In the Kitchen

I was asked to create a recipe using the Rack of Pork, since my husband is more creative in the kitchen I asked him to help me with the recipe.  He came up with Sweet Caramelized Onion Pork Rack with Creamy Bacon-Mashed Potatoes.   Enjoy!

Sweet Caramelized Onion Pork Roast

Ingredients

• 1 (5-pound) pork rack with  bones
• 1 pound bacon
• Salt and black pepper (freshly ground)
• 2 large (or 3 medium) sweet onions, sliced
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated with micro-plane grater
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary chopped
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 4 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2  cups apple juice

Directions:
Liberally season both sides of rack with fresh ground salt and pepper.  Let the pork absorb the salt and pepper while you cook the bacon in a heavy sauté pan. Remove the bacon and set aside for mashed potatoes.  Remove all but 2-3 tablespoons of the rendered bacon fat.  Turn pan to high and get it very hot.  Using the same pan used to cook the bacon, sear all sides of the pork rack in the bacon fat until rack is well caramelized. Set aside in roasting pan.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.  In same sauté pan, reduce heat to medium and then add 1 tablespoon of butter.  Add the sliced onions and cook for 5 minutes.  After 5 minutes, add the garlic, ginger, cinnamon,mustard, cayenne pepper and remaining butter.  Slowly cook until onions are well caramelized. Finally add brown sugar and cook for 3 more minutes.

Add the apple juice and turn the temperature to high.  Deglaze the pan and simmer to reduce compote until a glaze forms.

Completely cover rack with half of sweet carmelized onion compote setting aside the remaining half for later.  Transfer pork rack to roasting pan and place in oven. Cook for 15 minutes and then reduce temperature to 350 degrees for the remaining cooking time.  Cook until internal temperature reaches 145 degrees.  Halfway through cooking time, pour remaining half of sweet carmelized onion compote over the rack.  Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

While the pork is cooking, cook potatoes for creamy bacon-mashed potato accompaniment.

Creamy Bacon-Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients

• 2 quarts chicken stock
• 5 large potatoes, peeled and cut into pieces
• 4 tablespoons butter
• Fresh ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• bacon, cooked and chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh chives

Directions:
Heat chicken stock and potatoes in a saucepan over medium-high heat until potatoes come to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium, cover and let cook for an additional 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender.  Drain, the potatoes saving the stock for later.

Mash the potatoes with 1/4 cup of the saved stock, butter and fresh ground black pepper.   Mix in the sour cream, chopped  bacon, and chives.   Save some of the chopped bacon for a garnish to sprinkle on the top of the creamy mashed potatoes.

Serve with a salad and enjoy!   I have to say, my husband did an amazing job!   The flavor on the pork was so good and and the rack of pork was so juicy and tender.   We are looking forward to inviting some people over and amazing them with our mad pork cooking skills!

I am grateful for the opportunity to work with the National Pork Board and Costco on creating a recipe for Rack of Pork.  I had never tried this cut before, and now our family will be purchasing this cut again.  Don’t forget, through October 31st, you can save $2.50 on the Rack of Pork at your local Costco store.   Pick one up and give this recipe a try, you will be glad you did!

Win a $25 Costco Cash Card:  You can enter to win a $25 Costco Cash card just by leaving a comment on this post.

How to enter:  Just leave a comment and let me know what your favorite type of pork is.

The giveaway will close on Tuesday, November 1st at 9:00 am PST and winner will be notified shortly thereafter.

This post was written by me in participation with a program from The Motherhood for Costco and the National Pork Board. I received products to facilitate my recipe creation and a stipend for my time.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.

October is National Pork Month and Costco is celebrating with extra savings on pork all month long.  From October 24-31, you can save $2.50 off the Rack of Pork.

I will be picking up a Rack of Pork this week and I have challenged my husband to come up with a great recipe to share with all of you.   Just for fun, I might even have him create the recipe “Chopped” style by giving him some mystery ingredients he has to work into his recipe.   If you have any suggestions for  a great mystery item, leave it in the comments.

We have never cooked a Rack of Pork before, so we had to do a little research.  Luckily, the Pork website has all the information we need to learn how to cook a Rack of Pork, as well as any other cut of pork we might be interested in preparing.  They even have my personal favorite…bacon!

Once you know how to prepare the Rack of Pork, you can find a couple of great recipes on Costco.com: In the Warehouse.   You will find a recipe for:

• Garlic and Rosemary Rack of Pork
• Herb-Crusted Pork Rib Roast with Red Wine Sauce

Temperature Update: In May, the USDA reduced the temperature guideline for pork loins, chops and roasts from 160 to 145 degrees F, with a three-minute rest.  This will yield a juicy, flavorful product that may be pinker in color than most home cooks are used to. Ground pork, like all ground meat, should be cooked to 160 degrees.

Make sure you check back later in the week when I share the recipe my husband came up with.  I will also be giving away a $25 Costco Cash Card!

This post was written by me in participation with a program from The Motherhood for Costco and the National Pork Board. I received products to facilitate my recipe creation and a stipend for my time.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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I was searching for something fall related to make for a neighbor of mine, I saw a recipe for a super easy caramel apple dip and I decided to give it a try. This is so easy to a make and oh so yummy!

Supplies needed:

• 1 Can Sweetened Condensed Milk (14 oz)
• Kraft Caramels
• Wide Mouth Half Pint Size Canning Jars (if you plan to give as gifts)

My can of sweetened consdensed milk had a pop-top lid, so I chose to open the bottom with a can opener, so I could use the can to make these super cute tin can treats at a later date.

Pour the Sweetened Condensed Milk and (40) of the unwrapped caramels into a microwave safe bowl. The first time I made these I used the entire bag of caramels and the caramel ended up really stiff.  I reduced the amount of caramels to 40 this time, and I like the consistency much better.

Microwave on high for 1 minute.

After the first minute, take the bowl out and stir the caramels and sweetened condensed milk. Continue to microwave (and stir) every 30 seconds until the caramels are completely melted.

Once the caramels are completely melted you will be able to add them to the canning jars or other storage containers. It took me about a total of 3 – 3 1/2 minutes before everything was completely melted. You should end up with 2 half pint jars and a little extra leftover. You can keep the Caramel Apple Dip in the regfrigerator for up to 2 weeks (if it lasts that long!)

Once they are in the jars you can add a ribbon and tag to the jars. I have included a FREE printable of the label I added to the lid. Just right click on the image and save the image as a download.  (Big thanks to my son Jordan for making the label for me!)

I packaged a couple apples up in a plastic bag, so I could give the apples and the caramel dip to my neighbor. It turned out great!

Welcome to Thrifty and Thriving! You may want to subscribe to my RSS feed or have the once a day email delivered to your inbox. My Facebook Page is an excellent way to stay up-to-date on the hottest deals.

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I knew when I saw these super cute Ice Cream Sundae Cupcakes over at Living Locurto, I HAD to make them for an upcoming birthday. So flippin’ cute and clever!!

Want to make some too? Here is what you do:

First, you need to find youself some ice cream cups. They found their ice cream cups HERE.  YIKES!  Expensive, huh?  I put my super bargain finding skills to work, and I found the ones pictured above at Michael’s craft store for only $1.99 (Plus, I had a 20% off coupon to boot!).   The ones I found were smaller, and they fit the cupcakes perfectly.

Next, you will want to make some cupcakes. I just used a boxed mixed, so it was super simple. I baked them in regular cupcake liners and then once they were cooled I added them to the ice cream cups.

The frosting comes next! It looks just like ice cream, doesn’t it? You will want to head on over to Living Locurto for the frosting recipe. Make sure you refrigerate it first.

Next melt some chocolate candy melts, these work better than just regular chocolate chips because they set up nicely. Then you will want to add some sprinkles.

Lastly, you will want to add a “cherry” on top. I used Gobstoppers, you could also use Gum Balls or any other round red candy.

I wrapped one up in cello, and made a card with the Silhouette SD Machine. Perfect to give to a friend for their birthday. I can see working a whole birthday party theme around these cute little cupcakes.

A big HUGE thanks goes to Living Locurto for the inspiration and recipe!

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I knew as soon as I saw these Cupcake Push Pop Peeps over at Love from the Oven I wanted to make them. I teach a class at church with 14-15 year old girls, and they love treats. Cute treats are even better! So I spent part of my weekend making these super cute cup cakes.

Here is a close up of one of the cuties. I followed the instructions at Love from the Oven, and I bought the push pops from HERE (Thanks to reader who found them for me!)

Do you have any Easter treats in the works? I would love to hear what you are making!

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Sign up with Recipe Nut, and you will be able to save all the recipes you like from any online site. It makes it easy to have all your favorite online recipes in one place.   They have tons of recipes that you can search for too.  You can search by ingredient, type of cuisine, an occasion and more.  They even have quick and easy meals.

I just signed up and I am in love!! I no longer have to search for the recipes I use on a regular basis, I can have them all in one convenient place. Plus, they will also send you money saving coupons every other week.

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