Tag: Atkins

Pork Avocado Soup

If you follow my recipes, you know I like pork and you know I like avocados. I put them together in my first time making pork soup. Pork tends to be really affordable. We got a great deal on a shank roast. We had it for dinner. There was plenty left over, and a good size bone with a joint. I stripped the meat off of the bone and stewed it with a Spanish onion, cut in half, for half a day, in about 5 quarts of water with about a Tablespoon of turmeric, in a 10 quart sauce pan. I discarded the onion and the bone, and refrigerated the broth overnight.

Ingredients:

  • Broth in 10 quart sauce pan
  • 6 carrots sliced thin
  • 1 leek diced, including green leaves
  • 8 or 9 radishes quartered
  • large handful of fresh kale, chopped
  • ~ 8 sun dried tomatoes, diced
  • 4 ounces pea shoots, chopped
  • 2 large Hass avocados peeled & diced
  • ~ 1/2″ fresh ginger grated
  • 15 twists medium grind black pepper
  • salt to taste
  • 1 Tablespoon ground sage
  • ~ 1 pound pork diced small, including fat portions
  • water to almost fill pot

Basically, heat up the broth and start chopping and adding the ingredients in order and stew. It makes a great soup! It’s healthy , too, for an Atkins diet.

“Guys Night In” Avocado Surprise

Once a month, usually a Tuesday, a bunch of ladies, mostly from St. Philip, go out to dinner somewhere together. This practice started on the occasion of Bethann’s birthday two years ago. I had had a terrible staph infection on my neck and reactions to medications to treat it. Another lady had lost her husband in October. It had been a pretty grim time. A friend decided it would be a good time to have a good time. So a bunch of them took Bethann out to dinner. They had such a good time, they decided to do it again the next month, etc. It is now a regular event: Ladies’ Night Out.

So I got the idea to have a couple of the guys over to our house to make manly meals and watch manly movies while the ladies went out. We have watched “Monty Python’s: The Holy Grail”, “Napoleon Dynamite”, “Hannah”, “The Man Who Would Be King”, The Grammy Awards, a Leonard Cohen concert, a Bob Dylan documentary, etc. We have eaten “turtle burgers” (recipe by Southern Culture on the Skids), hobo hotdogs, veal steaks, stir fry and corn dogs. One night we ignited a tiny bit of bootleg, Greek Raki to prove that it was well over 50% alcohol. I concocted this recipe for one of those nights. It was a hit. I made it for Bethann and Hilary later. They loved it, too. This is especially amazing, because Hilary says she doesn’t like avocados or feta and it contains both. I told her they cancel each other out. She said they must, because she claimed the leftovers for her lunch.

Ingredients:

  • about 1-1/4 pound 80% lean ground beef
  • a  small onion, chopped
  • a handful of chopped green & red peppers
  • a handful of baby bella mushrooms
  • a large handful of frozen corn
  • 2 avocados peeled and cubed
  • salt
  • granulated garlic
  • mixed peppercorn grind
  • Greek oregano
  • cilantro
  • a generous handful of feta cheese

In a large skillet, fry up the hamburger and the chopped onion. If there is a lot of fat; drain some of it. Add the peppers, mushrooms and corn. Add the spices. Be liberal with the cilantro. It’s good for you. Stir and cook them until the peppers start to get a bit juicy, but not mushy. Add the avocados. Cover and let them get warm. Top with the feta and serve.

Enjoy!

Hot Vegetable Ice Cream

Tonight, just about every ingredient for tonight’s meal was found on sale. The main course, fresh leg of lamb, was on drastic markdown, 55% off, or $2.60/pound. I put the lamb in the agate roaster, uncovered, into the oven at about 3pm at 325 degrees. Then I peeled and cubed two medium sized eggplants and two avocados. I cut up one large, green pepper and about two handfuls of white mushrooms. I tossed these with olive oil on a large, sided, cookie sheet. Then I took a head of garlic; peeled the cloves, cut them in half or thirds and distributed them on the sheet. I scattered cilantro and salt over the mixture. Then I twisted the mixed peppercorn grinder over it. At 4pm, I put it into the oven on a shelf over the leg of lamb.

Hilary had made salads for us earlier and put them in the fridge. Bethann got home a little after 5pm. We had a sumptuous, low carb feast!

If you have never used avocados in cooking, you have been missing out. They do not bring a very strong flavor of their own, but they multiply and spread the flavors that they come in contact with and add a rich creamy texture. The pleasure factor of this dish was that it was like eating hot, vegetable ice cream.