Pepperoncini Pork Roast

Slow cookers are such huge time savers, but a lot of people never get past making the same old chili and soups in them. This pork roast gets a zingy kick from pepperoncini peppers (find them jarred near the olives at your supermarket) and dry English mustard. It’s sophisticated enough for a dinner party, and no one will ever know you made it in a crock pot!

Pepperoncini Pork Roast

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 6-8 hours on low

Serves 8

2 ½ pounds boneless pork roast

1 cup minced pepperoncini peppers

1 cup pepperoncini juice

1 tsp, black pepper

½ tsp. sea salt

¼ tsp. dried oregano

¼ tsp. dried basil

1/8 tsp. dried rosemary

1/8 tsp. dry mustard, such as Colemans (I usually rub the whole roast with regular old mustard)

3 cups chopped broccoli, spinach, or asparagus

Place all the ingredients except the vegetables in a slow cooker.  Simmer on low for 6 to 8 hours or on high for 4 to 5 hours.  (You can just slice this up but I usually shred it and then stir it all together with the peppers etc. then serve it more like pulled pork with rice) Serve with the steamed broccoli, spinach, or asparagus. 

Turkey or Buffalo Chili

Lean ground turkey or buffalo sub-in for the typical beef in this slow-cooker recipe, but you’d never know it. This recipe is a total cinch: brown the meat, throw everything into your slow cooker in the morning, and by dinner you’re good to go! You could also put it together in the evening, then when you get up, portion it out and store extra portions in the freezer.

Turkey or Buffalo Chili

Serves 6 (a single portion is 1.5 cups)

Prep time: 25 minutes. Cook time: 5 to 8 hours, depending on slow-cooker setting

Ingredients

•               1 to 1½ pounds lean ground turkey or buffalo meat

•               ½ cup diced red onion, or more if desired

•               2 Tbls. fresh parsley or cilantro

•               1 heaping Tbls. chili powder

•               1 Tbls. minced garlic

•               ½ tsp. crushed red chili flakes

•               15-ounce can white beans

•               15-ounce can kidney beans (no sugar added)

•               15-ounce can black beans

•               15-ounce can pinto beans

•               15-ounce can lentils or adzuki beans

•               4 cups chopped zucchini

•               28-oz can crushed tomatoes

•               1 heaping tsp. sea salt

Brown the turkey or buffalo meat in a skillet and drain.

Turn a slow cooker to high setting. Add the meat, onion, parsley, chili powder, garlic, and red  pepper flakes to the pot. Stir, cover and set aside.

Open and partially drain all 5 cans of beans; I leave a little liquid in to make my chili a little juicier. Add the beans, zucchini, and tomators to the cooker. Stir well.  Keep the cooker set on high for 4 to 5 hours or adjust heat to low and simmer for 6 to 8 hours.

Stir and taste occasionally, adjusting seasonings as needed. Add the salt just before serving to best preserve its nutrients.

ACHOO! chili

ACHOO! chili

How about getting some immunity-boosting help from your dinner? Foods rich in vitamins A, C and E, plus zinc can help fight off your next cold — and can help soothe its symptoms if you do catch a bug. The red peppers, chili powder, carrots, sunflower seeds and parsley in this recipe provide the vitamin power. Grass-fed beef and mushrooms pack the zinc. The allicin in garlic is a potent antioxidant, but it works best when garlic is raw, so stir it in at the end.

1 1/2 pounds grass-fed lean ground beef
1 medium red or yellow onion, diced
1 Tbls. dried parsley
2 Tbls. chili powder
2 cups chopped carrots
2 large red peppers, chopped
2 cups sliced white or cremini mushrooms
1 32-oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 – 2 cup water or vegetable broth (or more if desired)
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbls. minced fresh garlic
Fresh parsley
1 cup sunflower seeds
Cayenne pepper sauce (optional)

In a large soup pot, saute the onions and carrots in 2 tablespoons of water until they begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Add the ground beef and cook until browned, about 7 minutes more. Stir in the red pepper, parsley, chili powder and mushrooms. Cook until the mushrooms begin to give up their water. Add the crushed tomatoes and water, adjusting water to the consistency you like. Simmer for 10 minutes or until the peppers soften. Add the salt and stir in the raw garlic. Serve, topping with chopped fresh parsley, sunflower seeds, and a few shakes of cayenne pepper sauce, if desired.

Basic Roll Dough

Basic Roll Dough

Dissolve 1½  T.  Yeast in ½ cup warm Water with 1 T. Sugar. (or ½ T. Stevia)

In a liquid measuring cup, heat 1¾ cups Milk and ¼ cups Butter in the microwave, on high for 5 min.  (I’ve used almond milk for a non dairy version and it worked fine) If you use powdered milk just make it with fairly warm water and don’t bother heating it cuz you don’t need to kill whatever heating milk kills because it’s already dead. J Add ¼ cup Sugar (or 2 T. Stevia) and 2 t. Salt and let it cool.

To the warm milk add yeast mixture and 2 cups Flour. (I use sprouted wheat flour) Add 2 Eggs and enough flour to make a soft dough. Cover and let raise for 1 hour.

Roll out as desired. Let rise 45 minutes. Bake at 400 deg. for 12-15 minutes.

Varieties

Parkerhouse: Roll out and cut into circles. Dip in butter, fold over, and place on a cookie sheet. Rub tops with remaining butter. Let rise and bake as directed above.

Cloverleaf: Break dough into small balls. Roll into nice round balls and place 3 in each section of a muffin tin. Brush with melted butter. (I like to dip the balls in butter too) (What! I like butter) Let raise and bake as directed above.

Cinnamon Rolls: roll out all the dough into a nice big rectangle about ¼ to ½ inch thick. Butter the whole rectangle with softened (not melted) butter. Sprinkle with generous amount of brown sugar, cinnamon, and raisins (ewww. Not raisins for me)

Roll out and cut with a piece of thread. Place on a baking sheet and let rise and bake as directed above. Frost however you love (glaze, cream cheese frosting etc)

Orange Rolls: Roll out as for Cinnamon rolls. Mix juice from 1 orange, ½ cup of butter, 1 t. vanilla and powdered sugar to make an almost runny type frosting. Spread over dough, roll up and cut. Place on baking sheet, let rise, bake as directed above. Frost with basic powdered sugar frosting but replace other liquid with orange juice. (I love these with lemon too in place of the orange)