quick and crunch breaded Pork chops

	1 5 oz box melba toast, crused coarse OR PANKO BREAD CRUMBS salt/pepper 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon onion powder 1/2 teaspoon paprika 1 teaspoons minced fresh or 1/2 t. dried thyme 1/8 teaspoon sugar 6 Tbs mayonnaise 4 boneless pork chops, 1" thick 1 Heat oven to 425° and adjust rack to middle position 2 prepare crumb coating: mix the crumbsk salt, garlic and onionj powderk paprika, thyme, and sugar in shallow dish. Add 2 T. of mayo and work evenly into crumbs 3 Season and coat chops: Pat chops dry with paper towel and season with salt/pepper. cover chops completelyl with remaining 1/4 cup mayo and dredge thoroughly with crumbs including sides. Press on crumbs to make sure they adnere. Transfer breaded chops to wire rack set on rimmed baking sheet. 4 Bake Pork Chops: Bake chops until coating is golden brown and center of chops register 140° on instant-read thermomenter, 18-22 minutes. Remove chops from oven and let rest on rack until center of chops reach 150°° before serving, 5-10 minutes

Pan Roasted Chicken Breasts with Potatoes (and baby carrots, if desired)

	from The best 30-minute Recipe...cook's illustrated. 4 chicken breasts salt and ground black pepper 6 tbs olive oil 1-1/2 pounds red potatoes, cut into 1" wedges (I added baby carrots) 2 Tbs fresh lemon juice 1 clove garlic 1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme pinch red pepper flakes 1 Heat oven to 450°. adjust rack to the lowest position. 2 season and brown chicken; Pat chicken dry with paper towels and seasonj with salt and poepper. Heat 1 T of oil in 12" nonstick skillet over med-hi heat til just smoking. Brown chicken well 5 minutes. While chicken browns cut up the potatoes 3 microwave potatoes: meanwhile toss the potatoes with 1 T oil, 1/2 t. salt, 1/4 t. pepper in microwave-safe bowl, covered tightly with plastic wrap. Microwave on high until potatoes begin to soften, 5-7 minutes, shaking bowl (without removing plastic) to toss potatoes halfway through 4 Bake chicken: transfer chicken, to baking dish and bake until thickest part registers 160 degrees on instant-read thermoments, 15-20 minutes. 5 Brown Potatoes: While chicken bakes, pour off any grease ijn skillet, add 1 T of oil, and return to midium heat until shimmering. Drain microwaved potatoes, then add to skillet and cook, stirring occasionaloly, until golden brown and tender, about 10 minutes. 6 Make Drizzling Oil: Whisk remaining 3 T. oil, lemon juice, garlic, thyme, and red pepper flakes together. Drizzle oil over chicken and potatoes before serving. Cooking Tips Preheat oven before assembling your ingredients. If the split breasts are of different sizes, check the smaller ones a few minutes early to see if they are cooking more quickly, and remove them from the oven if they are done.

Philly Steak Wraps

I was hankering for soemthing new today. As luck would have it, this simple recipe has ingredients that I buy regularly.  YUMMY!

1 T beef bouillion granules
1/2 c. water
3 garlic cloves, pressed
1/8  t ground black pepper
1 boneless beef top sirloin steak, cut 1 inch thick (1 pound)
1 small green bell pepper, cut into 1/4 strips
1 small onion cut into 1/3 inch slices
veggie oil
2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
4 (9-10 inch) flour totillas

1. Combine the boulliuon granules, water, garlic, black pepper in a bowl.  Marinade the steak in it for 1-3 hours in the refridgerator, turning occasionally. 

2.  Remove steak from  marinade and cool in the grill. 

3.  Put some veggie oil into a pan and cook up the veggies on the stove top.

4.  Slice the cooked beef into thing slices.

For each wrap, sprinkle cheese onto the tortilla.  Add peppers, onions, beef. Fold over.  Place in hot, oiled pan over medium high heat.  Brown 2-3 minutes on each side.  Serve immediately.

This was a pampered chef recipe, but I simplified it for the blog.

Truckstop Buttermilk Pancakes

So.
I will love you forever, Bisquick, but lately I've been straying a bit. I recently found an awesome recipe for coffee cake from scratch, which I will not post here because it hurts too much that Hank loves it more than Bisquick Conference cake. Then I came across this recipe for Buttermilk Pancakes and went for it because I was out of Bisquick, and because the photo looked good and THEY WERE DELICIOUS! Pouffy, fluffy little clouds of morning joy. Obviously, a few more steps are involved in making these than you'd ever have when making Bisquick pancakes, but even I, a very devoted and loyal follower of that certain Bisquicky-ness you can't get anywhere else, really loved this recipe. Oh yeah. We got our hands on some blueberries today and are going to try these out again in the near future, this time with blueberries. This concludes my dissertation.

Let the games begin!

• 2 cups All-purpose Flour
• ¼ cups Sugar
• 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• ½ teaspoons Salt
• 2 cups Buttermilk
• 4 Tablespoons Butter
• 2 whole Large Eggs
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• ¼ cups Milk (I used water. I'm pretty sure there's no need for buttermilk AND milk)
  

Preparation Instructions

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Melt butter and separate eggs. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Then mix in the butter, yolks, and vanilla with the whisk. Then stir in the buttermilk.

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until they are just combined. Add milk as needed until batter reaches desired consistency.

Pour batter onto a hot buttered griddle using approximately 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake. Flip when bubbles begin to form on top.

(Got this recipe off of tastykitchen)

m2

Peggy's Linguini Salad

This was served by Peggy at Carol and Al's 50th Anniversary party and it was so good. Apparently Peggy brings this to all the potlucks and is always asked for the recipe. And because there is never anything left, she always leaves a small bowl at home for her husband and herself.

1 pound linguini
Chopped celery
chopped green peppers
sliced green onions
2 large, diced tomatoes
Good Seasons Zesty Italian (dry Packet but mix as directions say with oil/vinegar)
Salad Supreme by McCormick...to taste

Cook the linguini and rinse.

Add the rest and toss.

Chill and serve.

Beefy Chili Dogs

• I happen to love hot dogs so tonight we had them with this topping...and man! was it good.
  
• 
  
• 
  
• 12 ounces ground beef
• 1 large onion, chopped (1 cup)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 14 1/2-ounce can diced tomatoes
• 1 4-ounce can diced green chili peppers- I cut up green and red peppers
  
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon yellow mustard
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon celery seeds
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 10 frankfurters
• 10 frankfurter buns, split and toasted
• Shredded cheddar cheese
• Finely chopped onion
• Yellow mustard

Directions

1. For meat sauce: In a large skillet, cook ground beef, 1 cup chopped onion and garlic until meat is brown and onion is tender; drain fat. Stir in undrained tomatoes, chili peppers, chili powder, 1 tablespoon mustard, sugar, paprika, Worcestershire sauce, cumin, celery seeds, salt and black pepper. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 20 minutes.

2. Add frankfurters to skillet. Simmer, covered, for 10 minutes more or until frankfurters are heated through. Remove frankfurters from meat sauce.Robert grilled the dogs.

3. To serve, place frankfurters in split buns. Top each with about 1/4 cup of the meat sauce. Serve with cheddar cheese and additional onion and mustard. Makes 10 servings.

Slow Cooker Directions: Brown ground beef mixture as above; drain off fat. Transfer mixture to a 2 1/2- to 3 1/2-quart slow cooker. Add the remaining sauce ingredients. Cover and cook on high-heat setting for 2 hours or low-heat setting for 4 hours. Add the frankfurters to the slow cooker. Cover tightly; cook 30 minutes more or until frankfurters are hot. Serve as above or turn heat to low or warm and let stand up to 1 hour.

Garden Potato Salad

I made the following recipe yesterday for our Memorial Day Linner. And it turned out exactly as the picture that accompanied the recipe in the magazine...food network mag. I didn't have all the spices to boil the potatoes with but I made do by improvising.

Ingredients

• 1 lemon
• 5 or 6 sprigs fresh parsley, plus 2 tablespoons chopped leaves
• 2 or 3 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 cloves garlic, smashed
• 2 pounds small red-skinned potatoes, cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds
• Kosher salt
• 4 medium carrots, cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds
• 3/4 cup fat-free plain yogurt
• 1/4 cup low-fat mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon whole-grain or dijon mustard
• 3 scallions, minced, whites and greens separated
• Freshly ground pepper
• 2 stalks celery, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
• 1 small Kirby cucumber, cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds

Directions

Peel a 2-inch-long strip of zest from the lemon; tie into a bundle with the parsley and thyme sprigs and bay leaf using kitchen twine. Put in a saucepan with the garlic, potatoes, 2 tablespoons salt and 8 cups water. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook about 10 minutes. Add the carrots and cook until the potatoes are tender and the carrots are crisp-tender, about 5 more minutes. Reserve 1/4 cup of the cooking water, then drain the vegetables and discard the herb bundle. Let cool.

Meanwhile, finely grate 2 teaspoons lemon zest and squeeze 3 tablespoons juice into a large bowl. Whisk in the yogurt, mayonnaise, mustard, scallion whites, chopped parsley, reserved cooking water, 1 teaspoon salt and 3/4 teaspoon pepper.

Add the potatoes, carrots, celery and cucumber to the dressing and toss. Chill about 4 hours. Top with the scallion greens.

Alton's Brown Chicken Fried Steak...who else?

I must be in the mood for cooking this week. Perhaps because I need to enjoy dinners while Robert is still on days. It's a whole other matter when he returns to afternoons. So tonight's offering is one of Robert's favorites, one he often gets when we go out to eat at places similar to Cracker Barrel (and if you are wondering, I was able to get Robert the first of the four Shrek glasses offered by McDonalds....y'all know how he loves Shrek....so this was a surprise. Plus it is filled with CHOCOLATE MILK, another of his favorites).

Chicken Fried Steak

Ingredients

• 2 pounds beef bottom round, trimmed of excess fat
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 whole eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

Directions

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.

Cut the meat with the grain into 1/2-inch thick slices. Season each piece on both sides with the salt and pepper. Place the flour into a pie pan. Place the eggs into a separate pie pan. Dredge the meat on both sides in the flour. Tenderize the meat, using a needling device, until each slice is 1/4-inch thick. Once tenderized, dredge the meat again in the flour, followed by the egg and finally in the flour again. Repeat with all the pieces of meat. Place the meat onto a plate and allow it to sit for 10 to 15 minutes before cooking.

Place enough of the vegetable oil to cover the bottom of a 12-inch slope-sided skillet and set over medium-high heat. Once the oil begins to shimmer, add the meat in batches, being careful not to overcrowd the pan. Cook each piece on both sides until golden brown, approximately 4 minutes per side. Remove the steaks to a wire rack set in a half sheet pan and place into the oven. Repeat until all of the meat is browned.

Add the remaining vegetable oil, or at least 1 tablespoon, to the pan. Whisk in 3 tablespoons of the flour left over from the dredging. Add the chicken broth and deglaze the pan. Whisk until the gravy comes to a boil and begins to thicken. Add the milk and thyme and whisk until the gravy coats the back of a spoon, approximately 5 to 10 minutes. Season to taste, with more salt and pepper, if needed. Serve the gravy over the steaks.

parmesan crusted chicken

Had a lovely meal tonight and Robert raved about the chicken so I thought I'd post it. It's fast and easy. I LOVE The foodnetwork magazine.

1/2 cup Hellmann's Real Mayo ... or whatever you have as long as it's MAYO
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
4 boneless, skinnless chicken breasts
4 t. Italian seasoned dry breadcrumbs
***** Here's what I used cuz it's better....PANKO toppings with Italian seasonings added

1. Preheat oven to 425.
2. Combine the Mayo with the parmesan cheese.  place chicken on baking sheet. Top evenly with Mayo mixture, then sprinkle with breadcrumbs.
3. bake 20 minutes or until chicken is thoroughly cooked.

vegetable fried rice with bacon

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1/4 pound thick-cut bacon, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
• 3/4 teaspoon sugar
• 2 1/4 teaspoons soy sauce
• 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 1 2-inch piece ginger, peeled and minced
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 head broccoli, florets and stalks cut into 1/4-inch pieces
• 5 cups cooked long-grain white rice
• 1/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 4 large eggs
• 1 bunch watercress, stems removed
• Spicy mustard or chili sauce, for serving (optional)

Directions

Place a wok or large skillet over high heat. Add the vegetable oil and bacon and stir-fry until golden and crisp, about 2 minutes. Sprinkle the sugar over the bacon and toss. Add 1/4 teaspoon soy sauce (watch out-the oil will bubble up) and continue to stir-fry until the bacon is glazed, about 30 seconds. Transfer the bacon to a bowl with a slotted spoon. Add the garlic, ginger and red pepper flakes to the drippings in the pan and stir-fry until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the broccoli and cook until crisp, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the rice, the remaining 2 teaspoons soy sauce, the broth and glazed bacon. Toss to heat through.

Push the fried rice to one side of the pan, crack the eggs into the other side and scramble until set, about 1 minute. Mix the eggs into the rice and stir in the watercress. Divide among bowls and serve with mustard or chili sauce, if desired.

stuffed butterfly pork chops

dad's marrying a couple tonight so I've had to start early on my prep for dinner cuz I also have a piano lesson to give...so he'll have to eat when he gets home. I combined 2 recipes and came up with this one:

1/3 c. butter
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. sage
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 c. diced celery
4 c. toasted bread cubes
1/2 c. coarsely chopped onion
2 lg. delicious or winesap apples
1/4 c. raisins
6 pork chops cut 3/4 to 1 inch thick

Melt butter; add salt, sage, pepper, onion and celery and cook over low heat until vegetables are almost tender. Pour over bread cubes, stirring lightly to distribute ingredients evenly. Pare, core and coarsely chop one or two apples to make 1 1/2 cups. Stir apple and raisins into stuffing mixture and turn into baking dish (11 1/2 x 7 1/2 x 1 1/2 inches)

Glaze:
2 T. brown sugar
3 T. prepared mustard
1 T. fresh lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar and mustard. Mix together well.
3. Butterfly the pork chops and arrange them in a 9x13 inch baking dish over the stuffing mixe above. Spread the mustard mixture over the chops, then sprinkle with the lemon juice.
4. Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 20 minutes, or to desired doneness.

I prepared the stuffing mixture in a caste iron skillet and then laid on the chops, and their glaze and then just slid the skillet into the oven.

Check for internal temp if you have an instant read thermometer

Alton Brown's Pan-Seared Rib-Eye Steak

Oh Wow! We had this amazing dinner on Sunday...way better than even steaks on the grill, if you can believe it. I need to return this cookbook to the library so I wanted to be sure and post these instructions so I don't forget and you can have a great steak adventure. No pictures cuz it was too amazing a dish to photograph, plus we were in heaven, savoring every morsel

NOTE: There's gonna be smoke. Turn on your hood if you have one and open a window. AB even removes the battery out of the smoke detector. I didn't find it quite as bad as this, however.

HARDWARE
cast iron skillet

SOFTWARE

2 1-1/2" boneless rib-eye steaks
1 t. canola oil, to coat
1 t. kosher salt
1/2 t. black pepper, freshly ground

1. Allow steaks to come to room temperature for 1 hour.
2. Position rack in center of oven. Crank to 500 degrees F and slide in a 12" caste iron skillet.
3. When oven hits temperature, carefully move skillet to cook top over high heat for 5 minutes.
4. Lightly coat steaks with canola oil then liberally sprinkle with the salt and pepper. Place carefully in pan, and don't touch for 30 seconds (you should use a kitchen timer).
5. Flip thesteaks with tongs and cook for another 30 seconds.
6. Move skillet back to the oven for 2 minutes/ Flip the steaks and cook for another 2 minutes.
7. Remove skillet to a heat-safe surface. For med-rare, the temp of the steaks should be between 130-140 degrees. Our steaks were much thicker so I cooked them longer in the oven...4 minutes per side and that worked out well.

When you temp the temp of the steaks do not insert the instant read thermometer from the top down, rather, insert it from the side, parallel to the base.

8. Allow steak to rest 5 minutes before serving.

You can place the steaks in a resting rig (meaning allow the juices to drain into a pan) and use the drippings from this as well as what's left in the pan to make a lovely sauce.

I added butter to the pan, some sliced onions and stirred around (called deglazing". I poured this over the steaks and then added some mozzarella cheese, grated. Yummy!

OR you could place the steaks over a slice of toast, preferable sourdough, which will absorb any escaping juices and make for a nice side bite in themselves

Tomato Sauce, Garlic, Artilicious Pasta

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh, YEAH.

After a very long day at the mill, I mean high school (I just
read dad's blog. Confusion.),
where one student would not just LEAVE ALREADY! IT'S 6 FREAKING O'CLOCK AND I'M HORMONAL AND STARVING TO DEATH-IT SHOULDN'T TAKE YOU 3 HOURS AFTER SCHOOL TO FINISH THIS PROJECT!!!!!! (Rips paper to shreds and jams some in mouth)...

...where was I?

Ok, so I'm really hungry and getting ready to jab a clay tool through my eye, when I finally left the kid in my classroom, which is totally illegal, and drove home to some leftover pasta from last night. It was good last night, but it. was. so. great this night.

I don't know how or why, but it made me roll around on the floor with joy afterward, canceling out any trauma inflicted during the course of the workday.

I was so inspired by this pasta muse that I needed to share it with my family. So here is how I did it, to the best of my memory:

Garlic, minced
Barely any onion, mostly to remind me of Hank
Olive oil in a pan

Get that going on low-ish heat.

Crack open a can of tomato sauce. Just straight up, not Prego or anything
Crack open some artichoke hearts. Sniff them if they've been sitting in the fridge for a while from that last artichoke binge. Taste a sliver. Determine they will not poison you.
Crack open a little bit (1/4 cup?) of chicken broth, in whatever form you happen to have.
(I have some Goya brand that is mostly in Spanish. It makes producing stock very mysterious and adventurous.)

Get all those in the pan and let them cook one way or another till they're getting warm.

Cooking. Cooking. Cooking. This represents maybe 8 minutes. Cooking. Cooking. Cooking.

Crack open a little cream. Not the sour kind. Turn the volume down on that pan, and put a little cream in until it looks like the color you've had in mind for a dish so yummy.

Ummmm... (I'm trying to remember what happened next.)

Oh yeah. Salt it until it has some taste. Season it with whatever. Thyme. Basil.

Eat it on some pasta.

Ohhhhhhhh, yes.

This is so good, seriously. Sometimes these things are not so great, or taste a little weird, like the ingredients are too detached to really get into. But this dish, on this night, was the best.




I wonder if that kid is still in my classroom.

Signed, Anyone But Marissa