Zesty Lime Pork Chops

Recently, I've become a little obsessed with the pairing of meats with citrus flavors.  Although these are mainly lime-infused, there is a hint of lemon pepper seasoning in the breading.  The key to packing in the flavor to anything breaded is to season, season, season!  It's the same theory as seasoning your pasta sauce.  I never make pasta without generously salting my pot of water first.  Otherwise, your pasta is bland.  And, in my house, one of our favorite dishes is Pasta e Broccoli, so the sauce relies on the addition of a few ladles of pasta water.  

• Season the egg, I usually put a few shakes of hot sauce in my egg/water mixture.  I don't make it "spicy" as I would like for my son to eat as well.  The key to seasoning, is to add just enough, not to overdo it with any one flavor.  
• Season the flour.  You can season the flour a little more liberally.  I season with salt and pepper.
• Season the crumb mixture.  For this recipe I used Panko crumbs to give it more of a crunch.  Depending on what I'm making, determines what I'll season my breadcrumbs with.  In this case it was lemon-pepper, but it has been oregano, basil, parsley, red pepper, the list goes on forever.  Just season to your taste.  

***Since I have typed most of the recipe as is already, I've decided to ditch my usual format and just keep typing!  If you need the exact quantities for each item, I pretty much use a cup of each: flour and breadcrumbs to start, with around 1 tsp of each of the added seasonings and just add more as needed.  For my egg mixture, it's about 1 egg to 1/4-1/2 cup of water.***

Recently, I've only been using Canola and EVOO for any and all of my cooking needs.  In this recipe, I used Canola to cook my pork chops in, cooking them over medium-high heat for about 4-5 minutes on each side.  You want your chops to become nice and brown and crunchy!  

After your chops are cooked thoroughly, a meat thermometer is one of the most useful tools in the kitchen; drain on a paper towel.  Squeeze fresh lime juice over the chops and garnish with lime slices.  This is great with rice and corn or any other summer vegetable.  The flavors are so tantalizing that even Eoin enjoyed it and he's not a huge pork chop fan!

"Orange-you Happy Carrots" from Parents Magazine

I feel absolutely terrible for not updating this blog in so long.  Work has been a bit hectic; and now that the summer is here, every weekend there's just something else going on!  I have quite a few recipes that I need to start typing up, and even some toddler crafts that I have done recently with the kids.  We have been so busy, averaging about 2 arts and crafts projects per week!  Right now we're on our bug-theme, so I hope to share some of my ideas relatively soon!  

While Eoin likes a lot of veggies, he does need some "encouragement" to eat a select few.  Carrots are not on his favorite list, and haven't been since he was an infant.  Usually, I will buy a bag of baby carrots for a recipe, use some and then have about 1/2-3/4 of the bag to find something to do with!  I found this recipe in my May 2012 issue of Parents magazine.  It's a quick and easy side dish that the whole family can enjoy!  I will post the original recipe for you.  I, of course, didn't have all of the exact ingredients on hand, so I substituted!  My substitutions are always in italics!  

I tend to read a lot of posts in cooking forums and the like.  One of the most common comments on some of these recipes are that "I really wanted to try out this recipe, but I didn't have such and such" (OR "I don't like such and such").  Recipes are merely suggestions.  Yes, you can follow them exact, or you can take the tips you learn from them and make it your own!  I think as time goes on, I get better and better at this, finding out what I can and cannot substitute for certain things.  For instance, white granulated sugar, honey and maple syrup can be interchangeable, depending on the dish.  This recipe called for honey, which I didn't have at the time.  But it was a carrot dish and had raisins in it, so I opted to sub in some maple syrup to give it the same glaze that the honey would have.  Cooking is a learning experience, and like a fine wine, you'll get better at it with age!  The key is to enjoy it!

Like I have always encouraged, if you do try on of the recipes posted on my blog, feel free to make it your own.  I welcome any and all feed back and comments! 

Ingredients:

• 1 lb packaged peeled baby carrots
• 1/2 cup orange juice (I used the juice from about 2 oranges)
• 2 Tbs honey (I used roughly the same amount of maple syrup)
• 2 Tbs golden raisins (I used your run-of-the-mill, dark California raisin)
• 1 tsp finely shredded orange peel

Directions:

• In a large, deep skillet, bring 4 cups water to a boil.  Add carrots; return to boiling.  reduce heat; cover and cook for 5 to 10 minutes or until tender.  Drain and return to pan.

• Stir in orange juice, honey (maple syrup), and raisins.  Bring to a boil; reduce heat.  Simmer, uncovered, for 5 to 8 minutes or until liquid is syrupy and carrots are glazed.  Serve topped with orange peel.

My Dad's Garlic and Oil Pasta with Vegetables

I am so happy to present my reader's with my second guest contributor, my Dad!  I have not tried out this recipe yet, but I will in the foreseeable future, and I'm excited!  It looks great.  After years and years of just pasta and sauce, I have finally discovered just how versatile pasta can be.  You can literally add ANYTHING to it and come up with your very own dish!  This uses frozen Italian vegetables, but I'm sure you can substitute it for any frozen packaged vegetable that you have in your freezer.  

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of pasta (Vermicelli)
• 1/3 - 1/4 cup E.V.O.O.
• 3-4 cloves of fresh garlic (crushed)
• Kosher salt
• l pound bag frozen Italian vegetables

Directions:

• In a large pot of salted water, boil pasta until al dente.  Drain well.  (Reserve 1/4 cup of pasta water).
• In medium pot, heat vegetables, and drain well.
• In a small saucepan heat oil slightly, add garlic.  Saute garlic until it is lightly browned.  Be careful not to burn garlic.
• Combine pasta and garlic, vegetables, and pasta water.  Toss and serve.  
• Top with Parmesan or Romano cheese.

Salt and Vinegar Chicken Thighs

I was planning on having my cousin and his girlfriend over for dinner one night, but then Bill went to 12 hour work days and scheduling a dinner date was next to impossible.  I had planned to make Greek-Style Chicken and had bought the extra chicken thighs and all, so I needed a new recipe to use up the surplus.  Although my family loves the Greek-Style Chicken, we don't want to eat it constantly!  I have recently been experimenting with brining, and it does make a world of difference!  This chicken came out so moist and tender!  It was delicious!  And for any of you that know me, I am so not a fan of chicken, especially dark meat!  As I've gotten more and more acclimated to making dishes that are healthy and totally from scratch, I've gotten more adventurous.  There are so many "spices" that don't come dried in cylindrical containers!  I left my chicken marinating for 2 days, but you can leave it marinating for far less than that.  Just make sure you marinate it for AT LEAST and hour.  Your are also going to save 1/4 of the marinade.  The chicken will cook in it for a half hour.  Then just use a baster to drain all of the marinade from the baking dish.  

Makes 6 servings

Ingredients:

• 6 chicken thighs (I used bone-in, skin on)
• 1.5 cups of apple cider vinegar (you can substitute for white vinegar if you don't have cider)
• 1 cup of vegetable oil
• 1 egg, beaten
• 4 teaspoons of seasoned salt
• 1 teaspoon of ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons of minced garlic

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, mix together the apple cider vinegar, vegetable oil, egg, seasoned salt, black pepper and minced garlic.  
2. In a baking dish, lay chicken thighs in a single layer and pour marinade over them.  Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour or up to 2 days.
3. Preheat oven to 350º.
4. Transfer thighs to a glass baking dish, and pour 1/4 of the marinade over the top.
5. Bake chicken for 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes, drain the marinade from the baking dish and return to over.  Bake an additional 15-25 minutes.  Until the juices run clear and the skin is nice and brown and crispy.  Chicken thighs should be cooked until the internal temperature is at least 165ºF.

Fried Chicken

It seems like every time I have chicken thighs, I make Greek Chicken.  While I personally love my Greek Chicken, change is also very good!  I NEVER make fried chicken, the closest I ever come is oven-fried chicken.  I'm personally not a huge fan of poultry, but I figured Bill would love the change of pace, and he did!  He actually LOVED this chicken! It does take a while.  I made my own buttermilk, it's easy enough and you can find the recipe from this oldie but goodie:  "You can catch more flies with honey than VINEGAR, assuming you want to catch flies!", it's located under the cooking and food uses.  You can soak the chicken in the buttermilk anywhere from 1 hour to 24 hours!  I soaked mine for about 5 hours, obviously the longer you soak, the better.  Just lay the chicken flat in a shallow dish, pour the buttermilk over it, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.  I fried the chicken thighs in the pan and oil for the whole time, but I think next time I may just fry them until the outside gets crisp and then bake them the rest of the way.  It took me about 50 or so minutes to fry them, which seemed drastically long because they weren't all that thick to begin with!  

Makes about 4 servings

Ingredients:

• about 5-6 chicken thighs, roughly 1 1/2-2 lbs total
• 1 cup buttermilk (store bought or homemade, look for the recipe above)
• 1 cup of all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2-2 tspn of seasoning salt
• 1/2 tspn chili powder
• 1/2 tspn ground black pepper
• 1/2 tspn garlic powder
• oil for frying

Directions:

• Soak the chicken in the buttermilk, as explained above, for desired time.

• Combine the flour and the spices in a large resealable bag.
• Drain the thighs and put into resealable bag, one at a time.  Toss to coat.  This is a fun part for your child to help with!  Mine did, and had a blast!  

• Shake off excess flour and put on a wax paper lined baking sheet.  Repeat with remaining thighs.  Let stand for 15-20 minutes.

• Heat about 1/4" of oil in a large fry pan.  Fry each side until a deep golden brown.  (Next time here is where I would drain the chicken on paper towels and then I would bake until cooked through).  Cover and cook for 30 minutes, turning occassionally to keep from burning.  Uncover and cook for about another 15 minutes, turning to prevent burning until chicken is cooked through.  

• Drain chicken pieces on paper towels.  Serve with your favorite sides!

Blackened Tuna Steaks

For awhile now I've been toying with the idea of making a blackened chicken dish and hopefully as warm weather approaches, I will gain some courage and attempt to make it.  We had the opportunity over Lent to get some real good tuna steaks, and I didn't want to do the "tried and true" ways of preparing it, like most no-fail fish dishes: broiled with lemon.  Don't get me wrong, it's DELICIOUS that way, but I'm becoming a more adventurous cook!  I've only had blackened catfish before, and it was very good, so I figured blackened tuna would be just as good; and it was!  For those of you, who are like me, and are frequent flippers, FIGHT THE URGE!  This needs to cook 4 minutes on each side!  At 4 minutes, it is medium, if you want it more thoroughly cooked, cook for another 2 minutes on each side.  Longer than that, your fish is going to start to dry out.  We had gotten four pretty thick tuna steaks, and while the cajun seasoning wasn't that spicy the day of, after sitting for 2 days, there was a decent kick!  There is also a blackening seasoning, I have not tried it, but if you do, please feel free to leave your feedback!  It is always encouraged and appreciated!  Also, while I didn't experience this, you may encounter a lot of smoke while cooking this.  It is very encouraged to open your windows and turn off your smoke alarm while cooking!  Afterwards, please remember to turn that smoke alarm back on!

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 4 tuna steaks
• 2 TBSP olive oil
• 2 TBSP butter
• Cajun seasoning (about 1/4-1/2 TBSP for each steak, you're going to sprinkle both sides with the seasoning)

Directions:

• Heat oil and butter in a pan over high heat.
• Coat both sides of each tuna steak with cajun seasoning.

• When oil is hot, near smoking, add each steak and cook for 4 minutes on each side (1 or 2 minutes longer if you want it more well-done)

1-2-3 Shrimp Scampi!

This year I've become more adventurous in what I make on Fridays during Lent.  This week I wasn't quite in the mood for fish, and one can only eat so much pasta, so I decided to branch out and cook a shrimp dish.  This was seriously the easiest thing I've ever made, and it was DELICIOUS!  Serve over rice, pasta, roasted potatoes, whatever your favorite starch is!  We served this over wild rice because we had it on hand.

Serves 8

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup lemon juice (fresh squeezed is the best, it's juice for approximately 3 lemons; but you could probably use lemon juice concentrate, such as Real Lemon)

 
Eoin helped me hand-squeeze the lemons!

• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 1 tbsp and 1 tsp of minced garlic
• 2 lbs of medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• ground black pepper, to taste
• crushed red pepper, to taste

Directions:

• In a large bowl, take the olive oil, lemon juice, parsley, garlic, black and red pepper and whisk together. Add cleaned shrimp to the mixture and toss to coat.  Put in the refrigerator and let marinate for at least a half hour.

• When mixture is done marinating, add to a skillet over high heat.  Cook until the liquid boils and the shrimp turn opaque.