Go Ahead, Honey, it's Gluten Free Event! Grow Hair on Your Chest Pork and Beans, Salsa & Chips

This is the longest post everrrrr! :)

So maybe the title's a bit much, but it got your attention! I certainly hope I don't grow hair on my chest as a result of eating this :P! These Pork and Beans with a side of Salsa and Chips are my submissions to June's Go Ahead, Honey, It's Gluten Free event hosted by Carol over at Simply Gluten Free. The theme is manly food!

I have to give you a little head's up about the pork and beans, it's a leftovers concoction! The pork I used was from a ham roast I cooked a few days ago. We still had quite a bit left over and I hate wasting, so I used up the rest to make the p and b.

I made baked beans when we had family over for dinner recently. No, they are not Bush's, but they are plain canned pinto beans; they are really good to have around when it's too hot to have the stove on all day. I didn't exactly measure the ingredients that went into making the beans, but it's really hard to go wrong with them so long as you add the basics (to follow) and taste as you go. I'd say the most important thing is to remember to let them simmer on low for awhile. These beans, though canned & pre-cooked, simmered for about 1 1/2 hours total. The good thing is that they were a little underdone right outta the can, so they didn't over cook while simmering.




Monica over at Lick the Bowl Good has an amazing pork tenderloin recipe that I tried awhile ago and LOVED. It is really incredible. I didn't know what to do with this big ol' ham that I bought at the farmer's market this weekend (it was a 3lb ham, but I only used 1/2 of it, and then only used about 1 pound for the actual pork and beans). Then I remembered Monica's tenderloin glaze and I also came across a pretty good one from Emeril (you can see it here). I used a few ingredients from each recipe to come up with a marinade for the pork.

This is the Citrus Pork Marinade I used (this marinade is good for 1 1/2 pounds of pork/ham)
1/2 can of frozen orange juice concentrate
1 1/2 pound ham
1 8 ounce can pureed pineapple
1 8 ounce can sliced pineapple, blended
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon cloves

I let the pork marinate for a day, then I cooked it in the oven with the juice at 350 for about 2 hours. I also let it rest for a day in the fridge, fully cooked and still in the juice, before making the p and b. I eventually just used about 1 pound of this marinated ham for the pork and beans.

Now for the Baked Beans, this is the general recipe:
2 16 ounce cans plain pinto beans, no seasoning :)
about 1 cup of canned roasted tomatoes
a few tablespoons olive oil
1/2 tablespoon butter
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1/3 of a large sweet onion, finely chopped
about 3 Tbsp salsa (recipe to follow)
about 2-3 TBSP finely chopped fresh cilantro
about 1/4-1/3 cup brown sugar (more if you want it sweeter)
a few tablespoons real maple syrup, to taste (about 2-3)
a few tablespoons liquid smoke (about 3-4)
a few tablespoons gluten-free (Amy's) ketchup (about 3-4)
a few shakes of garlic salt and onion powder
small pinch of cloves
pinch of white pepper
black pepper, to taste
more salt to taste

Saute the onion and bell pepper in the little bit of butter. Then you can add the beans and the rest of the seasoning, stir. Next you can add the olive oil and tomatoes, then add the rest of the wet ingredients, brown sugar and the maple syrup. Let it simmer for about 45 minutes. Lastly, add the fresh chopped cilantro and let everything simmer for 20-30 more minutes on low-low :). This will make more than you need for the pork and beans.

Now for the Pork and Beans
Cut up 3 cups of the cooked pork, add it to a small pot with 1 cup of the leftover marinade. Cook on medium and reduce the marinade so that it becomes kind of like a thick gravy/sticky glaze. After that, you can add 2 cups of the cooked "baked" beans, you can add more bell pepper, onion and tomatoes if you like veggies, now you want to let it simmer on low for about 45 more minutes. You might want to add a bit more salt and pepper to liven up the flavors, taste first, though.

The Salsa (this makes 1 cup of mild/medium heat salsa):
3/4 of a cup roasted tomatoes in a can
1/3 large jalapeno (in vinegar, in a jar)
1/2-3/4 tsp jalapeno vinegar, from the jar
1/3 cup caramelized onion, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1 small garlic clove, very finely chopped
about 1-2 tbsp fresh chopped cilantro
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/3 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/4 cup more chopped onion
1/4-1/3 cup chopped cherry tomatoes

To make the salsa, first caramelize the onion, add the chopped bell pepper and finely chopped garlic. Now add the roasted tomatoes, salt, jalapeno vinegar and jalapeno. You'll throw this all into the food processor, pulse, leave it a little thick/chunky. Now you can add the rest of the chopped, raw veggies. Let it simmer for about 15 minutes, you can add more jalapeno and/or vinegar to spice it up; don't add the seeds if you don't want it spicy, though :). Put it in the fridge and serve chilled :).


I bet you're hungry after reading such a lengthy post, let's eat!

Gluten Free Paula Deen Rocky Road Bars

Happy Father's Day!

So if you haven't seen these amazing brownie bars over at Taste and Tell, head on over now! If you're not on a gluten free diet, you'll want to follow her recipe to the T; it's a good one!

I really really wanted to make these for Father's Day/my husband's birthday, so this past week I made a gluten free version. I mailed some over to my parent's house and they were a hit. We also had a couple left over last night and even though they were 5 days old, my mother in law & sister in law gobbled them up too =o).

I've yet to find gluten free graham crackers, so I had to improvise there. I combined gluten free Mi-Del Cinnamon Snaps and crushed Gluten-Free Rice Chex to make a modified version of the graham cracker crust. The other change I made is that I used white chocolate chips instead of toffee; I didn't have toffee :P. Because the brownie part of the recipe is different, I noticed that I had to cook my brownies a bit longer, so the cookie crust came out a little crispier than expected, but still tasty.

Step 1: Step 2:

The brownies/bars are super moist. If you make these Gluten Free Paula Deen Rocky Road Bars, then you'll want to closely monitor the brownies when you're baking them (I kept checking them every 10 minutes or so). Also, don't expect the knife/toothpick to come out clean when you're checking for doneness because they're going to be like fudge in texture :P! It's best to let them cool for about an hour before diving in, they'll stay together much better that way. :)

OOPS! ALMOST FORGOT TO POST THE RECIPE :P