Pork Medallions with Tarragon Mustard Sauce

This dish was inspired by a dinner I had in Paris. That meal was divine.

My dish was great! I really liked the whole grain mustard texture. It was tangy, and savory, and the tenderloin was melt in your mouth!

 

To make it kid friendly I added simple roasted potatoes and steamed green beans. My James loves his beans! (He even saved one bean, asking if we can plant it for a magic beanstalk!)

This was my Paris plate. The inspiration.

 

My sauce ended up a bit thinner but just as flavorful. A pretty good attempt!

 

I feel like Pioneer Woman with the next few action shots! The pork tenderloin searing in butter and oil...

 

The leeks and garlic getting happy in wine and broth...

 

The meal was so successful that my husband cleaned his plate!

 

I found the recipe online, after a simple google search of "French mustard seed pork". I love google! I think the recipe was pretty darn close. I think I would tweak it to make the sauce a bit creamier, but really it was good as is.

It was French night for sure, I even bought a bottle of Cotes du Rhone wine, but it sure didn't cost me 3 euros!

 

Click here for the stolen recipe for Pork Medallions with Tarragon Mustard Sauce.

 

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Lighter Thai Inspired Wraps & Crunchy Asian Cabbage Salad (repeat)

I really love this picture. You can't get any more colorful than that!

 

This is a great combo! Some of the same ingredients are in each food, but it made it easier for chopping.

The peanut sauce in the wrap sandwich is awesome! I actually made a 1 1/2 recipe so we could enjoy it a bit more. (Good decision, Lisa. *pat on the back*) The sauce ingredients are all staples in our household, so even better. -lime juice, peanut butter, sesame oil, soy sauce, ground ginger-

I think we got all of our vitamins through vegetables in just this one meal! No complaints from the husband. He really did dig this meal.

Click here for the stolen recipe for Lighter Thai Inspired Wraps.

I've made the Crunchy salad before. This is the post where I wrote about it.

 

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BBQ Comfort Meatballs

This is comfort food to my family. I don't make these often because there is one fussy, messy step to these meatballs but when I do make them I always thinks I should make them more often. You just can't win in my own head.

 

Also, whenever I make this, I think that this BBQ sauce rocks. And I should use it always whenever a recipe calls for BBQ sauce. Why buy a bottle when you can whip together a few ingredients and make your own?

I'm very surprised I haven't posted about these before. They are GOOOOOD. Add some mashed potatoes and my husband is VERY happy!

Click here for the stolen recipe for BBQ Meatballs by Pioneer Woman.

 

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Boiled Apple Cider and Baked Cider Donuts

DROOL.

I guess the donut doesn't really matter to me because its covered in cinnamon sugar... but this donut was GOOD. I had made boiled cider a few days before and finally I got around to doing something with it. Boiled cider is basically apple cider reduced down to a syrup. It took a few hours and my house smelled wonderful. It was no problem whatsoever to make!

I guess the boiled cider syrup is also good on pancakes. I really need to find more uses for this stuff. It is delicious.

This is a basic baked donut recipe but for the addition of the boiled cider. I probably could have added a bit more for flavor, but the donut was nice and delicious. Even James had one! Or two. Or three?

I finally discovered how to make the donuts look PERFECT. Turn them upside down! The bottom side is perfectly formed by the donut pan, so then the presentation is nice. I mean, if that sort of thing matters to you. These donuts were inhaled pretty quickly so it didn't matter much besides for this picture!

Baked donuts are the way to go! You don't even miss the fried/sugary ones!

Click here for the stolen recipe for Boiled Cider.

Click here for the stolen recipe for Baked Cider Donuts.

 

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Sweet and Sour Stir-Fried Chicken with Pineapple and Red Onions

How thrilling that this is a "Light" recipe! Especially when our other stand-by sweet and sour recipe is VERY heavy :)

We've made this twice. It passed my Dear Husband's taste test. The second time I made it I even decreased the sugar slightly and it was still good with him.

The sauce is easy to whip up, it includes pineapple (lovely), and it's "light". Yay!

Click here for the stolen recipe for Sweet and Sour Stir-Fried Chicken with Pineapple and Red Onions.

 

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Buffalo Turkey Burgers with Blue Cheese Broccoli Slaw

These were great! I was hoping the Buffalo flavor would appeal to my husband. It did. The burgers were actually quite spicy but in a good way. Carrots are grated and added to the burger mix, which would be good if you were trying to sneak veggies into your family's diet!

I did find reduced fat cheddar slices and whole wheat buns to make this a bit better for my diet. Diet, diet, diet. Yeah, I guess I should start calling it something else since this is just the way it should be.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Diet or not, my husband liked it! He said it's the best diet he's been on :)

Click here for the stolen recipe for Buffalo Turkey Burgers with Blue Cheese Broccoli Slaw.

 

Slow Smoked Spareribs with Sweet-and-Sour BBQ Sauce

My husband is loving his grill.  I am loving that he is liking to help with dinners!

He followed a recipe in his Weber's Way to Grill book but he used a different technique than slow smoking.  He followed the directions for "stacking" the ribs, which took about 2 hours less time.

Lots going on with these ribs.  There was a dry rub.  There was a "mop" (like a baste?)   There was a BBQ sauce.  Good work, Jimmy!

We found this recipe in one of our grilling cookbooks but the recipe is online too-

Click here for the stolen recipe for Slow-Smoked Spareribs with Sweet-and-Sour Sauce.

Chicken with Mustard Cream Sauce

If you like mustard you'll like this sauce. It's also a tiny bit boozy from the full cup of brandy that gets cooked down in the sauce. This is a Pioneer Woman recipe so she doesn't scrimp on the butter and oil that the chicken gets pan fried in.

Overall, tasty. Especially if you like mustard. I think I already said that?

Click here for the stolen recipe for Chicken with Mustard Cream Sauce.

Brown Sugar and Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin

Another crockpot recipe! Jim did make this one on his own. All of it. It turned out wonderfully! The glaze was awesome- sweet, flavorful, and a little sour from the balsamic? Again, I'm trying to remember details from too long ago (11/4).

Click here for the stolen recipe for Brown Sugar and Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin.

Crockpot BBQ Beer Chicken

I love these crockpot meals. I sometimes start them before I leave for work or I leave the work to my dear work-at-home husband. He does awesome work.

I think Jim did make this meal. This is way back from 11/1 so it's hard to remember. I know I did make the BBQ sauce the night before and left the recipe out for Jim.

It was good! We love these crockpot meals. I don't feel as rushed to come home and hurry a meal together for a decent time. (We like to eat at 5:30, and I get home with James at about 5:00. So RR's 30 minute meals would be handy but I don't like her style of food.)

Anyway...

Roasted brussel sprouts rounded out the meal.

Click here for the stolen recipe for Crockpot BBQ Beer Chicken.

Click here for the BBQ sauce, from Pioneer Woman.

Coconut Chicken with Apricot Sauce

with Roasted Brussel Sprouts and white rice.

I love love Coconut anything. This was a pretty simple recipe, making a crumb mixture and dipping the chicken in first some beaten eggs and then the crumbs. Bake for 40 minutes and you're done! The apricot sauce I needed to revise a bit- the amount of Dijon mustard was overpowering so I did add a bunch more apricot preserves than the recipe states.

Brussel sprouts have been looking fantastic at the grocery store so I picked up a pound of those without a plan. I quickly looked up how to roast them (I've done it before, but couldn't quite remember) and luckily it was at the same oven temperature as the chicken. I love when things work out like that :)

We would make this Coconut Chicken again. We actually will do that soon since I still have plenty of apricot preserves left! I also told my husband that this is a good recipe for him to make on a day when he's available to start cooking. (Usually our weekday meals, when I'm working, are 30 minute meals. This takes a bit longer than that with the prep and cooking time.)

Click here for the stolen recipe for Coconut Chicken with Apricot Sauce. (printable recipe at this link)

Grilling- Asian inspired meal

Jim received a great grilling cookbook from my sister Ana for his birthday. It is called The Cook's Illustrated Guide to Grilling and Barbeque. The first page that I opened the book up to called our names.

We made Thai Grilled Chicken Breasts with Spicy, Sweet and Sour Dipping Sauce, Coconut Curried Fried Rice, and Sesame Lemon Cucumber Salad.

I almost think we had too many flavors on our plate. They were all VERY good. Everything smelled AMAZING too. I am nuts for coconut so the rice really, really appealed to me. It was also a bit spicy from the curry paste so that was great too.

I did prep everything- the brine, the chicken rub, the sides- but Jim gets lots of credit for the grilling because I don't know even know how to turn it on :) Without Jim this meal wouldn't have been possible.

Lots of spice in the rice. My rice cooker bowl is permanently stained yellow I think. Oh well. The rice cooked with coconut milk... mmmmm......

This dipping sauce was THE BOMB. So easy.

The rub was also pretty easy. I always thought rubs were dry ingredients, but this was one was really wet with lots of lime juice, oil, and spices. Jim said it flared up a bit in the grill but luckily enough of the rub was also placed under the chicken skin. It was really flavorful and MOIST (Ana!) because of the brining.

James stole his Daddy's seat at the table. Too bad he didn't try the grub.

The recipes for the Chicken and then the Cucumber Salad were both from the cookbook. I did find the recipes online and they are linked below. The rice recipe is from a trusty food blogger.

Click here for the stolen recipe for Thai Grilled Chicken Breasts with Spicy, Sweet, and Sour Dipping Sauce.

Click here for the stolen recipe for Sesame Lemon Cucumber Salad.

Click here for the stolen recipe for Coconut Curried Fried Rice.

Nicollet Ave Pothole Ice Cream (copycat)

I had this ice cream once in Minneapolis. My sister mentioned it again and I was interested in trying to make my own version. I looked up Sebastian Joe's description of the ice cream and went from there.

Chocolate ice cream with fudge (ripple), truffles, crushed Heath bars, and sea salt. I turned to my trusty book, The Perfect Scoop, and of course found recipes for the fudge ripple, truffles, and ice cream. And they were SO EASY. I am mad at myself now for not making mix-ins earlier. I am even convinced that I could substitute my Almond candy for the Heath bars next time- it's basically a butter toffee with milk chocolate.

With so many mix-ins I didn't use all of the truffle mixture, so I rolled them up in small balls and then rolled them in pecan pieces. Jim was in favor of this :) They are safe in the freezer for future munching.

I kept sneaking spoons of ice cream, you know, to taste test. When it was finally hardened.... a glorious cone!

I was a little puzzled how to include the sea salt but my sister Ana suggested that it should just be sprinkled on top of the ice cream. When I was layering the ice cream in the freezer bowl, I did put rivers of fudge ripple, sprinkled truffles and Heath candy, and just a tiny bit of sea salt. When I made my cone I made sure to put a little more, figuring we can just add it to our taste.

This stuff is GOOD. It's sinful.

The recipes are all in the Perfect Scoop. This ice cream would convince you to buy the cookbook if you make your own ice cream!

Thanksgiving

It's amazing how little time it takes to scarf down all that food, all that love, energy, and time spent cooking for two days. Was it worth it? Of course! I was very happy to try so many new recipes. I don't think a single one really disappointed. My cranberry walnut rolls weren't light and fluffy, but kind of dense but still good. It was one recipe I wouldn't repeat as is. I wonder if I kneaded too much? Anyway, lots of good food. And I made my own gravy! Very proud and happy :)


OH! And my husband made both desserts. I can't make any claims on those. He did a fabulous job!


Appetizer-

Stuffed Mushrooms

Meal-

Pioneer Style Herb Roasted Turkey with Sage Gravy

Unfortunately, I didn't get any "after" pictures of the turkey. This is the 20 pounder slathered in herb butter. James declared it "yucky" looking.

The turkey ended up with a fabulous brown crust. It was darn pretty. I am so regretful that I did not get one little picture. Oh well. I have something better- leftovers!

Pioneer Woman's Creamy Mashed Potatoes- These were great because I made them ahead of time and just stuck them in the oven while the turkey rested.


Brussel Sprouts Gratin- This isn't a picture from tonight's gratin. I was flying around the kitchen at the very end and didn't take a picture of the gratin or the turkey. Bummer.



Sourdough Stuffing with Carmelized Onions and Apples

Framboise Cranberry Sauce

Cranberry Walnut Rolls

Dessert-

Jim proudly serves up his creations.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Chocolate Pecan Pie

We are all satisifed and full. Our guests all went home with plenty of leftovers. That 2o pound bird was more than enough for our meal and many others. Happy Thanksgiving!

Buttermilk Broccoli and Carrot Slaw & Grilled Pork Chops with Rhubarb Honey Sauce

I cleaned out my refrigerator today and it felt good. I actually know what's in there! So I started to look for recipes that would make use of what I had. I bought bone-in pork chops yesterday that were on sale (buy one, get one free), but I had no idea how to make them. I used my trusty Google Reader to do a search for "pork chops" within my favorite cooking blogs. Sure enough, one of my blogger friends had recently grilled pork chops and the word "rhubarb" popped out at me! I was thrilled. We have so much rhubarb and to find a way to use it in something that is not baked or with lots of sugar- SCORE!

So I set to work on making the citrus mint brine that the recipe suggested. I didn't have orange pineapple juice but I did have orange juice and some pineapple tidbit cups. So I used 4 ounces orange juice and an entire pineapple cup with the juices and fruit. I figured the fruit would add a little extra something something. And lucky me that I had just frozen my fresh mint! It was only $1 for the entire bunch but I hated to waste it. I read one one of my other blogs about how to freeze herbs, and so I was trying it out. I didn't know it would only freeze for a day before I'd use it though.

So as the pork chops sat in the refrigerator, doing their thing, I made this coleslaw. I really just found a recipe for the basic idea of coleslaw. I had a head of broccoli that was beginning to wilt so it was perfect for a slaw. I really really loved this buttermilk dressing! (And wow, I actually had buttermilk in the fridge!) The little bit of cider vinegar was awesome. Who knew that coleslaw dressing is just buttermilk, mayo, apple cider vinegar, and salt and pepper?

Other refrigerator/pantry items that I used: chopped red onion, baby carrots (shredded), sliced almonds.



So I didn't really follow the recipe exactly. Smitten Kitchen didn't use carrots. She also added dried cranberries but I didn't have those.

Back to the chops- I made the rhubarb sauce ahead of time. It was easy enough but it took longer than I thought. It didn't demand constant attention, but I needed to stir it every 4-5 minutes for a total of like 20 minutes I think. I liked the sauce but I think I would take it easy on the cinnamon and allspice if there is a next time.

The porkchops cooking on my grill pan-



Dinner!


Jim and I liked the porkchops but we really liked the slaw. We had second helpings of it!

Click here for the stolen recipe for Broccoli Slaw.

Click here for the stolen recipe for Pork Chops with Rhubarb Honey Sauce.