Maple Mustard Pork Chops

I have been trying to expand my knowledge in the kitchen. And also the flavors of things we eat. We eat pretty standard. Chicken breasts with garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper, maybe some Emeril’s Essence and then throw it in the oven until done. Or there’s been a lot of “Helper” recently. I recently discovered it isn’t terrible and Steve’s been capitalizing on how much we eat it. Or if we defrost hamburger and then can’t figure out what to do with it besides tacos it’s Helper time. After I took down the holiday decorations I was finally able to unpack our recipe books because I finally had a place to put them (the piece of furniture my parents got me for my birthday). I was really excited, because I am discovering that I do like to cook. And it also got a few more boxes out of my basement haha.

Either way, we had defrosted some pork chops and I was trying to figure out what I’d make with them. I sat down with my breakfast Sunday morning and pulled out some books. I was looking for something easy (i.e. beginner level) and semi-quick because I was just not in the mood to spend a lot of time in the kitchen and away from my couch. I ended up pulling a recipe out of Rachel Ray’s 30 minute meal book. Maple-Mustard Pork Chops.

OHH MMMM GEEE. Maple and Mustard. My favorites. COMBINED.

I didn’t even really read the recipe before I had decided to make it haha. But I did before I jotted the ingredients down on my grocery list. It wasn’t a hard recipe, but I decided that even though she was using a griddle pan (which I have, but it’s a pain to clean, that I was going to use a regular frying pan and then finish it off in the oven like she does. I didn’t need grill marks). I also decided to nix the grilled apples. Nothing against them, I just didn’t really feel like having them and they were the veggie in her recipe so I just decided to go with something different as a veggie. No big deal.

They were really simple to make and they were amazing. Steve was very impressed with me because this is probably the most “different” thing I’ve made. He’s usually more daring than I am in the kitchen.

Anyway, here’s the recipe –

Ingredients
* 1/2 cup dark amber maple syrup
* 1/4 cup, spicy brown mustard
* 1/4 cup apple cider
* 1/4 medium onion, finely chopped
* 1/2 teaspoon allspice
* 1 teaspoon ground cumin (I would actually use less next time because I thought it was very overpowering)
* 8 center cut boneless pork loin chops, 1-inch thick
* Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
* Grill seasoning blend or salt and pepper (I used McCormick Montreal Steak Seasoning)
* 3 golden delicious apples, sliced across into 1/2-thick inch disks

Directions
Preheat grill pan or nonstick griddle pan over medium high heat. Preheat electric table top grills to high. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine maple syrup, mustard, cider, onion, allspice and cumin in a small saucepan and cook together over moderate heat for 5 minutes until sauce begins to thicken a bit.

Coat chops lightly in oil and season with salt and pepper. Cook chops on hot grill pan or indoor grill 3 minutes on each side. Baste chops liberally with sauce, cook 2 or 3 minutes more.

Transfer chops to a baking sheet. Baste again with sauce and transfer to a hot oven to finish cooking them. Bake 10 to 12 minutes.

Wash apples but do not core or peel. Coat apple slices with a drizzle of oil. Season with grill seasoning or salt and pepper. Cover grill pan or indoor tabletop grill with as many pieces of apple as possible. As the apples get tender, pull them off and replace with more slices. Apples should cook 3 minutes on each side, you don't want them too soft, just tender. (I didn’t do this because I just didn’t want apples, but I might do it next time. And also the whole wash but don’t core or peel step gets me because HOW are you supposed to SLICE them if you don’t core them? Figure that one out.)

Platter chops with apples along side and serve.

Like I said, this was a really simple recipe and next time I’ll probably bust out the indoor grill we have and make the apples on the grill. I didn’t feel like lugging it up from the basement where it is currently stored and I didn’t felt like they wouldn’t taste the same if I did them in a frying pan. But really? I was being kind of lazy.

Either way? I can’t vouch for the apples, but I can vouch for the pork chops. They were amazing. I might consider making this a marinade next time but I’m not sure. I definitely will not use as much cumin because I felt like that was way overpowering. But if you like it then go for it. I just didn’t appreciate that I tasted more cumin than maple and mustard. But that’s just me.

Stuffed Peppers

This is one of 2 meals that I will be posting about this month. I'm really proud of myself this week because with the exception of 1 day I have cooked a good meal every day (and that one day was because I was going to make these but the peppers we had were not good and so we had Chipotle instead.)

I've been trying to find simple, but good recipes that I can make after work. I get home at 5, but I like to relax a little bit before I have to cook, but we don't want to eat super late either. I am also trying to make things that don't yield a whole lot of leftovers because Steve doesn't really eat them (unless it is Chinese. then there are not enough leftovers.) and I will take them to lunch, but if I'm making something with leftovers every day that's more than I need for 4 lunches each week.

Anyway, so I found this recipe for stuffed peppers. I can't remember where though, I never wrote that down, but it was 2 servings which was perfect for us since we're only 2 people :)


Prep Time:
15 Min
Cook Time:
25 Min
Ready In:
40 Min

Yield 2 servings

Ingredients


* 2 large green peppers
* 1/2 pound ground beef
* 1/4 cup chopped onion
* 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce, divided
* 1 cup cooked rice
* 1/8 teaspoon salt
* 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
* 1/8 teaspoon pepper


Directions


1. Cut tops off peppers and remove seeds. Place peppers in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil; cook for 3 minutes. Drain and immediately place in ice water; invert on paper towels.


2. In a small skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Remove from the heat. Stir in 1 cup tomato sauce, rice, salt, garlic powder and pepper. Spoon into peppers.


3. Place in an ungreased shallow 2-qt. baking dish. Drizzle with remaining tomato sauce. Cover and bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes or until peppers are tender.

They were really good. I have used another stuffed pepper recipe in the past, and that one is like old news now because this is going to be my go to recipe for these babies. Try them. Enjoy them. And let me know if you like them!

just call me Chef Carrie

Ok, maybe not really, but I was trying to come up with a creative title for my December meals post so that's what you got.

Anyway, I made 2 new meals in December. Just getting around to blogging them. Surprised? I hope not. Otherwise you're probably new hear and don't realize I'm late to the party a lot haha.

Anyway...again. 2 new meals. Well, 1 new-ish. I made beef enchiladas back in October using a red sauce. I really enjoy green enchiladas and I grabbed a can of sauce at the store right after I made these red sauce enchiladas. I had intended to make chicken this time. But I just never got around to actually making the chicken ones. I defrosted chicken for them on a couple of different occasions. I just was never in the mood to cut up the chicken. I hate cutting raw chicken. So we always ended up making some else with that chicken. And then one day we had beef defrosted. And Steve had been begging me to make enchiladas for weeks. So I finally did it. I used the same basic recipe for the enchiladas. I sauteed onions and green chiles and then tossed in the meat and seasoned it to our liking. After that I added some green sauce. I remembered that last time I wanted to use more red sauce. Which happens to be thicker than green sauce. Which I did not know. I added the extra sauce. The extra, not thick sauce. And then I had some soup. PISSED ME OFF. I decided just to boil it out a bit, which was fine. Threw in cheese to melt. Then I stuffed the tortillas, sauced them some more, added more cheese to the top and threw them in the oven. They turned out really well. Next time, not so much of the green sauce haha.

My 2nd, actually new, meal was BBQ Quesadillas. (are you sensing a theme here? I really like mexican food haha). Each year I participate in a secret santa exchange with some girl friends of mine. This year I got the best cookbook for me. It's the Better Homes and Garden Anyone Can Cook cookbook. IT IS AMAZING. It has really simple (but delicious) recipes. And in the beginning there are step by step directions on how to do things that I didn't know how to do. It's a really great book, and if you're a beginner cook like me I highly recommend it.

So I decided to make a meal out of this book. I went for something simple to start with. I had picked out a lot of things but Steve kept veto-ing them. Which annoyed me. Anyway, we finally settled on BBQ Quesadillas.

They were really easy to make and they turned out really well. I'll definitely make them again, and I'll probably buy the ingredients to make the other suggested quesadillas (they have other recipes at the bottom of the page for turkey-havarti and a bacon, tomato, and avocado and they sound pretty good so they'll probably end up on our weekly menu here soon!)

BBQ Quesadillas. The Recipe. (Makes 4 servings)

Ingredients.
Nonstick cooking spray
4 7-8 inch flour tortillas
1 cup shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese or Mexican cheese blend (we used Mexican, btw)
1 4 ounce can diced green chiles, drained
1 18 ounce tub refrigerated bbq sauce with shredded chicken (I went for the Lloyd's bbq chicken but you can probably make your own if you want. I did not want.)
1 cup bottled salsa
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup sliced green onions (2)

Directions
Coat one side of each tortilla with cooking spray. Place, coated side down, on cutting board or wax paper. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of cheese over half of each tortilla (I just put "some cheese" on the tortilla. I didn't measure out 1/4 of a cup. btw) Top with green chiles and chicken. Fold tortillas in half, pressing gently.

Preheat oven to 350. In a hot 10-inch skillet cook quesadillas, two at a time, over medium heat for 6 to 8 minutes or until golden brown, turning once. Place quesadillas onm a baking sheet. Keep warm in preheated oven for up to 30 minutes. Repeat with remaining quesadillas.

Cut each quesadilla into 3 wedges. Serve with salsa, sour cream, and green onion.

Suggested substitutes. I haven't tried these but I figure I'll include them for you if you want to.


Turkey-Havarti Quesadilla. Prepare as above, except cote the unsprayed side of each tortilla with stone ground mustard. Substitute Havarti cheese for the cheddar and 16 ounces of cooked, sliced turkey for the chicken. Omit green chiles, salsa, sour cream, and green onion.

Bacon, Tomato, and Avocado Quesadilla. Prepare as above, except substitute Monterey Jack cheese for cheddar; use 8 crisp-cooked and crumbled bacon slices, 2 small seeded and coarsely chopped tomatoes, and 1 seeded, peeled, and chopped avocado for the filling. Omit green chiles, bbq sauce with chicken, salsa, sour cream, and green onion.

Enchiladas

A while ago while grocery shopping I picked up some enchilada sauce. I love Mexican food and we frequently make tacos, so I figured that enchiladas would be a good alternative to our standard taco dish. I was so right. Steve had been wanting these for like weeks, and I finally got around to making them. We’d had kind of a lull in cooking. In part because we’d been really bad about planning our meals and taking things out for dinner. And after inspecting the directions I realized I needed more sauce. And then we didn’t have tortillas one night. But one Sunday I decided we needed to make these. And I’d just been to the store so I had some non-frozen meat and all necessary ingredients with which to make them.

I loosely followed the directions on the back of the Ortega Enchilada Sauce can. But I added diced green chilies and onions because I had them. I also seasoned my meat while I was cooking it because that’s what I do for tacos (a little garlic powder, a little onion powder, and some ancho chili powder).

onions and green chilies

I put the onions and green chilies (with a little juice for some extra flavor) in the pan to cook down a bit before adding the meat, add meat and season to taste.

add the meat

After the meat was cooked I added shredded cheddar cheese and about ¾ of a cup (which equaled out to be about 3/4 of the can) of the enchilada sauce. Next time I’d add a whole can. I mixed that all together – heat off – and the cheese got a little melty which was nice but next time I might add a little bit of the Tostitos Cheese because I like it and I think it’d be good. The directions said 1 cup of cheese, but I just threw in some until it looked like enough.

add sauce

After that I filled up 8 tortilla shells with my mixture and put them in a pan. My pan wasn’t big enough for 8 in one, so I did 3 in one small pan and 5 in a larger pan. (Which worked out because we ate 3 for dinner and then I had 1 for lunch the next day and it was still enough for another meal that week. Pretty awesome.)

fill shells then cover with sauce and cheese

After all the shells were stuffed and placed in the pan I covered them with the remaining sauce (which was about 1 1/4 cans…but next time I’d make that 2 full cans) and then topped it with more cheese. Pre-heat the oven to 350 and bake for 20 minutes.

20 minutes in the oven and TA-DA!

It was a fairly easy recipe to make and I’ll definitely make it again and trying some new/different things. But this one was definitely a husband pleaser. He was definitely glad to have finally gotten his enchiladas.

I've been cooking!

A LOT since we moved into our house.

Not sure what the hell that is about, but I enjoy it. When we were in the townhouse? I stayed away from cooking anything that required me to do more than open a box and throw some ingredients together and pop in the oven. Simple. Just like me.

My dad has always cooked. My mom? Well, we appreciate her efforts but enjoy eating food that isn’t “cooked on high ‘til done.” She can cook though, just not everything. But that’s ok.

Apparently? I can actually cook. Follow instructions. OR make things from scratch. It's like a whole new world....one in which I make things people actually eat!

Anyway, this month I’ve made dinner some. We haven’t actually cooked as often as we would like because we’ve been a little busy and also? We’ve had plenty of easy shit to make (i.e. sandwiches, awesome mother-in-law made chicken salad and matzo ball soup, spaghetti). I think I threw together a pasta dish a few weeks ago – but it was jar sauce and box noodles. I would like the Kitchen Aid attachment so I can make my own pasta because I’d be all over making some for real homemade ravioli. I made some Sloppy Joes for us and the neighbors one night. It was supposed to be enchiladas, and Steve went to the store to pick up some things we needed, and sadly? We didn’t actually have tortillas like we thought we did. So I had defrosted meat and some sloppy joe mix. It was easy and SO yum. Haven’t had those in years.

So my notable meal for this month was just last week. I actually got bamboozled into this because Steve got home later than I did and we’d never have eaten if we had waited on him to get home, but it was ok because I ENJOYED making the entire meal.

I made Cornish Game Hens! There were veggies and rice along with it. But those? Totally frozen and bagged. Whatever, the tiny chickens – all me! And SUPER easy. All I had to do was rub them down with butter (lots of butter, makes for good skin and it’s my favorite part really). Then I seasoned them with a little garlic powder, onion powder, and some Emeril’s Essence (if that’s a line of seasoning well then I don’t actually know what I put on because I didn’t actually look at the label so basically “to taste” or “to whatever the hell you’ve got in the cupboard”). They cooked at 350 for about an hour.

And for real? They were full of juicy goodness. And the skin? PERFECTION. I don’t have a picture of my plate because we actually cut them up into portions (not my idea folks). And by “we” cut them, I totally mean I cut them. Because Steve-o? Not so good with the cutting of anything in the chicken family. I on the other hand? The practically non-cook? Can totally cut up a chicken like it is my job (it is not my actual job though). AND? I totally guessed at how to do it one day and I did not end up man-handling the bird. I still don’t really know how I guessed, but I suppose it was a little bit of common sense. Though, the only part I eat? The breast. So not really sure I figured it all out…but anyway… I still have some trouble with the wings/legs but they mostly come off intact. Sometimes the meat just falls right off the bone so it’s not that I can’t cut it it’s just that I make such a juicy bird that the meat can’t hold on.

I’m going to try to compile some actual recipes so that I can share them with you. I have a TON in books (like actual books and also “books” of ones I got off the internet that sounded good) but they’re in boxes. In our basement. So I’ll probably find those after the basement is all done. But I’d like to actually start broadening my culinary horizons and as long as the food is good I’ll share it with you. Don’t worry, I won’t be sharing the crappy dishes I’m sure to come across! (but have no fear, this won’t turn in to a cooking blog because that? Totally laughable for me)

Smothered Porkchops.

I made some. And they were delish. I've been trying to cook more (#35) since we moved so that we're eating more real meals and less whatever we've got to make something quick meals. It also helps that I'm getting home at 5 instead of 6 so that I have a little downtime before jumping in to dinner. There are days where we just make something quick, like a sandwich or spaghetti or something equally as easy, but a lot of times we're making something better. And I'M making things FROM SCRATCH. Oh yeah. Well, ok from scratch is kind of a relative term nowadays because everything is somewhat prepared, like our sides most of those are prepared, but the main dish from scratch-ish seeing as how I can't just go ahead and kill a pig and cut out some chops. But whatever. Back to my smothered porkchops.

So Steve saw this on TV or on the internet or something and wanted to try it. But his hand was injured so cooking for him was hard. But I gotta eat, so I offered to do all the work if he just showed me what to do. Without yelling. And he did. Without yelling. Or taking over. He said by the time we have kids he'll have me making meals so well that they'll never know I used to make box meals! Ha. Ha.

So basically, we made a dredge. Flour and seasonings of our liking. I can't remember what we put in there exactly, but it was good. Then, in a pan, some butter melted. Chops in for a quick second on each side. Like a minute on each side. Then we added an onion, a couple cloves of garlic, and some fresh tarragon. Let those cook some. Then add some beef broth and some chicken broth. Then some flour to thicken it up a bit. And then it cooked for like 20 minutes.

Doesn't it look yummy?



It SO was. I did an excellent job if I do say so myself. And I do. The chops were very tender and juicy that you didn't really even need a knife. I made some scalloped potatoes (from a box) and a veg as a side. One day, I'll be learning to make scalloped potatoes from scratch instead of a box, but that sounds like that would be a weekend meal not a weeknight meal.