Colorful Dinner + Kale Pesto

I just love how colorful my dinner plate was tonight:
Yellow = spaghetti squash

Brown = crumbled pork sausage

Red = spaghetti sauce

Green = Kale Pesto (instructions below)

White = goat cheese

Put all those delicious components together and it was a PARTY IN MY MOUTH! So delicious!

After I impulse-purchased the adorable mini-spaghetti squash today I knew I wanted to use it for dinner tonight. Preparing spaghetti squash is pretty easy, but the hardest part is DEFINITELY cutting the squash in half.

If you wanna be like me, make your husband do it for you since you know you're incredibly clumsy and likely to cut off a finger (or two).
Yay, husband!! Success!

Scoop out the seeds and then spray a baking pan with cooking spray and place the squash flesh-side down.
Stick 'em in a 375 degree oven and let bake for 45 minutes, or until a knife slides through the squash easily.

Once done cooking, take 'em out and let them cool for about 15 minutes.
When they're cool enough to handle, use a fork to scrape the flesh from the skin. You'll end up with a pile of steaming spaghetti squash strands like this:

Then top with your choice of toppings. You can't go wrong with spaghetti sauce, but I also like just butter and parmesan.

I'm REALLY excited that I have a ton of leftover squash for my lunches this week. :)

P.S. In case you wondering, the hubs did not eat the squash. He cooked noodles for himself. He did, however, try a bit of mine and admitted that it was "pretty good". Baby steps!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I mentioned above that one of the toppings was Kale Pesto. I know it sounds odd, but it's really good!

I saw the idea for "Kale Butter" or "Kale Pesto" on Heather Eats Almond Butter and knew I wanted to try it. I figured it would be a great way to add some nutrients and flavor to a lot of dishes. Plus, it's a heck of a lot cheaper than buying the mounds and mounds of fresh basil that it requires to make basil pesto!

First I started off by tearing the kale leaves off the stems and placing it in a large stockpot with a steamer insert. The bottom of the pot had about an inch of water in it and I turned the heat to about medium.

Cover, let the water come to a simmer/boil and set the timer for 5 minutes.

Once the 5 minutes were up the kale had wilted a lot and turned bright green. Then I stuffed as much of the steamed kale as I could into my food processor.
If it doesn't all fit, just put in what you can fit and then let it whirl. Then add the rest.

Finally I added about 1 cup of pecans (you could use your nut of choice such as walnuts or macadamia nuts), about 1 cup of the leftover steaming water, the juice of one lemon, 1 tablespoon of coconut oil (this ingredient probably isn't necessary...I just felt like adding it since I had a new jar of it) 1 teaspoon of garlic powder, 1 teaspoon of dried basil and a lot of salt (probably at least a tablespoon).

Let it all process for a long time until it looks smooth and buttery.
This made a TON!! That's a spaghetti sauce jar full of it! Good thing it's delicious!
I would say it tastes like a milder form of pesto, but it's definitely less oily and more buttery than your average pesto.
I can't wait to see what kinds of serving suggestions I can come up with for it. It was an awesome addition to our "spaghetti" tonight so we're off to a good start. It would also probably be great mixed right in to spaghetti sauce, or as a spread on sandwiches or pizza, or on potatoes. So many possibilities!

How would YOU eat Kale Pesto?

Finger Lickin' Good

Tonight's meal was a recipe I have heard about for many years, but for some reason had never made.

Now I'm kicking myself for that. I don't know what was holding me back because 1) this is super duper freaking easy to make (I heart my slow cooker) and 2) it is finger lickin' good!

Slow Cooker Root Beer Pulled Pork

with Roasted Brocc & Red Potatoes

Look at all that juiciness!!! So. Good.

The best part is that to make this pulled pork there are only three ingredients: Pork Tenderloin & this......

(Diet) Root Beer and Barbecue Sauce. Toss it all in a slow cooker in the morning, set it on low for 7 hours, come home to a house that smells AMAZING, and you get this:

Well actually first you have to shred the pork but it's really easy to do since it's literally falling apart.

Toss it on a bun, top with some pickles and red onion and FEAST on the deliciousness!

Oh and FYI, this meal is VERY husband-friendly. The hubs was practically worshipping me after this meal. Success!

What's your favorite slow cooker "recipe"?? This might be my new favorite.

Recent Eats

Things are finally starting to get back to normal around here. I've just felt....jumbled....for the past month or so since we found out about my dad's cancer. Jumbled and distracted.

Luckily now I'm starting to get back into my normal routine: working out vs. being lazy, eating healthily vs. not caring what I eat, being productive vs. distracted, etc. One of the major aids in helping me get back on track has been Google Calendar. It helps me soooooo much to have things written out and have a "plan" for each day.

Anyway, onto the food!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

First up: Chicken & Black Bean Tacos

The chicken filling was made in the slow cooker, which I hadn't used in a looooong time.

In the morning I tossed 3 chicken breasts (frozen), about 1/2 cup of green salsa, 1/4 cup of chicken broth, 1/2 teaspoon chili powder, 1/2 teaspoon of smoked paprika, 1/2 teaspoon of cumin, juice from half a lime, and a can of black beans in the slow cooker and cooked on low for 8-9 hours. When I got home I took out the chicken and shredded it and then put it back in and mixed it up.

At that point it looked like this:

Then we filled our taco shells & tortillas (I couldn't decide between soft or crispy tacos so I had one of each) with the chicken/black bean mixture, shredded cheese, plain greek yogurt (in place of sour cream which had molded), avocado, salsa and another squeeze of lime juice.

I just heated up a bag of frozen veggie mix for the side dish.

This dinner was a HUGE hit and completely satisfying. I love love love adding the black beans to the chicken filling because it makes the meat stretch further AND it adds more protein and other great nutrients.

The chicken & black bean filling would be a great topping for taco salads too!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Then there was this Orange Pork Teriyaki Stir Fry that I threw together, taking inspiration from the Mongolian grills that are popping up all over the place these days.

The meat was thinly sliced pork chops, cut into chunks. Here's how I did it:

First I cooked the pork pieces in a teaspoon of sesame oil until mostly done. Then I added chopped baby bok choy to the pan and continued to stir fry until it got tender.

Then I added half a bag of these to the pan:

Frozen Stir Fry Veggies

Plus about 1/4 cup of this:

Orange Teriyaki Marinade

(I know, I know. Technically it's a marinade, but I didn't think ahead on this so I used it as a sauce. )

I also added a teaspoon of chopped fresh ginger and a bit of salt & pepper. Then I just let it all cook together until the frozen veggies were heated through.

For the final step, and as a last minute idea, I added half a can of mandarin oranges to the dish. I served it over brown rice.

It turned out to be quite tasty and it really did remind me of the food you would get at a Mongolian grill.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This last one is an oldie but a goodie: Alex's Turkey Meatballs with Whole Wheat Spaghetti

Click here for Alex's Turkey Meatball Recipe!

Yum Yum!! Hope you're all doing well!

Tell me what's new in your lives....I'm feeling out of touch with the blog world! I'm slowly catching up on Google Reader but it's still a beast!

Outta the Park Pork

What's for Dinner? 5/24/2010

-Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Orange & Red Onion Salsa
-Brown Rice & Black Beans


This dinner was A HOME RUN! There's really no other way to put it!

The pork tenderloin was juicy and flavorful, the orange salsa was fresh and tangy, and the black beans & rice were mild and a perfect compliment to the rest.

This whole dish was a perfect example of how healthy food doesn't have to be bland food. Gotta love that! The recipe hails from Cooking Light, a.k.a. my go-to recipe-finder these days. CL definitely didn't let me down this time!

I highly, highly recommend trying this recipe. If you've not tried a single recipe I've blogged about yet, start with this one. I don't think you'll be disappointed!

As a side note, can I also just say that I am now a BIG FAN of frozen steamer bag brown rice?!?! I hate, hate, hate cooking rice because it seems to always be such a hassle and it never turns out right for me. HATE IT. Well, frozen steamer bag rice is my new BFF! Sooo much easier and it turned out perfectly.



Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Orange and Red Onion Salsa
Source: Cooking Light

Preparation Time: 40 minutes minutes
Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 3 ounces pork and about 1/4 cup salsa)

1 tablespoon canola oil
1 (1-pound) pork tenderloin, trimmed
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
1 cup coarsely chopped orange sections (about 2 oranges)
1/2 cup diced red onion
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 teaspoons minced seeded jalapeño pepper
1 teaspoon minced garlic

1. Preheat oven to 450°.

2. Heat oil in a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle pork evenly with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Add pork to pan; cook 2 minutes on each side or until lightly browned. Transfer pan to oven. Bake at 450° for 17 minutes or until a thermometer registers 160°. Let stand 5 minutes; cut across grain into 1/2-inch-thick slices.

3. Combine remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, remaining 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, oranges, and remaining ingredients. Serve salsa with pork.

Rice and beans: Cook 1 (10-ounce) package frozen long-grain brown rice (such as Birds Eye SteamFresh) according to package directions. Combine cooked rice, 1 cup rinsed and drained canned black beans, 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin, and 1/8 teaspoon chili powder.


CALORIES 220 ; FAT 8.5g (sat 2g,mono 4.1g,poly 1.5g); CHOLESTEROL 65mg; CALCIUM 44mg; CARBOHYDRATE 13.6g; SODIUM 342mg; PROTEIN 23.6g; FIBER 4g; IRON 1.5mg

Cooking Light, APRIL 2009

Pork Chops d' Blah

What's for Dinner? 5/3/2010

-Parmesan Breaded Pork Chops
-Steamed Broccoli
-Buttered Toast

The inspiration from these pork chops came from this Parmesan-Crusted Pork Chop recipe that is a favorite of mine. That Giada d' Laurentis sure knows what she's doing!

This time I tried baking the pork chops in the oven, instead of in a pan like the recipe suggests. Yeaaahhhh, not such a good idea. I don't recommend it. The breading was kinda mushy and just blah. I mean it wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either.

They even look kinda blah.

Just click on the link to Giada's pork chops above and make those instead. :) You're welcome.

You Got Chops! {What's for Dinner? 4/7/2010}

When my husband told me he was going to grill the pork chops we had on the menu last night, I was more than a little concerned. When he told me he was just going to sprinkle spices on them, instead of marinating them, I was REALLY concerned. In my experience, pork tends to get dry very easily and be pretty bland. I thought these chops would probably end up that way.

Well, I was wrong. {Alex stop reading this and rejoicing that I admitted I was wrong....it only happens once in a blue moon!} The chops turned out surprisingly juicy and flavorful!


On the side we made mashed sweet potatoes and sauteed spinach.

To make our mashed sweet potatoes we just mash boiled sweet potatoes with a dollop of margarine/butter and a squeeze or two of honey.

To make our sauteed spinach we just put tons of fresh baby spinach in a saute pan (pile it up high) with minced garlic, olive oil and salt & pepper. Toss and cook until all the spinach wilts down.

Both of these sides are super easy and really good!

Carnitas Deliciosas {What's for Dinner? 3/18/2010}

I looooooooove carnitas! It's usually my meat filling of choice when I go to Chipotle. Juicy, flavorful, delicious! Carnitas are also a perfect thing to make in the crockpot. The low and slow cooking method makes for perfectly juicy, fall-apart meat.


Slow Cooker Carnitas

Source: allrecipes.com

Prep Time: 10 Minutes
Cook Time: 10 Hours

Ready In: 10 Hours 10 Minutes
Servings: 5

"Carnitas means 'little meats' and is traditionally fried then braised. This recipe is made much easier using the slow cooker but the results are just as tasty. This makes a great filling for tamales, enchiladas, tacos and burritos. This filling is also great combined with your favorite barbecue sauce and served on buns."

Ingredients:
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon crumbled dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon {next time we'll leave the cinnamon out...it was just kind of weird}
1 2-pound boneless pork shoulder
roast
1 bay leaf
1 cup chicken broth {I have a hugggeee crockpot so we added about another cup of broth}

Directions:

1. Mix together salt, garlic powder, cumin, oregano, coriander, and cinnamon in a bowl. Coat pork with the spice mixture. Place the bay leaves in the bottom of a slow cooker and place the pork on top. Pour the chicken broth around the sides of the pork, being careful not to rinse off the spice mixture.
2. Cover and cook on Low until the pork shreds easily with a fork, about 10 hours. Turn the meat after it has cooked for 5 hours. When the pork is tender, remove from slow cooker, and shred with two forks. Add cooking liquid as needed to moisten the meat.


My recommendation is to serve the carnitas in corn tortillas with avocado, red onion, salsa, cilantro & a squeeze of lime juice. YUM!

Pleased with Pork {What's for Dinner? 3/9/2010}

Crispy Apricot Pork Chops
with Pesto Potatoes
and Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

This technique for this Crispy Apricot Pork Chop recipe is very similar to the Panko Crusted Cod I made recently, except the "glue" is apricot jam instead of dijon mustard. I love this method of breading meat because it's so easy and it adds tons of flavor, as opposed to using plain old beaten egg.

In this case the apricot jam didn't come through strong at all {which is good since I'm not a big fan of fruity meat}. It mostly just gave the meat a vaguely sweet flavor that was really good! We both gave it two thumbs up for taste AND quickness. The pork only has to bake in the oven for about 15 minutes so this truly is a 30 minute meal...actually more like 20 minutes!

My changes to the recipe are noted below in red. It's a keeper!!


Crispy Apricot Pork Chops
Source: Everyday Food

Prep: 10 minutes Total: 25 minutes

Ingredients

Serves 4.

* 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for baking sheet
* 2 slices multigrain sandwich bread {I just used pre-packaged bread crumbs because I'm lazy}
* 4 bone-in pork loin chops (about 8 ounces each, 3/4 to 1 inch thick), patted dry {we used boneless chops}
* Coarse salt and ground pepper
* 4 teaspoons apricot jam


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Lightly brush a rimmed baking sheet with oil {or just spray with Pam like I did}; set aside.
2. Tear bread into large pieces; place in food processor. Pulse until large crumbs form. Drizzle with oil; pulse once or twice, just until crumbs are moistened (you should have about 1 1/2 cups crumbs). {Omit this step if you're using pre-packaged bread crumbs}
3. Season pork chops generously with salt and pepper; spread one side of each chop with 1 teaspoon jam. Dividing evenly, sprinkle breadcrumbs over jam, and pat them on gently.
4. Transfer pork, coated side up, to prepared baking sheet. Bake until crust is golden and pork is opaque throughout (meat should register 150 degrees.on an instant-read thermometer), 14 to 16 minutes. Serve immediately.


Pesto Potatoes:
Toss steamed or boiled red potatoes {cut into quarters} with pesto. Season with salt & pepper. The end. :)

SNOW DAY + What's for Dinner? 2/23/2010

Well, we got the snow we were wanting! And a LOT of it {for Texas, that is}. It was an awesome day! It started sleeting at around 6:30am and then quickly turned into snowing. Then it proceeded to snow ALL DAY, non-stop! The accumulation ended up being 2-3 inches! Alex and I kept looking at each other and saying "Is this really Texas?!?"

Alex's work got called off all together and I only had to work until 11am so it's been a wonderful, lazy snow day around here. My day went something like this: Work a little. Come home early. Eat lunch. Play in the snow with hubs & the dog. Read a book. Take a nap. Prepare dinner. Eat dinner. Snuggle on the couch and watch American Idol & the Olympics. Blog. It was an awesome day that I wish would never end!

Snow makes me so happy. I'm well aware that I probably wouldn't feel this way if I lived somewhere that got snow regularly, but I like to think that it would still make me happy. I just can't get over how BEAUTIFUL everything looks in snow cover. We don't live in a particularly attractive area but man, with snow it just looks MAGICAL!

Here are some pictures from the day...{what's for dinner at the bottom of this post}

For dinner tonight we made Amazing Pork Tenderloin in the Slow Cooker with leftover mashed sweet potatoes and steamed broccoli.


The only change I made to the pork recipe was to add a little Chili Garlic Paste {because we like a little kick} and to sub out the red wine for beef broth {because I thought we had red wine on hand but we didn't}. I also cooked the pork for 2 hours on high and 2 hours on low, because I just didn't trust that 4 hours on low was going to be enough. It was great!! The pork turned out so tender and juicy and we loved the sauce that was left behind in the slow cooker. I actually took the pork out when it was done cooking, turned the slow cooker on high and added some flour {probably two tablespoons} to the juices. Then I just whisked until it thickened a bit and we served the sauce on top of the pork. Yum!

I'll also add a little plug for steamer bags...I love these things! It's so easy to just pop some veggies in one, microwave for a few minutes, and you end up with perfectly steamed veggies. Highly recommend!

What's for Dinner? 1/14/2010

1/14/2010
Pork Tenderloin with Eggplant Relish

Saw this one in my newest issue of Food Network Magazine and flagged it. I honestly didn't expect much out of it, but yum! The pork was flavorful and the eggplant complimented it perfectly. We served with toasted baguette to round out the meal. Another plus: it's healthy! Yeah New Year's resolutions!

What's for Dinner? 1/6/10

Crockpot Pork Stew served over Brown Rice
This recipe is a bit more work than I normally like for crockpot recipes. Crockpot recipes to me should be "throw in the pot and go" so it annoys me when they require you to brown off the meat first or saute the veggies first. However, my husband is still on block leave after his deployment so he had the time to do all the prep work today.

I do have a sneaking suspicion that you could skip the steps of browning the meat and sauteing the veggies {if you're really lazy like me}. I think if you upped the cooking time to 8 hours on low the veggies would soften enough and the raw meat would brown. I'm going to try it next time we make it. I'll let you know how it goes.

Also, next time we'll use a different cut of pork. The boneless pork butt that we had in the deep freeze was just waaaaayyyy too fatty for our liking. Plus, the slow cooking of the meat means that you can still get the tender, juicy meat factor even with a super lean cut of meat, like tenderloin.

To wrap it up, this was a great stew for a cold night and we'll definitely make it again {with the aforementioned changes to the recipe}.



"Communion Cornbread"
FYI, if your cornbread mix package expires in 2008 and it is now 2010, it will not "be fine" like you and your husband think it will. It will instead look like this:And your husband will dub it "Communion Cornbread" because it did not rise at all and is basically unleavened cornbread. It still tastes fine, but it's not ideal. I recommend heeding the expiration date on cornbread mix. :)