Rosemary fig jam bbq braised pork rib sandwich with celery, onions and carrots 🍖🍞🥕 I made this on a whim using what we had in the fridge and wanting an easy weekday dinner. Literally chopped everything up, threw it in the pot and let it go til we got home to eat after work.

Marinated the pork rib ends the night before then I tossed everything in before I went to work, set it on delay start so that it would be ready when we got home! Then added a nice fig jam BBQ sauce on top, broiled for a quick minute and put between two crispy garlic toast 😍 Love the sweetness of the fig that comes through in the sauce, and a kick from the hot sauce too!

Honestly instant pot is like my new best friend for braising meat. It makes my life so much easier and the meat is always juicy and tender, whether it be chicken, pork or beef! The celery, carrots and onions were also super soft from the pressure cooking and we just piled it up in the sandwich with the pork after removing the bones (it literallt falls out of the meat because it is so tender)! This sandwich would probably go well with some crisp cole slaw too!


INGREDIENTS:
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PORK & MARINADE
• 3 Pork loin end ribs
• 1/2 tbsp worcestshire sauce
• 3 teaspoon salt
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped scallions
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tbsp paprika
• 1/2 tbsp oregano
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic chopped


INSTANT POT
• 1 large chopped carrot
• 3 stalks chopped celery
• 1/2 chopped onion
• 6 cloves garlic chopped
• 1 cup low sodium chicken stock or vegetable stock
• 2 tbsp tomato paste


SAUCE FOR RIBS
• 1/3 cup fig jam
• 1/4 cup BBQ sauce of choice, we used Sweet Baby Ray's
• 2 tbsp hot sauce (we used Frank's red hot)


DIRECTIONS

1. Prepare marinade ingredients and marinade the pork rib ends for at least 1 hour or overnight.
2. Set instant pot on sauté mode, add 1 tbsp olive oil and sauté onion and garlic until translucent and fragrant.
3. Add chopped celery and carrots, tomato paste and mix. Put the pork rib ends on top and dump in the marinade. Pour 1 cup chicken stock in.
4. Close the Instant Pot and set on High Pressure cook for 30 minutes.
5. Allow Instant Pot to vent. Prepare 4 slices of toast or bread of choice with fresh garlic and butter to make as garlic bread.
6. Mix the fig jam, bbq sauce and hot sauce together. Take the vegetables and pork rib out and put onto oven safe tray. Pour the bbq sauce mixture onto the meat and broil on high for 2 minutes.

Eat the meat and veggies in a sandwich and enjoy!

Until next time,
Jenny

I am up to my noodley shenanigans again! Today I am sharing a Braised Beef Noodle Soup. I feel apprehensive calling this a Taiwanese Braised Beef Noodle Soup, since the recipe is really a combination of a bunch of recipes I've tried in the past and have tweaked over time to suit our tastes, but essentially it would be best related to Taiwanese beef noodles--although I'm sure a purist would say otherwise. Bay leaves are not usually part of the recipe, but I find that it gives a little somethin' somethin' to it. I also find that other recipes have more star anise and use spicy bean paste for the telltale spice kick, but after a few times of recipe testing, we found that we weren't fond of the heavy licorice flavor of star anise in our broth, and that spicy bean paste often ended up being too spicy (at least for my husband, who is decidedly weak against spice haha). I tend to add some chili paste on top of my noodles before I eat, and it tastes just as good!

I developed a love for beef noodle soup when I stayed in Taiwan for a few weeks as a tween/teenager and again when I went on a mom and daughter trip back in 2014. I stayed with my cousins and my aunt once took me to a place not far from her home in Taipei that sold affordable, homemade and delicious beef noodle soup. I remember the steaming pots of beef broth, assorted beef cuts including brisket, shank, tripe and tendon being scooped up to be placed on top of freshly boiled noodles. You could smell the broth and beef as you approached the restaurant from outside. Taiwan is hot and humid, especially during the summer, but you will still see plenty of people queuing up for a good bowl of beef noodle soup on any day.​ This dish is so popular that you'll see it in restaurants, street vendors and even at the airport!

The photos below were taken back in 2014 when I went to Taiwan with my mom and we revisited the same beef noodle shop near my aunt's home! Look at all the honeycomb tripe, beef tongue and beef tendon!! Yummm! Next to it is a photo of a bowl of beef noodle soup we ate at the airport in Taipei. Even for airport food, the noodles were super nice and chewy, flavorful broth and large chunks of soft beef. Ah the memories ♥🍜

I tend to pair this recipe with my handmade noodles (super easy to make) but if I'm pressed for time or too lazy, I will use store bought (either fresh flour noodles or the dried kinds). You can even use instant noodles if you wish!

But being in New Jersey, driving 40 minutes to the city, dealing with the usual impatient, poorly tempered city goers (myself included) and/or locals, bumper to bumper traffic, hunting for parking, and then waiting on the ungodly line that forms outside the popular restaurant, can sometimes feel....like a very LONG....albeit bothersome trip.
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After coming back from Cali, I've looked up copycat recipes for the Whole Shabang sauce and have tried to replicate it ourselves a few times. The recipes that we followed in the past were great and tasted good, but I was always appalled at the amount of butter that went into the dish. I just figured, well, if you want it to taste good, you gotta add that butter, right? I know, it makes every dish taste good. Fat in general is awesome. But, since we are "trying" to be more healthy, we try our best to find substitutes, use alternative cooking methods like baking rather frying, or just use less of the unhealthy ingredient.

The sauce was delicious and didn't feel too oily or heavy, and the steamed shrimp was sweet even under the spice. We toasted up some of our favorite Pepperidge Farm Garlic Texas Toast and dipping the garlic bread into the spicy, garlicky sauce really hit the spot. We set up dinner in our living room coffee table with a large bowl for shrimp shells, some paper towels, hand wipes, and hungry, hungry hippo appetites. We watched a movie while peeling and eating the shrimp, licking our saucy fingers and dipping the garlic bread into the flavor puddles of sauce. Nothing like chowing down and getting your hands dirty with someone you love, hehe. 💖 I've made this recipe a couple times more after that initial "experiment" and it has been great each time, so it's definitely tested and true. This recipe might not be an exact replica of the Whole Shabang from The Boiling Crab or the Boil, but it sure is delicious and addictive!

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 pounds shrimp, shell on
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons chopped italian parsley
• 6 cloves freshly minced garlic
• 1 small red onion, chopped
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 1 tablespoon cajun seasoning
• 1 tablespoon white pepper powder
• 1 tablespoon chicken bouillon powder
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1/2 tablespoon cayenne pepper powder
• 1/2 cup water
• Garlic Bread (I recommend French bread or Texas toast)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Wash, clean and clip off the whiskers of your shrimp. Leave the shell on and set aside.
2. Prepare your steamer or a pot of boiling water to steam the shrimp in. Steam for about 5-6 minutes. Around the 4 minute mark, you'll want to toss the shrimp a little to ensure even cooking by bringing the bottom shrimp up and pushing the top shrimp down. Let cook until it reaches the 6 minutes or until all the shrimp are opaque and red/pink in color.
3. While it's steaming, cook the red onion, garlic, red onion, tomato and green pepper in a sauté pan or wok until soft. Once the shrimp are done, put all the shrimp into the pan and add in the seasonings: cajun seasoning, white pepper powder, chicken bouillon powder, garlic powder, paprika and cayenne pepper powder. Toss to coat.
4. Add the 1/2 cup water for the sauce to form. If it's too much liquid, you can add cornstarch to your sauce to thicken it up a bit. My sauce had a good consistency at that point, so I didn't add the cornstarch. Up to you!
5. Once well coated and the sauce is ready, plate your shrimp and top with parsley. Serve with garlic bread to sop up all that delicious sauce and enjoy! 

We hope you enjoy this delicious cajun (asian-style?) shrimp recipe. It's the perfect date night in for seafood lovers or friends! Don't forget to get some kind of bread to sop up all that yummy sauce!

Over ripe bananas and don't know what to do with them? Try these delicious and healthy banana muffins!

This recipe is based on a recipe by Cookie+Kate, a great blog I stumbled upon when Pinteresting for ideas for using bananas, because I had a few bananas that were getting too ripe and I didn't want to waste them. I added in some dark chocolate cacao bits as well as candied walnuts to add texture and yumminess because I love dark chocolate. I didn't have whole wheat flour as the recipe asked for, and used white flour and added an extra 1/2 tablespoon of baking powder as well for foofiness.

​I rarely eat muffins because so often they end up being dry and just overly filling for my taste—but these are just the right portion! They're also very fluffy and naturally moist from the banana and coconut oil, which you can't even taste. Another great thing about her recipe is that it's a one pot recipe where you throw everything together, mix mix mix, bake, and devour.

YIELD: 12 muffins
INGREDIENTS
• ⅓ cup melted coconut oil
• ½ cup maple syrup
• 2 eggs
• 3 mashed large ripe bananas
• ¼ cup water
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon, plus more for sprinkling on top
• 1 ¾ cups white flour
• ⅓ cup old-fashioned oats, plus more for sprinkling on top
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar for sprinkling on top

DIRECTIONS
1 Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit (165 degrees Celsius). Grease your muffin pans with butter or non-stick cooking spray, or you can be like me and use cupcake liners for no mess!

2 Mix together the coconut oil and maple syrup. Add the eggs, the mashed bananas and water, followed by the baking soda, baking powder, vanilla extract, salt and cinnamon.

3 Add the flour and oats to the bowl and mix until combined. Now add in your dark chocolate pieces, candied walnuts, or any other dried fruit, nuts etc that you love.

4 Divide the batter evenly between the muffin cupsz Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with a small amount of oats and some granulated sugar. Bake muffins for 22 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.
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5 Place the muffin tin on a cooling rack to cool. According to Cookie+Katec these muffins will keep at room temperature for up to 2 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 4 days, and will keep well in the freezer in a freezer-safe bag for up to 3 months (just defrost individual muffins as needed).

I hope you enjoy this great banana muffin recipe and big props to Cookie+Kate for coming up with it! Visit her blog for more deliciousness!