Kari's Kitchen - What's cooking!

I LOVE to cook!  I love everything about cooking except for the clean up.  On the weekends, I like to try new recipes and/or make things that require a long time commitment.

Right before pouring the lard off

This weekend I rendered some lard!  I acquired some pork fat from Whiffletree Farm, cut it into chunks, threw it in the crock pot, and turned it on low.  The last time I made lard, I was removing the lard as the fat melted (every two hours or so).  This was a pain.  This time, I decided to just let it go and remove it once it was all melted down.  I left it on for about 15 hours before pouring my lard into glass jars.  I attempted to make cracklings but could not get them crispy enough for my liking.  I might use them in something, but I'm not going to sit down and have them as a crunchy snack.


Friday night, after throwing the pork fat in the crock pot, I made a Coconut Flour Bread.  I found the recipe here, on Nourished Kitchen's website.  My bread came out looking nothing like the picture on the site but it was very tasty!  I'm sad I didn't take a picture of it, but I'm sure I'll be making it again.

Bacon and Baked Portobello with Egg

For breakfast Saturday morning, I tried a new recipe.  I saw a recipe for Stuffed Portobellos on Pinterest and followed the pin to a post on What's Cooking, Mexico?.  I only had rosemary on hand but the taste was great!  My egg did not fill up the portobello and I had to cook the portobellos with eggs a little longer than the recipe.  I served them with a side of bacon from The Organic Butcher of McLean.  A very tasty and filling breakfast!

French Toast!

Late Saturday night, it hit me, "I should make the coconut flour bread into French Toast!"  So that is precisely what I did Sunday morning!  I used approximately equal parts egg and milk, added a little vanilla and cinnamon and soaked my bread.  I fried them in a skillet with butter for about 3 minutes on each side.  Served with some berries and maple syrup and a side of bacon, DELISH!  Definitely a breakfast I'll be making again!




All weekend I had been trying to think about something to do with some shredded chicken I had pulled out of the freezer (it was starting to get a little frost bitten and needed to be used).  I finally decided on a shredded chicken, pesto, diced tomato, and Monterey jack bake.  I mixed everything together, put some of the cheese on top, and popped it in the oven for about 30 minutes at 350°.  It came out cheesy and gooey.  It tasted pretty good, not spectacular.  You can't win them all!

Now onto meal planning for the week.  What should I make?