Braised Pork Chops

Tonight I tried a new recipe. Braised Pork Chops. I love pork and I try to find different ways to cook it, because we do eat it quite often.

Tonight I found this recipe in a Rachael Ray magazine. It was on a advertisement page for cooking with pork, so I'm not sure if it is a Rachel recipe or not.

The recipe turned out fantastic. I pared it with home-made potato salad and some steamed asparagus (for me). I very easily could have eaten more, but knew I would be uncomfortably full if I did, so I limited myself to one helping. Needless to say this will become one of our regular rotation recipes from now on.

Here's the recipe:

4 Boneless pork loin chops

1 Tbs. tomato paste

2 cloves minced garlic

1/2 sweet red pepper sliced

1/2 yellow pepper sliced

1 small red (or yellow...I used red) onion sliced

1/2 cup dry red wine or chicken stock (In my opinion, the wine is what made this dish!)

2 Tbs. olive oil

salt and pepper

Start by heating the oil in a medium skillet at medium heat. Season the chops with salt and pepper. Place in skillet and cook on both sides for 3-4 minutes. Remove from skillet and set aside.

Next add the tomato paste to the skillet and let it cook while you are stirring it around for a minute or so. Add peppers and onions and cook for about 2-3 minutes more. Add garlic and cook for another minute.

Add wine and scrape off any of the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Bring liquid mixture to a boil and add back in the chops. Nestle the pork into the liquid, reduce heat to simmer, cover and let cook for about 4 minutes. Turn chops and cook for one more minute.

This was a wonderfully savory summer meal and I will definitely make this again!

Enjoy!

The BEST S'more!

"Do you want a s'more?"

"Some more of what?"

"No...do you want a s'more?"

"How can I have some more if I haven't had anything yet?"

"You're KILLING me Smalls! A S'MORE. Watch. First you toast the mallow. Then you take the gram, with some chocolate. You put the mallow on the gram. Then you SCARF!"

One of the best lines in one of the greatest kids movie of all time, The Sandlot.

Last night was a perfect night for a little fire in the fire pit my husband and I have. There was little wind, it was surprisingly not too hot out, and the wood was dry enough to catch on fire.

Of course where ever there is a fire. There are s'mores.

I will confess...I've never been CRAZY for s'mores. While the rest of my family can fire down two or three of the sweet sandwiches, I am usually just fine with one.

Then I met my husband.

And his "alteration" to the typical s'more made all the difference to me!

Instead of using a plain ole Hershey bar...use a PEANUT BUTTER CUP!

Magic.

Try it. You won't be sorry.

That is unless you are allergic to peanut butter...in that case don't try it. :)

My Make-Shift Oven

Summer months bring out the best in grilling. Grilled chicken, steaks, burgers, hot dogs, brawts, veggies, and many other wonderful combinations. It's part of what I love most about summer. Plus it's practical. Using the oven during the warm months makes the AC work harder and the electric bill go higher. We are on a strict "no-oven policy" through most of the months of May, June, July, August, and even sometimes September.

Practical it may be, there are times it gets old.

There are times I would kill for Ethan's home-made baked ziti, or my chicken Mexican Casserole, and not to mention chocolate chip cookies...

So tonight I attempted what I had read about, but always been to afraid of failure to try. I used the grill as an oven. I did my homework, read up on what the different techniques were and selected a dish to try.

BBQ Chicken Pizza.

Here's how I made the grill my oven...

1. I turned on the grill. Closed the lid and let it get all good and warmed up.

2. Once it was hot enough, I turned off the middle burner (we have a 3 burner grill) and closed the lid again.

3. Once the pizza was ready I put it in the middle, where the burner that is off is located.

4. I closed the lid and let it bake.

Now...I will admit. I did check it probably every 3-4 minutes. I was nervous and didn't want my pizza to burn. I tried to keep the temperature around 350 (we are lucky enough to have a temperature gage on the outside of the grill). The recipe for the pizza dough I made said to cook it at 450 for 16 minutes. I went about 15. Everything was done and looking fine so I took it out. In looking back, I could have probably left it on for a while longer, but I didn't want it to burn. It turned out great!

I can't wait to try out something else...I'm thinking ziti!

Givin' You My Best!

I thought I would share with you the best recipe I have.

Why is it the best?

1. It never fails to be completely gone from the bowl when I take it to parties or pot-luck lunches

2. It can be "spiced up" or "toned down" depending on your taste.

3. If the saying "A way to a man's heart is through his stomach" is true, then this is what got me my husband!

Cream Cheese Rotel Party Dip

2 - 8 oz. blocks of cream cheese, softened
1 - can of corn
1 - can of Rotel (this is where I like to use the HOT for the extra spice, but mild is just as yummy)
1 - packet of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix (secret ingredient!)

Put all in a bowl (I don't drain the corn all the way, about half the liquid) and mix together. Chill (or eat right away if you can't wait...like Ethan) and eat with corn chips, tortilla chips, Nacho Doritos, potato chips, pita chips or even veggies!

Trust me...it's a keeper!

Cake Cookies

I have recently discovered the perfect way to make a cookie.

Cheat.

For some reason I can never get my home-made cookies to turn out just right. They're either too flat, hard, or just plain burnt. Finally I found a great way to make semi-homemade cookies that taste great and turn out perfect every time.

Use a cake mix.

Yep, that's right. Any old cake mix that comes from a box. (My favorite ones for cookies are Duncan Heins Devil's Food). Add 2 eggs and a 1/2 cup of oil, toss in your favorite chips/nuts and bake for 10-12 minutes at 350.

Perfect every time.

Some of my favorite combos...

Chocolate Cake with peanut butter chips.

Chocolate cake with little Andes Mints

Chocolate cake with chocolate chips

Can you see a pattern forming here...

Red Velvet Cake with white chocolate chips

Lemon cake with powdered sugar frosting

Yellow cake with craisens...

The possibilities are endless!!!

Failure...

I love to try new recipes. Something different, new, or even sometimes strange. Most of the time the recipes I try are added to our normal rotation and we plan to make them again.

Not this last one.

I made potato pancakes. Sort of...

I have always wanted to try them, the sound so yummy.

I found a recipe in a magazine that looked like just what I was wanting. Mix two cups of mashed potatoes with an egg, cheddar cheese, garlic powder, parsley, and salt and pepper. Nothing about those ingredients sounded off. And they really tasted pretty good.

The problem came in the frying. The directions said to heat oil at medium heat and then drop the potatoes by 1/4 cup globs into the oil, press flat and cook for 3 minutes on each side. That's were it all went wrong.

You see...potatoes do not like to be pressed...they stick to the spatula or whatever you try to use to press them flat. Resulting in the flattened part splashing into the oil, spraying it all over...including on me.

The second problem...these did not like to be flipped. They fell apart so that basically I had a mess of random pieces of mashed potato laying in a skillet.

The end result would definitely had not won a presentation contest. The taste of the potatoes was good, but the mess, pain from hot oil, and frustration was not worth the taste.

Next time I think I'll just make "cheesy mashed potatoes" with the same ingredients and call it good!