Taiwanese Meat Sauce

Confession time: I didn't really know anything about Taiwan until college.  Which means I didn't know anything about Taiwanese food until college, either!  So sad.

My friend Jen Che has an award-winning food blog that occasionally highlights Taiwanese food recipes and we've used this one the most.  It's a simple comfort food and it takes very little time to put together.  I always add more black mushrooms because they're delicious.

Thanks, Jen!  I love your site!

Taiwanese Meat Sauce Over Rice

Ingredients
2 dried black mushrooms
5 shallots, minced
1/2 lb ground pork
1 t rice wine
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 cups water
1 t sugar
1/2 t 5-spice powder
6 cups rice (cooked)

Soak the mushrooms in hot water until soft. Meanwhile, mince the shallots. I used a food processor, which made it a lot easier. When mushrooms are soft, slice them into thin pieces.

Add 1 T of vegetable oil to a wok and put on medium high heat. When the oil is hot, add shallots and stir fry for about 1-2 minutes, until they start to brown a lot. Add mushrooms and ground pork. Stir fry until the pork is cooked. Add rice wine, soy sauce, water, sugar, and 5-spice powder.

Let it simmer for 1 hour. Ladle out the meat mixture and pour over rice.  There will be a lot of excess liquid. Leave that in the pot. You can optionally mix the meat sauce together with rice as well and garnish with some scallions and red pepper flakes.

Waffles for our new waffle maker!

We gave away our old waffle maker but luck would have it and we were gifted another!  This one was a little bit different; our old waffle maker made thinner, crispier Eggo-like waffles and this one was a little closer to Belgian waffles.

I tried my previous waffle recipe with this waffle maker and it didn't come out right.  I found this recipe on allrecipes and it worked really well.  I followed some tips from the reviews and beat the egg whites separately before adding them to the batter.  The waffles were perfect and I doubled the recipe so I could freeze the leftovers.  My daughter loves them for breakfast and I love that I can just pop them in the toaster oven.

They're great for breakfast but also a fun snack with cookie butter and peaches.

Thanks, oneshyofabunch!  

Waffles

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 3/4 cups milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

 1 tablespoon white sugar

• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat waffle iron. Beat eggs in large bowl with hand beater until fluffy. Beat in flour, milk, vegetable oil, sugar, baking powder, salt and vanilla, just until smooth.
2. Spray preheated waffle iron with non-stick cooking spray. Pour mix onto hot waffle iron. Cook until golden brown. Serve hot.

Carnitas

This was the star of Taco Night!  I love slow-cooked pork and this slow-cooker carnitas recipe is top notch.  We love how juicy the meat is and the seasoning is perfect.  I'm pretty sure I've cooked more pork shoulder than most people do but I don't care.  It's that good.  We didn't even bother frying it because we wanted to eat it right away.

Thanks, Melissa d'Arabian from Food Network!

Pork Carnitas

Ingredients
2 pounds boneless pork shoulder (or 2 1/2 pounds bone-in)Salt and freshly ground black pepper2 teaspoons dried oregano1 teaspoon ground cumin1 tablespoon olive oil1 onion, coarsely chopped4 cloves garlic, minced1 jalapeno, seeded and ribs removed, chopped1 orange, cut in half3 tablespoons vegetable oil

Directions
Rinse and dry the pork shoulder. Salt and pepper liberally. Mix the oregano and the cumin with olive oil and rub all over pork. Place the pork in a slow cooker and top with the onion, garlic, and jalapeno. Squeeze over the juice of the orange and add the two halves. Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours or on high 4 hours.
Once the meat is tender, remove from slow cooker and let cool slightly before pulling apart with a fork. In a large saute pan, heat the vegetable oil over high heat. Press the carnitas into the oil and fry until crusty on one side. Serve.