Caramel Apple Pork Chops

Here's a fun challenge for you: cook something you hate for someone who loves it. Since you won't eat it, you'll have to watch their expression and trust their opinion on whether it's a hit or not. Really, try it! Drop your sense of taste and rely on your nose and your eyes. I did it tonight. I don't so much hate pork as I just choose not to eat it. The recipe I tried tonight sounded really good and smelled like a dream. It was even a treat to wash the pan after - no joke! I found it on Allrecipes.com:

Caramel Apple Pork Chops

Ingredients

4 (3/4 inch) thick pork chops
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tart apples - peeled, cored and sliced
3 tablespoons pecans (optional)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees F (80 degrees C). Place a medium dish in the oven to warm.

2. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Brush chops lightly with oil and place in hot pan. Cook for 5 to 6 minutes, turning occasionally, or until done. Transfer to the warm dish, and keep warm in the preheated oven.

3. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, salt and pepper, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add butter to skillet, and stir in brown sugar mixture and apples. Cover and cook until apples are just tender. Remove apples with a slotted spoon and arrange on top of chops. Keep warm in the preheated oven.

4. Continue cooking sauce uncovered in skillet, until thickened slightly. Spoon sauce over apples and chops. Sprinkle with pecans.

I did do a few things differently with this recipe. Instead of keeping a dish in the oven, I just used my extra burner on the stove top which freed up the oven for some potatoes. I only had 2 pork chops but used the same amount of ingredients for the sauce as if I had 4. Also, I didn't have pecans. 

Judging from Jason's completely clean plate, it was indeed a hit.

Pork Day

On my schedule this evening was pork for Jason and fish for myself.  I am still working on that huge trout slab from costco so I didn't really have to think about that, but I did a little research on the pork. After looking at probably 20 different recipes, I pieced together this one on my own:

spritz of olive oil
fresh pressed garlic
4 pork chops (?? I think that's what they were)
salt, pepper to taste

some white wine (about 1/2 cup)
chopped onions
chopped mushrooms
can of cream of mushroom soup
some more white wine (splash)

1. Heat olive oil in a large frying pan - saute some garlic for flavor
2. Season your pork with salt & pepper and put into the frying pan - brown on both sides and remove
3. Add first portion of white wine and scrape the frying pan to mix in all the little stuck pieces
4. Once the wine has reduced, sautee the onions and mushrooms in the frying pan.
5. Mix in can of soup and another splash of wine
6. Put the pork back in, cover the frying pan and let simmer for about 20 minutes

To go with this, I made sweet potato fries with my convection oven! I put them in for about 30 minutes at 350 and they definetly turned out more evenly done than with the normal setting.

In addition to that, I cooked up some wild rice that I purchased from Bulk Barn on the weekend. If you've never been, you should definitely check it out. It has the best selection of cake decorating supplies I've ever seen and just about any type of flour/nut/grain/candy/spice you can imagine! Great for when you just need a little random something for a recipe.

MY REVIEW: It's REALLY easy to cook with a plan! In fact, we have so many great leftovers that I may have to skip tomorrows plan of spaghetti. Tonight's meal was very filling and I learned that wild rice smells like dirt while cooking but that is not reflected in the taste. I apologize for my lack of measurements and proper wording on the recipe - I think it would be fairly hard to mess up. It, unlike the rice, smelled amazing while cooking! As for the taste, you'll have to take Jason's word...

JASON'S REVIEW: Delicious and nutritious. Honey liked the fish (but not as much as Jason liked picking apart my fish skin and throwing it on the kitchen floor for her).

Herbed Pork Tenderloin

Sometimes I like to eat fish. It is at this time, and only at this time, I will cook meat for Jason. In my opinion (and personal experience), it is very hard for a vegetarian to cook meat. Not because I'm gagging and closing my eyes the whole time. The reason it's hard for me to cook meat is because I have no idea how it's supposed to look/smell/feel/taste when it's done. Throw a faulty oven into the equation and now I can't even rely on the times and temperatures in the recipe! I think I did ok this evening with adding 25 minutes to the cooking time. I found a fairly simple recipe on recipe zaar for pork tenderloin:

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups minced onions
2 tablespoons oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon rosemary
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon basil
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 (1 lb)  pork tenderloin

Directions
1. Mix the first 11 ingredients.
2. Rub over the pork.
3. Put on a rack in a shallow roasting pan.
4. Bake, uncovered, at 400* for 45 minutes.
5. Remove from oven, cover with foil and let set for 10 minutes.
6. Slice into servings.

JASON'S REVIEW: It was tender and sumptuous and I liked it.

MY REVIEW: Since my review is based simply on smell... this recipe gets a 10/10! And when there's leftovers for lunch, I'm happy.

In case anyone's curious, I was eating trout from costco this evening. I bought a big hunk of it, cut it into about 16 single servings and froze them in the freezer. When I'm ready for a piece, I just sprinkle some of this on top....

... and broil it! It's super easy and I really like it. Jason even tried a TINY piece today and said it was "ok"!

Fish for Me, Pork for You!

I plan on making a lot more of these split meals. I think Jason requires more protein or he'll have to throw away all his pants! I don't have any recipes to share however....

... for Jason's pasta I simply cut up some spicy pork sausage, put it in the frying pan with onions, added some diced tomatoes and spinach and let it simmer for a while. Then I put lots and lots of Parmesan cheese on it because I wasn't eating it!

For my meal, I made some Highliner Tilapia.


It was really good.. much better than the fish sticks we tried that were multigrain. It's currently on sale at Safeway if you're interested... Something like 3.5g of fat and 130 calories per 2 pieces. I made 2 for lunch tomorrow too.

I realized if I just cook for 4, we'll have lunches too. Why didn't I think of that before?

Tomorrows dinner is currenly marinating in the fridge so check back!