Pan Roasted Pork Chops with Pear Chutney #CrazyIngredientChallenge

Folks, let me tell you....I am so happy that I joined in with the Crazy Ingredient Challenge this month. Our challenge was to combine Pears and Red Pepper Flakes.  I never, ever would have created this recipe without being involved in this group and now?  Well, now it is going to be making a regular appearance in this household.  I can't wait to invite friends over to try this meal.  That is how excited I am about this dish.

I used two different kinds of pears, a Bartlett and a Bosc. I felt that this would lend the chutney some texture and interest.

  

This is the easiest chutney recipe ever.  I adapted it from this recipe found at Food Network website. A few minutes in the microwave, set it aside to cool and start on the chops.

I used boneless pork loin chops.  A quick sear on one side, flip them over and finish them off in the oven. 

Since I had the oven on anyway, I put some diced butternut squash in to roast as well.  It was the perfect side for this dish.

Pan Roasted Pork Chops with Easy Pear Chutney

2 pears of your choice

3 scallions, white and light greens, roughly chopped

2 T. apple cider vinegar

1 T. brown sugar

2 t. butter

1/4 t. ginger paste

1/2 t. cinnamon

pinch of kosher salt

pinch of crushed red pepper 

2 boneless, loin chops

2 t. olive oil

Peel, core and dice the pears. Place in a microwave safe bowl along with the scallions, vinegar, brown sugar, butter, ginger, cinnamon, salt and red pepper flakes.  Cover and microwave for 1 minute on high heat.  Stir and return, covered to microwave for another 10 minutes.  Take from oven, remove lid, stir and set aside.

Place the olive oil in an oven safe skillet over high heat.  Season the chops liberally with salt and pepper.  When the oil is shimmering, add the chops and sear for 3-4 minutes, until golden brown. Flip the chops over and place the pan into a preheated 400* oven for 15-20 minutes until an internal temperature of 145* is reached.  Remove from oven and let rest for 5 minutes.  Plate and top with the Pear Chutney. Print Recipe

More Pear and Red Pepper Creations

An InLinkz Link-up

Banana and Pineapple Salad #CrazyIngredientChallenge

The ingredients for this month's Crazy Ingredient Challenge are bananas and onions.  I was really kind of stumped with these ingredients.  I did a google search which did not help me too much.  I did find out though, that evidently banana and onion juice are supposed to cleanse your chakras.  I don't know what that means and I really have no desire to investigate it any further but I did link to the site in case you are interested.

I also found a recipe for banana and onion soup that I thought sounded interesting but it was a little too suggestive of baby food for my liking.  I found that some curry recipes also include bananas and considered doing that as well.

Then I remembered a salad that I used to make for my kids when they were young.  It was simply iceberg lettuce, canned pineapple chunks, sliced bananas and a dressing made from the pineapple juice and miracle whip.  I haven't made it since they were toddlers and I never included onions but I thought I would rewrite this recipe to please my palate which is much pickier today than when I was a brand new wife and mother trying to survive on a shoestring budget.

I switched to Romaine lettuce and decided to add some red onion slices to the party.  I still wanted to use the pineapple juice in the dressing but wanted to include other flavors as well. 

When I went into the refrigerator for the Miracle Whip, I spied some Gourmet Garden Cilantro in a tube.  Perfect!  What is better with tropical flavors than cilantro? 

I lined a platter with the Romaine and then scattered the bananas, that I had tossed in a little lemon juice, over the top.  I followed this with some pineapple chunks and some thinly sliced red onion.  I only had a 15 oz can of pineapple chunks but you could certainly use fresh or just buy one of those little cans.  My husband made short business of the leftover pineapple and pineapple juice.

Drizzle the dressing over the top and you are ready to serve.  I think this salad was perfect because I have the tropics on my brain constantly.  Only 4 more days until my dive trip!!!  wooohoooooo......

Try serving this salad as a side with my Island Pork Tenderloin and Black Beans with Rice.  Add a Rum Punch  and a Pina Colada Trifle for dessert and you too, will feel as if you are visiting the Tropics.

Please take a look at what the others are sharing using Bananas and Onions.  You will find their links right underneath my recipe.

Tropical Salad

1 head Romaine Lettuce

1 banana, sliced and sprinkled with lemon juice

1/2 of a 15 oz. can Pineapple Chunks in it's juices

1/4 of a small red onion, thinly sliced

1 c. Miracle Whip or Mayonnaise

1/4 c. juice from pineapple chunks

1 T. cilantro paste or fresh cilantro, minced

salt and pepper to taste

Rinse and dry lettuce leaves.  Tear into bite size pieces and place on a platter.  Distribute the banana, pineapple and onion over the lettuce.  

In a small bowl, combine the Miracle Whip or Mayonnaise with the pineapple juice and cilantro. Whisk together until smooth.  Taste and season with salt and pepper.  Drizzle some over the salad and serve the rest on the table for people to add to their salad as desired.  Print Recipe

Banana and Onion Creations

An InLinkz Link-up

Drunken Pork Chops for #CrazyIngredientChallenge

Welcome to this month's edition of #CIC where we vote to choose which 2 items we will be using to create a dish each month.  This month the vote was tallied and the winners were Beer and Cornflakes! I don't think pouring a bowl of cereal and topping it with beer counts as a recipe but.....whatever makes you happy LOL.

I decided to focus on dinner rather than breakfast.

Our friend, Steve, had brought over this Dragon's Milk brew.

It is a dark, malty beer that is aged in Bourbon Barrels.

I put the chops into the beer to marinate.

Put the chops into the refrigerator, planning to bake them that evening.

But the best laid plans......

They marinated for two days because my kitchen looked like this.

And my oven was here.

Then the installers did not show up at all yesterday.

So much for baking my chops.

Then I remembered that Frank's brother had given us a toaster oven that he no longer needed.

I had never owned a toaster oven and it was put aside into the barn during the move.

I pulled it out and decided to give it a go.

It worked amazing well and the pork chops cooked beautifully in a short amount of time.

Now, as for the pork chops....that marinated in the beer for nearly 3 full days.

If you like the taste of beer, you will like these pork chops.

If not, then I would suggest only marinating them for a couple of hours, as was my original plan.

I also added some of the marinating liquid to the egg portion of my breading station.

Omit that and use milk unless you LOVE the taste of beer.

I don't mind the taste of beer so I enjoyed these moist, tender chops.

Frank, on the other hand, was not impressed at all.

I guess the verdict on whether I would be "chopped" is dependant on the judge's tastes.

Drunken Pork Chops 

4 pork chops

1 bottle Dragon's Milk beer (or beer of choice)

1/2 c. flour

salt and pepper to taste

1 egg

1/2 c. cornflake crumbs

Place the pork chops and beer into a heavy duty zip lock bag and refrigerate for an hour or longer to marinate.  Remove the pork chops from the beer, reserving the liquid, and pat dry.  

Place the flour in a shallow bowl, season with salt and pepper,   Place the egg and 2 T. of the reserved beer in a second shallow bowl.  Beat with a fork to combine.  Place the cornflake crumbs in a third shallow bowl.

Dredge the chops in the flour. Shake off any excess and dip into the egg/beer mixture.  Coat both sides with the cornflakes and place on a parchment or foil lined baking sheet.  Bake in a preheated 375* oven for 45-55 minutes.  Chops should reach an internal temperature of 145*.  Print Recipe

Let's see what the others created with Cornflakes and Beer

An InLinkz Link-up

Southwestern Spaghetti Squash Pie for Crazy Ingredient Challenge

The third Thursdays have become pretty crazy around here.  I have three monthly events that are all posted on this day, #BundtBakers, #ImprovCookingChallenge and, of course, #CIC, for which this post is written.

I love all three of these groups and am thankful for the scheduling options offered by blogger that allow me to prepare and serve the meals anytime that is convenient, write out the blog at my leisure and then share it with you on the designated day.

That is how it usually works but not this month.

This month was moving month.  We began moving on October 8th and went nonstop for an entire week.  I was finally back in the kitchen on October 12th and made our first meal in our new home. Now that the kitchen was up and running, I was able to plan a dinner party for our daughter's birthday this past Sunday.  That took care of Bundt Bakers but I still had Improv and CIC due.

Monday night our daughter, Nicole and her husband, Pierre came for dinner. Nicole hadn't had a chance to see the house yet. They had previous plans for Sunday so decided to come over after work the following day.  This was a perfect opportunity for me to get in my next two challenges.  Nic and Pierre are adventurous eaters and always up for trying new dishes.  They also like eating meatless so Meatless Monday is a perfect day for them to visit.

In Crazy Ingredient Challenge we vote between several items on two different lists each month. Whichever ingredients get the most votes is what we use to create a meal.  This month the winners were......Spaghetti Squash and Cornmeal.

I love Spaghetti Squash so I was very happy to participate.  I knew that I wanted to do a casserole of some sort using the cornmeal as a topping.  I stumbled upon this Santa Fe Spaghetti Squash Casserole at Fat Free Vegan Kitchen.  Susan has a lot of great recipes on her blog.

Susan had you microwave the squash which would have made this dish ready much quicker than my method of oven roasting it.  You can cook yours however you like.  I used 1 1/2 spaghetti squashes because I had a half left from another meal that needed to be used but wasn't enough for this recipe.

Other than roasting the squash, the rest of the recipe is just combining the ingredients.  We are not completely fat free in this household so I used olive oil to cook my veggies.  I used red, orange and yellow peppers instead of green.  Substituted Ranchero Beans for the black beans and taco seasoning for the chili powder.

I also made the cornmeal mixture a little thicker than Susan had written in her recipe.  This meal was a huge hit.  Pierre ate two large servings and was happy to take the leftovers home with him.  "This is my kind of meal", he remarked.  I think when I next make this casserole, and there will be a next time, I will add some fresh jalapeno peppers in with the onion and sweet peppers.  I thought the dish needed a little extra kick.

Unfortunately, (or fortunately depending on your outlook) we got busy talking and visiting and when we sat down to eat, I forgot to take any photos of the finished pie.  I remembered when I was packing up the leftovers for them to take home, so I pulled out a plate and snapped a shot of a piece of the casserole.  It was dark outside and the photo suffered from no natural light but take my word for it, this is a casserole you can be proud to serve.  Thanks, Susan, for the great inspiration.

This is the perfect recipe to ease me back into the FMD eating plan on Monday.  The cornmeal crust would not be allowed but I think and almond meal crust would be delicous and make this dish Phase 3 Friendly.

Make sure you stop by to see all the other Spaghetti Squash and Cornmeal inspired dishes following the links after the recipe.  Have a great day!

Southwestern Spaghetti Squash Pie

adapted from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen

1 1/2 medium spaghetti squash, cooked and scraped into strands (learn how here)

2 t. olive oil

1 small onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 each mini red, orange and yellow peppers, diced (or 1 lg red pepper)

1 (15 oz) can Ranchero Beans, rinsed and drained

1 (4 oz) can green chiles, drained

1 c. corn kernels, fresh or frozen

1 c. packed baby spinach leaves

1 t. taco seasoning

juice of 1 lime

salt and pepper to taste

3/4 c. corn meal

1/2 c. hot water

pinch of salt

1/2 t. agave nectar

Heat oil in large skillet over med high heat.  Add the onions, garlic and peppers.  Cook and stir until tender, about 5 minutes.  Add the spaghetti squash and allow to cook some of the moisture from the squash for another 5 minutes.  Add the beans, chiles, corn and taco seasoning.  Mix to combine.  Add the spinach and cook for a minute or two until wilted.  Stir in the lime juice, taste and season with salt and pepper.  Turn into a casserole or deep dish pie plate that has been treated with cooking spray.

Combine the corn meal, water, salt and agave in a small bowl. Pour over the squash casserole, spreading the batter to cover.  Bake in a preheated 350* oven for 30-40 minutes, until the crust is cooked through and golden brown on the edges.

An InLinkz Link-up

Black Bean Salsa for #CrazyIngredientChallenge

Time for Crazy Ingredient Challenge, the fun little cooking challenge that happens on the 20th of each month.  At the end of the month prior we all vote on ingredients and the top vote from each list wins.  This month, the ingredients we got to work with were black beans and mayonnaise.

I tossed around a lot of ideas:  soup, quesadillas, salad, enchiladas but it came down to a matter of timing.  I got busy with packing, closing on houses, celebrating our grand-daughter's birthday, going out of town, etc. and lost track of time.  The next thing I knew it was September 19th and I needed to make a dish fast.  I decided on a black bean salsa that we could snack on before dinner.

Just because this recipe is fast and easy doesn't mean it is not good.  In fact, it just jumped into the perfect recipe category...easy, peasy and delicious.  It is even more perfect because you can make it with whatever ingredients you have on hand.  I added some tomatoes, onions and jalapenos. This recipe is perfect for the Fast Metabolism Diet during Phase 3.  Of course, I am on Phase 1 right now but I made an exception for this yummy salsa. I served it up with brown rice crackers.  It's a keeper.

Black Bean Salsa

1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed

2 T. diced onions

1 tomato, seeded and diced

1/2 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced

1/4 c. mayonnaise ( I used safflower mayo for FMD)

Juice from 1/2 a lime

dash of cayenne pepper

salt to taste

1/4 t. cumin

Place beans, onion, tomato  and jalapeno in a bowl.  Whisk together the mayo, lime juice, cayenne, salt and cumin.  Pour over the bean mixture and toss to coat.  Print Recipe

An InLinkz Link-up