Pork chops with dijon herb sauce

Tonight's dinner was another one I found on the Skinnytaste website here. I already had pork chops earlier in the week, but this recipe was quick and easy and I like pork chops so I didn't mind having them twice in one week. This is definitely another recipe I will make often.

Review: This was a quick and easy meal to make. I'm not a big mustard fan but this wasn't too bad. It didn't have an overpowering mustard taste, but you could taste the mustard a bit. I also was surprised about how little of the onion I could taste even though that's basically all the sauce is as far as "hearty" ingredients. I do know, though, that I let it cook a little too long because it reduced a little too much and got too thick. From the picture on the Skinnytaste website, the sauce is supposed to be a liquid but mine was more of a solid. Again, though, that was just because I cooked it a tad bit too long. I think next time too I might add some green peppers to it. I like the flavor of cooked green peppers and I think it would go nicely with the meal. You also could add mushrooms if you like them but I don't so I won't add them. Basically, I just followed the recipe as was written. You could use boneless pork chops and most times I do but I went ahead and got bone-in chops this time like the recipe suggested. I also used a whole white onion instead of just the 3 tablespoons the recipe called for. It didn't make a difference and honestly based on what there was with a whole onion I would think 3 tablespoons wouldn't be enough. Another thing you could change is instead of 1 tsp butter you could use olive oil. I used butter this time but next time I'll use olive oil. It won't make a huge difference in the healthiness of it because it wasn't a lot of butter that was used but olive oil would still be better than even just a little bit of butter. Finally, I had brown rice as a side but you could have anything you want and next time I will either have steamed vegetables or the oven-roasted garlic green beans I cook often.

Recipe:

• 1 tsp butter (or extra virgin olive oil)
• 4 pork chops (22 oz. with bone, fat removed), 1 inch thick, trim all visible fat (or boneless)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• fresh ground pepper
• 3 tbsp chopped onion (I used a whole white onion and it was fine)
• 3/4 cup fat free chicken stock (chicken broth is basically the same thing)
• 1 tbsp dijon mustard
• 2 tbsp chopped, fresh herbs like parsley and chives

In a large frying pan heat the butter over moderately low heat. Season the pork chops with salt and pepper then raise the heat to medium and add the chops to the pan and saute for 7 minutes. Turn and cook until the pork chops are browned and done to medium, about 7-8 minutes longer. Remove the chops and put in a warm spot. Add the onion to the pan and cook, stirring, until soft, about 3 minutes. Add the stock and boil until it reduces to 1/2 cup, about 3 minutes. Stir in the mustard, herbs and 1/8 tsp pepper. Put the chops on a platter and pour the sauce over the meat.

AUTHOR'S NOTE (from the website):
Food and Wines says it is OK if the pork chops are pink in the center. Trichinosis is killed at the relatively low temperature of 150 degrees. I use a thermometer to check the center and usually leave it until it hits 160 degrees. Don't overcook or they will become dry.

Dirty brown rice with shrimp

Tonight's meal was one I found while looking for something to do with shrimp. I haven't had shrimp for a while and I have to say I'm very pleased I found this. I will be cooking this often as it has become one of my new favorite meals. The recipe is another one Gina Homolka put on her website, Skinnytaste, and it can be found here.

Review: This meal is extremely healthy, which is a plus, and doesn't take that long to cook. If you were to precut the vegetables it'd take about 20-30 minutes. If you wait to cut the vegetables until you are ready to fix the meal it might take closer to 30-45 minutes. Still, not too long either way. I'm proud of myself because it's the first time I've successfully cooked brown rice. All the other times I've attempted brown rice it's stayed kind of hard. I think the trick was cooking it a little longer. Generally with white rice you boil the water, pour in the rice then remove it from the heat to finish cooking. With brown rice you boil the water, then cook it for another 5 minutes or so and then remove it from the heat. The flavor combinations also worked extremely well together but know that the meal is quite hot. There is quite a bit of cayenne pepper in it so that makes it spicy. If you don't like spicy foods you could leave the cayenne pepper out but if you don't mind it this is the dish for you. No joke, I was sweating a bit as I was eating this meal. I also had never used bay leaves before so it was nice to use a new ingredient and one that tasted pretty good. Now, the picture on the website shows and the recipe calls for two whole bay leaves, divided, but when they are whole I don't see a big use for them because they don't really mix in the meal. They just stay on top and remain whole even as you stir everything together. When I make this again I will probably just do a couple shakes of crushed bay leaves so it spreads throughout the meal more. I also forgot to get an onion so I used dried minced onion but had I used fresh onion it would have given it additional flavor. On top of that, even though the recipe calls for the ingredients it does, you could add more color by including other vegetables such as red pepper and carrots. You also could throw in some broccoli if you wanted. To be honest, the vegetables don't matter that much and I might even double what the recipe calls for. The ingredients listed, though, are just darker so it gives it more of that "dirty" feel. Finally, in case you don't know, the recipe calls for two scallions, which are another name for green onions. Oh, also, before I cooked anything I cut the vegetables and mixed the onion, celery, green pepper and garlic in a bowl. That way they were already mixed together in one dish and I could just empty the bowl in the saucepan instead of having multiple dishes with the different vegetables. This meal is definitely a keeper though and had I not wanted to save some for later, one I would have had a couple bowls of for dinner.

Recipe:

• 1 1/2 cups uncooked brown rice (I made 3 cups of rice because I was serving three people and wanted extras for other meals)
• chicken bouillon cube (Knorr) (I was able to find the Knorr brand but if you can't any chicken bouillon cube will work)
• 2 bay leaves, divided (or use crushed if you want)
• 1/8 + 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, divided
• 1/8 + 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/8 + 1/2 tsp thyme
• 1 tsp oil
• 1 onion, diced (minced onion is fine if you don't have any fresh onion or don't want/forget to buy some like I did)
• 2 celery, diced
• 1 green pepper, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 lb 96% lean ground beef (Laura's lean beef or whatever brand you can find)
• salt and fresh pepper, to taste
• 1 lb medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 2 scallions, chopped

Cook the brown rice according to the package directions in water. As the rice is cooking and simmering in the water, add the chicken bouillon cube, 1 bay leaf (or some shakes of the crushed bay leaves), 1/4 tsp and 1/8 tsp salt, cayenne, paprika and thyme (I used the 1/8 tsp amounts in the rice).

When the rice is almost finished cooking, heat a large, heavy saucepan on medium-low heat. Add the oil, onions, green pepper, celery, remaining bay leaf (or a couple more shakes of the crushed bay leaves) and garlic. Saute on medium-low heat until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the beef, salt, black pepper, remaining 1/4 tsp of cayenne and 1/2 tsp of paprika and thyme. Saute until browned, about 10-15 minutes. Add the shrimp, cover and cook for 5 more minutes (I didn't cover but instead mixed the ingredients sporadically during the 5 minutes).

Spicy baked chicken

I had some chicken breasts to use so I just threw some herbs and spices on them and came up with this spicy baked chicken meal.

Review: While I call it spicy baked chicken it wasn't overly spicy. Had I added my cayenne pepper or even had some chili powder on it as well it would have been spicier than what it was but you could still taste the heat from the cayenne pepper. I also didn't measure the ingredients I just sprinkled some on top of the chicken so it was enough to coat. It also was really moist (probably the most moist chicken I've had); however, I'm not sure if it was because it was so moist I wasn't used to it or because it might have needed to be cooked a tad bit longer, but because I was concerned it wasn't totally cooked in some places I stuck it in the microwave for 1 minute. Unfortunately, that overcooked it because then it became dry. But seeing how that's a cooking time issue and not a flavor issue I wasn't too concerned about it. All-in-all I liked the flavor. It gave it a nice kick beyond just plain chicken and one I will cook again, especially if I don't know what else I want because it only took 20 minutes to cook. I served it with the oven-roasted garlic green beans I've cooked many times but you can eat it with whatever.

Recipe:

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts 
• salt
• pepper
• olive oil
• paprika
• cayenne pepper
• onion powder
• parsley
• thyme
• rosemary
• cumin
• chili powder, optional
• chicken broth, optional

Drizzle olive oil over the chicken breasts then cover with the spices and herbs. Mix together. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Stick the chicken in a baking pan lined with aluminum foil* and cook for 20-25 minutes.

*I put aluminum foil on the bottom of the pan because I did not have chicken broth to pour at the bottom to help with the moisture. If I had chicken broth I would have poured that at the bottom of the pan instead of putting the aluminum foil.

Obama addresses Hurricane Sandy recovery, rebuilding efforts in weekly address

President Barack Obama used his weekly address on Saturday not to talk about the economy or one of the policy issues he wants to highlight, but to talk about Hurricane Sandy. In his address he thanked the first responders and National Guardsmen for the work after one of the worst storms in the history of the country hit the East Coast. He also wanted to let the millions of Americans who lost their homes, jobs, businesses and communities that while the recovery would take a while, their country would not abandon them.