Welcome to my Blog

Hi, my name is Suanne and I am writing this blog to share some of the tips and recipes I have learned or created with our backyard garden. The garden itself is actually my husband John's but we have had a garden for over 25 years so I have picked up some garden knowledge along the way. We live in Austin, Texas so we are blessed with a year long growing season. We always have something to eat from the garden and this pretty much dictates what we eat. All of our meals are planned around what happens to be growing at the time. One of the biggest challenges is what I like to call crop maintenance. What to do with all of the vegetables? Beyond sharing with the neighbors and friends I am always trying creative approaches to preparing the bounty. So the blog seemed like a good way to both keep track of and share my recipes.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Peppers

The peppers are also doing quite well right now as they relaly seem to like the warmer weather. One of the peppers we are growing is the pablono. My favorite dish with pablano's is also also a favorite with the family. You can make iton Sunday and the leftovers are even better.

Suanne's Stuffed Pablano

4 cups of pulled pork - see below
2-3 teaspoons of Suanne's Spice rub
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 onion julienned
3 cloves garlic sliced
1/3 cup raisins chopped
salt and pepper
Mexican Asidero cheese (or provolone or mozzarella works well) cut into 1/2 inch chunks
6-8 large pablano peppers with tops and seeds removed

Saute the onions until they soften in a medium high large saute pan. Add the pulled pork, vinegar, garlic, raisins and spices. Cook on med low heat until the flavors combine about 20 minutes. Let cook slightly and add cheeses. Stuff as much as you can into each pepper making sure the stuffing gets all the way to the bottom of the pepper. Arrange peppers in a baking dish and bake at 350 for about 1 hour until the peppers are tender.

Serve with a red chili sauce.

Red Chili Sauce

1/2 cup butter
2-3 tablespoons New Mexican red chili
1/2 knorr tomato bouillon
1/3 cup flours
2 cups chicken broth

Heat butter until it melts, add bouillon and chili and combine. Add flour to make a roux. Cook the roux a couple of minutes to remove floury flavor. Add half the chicken broth slowing stirring constantly until the mixture thickens. As it thickens add more broth until it a a thick sauce consistancy.




Pulled pork

1 pork butt
1 bay leave
2-3 teaspoon of my spice rub spice rub
1 onion chopped in large pieces
3-4 garlic cloves peeled
2 teaspoons salt
I start this in the morning when I get up and put the pork butt (it can be frozen even) in a crock pot with the rest of the ingredients. Cover with water and set it high (if frozen) low if not and let it cook all day about 8 hours until the meat pulls apart very easily. Put the pork on a board and using two forks pull it apart, removing excess fat and any bones. Save the liquid from the park straining the solid out.

Okra

Ok the tomatoes and Cucumbers are gone. The weather is hot so the Okra is ready. I have several ways to cooks okra, but we discovered a new way this summer which is now our favorite - Grilled Okra.

Grilled Okra

Wash and remove the small feathers near the stem. They should come off quite easily. Brush olive oil and salt and pepper plus a little cajun seasoning on the Okra. Heat the grill to med high and grease the grill so the Okra doesn't stick and add the okra to the grill. Grill about 5 minutes per side or until tender. Remove from grill, let it cool just a little and pick it up using the stem and eat.


Sauteed Okra

This is just a simple stirfry.
1/2 onion chopped
3 garlic cloves chopped
10-15 okra sliced into 1/2 inch slices.

Heat a saute pan with a tablespoon of olive or coconut oil. Add the onions and cook until they begin to brown, add the garlic and okra and cook until okra is tender about 5-10 minutes.