Carnitas Burrito Bowls with Salsa Fresca and Lime Cilantro Rice

I loooovvveeeee me some Chipotle! If I didn't feel like crap after eating it (basically because the portion sizes are so incredibly ridiculous), I would probably eat it on a weekly basis. But since that would result in a few less than desirable consequences (like having to buy larger pants), I'll refrain.

Not that my homemade version is significantly more healthy, it does taste a lot better. I love that I can control the fat by trimming the excess off of the pork and keep the sodium levels in check. Everything tastes fresh and I didn't have to get changed out of my comfy clothes to put dinner on the table! This is pretty easy to put together and it's awesome not having to stand in line. That's a win in my book!

Carnitas Burrito Bowls with Fresh Salsa

3 lb pork shoulder roast, remove excess fat

4-5 cloves of garlic, minced.

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1 T ground cumin

Sea salt and pepper, to taste

1 1/2 cups orange juice

1/4 cup lime juice

1) With a sharp knife, cut several slits into the pork roast and stuff the holes with garlic. Tightly wrap with Seran Wrap and put in the refrigerator overnight.

2) In the morning, pull out the pork. Combine the remaining ingredients in the crock pot and stir.

3) Heat a large frying pan on high heat and sear the pork shoulder on each side. Once its seared, place it in the crock pot and cook on low for 8 hours. 

4) After 8 hours, remove the pork from the crock pot and using two forks shred the pork. Reserve one cup of the juices, drain the rest. Place the shredded pork back into the crock pot with the reserved juices and allow to cook for another 20 minutes, to soak up the juices.

In the meantime, prepare your fresh salsa so that flavors marry well.

 

Salsa Fresca

1 large beef steak tomato, chopped in small pieces

1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped

1/4 cup cilantro, roughly chopped

1/2 jalapeno, finely chopped

Sea Salt

Lime juice

1) Combine all measured ingredients into a bowl.

2) Add in a few cranks of sea salt from a grinder and lime juice (I usually don't measure this, but its probably the juice of a half to full lime)

 

Next .... make the Lime Cilantro Rice 

 

Lime Cilantro Rice

Jasmine Rice, prepared as directed (mine called for 1 cup of rice)

1 handful of cilantro, finely chopped

Juice of 1/2 lime

Sea Salt

1) Prepare rice as directed.

2) Once rice is done cooking, fluff with a fork.

3) Add in cilantro, lime and salt to the rice and stir.

Now its time to build your most amazing burrito bowl ever. Start with a good helping of rice, topped with a good portion of pork, then add some cut up lettuce, cheese, sour cream and top with a good spoon or two of the fresca salsa.

You're welcome!!

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Buttermilk Cornbread

This cornbread is a great compliment to any meal. This  recipe is a bit sweet but not overly sweet. Just a nice hint of sweetness amongst the other wonderful flavors.

Buttermilk Cornbread

(photo courtesy of this blog)

1 stick unsalted butter

2/3 cups white sugar (can use 1/3 c brown sugar in place of white)

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup cornmeal

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 inch pan with non stick cooking spray. Set aside.

2) Melt butter and pour into mixer bowl. Add in sugar and eggs quickly and mix until combined.

3) Measure out buttermilk and add baking soda to it and add into the egg mixture.

4) Add in remaining ingredients and pour into prepared pan and cook for 35-40 minutes, or until done.

5) After pulling it out of the oven, immediately drizzle honey over the bread and melt a small amount of butter over the top also.

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Three Little Pigs Soup

As the name suggests, this soup has three types of pork in it. Of course, you can eliminate one or two of them but I think you'd loose some of the depth this soup has. Its everything a soup should be: hearty, earthy, thick, and bursting with layers of flavor.

I had my sister and her main squeeze over for dinner and they agreed by helping themselves to seconds. This was a great way to use up the leftover christmas ham (check the blog because that recipe was FANTASTIC and blows the national ham chain out of the water) and get in some fiber and warm up on a cold Ohio December day.

I served this with a very delicious homemade cornbread (recipe on the blog also). This particular cornbread is a bit sweet (but not overly sweet) to balance the smokiness of the soup.

You're welcome in advance!

Three Little Piggies Soup

6 slices of bacon, coursely chopped

3 links of mild italian sausage, cut into bite size pieces (casing removed)

Ham, chopped into small pieces (I used leftover, equivalent of about 4-6 spiral slices)

1 small white onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, chopped

2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

1 28oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes

2 cans chicken broth (the normal size cans) I always use low sodium/low fat

1 chipotle pepper (with adobe sauce), chopped small

2 teaspoons cumin

3/4 teaspoons dried oregano

few dashes of smoked paprika

dash of dried minced onion

salt and pepper to taste

1) In a frying pan, cook the chopped bacon until it is crispy. Remove from the pan and put on a paper towel lined plate to remove excess grease. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the grease, discard the rest. 

2) In the reserved grease, add onion, garlic and italian sausage and cook until the sausage is done and the onions are not burnt.

3) Combine all the other ingredients into a stock pot and bring to a boil. Add in sausage/onion mixture and bacon.

4) Allow to boil for a short period of time, then reduce heat to medium low and allow soup to cook for 3-4 hours. Stir occasionally and adjust flavors as you see fit. I liked the smokiness that the adobe paste brought to the soup so I added a bit more while it was cooking. If you like less heat, remove the seeds from the pepper before adding it to the pot.

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