March 2023 - stirringlouisiana.com

Pork Shoulder is one of the cheapest cuts of pork…and I would say the tastiest!

When it goes on sale, rarely, there is no reason not to take advantage of that.

This article will discuss how I cook pork shoulder for the whole week without eating the same thing every day and without boring my family.

Sometimes pork shoulder is called a picnic roast, picnic shoulder or Boston roast. Some people get it confused with a pork butt…but it is not the same.

How to Cook Pork Shoulder

The best way to cook pork shoulder is low and slow. We have heard this over and over…we all know this already…right?

The crock-pot is your best friend here.

You can get a pork shoulder roast with the bone in or get it boneless. Usually, you can find a boneless pork shoulder roast that is 4 to 4 ½ pounds while a bone in roast can be as much as 12 pounds.

So, if you have a very large family, you may want to get the bone-in roast, keep in mind that you will have to cut the bone out if you don’t plan on putting the entire roast in the crock-pot all at once.

The recipes for this week use a total of about 13 pounds of pork shoulder roast. You can buy 2 large bone-in roasts at 6 or 7 pounds each or buy several boneless shoulder roasts which may be easier to work with.

Most of the recipes we are using this week are for 8 servings, if you don’t have the need for that many servings, adjust as needed.

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

One of the easiest pulled pork recipes out there is Southern Living’s pulled pork recipe. You can find that here. Use one of the smaller boneless pork shoulders for this or half of one of the bone-in shoulders.

The recipe asks for a 5–6-pound shoulder roast but you can use a 4 ½ pound roast. The recipe only takes 5 ingredients and about 10 minutes to get going.

And it does not include bar-b-que sauce at this stage which means you can use the pork in more ways.

Prepping for the Week

Saturday or Sunday you can get your shopping done. You can also get all your chopping done and package the separate ingredients in meal prep containers or Ziploc bags and mark them for each recipe.

When I use Ziplocs for smaller amounts of ingredients for the week, I mark them all for the recipe they go with and then put them all in a plastic bin in the refrigerator together.

After chopping and packaging all the ingredients, you can start prepping all the recipes and sides for the week.

Finish Prepping for Monday

First let’s prep the Mexican rice that goes with the pulled pork for Monday. I use this recipe from A Couple Cooks. It is extremely easy and quick, 20 minutes total…and tastes good!

Prep anything else you normally have with pulled pork this day as well.

Tuesday Prepping

Next, take about 3 pounds of pork shoulder and prep it for the Pork Carnitas Nachos for Tuesday. This is a good recipe from Southern Living for that.

You are going to cook this in the crock-pot as well. Cook the brown rice on Sunday for the Mexican rice or if you have a rice cooker, you can wait until Monday evening when you get home.

Save the liquid from one of the cans of chipotle chilies because you are going to use that later in the week.

You can serve street corn salad with the nachos on Tuesday using this recipe from Delish. Instead of using ears of corn you can use 3 cups of frozen corn and pan fry it to get that smoky flavor.

Wednesday Barbeque

Wednesday is for Chinese Barbeque Pork using 3 pounds of the shoulder. You can get this marinating now and marinate it for at least 4 hours…which will increase the flavor. Allrecipes has a great recipe for that.

Cook the Chinese Barbeque Pork for an hour now and let cool. You are going to want to cook it another hour Wednesday when you get home.

Serve some easy fried rice with the Chinese pork, using this recipe from Allrecipes as well. You can cook that now or just cook the rice and mix it together on Wednesday when you get home.

Still Prepping

The next main dish to prep is the Grilled Pork Skewers called Mtsvadi. You can serve this on Friday or Saturday; however, you need to cube about 2 pounds of uncooked pork for that. Go ahead and marinate that now according to the recipe.

Oven roasted vegetables are great with this. I don’t have a recipe for this one but any recipe you normally use for roasted vegetables should be fine.

The rest of the week is a matter of putting everything together, since you will use whatever cooked pork you have, when you get home since you already prepped all the ingredients.

Getting It Done on Monday

Monday morning put the pork shoulder in the crock-pot before leaving for work and you are done for Monday.

When you get home, pull out the Mexican rice and heat it up in the oven or microwave…if you put it in the microwave put a cover on it to keep it moist. If you didn’t complete the Mexican rice on Sunday, it won’t take long to put it together now.

Tuesday is an Easy Day

Tuesday, put the Pork Carnitas in the crock pot. Heat up the Street Corn salad when you get home from work. You are done for Tuesday.

Wednesday is not a Hump Day this Week

Wednesday when you get home from work, put the Chinese Barbeque Pork in the oven. I know the recipe says to grill it, but if you don’t want to get the grill going, you can cook it in the oven for another hour to finish it.

When the pork is nearly finished cooking put the fried rice together. That will take about 15 minutes. You are done for Wednesday.

Smoky Thursday

Thursday is for Smoky Pork Taco Soup from Betty Crocker. It only takes about 30 minutes to put together. Mexican Cornbread goes great with taco soup.

Southern Plate has a great recipe. It only takes an hour to cook so start it before you get the taco soup going. I would not make it ahead of time…cornbread is always better hot out of the oven.

Friday is Cuban Celebration Day

Friday, when you get home let’s make some Cast Iron Cuban Casserole. Use this recipe from Grilling 24×7. It only takes about 30 minutes to do.

At the same time, start the Creamy Cucumber and Grilled Potato Salad to serve with the casserole. There is a great recipe from Food and Wine here. The extra 15 minutes the potatoes take will let the casserole cool a bit so you can eat it!

Yay for the Weekend!

Saturday, lets make Pulled Pork Enchiladas with Salsa Roja. The recipe from Hispanic Kitchen is a good one. This one takes about 3 hours to get right…why we are doing it on a Saturday.

You can serve all the left over sides from the week along with a salad and your favorite dressing.

You are done for the week and nobody had to eat the same thing twice all week…unless you had enough for lunches the next day. I love leftovers for lunches.

Don’t forget, you can cut down any of these recipes if you are single or have a small family. You can also double them if you have a very large family…all of them are adjustment friendly.

Mostly, you did not have to spend more than an hour any night of the week to get a great meal on the table and you did not have to order out once!

Don’t forget, one day a week if for you to be taken out to eat. No prepping, no cleaning after and good wine. Don’t forget the wine!

If you do make any of these recipes, let me know in the comments below.

If you want a shopping list for the entire week, let me know and I will work that up for you.

Deep cleaning your microwave is nobody’s favorite job. Even with a plate cover, it seems to get filthy in no time.

There are several different things you can clean your microwave with; vinegar, lemon juice, regular dish soap, baking soda and an all purpose cleaner…but which is best?

In this article, you will have the information you need to deep clean your microwave and hopefully, keep it clean!

Clean Your Microwave on the Inside

If you have badly stuck on food, you can scrap it out with a plastic spatula or putty knife; however, the following cleaning recommendations will unstick that food for you.

If you use vinegar, you need to get a glass bowl and fill with some water, add a couple of tablespoons of vinegar. Boil the vinegar in the microwave…it will take about 3 minutes.

Let the vinegar cool just a minute…pull it out and wipe the inside of the microwave down with a clean towel.

If you don’t have any vinegar, you can use lemon juice and water.

When using lemon juice, use equal parts lemon juice and water. Heat it up for 3 minutes…till it boils.

Let it cool a minute and pull it out. Wipe the inside of the microwave out with a clean towel.

If you decide to use dish soap…it is a little harder. Mix a few drops of dish soap with some warm water in a bowl. Take a wet towel and dip in soap. Begin scrubbing the inside of the microwave.

Keep doing that until the inside of the microwave is clean. Then wipe it down with plain water.

I don’t usually use a general spray cleaner, like Lysol on the inside of the microwave. I don’t want it to get into the vent area, possibly damaging the microwave…but, mostly I don’t want to taste Lysol in the next thing I microwave.

Really Stuck on Food?

If you don’t have any vinegar or lemon juice, and you have some really tough stuck on food, you can use baking soda.

If you, like me, sometimes forget to clean the microwave, you may have to get gritty with it.

It is good, when you need it, to have some baking soda on hand.

Take a bowl of baking soda and a wet rag, dip the rag in the baking soda and rub the inside of the microwave where the worst stuck on food is.

After using the baking soda, wipe the microwave down really well with plain water…then you can use vinegar or lemon juice to finish cleaning the inside.

Don’t forget, the turntable and the spindle, need to be cleaned as well. You should be able to remove the turntable and put it in the dishwasher or hand wash it like any other dish.

For the spindle…take a toothbrush and whatever cleaner you are using, scrub that spindle! Wipe it down when you wipe down the rest of the microwave.

That just leaves the door of the microwave. Presumably, you wiped down the inside of the door when you wiped down the rest of the microwave; however, don’t forget to work around the edges with a toothbrush.

You may have to take the toothbrush to the inside of the glass a bit as well, just double check before your final wipe down.

Clean Your Microwave on the Outside

Now, let’s tackle the outside. If you have a stainless steel microwave, you likely have a stainless steel cleaner you like to use.

If not, or you don’t have a stainless steel microwave, make some dish soap and wipe down with a clean towel. I like to wipe it down with a dry towel afterwards.

Give some love to the number panel…that is what we all touch first and last! I like to wipe it down with some alcohol, because it dries fast.

Spray some glass cleaner on the outside of the microwave door and wipe down with a paper towel…or some crumpled newspaper.

Does anyone get an actual newspaper anymore?

You have the basics cleaned at this point. But, you are not done.

Clean the Rest

Pull your microwave away from the wall…look at the back and the bottom…there is usually grease or some sort of build up there.

While you have the turntable removed and the microwave unplugged, you can turn a microwave upside down if needed…it is not like a refrigerator…there is nothing that will be damaged by laying it on its back, side or top even.

You can use some hot vinegar water and a clean towel to break that grease down on the back or bottom. I like to mix a cup of hot water and two tablespoons of vinegar to wipe down the back and bottom of the microwave. Don’t forget to run the towel down the cord…which is unplugged at this point.

You didn’t forget did you?

What does Germany know that we don’t know?

Did you know that microwaves are banned in Germany, despite the fact that they were developed in Berlin, according to this information from The National Foundation for Natural Science.

Microwaves were subsequently banned in Russia as well. Curious that Americans…and the rest of the world do not agree.

Microwaves have a filter…some have 2!

Did you know that microwaves have a filter? I was this year old…

However, counter top microwaves do not have filters, only microwaves mounted above a stove have filters.

Filter #1

It is easy to spot grease filters, they are the metal “chain mail” that slides over or snaps over the fan area of the exhaust fan.

You can remove them and put them in the dishwasher to get them clean…or you can let them soak in hot dishwater and then let them air dry. I like the dishwasher method. It is quick and easy!

If you don’t clean your microwave filters often enough, it could damage the exhaust fan.

Filter #2

When the exhaust fan blows the air back out, recirculates the air, it goes through a charcoal filter. These filters get clogged over time and need to be replaced since they are not easily cleaned. It is advisable to have a few on hand.

Some built in microwaves make it easy to replace the charcoal filters which are housed behind the exhaust air outlet grill.

Others make it harder, since the microwave has to be unmounted and the casing removed.

To find out which over the stove microwaves have to be unmounted and the casing removed, I looked at the most popular microwaves as indicated by this consumer reports study.

When looking up each one of the nine “most popular” it was still hard to find out how to replace the charcoal filter as filter replacement is “model specific” not manufacturer specific. Each time I was advised to refer to the owner’s manual.

However, after further digging, it appears that all of the microwaves on Consumer Reports “favorites” list indicate that replacing the charcoal filter is fairly easy…just a few screws to remove the front top grille allows you to replace the charcoal filter.

My advice, ask the salesman to show you where the charcoal filter is located before you buy the microwave.

Don’t forget, while replacing the charcoal filter, clean the exhaust area of your microwave…it can get nasty!

Additionally, if an over the stove mounted microwave is capable of recirculating the exhaust, it needs a charcoal filter.

All filters may need to be replaced periodically…if you cook on the stove top versus only cooking in the oven…you need to replace the charcoal filter every 6-12 months.

When a filter needs to be replaced, be it the grease filter or the charcoal filter, you should be able to get a part number from the manufacturer’s operating manual and order it online or by calling the customer service number.

Finally, Let’s Cook!

Your microwave is now clean!

If you use your microwave for reheating only…perhaps now is the time to actually cook something in it!

Perhaps this recipe from Taste of Home? I love potatoes for breakfast and these look fabulous!

Deep Clean Microwave Potatoes — Taste of Home’s Breakfast Potatoes

Wow! Who knew it would feel this good to have a clean microwave! Not me!

Let’s cook!

Month: March 2023

Let’s Cook Some Pork Shoulder This Week!