MommaCooks

posted by Nina on Jan 13

This is a nice dish to have on a chilly fall or winter evening.

Ingredients:
4 boneless pork loin chops
2 tsp chopped fresh sage
Salt and ground pepper
3 T olive oil
1 large red onion, but into 1/2-inch wedges
2 Granny Smith apples, but into 1/2-inch pieces
3/4 cup apple cider

Instructions:
Rub both sides of the pork chops with the sage and salt and pepper to taste.

Heat a large skillet over high heat, add 1 T olive oil and sear the chops until golden on both sides, about five minutes total.

Transfer chops to plate. Wipe out skillet. Add 2 T olive oil, onion and apples and cook over medium-high heat until lightly browned. Season with salt and pepper and stir in the cider.

Return chops to skillet with apples and onions. Cover and cook, turning chops once, until just cooked through.

Place the chops on a plate. You can serve the onion/apple mixture on top of the pork chops or on the side. We had this with mashed potatoes.

What did the family think? These were really good..very moist. I think having them simmer in the apple cider really helped keep them tender and juicy. Everyone ate them up!

from Food Network

posted by Nina on Dec 6

This sounded like the perfect cold weather meal, so I thought I would give it a try. Our youngest had also just read the Russian folk tale “The Turnip” in class, so I thought it was fitting since he had never actually seen a turnip before.

Ingredients:
2 Granny Smith apples, diced (with skin)
3 cloves garlic, smashed
4 sprigs thyme
8 large sprigs parsley
1 tablespoon pickling spice
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 4-to-5-pound smoked picnic ham (pork shoulder)
1 pound medium turnips, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
2 cups dry white wine
1 pound frozen chopped winter greens (such as turnip greens, kale or spinach), thawed

Instructions:
Put the apples, garlic, thyme, parsley, pickling spice and brown sugar in a 5-to-6-quart slow cooker. Add the ham and surround it with the turnips. Pour in the wine and 2 cups water. Cover and cook on low, 7 hours.

Remove the ham from the slow cooker. Add the greens to the cooker and stir to combine with the liquid. Return the ham to the cooker, cover and cook on high 30 minutes.

Slice the ham and serve with the turnips, apples and greens.

What did the family think? This was not as good as I had hoped, but I didn’t buy the right kind of meat. Ugh! (This isn’t the first time I’ve messed up a pork dish by buying the wrong cut of meat.) I don’t think I have EVER cooked a turnip in my life, but I found that the ones that I had cut up the smallest were cooked just right, but the larger chunks weren’t as tasty. So, make sure you cute them up into fairly small chunks. Hubby liked it, but wasn’t too fond of the turnips. The kids actually ate the pork, but steered clear of the turnips.

from Food Network

posted by Nina on Nov 19

Yep, we went back to the panini place today to savor some of their delectable creations. This would be great if you have some leftover pulled pork or some leftover BBQ chicken.

Ingredients:
Italian Sandwich Bread
BBQ Pulled Pork
Cole Slaw

Instructions:
Make a sandwich out of the above ingredients. If you have a panini maker, use it. If not, heat a skillet over medium low heat and spray with cooking spray. Place sandwich in skillet and put a heavy skillet on top of it for a few minutes. Flip the sandwich over, place the skillet on top of it again and cook for a few minutes on that side.

What did the family think? I was the only one who had it, but it was good. The addition of the cole slaw reminded me of one of my favorite sandwiches at Jack Stack BBQ in Kansas City.

posted by Nina on Nov 12

Hubby took one bite of this and said, “I hope you’re going to blog about this.”

Ingredients:
1 cup long grain white rice
2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 pkg (14 oz) smoked sausage
1 can red beans
Creole Seasoning

Instructions:
Cook rice according to package directions.

Meanwhile, drain and rinse the beans and cut the sausage into coins.

Add olive oil to skillet and cook sausage over medium-high heat. Sprinkle sausage lightly with Creole seasoning. You can always add more spice later, but it’s best to start on the safe side.

Cook sausage for about seven minutes, making sure to stir sausages so that they cook on both sides. Add rinsed beans and heat through.

Serve rice with beans and sausage.

What did the family think? Hubby and I LOVED it. So good. Our youngest ate the sausage and our oldest insisted it was much too spicy. Hubby also added quite a bit more of the Creole seasoning to his bowl.

from kevinandamanda.com

posted by Nina on Oct 29

After watching the Great Food Truck Race, I was inspired to make these after watching people gobble up Nom Nom’s sandwiches every week.

Ingredients:
4 boneless pork loin chops, cut 1/4 inch thick
4 (7 inch) French bread baguettes, split lengthwise
4 teaspoons mayonnaise, or to taste
1 ounce chile sauce with garlic
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 small red onion, sliced into rings
1 medium cucumber, peeled and sliced lengthwise
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
Preheat the oven’s broiler.

Place the pork chops on a broiling pan and set under the broiler. Cook for about 5 minutes, turning once, or until browned on each side.

Open the French rolls and spread mayonnaise on the insides. Place one of the cooked pork chops into each roll. Spread chile sauce directly on the meat. Sprinkle with a little lime juice and top with slices of onion, cucumber, cilantro, salt and pepper. Finish with another quick drizzle of lime juice.

We had these with some Egg
Drop Soup and some sushi I got at the store.

Did I change anything? If I was going to make this again, I would definitely cook more meat. Maybe 6 pork loin chops instead of 4. I also cut the pork chops into strips so that they would fit on the bread better. Speaking of the bread, I didn’t buy real french bread, but I did buy long hoagie-like buns. I just thought they would be too hard to eat like that, especially for the boys.

What did the family think? Hubby and I really liked them. The boys liked their sandwiches, too, but I made theirs much more plain…just meat and bread.

from allrecipes.com

posted by Nina on Oct 7

For the record, I am not a huge pork fan. I do have a couple of pork crock pot recipes though that we really like, so I thought I would give this one a try.

Ingredients:
3-5 lb. pork (may use smoked pork shoulder)
1 large onion, sliced
2 apples, peel & cut up in pieces
2 Tablespoons chutney or 1 cup dried fruit (mixed)
1 cup apple cider or apple juice
1/2 cup water
1 or 2 garlic cloves
1 bay leaf
salt & pepper to taste

Instructions:

Cook all ingredients together in crock pot 4 or 5 hours on high temperature.

Remove bay leaf. Slice meat and serve.

We had this with a salad, corn on the cob and a apple and banana fruit salad.

Did I change anything? I used a chutney called Farmhouse Chutney from Stonewall Kitchen instead of the dried fruit. This worked out nicely because we used the leftover chutney as a condiment and it was great. Also, the recipe called for pork shoulder which I used but it was VERY fatty. I don’t know if that’s normal, but I think next time I would choose a much leaner cut.

What did the family think? My husband, me and our oldest liked it with the chutney. Our youngest got out old faithful…the ketchup.

from momswhothink.com

posted by Nina on Sep 3

We love pasta around here and this dish was no exception…

Ingredients:
1 box spaghetti
8 oz pancetta, cut into thin strips (can use bacon instead)
1/4 cup olive oil
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup Romano cheese, grated
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions:
Cook pasta according to the directions on the box.

Beat egg yolks with cheeses and salt and pepper.

Cook pancetta in skillet over medium heat for 5 to 6 minutes, stirring frequently. Add olive oil.

Drain pasta and add to pancetta, stir and cook for one to two minutes.

Add egg and cheese mixture to pasta and cook until eggs have thickened up, stirring constantly.

We had this with a simple salad and grapes.

What did the family think? After our youngest got over the fact that this was not the type of pasta with red sauce everyone loved it and wanted seconds. Everyone even loved the pancetta (and these are kids who refuse to eat bacon.)

from barillaus.com

posted by Nina on Jun 28

These were a hit with the whole family…

Ingredients:
3/4 lb. ground pork
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 tspn. salt
1/2 tspn. black pepper
1 T chopped fresh sage
1/2 c. breadcrumbs
2 (9-inch) discs prerolled, refrigerated pie dough, such as Pillsbury
2 eggs, beaten

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Grease two 6-cup muffin tins with butter or spray with something like Pam.
3. In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients but the dough and 1 tablespoon of the eggs.
4. Unroll the dough and cut out twelve 4-inch circles with a biscuit cutter or the rim of a drinking glass.
5. Reroll the scraps, then cut out 12 more 2-inch circles.
6. Line the bottoms and sides of the tins with the 4-inch rounds.
7. Divide the filling evenly among the cups. Press the 2-inch rounds on top, pinching the edges together to seal.
8. Poke a hole in the center of each pie.
9. Brush with the reserved egg and bake until the tops are browned and puffed slightly, 30 to 35 minutes.
10. Let cool for 15 minutes before removing the pies. Serve warm.

What did the family think? I had mine plain and they were super yummy. Hubby had his with some really good mustard. Oldest child had his plain and youngest child ate his with ketchup. Any way you eat them they are going to be good. At one point during our meal they were described as “a meatball in a crust”. Oldest child also said, “these are SO good”. I think they were a hit!

from Epicurious

posted by Nina on Jun 15

Ingredients:
3 T olive oil
4 boneless pork chops
Salt and pepper
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 bunch scallions, chopped into 1 in. pieces
4 strips bacon, chopped
2 T white wine vinegar
2 T brown sugar
28 oz. can diced fire-roasted tomatoes
1 1/2 c. chicken broth
1 1/2 c. milk
10 oz. frozen peas
1 c. quick-cooking polenta
1 c. parmesan

Instructions:
Place a large skillet over medium-high heat and add 2 T olive oil. Season the pork chops with salt and pepper then sear them in the pan…about three-four minutes on each side. Remove the pork chops from the pan and set aside.

Add the scallions and the garlic to the pan the chops were in. Cook for about 3-4 minutes. Next, add the vinegar, brown sugar and tomatoes to the pan. Bring the sauce to a bubble, return the pork chops to the pan, cover and cook for another ten minutes or until the pork chops are cooked through.

In a separate pot, add 1 T olive oil at medium-high heat. Add the bacon and cook until crispy. Remove bacon from pot with a slotted spoon. Pour off all fat from the bacon leaving about 1 T of the fat in the pot. Add the chicken broth, milk and peas. Bring everything up to a bubble. Gradually add polenta while whisking. Whisk until the polenta is thick. Add parmesan and bacon to polenta.

Serve the polenta alongside the pork chops and top pork chops with tomato sauce.

Did I change anything? I didn’t add the peas. I am the only person in my family who will eat peas.

What did the family think? Hubby’s favorite part of this dish was the polenta with the bacon in it. It was good. Our oldest loved the polenta, too, but avoided the bacon. Our youngest agreed to eat the pork chops if he could have them with ketchup.

from Rachel Ray

posted by Nina on May 23

This is a great dish because you can add just about any reasonable ingredient to it and it comes out fabulous.

Must-have Ingredients:
4 large flour tortillas
1/2 lb. shredded cheese (cheddar, Mexican blend or Pepper Jack)

Possible Ingredients:
Beans, cooked (black, pinto)
Tomatoes, chopped
Onions (green, red, white, yellow)
Corn
Squash, chopped or shredded
Pork, chicken or beef-cooked and shredded
Rice (plain or Mexican) already cooked
Chiles
Cumin
Chili Powder
Cilantro

Garnishes:
Avocado
Salsa
Sour Cream

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Butter bottom and sides of a pie dish that is about the same size as your tortillas.

Place one tortilla on the bottom of the pie dish.

Next add 1/3 the ingredients that you have chosen to add to your quesadilla pie. (Note: all layers don’t have to be the same.) Make sure you put cheese in all of the layers though.

Place a tortilla on top of the first layer and add another 1/3 of the pie fillings. Top that layer with a tortilla, add more fillings and then place the last tortilla on top.

Spread a little butter on top of the last tortilla. Don’t skip this step.

Cover the dish with aluminum foil and cook for 30 minutes. Then remove aluminum foil, turn oven up to 400 degrees and cook for another 15 minutes.

Remove from oven and let the pie set for about ten minutes before you cut into it.

Did I change anything? One thing we always have with this is a concoction of salsa and sour cream mixed together that we use as a dip for these. Yummo!!!

What does the family think? Hubby and I really like these. The kids are inclined to eat anything that involves sour cream.

Recipe from Simply Recipes