Homemade Maple Syrup

Rachel and Ben had some pancakes for breakfast this morning. As I was getting the imitation maple syrup for Rachel, I looked at the bottle's ingredients list and saw this: "High fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, water, sugar syrup, natural and artificial maple flavor, salt, potassium sorbate (preservative), caramel color." Yuck.

I'm not someone who's overly concerned about having corn syrup (high fructose or otherwise) here and there, but it just struck me that this is supposed to be maple syrup, and it contains a lot of other junk in addition to any maple flavor. I rarely buy real maple syrup because the taste can be strong if you're used to artificial, plus it's expensive. But this is one of those things where I think I need to make the change and go with the real stuff, instead of something that's loaded with junk.

A few of my Facebook friends suggested making your own syrup. I almost dismissed the idea until I did a search and found out that making homemade maple syrup is shockingly easy. Here's the recipe, courtesy of Hubpages.com:

Combine 2 cups of sugar and 1 cup of water in a sauce pan and stir to dissolve, while heating to a boil. After the sugar dissolves add 1/2 tsp of maple extract and stir it in well. When it boils, turn the heat down just enough to keep it boililng, but not boiling over. Boil for 3 minutes. Let cool and store in old syrup jugs.

That's it. Seriously, could it be any easier? You can add other flavorings to have different flavors of syrup, like strawberry or blueberry or butter rum. I love strawberry syrup on pancakes and raspberry syrup on French toast, so I'm looking forward to trying out those ones.

Homemade Pork Chilaquiles

I've been wanting to try some homemade chilaquiles lately. I had a little kalua pig left in the freezer and thought that would make a great meat for the dish, so I looked up some recipes on line to get a general idea, then threw together my own version. Measurements are approximate since I was just throwing things in without measuring. The smokiness and saltiness of the kalua pig was excellent in this dish.

Pork Chilaquiles
6 servings

16 corn tortillas, ripped into strips
A few tablespoons of oil for frying
App. 3 cups pork roast, shredded
1 c. sour cream
1/2 to 1 c. mild green taco sauce
2 c. shredded Jack cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cook strips of tortillas in oil until softened. Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with salt. Mix sour cream and taco sauce together.

In 8x11.5-inch baking dish, layer 2/3 of the tortilla strips, followed by pork, sour cream mixture and Jack cheese. Top with remaining tortilla strips. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until cheese is melted and bubbly and the tortilla strips are beginning to brown.

You can easily decrease this to fill an 8x8 dish or add a little more for a 9x13 dish. It was a big hit with the whole family, and it's nice to find something that kids will eat without complaining!