Evergreen Chili Pork Stew

Today, we decided to start some Shaffer Family Christmas Traditions. It started with a drive out to the Elgin Christmas Tree Farm, where we cut down our own tree (with my fingers crossed that I'm not allergic SPOILER ALERT: I'm not). We got the tree set up, then paused the decorating to get dinner started.

I hammered out a quick chicken stock. While it was simmering, I browned off some cubed pork shoulder roast and tossed it into the crockpot. Then browned off some onions and garlic, added masa flour and got that nice and toasty. All the while I had some Hatch chilies (saved in the freezer since late summer) roasting in the oven with a couple of jalapeños. I then deglazed the onion/masa mix with some stock and added that to the pork. The chilies got stemmed and seeded and pureed and added to the crockpot. Simmer.

Back to the tree. I've never strung popcorn and hung it on a tree before, so I decided to do that. For about 30 minutes. It's quite a task, but it did make it on to the tree along with plenty of orange and white ornaments. While we trimmed the ol tenenbaum, we fired up "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" - classic! You can head over to my facebook page to see how the tree turned out. Just the right amount of school pride, class, and tinsel if you ask me!

Right about the time we finished that, the stew was done!













Garnished with pepper jack, tortilla strips and fresh cilantro, it was quite nice. There was a decent heat that built as you ate it. The pork could have gone just a little longer. SOLUTION: It's now back in the crockpot on low until I wake up tomorrow. Should be almost disintegrated into the broth by morning. Yum.

So "Shaffer Tree Day" has now been cemented into our book o traditions. Cut down a real tree, decorate it, simmer a green chili pork stew, and watch a Christmas movie. Gitty up jingle horse, pick up your feet!