Fresh Start Grill off Champions | A Porked out Waffle + Chutney

More Guts More Glory.

I almost said no. I had never competed in a cooking contest before. Could I pull it off? Would I embarrass myself? Who am I -Just a passionate Food Ambassador and home chef... not professional- to do something like this?

And then, of course, I started thinking about athletic competition... the challenge, the unknown, the thrill, getting to meet new people... and I thought about how I coach my pitchers, how I want them to mentally and physically show up on the mound amidst fear & unknown outcomes...  I thought about how much I love talking to people about food, how many successful market demonstrations I have been a part of (thank you Melissa!!) and my love for spreading awareness of Jamie Oliver's global Food Revolution Campaign.

Well, hell YES I'll do it.

I didn't want to cook alone (It's so much more fun pitching to a catcher!). Enter in Christina Erickson, amazing girlfriend, Lake County Food Revolution teammate and Stevenson High School Family and Consumer Sciences Teacher. Thank you for saying YES and for teaching me how to start a grill with charcoal!

Throw like a girl.
Grill like a girl.

We planned (Christina's husband Kurt was a fellow brainstormer), we tested (Chris and Kurt both about passed out from the gloriousness of our dish), we conquered. 

So without further ado, here she is in her full paper plated glory.

Introducing the Fresh Start Business Incubator's 3rd annual Grill Off Champion Dish! 

A Porked-out Waffle + Chutney 
I try and cook with as many organic ingredients as possible to protect gut health. Veggies are best but sometimes, you need a little comfort food.
Recipe is listed in layered order. 

• A gluten free waffle + bacon

3.5 c Pamela's Gluten free flour pancake mix (Pamela's all-purpose flour mix is awesome too (batter will be much thicker FYI. Just increase baking powder to 2 T.)
1 T baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
4 organic, pasture raised egg yolks (whites separated into another bowl)
3.5 c organic rice milk (regular dairy milk works fine too)
1 c organic butter (avocado or coconut oil works well to make it completely dairy free)
1 package cooked and rough chopped Applegate's Organic Sunday Bacon

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and mix. Whisk in vanilla, egg yolks and rice milk. Whisk in melted butter (My Grandma Dorothy's top waffle tip: If using hot butter, do this last as it will clump if you do it before the cold milk!). Let batter sit and thicken up for at least 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile, whip up the egg yolks into stiff peaks. Fold in egg whites + bacon bits. (Tip: You should have little clumps of egg whites throughout your batter.)

• 12 hour honey marinated pork tenderloin
(I could only find hormone + nitrate free within my budget. I sure wish I could have found antibiotic free!)

For every two pork tenderloins, marinate them in a plastic gallon bag with the following ingredients:
1/2 c local honey
1/2 c organic gluten free soy sauce
1.5 lemons juiced
4-5 small cloves of garlic

• An organic nectarine, peach and plum chutney (Inspired from this recipe.)

1 cup organic goji berries
1.5 c organic diced onions
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp all spice
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp sea salt
6 organic nectarines pitted and diced
6 organic peaches pitted and diced
4 organic plums pitted and diced
1/2 c organic maple syrup
1 c organic lemon juice
1 c organic apple vinegar
4 cloves garlic rough chopped

Dump everything a big stock pot, bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer until liquid is reduced to your desired "chutney" thickness. Christina and I decided to puree this, however you can certainly leave it chunky for your dish!

• Organic apples (sliced into matchsticks)

• Sage salt (Christina and I chopped up my fresh kitchen garden sage!)

• Organic maple syrup (just a drizzle)

Big thanks to Mariano's Market (Thank you Manager Gary at the Meat Counter!) for making my shopping so easy, ONE STOP and under budget!

To Rebekka, John, Bruce, Zach, Phillip and David - on behalf of Christina and myself, it was a pleasure to meet + cook + eat with you all!

We'll see you next year, for Christina and I now have a trophy to defend!!!!

To the mullies we go,
xoxoL


ps

Have a dream of starting your own business but need a little help? The Fresh Start Business Incubator program is out.of.this.world and here for YOU (Link to their incredible wealth of FREE services here). 

pps

It was the biggest batch of waffles I have ever made;)

day 30 and a foodie weekend

i am very excited about this school week.  in way, i am happy i screwed the pooch by giving her the cal-mag supplement laced with sodium benzoate.  it has been vaporized from the house f.o.r.e.v.e.r.

hopefully, her little brain is clean as a whistle now...fingers and toes crossed, butt cheeks clenched.

mac complained about not liking the new maple syrup over the weekend.  abbie was sitting next to him ready to whine and agree...  this is how i handled it:  

"mac, let me read you the ingredients of our old syrup: corn syrup, liquid sugar (natural sugar, water), water, salt, natural and artificial flavor (lactic acid), sodium hexametaphosphate, preservatives (sodium benzoate, sorbic acid), caramel color, phosphoric acid.   that stuff comes from gasoline and here is the new maple syrup bottle - (plop on the table in front of him) - this comes straight from a tree, mac.  

and feel free to read the ingredients yourself: "pure maple syrup".

his eyes got wide and he proceeded to eat with gusto, with no comments from either one.  they all asked for seconds on the pancakes.  

also interesting... there is way less syrup used now ...hmmmmmm.

i tried out another pizza crust recipe on friday.   

this one has made the cut.  

i love danielle's blog so much!

i think i rolled it out a little too thin, next time i will leave it thicker.  

I also did not have raw cashews, so i will definitely be adding those to my grocery list.  

now for the main event!!!

one of my family's favorite dishes has always been 

pork tenderloin with a peach barbecue sauce.  

i haven't made it since our food revolution.

i am super-duper-looper excited about my newly adapted and might i say, improved sauce.  

we had a family over for dinner so this meal fed four adults and six kiddos.

(how i forgot to take pictures of the meat & sauce is beyond me...)

the mullies peach barbeque sauce

2 canned peaches quartered and smashed up & drained (i used trader joe's (tj's) canned peaches and i bet fresh would rock)

3 c organic ketchup (tj's...this is approximate since i kept adding more from the original recipe link above)

2 T organic coconut oil (tj's)

2 tsp veganaise horseradish

1 tsp cider vinegar

2 T prepared organic mustard (tj's...this is also approx since i kept adding more to taste)

2/3 c sucanat

2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp salt (i used pink himalayan salt)

1/3 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

i think it's fun to experiment and add more of this or that while you're cooking!  so, just dump it all in a small pot and mix it up as it heats through.  once it was all combined, i kept a lid on it and simmered the sauce until it was time to eat.

full recipe notes:

i seasoned three tenderloins with a salt and pepper blend and used coconut oil to brown the meat.  

you MUST coat the tops of the tenderloins with some sauce before finishing the cooking in the oven.  

good golly miss molly it's ahhhhmazing.

here are the sides i made with dinner and the links to the recipes:

pumkin biscuits

i substituted earth's balance vegan buttery sticks and cup 4 cup gluten free flour.  i actually had a butternut squash, but just not enough time to cook that too.  so, i used canned pumpkin puree instead.

i offered honey or butter to slather on top.  delish.  thanks shannalee!!

diced purple-lishious potatoes

these little guys were in my organic produce box for the week.  i was so surprised when i cut into the first one and they were marbled all purple and white!!  (i simply drizzled evoo, kosher salt and pepper all over them and cooked them with the tenderloins).

primal banana chocolate chip cakies

these didn't turn out as thick or as light in color as heather's beautiful pictures.  

maybe i put too many bananas in...

you bettah believe i will be baking these cakies again.

totally, completely gone in 15 minutes flat.