spicy, dairy free, cheese

I am just over a week into the dairy free portion of my experiment. I bought some almond milk, really not thinking it was going to be that good from what I've heard. It is definitely different than cow's milk, as one would guess, but it's pretty good. I haven't had any on it's own, just with food so I can't tell you if I like it alone or not. I can tell you I don't like cow's milk on it's own so I've never been in the habit of drinking it alone anyway. It's surprisingly creamy feeling. It only has35 calories a cup. I liked that.

On my weekly menu is enchiladas. I like cheese with mine so I looked at a bag of dairy free cheese. It's a small bag for $6 something and the ingredient list didn't look that great to me so I didn't get any.

Having done the raw diet before, I had heard about cashew cheese but never made it. I have an online friend who recently made some so I was ready to try it! But her's was fermented and I didn't think far enough ahead to do that...I didn't think far enough ahead to soak the cashews. Oh well. Such is life.

I didn't follow a recipe. I looked at a few recipes and took what I liked and used it. I added cashews, minced garlic, pepper, chili powder, paprika, lemon juice and water into the blender and let her rip.

I had little chunks in my cheese but I think soaking the cashews would have taken care of that. Here's what it looks like. I used paprika to change it to more orange...but that only worked a little.

It's thick like cream cheese. You can make it thinner or thicker according to how much water you put in it. I gave it a hesitant taste but was surprised...it's pretty good! It's not identical to dairy cheese, as one would guess. No one would be fooled in a blindfolded taste test but it is good in its own way.

Hey, I just realized I ate this spicy meal without my nose melting! Cool! I haven't been able to eat anything without my nose running like crazy in a few months now. Change is a good thing!

Oh, and in case you were wondering, the enchilada guts were black beans, salsa verde and mashed sweet potatoes. Corn tortillas are gluten free.

It looks like YOU'LL like it

I am home from work today sick and tomorrow is Adam's surgery, then Monday is a day off work to observe Martin Luther King day. Woohoo! I love long weekends...unfortunately I am not feeling great to enjoy it to the fullest but oh well. I am not terribly sick, just some sinus congestion and runny nose but it was impossible to sleep last night. I finally fell asleep sometime after 4:30 after Adam got me some Benadryl to knock me out. Then I woke up at 9 unable to fall back asleep. I was so uncomfortable propped up but it was the only way my head felt like it wouldn't explode. I hope a nap is in my future today. I do know we will be eating out tonight to celebrate Adam's b-day so I have to be up for that.

Well, today I have more food to share with you. Adam came home from a robotics meeting (he's an honorary member of the high school robotics team) and I was just pulling my dinner out of the toaster oven. I call it pepper nachos. I don't like tortilla chips so I used chunks of red bell pepper in their place. It also has cilantro, tomatoes, corn, black beans, cheese and avacados. I asked Adam what he thought. He looked and smelled it. He said, "Looks like YOU'LL like it. What's for dinner for me?" We've talked about how our kids won't be food picky. we're certain of this...yet we're both picky and in completely different ways so I don't think there's any hope. I already end up cooking two meals most nights...but there is an occassional meal we can agree on, like those stuffed mushrooms.

Pepper nachos

Homemade bean and grain burgers. Adam will actually eat these too, surprisingly. I put yellow mustard, yogurt cheese (the drained yogurt I make) and lacto-fermented ketchup on the bun and sprinkled that with flax meal and added lettuce, tomato and pickles. Yum!!

This was lunch a couple times this week. A baked sweet potato with butter and pepper and a bunch of frozen veggies with a TBSP or so of garden herb cream cheese. I forgot how good that cream cheese, I hadn't bought it in years.

And since I had time at home to make something different than my usual 2 scrambled eggs, I made stuffed french toast. The filling is yogurt cheese (for those probiotics) mixed with cooked down blueberries. And the rest of the blueberries put on top. Then I sprinkled the whole thing with flax meal. It needs more blueberries next time but it was good. Also, I forgot the cinnamon which I really like.

Stuffed portabello caps and other food

Often my lunches are weird. I grab whatever is in the fridge and figure out something to do with them when lunch time comes around. And in my never ending quest to eat better, I am trying to find a suitable replacement for mayo. So one day I had 1/2 butternut squash and I decided to see if it went ok in a sandwich as the mayo. I put a good amount on both slices with rotisserie chicken, tomatoes and fresh cilantro in between. It was so good!! If only butternut squash could keep in the fridge. I can't cook one every time I want a sandwich.



I tried a new recipe last night...well, I saw a recipe and it inspired this one but isn't the same at all. Adam told me it was really good. And it was! I would do one thing differently though, next time. I will bake the unstuffed mushrooms for a bit first because they didn't cook down enough.


It's just big portabello mushroom caps, rotisserie chicken, diced, 1 diced tomato, 1/2 red bell pepper and a minced clove of garlic. I sauteed it all until the tomatoes were soft. I cleaned the mushrooms and took out the stem. I put in a very thin layer of cottage cheese then topped it with the veggie/meat mixture. Then topped that with grated parmesan. I baked it at 400 degrees for 12 minutes. After I pulled it out, I added fresh basil and parsley.

Ohh...and the side is spicy carrot fries. So good! I just brushed olive oil over them and sprinkled with chili powder and threw those in the oven before I started working on the mushroom stuff so they baked a while. I pushed them all together and added the mushrooms to the same cookie sheet so they came out together. I also made some yellow rice for Adam and they would have finished at the same time but I forgot to turn the rice cooker on. Whoops. So we waited on the rice to cook before we ate. Give me carrots any day...he can have his nasty rice. ;o)

Dinner and a sneak peek

On Tuesday, we had wild mushroom ravioli and I made alfredo sauce to go on them. Homemade alfredo sauce is so easy and yummy! Once you have it, you will never settle for canned alfredo sauce again . I havent bought any since first making this several years ago. I actually made 1 1/2 batches so I would have enough leftover for the next meal, a soup that calls for canned alfredo sauce.


Here's the recipe in case you're wanting to give it a try:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup cream
3/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese (doesn't taste nearly as good when made with Kraft parmesan)
salt and pepper to taste (and I usually use dried parsley as well)

Melt the butter in a sauce pan, add the cream and cheese. Stir occassionally while the cheese melts. Add spices and salt and stir. Turn off the heat and let sit for 10 minutes to thicken.

See, super simple.

The soup I made is one we've had a few times and I love it...Adam likes it too but not as much as I do. Adsam got his broccolli on the side while I mixed mine in my soup...and cornbread on the side.


Hot bean soup

1 garlic clove, minced
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 cans (16 oz. each) white beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups cooked fresh cauliflower florets
1 jar (17 oz.) alfredo sauce
2 cups chicken stock
2 Tbsp chopped parsley
2 Tbsp chopped basil
grated pamesan cheese

In a saucepan, lightly saute garlic and red pepper flakes in olive oil. Remove from heat. Coarsley puree beans and cauliflower in a food proccessor or blender. Add puree, alfredo sauce and chicken stock to garlic. Cook over low heat, stirring occassionally until heated through. Add fresh parsley and basil before serving. Serve with parmesan cheese.

I tried a different cornbread recipe. Adam complains about me using wheat flour in the cornbread and this one doesn't use any flour or sugar at all. Adam said he couldn't taste the corn...but that is the majority of what's in there. I could definitely taste it. I liked it. So now I know 2 cornbread recipes by heart.


2 cups cornmeal
1 tsp baking soda, baking powder and salt
1 egg
1/4 cup oil
buttermilk

Mix dry ingredients together. Make well. Add beaten egg and 1/4 oil. Add enough buttermilk to make cake batter consistency. Bake at 425 for 25 minutes.

In my bakes goods, I replace the oil with homemade apple sauce. You can't taste the apple. It cuts out fat and also make things fluffier. Weird, I know. But we decided we didn't like it in brownies because we likely them thick and fudgy and applesauce makes it cakelike, more airy.

Another thing I finally got around to making is my lacto-fermented ketchup. I haven't had any for a couple months and just haven't gotten around to making more. I finally did and got to enjoy some on my eggs this morning. :o)


Makes 1 quart

3 cups canned tomato paste, preferably organic (comes out to be about 4-5 cans)
1/4 cup whey (the liquid drained off of yogurt)
1 Tbsp sea salt
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1/8-1/4 cup fish sauce (found in Asian markets)

Mix all ingredients until well blended. place in a quart-sized jar. The top of the ketchup should be at least one inch below the top of the jar. Leave at room temperature for about 2 days before transferring to fridge.

So, now that dinner is over, here's your sneak peek into our next major project. I am kind of dreading it. I think I would be more ok with it if the last major one was finished (the kitchen). I believe it's next month that this one is supposed to happen. Pretty details.

Let the renovation begin (well...continue really)

Kitchen work is under way. Adam had to hoist the sink into the air while working on the counter top bases in preparation for putting in the marble tiles. He was going to mortar the wood for the tile backer but after taping up all the paper, he decided he would do that when I was gone so he could do it all at once so the paper had to come back down. The plan is for him to have the counters finished when I get back from vacation. He's hoping the back splash as well but that's a lot of work so we'll see about the back splash.

This is the "bar". It's just a raised wall in the middle of the peninsula. It is purely to keep the mess of normal dishes buildup from being completely on display from the doorway. I can still see over it wile doing dishes but it blocks just enough of the counter/sink that I don't have to feel self conscious every time there are dishes.

The sink raised in the air while Adam screws the bar into place.

Hard working man.

So, some more of what's gone on this week is, of course, some food. My favorites were raw brownies and guacamole.

I've posted a recipe for these brownies made of just walnuts, dates, coconut oil and cocoa before. I just love them and I can eat them because they're sugar free and white flour free. This time, for the first time, I added some of my drained yogurt cheese to the top as frosting. So good!!

And then for lunch today, I had guacamole made with avocado, chopped tomatoes, lemon juice, sea salt and cilantro with zuchinni rounds to dip in it. I love simple meals like that.

I got the dogs outside for a group shot. I don't like this one as much as past ones I've gotten but I still like getting more shots of all of them...especially when they're listening to me.

We actually spent quite a bit of time outside before heading over to babysit Samuel, enjoying the wonderful fall weather. I feel so alive when fall comes around! While we were out, snapping pics, we got this one of me and Jack that I really like. There aren't very many pics of us with the dogs. I realize the composition is horrible and my head is chopped off...but I really like it anyway. That's my Jackie boy.

And lastly... I have been wearing a jelly type barcelet (you know those Live Strong bracelet type things) for behavior modification. If I complain or criticize, I have to change the wrist it's on, bringing attention to my conscience thought of what I've just done. The theory is that if you recognize you're doing it, you will be less likely to do it. My record so far was going 5 days without changing wrists. The goal is 21 days. But I didn't really like that jelly bracelet. I was putting laundry away. I took some towels to the bathroom and looked at my jewelry box. I rifled through it looking for something easy to latch/unlatch for the more constant than should be changing of the wrists. I found something that I really like. But while looking through the box, I came across my 3 pairs of earrings that I've saved even though my ears haven't been pierced in a decade (I got rid of all the rest). Suddenly, I was filled with the desire to put earrings in. So I grabbed a bottle of rubbing alcohol and my sharpest studs. After about 10 minutes, I had pierced ears again. I was wondering how long it would take for Adam to notice and one of the first things he said to me was, "Why are you all girlified?" He said he liked it. The funny thing was he actually seemed excited that he could buy me earrings. He's only seen me wearing earrings once, on our wedding day, that last time I pierced my ears. I don't know how long it will last (mood or infection will eventually end it, I'm sure since just 3 hours without wearing them closes them back up) but I am girlified for the moment.

cauliflower "rice"

I heard about this alternative to white rice. You take some cauliflower and chop it up into rice sized pieces in the food processor. You could heat it up but I just ate it raw.

We had Hawaiian haystacks for dinner so I could try the new rice out. I really couldn't tell a difference. Cauliflower is pretty bland so it really isn't too different. A winner.

Venision quiche

Katie mentioned she had gotten some venison from a friend and I told her I would be interested in trading for it. I would give her a bag of pecans that I picked (still shelled) and a jar of sauerkraut I made for a pound of venison. Weeks went by before the trade was actually made because she kept forgetting to bring it when she was in town. When she actually delivered the bag to me, I was surprised to find 4 lbs of venison. She said they just weren't that interested in eating it so she gave me all that her friend had given her. I felt like I was cheating her but she said she was happy with the trade.

There was one month in Taste of Home magazine that had some vension recipes in it so I got it out and found venison quiche. Seemed like an easy way to introduce Adam to venison with enough other flavors with it. He didn't complain about it at all and even ate it two days in a row. :o)

Spinach vension quiche

1 unbaked pie crust

1/2 pound ground venison

1/2 pound sliced mushrooms

1/2 cup chopped onion (which I didn't use, of course)

1/2 chopped green pepper (used red since that's what I have in my freezer)

1 package (10 ounces) frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry (used about 2/3 of the package)

1 package (4 ounces) feta cheese (used cottage cheese instead since we both like it better)

6 eggs

3/4 milk

1 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

Line unpricked pastry shell with double thickness foil. Bake at 450 for 8 minutes, remove foil and bake 5 minutes longer.

Menawhile, in a large skillet, cook the venison, mushrooms, onion and pepper for 5-6 minutes until the meat is no longer pink. Drain. Spoon into crust, top with spinach and then cheese. In a bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, pepper and salt. Pour over cheese.

Cover edges loosely with foil. Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes until knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Let stand 5 minutes, slice.

I had enough venison and spinach leftover for another meal I have in mind but for now, it's in the freezer until I'm ready to make it.

Corn relish

Here's another fermented thing I like. This one didn't last too long so I need to make another jar.

Corn Relish

3 cups fresh corn kernels

1 small tomato, peeled, seeded and diced

1 small onion, finely diced

1/2 red pepper, seeded and diced

2 Tbsp cilantro leaves, chopped

1/4-1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes

1/2 Tbsp sea salt

4 Tbsp whey

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients. Pound lightly with a wooden pounder or meat hammer to release juices. place in a quart sized Mason jar and press down with a pounder until juices cover the top of the relish. The top of the vegetables should be at least one inch below the top of the jar. Cover tightly and leave at room temperature for about 3 days before transferring to cold storage.

This goes particularly good with eggs...my favorite way to eat it. I usually eat it on my morning eggs.

Spring rolls

Adam texted me last night saying he would be cooking dinner. He chose spring rolls. We both really like them and they are a great summer food. We use ground pork for the meat. That's the only part that gets cooked. You slice up veggies, we used asparagus, cucumber, bell pepper and carrot. You just roll them up in softened rice paper sheets. The sauce is a mixture of rice vinegar, sugar, cilantro and peppers. Tasty!

Healthy too.

fish tacos

I've never been a fish eater, really. I remember eating those fish sticks and fish triangles as a kid but I don't ever remember enjoying it. I decided I needed to get over my aversion to fish since it's so healthy. I started by just taking one bite of Adam's fish whenever he ordered it at a restaurant. I got to the point where I could do that without gagging. Now, I eat tuna sandwiches and will even eat a fish fillet. I can't say it's my favorite food ever but I am ok with it now which is where I wanted to be.

I started making these fish tacos a few months ago and I like them because there's so many other flavors that I don't get overwhelmed with fishiness. I realize they don't look like much in the pic...you can't even see the fish hidden behind all that lettuce.



I use sour cream, lettuce (or cole slaw if I think far enough ahead), beans, fish and my yummy mango chutney on homemade flour tortillas.

fermenting (and other ramblings)

I have gotten really bad about updating my blog. So here's another nutshell, but all on one topic. Well, all on one topic except for a tiny little intro with something that makes me very happy. I got to use my clothesline for the first time this past weekend. It's just so pretty to see clothes/blankets flapping in the wind. They dried during the first 2 hour session of conference.

I have a lot more room on the lines than I thought I would. I was so sure it was going to be cramped...but then I've only ever had a single line, or 2 at times so I underestimated just how much I can fit on there! I was pleasantly surprised. That's a queen sized quilt and two loads of laundry. I don't think I'll ever run out of room.

And one more note. This weekend, I was able to watch General Conference. While I was watching, I was able to feel His spirit and that allowed me to forget, for a time, the heartache that has come with a stressful time for my family. He loves me. I know He does because he allows me, an unworthy, imperfect being, to feel His love for me and to recognize the numerous small things that He has given me to bring me joy, like watching a bird peck the ground for food, clothes flapping on the line that my loving husband built for me, a pantry full of food and too many other things to list but also, He has placed me in a family that is amazing. I often don't feel like I belong because there is nothing too special about me as there is about everyone else. They are such good examples to me about unconditional love and being there to support each other through life's trials. I am unworthy of all I have but He blesses me continually anyway and I am truly grateful!

So, back to the purpose of this post. Fermenting. The book I started following to change my eating talks a lot about fermenting fruits and vegetables (though mostly veggies since fruit turns to alcohol after just a couple months whereas veggies last anywhere from several months to a couple years.

Why would anyone want to ferment food, you wonder? I'm glad you asked. Fermented foods are loaded with lactobacilli, the same probitotic found in yogurt. Also, the veggies go through enzymatic changes that makes the food easier to digest. Strangely though, when eaten with meat, it actually helps to digest some of the vitamins in meat that would otherwise be unavailable to the body. Easier digestion means the whole digestive tract works much more efficiently. I wouldn't have believed that one except for that I know first hand how wonderfully that actually works!

There is that reason, but also, fermenting food is an ancient form of preserving foods for the winter when there would be no fresh produce. Sure, there's canning nowadays that wasn't available back then. But the high heat kills a lot of the vitamins that would be available in the fresh veggies, or fermented veggies. Anyone who knows me, knows I like to learn the "old ways". It truly makes me happy to learn these things.

Of course, these kinds of foods aren't without a downfall. The taste is not the same as the fresh/canned varities we're used to. I don't mind tastes I'm not used to but there are people who fight anything different and they are a hard sell! But I'm continuing to try to break through that barrier.

One thing to note: you lose the probiotic effect of these foods if they're heated...so that traditional dish of boiled sauerkraut and hot dogs, if the store bought stuff was even fermented to begin with, which is unlikely, wouldn't offer any probiotics unless some unheated sauerkraut was put on top of the dish. Anyway, you only need a small amount to get the effects so that would work.

Some of these experiments have been SO tasty and some have been downright disgusting but most are somewhere in the middle. So without getting into recipes on this post, I will show you what I've made and what I thought of them...recipes will come in another post, another time.

Asian veggie medley. This is the last one I made and I haven't actually tried this one yet but I like the dark color.

Orange marmalade. It's very liquidy (which the book warns you about). I could have handled that but the taste was so disgusting that I couldn't handle it at all! I read on someone's blog that it was too sour. I made one jar with peels and one without. I figured the peel is what made it sour. They were both equally disgusting...and bitter, not sour. I won't be sharing the recipe on this one ever.

Corn relish. I liked this one well enough.

This is called cortido..it's a spicy, Latin American version of sauerkraut. I prefer sauerkraut but this works well with Mexican food.

Sauerkraut. Adam likes it well enough when it's completely fermented but when it's under-fermented, he says it tastes too much like cabbage for him. I really like sauerkraut. The sauerkraut needs about 5 months to really mature so I really need to do a whole crock full to actually keep it around long enough to reach 5 months.

Salsa. I made this one without onions for Adam. He hasn't tried it yet but I like it...not too spicy.

Pickles. Not a fan of this recipe but I've eaten them a couple times.

Ketchup. I like this! I pretty much stopped using ketchup (except for fries) because of the high fructose corn syrup. I don't like how sweet storebought can be anyway. This one has a little sweetner in it but you don't notice it really. It's more of a robust flavor...I like it.

Mango chutney. I commented on this in one other post. This is, by far, my favorite ferment so far...except for the bubbles (which is normal for chutneys and many other ferments). I just love it! It's sweet, spicy, salty, tangy...everything except bitter.

Now, here's the problem with fermenting...everything is supposed to stay beneath the liquid or it can mold. Her's those weird pickles a few weeks later. Only the portions above the liquid are affected but I haven't been able to bring myself to try the portions below the surface just yet. So far, this is the only one I've had problems with.

Thin Split Pea Soup

I found this recipe online. She used yellow split peas instead of the green but green was what I had. It happened to fall on St. Patrick's day though I didn't realize it at the time. I thought it was really good but Adam said the kale was a little weird. Next time (and there will be a next time) I will just leave it out of the pot and add it only to my bowl because I really liked it. Thin Split Pea Soup

1 cup yellow split peas 3 cups water 2 bay leaves ¼ teaspoon paprika 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 onion, chopped 1 clove garlic, sliced 8 ounces mushrooms, sliced 1 quart chicken stock 1 cup kale, chopped and steamed ½ teaspoon sea salt

1. In a medium sauce pan, bring split peas, water, bay leaves and paprika to a boil


2. Reduce and simmer for 1 hour, until peas break apart


3. Remove peas from heat, discard bay leaves and place peas in blender


4. Puree peas on high speed, until smooth, then set aside


5. In a large sauce pan, heat oil and sauté onion over medium low until translucent, 10-15 minutes


6. Add garlic and mushrooms and sauté until tender


7. Stir pureed peas, stock, kale and salt into onion, mushroom mixture


8. Warm and serve

I served it with a wedge of cornbread. Yum, down home cooking!

margharita pizza and raw brownies

Dinner...mmm. I'm so hungry right now that just thinking about it is making my stomach growl. Anyway, a couple of nights ago, we made dinner together. Adam had bought this log of fresh mozzerella and while we were snacking on it, I decided we needed to have a margharita pizza. It's our favorite kind, followed by hawaiian. After baking the crust, we topped it with a pizza sauce Adam made, chopped basil, pieces of tomato and small chunks of the fresh mozzerella. It doesn't melt very much like the hard blocks of mozzerella does. It was so good! Unfortunately, it didn't last very long. But the recipe made enough for 2 doughs so the other dough will be made into the same pizza in a night or two. Can't wait!

Then, for dessert, I made these raw brownies. I started making these when I was on the raw diet. I don't make them very often but they are good on occassion. They don't taste like brownies but they satisfy my sweet tooth.

It's a cup of dates, a cup of walnuts, a tsp. of cocnut oil (though you could sub butter, I'm sure) and 1/4 cup cocoa. You process it all in the food processor. The longer you proccess, the more dense they become. That's the way I prefer them. Then, you press into shape (I used a Ziploc container) and chill for an hour. Adam's never tried them.

Normalish enchiladas

Adam came upstairs from the garage just as I was throwing a homemade corn tortilla onto the griddle. He was very excited that I made some more. These tortillas got filled with a pork, spinach, mushroom mixture. I made a not too spicy enchilada sauce to cover them and cooked up the pan. They were pretty tasty and Adam even ate leftovers the next day. When I asked him if he was ok with eating them or if he wanted me to cook something else, he said, "When you make your weirdish foods, I am not too thrilled about eating them two nights in a row. But when you make your normalish foods, I don't have a problem eating leftovers." Poor Adam, I guess I do make weirdish foods a lot. I am trying to learn to cook to make both of us happy...maybe some day I'll get there.

Corn tortillas and chili verde

Last night, I made dinner for tonight so I could eat before 9. Turns out that I didn't walk the dogs because I wasn't feeling too hot so I would have had time to cook but it worked out well anyway. I made the chili last night and the corn tortillas today. This was my first time making corn tortillas. They are even easier to make than flour tortillas which also are not hard to do. The flavor is much more subtle than store bought so I liked these better. Next time I will make them thicker and cook them for longer to make them more stiff. We have a tortilla press somewhere but I have no idea where so I just used a rolling pin this time. Even when using the press, I use a gallon sized ziploc bag with all but the end seam cut off. The dough doesn't stick to the bag. I am not good at getting circles even when I use the press so they are "rustic" shaped.

I once made pitas and these reminded me of that since they puffed up. But once off the grill, they fell.

Like I said, next time they will be thicker.

I put a little sour cream and mashed avacado on mine to help temper the spiciness of the chili.

Chili Verde

3/4 lb boneless pork, cut into 1-inch cube (I used chicken breast)

1 large onion, thinly sliced (didn't use)

6 cloves garlic, chopped

1 lb fresh tomatillos, coarsely chopped

1 15-oz can chicken broth

1 4-oz canned diced green chilies

1 tsp ground cumin

1 15-oz can great northern beans, rinsed and drained

1/2 cup loosely chopped cilantro

sour cream

Spray large skillet with nonstick cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat. Add pork; cook until browned on all sides. Combine cooked pork and all remaining ingredients except cilantro and sour cream in slow cooker. Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Gently press meat against side of slow cooker with wooden spoon to shred. (That didn't work for the chicken so I just left them cubed.) Reduce to low. Stir in cilantro and cook 10 minutes. Serve with sour cream.

I was concerned that Adam wouldn't like it because he mentioned that he doesn't like verde sauces but I had already planned on making it so I gave it a shot. He really liked it and said he would definitely eat it again if I made it. He polished off 6 of the 8 tortillas as well. Dinner was a success.