Chicken (or Pork) with Peppers (or Snow Peas) and Cashews

It was providential that Dana was scheduled to guest chef last week, because I had unexpected oral surgery which meant days of living on yogurt and ice cream. #nocomplaints

But hubby wanted to eat real food and he had his eye on the huge jar of cashews we'd bought at Costco.

He decided he wanted  pork with peppers and cashews.
That worked for me (as you'll see below).
The recipe is easy. I had an assortment of colorful little peppers. I stir fried them, stir fried the pork separately, mixed in the sauce and scallions. Served over rice. Sprinkled liberally with cashews! The catch here is the sauce. Ssssh. Don't tell anyone. It's really just pork gravy thinned out with a dash of soy sauce added in.

But, if you recall, I couldn't eat anything that chunky. I had gotten to the point that I could eat something more than gruel, so I settled on pastina. Remember that cute little star pasta from when the kids were babies?


First I mixed my trusty honey mustard in water and shredded in the cooked pork.

Simmer until very soft.

Serve over pastina!  

So yesterday, hubby was eyeing those cashews again. This time we went for chicken with snow peas and cashews.

So easy. Which was good since I'm in deadline mode.

Oh, and my other cheat - I was tired of buying scallions for him and only using half. So I decided to try these. He never noticed the difference!

What's your favorite stir fry?

Life Change = Pork Tenderloin Change

Greetings from the ranch!

Phase one of our big move is finally complete. For the most part anyway. We're still waiting on internet, which has us relying on our phones. At least until we completely lost service. 

Can you imagine? No internet, no email, no text, no phone...

Fortunately it only lasted for a day.

Yes, it's been an adjustment, but we've been so busy that you kind of don't notice. In the last two weeks I think we've only stopped long enough to eat or sleep. Because before things were totally put away at the camphouse, it was time to begin work on the big house.

Here's a glimpse of our demo projects.

Bye-bye dark wainscoting and parquet wood floor.

 And where a brick wall once made a courtyard, we now have a view.

I tell ya, you give a couple of strapping young lads some sledgehammers and it's amazing what they can do.

But all that hard work makes for some hungry workers, which means one of the workers--okay, supervisors--has to pause to fix dinner.

On this night, I was craving grilled pork tenderloin. But I wanted something different. And what better way to do that than to play with some spices.

Cumin sounded good, so that was my starting point.

Here's what I came up with.

3/4 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp chili powder

Mix that all together.

***Note: A pork tenderloin package has two pieces of meat. Since I was experimenting, I seasoned one piece with my usual salt/pepper/garlic/paprika blend, then put the cumin mixture on the other. So if you're coating both pieces of meat, double the amounts above.***

Now just sprinkle the seasoning over the meat and give it a nice rub.

The one in front has the cumin blend.

Place seasoned meat on a heated grill.

  And cook until internal temperature reaches between 145 and 160 degrees Fahrenheit.

The verdict?

The new seasoning was a hit. Everyone loved it. Tender, juicy, flavorful meat.

Yum!

And if you're watching your fat, pork tenderloin is as lean as grilled chicken breast, so it's a win-win.

So...there has been one other thing keeping us busy.

 You've heard of a two-dog night. Well, this was a four-snake weekend that started with this non-venomous fella slithering across the camphouse porch.

Luckily our snake-loving son was there to save the day.

Isn't he dressed appropriately?

But I'll consider it all trade off, so long as I get to hang out here.

Now it's your turn. Do you like to play with spices? What are some of your favorites?

Mindy Obenhaus lives in Texas with her husband and the last of her five children. She's passionate about touching readers with Biblical truths in an entertaining, and sometimes adventurous, manner. When she’s not writing, she enjoys cooking and spending time with her grandchildren. Learn more at www.MindyObenhaus.com 

Best Pork Roast EVER

Hi everybody! Mary Jane here. I saw a recipe that was called "Best Pork Roast EVER" and I remember thinking it sounded a little iffy, with its ten cloves of garlic, five different spices, and extended broiler/ flipping after two hours. But I jotted down some of the specifics and decided to try it. Now, my recipe doesn't have the rosemary or parsley or chopped garlic added to the bottom. I also only used carrots and potatoes for the veggies (the original had corn cob pieces, which I thought was odd). 

So, one large boneless pork roast.

2 TBS of season salt

2 TBS of pepper

2 TBS of garlic powder

2TBS of onion powder

-- rub into the top (not the fatty bottom)

Three cups of beef broth in the bottom of a stock pot. 

Add 6-7 chopped potatoes

about two cups carrots

TEN cloves garlic, whole (I KNOW, I was thinking the SAME THING)

One large sliced onion.

Lay the pork roast onto the veggies and broth, cover with foil and roast at 325F for two hours or so. Make sure the foil has a little hole for venting.

 After two hours or when the pork roast is done, take off the foil, turn to broil, flip the roast and replace for ten minutes.

 Eeeek. Looking burned. But I'm standing my ground. I belieeeeeeeeve... Flip again under broil for ten minutes.
                                           
I'm wondering if I should stop here after four minutes but I have resolved to follow the recipe. Unlike my usual way of playing fast and loose in the kitchen.

 Now, after ten minutes,  the top is very dark and crispy. Holding onto hope... Flip again.

 Bottom looks more burned. Flip again after ten minutes.

 Top looks VERY dry and I'm pretty sure I ruined the roast. Quietly researching recipes for "dry pork roast leftovers".
                                 
Leave it on a plate to rest for 30 minutes. (Like it did anything! I was the one hefting its fatty rump over and over. )
                                            
After 30 minutes, I dry my tears and start slicing. Hmmmmm.... Juice is flowing onto the plate. That's promising.
                                  
After cutting through the seasoned crust, it's very tender. I take a nibble... and rejoice!!! It is DELICIOUS!!! Tender, moist, flavorful, savory, fragrant, and NOT burned. *whew* HUGE relief!

 A few of the seasoned potatoes and carrots (and garlic, YUM) from the bottom of the pot.

 MMMMM, with a little of the "gravy". The original recipe had something about making it into a dark roux. I thought it was perfect the way it was.

So, there it is! The most perfect pot roast ever!! I hope everyone is having a wonderful week. 

Be sure to stop by my author pages of Mary Jane Hathaway and Virginia Carmichael for more author news!

Pork Medallions and Pan Sauce

Missy Tippens

I recently saw these beautiful pork medallions at the grocery store and snatched them up for a night when I needed a quick meal. I could tell these would thaw and cook quickly.

Flash forward a couple of weeks, and I pulled these out of the freezer. They were thawed and ready to go by dinnertime. I waited until my husband got home to start everything.

I dried the pork, and then seasoned with salt, pepper, and some Penzey's Sunny Paris--one of our favorites. Here's the description from the website: Hand-mixed from: shallots, chives, green peppercorn, dill weed, basil, tarragon, chervil and bay leaf.  Sounds yummy, doesn't it? I thought it would be perfect with pork.

I heated olive oil and butter in the skillet. Then seared the meat on either side. Then I added a little white wine and covered for a few minutes to let the meat cook through. When it was done (don't over cook!), I took the meat out of the skillet and sprinkled in about 1-2 teaspoons of flour and cooked until slightly thickened. I spooned the sauce over the pork and served.

It turned out so yummy! Before preparing the meat, I microwaved baked potatoes and then made steam-in-the-bag vegetables. Not bad for a quick weeknight meal!

www.missytippens.com

Quick and Easy Pork Chops

Tex here, and I don’t know about you, but I am stoked for Thanksgiving. The turkey, the dressing…

Definitely the dressing.

Oh, and I have a great idea for leftover dressing that I will share with you next week. That is, if I remember to take some pictures.

It’s AMAZING.

But leading up to the big day, it's all about quick meals here at the Obi house. Like the other night when I found myself with some pork chops, but not sure how to cook them.

I checked the pantry.

Cream of Mushroom soup.

Okay, what can I do with that besides simply pouring it over the pork chops?

Checked the fridge.

Half an onion, four mushrooms, butter...

Okay, now we're on to something.

First to address the soup. I didn't want just plain old mushroom soup. So I poured it into a large measuring cup, added some chicken broth (about 1/4 cup), some roasted garlic powder (regular garlic powder will work, too--1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon), some black pepper to taste and 1/2 tsp. dried thyme.

Whisk that all together until smooth and set aside.

Now for the pork chops. Season them lightly with your favorite seasoning (salt and pepper works just fine), then brown them in a hot skillet with 1-2 tablespoons melted butter.

When both sides are browned, remove from pan and set aside.

I sliced up my mushrooms and onion.

Melted another 2 tablespoons butter in the same pan and tossed them in, cooking just until they start to soften.

Now return the pork chops to the pan.

Pour the soup mixture over top.

Once soup comes to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and cook for ten minutes.

Throw in some mashed potatoes, a veggie and dinner is served--in less than thirty minutes.

These pork chops are moist and delicious. People will think you slaved all day. But you didn't, which makes them even better.

Well, most of the kiddos and a couple of the grandkids will be dining with Grammy and Big Daddy for the big day. Of course, it doesn't matter how many we have, there's always more than enough food to go around. I'm looking forward to that first bite of pumpkin pie.

So what are you doing for turkey day? Are you guesting or hosting?

What dish do you look forward to most at Thanksgiving?

Pork Bolognese Revisited

with Missy Tippens

I'm re-sharing one of my favorite dishes that I posted in December 2011. I love this recipe! I hope you will too...


Missy, here. And I have a fantastic recipe to share. Homey and rich and perfect for a cold day. (Of course, we won't talk about the fact it's going to be 70 degrees today!)

The way this meal started is that I got a deal at the grocery store. :) Ground pork for $1.69 a pound. I grabbed up several packages and then realized I'd never used ground pork before. I had to find a recipe!

The original recipe that I settled on is from the Martha Stewart website. (Click here to see the original.) You'll see as I go that I changed a few things, mainly because I didn't have exactly what I needed. So let's cook!

Pork Bolognese

Ingredients (adapted from MarthaStewart.com)

• 3 slices bacon, finely chopped (I used pre-cooked)
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 medium carrot, finely chopped (sometimes I just used pre-shredded carrot sticks and chop them a little more)
• 1 celery stalk, finely chopped (You're getting the picture here...stuff finely chopped!)
• 2 pounds ground pork
• 1/4 cup tomato paste (I normally use a tube of paste, but this is enough to open a small can)
• 1 cup red wine (recipe calls for white, but I used what I had)
• 1-1/4 cups milk
• 1 large can tomato sauce (28 ounces) 
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 bay leaf
• 5 sprigs fresh thyme (I never have this fresh. I just crush a pinch of dry thyme between my fingers to release the oils and perk it up a bit)
• salt and pepper
• pasta of your choice (I prefer angel hair because it cooks so quickly)
• Freshly grated Parmesan

In a large heavy pot, cook bacon for about 5 minutes. [Since I used pre-cooked bacon that I had on hand, I just heated through and added a bit of olive oil]

Add onion, carrot, and celery [my family would go on strike if I used celery, so I left out]; cook a few minutes until soft. Raise heat to medium-high and add the pork. Cook, breaking up the meat with your handy dandy potato masher, until browned.

Add tomato paste. Cook until it's mixed well with the pork, about 5 minutes.

Add wine (I didn't have white so used red, which turned out delicious). Cook until the liquid is reduced a good bit. 

Add 1 cup milk (I mixed skim with half & half). Cook until reduced by half. Add tomato sauce, chicken broth, bay leaf, thyme, 2-1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 1 hour. Stir in another 1/4 cup milk.

[Note: I didn't have an hour. So I cut back to 1-1/2 cups chicken broth and cooked a half hour. It was a little thin but was very tasty anyway.]

Serve sauce over pasta (I used linguine this time), topped with cheese.

For fun, I have a set of pasta dishes that I bought at the grocery store years ago.

I hope you enjoy!!

Do y'all eat as much pasta as we do around here?

www.missytippens.com

Green salsa citrus stew

Hi, everybody! The Fresh Pioneer is back and I have a delicious recipe for you. It's like stew, but not. If you're like us, you're suffering with this heat wave. We've been eating cold everything. Sandwiches, pasta, cereal. No kidding, I've been letting my kids eat cereal for three meals because it's not ice cream (that's for brunch and midnight snack).  

But every now and then we have to have some real food, so my daughter asked if we could make this recipe she saw in a magazine.

Originally, it had potatoes, pork, green chiles, and chicken broth. But we also like to use what we have and mix it up, so here's the new and updated version!

Ingredients:

 3 cups tomatillos

one onion

3 cops chopped pork

3-4 cups chopped potatoes

5 cups broth

two oranges

four large mint leaves

 Instead of green chiles, we used a jar of home canned tomatillos. You can buy these little green tomato-type things at the store. Easy to boil until they get soft. So, a jar of tomatillos and five cups of broth (what I had stored in the freezer). Bring to a boil. It's tempting to start adding spices and seasoning but just wait because when you add the potatoes, you'll have to start all over.

 Chopped potatoes. We used about ten, but we were cooking for a crowd. I'd say as a rule for this stew to make sure your tomatillos, potatoes, and pork are in equal amounts.

 Fry up some pork chops. Ugh. not attractive before they're cooked but so good after!

 Now, chop the pork into small cubes, add to the potato and tomatillo stew. Adjust the broth if necessary. It should be pretty soupy because it has a while to boil down. After letting it boil until the potatoes are soft, squeeze two large oranges (watch for seeds). The sweet citrus is a great addition to the tangy green salsa. It gives it a balance and keeps it from being overwhelming.

 Last step, add four or five large mint leaves. Mint and pork always go together, but my husband adds mint to his stews because he says it's good for digestion. Not sure if that's true, but I LOVE the smell of mint/citrus stew. He even adds it to chicken soup, and it gives it such an exotic flavor. After the mint has cooked for a few minutes, add salt and pepper and maybe some hot sauce to taste. Depending on what heat level you like, you can leave off the hot sauce altogether, or serve it individually.

 A dollop of sour cream, some tortilla chips and some cilantro completes the dish!

That's all for now! I hope everyone is surviving the heat! I've just passed a deadline and am diving back into another series, so I'm feeling like life is AWESOME. Lol. You can tell I always love starting more than beginning a book. Or maybe both? Anyway, stop by my Mary Jane Hathaway author page, or my Virginia Carmichael page (soon to be resurrected pen name!), or my blog at The Things That Last. Until next time!