Mexican Style Slow Cooker Pork Chops

This year my salsa was juicier than I liked, so I strained some of the liquids off and canned them as salsa juice, including just a bit of the salsa.  I used this juice for this recipe, but you could use regular salsa mixed with water or even straight salsa.

Pork Chops
– 1 cup CGF salsa juice poured into crockpot
– CGF pork chops arranged in bottom of crock pot
– Cook 4 – 4 1/2 hours on high
– Remove cooking juices with a baster if desired to make a gravy
– Sprinkle pork chops with cheddar cheese 10-15 minutes prior to serving, continuing to cook in crock pot

Served with:
Rice cooked in CGF salsa juice
CGF frozen corn
CGF canned green beans

Butterfly Chops

Yum!
Beautiful local asparagus from Prudent Produce, amazing pork chops from Crooked Gap Farm, and even the spinach pasta is local from Zaza’s artisan pasta!
~ Jenni Boonjakuakul

All Pork Hot Dogs

One of our CSA customers had some fun cooking up our all pork hot dogs in his solar oven!

Pulled Pork

Pulled Pork
Central College of Pella, IA

Reed’s Hallow “Rabbit Food”

Our son’s pastured, heritage breed rabbit was featured at Reed’s Hollow.

Rabbit Food
(rabbit belly, rack of rabbit, rabbit loin, rabbit rillette, hay roasted carrots, house carrot glaze, harissa, chèvre)

Crooked Gap Farm Meatloaf

Crooked Gap Farm Meatloaf
Served with CGF sweet corn, CGF green beans, CGF heirloom tomatoes, CGF refrigerator cucumber pickles, and CGF Braeburn apples

Crooked Gap Farm Meatloaf
Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs Crooked Gap Farm Ground Meat (I used a combination of our CGF Beef and CGF Green Onion Sausage)
2 Crooked Gap Farm “Run of the Farm” Eggs
1 small Crooked Gap Farm chopped onion
3/4 c milk
3/4 c finely crushed saltine cracker crumbs
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c ketchup

Combine meat, eggs, onion, milk, saltine crackers, pepper, and ginger.  Form into a loaf.  Press brown sugar in the bottom of a loaf pan and spread ketchup evenly over the top.  Place meat loaf gently in the pan.  Bake at 350 for 60 minutes or until juices are clear.  Once removed from the oven, juices can be collected with a turkey baster to make a gravy.  Remove meatloaf from the pan placing on a plate ketchup side up to slice and serve.

 

T-Bone Pork Chops & Swiss Chard with Bacon and Pears ~Christine Ano-Larson

This photo of our Crooked Gap Farm T-Bone Pork Chops & Swiss Chard with Bacon and Pears prepared and shared by the Larsons.  Here’s what they have to say:

Amazing Crooked Gap Farm T-Bone chops made especially perfect for us by the processing at the Story City Locker! Don’t need much more than salt and pepper for pork perfection. You guys are an amazing team!!!!  ~Christine Ano-Larson

And the bacon in that side dish in the photo was natural cured bacon from Crooked Gap Farm via Story City Locker too! Amazing pork! I have never tasted any better pork ever!  ~Brent Larson

Swiss Chard with Bacon and Pears

Ingredients

6 oz. bacon, chopped
1 yellow onion, sliced
1 bunch Swiss chard
1 pear, diced
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
salt and pepper, to taste

Preparation

1. Cook chopped bacon in a frying pan over medium heat for about 8 minutes, until golden brown.

2. Remove bacon from pan using slotted spoon and set aside.

3. Add onion to pan and sauté about 6 minutes until translucent.

4. Meanwhile, rinse and dry chard thoroughly; slice the stems thinly and coarse chop the leaves.

5. Add pear, chard and vinegar to pan with onions; cover and cook for an additional 8 minutes until tender.

6. Top with bacon and serve!

Creamy Chicken and Chorizo Bake

This is the first recipe I have ever put together using Chorizo, which we recently added to our individual cuts.  The family loved it, and I know it will become a go to recipe in my recipe box now!

Here’s my recipe:

Creamy Chicken and Chorizo Bake
Cook
– 16 oz Penne Rigate noodles until al dente

Brown
– 1 lb CGF Ground Chorizo in a cast iron skillet or covered sauce pan

Add in:
– 1/3 cup CGF chopped yellow onions
– 1/3 cup CGF chopped peppers (I used banana peppers that I had frozen from summer)

Cook onions and peppers until onions are translucent, then and in and heat:
– 1 cup shredded CGF Chicken (I used meat from stew birds that I had previously canned – very tender and full of flavor. Also a wonderful way to use leftovers.)
– 1 pint (2 cups) CGF canned stew tomatoes
– 1 cup milk
– 1 tsp salt (you might prefer less salt if you are using processed ingredients which contain more salt)
– 1/4 tsp pepper

Combine:
– Noodles and sauce in greased pan

Sprinkle with:
– 1 cup mozzarella cheese
– 1/2 cup cheddar cheese
– 1/4 cup pepper jack cheese

Bake:
– 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees

Served with:
– Frozen CGF Green and Yellow Wax Beans
– Fall apples from Becca’s parent’s house, stored in our root cellar

Reisling-Rosemary Roast Pork with Apples – Amy Palanjian

This photo and recipe was shared by Amy Palanjian.

She shared on her blog: “The recipe below is what we had for dinner last night. It made for a special Sunday supper and it made me really happy to have success with a cut of pork that I’ve only cooked one or two other times. Plus, it was easy to make and really delicious!”

Reisling-Rosemary Roast Pork with Apples
You could use any dry white wine or stock in this recipe, but I happened to have an open bottle of dry Resiling in the fridge. It went really well with the apples and rosemary, yet was mellow enough for the palate of our toddler.
Serves 6-8 (depending on the size of your roast and if it has a bone or not)

2-3 pound pork shoulder roast (bone in or out)
5 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
2 medium apples, sliced
1 small onion, sliced
2 sprigs rosemary
Salt and pepper
1/2-3/4 cup Reisling

1. Preheat the oven to 450 F. Place the pork in an oven-going pan or baking dish (I used a cast iron skillet) and cover and surround with the garlic, apples, onions, salt, and pepper. Cook for 15 minutes then lower heat to 325 F.
2. Pour 1/2 cup of wine over the pork and cook until a meat thermometer reads 140-150 F (about 35-60 minutes depending on the size of the roast and whether or not it has a bone). Check it every 15 minutes and baste with the liquid from the bottom of the pan, adding more if the pan becomes dry.
3. When its reached the proper temperature, remove from oven, tent with foil, and let stand for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Variations:
Try pears or even dried apricots for the apples.
Shallot would work in place of the onions.
You could add more garlic and even hot pepper if that’s to your liking.

Stove Top Popcorn with CGF Lard

Sunday night is our popcorn night, and this popcorn is an absolute hit!  The popcorn pops evenly, is not greasy, and has a wonderful, crisp flavor.

Step 1: Heat 1/4 cup lard on medium heat (covered)

Step 2: Add in 4 kernels of popcorn and wait for all 4 to pop (covered)

Step 3: Remove from heat 30 seconds, remove 4 pieces of popped popcorn with a fork (they will be hot), and add 1 tsp of salt

Step 4: Add in 1/2 cup of popcorn and return to heat (covered)

Step 5:  Wait for popcorn to finish popping (when pops are 3 seconds apart), remove from heat, add additional salt or butter if desired, and enjoy!