Fruit N Meat

We had pork chops last night.  I had a third of this huge pork loin that I had frozen, and I thawed it and cut it into 5 big thick pork chops.  I threw them in a frying pan with olive oil, after rubbing sea salt and pepper all over them and let them brown on both sides.  When they were cooked through, I put mustard and syrup together and poured it over them to coat them in this delicious sweet glaze.
For a sauce, I sauteed cut up granny smith apples and raisins with brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, and cinnamon.  Everyone out there-Gross.  I think the apples were too tart!  And the vinegar was disgusting.  Even after I kept adding sugar, it continued to be full of vinegar flavor!
I also made some whole wheat mac n cheese, and I gotta say-the regular old not so good for you noodles are much better.  But I added crispy bacon ontop, which made it completely edible.  Bacon fixes all!
The pork chops had excellent flavor, but were dry because I cooked them way too long, and the apple sauce was disgusting.  The mac n cheese wasn't great, but the kids loved it...and I enjoyed picking out every last bit of bacon.
I'll do the chops again...just not the rest.  I think I may actually despise apple cider vinegar.  I've never made a recipe with it that I liked.  Could it be???

A little fried

Tonight we got home from a party right AT supper time, and we didn't really eat a lot at the party, just a ton of this delicious chocolate cake with raspberry cream filling that melted in your mouth.
So I cooked up some chicken patties.  That was number 1.
Second, I took cheese and chicken ravioli, thawed it, dredged it in milk and egg, and coated it with bread crumbs, salt, pepper, basil, and parsley.  Then I fried them in olive oil.
To serve them, I put them on a plate with cheese sprinkled over them and hot marinara sauce.
YUM!  The chicken patties....a sad excuse for a supper.
The fried ravioli...also a sad excuse for supper.
But divine for an appetizer.
So I propose this-----
next time I have people over for supper, I will first start with fried ravioli.  Then venture on to some other fantastic rich pasta, followed by some rum cake or another delightful treat, while indulging in a glass of white zinfandel.
Perfecto!

Strom-boli-boli-oh!

I made strombolis last night for supper.  The girls wanted a salami and cheese one, and I made Mike and I a salami, ham, yellow pepper, onion, cheese one.  I also made this homemade marinara, which I've never made before.  Here's how you make it:
Pour some olive oil in a hot skillet.  Put a bunch of fresh pressed garlic in there.  Saute it and add a little bit of anchovy paste.  That's right...anchovy paste.  Saute that.  Then add red pepper flakes, a can of diced tomatoes, salt, pepper, parsley, and basil.  Let it simmer down.  Squish the tomatoes with a potato masher.  Keep cooking it until it isn't so thin.
We ate it with fresh steamed broccoli, cantaloupe, and a salad with baby greens, yellow peppers, and avocados.
Delightful!  Lucy even brought a piece of the stromboli to school for lunch, she liked it so much.  She was eating 20 minutes after we were all done!  
And yet, to another success in the Stute household.
Now for a sip of wine after a long hard working day of cleaning and cooking...

Fajitas

So we're at Jason and Patti's again.  It was Henry's first talk.  Patti made these fabulous fajitas!  She marinated them in soy sauce and pineapple juice all day.  The meat was flank steak.  I have never had success with flank steak, but Mmmmm, this is my new use for it!  She also cooked the tortilla shells on an iron pan.  YUM, I'm going to do that from now on. 
Key ingredient: soy sauce, CHECK.  pineapple juice, CHECK.  spicy mustard, CHECK.  garlic, CHECK.  You also can never have too much garlic.
Bye for now!
Hamburgers tonight!

Chinese

I made chinese noodles tonight with cabbage, green onions, and regular onions and stir fry sauce.  I also bought two of those packets of honey sesame chicken where you add cornstarch, water, oil, and soy sauce. The chicken was SO good.  It was literally like having a dessert because it was so carmelized!  I highly recommend those little packets.  They're so worth it!
Plus I don't feel as thirsty and dry as I usually do after Chinese food.  Delightful, I think I'll make it more.  The bad news is...the chicken was too spicy for the little ones, so they feasted on Lunchables.  Hey, nobody said I'm perfect.  I'm just a REAL mom.  Lunchables rock!

Ahhh, simplicity

I went for an easy meal tonight because I haven't felt much like cooking.  I went in to see my doctor last week and it turns out I have influenza.  That equals-tired.
So I put a roast in the oven at 350 with a whole big onion roughly chopped up, 3 cloves of garlic, salt, pepper, oregano, parsley, basil, and rosemary.  Oh yeah, some big splashes of worcestershire (known as "what's that there?" sauce).  I baked it for forever, then turned it down to 250.  We shredded it and had it on squishy chewy hoagie buns and moz. chz melted over the top.
It was good.  Not divine, but good.  Something hot in our stomachs.
I'm going to go lay down again.  I'm TIRED!!!

A rack of ribs

My mom and dad came over for supper a couple of nights ago and we wanted to have these baby back ribs with them...we wanted to bbq and grill them, but I wasn't sure how.  So I chanced it!  There were two full racks.  I boiled them for 15 minutes, drained most of the water out, covered them, and put them in a 250 oven for about a half hour.  Then I started the grill up.  It smelled so great...it's been such a long winter!  Grilling in the air makes everyone's hearts leap for joy!  I put the grill on the lowest setting and put the ribs on, checking them every 15-20 minutes.  After about an hour, I basted them with bbq sauce and kept doing that for about another hour or so, every 10-15 minutes, flipping them of course so they didn't burn.
OMG!
I can't believe that I just said that, but OMG!
There is no other way to describe it.  SO good!  The meat just came right off the bones, and we ate them with garlicky smashed red and yellow potatoes...and a salad so it didn't hit our tummies like a brick.
I can't wait for summer.  Grilling is coming, baby, and I'm going to conquer it with a vengeance!!!!!

Buttery Goodness

I went to my brother and sister in law's house for a couple of days and I made Spicy Chicken Alfredo.  SO good!  Except there wasn't as much cream as I needed, so I added milk, which made it less rich.  To make it better, I added a stick of butter...good thing I hardly ever eat it!
Usually I only use Parmesan Reggiano cheese, but I also added romano, which made it SO creamy!  And dreamy!  Patti served spinach with butter and salt, and in my bowl, I added it to the pasta, which was delightful.  Did I mention that she is italian?  She also bought homemade long egg noodles, which were superb!  I don't know if I can go back to the Creamette brand again!  I was going on and on about bruchetta and how I love it so, and she made some to go ontop of warm ciabatta bread.
A meal to die for, and a meal I can only eat twice a year because it hurts my lactose intolerant tummy.  But so worth it.  Every bite tasted like dream dancing in my mouth.
Here's to another success...
Chicken alfredo with spinach and bruchetta

Mc Yummy!

I realize this whole blog is about good...and bad...cooking.  But it's also for busy normal mamas.  I had one of my neices and 2 of my nephews and $6.  What do you do with $6?  Apparantly a lot at McDonalds!  I got each child an ice cream cone, which I specifically asked them to make it half the size they normally would.  Apparantly a normal size cone is pretty colossal!  Then I got 2 McDoubles and 2 apple pies.  Everyone was satisfied, and I left the restaurant with .25 cents in my pocket.  Score! 
Sometimes there's nothing better than a quick trip through the drive thru window.  Mommy's gotta love it.  "I'm lovin' it!"

Nothing better than bacon

We had this huge pork loin we bought from the grocery store in Minong, WI.  A huge ginormous thing...SO, what do we do with pork loin?  Fatten it up, for one thing.  It tends to be dry.  So I rubbed salt, pepper, and rosemary all over it and wrapped it in bacon.  Seriously, there's nothing better than the flavor of bacon.  And pizza.  I LOVE pizza.  Oh, and a good cheeseburger.
Back on subject, I also threw together a rice pilaf where I browned some angel hair that was all broken up in a pan of butter.
Butter-another necessity of cooking.
And then added a mix of jasmine rice and brown rice and a bunch of chicken stock.  Let it simmer for...forever. Just when it seems it will never be done, pull it off the stove after checking to make sure the brown rice isn't like little rocks, and serve it piping hot.  At the bottom of the pan there were these scrumptious little carmelized brown chunks of rice where the butter had browned it so beautifully.  That was where the taste was, and as I ate each bite of rice, I awaited the next piece of wonderful brown salty chewiness.
Mom threw in some buttery flaky Grands! biscuits...who doesn't love those?  And we corn.
And canned peas, my enemy.  For God sake, don't put canned peas on a plate of such exquisite wonderfullness! Oh yeah, I made a gravy of the drippings and added some thyme and milk.
And yet another hit at the dinner table...now it's time for a disaster.  I'm waiting for it.

A bowl of chili

I made my husband's favorite meal last night...chili.  Yes, girls.  Chili.  Last time I planned a romantic evening with him alone without the kids, I tried to get out of him...what would he want me to make out of anything in the whole world.  What would he be the happiest with?  Chili.  Needless to say, I did not make chili that night.  The reasons are clear.  Farts.
So I made chili last night.  He was ecstatic!  I started with a pound of ground beef and a chopped onion, which I cooked to smitherines because I was trying to put my makeup on and tame my mop top at the same time so I didn't look like I did nothing all day when Mike walked in the door.  Then I added a large can of diced tomatoes-petite diced because the texture is all too wonderous.  I also added a can of tomato paste and two cans of water.  Followed by black beans, pinto beans, and chick peas.  I cut up a bunch of celery and thick mushrooms (so Mike could pick them out.  He hates mushrooms.  I, on the other hand, adore mushrooms).  I let it cook a little and added lots of cumin and chili powder, 3 cloves of fresh garlic, a large handful of chocolate/white chocolate swirled chips, and bacon bits.  Not those hard icky bacon bits either, ladies.  The good, real bacon bits.  I dusted some smoked paprika ontop and let it cook down.
Delish!  It had this sort of depth and richness I have never yet experienced with chili.  So....to another successful supper.  And don't forget the cheese.

Soy beans, anybody?

I saw this recipe for "green alien ravioli".  Sounds weird, right?  But cute enough that my interest was peaked and I decided to make it for supper last night.  Here's what you do:  shell a one pound bag of Edamame, saute shallots and onions and throw the beans in the pan.  Put 3/4 of the mix into a food processor and add cream, parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, and a little bit of water.  Take won ton wrappers, and fill them with the edamame slush.  Pinch the wrappers together and drop into boiling water for 5 minutes.  Then scoop it out of the water.  When you are finished with the ravioli water, put some into the pan with the remaining beans, shallots, and onions.  Add a cup of heavy cream, some parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper.  Let it simmer.  It will thicken from the ravioli water, (won ton wrappers have cornstarch in them!)  Add the ravioli and serve immediately.  I thought some ricotta cheese inside the ravioli would have made it a little better, but SCRUMPTIOUS!!!  I overcooked my baked chicken horribly as I was on the telephone with a good friend of mine, and the baby was totally in my way the whole time, so I was busy dealing with her all at the same time.  And my husband was sleeping because he's sick.  Once the sauce was on the chicken, yum.  Try it, you won't be disappointed.  My hubby hates edamame, and he liked it.  He took it to work for lunch.  MMmmmmmm.  MMmmmmmmm.