Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Carnitas heaven...








(click the above photo at your own risk. You might be wiping drool off your keyboard though)
Ok, so I know it might be a bit weird to post a pork dish right after a vegetarian sausage recipe. It's how I roll. We don't eat much meat, and I generally prefer "faux meats" to the real thing. In the case of carnitas however, there's no substitute. I had this idea in my head that hours of slaving away were involved when making carnitas. This recipe completely blew me away! It's basically 2 hours of inactive cooking time (then maybe 20-30mn where you actually need to pay attention), and minimal ingredients!
I saw it on Homesick Texan, and it's DE-LI-CIOUS! I also wanted to mention that this recipe isn't particularly "south of the border". So, if you wanted to forego the tortillas, and just serve it with the rice you have on hand, you've got my permission. Or, you could serve it lettuce wrap style, with some shredded carrots, etc. It's really flavorful, so it doesn't really need anything actually. The husband and I ate the leftovers straight outta the fridge, with our fingers. Yeah, we're nothing but class around here.

You can adjust this to whatever size piece of pork you can get your hands on, but you're gonna want to make extra. Trust me. 

Sunday, September 27, 2009

It's veggie sausage o'clock.



Yep, it's that time folks. Can you smell it? It's good for breakfast, lunch, or dinner (shape it into larger links and throw it on the grill pan, or add it to pasta sauce or lasagna) depending on how you season it, unless you're like me and will eat a breakfast sandwich any chance you get. It's got minimal ingredients (unlike that tasty Morningstar stuff- but I can't even get through the ingredients list), and it wasn't made by some crazy machine, who knows where, and touched by who knows who. I have tweaked this recipe a ton, using many recipes I found on the web as starting points, because none of them came out exactly as I wanted them to. I wanted sausagey flavor, without the piggy creepy bits. Yeah, you know the ones. Not to mention I got a bit tired of paying $4-5 for 8 little pucks. So, here it is...the recipe of the veggie sausage gods. Actually, looking at the ingredients, unless there's some crazy rule about nutritional yeast or something not being vegan, these are vegan! Don't run in shame. Make them, love them, impress your friends. PLUS, it contains a secret ingredient, and we all know how much everyone loves those. Shhhh...