Name: Pressure Cooker Pork Shoulder & Dr. Pepper BBQ Sauce
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 1 h 25 min
Yield: 10-12 servings
Ingredients: 3 tablespoons brown sugar; 2 tablespoons paprika; 2 tablespoons chili powder; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper; 3-4 pound pork shoulder, cut into 4 pieces and trimmed of visible fat.; 1/2 cup Dr. Pepper; 1/2 cup ketchup; 1 teaspoon liquid smoke; salt and pepper, to taste; hamburger buns, for serving (optional); coleslaw, for serving (optional)

Pressure Cooker Pork Shoulder & Dr. Pepper BBQ Sauce

May 9, 2016

Pressure cooker pork shoulder with Dr. Pepper BBQ sauce gives you the same fall-apart tender result as the slow cooker in a fraction of the time!

I’ve written about my grandmother on here quite a few times. Honestly, no one – not even my mom – had more culinary influence on me than her. One of my most prized possessions is her set of recipe books, filled with magazine clippings and recipe cards. Granddaughter gold, that is.

One of my most vivid memories from my grandmother’s kitchen is her pressure cooker. It was totally old-school, with a little round thing that sat on top of the pressure valve. I remember it hissing and shimmying around and having no idea what was going on in that pot. All I remember was the goodness that came out of it. As much as I love my beef stew, I will never replicate the amazing beef stew that she cooked up in that pressure cooker. It was a fixture in her kitchen. I don’t remember her ever using a slow cooker – I don’t even think she owned a slow cooker – but I sure do remember that pressure cooker!

I have owned a pressure cooker for a long time, but I’ve only used my traditional pressure cooker a handful of times. First off, it’s too big (I really had no idea what I was doing when I bought it). Second of all…it always just sort of freaked me out. You know, all that hot food under pressure. It’s a little scary. When I got my Instant Pot (<–affiliate link) at Christmas, I vowed to get over my fear of the pressure cooker. For some reason, an electric pressure cooker seemed a little less scary. I think I have conquered my fears.

I don’t think that I trusted that pressure cooker pork shoulder would be as perfectly tender as slow cooker pork shoulder. Silly me. I based this recipe on one that I found in the book Pressure Cooker Perfection from America’s Test Kitchen. I coated the pork shoulder with a sweet and slightly spicy rub, set it in a mixture I whisked up of Dr. Pepper and ketchup, lidded up, and set the pressure. I then headed downstairs to work out while the magic happened in my Instant Pot. An hour and fifteen minutes later (that includes time to pressurize, cook time, and time to de-pressurize), I had a perfectly tender pork shoulder (okay, not perfectly tender – I realized after cooking it that I really should have cut it into four smaller pieces. But it was definitely cooked through, and the surface areas were perfectly tender, so if you cut it, it would definitely be completely tender). While I was resting and shredding the pork, I simmered the sauce to thicken it.

Pressure cooker pork shoulder eliminates the need to think about what you’re going to put in your slow cooker in the morning. I’m definitely not abandoning my love for my slow cooker, but sometimes at 7:15 in the morning I don’t want to think about dinner. Plus, there are some things that you can do in a pressure cooker that aren’t quite as easy in the slow cooker…I’ll share some of those with you coming up. However, if you wanted to make this in the slow cooker, you totally can – just put it in the slow cooker, cook on low for 8-10 hours, then simmer the sauce on the stove while you shred the meat.

Pressure cooker pork shoulder with Dr. Pepper BBQ Sauce will make you fall in love with pressure cooking!

This post contains affiliate links. This means that if you click through and make a purchase, I will earn a small commission. This does not affect the cost to you. For more information, please see my disclosures. Thank you for supporting my blog!

For other great recipes, check out the Meal-Plan Monday Link-Up on Southern Plate!

Mary

Yield: 10-12 servings

Pressure Cooker Pork Shoulder & Dr. Pepper BBQ Sauce

This recipe is adapted from the book Pressure Cooker Perfection from America's Test Kitchen.

20 minPrep Time:

1 hr, 25 Cook Time:

1 hr, 45 Total Time:

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Ingredients

For the rub

3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

For the pork shoulder

3-4 pound pork shoulder, cut into 4 pieces and trimmed of visible fat.
1/2 cup Dr. Pepper
1/2 cup ketchup
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
salt and pepper, to taste
hamburger buns, for serving (optional)
coleslaw, for serving (optional)

Instructions

In a small bowl, stir together the rub ingredients. Coat the pieces of the pork shoulder with the rub.
In your pressure cooker, whisk together the Dr. Pepper and ketchup. Set the pork shoulder into the pressure cooker. Cover and cook over high pressure for 45 minutes according to the manufacturer's directions for your pressure cooker.
Allow the pressure to release naturally for 10 minutes (if you are using an electric pressure cooker, turn it off or unplug it so that it won't switch to "warm", which could cause your pork to overcook. If the pressure cooker has not completely depressurized after 10 minutes, release the remaining pressure.
Remove the meat from the pressure cooker to a plate and tent with foil for 10 minutes. Bring the sauce to a simmer over medium heat and cook until thickened (you can do this right in your pressure cooker, just don't put the lid on). Add the liquid smoke and salt and pepper to taste.
Shred the pork and return it to the sauce, tossing to coat. Serve on buns with coleslaw, if desired.

Notes

Cook time includes time to pressurize and depressurize the pressure cooker and make the sauce. Prep time includes time to shred the meat.

https://chattavore.com/pressure-cooker-pork-shoulder-dr-pepper-bbq-sauce/

Easy Breakfast Burritos with Fried Rice

May 6, 2016

Easy breakfast burritos with fried rice are a great, quick breakfast that allow you to use up your leftover Chinese takeout!

This month marks five years that we have not had cable television at our house. When Philip left his job in corporate America, we knew that we had to cut some corners, but for a while we were unwilling to part with the hundreds of channels that cable had to offer. We watch a lot of TV (I know, I know). After a lot of research, though, we realized how much money we could save every month if we bought a Roku and streamed our favorite shows and movies. Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and YouTube bring us plenty of viewing pleasure. We’ve never looked back.

Okay, so that’s a lie. Most of the time I’m okay with not having cable…but every once in a while I start feeling a little wistful for Food Network and the Cooking Channel. I❤️America’s Test Kitchen, don’t get me wrong…but I’ve seen every episode currently being run on air or on Amazon at least twenty times through. And as obsessed as I am with YouTube cooking videos, I miss twenty-two minute episodes of well-edited food television. I can’t help it.
When my parents go out of town, we stay over at their house a lot to take care of my uncle Bobby, who has Down syndrome. I always look forward to the time in the afternoons when we’re waiting for him to get off the bus, because that’s the time that Food Network actually plays cooking shows (I am concerned that Food Network is going to soon be like MTv – all reality shows. UGGH. I want MY MTv – the authentic Mtv that was the background of my life in the eighties and nineties. And now I feel old.). Over spring break, we stayed there and watched an episode of Eat Street, a show about food trucks, on the Cooking Channel. And that, my friends, is where the idea for this easy breakfast burrito came from.

I wish I had written down the name of the food truck that was making these fried rice breakfast burritos. It seems so blatantly obvious when I saw it. I mean, when you go to Mojo Burrito or Chipotle or Salsarita’s or whatever your favorite burrito joint is, they put rice on your burrito. So why on earth wouldn’t you put rice on your breakfast burrito?
These easy breakfast burritos are a great way to use up your fried rice, whether you make it yourself or you have it leftover from your Chinese takeout. Combined with breakfast sausage, scrambled eggs, cheese, and salsa, fried rice makes a pretty fantastic breakfast burrito. I threw some of my almost-famous Japanese white sauce in the mix too. It was not a bad idea.

These easy breakfast burritos with fried rice are almost too easy. But not quite.

Mary

Yield: 4 burritos

Easy Breakfast Burritos with Fried Rice

10 minPrep Time:

10 minTotal Time:

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Ingredients

4 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 pound mild or hot breakfast sausage
4 8-inch flour tortillas
1 cup fried rice, heated (leftover takeout or homemade )
1 cup (4 ounces) grated Monterey jack or Cheddar cheese
salsa and Japanese white sauce , for serving (optional)

Instructions

In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, salt, and milk until homogenous. Set aside.
Preheat a medium pan over medium-high heat. Cook the sausage until browned and completely cooked through, stirring constantly to crumble up. Remove from the pan and set aside. Turn off the heat and drain all but one tablespoon of the sausage drippings from the pan. Allow the pan to cool briefly.
Heat the pan again over medium-low heat. Add the eggs and cook, stirring constantly, until softly scrambled. Remove from the heat.
Heat the flour tortillas using your preferred method (I heat mine briefly over my gas burners). Divide the sausage and eggs among the tortillas, making a strip down the center. Top each with 1/4 cup of fried rice and 1/4 cup cheese.
Fold one side of each tortilla over the long edge of the filling. Fold in the short sides, then continue rolling the tortilla toward the remaining long edge. Cut in half and serve immediately with salsa and white sauce, if desired.

https://chattavore.com/easy-breakfast-burritos-fried-rice/

Easy breakfast burritos with fried rice are a great, quick breakfast that allow you to use up your leftover Chinese takeout! | recipe from Chattavore.com

Aji Peruvian Restaurant

May 4, 2016

Aji Peruvian restaurant, located in Ooltewah, Tennessee, serves delicious, fresh Peruvian food and beverages with friendly service!

Since we decided to eat in for 30 days (starting after spring break) we decided that our spring break strategy would be to eat at some restaurants that are not open on the weekend. Back when we ate at Thai Chili, we had actually tried to go to Aji Peruvian restaurant only to find out that they are closed on Saturday. Since it’s in Ooltewah, it’s a little bit of a drive for us to try to visit on weekday evening, so spring break was a perfect opportunity.

We arrived at around 12:00 on a Friday and were immediately seated by Sakei, who was our server as well. There was only one other table occupied, so I assume that they do most of their business at night. Sakei gave us our menus and gave us a few minutes to look over, then came back and answered questions and made recommendations.

While I ordered water, Philip decided to order a chicha morada ($2.15) – Andean purple corn juice blended with apples, pineapples, quince, lime juice, and spices. I didn’t take a picture of it because I didn’t think I’d get a good photo in the low lighting, but it was a deep purple color and it was delicious – it tasted like a very fruity spiced cider.

We considered ordering the choclo a la huancaina – Andean corn with a side of mild or spicy fresh Aji amarillo cheese sauce ($4.50), but we decided instead to order the empanadas al horno – five savory stuffed pastries from Aji’s bakery stuffed with your choice of chicken, three cheese and spinach, or tofu and spinach ($4.25). We decided to get two chicken, two spinach and cheese, and one tofu and spinach. The empanadas are basically small hand pies, filled, brushed with egg wash to give them a beautiful sheen, and baked until golden. They had just the right amount of filling and were amazingly not so hot that the filling scorched my mouth. The chicken was nicely spiced, the spinach and cheese very well balanced, and the tofu and spinach had a nice curry flavor.

For my entree, I decided to go with Sakei’s recommendation of lomo saltado ($9.65) – steak strips sautéed with onions and tomatoes, served on a bed of fries with a side of rice. Sakei said that this was one of her favorites and a very traditional Peruvian dish. The steak strips were tender and the sauce rich and savory…it definitely had some sort of seasoning like Maggi in it. The vegetables were nicely cooked and I loved how the fries soaked up the sauce. The rice was well-cooked and paired well with the meat mixture.

Philip couldn’t decide between the arroz chaufa ($9.15) – Peruvian style fried rice with sautéed steak or chicken, green onions, and eggs, seasoned with ginger and soy sauce – or the frito ($8.95) – deep-fried fish (tilapia) fillet served with rice and salsa criolla. Sakei suggested that, as a compromise, he could sub arroz chaufa for the rice that was included with the frito for an additional charge, so he decided to do that. The chaufa was delicious, with lots of egg and green onion and a strong ginger flavor. The fish was perfectly cooked, gorgeously golden and crispy, seasoned wonderfully, with onions and cilantro on top. Sakei also brought us some spicy Peruvian sauces made with Peruvian peppers, one medium that was similar to a salsa, and one hot that was creamy and green and delicious but a little too spicy for me to eat much of it.

Because we were pretty stuffed, we begrudgingly decided against dessert, but we would have loved to have had an alfajores (shortbread cookie filled with dulce de leche) or flan (custard topped with caramel). Our total pre-tip for Philip’s drink, the empananadas, and our two entrees was $29.50…not a bad value. The people were very friendly – Sakei and a sweet older lady who didn’t speak English but came out of the kitchen to greet us. The restaurant was nice, pretty basically decorated but clean and well-kept. The menu was full of delicious-sounding dishes, and I can’t wait to go back and try more.

We will definitely be back to Aji Peruvian Restaurant!

Aji Peruvian Restaurant is located at 5035 Ooltewah-Ringgold Road #123, Ooltewah, TN 37363. They are open Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Sunday, 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. You can call them at 423-396-3919. Check out their website, www.ajiperuvianrestaurant.com. You can like Aji Peruvian Restaurant on Facebook and follow @ajiperuvian on Twitter.

Cannellini Bean Dip with Rosemary & Garlic

May 2, 2016

This rosemary-garlic cannellini bean dip is like supercharged hummus. It’s so easy to make, and it’s best served warm with crackers or vegetables!

I’ve been eating hummus since long before I ever knew what cannellini beans were…probably before I really knew what chickpeas were. In fact, the first hummus that I ever ate I made myself. Philip and I were newly married and I read a hummus recipe in a weight loss book that I bought. I went to Target after work one day and bought the cheapest food processor I could get my hands on. It had a 2-cup prep bowl and it cost $13. It was barely big enough to make a single batch of hummus and every time I used it some piece of plastic would break off of it. As cheap as it was, I don’t regret buying that piece of junk, because I never bought another cheap kitchen appliance.
Wait, sorry…I forgot that I was talking about hummus, not food processors (I promise that I’ll get to cannellini bean dip soon). Anyway, I used to make hummus at least once a week. When California Pizza Kitchen was open for a pretty brief period of time at Hamilton Place, we would frequently order their “Tuscan hummus“, which was made with “Tuscan white beans”. It had different flavors than the hummus that I made at home (which turned out to be cumin) and it was really smooth. And I could not figure out what on earth Tuscan white beans were. Turns out those were cannellini beans, which are essentially white kidney beans. And suddenly, because of this cannellini bean dip, my feelings on white beans changed. I had never cared for white beans because I associated them with the Great northern beans that my mom cooked Southern style, which always seemed way too mushy and soupy to me.

Turns out that for a long time cannellini beans were really hard to find around here, but these days I can find them no problem at Publix or Harvest Grocery. They’re firm but super-creamy inside, and I love cooking with them. Briefly sautéed with garlic and fresh rosemary then pureed, they are perfect in this simple cannellini bean dip.
Rosemary-garlic cannellini bean dip has a different flavor profile than hummus, but it has the same creamy texture. You can definitely eat this cold or at room temperature, but cannellini bean dip is best served warm (interestingly enough, I found out a while back that hummus is traditionally served at least at room temperature, if not warm…and it’s so much better that way). It’s so easy to make, healthy, and only has a handful of ingredients.

Not to mention – this rosemary-garlic cannellini bean dip is delicious, so MAKE IT!

Mary

Yield: About 1 1/2 cups dip

Cannellini Bean Dip with Rosemary & Garlic

5 minPrep Time:

5 minCook Time:

10 minTotal Time:

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Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced or crushed with a garlic press
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, finely minced (about 1 large sprig)
14.5 ounce can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
juice of 1 lemon
salt, to taste

Instructions

In a medium skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat until shimmering. Add the garlic and rosemary and cook until fragrant, 30 seconds to one minute.
Add the beans to the skillet and heat for 3-4 minutes. Transfer to a food processor. Add the lemon juice. Process until smooth. Salt to taste and process to combine. Serve immediately.

https://chattavore.com/cannellini-bean-dip-rosemary-garlic/

This rosemary-garlic cannellini bean dip is like supercharged hummus. It's so easy to make, and it's best served warm with crackers or vegetables! | recipe from Chattavore.com

Cheeseburger Tacos (Baked)

April 29, 2016

Baked cheeseburger tacos are stuffed with ground beef and cheese, baked, and topped with lettuce, tomato, and a classic burger sauce.

Baked tacos are a new thing that I’ve been seeing a lot of lately. They’re always made with crispy corn taco “shells”, the taco receptacle of my youth. While I usually make my tacos in a soft corn tortilla (it’s just a lot easier to keep a big stack of corn tortillas around), a crunchy corn taco shell takes me back to eating at my parents’ dinner table. They’re pure comfort food for me.

Of course, I’m not going to come here and tell you guys how to make plain old tacos. Whether you buy seasoning packets or you make your own seasoning (which is what I do), you don’t need me to tell you how to make a classic Americanized taco a la Taco Bell. That’s the beauty of tacos, though. You can literally put anything in a taco…even dessert (though I’d argue that flour tortillas are better suited for dessert than corn).

When you’re a food blogger, you sit around all day and think of what to cook next (I mean, I do work, but you never know when an idea is going to come to you, so you have to be prepared). Oddly enough, inspiration usually strikes me during church, and, lest I forget, I pull out my phone and make a note in my OneNote app. I am so organized it’s kind of scary, because I was the kid with a million papers falling out of my Trapper Keeper (eighties kids represent!). If I weren’t, though, I’d be in trouble. I work a 7.5 hour day at my job then come home and work until bedtime. Thank God for those organizational skills.

Wow, I really went off-topic there. Sorry about that. I was trying to tell you about how I arrived at the idea of cheeseburger tacos. Honestly, though, I have no idea. It was jotted in OneNote, and I was craving tacos, so…baked cheeseburger tacos. I had to talk myself down off the ledge of buying nacho flavored taco shells at Publix (because Doritos are a weakness) but for the purpose of staying true to the flavors of a cheeseburger I grabbed the plain. I stirred some ketchup and mustard into ground beef, topped it with cheddar cheese, and melted it. Topped with crisp iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, crumbled bacon, and a classic burger sauce (think Big Mac-esque), these baked cheeseburger tacos will satisfy your taco craving and your burger craving.

Baked cheeseburger tacos for the win!

Mary

Yield: 8 tacos

Cheeseburger Tacos (Baked)

10 minPrep Time:

25 minCook Time:

35 minTotal Time:

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Ingredients

8 crunchy corn taco shells (Stand and Stuff work best here)
4 strips bacon, diced
1 small onion, finely diced
1 pound ground beef (I used ground sirloin)
2 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons yellow mustard
salt to taste
4 ounces grated cheddar cheese
iceberg lettuce, chopped
tomatoes, diced

For the burger sauce

1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons yellow mustard
1 tablespoon dill relish
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Arrange the taco shells in a 9x13 pan.
In a medium skillet over medium heat, cook the bacon until crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon to a paper towel lined plate and set aside. Drain away all but one tablespoon of the drippings. Return the pan to the heat.
Cook the onions until they are beginning to soften. Add the ground beef and cook until browned. Drain away any fat and excess juice.
Stir the ketchup and mustard into the meat. Season with salt to taste. Divide the meat among the taco shells then top with the cheese. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until the cheese is melted and the shells are heated through.
Remove the tacos from the oven and serve immediately, topped with lettuce, tomato, burger sauce, and crumbled bacon.

https://chattavore.com/cheeseburger-tacos-baked/

Baked cheeseburger tacos are stuffed with ground beef and cheese, baked, and topped with lettuce, tomato, and a classic burger sauce. | recipe from Chattavore.com

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