Tag: eggs

Whether you’re feeding the family, hosting a backyard dinner party or whipping up something quick for a weekday meal, pulled pork is always a guaranteed pleaser. You can serve it with your favourite BBQ sauce and sides, in sandwiches and tacos, or over nachos, but have you ever served it over top a perfectly crispy waffle? Don’t knock it till you try it. My first introduction to chicken on waffles was a complete surprise. This just takes that favourite dish to a whole new level. How bout adding the flavour of maple syrup? Better yet, add a splash of sriracha sauce at the end for some extra zing.

What if I told you it could BE ON THE TABLE in less than half an hour? I know right! True story. Read on.

*full disclosure: this is not my recipe. I just wanted it written down somewhere so that I could share it. It originated with Chef Todd Leonard ¹ (see below).

I am not a vegetarian but I do not eat much meat and could easily imagine a life without it. However, I live with people who DO like to eat meat, and I’m okay with that, though I do NOT like to handle raw meat. Having freeze dried meat checks off a few boxes for me.

Box 1: Food storage is important to me – not just for those BIG emergencies where the sky comes falling down, but for the more frequent emergencies like job interruption, like unexpected expenses, like illness that keeps one from shopping or meal preparation, like – I dunno, maybe something WAAAY out there, like a pandemic that keeps us out of the stores . . . . so many other of the day to day realities of normal life.
There is something to be said for the peace of mind that comes with preparing for those times. Properly sealed freeze dried food has a shelf life of 25 years. Once opened, it generally will last up to a year if protected from the moisture in the air.

Box 2: Saving money is important to me, by NOT cooking more meat than we need at any given time (meaning we either ate too much, or we ate leftovers for too long, or we wasted food by throwing it away, or worse – all three). Now I just prepare exactly what I want.

Box 3: Convenience of putting a NICE meal on the table in less than half an hour. Thrive Life freeze dried meats are all precooked and in some cases, lightly seasoned. You can even eat them straight out of the can!

Box 4: Never having to touch, smell or deal with raw meat. BIG box for me.

I’ll admit – waffles and meat never used to fit together in my mind UNTIL I tried it a few times. Now this is one of our favourites. So put away your slow cooker and get over yourself. You don’t need to thaw, precook or shred the meat. It’s already done.

*Someone recently told me they spooned the pork mixture onto the waffle maker, and poured the waffle mix over top! Wowzers! Definitely trying THAT next time I make this recipe.

MAPLE PULLED PORK WAFFLES

I am using mostly freeze dried ingredients here (FD), but not to worry – you can substitute with equal amounts of garden fresh in every case. And if you have a pork roast in your freezer, but not the freeze dried pulled pork – not to worry. Just slow cook it like you would for any other ‘pulled pork’ recipe (without all the seasoning). What you’re going to end up with is cooked pulled pork – just the long way around. Freeze dried pulled pork is delicious and accessible – the short cut way.
Amounts intended to serve 4 or 5 people

Ingredients
normal stuff in your kitchen:
3 Tablespoons vegetable oil
2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
2 Tablespoons Maple Syrup
water
1/4 cup butter

Freeze Dried foods: (FD)
2 cups FD Pulled Pork ²
1 Tablespoon FD garlic OR 2 cloves minced
3/4 cup FD Onion Slices OR 1/2 cup FD Chopped Onions
1 cup FD Red Peppers
1/2 cup FD Green Chili Peppers
1/3 cup FD Green Onions
1 teaspoon Chef’s Choice Seasoning (or your favourite seasoning mix)

* optional: add more FD vegetables as desired. Green Peppers, Asparagus, Green Beans, Peas, Kale, Spinach . . . . etc
Put away your cutting board. These vegetables are already washed and sliced.

Waffles:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 T baking powder
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 large eggs
1 ½ cups warm milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil

Sift all dry ingredients together, set aside.
Beat eggs and oil into milk.
Pour liquids into dry ingredients and stir to moisten all.

OR
use 2 cups of your favourite Pancake mix or try my mix (recipe in this blog site)
+ 2 eggs (beaten) to whatever liquid your mix calls for
*tip: 2 T Thrive Life Scrambled Egg Mix +3 T water = 1 egg

Directions:
1. refresh PULLED PORK by putting it in a jar or container with a lid. Add 3 cups warm water, fasten lid and roll the jar ensuring all meat is moistened. Set aside to allow to soften 10-15 minutes. A little longer isn’t going to hurt.
It is helpful to gently tumble the jar every few minutes.

2. make Waffles:
Preheat seasoned waffle iron and pour batter onto oiled, HOT griddle. Approximately 1/4 cup in each quadrant. Close waffle iron and watch the time. I leave mine for 4 minutes until they’re toasty brown, but every waffle iron is probably a bit different.
Cook waffles and set aside.

3. Pork mixture:
Using a large skillet, heat oil and lightly toast onions and garlic till aromatic and slightly browned.

4. Add the moistened pork with remaining water. Stirring gently (so as not to break up the delicate meat), add all the vegetables and Chef’s Choice Seasoning, adding extra water (1/4 cup at a time) as needed to keep the mixture wet. Last time I made this in addition to the onions, I used red peppers, green peppers, chili peppers, green beans and spinach.

5. Add brown sugar, soy sauce and maple syrup. Reduce heat and simmer gently another couple of minutes stirring, till all vegetables are moistened. If mixture is too dry, simply add a little more water. Taste test and season with salt and pepper to taste if desired (I never add either as I find the Chef’s Choice is perfect for me).

6. Remove from heat and add butter, allowing it to melt and emulsify.
Give it one final stir.

To serve: spoon a dollop of juicy, shredded, maple infused pork over top your fluffy waffle.

As mentioned above: *Someone recently told me they spooned the pork mixture onto the waffle maker, and poured the waffle mix over top! I’m loving that idea! Definitely trying it next time I make this recipe.

ENJOY.

Warmly,

Cindy Suelzle

1. Chef Todd Leonard is the department chair of the Utah Valley University’s Culinary Art Institute, one of the top professional cooking programs in America. Winner of the Nations Top Chef in 2018, and the first Chef from Utah to ever win the honour.
   https://kutv.com/features/inside-the-story/inside-the-story-utah-chef-is-national-chef-of-the-year ↩︎
2. Unlike many freeze dried meats, PULLED PORK is a ‘high fat’ meant, which affects its open shelf life. Once the can is open, use it within a few weeks. Personally, I always write the date I open a can on the lid so I can stay on top of it. In the case of PULLED PORK, I put it in the fridge to buy me an extra week or two. If I know for sure I’m not going to use it right away, I’ll put it in the freezer part of my fridge to buy another week or two. Don’t forget about it – USE it! For this reason, I generally buy the smaller cans so that I can use them more efficiently, and I ALWAYS buy them when they are on sale. ↩︎