Easy Peasy Mac & Cheesy

I have finally found a stove top Macaroni & Cheese recipe that measures up to the "Blue Box."  I'm so thankful to "Confections of a Foodie Bride" for the most important tip: American cheese.  I know most of us bloggers like to think of ourselves as a step beyond the processed cheese food product, but lets face it, I can't exactly pretend I'm so food-snobbish when I'm looking for a replacement recipe for Kraft Mac & Cheese, right?  While I used the American cheese tip, I kind of combined the recipe with my standard white sauce technique instead of using the Greek yogurt, mostly because I completely forgot to get any at the store before making this recipe.  I really liked how this came out with my non-fat white sauce mixed with American cheese, lots of peas and some cubed ham.  A very easy, but filling recipe, especially when using whole wheat pasta as I did here.  I made this on a night that the husband wasn't around, but I was really surprised to find that he enjoyed the leftovers as much as I did.  I guess some flavors from our childhoods have universal life-long appeal, and American cheese is one of those flavors.  I couldn't stop eating my little slices of American cheese (I bought thick slices in the deli section and thinly sliced those slices instead of shredding, since we have no blocks of American cheese for sale)!

Stovetop Macaroni & Cheese with Ham & Peas (Inspired by Confections of a Foodie Bride)
8 oz macaroni or short pasta of your choice (I used whole wheat rotini)
8 oz American cheese, grated (or sliced as described above)
1 Tbs Unsalted Butter
1 Tbs All Purpose Flour
1 Cup fat free milk
1-1 1/2 cups frozen peas, thawed (I threw mine in with the pasta for the last couple minutes)
1/2 cup diced ham
Cook pasta according to package directions until al dente (throwing in peas to thaw for last 2-3 minutes of cooking time).  Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, melt butter and add flour, making a roux.  Cook for about 1 minute.  Add milk and stir continuously and vigorously to ensure no lumps.  When sauce just comes to a boil, it will be thickened.  Add cheese gradually, stirring well until melted before adding next handful.  Pour over drained pasta/peas, add ham, and mix well.  Season with salt and pepper and serve warm.  Makes about 4 servings.

Mole Pork Chops

I've posted more pork chop recipes in the last 10 posts or so than I probably have the entire blog history!  I have a couple reasons for that.  One is that pork is just so frequently on sale, and I'm really trying to knock down our food budget, which gets out of control when food is a hobby (shared by both me and the husband).  The other is that I have actually recently had luck with finding some recipes that I know the husband will like, even though they are pork (which he still sometimes thinks he doesn't like, even though he does).  This is one of those recipes.  I think he even said that we could make this a regular recipe.  I made it pretty spicy, but you can always adjust the seasonings to come up with a blend that works for you.  Look at the grill marks this gets!  That's from a stovetop grill on a very old coil style electric stove, so I'm pretty proud!  I served these with mashed potatoes made with sour cream, and roasted cauliflower with a light sprinkle of cayenne pepper.  Great spicy meal!

Mole Style Pork Chops (from My Recipes via Cooking with LT)
*1 tablespoon brown sugar
*1 teaspoon smoked paprika
*1 teaspoon ground cumin
*1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
*1 teaspoon chipotle chile powder
*4 pork chops, 1/2 inch thick (I used boneless)
*Cooking spray

1. Heat a grill pan or skillet over medium heat.

2. Combine first 6 ingredients and rub evenly over both sides of pork. Lightly coat pork with cooking spray.

3. Place pork on the heated pan. Cover and grill 3 minutes on each side or until done. Let stand 3 minutes before serving.

Pork Chops with Cherry Port Wine Sauce

I seem to be kicking the food rut I've been in the last few months, and have been making more new recipes lately, so here I am, back in the food blog world! This recipe was one that I've been eyeing for a while in my Cooking Light cookbook. I knew that I wanted to use pork chops instead of the pork medallions because my husband doesn't particularly care for the texture of pork tenderloin medallions (although he likes pork tenderloin when he can cut it up himself after it is cooked, go figure!). We usually have at least one small bottle of port wine hanging around because of our wine club membership (Kalyra has a membership where you get one white, one red and one dessert wine with each shipment), so I knew this would be a great option for us. I served this over mashed potatoes with a green salad. We were both fans, but I have an even better pork recipe in my archives just waiting to be posted, so stay tuned!

Pork "Medallions" with Port Wine Cherry Pan Sauce (from Cooking Light)

Please follow the link to the recipe. I followed the recipe exactly other than using pork chops instead of medallions and therefore cooking just a little longer to ensure doneness.

Carmelized Chipotle Pork Chops

Chipotles are so delicious, and easy to cook with because they come in easy small cans. Unfortunately, they are also fairly high on the heat scale and most recipes only require about one chipotle and a little of the Adobo sauce that they are canned in. I had used one chipotle a couple months back and promptly put the rest in a small Tupperware to use later. I recently was cleaning out the fridge and noticed a sweet/smokey/spicy scent before realizing that the
Tupperware container was leaking all over the shelves of my fridge! Aside from being a mess, it also made me realize I was craving chipotle flavor! Very soon after that, some of the women on my cooking board were talking about good recipes for bone-in chicken thighs. I took a peek at the post because I love chicken thighs even though the husband does not (nothing with bones for him!). Elly posted this lovely recipe for Carmelized Chipotle Chicken Thighs and I almost rushed out and bought the bone in thighs anyway because they looked too darn good, but one of her reader comments stated that the same process works great on pork chops, which were on sale this week. Even though this recipe only used 2 chipotles, I also threw one more into the mashed potatoes (along with some cream cheese and some of the adobo sauce, yum!), and then I froze the rest. This was such a great dish, and might be my new favorite pork chop recipe. A great combination of sweet, spicy and smokey, and the flavors develop perfectly with this cooking method.

Carmelized Chipotle Pork Chops (Inspired by Elly Says Opa)

1.5 Tbsp. olive oil

4 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1 onion, chopped

1/2 cup ketchup

1 tbsp. Dijon mustard

1 Tbsp. packed brown sugar

2 Tbsp. chopped chipotles in adobo

1/2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 Tbsp. cider vinegar

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

4 boneless pork chops (medium thickness)

Heat oil in a large heavy skillet over medium heat, until shimmery (I used my french oven). Add the onions to the oil, and cook, stirring occasionally until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Add garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add remaining ingredients, except pork, to skillet and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 25 minutes. Preheat oven to 400 and place a rack in the center. Add pork to skillet, flipping to coat in sauce. Roast in heated oven for 20 minutes, covered. Remove from oven, turn up heat to 450, flip chops and baste in remaining sauce in pan. Roast in oven at 450 until chops begin to brown, about 15 more minutes. Makes 4 servings (but we each ate 2 servings, it was so good!).

Ribs that my Husband Will Eat

My husband used to make fun of me all the time for my picky eating habits. I admit, when he first met me 13 years ago, I was pretty funny about food. I would rule out entire huge cuisine groups as foods I didn't like ("I don't like Mexican food" & "I don't like Chinese food" were a couple of his favorites, especially when he found out I hadn't had any Chinese food before). Obviously, that isn't a problem anymore. I daresay I am MUCH more adventurous that my husband when it comes to food. One of his quirks is that he doesn't much enjoy eating anything that involves bones. Chicken must be boneless. Pork Chops - boneless. And much to my chagrin (yay, Twilight readers!), he does not like ribs at all. Not only do the bones bother him, he is also not a fan of traditional barbeque sauce. But hooray! I finally found boneless country style ribs at the store right around the 4th of July and knew I was all set to research a sauce recipe that would not be sickeningly sweet so that my husband and I could enjoy ribs over the 4th weekend. I decided to go with Scott's Savory Barbeque Sauce on Allrecipes because I pretty much had all the ingredients and it also looked like the sauce was not too sugary and so would work pretty well with my planned slow cooker method of cooking. These turned out really good, and while they weren't true ribs in the traditional sense, I was happy to satisfy a bit of my rib cravings with a recipe I could cook at home and my husband could eat. These were definitely healthier than what I would have gotten at the local barbeque place, so that's a definite added bonus!

Scott's Savory Barbeque Sauce (from Allrecipes, but scaled WAY down!)

1 cup apple cider vinegar

5 oz ketchup

1 Tbs Paprika

1/4 pound dark brown sugar

1 Tbs Salt

3/4 tsp ground black pepper

1 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

3/4 tsp garlic powder

1 Tbs Worchestershire Sauce

2 Tbs lemon juice

Mix all well, store up to one month in fridge, or pour over 1.5 lbs boneless country style rib meat in slow cooker. Cook on low 8-9 hours.

Island Spiced Pork Tenderloin

I've seen this recipe pop up on a couple of blogs recently, but it wasn't until I saw it on Annie's Eats that I realized that these island spices aren't what I originally thought they were. I hear "Island Spiced" and I think more along the lines of Hawaii - perhaps a macademia, pineapple or coconut concoction. These spices are more Caribbean in nature, and the recipe is a combination of items that you are likely to have on hand most of the time. This is a delicious combination of smoky, spicy and sweet, which are all flavors I love with pork. A few things to note: The "glaze" starts out quite dry, not like a traditional glaze at all, more like the texture of moist sand. Annie halved her glaze amount, but I left it at her measurements for only one tenderloin, so I guess it was back to the original amount. Also, I cooked the pork to an internal temp of 170 degrees, as that is our doneness preference for pork (no pink, but still very moist all the way through). This came together quickly and was a nice variation from our usual pork tenderloin recipe. I'll definitely be making this again.



Island Spiced Pork Tenderloin (from Annie's Eats, originally from Gourmet)
For the spice rub (I halved these amounts for one tenderloin):
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. cayenne (I added this)

1 pork tenderloin (about 2-2½ lbs. total)
1 tbsp. olive oil

For the glaze:
½ cup packed dark brown sugar
1 tbsp. (2-3 cloves) finely minced garlic
1½ tsp. Tabasco sauce
Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Combine the salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder and cinnamon in a small bowl. Stir together to blend. Pat the mixture over the pork tenderloins. Heat the olive oil in an ovenproof 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Place the tenderloins in the skillet and brown on all sides, turning occasionally, about 4 minutes total. Remove from the heat, leaving the pork in the skillet.

Stir together the brown sugar, garlic and Tabasco in a small bowl until blended. Spread the mixture evenly over the tops of the tenderloins. Place the skillet in the preheated oven and roast about 20 minutes, until an instant-read themometer inserted in the center of each tenderloin registers 140-170˚ F. Loosely tent the skillet with foil and let stand 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

Healthier Fettucine Alfredo

I love restaurant Fettucine Alfredo. I so rarely order it because it is so bad for me. One restaurant we go to serves it as a side to a chicken dish I like, and I usually get it with the pasta sauce on the side so that I can dip a small amount of sauce onto the pasta and keep it a little lighter. I haven't tried making Fettucine Alfredo at home because we used to eat it when I was younger, and I didn't like the grainy taste that came from the cheese not melting well enough into the cream. Not to mention, the home made version is often not that great for you either! I found a recipe in my Cooking Light cookbook that I thought looked promising, but I wanted to make it more like my childhood memory (we always had peas & ham added in) and I wanted it to be pretty veggie heavy, so I added pancetta, peas and broccoli. This was very tasty, and only had a little bit of grainy taste from the cheese. We will definitely make this again.

Fettucine Alfredo with Pancetta, Peas and Broccoli (adapted from Cooking Light)

1 Tbs Butter

1 1/4 cups Half & Half

3/4 cup grated fresh parmesan cheese (I used half American Parmesan, half parmigiano reggiano)

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp fresh cracked pepper

2 oz diced pancetta

1.5 cups frozen or fresh broccoli

1 cup frozen peas

3/4 lb dried fettucine pasta

Cook Pasta according to directions, adding broccoli and peas in the last 3 minutes of cooking. Meanwhile, melt Butter in medium saucepan. Add pancetta and cook until fat has rendered and meat is just starting to brown. Remove pancetta from pan with slotted spoon, reserve. Pour fat mixture out until only about 1 Tbs remains in the pan. Add half & half, cheese salt and pepper. Cook, stirring constantly, for about 3-5 minutes or until cheese has melted completely into the sauce. Add Pasta/veggie mixture and reserved pancetta. Toss well, serve hot. Makes 4-6 main servings.

Pizza Pasta

I have been in the mood for casseroles lately, probably because the weather is slowly cooling off a bit (although we have still had days in the 80s in the last week!). This pasta casserole that I found from Lemons & Love looked really great, so I bought all our favorite pizza toppings and whipped this up. The husband was rather skeptical beforehand, but really, really liked this dish. He was rather impressed with how much pizza flavor the dish had. I brought my leftovers into work and picked out all the mushrooms (I tried to make half with, half without the shrooms, but some got into my side), and my boss ate all the mushrooms. He too, commented on how pizza-like the flavor was. This was a fun one to make that I'm sure I will be repeating, but not in the middle of the bike season: it isn't very good for you, as it has a lot of cheese! I'm excited to try this with some of our other favorite toppings.

Pizza Pasta

1/2 lb short pasta (I used whole wheat macaroni)

1 jar pasta sauce (I used about 3/4 jar of Ragu, since I needed to use an opened jar)

1 cup mozzerella cheese, grated

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Your favorite pizza toppings:

I used - 1/2 lb mild Italian turkey sausage

1 green bell pepper, roughly chopped

1/2 pack mushrooms, sliced thin

about 20 or so sliced pepperoni, cut in half

1 Tbs fresh chopped oregano (or 1 tsp dried)

Preheat oven to 350. Cook pasta according to package directions, undercooking by about 2 minutes. Meanwhile, remove turkey sausage from casings and saute in skillet, breaking up into small pieces and cooking until no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Drain if needed. Add remaining veggies (bell pepper and mushrooms) and cook until just softened (I did these separately to keep the mushrooms from contaminating the good stuff, ha!). Add pepperoni and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add pasta sauce, oregano and cooked "toppings" to pasta and mix to combine well. Pour 1/2 the pasta mixture into a 13x9 casserole dish. If you are attempting a "1/2 & 1/2" style pizza, place toppings separately at this stage on 1/2 of the mixture, reserving one or two as markers for the top so that you know which side is which. Top with about 3/4 cup of mozzerella cheese, then top with the rest of the pasta mixture, then the rest of the mozzerella and parmesan. Bake uncovered for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted & bubbly. Allow to cool before serving. Makes about 6 servings.

Pork Medallions in a Creamy Dijon Herb Sauce

This was a recipe inspired by Mary Ellen on Mary Ellen's Cooking Creations. She pulled the recipe from Epicurious, and it seems some of my other co-bloggers have also enjoyed the recipe. My version was closer to Mary Ellen's (using onions instead of leeks and cooking the sauce and pork in the same pan for more flavor), but I also made some adjustments. I coated the tenderloins in flour to help the thickening of the sauce, and used a splash of cream instead of sour cream to make the sauce extra rich in addition to the chicken stock. I enjoyed the flavors of this dish, but I think next time, I'll be more prepared with measured ingredients, as I was so flustered while making this that I forgot to add the parsley (and I love using parsley right now because I have so much of it in my porch herb garden!). Husband was not so impressed with this dish, however, as it was too tender for him. He thinks pork is supposed to be tough because he rarely has it cooked properly. This was cooked until just no longer pink inside, and he kept complaining that it tasted too rare. Oh well, more for me next time!

Pork Medallions in a Creamy Dijon Herb Sauce
1 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided

3 Tbs AP Flour
1/2 c chopped onion
1 cup low-salt chicken broth
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 tbsp sour cream (I used heavy cream)
2 tablespoons whole grain Dijon mustard
2 boneless pork loin chops, each cut into 4-5 medallions
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

2 Tbs Chopped Fresh Parsley (I omitted)
Salt and pepper

Heat butter and 1 tbsp olive oil in a saute pan. Season pork with salt and pepper and coat in flour, shaking off any excess. Add pork to the pan and cook for a few minutes on each side If the pork is still not cooked in the center, cover and let cook for a few more minutes. Transfer pork to a plate and keep warm. Add 1 tbsp olive oil to the pan over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and cook until tender, about 4-5 minutes. Add the wine and deglaze the pan, scraping up all the brown bits. Add the broth and bring to a steady simmer for 5 minutes. Lower heat and whisk in cream and Dijon mustard until creamy. Stir in chives. Serve sauce over the pork, top with parsley.

Bourbon Glazed Pork Chops

I have had some fun coming up with recipes for pork chops that my husband, the pork hater, will enjoy. I like my pork to have some sweetness without being too sweet, and my husband needs the pork to be cooked all the way through without being too dry. I had some bourbon left over from another recipe, and I knew from Mary Ellen's blog that hard liquor can make for some great pork marinades (she has some great ones in her pork tag). I wasn't looking for a marinade this time, though, but more of a glaze reminiscent of Quizno's Honey Bourbon sauce. I found this Rachael Ray recipe online and it was the closest to what I was thinking of, so I used it as a base for my own concept. I didn't really want to use mustard and I went with brown sugar instead of honey. These came out pretty good. The bourbon flavor was definitely strong enough, the sweetness was just right, and my cooking technique ensured that they were done just as my husband likes them. Covering and cooking did thin out the sauce a little, however, so if you want a thicker sauce, you can simmer uncovered to finish off the chops.
Bourbon Glazed Pork Chops (by me, inspired by above links)
4 boneless pork chops (about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch thick)
4 Tbs butter, divided (I used 1/2 "I Can't Believe Its Not Butter", 1/2 regular)
salt & pepper to taste
2 oz bourbon
2 Tbs brown sugar
Melt 2 Tbs butter in medium saute pan (with a cover). Season pork with salt & pepper and cook in butter until both sides are brown (4-5 minutes per side). Set aside. Remove pan from heat to carefully add bourbon, then return to the pan for 30 seconds to 1 minute boiling rapidly so the alcohol burns off. Add remaining 2 Tbs butter and melt into sauce, then add brown sugar and stir until well combined. Return pork to the pan and flip a couple times to coat well in sauce. Cover and simmer on medium for 10 minutes. Serve with rice, spooning sauce over the chops.

Polynesian Pork Chops

This is another adapted childhood recipe that I'm so happy I've been able to reinvent. We frequently enjoyed pork chops baked in tomato sauce or tomato soup over rice. It was actually the only way I ever ate pork chops for years! One time, my stepmom took this dish and turned it into over the top fantastic. I only ate it once, but it still lives in my mind as the best pork chops ever from my childhood. We were on a cross country RV trip, and my Daddy had barbequed every night, but one night, it was raining, so we had to use the RV kitchen. The Hawaiian style pork chops that we had were similar to what we were used to, but had rings of pineapple and a hint of sweetness added to the sauce. We never had them that way again, and I've tried to recreate it once before to no avail, but the recipe you see here is about as close as I will ever get to that once in a lifetime RV kitchen pork chop recipe, and I devoured this dish. I think this would be a great dish for kids, too.

Polynesian Pork Chops (family recipe)

1 lb of center cut boneless pork chops (these were thin cut, but thicker than usual)

1 tsp ginger

2 cloves garlic

1/2 cup soy sauce

1 can tomato soup

1 tsp olive oil

1 8 oz can of Pineapple rings (the small can), 1/2 juice reserved

2 Tbs brown sugar

Marinate pork chops in soy sauce, garlic and ginger for at least 30 minutes. Heat olive oil in large saute pan. Shake excess marinade off pork before adding to the heated oil for a quick sear on each side (about 2 minutes per side). Remove pork and add soup, brown sugar, and about half the can of pineapple juices or until soup reaches desired sauce consistency. Heat to boiling. Dip both sides of each pork chop into the sauce and then lay into pan, covering with sauce. Lay the pineapple slices evenly over the pork. Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes or until pork is cooked through. Serve over hot cooked rice.

My most ambitious dish yet!

When we were in Vegas, we ate at Mesa Grill, which is a Bobby Flay restaurant. We both really enjoyed our food, but my husband was disappointed when he overheard the waiter telling another patron that HIS favorite dish was my husband's second choice, the New Mexico Spiced Pork Tenderloin with Ancho Bourbon Sauce. My husband's glazed salmon was very good, but he really felt like he missed out on this dish, so I was so excited to see this was one of the dishes on Bobby Flay's website. I knew I just had to try it at home. What an adventure this was! From finding all the ingredients (even in California, where the grocery stores carry lots of dried chiles, some of these were hard to find) to starting the sauce at 2:00 today for dinner at 6:00, I knew this was going to be a meal to remember. Thankfully, the meal was memorable because it was awesome. The New Mexican spice rub was slightly sweet, like a Mole, and the ancho bourbon sauce was really spicy on its own (as I learned when I did a taste test of the sauce alone, yikes!), but complemented the meat really well and wasn't too alcoholic, although we were worried in the early stages of the sauce when the bourbon was cooking down! My husband (yes, the one who fears pork) actually went back to snatch up the little end pieces of pork and dip them in the leftover sauce. I'm probably overly proud of this meal (I kept calling myself the Iron Chef all night), but it just feels really good to make a meal that we would have ordered at a really nice restaurant. Recipe can be found here.

Slow Cooker Ranch Pork Chops

I have mentioned before that my husband has an aversion to pork. He does enjoy pork in shredded pork tacos, and as long as the pork is cooked to done, but not too tough, he seems to do okay. So I thought that this recipe from Erica's Cooking Adventures would be great, since most everything cooked in the slow cooker comes out tender and cooked through just fine. I was so shocked when these chops came out pink after 8 hours of cooking. I ate them and thought they were tasty, but I don't mind pork that is a little pink. The husband was freaking out just watching me eat these. He ate the mashed potatoes and gravy. No pork. I might try these again and cook for 10 hours, or maybe try with chicken breast, but in the meantime, I'll continue to look for a good slow cooker recipe for pork.



Slow Cooker Ranch Pork Chops
4-5 pork chops (I used 4 medium thick boneless chops)
4-8 ou cream cheese (I used 4 oz low fat)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 packet Ranch dressing mix
4 T butter (I used 2 T butter, 2 T I can't Believe It's Not Butter Stick)
Place the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl and microwave for 1-2 minutes, until butter is melted and cream cheese is softened.Remove from microwave and mix in the cream of chicken and Ranch packet. Place the pork chops in the crockpot and pour the cream cheese mixture over top. Cook on high 5-6 or low 7-8 hours

Orange Picante Pork Chops

I have never tried grilled pork chops. I have heard that is one of the best ways to enjoy them, and I had all the ingredients for this recipe (From Campbell's Kitchen) on hand, and they were all ingredients that I wanted to use up. I had high hopes. While I do think that grilled pork chops have a lot of potential, I don't think this is the right recipe. They looked beautiful, but the flavor just didn't get absorbed enough in the hour of marinating, and the flavor wasn't sweet enough to be sweet from the OJ and wasn't spicy enough to be spicy from the picante sauce. I'm going to keep looking for a good pork marinade for grilling. In the meantime, look at how pretty these looked in the natural light of daylight savings time!

Nutrition Info for 1 pork chop: Calories: 202.9, Fat: 11.1g (3.8 Sat, 1.2 Poly, 4.9 Mono), Carbs: 3.1g, Fiber: .1g

Pork Tenderloin Normandy

This is a really unusual recipe that I loved as a kid. There seemed to be a stir fry craze going on in the late 80s-early 90s where woks were available everywhere, and at the time, my family purchased a Stir Fry cookbook from Sunset (Copyright 1988). There are some weird recipes in this stir fry book, including stir fried Mexican and stir fried French, including this recipe. I was lucky enough to inherit this cookbook and finally tried making this dish. I don't know why I haven't made it before. The pork comes out so tender and tasty with this cooking method! And for its creamy consistency, it really isn't all that high in fat. The picture doesn't do it justice because the colors all look the same, but trust me, this one is a keeper! The best thing about eating this as an adult was realizing that I loved the dijon flavor of the sauce when I was a kid, even though at the time, this picky kid swore she hated all mustard. I was a funny kid.

Pork Tenderloin Normandy
1/2 tsp each of salt & dry oregano

1/8 tsp pepper

3 Tbs AP Flour

12 Oz Pork Tenderloin, trimmed of all visible fat and sliced into thin medalions, then in half to form stir fry strips

4 Tbs "I Can't Believe Its Not Butter" Stick (original called for unsalted butter)

1 Large Onion, diced

1 large Golden Delicious apple, cored & thinly sliced

2 Tbs Dijon Mustard

1 Cup Milk
Combine Salt, Oregano, Pepper and Flour. Dredge Pork in flour mixture. Reserve remaining flour mixture. Stir Fry pork over medium high heat in 2 Tbs of the "Butter" until no longer pink (2-3 minutes). Remove pork and set aside. Add remaining "Butter" and stir fry onion until soft, about 3 minutes. Add apple and sprinkle with flour mixture remaining. Stir fry about 1 minute. Add milk & mustard. Bring to a boil, stirring well until sauce is thickened. Return meat to wok/pan and cook for about 2 more minutes or until heated through. Serve with rice. Makes 4 servings.

Nutrition Info: Calories: 293.1, Fat: 11.6g (3.4 Sat, 2.1 Poly, 3.6 Mono), Carbs: 18.8, Fiber: 2.3

Balsamic Honey Glazed Pork Chops

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, we have been pretty busy with nights out and gym nights that left me with nothing interesting to post (although I must say, Trader Joe’s has great quick meals in the freezer section!). Now, on to today’s recipe, which is really from Saturday night. I found this recipe on a great blog, EllySaysOpa. She took the recipe for Giada de Laurentiis’ Balsamic Glazed Chicken and transferred the idea to pork. I have to agree with Elly that this recipe is way better with the pork instead of the chicken (although I have never had the chicken, I just KNOW). A couple of things that I did differently (read: wrong): I didn’t have much time to marinade the pork, so it only got an hour’s worth of flavor instead of the 3-4 recommended, and I also overcooked the pork a bit, which I always do for a new pork recipe due to my hubby’s fear of all things pork. Now that the recipe has passed his inspection with flying colors, I look forward to cooking this again to the proper specs. It isn't the healthiest, but keep in mind that the nutrition info. is for 1/2 the sauce per person, which is kind of overkill.

I'm not going to repost the recipe, since I followed it to a tee, but here is what mine looked like:

Nutrition Info for Pork Chops and 1/2 sauce (you don't really need that much sauce): Calories: 513, Fat: 18.1g (Sat: 4.3, Poly: 3.3, Mono: 9.1), Carbs: 67.7g, Fiber: .1g

Pressure Cooker Pork Tacos

This is my husband's favorite meal. We don't have it very often because it takes a long time to make (even with the pressure cooker), it isn't exactly healthy, and we tend to eat a lot of it because we love it so much. My husband says "I don't care how unhealthy they are, these are damn good!" The recipe is from my in-laws, and I wasn't an official member of the family until I could not only make these well, but also chow down on many, many tacos. I am proud to say that I have now achieved the status of "Mom-Quality" tacos.

Pressure Cooker Pork Tacos

Step 1 Ingredients:

2 lbs Pork Chops, fat removed & diced into 1" pieces

1 medium onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 cup water

Place above ingredients in pressure cooker. Once pressure regulator is gently rocking, cook for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and allow pressure to release of its own accord. Remove pressure cooker lid and shred pork until it looks like this:

Step 2 Ingredients:

1 28 oz can diced tomatoes

1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

1/2 - 3/4 tsp of ground red pepper (cayenne)

Add Step 2 ingredients and mix well. Stir well and allow to simmer on medium low for about an hour or until nearly all the liquid is absorbed into the meat. Serve with soft shelled tortillas and usual taco toppings (traditional for my inlaws include shredded lettuce and chopped tomatoes, but extended friends & family like cheese and sour cream). Makes about 6 servings of 2 tacos (but good luck stopping at 2!).

Nutrition Information for pork taco filling with no tortillas or toppings: Calories: 293.5, Fat: 16.5g (5.7 Sat, 1.8 Poly, 7.3 Mono), Carbs: 3.1g, Fiber: .7g

Saucy Creole Pork Chops

Well, I should have known this recipe from Campbell's Kitchen would be nothing but trouble when, after I finished chopping all my veggies & herbs and went to move the flex-cutting board to the stove, this happened:

Yes, that is my kitchen floor, and no, the linoleum is not normally speckled green. The edge of the cutting board hit the countertop and suddenly, parsley became a confetti celebration. Ugh. I then proceeded (after cleaning this mess up and chopping more parsley) to add over double the amount of water to the sauce than was prescribed. So while the flavor of this recipe was pretty good, all the textures were wrong. I still ate 2 pork chops, since I was starving after a huge hike we did today, but we will definitely experiment with this one some more, perhaps with chicken. We did love the cajun seasoning, so I'll try that in some other concoction soon.

Saucy Creole Pork Chops

(From Campbell's Kitchen)

4 Boneless Pork Chops, 3/4 inch thick

1 1/2 tsp Creole or Cajun Seasoning

2 Tbs Olive Oil (separated)

1 medium onion, diced

2 garlic gloves, minced

1 can condensed lowfat cream of celery soup

1/3 a cup of water (or, if you are feeling silly, 3/4 of a cup)

1 Tbs chopped fresh parsley

1 14 oz can diced tomatoes (I used petite diced)

Sprinkle Chops with seasoning. Heat 1 Tbs oil in medium skillet over med. high heat. Add Chops and cook 10 minutes or until browned. Remove chops. Add remaining oil and heat over medium heat. Cook garlic & onions until onions are tender. Add soup, water, parsley and tomatoes. Heat to a boil. Return pork to skillet. Cover & cook over low heat for 5 minutes or until pork is no longer pink. Serve with hot rice.

Nutrition info for 1 pork chop & sauce: Calories: 351.5, Fat: 20.9g (6.1 Sat, 2.4 Poly, 10.9 Mono), Carbs: 15.2g, Fiber: 1g

Teriyaki Pork Tenderloin

Pork tenderloin can be really good for you (it is the other white meat, right?), but I find it hard to find tasty unusual recipes for it. All I ever see are loins coated in barbeque sauce or smothered in dijon. I searched the internet high and low and combined the best of about 5 recipes I found to come up with this baked Teriyaki Tenderloin. My husband is not a huge fan of pork, but loves this recipe.

Teriyaki Pork Tenderloin

3/4 lbs pork tenderloin, trimmed of fat and silver skin

5 Tbs Lite soy sauce

2 Tbs Olive Oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp fresh grated ginger (I use the jarred stuff)

1 tsp freshly ground pepper

1 Tbs honey

Combine all ingredients except pork in a gallon size storage bag and combine well to create marinade. I stuff the bag into a tall cup so that I can use both hands for pouring/measuring (see picture). Add tenderloin to the bag and marinade at least 8 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 425. Line 11x7x2" pan (or closest available) with aluminium foil (don't forget this step or whoever is on dish duty will hate you). Place tenderloin in pan, reserving marinade. Bake, uncovered, for 25-35 minutes or until internal temp. reaches 160-170, remove from oven, then allow to rest for at least 5 minutes. Meanwhile, bring marinade to a rapid boil in a small saucepan. Reduce heat to low and simmer until reduced to a syrup consistency. Slice tenderloin and serve topped with marinade sauce.

One tenderloin serves 2-3 people, but the marinade can easily be used for 2 tenderloins (just a little less sauce to go around).

Nutrition Info for 1 serving of pork and marinade sauce: Calories: 330 g, Total Fat: 15.9 g (3.7 Sat, 1.4 Poly, 9.4 Mono), Carbs: 11.6 g, Fiber: .3 g