Balsamic Glazed Pork Chops

These pork chops are yummy. And after many attempts, I can finally make a nice juuuicy pork chop. I always dried them out.

I usually get my pork chops at Costco...and they are GIGANTIC. We had bought a digital kitchen scale for Andrews pinewood derby car last month and I finally got smart and weighed those Costco pork chops. They are a little over double what a serving of meat should be. And because they were so gigantic I could never get them to cook properly. So I got smart, again, and cut the thickness in half. They cook beautifully and are the proper serving size. Duh, I can't believe it took me so long to figure this one out. Anywho, onto the recipe...
Balsamic Glazed Pork Chops

In blender add:
1 clove garlic minced (or in my world 2, 3 or 4 cloves)
1 tsp fresh rosemary
1 tsp dijon mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 cup Balsamic vinegar
Blend ingredients.

With blender on low slowly drizzle in...
1/2 cup olive oil

Salt and pepper both sides of pork chops.

In a baking dish add chops in a single layer and pour the marinade on top. Flip the chops over a few times and coat them up good. You can now either cover and marinade them over night or cook immediately if you don't feel like waiting. Also, depending on how many chops you are making, you could reserve half of the marinade (before you dump it over the raw meat, obviously) and use it as a salad dressing.

To Cook:
Preheat broiler on the low setting
Take the chops out of the marinade and broil for 10-11 minutes. Then let the meat rest for 5 minutes and eat it up with your favorite veggie. YUM!

Absolutely Nummy Salad

Warning, there is sugar in this salad. Gasp!!! But seriously, it's the best salad I've had in a long time, maybe ever. And strawberries are very filling so you could make a meal out of it.


Florence Bingham made a salad like this at our RS Birthday dinner the other night. This isn't her exact recipe but I found something close to it on the internet. Anyway...

Salad:
Mixed greens
Sliced strawberries
Mandarin Oranges
Candied Almonds - sliced, slivered, chopped, whatever

Dressing:
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup shredded red onion
1/2 tsp dry mustard powder
1/4 tsp salt
Blend ingredients in blender
With blender on low slowly drizzle in 1/2 cup canola oil
Stir in 1 tsp poppy seeds

Florence said she had run out of apple cider vinegar so she used a pomegranate vinegar and her dressing was seriously amazing. Also she didn't have an onion so she just used a touch of onion powder (which is what I did, too). I love onion but with this dressing I actually prefer not so much onion flavor. Anyway, play with it. It's YUMMY!

I didn't have almonds either and was too tired to go to the store but if you can help it, don't leave out the almonds. You could use plain almonds or put a little sugar in a pan on med heat and when the sugar starts to turn brown toss in your almonds and coat them up good. Enjoy!

Food Blog

Our Best Bites. This is by far my favorite food blog I've found so far. I've only tried a few recipes but they've all turned out great. These ladies know how to cook. Last night we had THIS for dinner. We made the salad at the bottom of the page with the fabulous Bermuda Vinagraitte dressing. The dressing is good enough to drink...sweet but not overpowering. Look around on their blog...there is some yummy yummy stuff, not all of it is healthy but they have a lot of variety.

Actually I think I'll add their button to the side of our blog.

I THINK THIS SOUP HAS ABOUT 2 CALORIES

Seriously I don't think this has too many calories. It's pretty mild in taste but has a good flavor. Also Chris just added sirachi (sp) sauce as usual.

Tong Tong

ABOUT 3 LBS BONELESS CHICKEN BREAST
FRESH GINGER (I grated about 1 inch off a finger of ginger)
GARLIC
BEAN THREAD NOODLES (Fry's didn't have any so I just used
1 BUNCH BOK CHOY (chopped up leaves and all - big chunks
4 1/2CUPS WATER
1 T CHICKEN BOUILLON
PEPPER


Combine chicken, ginger, water, water, bouillon, and pepper. Simmer til cooked. Throw the bok choy in and cook til tender.
Soak bean noodles in hot water until soft.

Add to the pot.

Serve over rice

I couldn't find bean thread noodles at Frys and was too lazy to go to the Oriental market so I left those out and added some oriental style wheat noodles (they cook up a little softer than regular Italian type pasta) and served it without the rice.

Spicy Hot Chicken Soup

4 boneless chicken breasts (2lbs)
2 TB Oil
2 medium onions, minced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2-1 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp powdered ginger
8 cups water
1-2 TB chicken soup base
3/4 lb egg noodles
2 scallions (green onions)

Chop the chicken and brown. Add onion and garlic. Cook about 5 min. Add the pepper, ginger. Start with the smallest amount of pepper. Add more at the end if desired. Add water and soup base. Simmer at least 20 min. Cook the noodles til almost done. Add to the pot and let stand about 5 min. Serve topped with scallions.

Powdered ginger is a distinctly different flavor than fresh ginger. In this recipe you want to use the powdered. The first time I made this I used pepper flakes instead of cayenne and I think I liked it better that way. Also the first time I made it I scrounged for Ramen flavor packets for the soup base and the second time I just used bullion. I found the soup base tastes better.

I also found that all the onions that make this so good are not so good for Rachel. Darn it.

Liv's Recipe of the Day

I'm getting back to using my slow cooker more often and have this heating up as we speak. I haven't tried this recipe before but I can tell just from tasting it as I was putting it together that it's going to be FaNtAsTiC.


I love my slow cooker! I can put something in it in the morning and dinner is done! I don't have to worry about throwing something together in the evening and try to time it so it's still warm when Tim get's home - and I never know when that's going to be so it's very frustrating. Because of his schedule we gradually were eating later and later, sometimes 10 at night! With the slow cooker Andrew and I can eat earlier in the evening (not that he's going to eat this soup!) and whenever Tim gets home dinner is still nice and warm. If you don't have a slow cooker, get one! But you can simmer this in a regular pot also. I also love the slow cooker because come dinner time you don't have dirty pots and pans piled up in the kitchen.

You can add meat to this recipe if you want but I left it as is. And Aaron, you can make it vegetarian friendly by using veggie broth. I added a couple of chopped up parsnips because I love them and pretty much anything that calls for carrots can have a few parsnips too. I'm passing on the rice because it's just unneccessary. I can't wait until it's done tonight. Mmmmm....