Serving Single - Succotash

Suffering Succotash. I have had a rough couple of days diet wise, but nice quiet days holiday wise. To top off the bad diet days the pool is still close I guess when they started to repair the ceiling (it was damaged last winter with the MANY feet of snow we had) they figured out it was going to take an extra week to fix it right. That or they just take 3 hour lunch breaks. So I made my favorite no meat dish this weekend.





I love Succotash, but not the kind that that is pre-made, which I didn't know you could get until I started researching it's history. I love the kind my mom makes. This is traditionally a depression era dish that is inexpensive with very few ingredients. The succotash in a can is made with Corn and Lima beans, but my family makes it with Kidney or Pinto beans. My suggestion is that you make a big batch and freeze what you don't use for a later date.



You need...

1 bag of frozen corn (12-16oz)
2 cans of Kidney or pinto beans(12-14 oz per can)
1 cup of milk
salt
pepper

1. Drain but DO NOT rinse your beans. The starch on the outside of the beans will be used to thicken the milk.
2. Using a large pot on Medium heat put the frozen corn and the beans in the pot. Then season with salt and pepper to taste. Then add 1 cup of milk. You can use whatever milk you have handy skim or whole.
3. Let it cook stirring occasionally until the it is simmering then remove from heat.



It is really like a thin chowder at this point. I would put it in a bowl and garnish with a bit of fresh parsley and maybe some crumbled bacon and I sliced of hearty bread with butter. If you have left overs you can add some cooked Potato or Lima beans. It is very basic but tasty.

Serving Single- Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

I love slower cookers because it really is just set it and forget it. So here is my recipe for slow cooker pulled pork.


80z to 12oz Country Style Boneless Ribs or any other lean pork of your choosing.
Kosher Salt
Fresh Ground Pepper
Smoked Paprika
About 1/4 to 1/2 cup of your favorite bottle BBQ Sauce
1 tbsp apple Cider Vinegar

This is SO easy. I like the country style ribs because they are lean boneless, and cook fairly quickly. Sprinkle the pork with your salt, pepper, and paprika to your taste. Put the meat in the cooker for 4 hours put it on High or for an 6-8 hours on low cooking time put it on low. Then add 1/4 cup of BBQ sauce, and Vinegar. There is something about the extra vinegar that helps break down the pork.

After the cooking it should just fall apart with two fork, or a pair of tongs. If you like it extra saucy add your last quarter cup of BBQ Sauce. I prefer to serve it with some shredded lettuce and diced tomato and instead of a bun I use Light High Fiber English muffins. They are only 100 calories each and have 8 grams of fiber.

Seriously just toast up the muffin and pile on the pork, lettuce and Tomato. YUM!

8-12 ounces make 2-3 servings. I have a tough time saying no to pulled pork. So I make my servings bigger and I like to have left over for the next day.

Serving Single - Three Potato Salad

I love potato salad but for me I think of it as a hearty fall/winter dish and I DON'T like mayonnaise based dressings. I prefer vinaigrettes. Here is my recipe for Three Potato salad. It makes about 2 servings perfect a single dinner with enough left over for lunch on Monday.

1lbs. of small blue potatos, baby reds, and baby yellow or white potatos.

1 teaspoon of Kosher salt

1 tablespoon of Flat leaf parsley

1 small green onion or a few chives

1-2 tbsp. of Olive Oil

1/2 tbsp. sherry vinegar

1/2 tsp of Dijon or whole grain mustard

Ground Pepper to taste

Just cover the potatos with water in a pot, and add a teaspoon of salt(you can add more if the water isn't salty enough.) Bring to a boil then simmer until the potatos are fork tender. Drain and let cool, while you make the dressing.

Combine vinegar, Dijon mustard and pepper, then drizzle in 1-2 tbsp of olive oil while stirring. Finely chop your parsley and chives.

The potatos should be cool enough to handle but still warm. Cut the potatos in half, toss in the dressing, parsley and chives.

Additional notes: I typically only buy one kind of potato at the grocery store because they come in those big giant bags. If you plan on making this go your local farm stand where you can buy two or three of each kind of potatos. If you can't get small batches you can use just red or yellow potatos. I promise I won't tell.