out of the nuker, chopped it up (HOT POTATO, be careful, learn from my mistakes), tossed it with a little kosher salt and then threw it into the frying pan with the rest of the leftover pork fat. I cranked the heat up and let the potato get kind of brown and crispy in the pan, then scooped that into my veg and sausage mix. The egg got dumped over the top, dish got a little shake, then it went into a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes.

Ta Dahs:

It's like a craggy landscape of nom.

As long as you use a sausage that doesn't have added sugar, gluten or processed weirdness, this is a Paleo- and Whole30-compliant dish. If you don't like sausage, you could use bacon, ham, ground bison, really whatever floats your canoe. There's also no saying that you have to eat it for breakfast - you could stick some in your facehole when ever...I don't judge.

spinach, sausage and caramelized onion quiche

Pretty much what it says on the tin. I had a pound of sweet Italian pork sausage that needed to be used up ASAP and a package of frozen chopped spinach. I've always got eggs in stock, and usually have an onion hanging around, so this was no sweat to make.

I didn't really measure much - I know I used 6 eggs, probably a cup of cream, just a pinch of nutmeg, a pound of sausage, a medium onion, salt and pepper, some Parmesan cheese and a package of frozen chopped spinach. The sausage was removed from the casings and browned in a pan, then I removed it to my pie plate while I cooked a sliced onion in the accumulated fat in the pan, letting it get nicely browned. The residual sugar from the sausage caramelized the onion well. Onion went into the pie plate with the sausage, then I added the spinach, (which I had cooked in the microwave according to directions on the package and then squeeeeeeezed all the moisture I could out of it). I beat 6 eggs with a little salt and pepper, a pinch of nutmeg and the cream. I grated about half a cup of Parmesan cheese into the eggs, beat well, then dumped it into the pie plate over the sausage, onions and spinach. It went into a 350 degree oven for...I'm not really sure how long, honestly. I just kept checking it to see if the middle was set, and when it was, I took it out and let it cool. It was very yummy!

steak night

We don't actually eat that much red meat, but sometimes...I just want steak. This was one of those nights. I had a hankering for a nice thick steak with a mess of sauteed mushrooms and onions.



I found a couple of perfectly-sized pieces of sirloin filet at the grocery store. I was a little worried about using sirloin because while it's usually very tender, it's not always that flavorful. I salted and peppered both sides of each steak lightly, then put them in a ripping hot stainless steel frying pan. The steak cooked for 3 minutes on one side, and about 3 minutes on the other, and came out medium-rare. I pulled the steaks out and set them aside on a plate, then deglazed the pan with half a cup or so of chardonnay I had hanging around in the fridge. I know, I know, red wine goes with red meat, blah blah, but trust me on this one. I added a sliced onion and a cup or so of sliced button mushrooms, and turned the heat down a little. I let the onion and mushrooms simmer until the onions were mostly soft, then added a tablespoon of butter and stirred to melt and combine.

I served the steak and onion / mushroom mixture with a side-salad of spring mix and grape tomatoes tossed with vinaigrette. The steaks came out very nicely - tender and juicy, and with pretty decent beef flavor as well. As for the onions and mushrooms - it was quite easily the best batch I've ever had. I could have eaten a whole plate of just those. Writing about them makes me want them all over again!

Husband-requested meatloaf and onion gravy

My husband likes meat a lot. As in, when I ask him what he wants for dinner, his usual response is "some kind of meat and something to go with it". This afternoon when I asked him if he had any requests for dinner, it went like this:

me: Is there anything specific you want for dinner tonight?
him: Yes! Meatloaf!
me: ...meatloaf? Really?
him: YES! I would like meatloaf and mashed potatoes.
me: Ok. Meatloaf and mash...got it.
him: And peas!
me: Alright...and peas.
him: And onion gravy!
me: Meatloaf, mash, peas AND onion gravy. Sheesh. Ok.
him: *happy grin*

I used to HATE meatloaf as a kid (sorry Mom), so I'm always interested in trying different meatloaf recipes in an attempt to find the perfect one. I came pretty damn close tonight, and the recipe was right in my own kitchen all along! My much-loved and well-used copy of Mark Bittmann's "How To Cook Everything" had a nice simple meatloaf recipe that sounded worth a try. So...I got to work!

The recipe calls for 2 lbs of ground meat, and Bittmann suggests mixing beef with something else - veal, pork, what have you. I used a pound of nice lean ground round, and a pound of ground pork. I added breadcrumbs soaked in milk, a beaten egg, salt and pepper, some grated garlic, a smallish onion (also grated - it's way less work than mincing), and chopped parsley. The recipe called for sage, either fresh or dried. I was out of sage, which I didn't realize until I was elbow-deep in meat, so that was a bummer and I had to skip it. It also called for a minced carrot. I grated mine instead of mincing it. I mixed everything up by hand (my least favorite part) and formed it into a loaf on the rack of my broiler pan. I like cooking it this way rather than in a loaf pan because then you get a nice crust on most of the surface. A lot of what I never liked about meatloaf as a kid was the texture of it after it had cooked in a loaf pan in its own grease. Blech. Anyway - I liberally applied a layer of HP Sauce on the surface of the loaf, and popped it into the oven at 350 and cooked it for about an hour.

While the meatloaf was cooking I peeled 5 big russet potatoes and cut them into medium chunks. I boiled them till tender, then drained them and set them aside. For the gravy I thinly sliced one large white onion and cooked it down in a pan with about 2 tbsp each of olive oil and butter (hey, I didn't say it was healthy...that's why we don't have it every day or even every week). When the onions were nicely browned and softened I sprinkled 2 tablespoons of all purpose flour and a little black pepper into the pan and stirred thoroughly. I let the roux cook to a dark golden color, then added in about half a cup of beef stock and whisked vigorously. I let that cook about 30 seconds until it thickened, then added more stock and whisked again. Once it thickened up the second time I added the rest of the stock and whisked again, then turned the heat down and let the gravy bubble gently and reduce.

The potatoes were ready to mash at this point so I tossed in some butter and milk, salt and black pepper, and mashed away. I can never get them entirely smooth but I don't mind, really. Having some lumps in them reassures me that they're real potatoes, I think. ;)

The meatloaf came out of the oven just as the gravy was getting thickened up again. I put half a bag of frozen peas in a pot with 1/4 cup of water and covered, letting them steam while the meatloaf rested. When the peas were done, it was time to eat!



I don't have a gravy boat so yes, my gravy was in a Campbell's Soup cup. ;) The meatloaf was, in a word, wonderful. Really and truly. It was incredibly juicy without being greasy, and it had such good flavor. I can only imagine that having the sage would have made it even better (because I love sage). The only thing I'd change about the meatloaf recipe is that next time, I'll omit the carrot. It just didn't add to the flavor in a constructive way, I didn't think. I kept noticing it and thinking "what's that I taste? Oh, carrot again...yeah..." Other than that, this is most certainly going to be my go-to meatloaf recipe from here on out.



See how juicy? NOM! Also, this is a good shot of my gravy. I originally came up with the gravy recipe when Mark was explaining "Bangers and Mash" to me, since I'd never had it. It took a couple tries to get it right, but now that I've got it down, it's super easy (though not quick).

Mark is already looking forward to meatloaf sandwiches for lunch tomorrow! ;)