hospitality

Recipe Roundup for the Super Bowl

February 4, 2016 by Asharae Leave a Comment

The Big Game is this weekend and guess what? Our Panthers are playing!! We are so excited to cheer them on with friends on Sunday!

Now, if it weren’t for our team being in the game, I’d usually say the Super Bowl is all about the food and the commercials – am I right? I mean, I love a good football game, but I just miiiight just love good snacks even more.

Below I’ve collected some of my favorite EASY recipes for serving to friends and family. Whether you’re cheering on the Panthers or the Broncos this weekend, or you’re just joining in for the food, these easy recipes are sure to make your Super Bowl experience much more delicious!

Slow Cooker Chili – When cooking for a big group of people (or even a small one) I love making something that requires little effort, but has a big payoff. This chili recipe is perfect for serving a large crowd easily! You can substitute ground turkey, or even leave out the meat entirely for a vegetarian option. You just throw everything in the crock pot in the morning and it’ll be ready by game time!

Slow Cooker Corn Dip – This corn dip is currently one of my favorite recipes to make for friends because it always gets rave reviews. My favorite thing is catching someone camped out by the food with their plate of chips, eating straight from the crock pot. This dip is super easy and completely delicious. If you have a smaller slow cooker it’s perfect for this recipe. You can always double or triple the batch and use a regular-sized slow cooker if you’re really serving a huge group of friends!

Guacamole – What’s a Super Bowl party without guacamole?? Need I say more?

Blood Orange Strawberry Limeade – If you need a break from soda and beer at your Super Bowl get together, this is a refreshing alternative. Blood oranges are in season right now, so it’s the perfect time to pick a few up and make this delicious limeade. Make it the night before or in the afternoon before the game and refrigerate it till you’re ready to serve.

Salted Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies – These cookies. Just make them. You’ll thank me later.

On Community

September 23, 2014 by Asharae 1 Comment

Over Labor Day weekend we drove up to Maryland to visit Tim’s family. They live toward the mountains in a gorgeous area of the country, surrounded by green rolling hills and pastures and farmland. Their area has a fairly high Amish and Mennonite population, and one evening we attended an event at a local Amish family’s farm. This family was hosting a fundraiser for their neighbor who had fallen off the roof of his barn back in the spring and has major medical bills to pay off.

Aside from the beauty of their farm with a gorgeous old barn nestled into rolling hills, and the warm evening light as the sun dipped behind the trees, the outpouring of support for this family was incredible. When we arrived, we waited in line on this narrow country road as they directed each car and tractor to park in the pasture across the street. There were huge gentle horses hooked up to wagons to give hay rides, and men roasting ears of corn by the dozens over an open fire. There was roasted chicken and potatoes and cole slaw, homemade ice cream and huge pans of brownies and chocolate chip cookie bars, cheese curds and tiny handmade pies. Even the kids were helping out – dressed in their flowery shift dresses or their little navy slacks – each helping carry buckets of corn or potatoes, or restocking the cheese curds.

We figured our way through the line to fill our plates and then settled into one of the many tables that were lined up inside the barn. It looked as if they’d cleared out the barn and decorated it, just for this purpose. As we were finishing up our dinner, a few Amish men got up on the makeshift stage (a pile of hay bales), and after a short introduction began to sing hymns. They let everyone know they didn’t want to be seen as performers – this, for them, was an act of worship. I was surprised that most of the hymns were familiar to me – the words at least were familiar from the hymnal in the church where I grew up. But the tunes were different. The melodies sounded older, more melancholy, as if they were steeped in history, and this family, and all the generations before them, had been singing the same tune. It was beautiful. And hard to put into words. But somehow I felt like God was smiling down on this little farm on a country road in Maryland – smiling on his people acting out what community is supposed to look like.

I wish we’d taken more photos, but here are just a few that don’t really do it justice. You can imagine the rest. Or see one more photo I took that day over on my Instagram of course.

Slow Cooker Barbacoa Pork Tacos

August 15, 2014 by Asharae 3 Comments

These barbacoa pork tacos are the perfect thing to serve to a large group of friends. Most of the work is done in the morning, then you throw everything in the slow cooker and let it get happy for 10 hours or so. Your house will smell amazing and I promise your friends will love you more than they did before. Before they arrive, you remove the pork from the slow cooker, shred it, and put it back in with a little of the reserved juices to keep it moist. You’ll still have time to get all cleaned up and enjoy eating and chatting with your friends rather than working away in the kitchen. (Unless of course you offer to make margaritas for everyone like I did, then all bets are off.)

We had a bunch of friends over to our house before our summer travels got started and this is just what I made for them. With a side of cilantro lime rice and all the chips, salsa, guacamole, and queso our friends wrangled up, we had quite the feast on our hands. I even had a little extra fun with the decorations – I rolled out some brown kraft paper on our dining room table, set it up as our buffet, and used chalk to write out all the taco options.

If you’ve never cooked with pork before – fear not! This is probably the easiest way to cook it – the process of slowly cooking over low heat makes the meat so moist and tender and delicious. If you want to add an extra layer of fabulousness to these tacos (and you’re up for a little challenge), brown the pork in a large Dutch oven or heavy bottomed skillet before placing it in the slow cooker. This gives the meat a little more depth of flavor and those browned edges tend to be my favorite once the pork is cooked and shredded.

Enjoy the barbacoa pork in tacos, in quesadillas, over rice, or on nachos. I’m certain any way you enjoy it would be delicious. You can also serve it with this pico de gallo, or one of these corn salsas.

Please tell me you’ll make these tacos? It just might change your life.

Slow Cooker Barbacoa Pork Tacos

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Ingredients

For the barbacoa

5-7 lb pork shoulder bone in
2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce minced
1/2 bunch of cilantro chopped
1/2 red onion cut into large pieces
6-8 cloves of garlic sliced
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 Tbs kosher salt
Juice of 4 limes
32 oz beef stock
3 bay leaves

For the tacos

Flour tortillas
Freshly shredded cheese
Red onions diced
Fresh cilantro chopped
Lime juice
Other toppings of your choice

Instructions

(Optional - gives the finished pulled pork an extra layer of tastiness when it's all done) In a large Dutch oven or deep heavy-bottomed pan, heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil over medium high. Remove the pork shoulder from the packaging and pat dry with a paper towel. Brown the pork shoulder on all sides, carefully using a pair of tongs to turn the meat in the pan every couple minutes. This is a tricky operation, so be very careful not to burn yourself.
Once pork shoulder is browned, place it in a large slow cooker with the rest of the ingredients.
Cook on low for about 10 hours, or until pork shreds easily with a fork.
Carefully remove the pork from the slow cooker and place on a rimmed baking sheet. The pork should be falling apart, so this part gets a little messy. Use two forks to shred the pork, remove the bone and fatty pieces, and place the "good meat" in a large bowl. Discard the bone and fatty pieces. Continue this process until there is no pork left in the slow cooker. Carefully pour the remaining juices into another large bowl or stock pot. Put the shredded pork back in the (now empty) slow cooker and ladle some of the reserved juices on top of it until the pork is moist.
Let the shredded pork rest in the slow cooker while you prep the rest of your taco ingredients.

Thai Quinoa Bowl with Tofu

April 9, 2014 by Asharae 1 Comment

Lately I’ve been ruminating a lot on hospitality – what it means, who we choose to share it with, and how Tim and I are usually on the receiving end of it. When I think back, there are a few specific families who have been overwhelmingly warm, gracious, and inviting to us. Each one has had a profound impact on me. The unmerited generosity that others have shared with us has changed the ways I think about hospitality, the ideas and fears I carry about opening my home to others, and the thoughts I have about food and faith and the ways these two are intertwined.

In college, my friend Brandon’s family would have us down to his house every Thanksgiving, Easter, and Superbowl weekend. They extended the invitation to everyone who was willing to hop in a car and drive a few hours to their home in Indiana. Sometimes this meant their downstairs guest room had just a couple girls sharing the queen sized bed for the weekend. Other times their house was packed to the gills with 20-something 20-somethings ready to cheer on their favorite team for the big game. Lots of my favorite college memories took place at their home, cuddled on a couch with my roommates, playing ridiculous games and laughing till our sides were sore, sharing conversation over Thanksgiving dinner or Easter brunch with all the leaves in the table – every card table and spare chair wrangled up from the basement or a closet somewhere, to make room for everyone to squeeze in.

And then there’s my dear friend and college roommate Lauren’s parents. Her family bought us all Megabus tickets to visit them in St Louis for Passover one year – what a joy to share in so much tradition with them. One afternoon when they were in Wheaton to visit Lauren, I remember them taking us to Target. Lauren’s dad gave me strict orders, “THIS is a magical shopping cart!” he exclaimed, pointing at the red cart rolling along in front of him, “Anything you place in the magical shopping cart will get purchased!” I remember laughing at the ridiculousness of it and I tried to brush off his offer, insisting that I didn’t need anything. He gave me a serious look and added, “And you WILL put things in the magical shopping cart!” What a gift for a poor college student (who wouldn’t admit how poor she was) to receive! But that wasn’t the last of it. They also flew me home so I could surprise my parents during my first Thanksgiving away at college. And again when my dad was seriously ill in the hospital, just having been diagnosed with leukemia. My parents couldn’t afford to fly me home, and I don’t even really remember how it came about, but somehow I was on a plane to Raleigh to visit my dad at Duke – Lauren’s parents had paid the way.

There’s also the Pratt family who Tim and I love so dearly! Adam and I photographed our first wedding together several years ago and he photographed our own wedding the following summer. Cindy and Adam invited me to live with them and their four sweet kiddos the summer after graduation, before I headed back to North Carolina for our wedding. They taught me so much about using what you have to bless others, inviting people into your space no matter what, sharing meals and conversation and many late night snacks and chats in the kitchen before bed. They taught me to like figs and lamb burgers and fish sauce (and to NEVER under any circumstance sniff fish sauce straight out of the bottle). They showed me that kids will usually eat “weird” food if that’s what’s placed in front of them. They taught me that it’s okay to try new things. They showed me that living on one income, having a simple but beautiful home, homeschooling your kids, and feeding them well are all possible with great planning. Most of all though, I love that Adam and Cindy are great question-askers and great listeners. I remember so many late nights, sitting at their kitchen table and chatting through what I was learning about life and the Lord, about photography, about marriage, and sharing my dreams with them. They’re the kind of people that aren’t afraid to dig deep and ask the thoughtful and sometimes hard questions. What a gift.

These are just a few of the instances where we’ve been shown overwhelming and undeserved hospitality. I could share about the Haases who mentored us and walked alongside Tim and I as our friendship grew into dating grew into engagement and marriage, or the Wilcox family who opened their vacation home on Whidbey Island for us to live in for six weeks while we searched for jobs in Seattle, or even the Cockle family we just met this past weekend while shooting a wedding in Wisconsin – they welcomed us into their home like we were their own children, they were passionately curious about our lives and our dreams, and they encouraged us in more ways than I can even explain or comprehend right now.

Now I wonder what to do with this? I’ve been shown the ways of warmth and welcoming others in, now how can I do that for those around me?

I believe it’s immensely important to invite others into our stories, to walk alongside us, to support and encourage us, so that we might learn from one another and spur each other on to better things. This is easier said than done, but it’s something I want to strive toward. I’d love to hear what you’re learning along these lines as well. How have you been shown overwhelming hospitality? How do you try to share it with others?

Remember how we talked about tofu a couple weeks ago? Here’s an opportunity to use your new-found tofu-pressing knowledge. You don’t have to put tofu in this recipe by any means – feel free to leave it out if you’d rather! But if you’re up for trying something new, I definitely recommend it in this protein-packed meal!

Feel free to mix up your veggies as well! Try adding some yellow bell pepper for extra color, leave out the edamame if you don’t have any on hand – do what you like! This recipe is by no means authentically Thai – I’m just currently obsessed with the Thai-inspired combination of green onions, cilantro, peanuts, and lime juice. Mmm. I could eat it all day long. Enjoy you guys!

Thai Quinoa Bowl with Tofu

Inspired by How Sweet Eats

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Servings 6

Ingredients

For the Dressing

3 Tbsp sweet chili sauce
3 Tbsp rice vinegar
3 Tbsp canned coconut milk
1 1/2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp creamy peanut butter
3 garlic cloves minced
1/2 inch piece of fresh ginger peeled and minced
Dash of red pepper flakes
Juice of 1-2 limes

For the Quinoa

1 package extra firm tofu
1 1/2 cups uncooked quinoa rinsed
1 cup chopped carrots
1 jalapeño seeded and diced
1 cup frozen shelled edamame
1 cup chopped green onions
3/4 cup chopped peanuts
3/4 cup freshly chopped cilantro

Instructions

For the Dressing

Place peanut butter in a small bowl and microwave 10 seconds at a time until melted.
Add the rest of the dressing ingredients and whisk together. Place in fridge till ready.

For the Quinoa

Press the tofu for 20-30 minutes. I like to build my tofu-pressing station in this order - cutting board, clean towel, tofu, towel, cutting board, cookbooks. Make sure the books are evenly weighted. I use the extra cutting board on top to keep my books from getting soggy. Once the tofu has been pressed, cut into bite-size pieces.
While pressing the tofu, rinse and drain the quinoa and cook according to the package directions. Usually 1 part quinoa to 2 parts water (1.5 c quinoa, 3 c water in this case) Set aside when finished.
While quinoa is cooking, chop carrots, jalapeño, green onions, and cilantro. Heat edamame in a pan of water, according to package directions, and drain. (You can cover with cold water and drain again to keep them from overcooking while you assemble the rest of the meal.)
Lightly oil pan and sauté tofu, turning occasionally until browned and heated through.
In a large bowl, toss veggies, peanuts, cilantro, and tofu in with the quinoa and pour the dressing over the top. Stir to combine.
Serve topped with additional green onions, peanuts, and cilantro, as well as lime juice and Sriracha (if you like it spicy.)