Carnitas

Ingredients:
1 bone-in pork shoulder, 4lb or more
salt
pepper
3 tbsp tomato paste (I have subbed this with chopped tomatoes, and it was fine)
5 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 bay leaves
1.5 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp black pepper
2.5 tsp salt
1 yellow onion, cut into 1-2 inch pieces
3 peppers (chopped) and 3 tbsp of adobo from a can of chiles in adobo sauce
tsp-tbsp of chicken stock concentrate
enough water to cover the shoulder

Season the pork shoulder with salt and pepper, then place in hot pan to sear each side.

While searing, combine tomato paste, garlic, bay leaves, cumin, oregano, black pepper, salt, onion, adobo, and chiles in the crock pot.  Place shoulder in and add chicken stock + water, enough to just cover.  If a small portion of the shoulder sticks out, that's ok; towards the last few hours of cooking, just flip the shoulder.

Cook on high for about 6 hours (until the meat is super tender and falling off the bone).  Take out, and loosely shred/chop.  Line a baking pan with foil and brush with oil or bacon fat.  Transfer the chopped shoulder to the baking dish, and broil/cook on your highest oven setting until the meat on top starts to brown/crisp.

YUM!

Nutella Cheesecake

Adapted from this delicious recipe. I changed it a bit, because I didn't want to fuss with individual servings. This cheesecake is made in a glass pie dish and has about 12 servings. Most importantly, it comes together FAST and doesn't use the oven.

Ingredients for crust:

20 Oreo cookies, crushed into crumbs using a food processor

5 tbs melted, unsalted butter

Directions for crust:

Mix the Oreo crumbs and melted butter in the pie dish until the crumbs seem uniformly damp. Then, press down to form a crust.

Ingredients for filling:

1 brick softened cream cheese (I used store-brand, because Philadelphia always seems to salty to me for desserts.)

2/3 cup Nutella

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tub frozen whipped topping, thawed

Directions for filling:

Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat together softened cream cheese, Nutella, and vanilla until smooth and well-combined. Then, using a spatula, fold in the whipped topping until the mixture is uniform. Spoon the filling into the crust and smooth out the top.

Refrigerate for a couple of ours and serve.

Quick, Cheap, Easy, Kid-Pleasing Stroganoff

Um, what the title says.

Ingredients:

~ 1.5 lbs ground beef

salt to taste

ground black pepper to taste

tbsp of onion powder

tbsp of garlic powder

1 box of pasta (I used bow-tie. Use egg noodles for more authenticity)

2 cans of cream of mushroom soup

splash of rice vinegar

While pasta is boiling: in a bowl, mix beef and seasonings. Brown the beef. Drain the pasta. Add the beef and two cans of mushroom soup. Heat until hot. At the end of cooking, add a splash of rice vinegar. DONE.