Pork Chop!

I'm always in a bit of a quandary about the best way to cook a thick pork chop. I think I found a pretty good method the other night.

2 1 inch thick top loin pork chops
Salt and pepper
1/4 cup white wine
1/4 cup vegetable or chicken broth
2 T butter

Pre heat oven 400

In cast iron skillet, brown the seasoned chops on each side for four minutes.

Put in oven for ten minutes.

Let them rest while you make a sauce with the wine, broth and butter.

I served with buttered sweet corn and baked sweet potatoes garnished with Greek yogurt and chopped green onions.

Spicy Turkey Chili

I've never met a chili I didn't like and this one is no exception. I had some chipotle peppers to use up and some ground turkey in the freezer--and before you know it, you've got a nice chili simmering on the stove.

1 pound ground turkey
1 onion, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1 can white beans, rinsed and drained
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1/2 can chipotle peppers minced
3 T chili powder
1 t cumin
1 t oregano
1/4 t cinnamon
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper
28 oz can diced tomatoes
2 cups vegetable or chicken broth

In large pot brown the turkey, onion and red pepper. Stir in garlic, salt, pepper and spices. Add chipotle peppers, tomatoes, and broth,and simmer for an hour.

Serve garnished with any of the following: sour cream, green onion, chopped avocado, cheddar cheese.

Smoked Whitefish

Here is a very useful tip we learned from our New Jersey relatives: buy your whitefish salad at Costco! No kidding, it's really good. Enjoy! Their Parmesan bagels aren't bad either!

Whipped Cauliflower

Often my go-to prep for cauliflower is to roast it. Every now and then I make mashed cauliflower. This dish is more like whipped in that you use a food processor. It was pretty good as a side along with steak and roast asparagus.

1 medium cauliflower, broken into florets
1 quart chicken broth
A couple chipotle peppers minced
Salt and pepper
2 garlic cloves smashed
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup shredded cheddar

Boil the cauliflower, some salt and pepper and garlic in the broth for 20 minutes. Drain well.

Place in food processor and blend it up. In casserole dish, place cauliflower, stjir in chipotles and sour cream and 1/4 cup cheese. Top with the other 1/4 cup cheese and bake at 400 for 20 to 30 minutes. If you want a mixture that is thicker then don't use processor, just mash with fork or masher.

Spicy Chicken Legs

Saw this on the New York Times site and didn't have all the ingredients but improvised and the outcome was pretty tasty.

1 pkg chicken legs
2 T tomato paste
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 orange, juiced
a pinch of cayenne
1 t cumin
1 t coriander
1/2 t salts

Throw all the ingredients into small processor and whirl up into a paste. Slather mixture all over chicken legs cover and refrigerate up to a day.

Heat oven to 375 and bake legs for 30 minutes then turn for another 20 to 30.

Easy Eggplant Parm

I have posted a couple eggplant parm recipes on here and here is yet another. Many recipes call for frying the eggplant but baked is much healthier and still delicious. This is super simple and super yummy.

1 large eggplant, peeled and sliced in 1/3 inch round slices
Italian bread crumbs
2 beaten eggs
1 jar favorite spaghetti sauce
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1 cup grated parmesan
garlic powder

Heat oven 400

Dip eggplant slices in egg and then in breadcrumbs. Sprinkle with garlic powder.  Put slices on cookie sheets and bake for 20 minutes, then flip for another ten. In buttered casserole dish, layer half the eggplant, 1/2 the sauce, half the cheeses. Repeat. Put back in oven for 30 minutes and then let sit for 15 to 20 before cutting.

French Drumsticks

So what are French Drumsticks? Just a fancy way of saying we're having chicken legs and I'm using a lot of Herbes de Provence! Ha

1 pkg chicken legs
1/2 bag of carrots, peeled and cut into large matchsticks
a couple stalks of celery chopped big
1 onion sliced
olive oil
salt and pepper
red pepper flakes
 1 T Herbes de Provence
apple cider vinegar
1 T Dijon
water

Put all the veggies in bowl and drizzled with olive oil, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes.
In large oven proof skillet, brown the chicken legs about 5 minutes each side. Remove to plate. Throw the veggies in and cook around for a few minutes. Make a mixture of about 1/4 cup vinegar with cup of water and the mustard--Add chicken legs back to skillet and add Herbes de Provence--then pour over Dijon mixture and put in 400 degree oven about an hour. Pretty tasty.

Cabbage Sausage Bake

This dish was pretty much gone and then I remembered I forgot to take a picture. Forgive the almost empty dish look. We wanted something easy and comforting while watching the snow come down and this fit the bill.

1 small head cabbage sliced
1 pkg chicken or turkey sausage, chopped ( we use spicy Aidell's)
1/2 large onion chopped
3 T butter diced
handful of breadcrumbs

Pre heat oven 300

Place sliced cabbage in colander and pour boiling water over to sort of soften- drain
Saute sausage and onion in skillet
In buttered baking dish, layer a 1/3 of the cabbage, salt and pepper and dot with one T diced butter, then 1/2 the meat mixture, then another 1/3 of cabbage, spices and butter, meat and finally cabbage again, spices, the breadcrumbs and butter. Cover with parchment pepper and then tightly with foil or casserole lid. Bake for 2 hours, then uncover and bake 1/2 hour more.

Moroccan Cod

Here's a yummy easy dish to enliven some basic cod.

2 cod fillets
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 chopped onion
3/4 t cumin
Olive oil
1 1/2 T drained capers
1/4 t cinnamon
Salt and pepper

In medium skillet with lid, heat a bit of olive oil and stir in the cumin. Add the onions and salt and pepper and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the can of tomatoes, capers and cinnamon. Simmer uncovered 20 minutes. Add the fish and simmer with lid on for 20 minutes.

Very good served with rice or couscous.

Cauliflower Spinach Curry

It has been snowing all day and I was feeling like I really wanted something cozy for dinner. I decided on a lazy day curry since I used Trader Joe's Curry Simmer Sauce. Was this curry as good as the authentic curries my DIL makes? No way! But it was tasty, easy and warmed our insides tonight!

1/2 head cauliflower, broken into small pieces
1 onion chopped
4 garlic cloves sliced
1 jar Trader Joe Curry Simmer Sauce
8 oz water
Salt, pepper, red pepper flakes
Small bag of baby spinach

Condiments (optional)

Sliced cherry tomato
Thinly sliced cucumber
Toasted sliced almonds
Greek yogurt

In large skillet sauté onion in olive oil for five minutes, add the cauliflower and spices and continue to cook for five more minutes. Add the garlic and then the sauce and water.  Stir well and cover and simmer for 45 to an hour. Serve over grains with added condiments.

Chicken with Cauliflower

Tonight I decided to do something different with cauliflower. My go to prep is usually to roast it but decided to incorporate into the dish tonight kinda like a stew of sorts.

Pkg of bone in chicken thighs, skinned
28 oz can diced tomatoes
Salt and pepper
3 garlic cloves, sliced
Red wine vinegar
Olive oil
1 onion sliced
Cinnamon and thyme 1/2 t each
1/2 head large cauliflower broken into florets and then sliced a bit
Feta cheese (optional)

In large Dutch oven, brown the thighs in a little olive oil five minutes each side.
Remove to plate. Pour out the oil and ad 2 T of red wine vinegar to hot pot. stir a bit and then add a bit of olive oil and sliced onion. Stir over medium heat and slowly cook onions for about ten minutes. Then add the garlic for a few minutes and the tomatoes, salt, pepper and spices. Add the chicken back in. Add just enough water to barely cover the chicken, bring to simmer, cover and cook 20 minutes. Add the cauliflower and cook another 20 minutes. Serve over grains sprinkled with the feta if that sounds good.

Yummy Swiss Chard

I saw some gorgeous chard at Arbor Farms market and thought it would make a lovely "bed" for a nice piece of blackened salmon. I added some steamed dilled carrots and we had a lovely bowl dinner!

1 bunch Swiss chard, rinsed and stems cut away from the leaves
Chop the stems and the leaves. You need to cook the stems first.
3 cloves garlic minced
1/2 onion chopped
8 oz tomato sauce
Salt, pepper, red pepper flakes
Olive oil

In large lidded skillet, sauté the onion and stems in olive oil for five minutes or so. Add the garlic for a few minutes then throw in the leaves a bunch at a time. Add the tomato sauce and spices and maybe a little water. Stir well and then simmer gently until all the leaves wilt. You can hold over low flame until the rest of your dinner is ready.