Island Chops

If you like sweet main dishes, this one is for you! It was delectable. The grill, I think, does make a difference, the dish sort of needs that smoky flavor that a charcoal grill adds to a dish. I'm sure this would be decent stove side or broiled in the oven, but those charcoals really did add to the yum factor.
-Amanda

Island Chops

1 pineapple
4-6 pork chops, bone in
1/2 cup cashews
1 tbsp coconut oil (butter would be fine too)
3 tbps apricot jam
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp sour cream
fresh ginger
salt and pepper
curry powder

Sprinkle curry powder, salt and pepper on your pork chops and rub it in. Slice your pineapple. Get grill really hot and grill them until done. I know right? How long? Well that depends on how far your chops are from the coals, how hot your coals are, how thick your chops are.

I use the hand pressure test to tell if meat is done. It take some practice but it is pretty reliable. If you press the skin between your pointer finger and thumb with your hand loose that resistance is similar to the resistance that raw meat will give you. If you loosely make a fist and press in that same spot again, that is about what the meat should feel like if you want it pink (like for steak.) Since you want pork cooked further than that, clench your fist, and then press in that same spot. That is how firm well done meat should feel. Hope that helps!

For the sauce...
In a small dry skillet, toast cashew nuts and then set aside. Melt coconut oil. Add jam, heavy cream, grated ginger (as much or as little as you like) and pepper. Whisk on high until sauce thickens. It'll take a while but then it will happen. Do not walk away or you will either have a boil over or a burnt mess on your hands. When it thickens, remove from heat and add the sour cream. Whisk it in. Taste. If it is too sweet add more sour cream. Adjust salt and pepper as needed.

Stack pineapple and porkchops, top with sauce and sprinkle with cashew nuts. Enjoy!

Pork and Plantains

I found this recipe on The Mango Duck, and took the idea and ran with it. What I got was a super tasty dish, that was unlike any flavor profile I've cooked before in my kitchen! I love that!
-Amanda


Pork and Plantains

For the Pork Filling:
1 lb of pork (I used pork chops)
1 small onion
3 cloves of garlic
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 c orange juice
juice from a lime
1/2 cup of chicken stock
1/2 can of coconut milk

Cut the pork into tiny pieces. Place in a cast iron skillet or other heavy bottom skillet and cook on medium high heat until almost cooked through and remove to a bowl. Cut onion into same small pieces and add to the now empty skillet. Cook it and diced garlic until translucent. Add pork back to the skillet and then put in all of the dried herbs and seasonings. Go ahead and salt, but go lightly because the dish will reduce down and get stronger. Add orange juice, lime juice, coconut milk and chicken stock. Simmer for 30-45 on a med high to high heat to reduce the liquids down. Taste and adjust salt.

For the Plantains:

3 plantains
oil (I used lard)

Cut plantains in about 1 to 1 1/2 inch pieces. Get oil hot and fry until golden brown. Place each fried plantain in a mini muffin tin and while it is still hot, smash down with a spoon or I used these sauce cups which fit perfectly in the mini muffin tin.

Fill each plantain cup up with the pork mixture and enjoy!

Braised Country Style Pork Ribs with a Balsamic Gravy

This dish was relatively easy to make, even though it took a long time to cook. Most of the cooking time was low and slow in the oven. The gravy is complex; with layers of flavor. The pork was fall apart tender, juicy and scrumptious. I served it with bright green peas and potato pancakes. And for those who are fairly new at cuts of meat, country style pork ribs is the cut of meat, not a "style" of cooking the meat. This recipe would be equally good with a brisket, a pork shoulder or other big cut of meat that needs a long slow cooking method.
-Amanda

Braised Country Style Pork Ribs with a Balsamic Gravy

2 lbs of country style pork ribs
3 pieces of bacon
1 onions
2 stalks of celery
3-4 cloves of garlic
1 bay leaf
6-8 large mushrooms
2 cups of balsamic vinegar
2 cups of beef stock

Cut bacon strips into thin pieces and brown them in a very large skillet.

Chop onion, celery and garlic and add it to the skillet. Stir until tender. Add mushrooms and continue cooking. Add some olive oil if mushrooms absorb too much of the bacon drippings and start to stick.

Season with salt and pepper and add a bay leaf. Add beef stock and balsamic vinegar. Bring to a boil.

Meanwhile, while vegetables are cooking, brown pork in a separate skillet. When the meat is nice and brown, move it over to the vegetable skillet. Cover and bake for 1 hour hrs at 350. Uncover and cook an additional 45 minutes to 1 hour, flipping meat half way through.

Braised Pork Loin with Caramelized Onions

 What a beautiful piece of pork! I bought this hunk of meat at Sprouts the other day because I saw a recipe on Food Network that looked so good. Then after getting it home, I promptly could not recall the recipe, the show or really anything about the dish at all. So here I was with a piece of pork (and I don't really love pork roast anyway) and I didn't know what to do with it. But dinner time was looking at me and it was this or peanut butter sandwiches. So I threw it in a pot and crossed my fingers. I ended up with a dish, I plan do make again and again!
-Amanda

Braised Pork Loin with Caramelized Onions

1 Center cut pork loin
2-3 tsp sea salt
pepper
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 clove of garlic pasted*
1 onion that has been caramelized
2 tbsp bacon grease (or butter & olive oil)
couple of carrots
1-2 cups chicken stock (You can also add some white wine or water)

Preheat oven to 325. Dry off your pork. Rub it with the salt, pepper, fennel seeds and pasted garlic. Get your stock pot really hot. Add bacon grease. Brown both sides of the pork loin. Start with the top, and then flip it to over. Top it with the caramelized onions. Toss in carrots. Cover and bake for 2 hours or longer. The longer you go the more tender the meat will get. But pull your carrots out after 1.5 hours or they will be mush. Serve with Rosemary Compound Butter** (see below) OR turn the drippings into an awesome gravy.

*Pasted Garlic - Take a clove of garlic and mince it as fine as you can. Add a pinch of salt. With the flat part of the blade of your chef's knife, smash the minced garlic and drag it across your cutting board. Wipe the garlic off carefully and pile it up. Keep smashing it until a paste forms.

Rosemary Garlic Compound Butter: Mince enough fresh rosemary to make 1 tablespoon. It will be raw, so mince it as small as you can so it doesn't get stuck in teeth. Paste one clove of garlic. With a fork, mix it with half a stick of room temperature butter. Roll up in plastic wrap and freeze for 10 minutes. Slice into medallions and serve on warm pork.

 Simmering away.

Braised Pork Loin with caramelized onions and rosemary garlic butter. Served with Creamed Peas (I'll post that recipe later!)

Coconut Curry Beef and Pork Stew

With the dip in temperature (finally!) stew seemed just the thing for today's menu. While I was at Sprouts, my local health food store, I picked up some pork and beef stew meat this morning. I threw this stew together in perhaps 15-20 minutes this morning and let it simmer all day long on the stove. The house smelled great!

-Amanda

Coconut Curry Beef and Pork Stew

1 lb beef stew meat
1 lb pork stew meat
3-4 tbsp coconut oil
1-2 potatoes
2-3 carrots
2-3 celery stalks
3 gloves garlic
1/3 cup flour (I used whole wheat, as it is what I have in my pantry)
2-3 tbsp curry powder
1 can of coconut milk
1/2 cup red wine
2-3 cups of broth (chicken or beef, I used 2 cups chicken and 1 cup of water)
salt to taste

Mix flour, some salt and curry in a shallow dish. Dredge meat in flour and shake off excess. In a large stock pot, melt coconut oil. Place meat in and brown for a few minutes, turning as needed. Remove meat to a bowl. Add, chopped carrots, celery and potatoes to the stock pot. Let cook for a few minutes, stirring the vegetables to bring up the brown bits from the bottom of the pot. Add garlic and deglaze the pot with red wine. Add meat back in, and broth. Add coconut milk and stir. Simmer on low for as long as possible, at least 3 hours until meat is fall apart tender.

Mango Bar-B-Q Pulled Pork with Apple-Lime Coleslaw

I've mentioned before that I love watching Food Network shows. Rarely do I actually do one of the recipes I've seen on tv, using the shows more as inspiration instead. Recently a lady named Aarti Sequeira won the Next FoodNetwork Star. Her show, Aarti Party has an Indian flare to all the recipes. So far most of her dishes have really inspired me. When I saw her making this the other day, I just knew I had to try it though! It was supposed to be pulled pork sandwiches on brioche bread, but I had these homemade wheat tortillas left over from the other night so I figured turning the sandwiches into wraps/tacos would be a terrific idea. I added cheese on the girls portions and called them pork quesadillas, a dish they love. The apple-lime slaw that went with these pulled pork wraps was perfect. By the way, this would make a great crockpot meal.
-Amanda

Mango Bar-B-Q Pulled Pork
(Original recipe here)

1 boneless pork shoulder (Boston butt) about 3 lbs, excess fat removed

Rub:

• 2 tbsp dark brown sugar
• 1 tbsp paprika (I didn't have any, so I used chili powder)
• 2 tsp kosher salt

BBQ Sauce

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 onion finely minced (I used a yellow sweet onion)
• 2 tbsp minced ginger
• 1 serrano pepper (I ended up using chili flakes since my serrano pepper didn't make it home from the grocery store!)
• kosher salt to taste
• 2 cups of mango puree (I bought frozen mango, thawed it and pureed in my blender)
• 1/2 cup fresh lime juice
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

Brioche rolls or wheat tortillas

Rub: Combine the rub ingredients, in a small bowl and massage it into the pork shoulder until well coated. Set aside while you make BBQ sauce. You could do this a day ahead and keep refrigerated until ready to use.
BBQ sauce: In a large saucepan, warm the oil, over low heat, until hot and shimmering. Add the cumin and fennel; they should splutter upon contact - be careful! Once the spluttering subsides, add the onions, ginger and serrano and a little salt, to taste. Saute until they soften but don't let them get any color. Add the rest of the sauce ingredients. Simmer about 5 minutes. Taste and season.
Add the pork shoulder to the saucepan, coating it with the sauce. Cover, and gently simmer until the pork falls apart easily, stirring and turning often, about 3 hours.
Remove the pork from the saucepan and shred it using 2 forks. Return it to the sauce and stir to coat with the sauce. Put a generous spoonful of the pork inside a brioche bun, top with a few slices of pickle and serve.

 Apple-Lime-Slaw
 (Original recipe here)

The orignal recipe makes 4-6 servings, I reduced it down to make just enough for our wraps this evening, and I didn't add the peanuts since I wasn't using it as a side, but as a topping.

drizzle of honey
1/2 lime, juiced
smidge of ground cumin
smidge of curry powder
1/2 tsp olive oil
salt & pepper
1/2 cup shredded cabbage
1 small apple sliced into thin matchsticks

Whisk the honey, lime juice and spices together in a small bowl. Slowly whisk in enough extra-virgin olive oil to emulsify the dressing. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
Combine the cabbage and apples a bowl. Add the dressing and toss well. Serve.

I made Maddie and Izzie's into quesadilla's so it was easier for them to hold.

Orange Honey Glazed Pork Stir-Fry

I had some left over pork chops that I had defrosted but hadn't cooked. I didn't want to re-freeze them since that can lower the quality of the meat, so I knew I needed to use them. Problem is, I only like pork chops about once every four or five months! So, I cut the meat off of the bone and I sliced it really thin to use in this stir-fry.
-Amanda

Orange Honey Glazed Pork Stir-Fry

3-4 pork chops
1 red bell pepper
1/2 yellow squash
1/2 zuchini
1 small head of broccoli
1 small carrot
1 tbsp coconut oil (or vegetable oil)

Sauce:
1 orange (and zest)
1 tbsp corn starch
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 tbsp honey
1/2 tbsp finely grated ginger
2 small cloves garlic, grated

Prep vegetables. Cut bell pepper into small slivers. Cut squash, carrot and zucchini in rounds. Cut broccoli in small pieces. Cut pork chop meat off the bones and then slice into thin pieces. Set vegetables and meat aside.

Prepare sauce by whisking the soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and honey into a small bowl. Add finely grated ginger and garlic. (I use a rasp to do this.) Add the zest of the orange to the bowl. Squeeze about half of the orange juice into the bowl. Last add the corn starch and whisk until it dissolves.

Get a big skillet or wok really hot. Add the coconut oil and quickly add the vegetables. Coconut oil has a low burn point so you don't want it to get too hot in an empty skillet. If you use vegetable oil it isn't as risky. Remove vegetables from the skillet when they start to get soft. Add the pork and stir until just still barely raw. Add vegetables back in and the pour the sauce over top. Cook a couple more minutes to make sure pork is cooked through but not over done. Serve over brown rice with orange slices on the side.

Bacon Wrapped Smokies

I'm headed out to my first Christmas party of the season. I was asked to bring an appetizer or a dessert. Since I don't bake unless I get a wild hair (with usually disastrous results,) I picked the appetizer category. After asking some of my Mommy friends for suggestions this was recommended to me from AllRecipes.com. I have to say, they are a perfect balance of smokey, sweet and salty.
-Amanda

Bacon Wrapped Smokies

2 packages of little smokies
2 packages of bacon
1 cup or so of brown sugar.

Cut bacon into thirds. Wrap each smokie with the bacon really tightly. Put brown sugar in a bowl and roll the bacon wrapped smokie in the sugar. Cover a cookie sheet with foil. Place a wire rack on the cookie sheet and line your smokies up on the rack with space between each one. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees and cook for 40 minutes. Serve warm OR After cooling, place all smokies in a crock pot, add 1/2 cup of maple syrup and serve with fancy toothpicks on the side.

Ham and Spinach Casserole

Some dishes don't photograph very well. I mean, I don't claim to be a food photographer by any means, but this didn't photograph that well. Anyway, it was very good. It brought back some childhood taste that I couldn't quite place. This would make a great brunch item, perfect for the holidays that are coming up! The girls asked for 3rds not even realizing that it was laced with SPINACH. Then again, that ingredient is probably the lone healthy thing in the dish...
-Amanda

Ham and Spinach Casserole

20-24 oz shredded potatoes (or about 5 smallish baking potatoes)
2 cups shredded cheese, divided
1 can cream of celery soup
1/2 onion diced small
1 stalk celery diced very small
8-10 oz diced ham
1 cup of sour cream
10 oz frozen spinach, thawed and drained
salt and pepper
1 egg (optional)

In a pot, saute the onions and celery until soft. Add soup, sour cream, 1 1/2 cups of cheese, spinach and ham. Stir very well. Add potatoes. (You can either use a grater, a food processor or buy pre-shredded potatoes.) Stir everything really well and pour into a greased baking dish. Top with remaining cheese and bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. Take out of the oven and break an egg on top and bake for an addtional 10-15 minutes or until the egg whites are cooked through and the yellow is still runny.

Stuffed Acorn Squash

Sorry I've been away for a few days. I went to my Mema's house where I got lots of delicious Southern food to fill me up and keep me inspired. Tonights meal wasn't Southern, but it's one of my very favorites. I even made a second version to be toddler friendly.

Stuffed Acorn Squash

2 Acorn Squash
1 cup of raw rice if making toddler version too, otherwise use 1/2 cup (I used brown)
5 button mushrooms
1/2 a small onion
1 package breakfast sausage (such as Owens)
salt & pepper
nutmeg (optional)

Prepare rice according to package directions. Preheat oven to 325º. Cut squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Place on a cookie sheet or casserole dish cut side up. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle a bit of nutmeg over the top. Place in oven and cook for 45 min. - 1 hr or until a fork can pierce the squash very easily.

Meanwhile, in a cast iron skillet (or other heavy bottom skillet) brown sausage, making sure to break it up with your spoon into small crumbles. Chop your onion and mushrooms very tiny. Add diced onion and mushrooms. Continue cooking until sausage is cooked through and onion is translucent. Stir in 1/2 of the cooked rice.

When squash is done, mound stuffing in the center and broil on HI for a few minutes. I like to serve extra stuffing on the side. (Save 1/4 cup of stuffing, for toddler dish) Serves 4



Toddler "Stuffed" Squash

1/2 cup rice (or 1/2 of rice left over from main dish)
1/4 cup of sausage & mushroom mixture
1/2 cup pureed squash (I used a can, but you can prepare an extra squash and puree it very easily. I just didn't have any extra one tonight)
1 egg
1/4 cup whole wheat flour

Puree rice in a blender with a small amount of water. Mix rice, sausage mixture, pureed squash, egg and wheat flour in a bowl. Spoon mixture on a hot griddle or skillet. It's very sticky. Cook until starts to brown, flip and cook second side. My mixture made 8 pancakes about the size of my palm. Freeze extras.

Toddler sides:
Steamed carrots
Honey Cinnamon Poached Pears
-Amanda

Apple Stuffed Pork Chops

These pork chops were pretty tasty. They came from a pig on my brother-in-laws farm. They were cut a bit smaller than what I'm used to seeing porkchops be, but my mom said that it could be a "breakfast" cut. I still managed to cut a slit in each chop and stuff it them with my apple stuffing. I served this with a side of sauted cabbage and garlic bread.

Apple Stuffed Pork Chops

8 pork chops
1 apple
1 stalk celery
1/2 onion
1/4 bell pepper
1 cup cooked brown rice
1/8 tsp sage

Chop onion and bell pepper into small dice and sautè in a small skillet. Dice apple and celery. When onion starts to brown add the apple and celery. Add cooked brown rice and seasonings. Cut a slit into each pork chop and stuff with apple mixture. Place in a baking dish and bake at 350º for 30 minutes. (My porkchops were only 1/2" thick, before stuffing. If you have thicker porkchops you will need to cook for longer.) Serves 8.

Sides: Sauted cabbage and garlic bread.
-Amanda

Sweet Chili Pork Chops

My brother-in-law Cody, raises pigs. Somehow, John and I went in with his mother to buy a pig from Cody. So my deep freeze is full of pork chops and sausage. Very tasty I might add. Yesterday I put some pork chops in the refrigerator to cook for today.

Sweet Chili Pork Chops

4 pork chops (bone in)
1 1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic seasoning
2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp salt

Mix chili powder, brown sugar, cumin, garlic seasoning, salt and worcestershire sauce in a small bowl until it becomes a paste. Spread on pork chops. Marinate overnight or for a couple of hours. Set broiler to High. Broil for 15-20 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 165º.

Weight Watchers:
4 pts

Sides:
Mashed Potatoes (4pts)
Roasted Asparagus (0pts)