Pork Ragu

It was a good thing tonight’s dinner was really simple to throw together at the last minute.  I spent half my day working on my gluten free pumpkin cake recipe and the other half with my dog at his “play-date.”  Yes, my dog requires play dates.  He is a hyperactive lunatic who decided his newest "project" would be to uproot every single vegetable plant I spent all summer cultivating.  So we went to Chris’s grandmother’s house to hang out with her 6-month-old puppy.  I had a wonderful afternoon visiting with Susan and the dogs wore themselves out running laps around the yard for a few hours. 

Since the day got away from me, I was pleasantly surprised to see the pork ragu recipe takes about 30 minutes start to finish.  The slow cooker pork shoulder recipe from yesterday made too much food for two people to eat in one night.  So, as the pork ragu recipe suggests, I used the leftover pork juice and pork meat to create the ragu sauce.  All I needed to do was chop a few veggies, mix up and heat the ragu sauce, and use a spiralizer to make butternut squash noodles.  Fun fact: I am not skilled at using the spiralizer.  I think I picked the wrong blade or didn’t push the butternut squash hard enough because it didn’t quite separate the squash noodles enough.

(see?)

When I steamed the noodles, the squash broke apart from long curly noodles into short little chunks.  My inability to properly execute a butternut squash noodle aside, the finished product tasted amazing.  The sauce is full of flavor so having a mild flavored noodle is the perfect balance.  We still have a lot of sauce left, so I will use zucchini to make the noodles tomorrow night.  I love zucchini and it is mild enough to pair really well with the pork ragu sauce. 

 Finished product

In case I haven’t been clear, this cookbook does not use any grain or dairy products.  Danielle Walker’s diet is grain-free/dairy-free because of her autoimmune disease.  While that does not apply to me, I have seen quite a few studies that indicate grain and dairy are two of the most over processed types of food produced in the USA.  So my reasons for embarking on this self-imposed challenge was to try to eat a cleaner, unprocessed diet and since Chris’s only form of exercise is chasing the dog through a field when he doesn’t return the ball, I knew he needed to have a very healthy diet to try to balance out the lack of exercise.  (I know, I know, he still needs to start working out.  I’m working on that….)

Surprisingly, the most noticeable thing I have observed the past few days is how satisfied I feel.  I expected cutting out entire food groups would leave me craving those omitted foods, but this food is so flavorful and so filling, I haven’t missed any of it.

Final thought of the night: Chris is really enjoying this taste testing for my cake.  It isn’t quite ready yet, but it is coming together!  Hope y’all are as excited as I am for the cake!

See, I really am working on putting the recipe together and getting it just right!

Alright y'all, I have to run.  Scandal is about to start! Until next time…

-Kim