cameodolli's ramblings

Meal Plan for September 21 - 27
Monday
Honey bourbon glazed pork chops & peaches
Green beans

Tuesday
Honey Mustard Pork Chops
Broccoli w/ cheese sauce

Wednesday
Pepper steak
Sesame fried rice

Thursday
Cheese Enchilada Casserole

Friday
MM Steak Sammies on sourdough bread
Ranch style beans

Saturday
Cowgirl Chicken Sammies on sourdough bread
Oven taters

Sunday
Cheese & chicken enchiladas
Mexican rice

One night a week I try to make something new. Tonight was that night. I am stuffed and happy. Let me tell you how it happened. Saturday I bought The Best of Cooking Light: Everyday Favorites while we were browsing Barnes & Noble.While watching the Longhorns beat the Red Raiders I bookmarked way too many recipes with pink post-its.There will be several recipes coming from this book!

I substituted Johnnie Walker Black because I didn't have any bourbon. Close enough for me!




I also don't own a grill pan (or even a grill) so I used a plain jane cast iron skillet. Never forget - Necessity is the mother of invention!





And then I ate it all up! *burp*

I halved the original recipe and made a couple of substitutions. Since I'm not completely sure if I can or cannot post the verbatim recipe, I'll just tell you what I did in my own words.

For the marinade you'll need:
1.5 tablespoons Johnnie Walker Black or other bourbon/whiskey of your choice
2 tablespoons clover honey
1.5 tablespoons lite soy sauce
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/8 teaspoon black pepper (fresh ground if ya got it)

Mix all of that together and add your two 4 ounce pork chops (about 1/2 to 3/4" thick) and one halved and pitted peach; shake it all around to coat everything. Use a little cooking spray on a cast iron skillet and cook the chops and peaches (turning chops only once) until pork is done. If you want you can microwave the remaining marinade (to kill anything icky, after all it did have raw meat in it) and pour over the meat when you serve it up. According to my calculations over at SparkPeople.com my entire dinner (including the green beans and reserved marinade) was about 375 calories.

When it comes to documenting my culinary creations I'm actually quite terrible. I don't write things down and they're eaten before I can get a proper photo. With this blog I'm trying to change that!

Last night I was once again caught with my pants down when Pookie asked about dinner. (Yes, actually quite literally, I was getting into my comfiest/ugliest lounge pants when he asked) So, being the loving wife I am, I grabbed some random food items, tossed them all around in a Ziploc Glad bag and tossed 'em on a plate.



Ok, so it really wasn't that simple but definitely doable on short notice. (If you have no problem using your microwave's special defrosting ability)

All I did was combine the following ingredients in a baggie

1 teaspoon dijon mustard (e.g. Grey Poupon)
1 teaspoon regular yellow mustard
1 to 2 teaspoons honey
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon olive oil
splash of vinegar
Adobo seasoning (you could use something else but I happen to LOVE this stuff)

Then I added my two quickly defrosted pork chops, squished them around (yes, you must "squish" them, absolutely nothing else will do!) and let them sit in the fridge while I prepared my ooey-gooey yummy broccoli with cheese. It came from a bag because: (1) I'm lazy, (2) I was in a hurry, and (3) I'm really lazy.

I then got my skillet sizzling hot with some butter and olive oil and tossed in my chops, thus achieving that deliciously golden layer of yum you can see in that picture. In my household, no meal is complete without a dash (or a half dozen dashes) of cajun seasoning, so of course I shook some of that on the, as of yet, uncooked side. Let it cook for about 4 minutes then turned and cooked for about the same on the other side.

Let me tell you...this was an amazing dinner!