La Comida de Mi Vida (My Life in Food)

Tray Baked Sticky Pork Chops Recipe – Food.com – 206280.

DH makes the best grilled chops – perfectly seared, juicy and never, ever overcooked.  With the weather getting colder grilling outside isn’t really an option (because he won’t do it ).  I’m always afraid of overcooking pork chops when I pan fry them so I decided to look for a recipe that allowed baking them.

Since I generally don’t prefer sweet on my meat dishes I slightly modified the ingredients to suit our tastes and what I had in the fridge.  I omitted honey and chili peppers since this was a family meal and I didn’t want to burn my kids mouths.  Instead of soy sauce, ginger and garlic I used a teriyaki marinade that contained all these ingredients already.  There was no dry sherry left so I used rice wine vinegar instead.  So, I mixed the hoisin, rice wine vinegar and 4 tablespoons of the teriyaki marinade and set it aside.

As per the recipe instructions I pan fried the chops in a heavy pan in the olive oil for 2 minutes on each side.  Immediately after this I spooned the sauce mixture over each chop coating them evenly and transferred my oven save, heavy bottom pan to the 400F degree oven (oh yeah, 200C is 400F).  I set the timer for 20 minutes and went about making the rest of my dinner.  I made some basmati rice (cooks quicker than regular long grain white) and a side salad.  It would have been better paired with a veggie stir fry, but that wasn’t available.

After 20 minutes I removed the pan from the oven and couldn’t have been more pleased.  The chops weren’t tough or pink in the middle – they were just right.  I served them on a bed of basmati and spooned some extra sauce over each one.  Like I said vegetable stir fry would have been better as a side but I had to improvise.  Now I know I can make perfectly cooked pork chops in the oven while I wait for grilling season to return.  Thank you Terese!

Happy Cooking!

I have never cooked with rhubarb.  My mother being a foreigner andmy dad not liking sour things I was well into my teens before I even heard of rhubarb.  My in-laws grow it in their garden.  I have as of yet to be brave enough to try it.  They gave me a bunch earlier in the spring.  Unfortunately it was right before we were leaving on vacation so it went bad before I got to try these tips.  I’m archiving the ideas here so next time I have a bunch I’ll know what to do with it.  Also, I wanted to find a preparation that used the rhubarb as a vegetable instead of in a sweet preparation.  The savory chicken dish looks like a winner good for a comforting dinner.

source http://ginews.blogspot.com/2006/07/low-gi-food-of-month.html
“You can add bi carb soda 1 tspn to the water when cooking or you can soak it with a bit more. The bi carb nutralizes, some of the acid so only half the aomount of sugar is needed. It does change the colour of the rhubarb but hay who cares??? You can also use this method in things like tomato sauce anything thats acidic and needs sugar added.”

from rhubarbinfo.com/chicken

Chicken Smothered In Rhubarb
Ingredients:

3 1/2 pound chicken, cut into 10 serving pieces
Essence of Emeril seasoning
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup olive oil
1 pound rhubarb, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
2 medium onions, julienned
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon minced garlic, approx. 2 large cloves
1 bay leaf
Fresh thyme sprigs
1 cup dry white wine (cooking sherry would work – reduce any added salt if using)
3 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
Serving Suggestion: 2 cups cooked white rice, warm, garnish with 1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley

Directions:

In a mixing bowl, toss the chicken pieces with Essence and flour. In a large heavy pot, heat the olive oil almost to smoke point. When the oil is hot, brown the chicken for 6 to 8 minutes on each side, allow it to get a crust before attempting to move it so as not to destroy the chicken. Add the rhubarb and onions. Season with salt and pepper. Stirring constantly, caramelize onions, scraping the bottom of the pot to loosen any brown particles, for about 10 minutes. Add the garlic, herbs and wine, cover and reduce the heat to medium low. Stir occasionally and cook for about 45 minutes or until the chicken is tender. Stir in the parsley. Arrange the chicken on a platter and garnish with Essence (essence of emeril) and parsley and serve with rice.

I’m always trying to find ways to make chicken interesting. My kids love chicken strips. I though have trouble getting the breading to stick to the chicken long enough to make it actually look like a fried chicken strip and not a half naked attempt at one. Well, last night I finally succeeded at making a tasty, tender completely coated chicken strip that my family loved. Everyone was hungry and I was in a big hurry. I found a quick fix with a box of Stove Top stuffing.

Stuffing Breaded Chicken Strips

Servings: 2 large (for us it was two small and two medium)

Ingredients:

2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts with the rib meat, defrosted

Half a package of your favorite stuffing mix, crushed or blended to crumbs

1 large egg
1 Tbsp. milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil, more or less as needed

Directions:

Pat the chicken breasts dry. Slice them on an angle across the grain so you end up with strips approximately 1/4″ thick and 1″ wide.

In a blender, food processor or a plastic bag and mallet – crush the stuffing mix of your choice until it is slightly more coarse than flour. Pour the crumbs on a large plate in an even layer.

In a separate bowl beat the egg and the milk together. Now set up your stations leading up to your frying pan with the oil on medium-high heat – chicken, egg wash, crumbs. Dip your chicken strips in the egg wash. Allow them to drip any excess wash back into the bowl then lay them on the crumbs pressing them in to get a good coating. Once well coated with crumbs transfer them to the hot pan of oil. Cook approximately 2 minutes on each side, until the breading is golden brown and the chicken is cooked through. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels to drain. There you have quick, tender and tasty chicken strips the whole family will love.

Cutting the chicken breasts across the grain ensures that you will have tender easy to cut apart strips when you are done. I used a box of turkey flavored dressing mix and it was delicious. You could taste the onion and celery and even the turkey flavor came through. My DH is always frustrated by tough, overcooked chicken and he actually congratulated me last night for how tender and juicy the chicken turned out. Like I said, I didn’t want to make anything else fried or too unhealthy so I served these strips atop salads with salad greens, campari tomatoes, olives, pepperoncini and Italian dressing for DH and I and next to a little salad for the kiddies.

Eat your heart out KFC – there’s nothing quite like semi homemade*.

*This term is from a Food Network show called Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee.

My little girl just informed me the other day that her favorite meal is spaghetti and meatballs. We don’t have that very often so it surprised me a bit. The other night I decided to do something special for her and make her “favorite” meal with homemade meatballs.

Spicy Italian Meatballs

Preheat oven to 425°F

Prep Time: 15 minutes Cook Time: 20-25 Minutes

Ingredients:
1 lb 80% lean ground beef chuck
1 lb spicy sausage (i.e. Bob Evans Hot sausage roll or similar)
2 large eggs
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 a small onion, diced
1/4 cup fresh Italian flat leaf parsley, chopped fine (a tbsp of dry will work if you don’t have fresh)
1 cup fresh bread crumbs (about 2 slices of bread)
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp dry or semi-dry red wine – Merlot or Malbec works quite nice
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

In a large bowl put in meat and all your ingredients on top of it – yes, just dump it in. Use your hands* to gently incorporate everything until just mixed. Over mixing will lead to tough meatballs. Roll the mix into scant 1/4 cup size balls and place them on a jelly roll pan at least a 1/2 inch apart. Bake in the oven at 425° F for at 20 – 25 minutes until cooked through. I like the caramelized brown to be on as much of my meatballs as possible so halfway through the cooking process I use a spatula to dislodge them from the pan and turn them over.

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Through the cooking you’ll be able to smell the spices from the sausage and the nuttiness of the Parmesan wafting through the house. It is a mouthwatering experience. Serve with your favorite spaghetti sauce and pasta of your choice and side salad for a delicious and complete meal.

*If you are like me and do not enjoy the feeling of ground meat on your hands and under your fingernails please use a pair of disposable plastic gloves so you can do your mixing icky feeling free .

This year my little Cookie helped me a lot with the gardening.  She watered, pulled weeds, and even planted some of her own plants.  One of the crops that is giving her a lot of pride even now is the pumpkin she planted from seed.  The seedlings were placed in the garden a little late so I was unsure of if they would be ready before the first frost.  Sure enough we got one HUGE pumpkin.  I cleaned and baked it and scooped out 20 cups worth of pumpkiny goodness.

This dessert is one we have made at least three times in the last month for family get-togethers.  It is extremely easy to make and is great because it is semi-homemade.  Not a big fan of Sandra Lee but I must say her mantra of making things semi-homemade is exemplified in this recipe.

Pumpkin Dump/Crunch Cake

Ingredients:

Cake filling-

32 oz. pumpkin (either fresh and pureed or from a can – not pumpkin pie mix)
4 large eggs, slightly beaten
1 1/2 – 2 cups sugar (the topping is fairly sweet so I stick with the lower number)
1 tsp. salt
2 tsps. cinnamon

Topping-

1 box yellow cake mix
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup or 1 stick of butter or margarine, very thinly sliced

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix together all the ingredients for the topping.  Use a whisk or hand blender to mix until smooth.  Pour the mixture into the bottom of a 9″x13″ baking dish that has been greased with butter.  Top this mixture with the yellow cake mix by carefully sprinkling it evenly over the top.  Spread the chopped pecans over the cake mix and then top with a layer of butter pats making sure to cover every inch of the cake.  Bake for 60 minutes at 350 degrees or until the top is toasty brown and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

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Serve this pumpkin delight with Cool Whip or real whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.  The crunchy, rich and buttery topping are absolutely delicious and store fairly well if you have leftovers (and that is a big if).  The cake is nice and large and will serve at least 12 people.  A great addition to the dessert table at any large family gathering.  No one will ever know you didn’t spend hours in the kitchen putting this together.

On a cold, windy evening a meal that just fills your belly isn’t good enough. You need something which will warm it and leave you feeling radiant. Soups usually fill that need for me. I love soups because they are a great way to marry ingredients and stretch what may otherwise seem like meager pickings.

This recipe for Caldo Verde I found in a Good Housekeeping cookbook. I needed a recipe that used the potatoes I had in the cupboard and the beautiful kale I’d pulled out of my garden (which despite the freezing cold is still thriving). Anthony Bourdain on his Travel Channel show No Reservations tried a soup very similar to this when he visited Portugal. Simple, hearty and delicious.

Caldo Verde as per the recipe is great for someone who likes creamy soups, but is on a low fat diet or is lactose intolerant. The onion and garlic give it a lot of flavor and the potatoes make it creamy. According to my 2 year old when she tasted the soup said, “Oh man, so good.”

Caldo Verde

Ingredients:

2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion (12 oz. approx), diced
3 large cloves of garlic, minced
8 potatoes, cleaned and diced
2 – 14 oz cans of chicken broth (3 1/2 cups of homemade chicken broth)
3 cups of water
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cracked black pepper
1 lb. kale, very thinly sliced (stems and large veins removed), I like to cross cut mine into very small pieces to make it easier for little mouths to handle

Directions:

Heat the olive oil in a 5 qt. dutch oven (or similar sized pot) over medium heat. Once hot add the onion and garlic. Sautee until golden. Add the diced potatoes, broth, water, salt and pepper and increase the heat. Heat to boiling then reduce to medium and allow to simmer until the potatoes are tender, approx. 15-20 minutes. Lightly mash the potatoes in the broth to make it creamy, yet leaving the potatoes chunky in the soup. Add the sliced kale and allow to cook until tender 8 to 10 minutes.

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This soup is so full of flavor you barely notice it is lacking meat. Serve it with cheese of your liking and a piece of warm, crusty bread. If you are a total carnivore you can sprinkle some cooked crumbled bacon, crumbled spicy sausage or diced ham to the soup just before serving.  Conversely, for the vegetarians and vegans out there, just switch out the chicken broth for your favorite vegetable broth.

This hearty stew brings together many flavors and textures for a very interesting meal.  Serve the stew over white Mexican rice with sour cream and a few slices of avocado and cilantro for a garnish for an eye and tummy pleasing meal.

Ingredients:

1 lb. fresh tomatillos, rinsed and sliced 1/4″ thick

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 lb. boneless top round beef, sliced thinly across the grain

1 tsp. cumin seeds, whole

1 lb. fingerling potatoes or other thin skinned variety, thinly sliced

1 lb. zuccini, trimmed and sliced 1/4″ thick

2 – 10 oz. cans red chili sauce

1 large ripe Haas avocado, pitte, peeled and sliced

4 cups hot cooked rice

Garnish:

Sour cream

Chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:

Add oil to a 12 or 14 inch skillet over med-high heat. Place beef and cumin seeds in the pan stirring until the meat is no longer pink (approx 5 min.). Add tomatillos, potatoes, zucchini and chili sauce.  Bring mixture to a boil; reduce heat to medium, cover the pot and simmer until potatoes are soft (about 30 min.)

To serve spoon the stew over hot rice and top with avocado, sour cream and cilantro.  Serves 6.

Prep time: 20 min

Cook time: 35 min.

This evening after a long exhausting day we went to visit our new little niece.  We hadn’t had anything to eat and the girls were restless. DD1 requested Applebees and it sounded good so we went. 

DH right away knew he wanted the Bacon Cheddar Burger.  DD1 wanted fish which was unusual.  We settled on getting the fish and chips for the girls so they could split it. I doubted there would be enough for all three of us so I got the Chicken Fajita Rollup.

When the food arrived the girls had three good size fillets of fish, a mountain of fries and some Cole slaw to share. DH’s burger looked good though he had significantly fewer fries.  My rollup looked more like a lettuce burrito with a little pico de gallo and cheese and a few scant pieces of chicken.  I thought, “looks can be deceiving, maybe the chicken fell to the ends.” No such luck. 

For almost $8 there should have been twice as much meat.  I seriously doubt I had half of one chicken breast in the tortilla.  As mutantly huge commercial meat chickens are these days you could have fed four people with the way the meat was doled out.

I was sorely disappointed.  Next time I’ll be more careful when the star of the dish can be buried in lettuce and hidden in a tortilla or crepe.  It’s too easy to get jipped.  What I should have done was not get anything for myself and eat the girl’s leftovers.  Instead I had a flour tortilla filled with lettuce and a few mini pieces of chicken and we brought home most of the fries and one and a half fillets of fish.

I know the economy is hitting everyone hard, but practices like this alienate people.  You want consumers who are pinching their pennies to keep coming back you can’t skimp.  It’s different when a box of cereal or a container of juice changes size and the price stays the same.  The consumer can see a quantifiable change and calculate whether it’s worth the buy.  You can’t do that with restaurant fare.  All it takes is one poor experience to turn one off completely.

Last night we had some family over for supper and DH wanted something with teriyaki glaze or marinade. I had some Western Styloe ribs in the fridge that needed to be prepared so I marinated those. I was at a loss at what to make with them and then I remembered that I had a couple heads of cabbage in the refrigerator. This is not an oft consumed veggie in my house for no particular reason other than I don’t know what to do with it other than stew it or make cole slaw. Memories of having a chinese cole slaw at my sister-in-laws house gave me an idea. I searched on Food.com and found a recipe that was more to my liking. Even though the sharer called it light I still reduced the sugar a bit more. This is wonderful and light and will go great with grilled chicken breast or shrimp. Today we ate the leftovers with some of the leftover rib meat cut off the bone and it made a wonderful lunch.

SALAD Ingredients
1 head cabbage
4 green onions
1 carrot, shredded

CRUNCHY Ingredients
1 (6 ounce) package Ramen noodles
1/4 cup sunflower seed
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1 cup sliced almonds

SAUCE Ingredients
2 minced garlic cloves
1 tablespoon fresh ginger (or jarred if more convenient)
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 cup sesame oil
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon light soy sauce

Directions:
Prep Time:
Prepare Salad
1) Slice cabbage into small bite size pieces.
2) Add green onions, and carrots. Toss to combine.

Note: This salad will keep for up to 4 days in a zip top plastic bag or covered bowl.

Prepare Crunchies.
1) Break the ramen noodles into pieces and place on cookie sheet.
2) Sprinkle Sunflower & Sesame seeds and slice almonds over the noodle pieces. Lightly coat with olive oil.
3) Place pan under the broiler on low until lightly toasted. Stir gently if needed. Watch carefully so they don’t burn. Once brown remove from oven to cool.

Note: If preparing ahead of time, once cooled place crunchies in a ziploc bag.

Prepare Dressing:
Mix all ingredients for dressing together stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Allow to marinate for a few minutes.

If you have a small family keep the salad, crunchies, and dressing separate. Toss together enough to feed your family. Make sure to stir up and spoon the dressing over before tossing the salad together.

This salad will go great with grilled, chicken, pork, steak or shrimp.

One of my favorite condiments or dips is guacamole.  I like it’s creaminess and earthiness.  Spiced just right it goes wonderfully with tacos, tostadas or just plain tortilla chips.  Sometimes though I’m more in the mood for something chunky not smooth like instant mashed potatoes.  For a get together last year I made some Chunky Guacamole and it was a hit, so I’m sharing it with you.  This way you can have the same great flavors of guacamole with a little twist; just change things up a bit.  Your dinner or game day guest will thank you for it.

Chunky Guacamole

3 medium tomatoes, diced (I like juicy ones)

2 medium Haas avocados, pitted,  diced and peeled

1 small onion, diced

1 garlic clove, minced

1 jalapeño pepper, diced

1/2 a bunch of cilantro, chopped fine

juice from 1/2 a lime

salt to taste

Dice and chop the ingredients as indicated.  Put all but the avocado together in a bowl, squeeze the lime juice over the top, season with salt and mix evenly.  Carefully fold in the avocado at the end taking care not to mash up the chunks too much. This can be consumed immediately or allowed to marinate in the refrigerator for 15 to 30 minutes before serving.  It is typically best to consume it the day it is made as the salt and lime will continue to macerate the ingredients the longer it sits.

This is a great accompaniment to rice, chips, tacos, pinto beans or anything you can think of that you like with regular guac.

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As peppers may differ in their level of heat you can add more or less to suit your taste.  Typically, the smaller and more thin the jalapeño the hotter it is.  To reduce the heat you can always remove the seeds and the pith, but please wear rubber gloves when you do this because the capsicum in the pepper will still get on your hands and can burn you later.  Hand washing isn’t always a successful method of removal.

If part of this recipe looks familiar, it is.  Check out Pico de Gallo.