Maple-Pecan Pork Chops

We had this for supper last night. It was pretty good. It would be better for a fall dish than a spring dish, I think. This one was also from BH & G 5 IF.

Maple-Pecan Pork Chops
4 boneless pork chops, about 3/4 inch thick
salt and pepper
4 tbsp butter, softened
2 tbsp maple syrup
1/3 cup chopped pecans, toasted

Trim fat from pork chops. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. In lg skillet, melt 1 tbsp of the butter. Cook chops over medium high heat 8-12 minutes, turning once, until chops are no longer pink and thermometer reads 160. In a small bowl, combine butter and syrup until smooth. When chops are done, remove to serving platter and spread with butter mixture. Sprinkle with pecans.

Sounds easy enough, huh? Well it was easy and yummy. I don't make things with nuts very often because I am the only one who really likes them. But this was easy to leave the nuts off the kids' chops. I asked Steve if he wanted pecans, knowing he really didn't, but I convinced him by saying it was going to be REALLY good with them. He is a good sport, so he tried it. He said it was good but he always says that so...anyway I'll keep this one because it was quite good.

Soy and Sesame Pork

We just had this tonight for supper. It turned out SO good. It tasted like something you could get in a restaurant. No really it did. I'm not being braggy because I didn't make up this recipe, I just followed directions to get it. It's from the cookbook Mom gave me for Christmas, Better Homes and Gardens 5 Ingredient Favorites (usually known, to me at least, as BH & G 5 IF...because I am too lazy to type that everytime...but now that this blog goes on Facebook I wanted to reiterate my sources so no one thinks I'm plagiarizing...is that how it's spelled? You know...copying someone else's work and taking the credit...I'm not doing that).

Soy and Sesame Pork
1 1-pound pork tenderloin
1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce (I used regular because that's what's in the fridge and I didn't want to buy reduced-sodium for the sake of 1/4 cup...plus historically I do not like things are reduced-anything)
1 tbsp ketchup
1/4 tsp garlic powder
2 to 3 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted (you toast them by putting them on a baking sheet either in the regular oven or toaster oven @ 350 for like 3-5 minutes)

Trim fat from the meat. Place meat in large ziploc bag. In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, ketchup, and garlic powder. Pour marinade over meat; seal bag. Marinate in the refrigerator for 4 to 24 hours, turning bag occasionally. Drain meat, discarding marinade. Place meat in shallow roasting pan. Roast, uncovered, @ 325 for 45 to 60 minutes or until meat thermometer registers 155. Cover meat with foil and let stand for 10 minutes (the meat's temp will rise 5 degrees during standing). Sprinkle sesame seeds onto a piece of foil. Carefully roll meat in sesame seeds. Cut meat into thin slices.

So like I said, a big hit. Even Nathan and Emma ate it. The meat was so moist and tender. The sesame seeds were a big plus for me (I love them) but Sam said that was the only part he didn't like. Emma and Nathan were like "what are these" and Steve said "It's just part of the recipe--Eat it." They did. This is definitely a keeper. Good enough for company even. One thing to note is that the Wal-mart, where I buy almost everything, only had pork tenderloin prepackaged in 1.7 lb sizes...so I made a bit more marinade to make sure. This came out a bit Chinese-y so if your family doesn't like that flavor then steer clear. But we all liked this one!!

Weeknight Lasagna Toss

Don't really like the name of this one. It should be like "Lazy Lasagna" or something. Because what if you want to make it on a weekend? Anyway this is from Kraft Food & Family Spring 2009. It was pretty easy, tasted quite good, too.

Weeknight Lasagna Toss
1 lb lean ground beef
2 green peppers, chopped (I left these out. Regular readers know why. Even if I was going to put them in, 2 entire green peppers seems a bit much...)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 jar (26 oz) spaghetti sauce
1 2/3 cup water
1/4 cup zesty Italian dressing
12 oven-ready lasagna noodles, broken into quarters (the bottom of the recipe says that you can use regular lasagna noodles, broken in bite size pieces, and increase water to 2 cups)
1 cup shredded mozarella cheese

Brown meat in large saucepan; drain. Stir in peppers, garlic, spaghetti sauce, water, and dressing; bring to boil. Add noodles; stir. Cover. Cook on med-low heat 10-15 minutes (if you're using regular lasagna noodles, increase cook time to 30 minutes) or until noodles are tender, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; sprinkle with cheese. Cover. Let stand 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

We had this with garlic bread. Sam didn't like the garlic bread but did like the lasagna. Emma ate it without having to be reminded to eat 100 times. We didn't even attempt with Nathan, he just had yogurt and a cereal bar. Steve liked it, and so did I. It was quite good, and we had 2 servings left over that we can use for lunches next week. So I would call this a keeper.

Peanut Butter S'more Tarts

Emma and I just made these and put them in the fridge. I have the time right now to type out the recipe while supper is simmering, so that's what I'm doing...I'll write reactions of them after we eat them. I have a 3-day weekend! Woot! So anyway these are from BH&G 5 IF.



Peanut Butter S'more Tarts
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 1/2 cups tiny marshmallows (I'm not sure if these are littler than mini marshmallows. I used the mini size)
1/2 cup chopped peanuts (I left these out since I'm the only one that likes them)
1 4 oz pkg (6) graham cracker crumb tart shells (less than $1 at the Wal-Mart)

In a small heavy saucepan (why does it have to be heavy? Whenever recipes tell you to melt chocolate, they always say heavy saucepan. I only have one weight of saucepan. I always use it and nothing bad has ever happened) melt chocolate chips over low heat until they melt. Remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter until smooth. Stir in marshmallows and peanuts. Spoon mixture into tart shells. Cover and chill for 2 to 24 hours (I am realizing as I type this that I did not cover them. Oops). Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes before serving.

So these were very simple to make. Sam said they were won-delicious. They were a little hard to eat because we didn't wait the full 30 minutes for them to warm up, but they were still good. Nathan said "I don't want that." And then Steve told him it was chocolate and marshmallows and Nathan said "chocolate yay!!" Emma also said it was delicious. These produced many crumbs, so be ready for that.

Gooey Chocolate-Caramel Cake

I made this for last night, to have at Autumn's scrapbooking fellowship thing. I was crossing my fingers that this would turn out good, after the fiasco with the onion dip, since many of the same people would be partaking. This was very very good, so I was like "phew." One of my many friends named Becky makes a recipe like this, I'm not sure if it's exactly like this one or not, but when I've had it before it's been very good. Hers is called something different though. This one is from BH&G 5 IF.

Gooey Chocolate-Caramel Cake
1 pkg 2 layer size chocolate cake mix
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 12 oz jar caramel ice cream topping
1 8 oz carton cool whip
chopped skor bars, optional

Prepare cake mix by pkg directions and bake in 13x9 pan. Cool cake in pan on wire rack. Using the handle of a wooden spoon, poke holes about 1 inch apart over surface of cake. Pour sweetened condensed milk and caramel topping over cake. Spread cool whip evenly over the top. Before serving, sprinkle with skor bars. Store leftover cake in fridge for up to 24 hours.

So, I thought I had so much caramel topping in the fridge that I didn't buy any. Turns out, I had barely any. So I had to make caramel to put on top of this. Making caramel is not hard, I have a recipe from Becky (a different one) that she always makes to pour over popcorn. It is 1 cup of brown sugar, 1 stick of butter, and 1/8 cup corn syrup. Put it all in a saucepan, heat over medium heat until it is a full roiling boil, then let cool. I think using this caramel made the cake not as sticky as it would have been with commercial topping (not as "gooey," as the title of the recipe would have you think) but it was very very good. That homemade caramel I could just eat right out of the pan with a big spoon. We all had at least one piece of the cake, Steve had 2, I had 2 (but they were small ones). Overall a successful recipe. A keeper for sure.