Food

I tried a new recipe for pork chops last night. Usually a brand new recipe will need a few revisions before it’s ready to be shared here. Not the case this time, they were incredible! The sauce is sweet and tangy (“sweetangy” ) and tastes just like the kind you would have on a typical order of pork short ribs from a Chinese restaurant, except homemade and even more delicious. 4-6 pork chops (depending on their size and thickness) 1 cup tomato sauce 1/2 cup brown sugar 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar 2 teaspoons Worchestershire sauce 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1/2 teaspoon black pepper 1) Warm a little oil in a large skillet. Brown the pork chops on both sides but do not cook through yet. 2) Combine the remaining ingredients in a medium bowl. Pour over the pork chops in the skillet. Bring to a boil, lower the heat a simmer for 8-10 minutes. Do not cover the meat and sauce while it simmers, you want to allow it to evaporate so that the sauce thickens a bit. So good! 3) Serve these alongside or on top of some fluffy white rice and your favorite...

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This is one of my favorite ways to serve a simple carrot side dish. The default quick way to cook them is slice and boil in water. Sure, it gets some veggies on the table, but you’ve boiled out all the vitamins and a lot of the flavor. This recipe will put a lot of flavor back, but to keep a good deal of the vitamins you’re better off serving them raw. 3 large carrots, peeled and sliced (or diced if you prefer smaller pieces) 2 tbsp. brown sugar 1/2 tsp. ground ginger 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg (yes, it’s a tiny bit, but it packs a yummy punch!) 1/8 tsp. salt (to balance out the sugary sweetness) 1/2 cup water 1) Stir the seasonings into the water. Add the carrots and stir. No, it’s not a lot of water. It’ll be just enough to wet the carrots and then cook out while they simmer, leaving them glazed with a light sauce instead of floating in water. 2) Bring to a low boil. Lower the heat and let simmer until carrots are at your preferred doneness. We like ours soft with a little bit of crunch left in the middle,...

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I don’t always make a dinner bread to go with our meal, but when I do I like to make a really good one. These herb biscuits are packed with flavor and so wonderful. You start with pre-made biscuit dough from the refrigerator and toss them in a yummy herby cheesy mixture to turn bland boring canned biscuits into an amazing little accompaniment to your meal. My friend Ericka posted the original recipe on her blog, but I have since made a few slight changes to the coating mixture and I bake mine up in a muffin tin to make individual portions instead of in the 9″ round pan. Either way, these biscuits are delicious! 1 roll refrigerated biscuit dough 1/4 c. butter, melted 4 tbsp. grated parmesan cheese 1 1/2 tsp. fresh minced garlic 1 tsp. dried parsley flakes 1 tsp. dried basil 1/2 tsp. dried oregano 1/2 tsp. dried dill weed 1) Separate biscuit dough and cut each round into quarters. (* FYI: I tried this once with homemade biscuit dough. It totally didn’t work as planned. After I chopped up the dough into pieces and started tossing them in the coating, they all smooshed back into...

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Back in January (yes,over six months ago from the date of this post, I forgot this was in my Drafts folder til just now)… I was in desperate need at a very late hour for a quick applesauce recipe. I wanted to serve it warm at a MOPS meeting at church early the following morning, so I needed to cook it in my crock pot overnight. I looked through several recipes and found that applesauce was very simple to make. So, as usual for me, I decided to wing it.  I had precisely 7 apples, and the ratios I was going off of for seasoning and cooking time were using 4 apples. In order to double those ratios I needed more fruit… Rather than running to the store for a single apple (silly!), I grabbed a can of cherries from my pantry. This turned out so so good, I was astonished! Never do I hit such a home run on the first try, especially when I wing it! 7 granny smith apples 1 can of tart cherries (not pie filling, just cherries) 1/4 cup water 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 1/4 tsp. nutmeg 1) Peel, core, and cut up your apples...

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I have always considered cinnamon to be a spice that you bake with, not for cooking. How wrong I was! Lately I’ve been experimenting with the taste that cinnamon brings to savory dishes. It is so different when not paired with sugar. It gives a nice warm flavor, and when paired with a little bit of heat it is wonderful. Here is one of the recipes I’ve made a few times now that my family really enjoyed. Since they weren’t used to the flavor of cinnamon in a savory dish, it had them all stumped… What is that flavor? When I told them what it was, they were as interested and excited as I was! 6 chicken breast halves 2 tsp. cinnamon 2 tsp. chili powder 1 tsp. garlic powder (or four cloves of fresh minced garlic) 1 tsp. cumin 1/2 tsp. salt 1) Combine the above ingredients together in a small bowl. Reserve to the side. 2) Warm up a little olive oil in a skillet, just enough to coat the bottom. 3) Arrange your chicken in the skillet, sprinkle about 1/2 tsp. of the seasoning mixture onto each side of each piece (1 tsp. total per piece...

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Our family loves us some bar-be-que. I usually have a bottle of sauce hanging out in the fridge, but there have been quite a few times when I thought I had some and found it either gone, naught but a drop left, or expired. So, instead of scrapping our meal plan, I figured out how to make it myself. One thing we are never ever ever out of is ketchup, so I started there and added various seasonings to taste. We prefer thick smokey sauce to the thin hot sauce. BBQ sauces run the gamut of flavors; if you tend to like it the way we do, give my recipe a try! 1 1/2 cups prepared ketchup 1 tbsp. minced fresh garlic (or 1 tsp. garlic powder) 1 tbsp. chili powder 1 tsp. ground ginger 1 tsp. ground mustard 2 tsp. liquid smoke 1/4 cup brown sugar (or less if you don’t want it quite so sweet) 1 tsp. olive or vegetable oil (or more if you like your sauce thinner) * (If you like a little more heat that the chili powder provides, try adding 1/4 – 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper.) There are two ways to do this,...

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I LOVE enchiladas, a whole lot. Whenever we go to eat Mexican food I almost always get enchiladas. Sometimes I want some crunch and get taquitos or flautas instead, but enchiladas are still #1 in my book. To me, red sauce is best, I’m not a big fan of the verde sauce with sour cream. I also prefer my sauce smooth, not chunky, so I use all powdered seasonings instead of chopped or minced. Here is my recipe for the best sauce as well as some simple step-by-step photos, just in case you’ve never made enchiladas yourself before. 1 (15 oz.) can of tomato sauce 1 (6 oz.) can of tomato paste 1 1/2 tbsp. chili powder 3 tsp. onion powder 1 tsp. garlic powder 1/2 tsp. dried oregano 1/4 tsp. salt 1) Heat the above ingredients in a sauce pot over medium heat until it is warmed through. 2) Turn your oven on 375° and coat a 9×13″ baking dish with non-stick spray. 10 tortillas (I use the 6″ fajita size) 4 cups of shredded cheese ** 3) Dollop a little bit of warm (not scalding hot) sauce into a tortilla and spread it around. 4) Add about...

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