Oh To Live on Sugar Mountain

Woman's Day Monkey Bars

These banana bars get most of their sugar from the fruit and call for 3/4 cup of brown sugar but I add only 1/2 and replace the 1/4 cup of milk with yogurt.  Much like banana bread, you must add nuts and choco chips.  I'm telling you these are addictive and since they are lo-cal-ish, one could snack all day.   These I made for a dear friend coming to visit. 

You Find You Can Always Lose a Little More

This is probably absolutely nothing but anyone who has a blog or writes, paints, sings, records, plays guitar, etc knows that a little recognition can go a long way.  Any little acknowledgement is a huge deal for us.  Again, I think this is just some weird anomaly or false search engine scheme but other than it not being real (insert laughing emoji here) , Hey look! I'm #71 on top 100 New York food RSS feeds!  Even if it has zero meaning, I got a bit of those old endorphin kicks that I remember getting when someone liked my picture on Instagram or funny musing on Facebook.  They are shameful needs and I am not proud but hey dude, we're in the middle of winter and although its been actually quite lovely, there ain't a lot of shaking going on over here.  

However, I did make my tried and true Mexican Pork Stew that I have perfected from a genius, right-up-my alley,  Woman's Day recipe and I couldn't be more happy with it.

I even made my own crispy chip strands, shucked the corn and most importantly made my own salsa. If you can't get down with this stew, you may be broken.  Unless you don't eat meat and then you're probably just fine. You could possibly replace the pork with black beans and this could be an incredible vegetarian stew but I'm not that girl.  Not right now.  But I mention it, because my sister and I talk about aging and how naturally we desire less meat.  We both live with carnivores but it works because you can always find ways to eat less just by serving yourself larger vegetable portions.  But if you took bacon away from me, real chicken broth or crispy skin, I would be so sad.  The broth made from the bones of these country ribs, along with the fat, well you see, that's my gold. It's my sunshine, my joy.  I eat it knowing its value and worth.  I don't take meat for granted, which may still sound disgusting to a meat eater but gratitude does matter, I believe.  I hope it does.  I think it does. 

I also have a brand spanking new little angel great niece who I hope to meet in person very soon. Peaceful sleeping babies, another worldly joy!  

A colorful pot of slow cooked anything, yet another joy.

We Americans have so many wonderful things to enjoy in our little messed up worlds, even if things aren't going great, you see how it could be SO much worse.  That has always been the case but I finally see it crystal clearly.  Lately I find myself feeling like my dang pot runneth over.  

Everybody I Know Needs Some Passion

This is where it gets a little embarrassing when speaking of my food passions.  We rarely eat pork but in fact sometimes they practically give it away with the prices so low that you're crazy not to buy it.  But what happens when you have a pack of country ribs and a huge pork shoulder to roast?  Most people would freeze one and cook the other but instead I declared it Pork Week.  I made a pre-pork shoulder Sweet potato pork stew with corn and cumin.  Excellent!  As always, if you have hot sauce then I'm telling you, you're nuts not to throw in a full cup.  Let's not even talk about considering El Paso okay, that is just embarrassing but this recipe is cool.  The extra that the real homemade hot sauce gives is promised!  The recipe

meanwhile the Nigella Lawson slow-roasted Aromatic pork begins its journey...