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Pork Ragu with Creamy Polenta (GRITS!)

So one of my favorite food blogs, Dinner a Love Story posted a recipe for Pork Ragu sometime back late this winter. The minute I saw it I marked it in Google Reader and vowed to make it as soon as possible. The recipe is ridiculously simple as far as prep goes and the only time consuming thing about it is that it cooks for 4-5 hours … but all you have to do is turn it once in a while. It’s the perfect thing to make on a Sunday afternoon while the kids are napping and you’re doing laundry and getting read for the week and darn if it isn’t super tasty. I will say that I have rarely if ever cooked pork before this (except bacon) because I don’t like it much, but this blew me away.

We have always served it with noodles (no yolk – healthier and just as tasty!) and everyone loves it that way. But after a meal I had a couple of weeks ago at Black Cat in Boulder (oh what a meal!) where I was served some tasty tasty pork on top of polenta/grits, I knew that this pork ragu would go AWESOME on some creamy polenta (GRITS) …. and it does. They are just the right offset to the richness of the pork and so so tasty together.

Ingredients

for the pork ragu

  • 3.5-4.5 lb lean boneless pork shoulder
  • salt and pepper
  • pat of butter
  • olive oil (2 T or so)
  • 1 large can diced tomatoes
  • 1 cup wine
  • 1 tsp hot sauce for smokiness
  • handful of fennel seeds
  • a few sprigs each fresh thyme and oregano (or a tsp or 2 each dried)
  • parmesan for serving

for the grits/polenta

  • 1 C stone ground grits/polenta
  • 4 C milk
  • 1 T butter
  • salt and pepper

Directions

Heat your oven to 325. Salt and pepper the heck out of the pork. Heat your olive oil and butter in a dutch oven and brown the pork on all sides … about 2 minutes per side. Add the tomatoes, wine, herbs, spices and hot sauce and bring to a boil. Then transfer to the oven and braise for 3-4 hours. If the liquid does not come 1/3 of the way up the roast, add a bit more (water or wine) to the mix to keep it going. The meat is done when it’s falling apart. Remove from the oven and shred with a couple of forks.

When the roast is almost done, make the polenta. Heat the milk to a low boil and whisk in the grits/polenta. Lower the heat slightly and stir frequently to make sure it doesn’t burn. Continue cooking until desired consistency, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and butter. Serve pork over top of a bed of polenta and top with parmesan if desired.  Dilly green beans were excellent with this! Make it soon before it gets too darn hot to turn the oven on.

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The Adventures of Lobster Girl

Thursday was a very nice day in most respects. I went to work. I came home. I worked on dinner. Our friends came over and we had dinner. The kids played. It was a nice evening. Then, since I hadn’t had time to workout all day, I hopped on the treadmill. My training plan had me do about 5 miles, most of it at a “pushing it” sort of speed. It took me about 45 minutes and I was feeling pretty good about my abilities … then just as I was getting off the treadmill, my palms started getting itchy. Like REALLY itchy. So itchy I wanted to scratch my skin off.

I figured maybe it was a sweat thing and I started doing my post-run activities (slamming water, downloading my Garmin data, etc.) A few minutes later Matt came up to our room to chat and hang out and I showed him my hands, which had been itching like crazy the whole time. About then my feet started doing the same trick. This was not my first allergy attack rodeo and I quick-like downed a Benedryl and hopped in the shower just in case it was an environmental trigger. In the shower my face started feeling weird … tight. Continue reading “The Adventures of Lobster Girl”

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Crazy Ass Weather

Remember last week when we had snow? That was fun, right? Yes, so much fun that Mo Nature upped the ante and gave us HAIL this week. We had a good 20 minutes of pea-sized hail rain down on us. It was, happily, not enough to do any damage to my car, but it got the plants around  here pretty good.

Thankfully, we’ve been total slackers about the garden and were lucky to have very minimal damage since we have next to nothing out!

All this generally lovely weather (temps maxing out under 60 degrees all week) is making me a bit grinchy. Our cook-out with friends to night will be a cook-out/eat-in. Ah well … I’m sure I will get to complain about the heat soon enough. Might as well enjoy the rain while we’ve got it!

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Mango, Black Bean and Quinoa Salad

Summer is a hard time for me cooking wise. I don’t want the heavier comfort foods I am crazy about in the winter. It’s too hot. And we also take advantage of the longer days and get up to all kinds of things and have later, more casual dinners. So I’m up for anything that’s cool and light and super easy to make and have around. This recipe (well a recipe similar to this) was in my Google Reader for a while before I tried it but when I did I was an instant fan. I traded out vinegar for lime juice (I love anything with lime in it) and nixed the cilantro, but of course you can put these back in for a slightly different flavor.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups cooked quinoa
  • 1 cup finely diced red pepper
  • 1-2 mangoes finely diced
  • 1 can black beans rinsed and drained
  • 2 T lightly flavored oil (sunflower oil was what we had)
  • juice of two limes
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • salt and pepper
  • cilantro, chopped (optional)
  • scallions, chopped (optional)

Directions

Combine lime juice, oil, cumin and S&P in a small bowl. Whisk until well combined. Combine the rest of the ingredients in a medium sized bowl and toss with dressing. I think this is best served chilled. We first ate it with Garlic Lime Chicken and I imagine it would be a great thing to take to any picnic or to have with burgers as well. Tomorrow I’m having it with Tortilla Encrusted Tilapia from Costco. mmmmm

Nutritional Info (1 cup)

Calories 150; Sodium 59 mg; Total Fat 6g; Potassium 31 mg; Saturated 0g; Total Carbs 35g; Protein 6g


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A Tale of Two Races

On May 8 (Mothers’ Day as you might recall) I ran my 3rd Title 9K. And on May 15 (one week later) I ran my 5th Half Marathon, The Colfax Half Marathon. These are their stories (dun, dun).

Title 9K

Distance: Contrary to the event title, this is actually 9.9K, or about 6.1 miles (I didn’t know this last year and was slightly livid at the 9K mark to find that I still had 1K to go).

Course: trails, with a bit of up and down and a short section of paved road

Company: I ran this with a bunch of girlfriends and my sister … my friend Holly and I actually ran the whole thing together and thank GOODNESS I had her … I wanted to walk from the 7K mark.

Weather: The weather was hot hot hot … 85+ degrees and no shade whatsoever. I made every water stop. I felt like I was melting.

Results: Course (gun) time – 1:05:11, 10:38 pace … there was no chip time in this event though it’s not a big event anyhow and would likely not have made much difference (under 1min) … I also felt terrible the rest of the day. Aside from the girlfriends, the best part of this race was the swag, an awesome WOMEN’S FIT t’shirt and a really cute necklace.

 

Colfax Half Marathon

Distance: 13.1 miles on the course, 13.23 on my Garmin

Course: all road running, mostly flat, though Matt swears it was as hilly as Nashville (the first one. where i sort of wanted to die)

Company: I ran this mostly with Matt, though he took a potty break around mile 4 and I didn’t see him again until mile 8 … he was quite instrumental in keeping me going the last bunch of miles – I was wheezing like mad. I also ran completely without music. My good mp3 player is missing (I will find it soon, I’m sure) and I had to run with my backup Mp3 player which displays in Farsi or something so I had no idea that it had crashed and had no music on it until I was around mile 2. I also later washed it with my pants … not it really doesn’t work, in Farsi or any other language.  Honestly, the no music thing wasn’t as bad as I might’ve thought.

Weather: This time the weather was FREEZING. It probably never got much above 40 and it was misting pretty much the entire time. Matt and I both seriously considered a DNS when we were having trouble finding parking. But really, it’s great running weather once you get going. No chance of over heating and you don’t need all water stops.

Results: My chip time was 2:12:34, a 10:08 pace and a new PR (hollllla!!). My garmin clocked me at 2:12:49 for a 13.23 miles and a 10:02 pace. Victory was pretty sweet. I got to go home and have a nap and then to Smash Burger for lunch. I also got a very nice (Women’s fit, also) tech tee and a cute finishing medal.

So what did we learn from this, boys and girls?? It’s much better to run a race in cool weather … unfortunately, in Colorado, you have no idea when that will be.

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A Little Bit ‘o’ Spring

My darling hubby (who is very sweet and wouldn’t hurt anyone intentionally) had a little misunderstanding with our beloved sitter a couple of weeks ago. He made an off-handed jokey comment to her that she took personally and was very upset about all weekend long.

 

As I said, Matt is not the type to be a jerk even a little. Unless he’s had no sleep and no food and even then it’s just a little. But she was upset and when I told him he felt horrible. So we decided he should bring her some flowers to apologize. I volunteered to make this very cute vase I saw on Makes and Takes.

It’s ridiculously easy to make. Canning jar (whatever size you like) + wire + ribbon = vase. You just wind the wire around the jar underneath the threads for the lid and twist to secure then make a handle out of the wire and hook it underneath the first wire. You can embellish with ribbon or  whatever else anyway you like. I found some great wire that looks like it was wrapped with raffia at Michael’s in their floral dept and Tabby picked out some pretty ribbon to go with. All in all the total cost for this was about $5 … $4 for the wire and $1 for the ribbon (and I could have used ribbon I already had, but Tabby fell in love with one at the store).

I think it turned out lovely and hopefully our sitter will agree.

http://www.makeandtakes.com/sweet-and-simple-mothers-day-vase
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Tabby’s Dinner Party

This kid of mine … she is the definition of social. She wants to be going and doing or having someone come visit her. ALL. The.Time. Whenever she makes  a new friend at the park or the gym, she will ask her friend to have her mommy talk to my mommy about setting up a playdate. The more the better. She is friendly with everyone from the grumpy-looking old lady at the grocery store to the cute young guy at Target and especially any kid even near her own age. She remembers people too. “There’s Emily. She went to swim lessons with me. Hi Emily!!!”

So she was a bit disappointed last Friday when I told her we didn’t really have any plans when she asked what we were doing that evening. “I think Grammy should come over. And Papa. And Gaga. And Gigi.” I said that was fine by me and suggested she call her guests and invite them. I really had nothing on hand for dinner, but I guessed we could figure something out. So Tabby called Grammy and invited her to dinner.

Grammy asked what we were having for dinner and Tabby asked me. As Ben had just coughed so hard he’d thrown up, I responded with, “I don’t know … at this point, probably pizza from down the block!” Then she asked Tabby if she could bring anything.

“No,” says Tabby, “Just bring yourself. No wait. How about a salad?” Gaga, Papa and Gigi were likewise invited.

Nicely Set TablePapa's Place

After nap, we talked a bit more about her dinner party. She was happy with pizza but she wanted to set the table. So I helped her get out the paint chip placemats and some cloth napkins. She very carefully paired placemats with complimentary napkins and told me who each combo was for. I suggested she make place cards to set at each place so people would know who she had set the place for. I lightly penciled the names and she traced over them and then decorated them with stickers.

Around five, we talked about ordering the pizza. What kind should we get? Tabby rattled off everyone’s favorite type of pizza and Daddy placed the order and Tabby delegated pickup him and Ben and Papa. The pizza paired with Grammy’s salad was very nice and Tabby helped me pull some chocolate chip cookie dough (homemade) out of the freezer to give everyone a nice dessert.

I think it’s fair to say a good time was had by all.

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Lousy Smarch Weather

The residents of Denver woke up this morning, YES THIS (May 11) morning to SNOW. I know it’s not a lot. I know it didn’t stick to streets, but I had to scrape off my car and put the kids in real shoes with socks and jackets. To say it dampened my mood is a gigantic understatement.

However, it did COMPLETELY justify my procrastination vis-a-vis our garden. Yay! I think I may supplement my usual minty green tea with some hot chocolate this morning. One excellent thing to come out of this cold snap though … excellent race day conditions for Sunday!! I could certainly do without a repeat of last week.

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Our Little Ski Bum

My poor hubby. His birthday is jammed in with Mother’s Day. And it’s not that anyone thinks Mother’s Day is necessarily any more important than his b’day, it’s just that there’s a LOT of mothers between my mom, myself and our extended family and friends. It’s a numbers thing. So frequently his b’day kind of gets the short end of the stick. And his b’day is also in pretty close proximity with Ben’s which means two years ago I was exhausted from having just had a baby (and a bunch of relatives in from out-of-town for my brother-in-law’s graduation) and last year we were doing the first birthday thing. So like I said, not much birthday love for Matt. But this year, I swear I redeemed myself. I DID!!

Last summer at the Vail Farmer’s Market, we saw an awesome artist, Sara Melzer. She does gorgeous India ink portraits of ski bums! They’re super colorful and kind of wild and splashy and Matt and I both loved them. We thought at the time about commissioning her to do a portrait from one of our favorite photos of Tabby in her ski gear but we couldn’t really swing or justify the price at the time. So I filed it away in my brain.

This past winter, seeing Matt skiing with his baby girl I knew I had to have the portrait made for him. He just loves sharing his favorite sport with her and takes such pride in her enjoyment and emerging proficiency. So this March I emailed Sara about getting it going and she was wonderful to work with. I sent a few photos, including this one, my fave and she agreed, that was the one. So she took a couple of weeks, worked up a proof and emailed it to me. I was thrilled!! Since Vail is a couple of hours away, I could either have it mailed to me or pick it up … shipping was steepish so I bribed my awesome cousin and his girlfriend with Indian food and he picked it up for me when he was in Vail over spring break.

I made a few slip-ups and I was scared to death he’d figure it out before the big day, but he didn’t! He was totally surprised and he LOVES it. We don’t know where we’ll hang it just yet. But we do know we’ll need a second one featuring Ben … now I just have to find the perfect ski suit.

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Happy Birthday to My Hubby!!

It is so hard to believe that when I met my husband he was a mere 18 years old. Wow. Is that possible? Let me do the math real quick … YES. He was 18 years old and it was our first semester of college. Today he turns 31.

Everything I loved about him from the beginning: his incredible energy and enthusiasm for life, his keen intellect, and his oh-so-caring nature is all still there. And 12 years has brought even more to love. He gets major props for being a great husband and father. He is my true partner, involved in almost every aspect of our life together from housework to home improvement to projects to leisure activities. And you’d be hard-pressed to find a more involved father; he truly knows our kids and loves to be with them.

Happy birthday, Matty! Thanks so much for all you are and all you do.