Pressure Cooker Pork Carnitas You ‘nita’ stop what you’re doing and try this pressure cooker recipe

Any time I find pork shoulder at a great price at our local grocery store, it’s a no-brainer for me to put it in the cart and let Joey know that I wouldn’t mind if he threw it on his smoker over the weekend. That’s why it was a little weird last week when Joey …

Moroccan Lamb Meatballs Bored with dinner? End your ‘saffron’ with something totally different

For a couple months now, every time I open the pantry, I glance at this tiny canister of saffron I managed to buy on an extreme clearance. The Britannica Encyclopedia explains that saffron is the most expensive herb because it has to be hand harvested from the tiny stigmas in the center of a particular …

Crispy Mexican Potatoes You have my ‘parmesan’ to treat yourself to potatoes this weekend

“What makes them Mexican potatoes?” a friend asked as he scooped my latest food experiment onto his paper plate in our backyard. “I think it’s just the spices that put it in that category,” I told him. He looked at me quizzically and only grabbed a few. But after finishing off that first spoonful and …

Congri Everyone will want to ‘congri’gate around your table for this dish

An article by Eliana Rivero goes into great detail about some of the cultural dishes of Cuba, including a dish I decided to try for this week’s column, congri. According to Rivero, “The name comes from the Creole French words congo and ris (beans and rice) to produce what today is widely consumed by Cubans …

Chili Con Carne Seize the ‘carne’ with a summer-friendly chili recipe

There is an in-depth article that appeared back in 2017 in Texas Monthly by John Nova Lomax about the origins of chili con carne in the United States. It’s a great read, if you get the chance, and apparently there’s a lot of controversy about the recipe’s origins from historians, but I did love a …

Southwest Potatoes Roasted vegetables will be the ‘bell’ of the ball this summer

Even though I try not to heat up the house with my oven too often in the summer, I am definitely willing to make an exception for the right recipe. Last week, that exception came when I decided I didn’t want one of the typical cold summer sides like coleslaw, potato salad or a green …