Pork Milanese

This was another recipe from the Everyday Italian book by Giada de Laurentiis. This one at least was an everyday meal. It was simple enough to prepare, and everyone liked it. I had frozen the marinara sauce from the same cookbook that I used in Lasagna so I defrosted that, added it to some linguini and had that for a side. Turned out to be a very nice meal. I rearranged the directions a little to the order I did them.


Ingredients

• 1/3 cup flour
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 1/4 cups bread crumbs (I only used about 1/2 the mix including this and the next 2 ingredients.)
  
• 2/3 cups Parmesan cheese
• 2 teaspoons dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 4 8-oz center cup pork loin chops (each about 1 inch) (Mine were less than 8 oz each and I used 5.)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges. (Oops, I forgot this part.)

Directions

1. Place the flour in wide, shallow bowl. (I used a plate that was semi deep.) Place the eggs in another wide, shallow bowl. Mix the bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, basil, and thyme in a third wide, shallow bowl. (Only used 1/2 of this, so could make 1/2 as much next time.)
2. Using a meat mallet, pound the pork chops until they are 1/4 inch thick. Sprinkle with the salt and pepper.
3. Preheat the oven to 150 (mine only went down to 170. I actually did this step since I was doing 5 chops, and my oven was already hot, and I had the stuff out from other cooking..... Not sure I would for the kiddos on a normal night.) Line a baking sheet with a rack.
   
4. In a large, heavy saute pan with high sides, melt the butter in the oil over medium heat until hot.
5. Working with one pork chop at a time, dredge the chops in the flour to coat lightly, then dip in the beaten eggs, then coat with bread crumb mixture. Carefully place pork chops in the oil mixture and cook until light golden brown, about 3 minutes per side. (I fit 3 in the first batch.) Transfer the chops to the baking sheet. Keep cooked chops warm in the oven. Repeat with remaining chops.
   
6. Place 1 pork chop on each of 4 dinner plates and serve immediately with the lemon wedges.
   

cream cheese banana bread

Just got done concocting this recipe and decided I'd better write down what I did before I forgot. I saw a recipe in the simple and delicious magazine for "lightened up" cream cheese banana bread. I really couldn't see what they did to lighten it. It still had more sugar than I usually use, and only replaced 1/2 of the regular butter with light cream cheese. It did use baking soda and baking powder - less bananas and flour.... Anyway, I combined my more banana, less sugar variety of bread with the cream cheese and did sub out a bit of baking powder for baking soda. We'll see how it turns out. - YUM! This is probably my favorite banana bread to date. It came out of the oven nicer shaped than it was when I took the picture. It had already fallen.

Update 2/12 - I totally forgot to make the orange glaze last time. I made it this time - super yummy. I didn't need quite as much glaze as I made though, and really it was good without the added sugar, but for a treat the glaze was delicious.



Ingredients

• 4 oz light cream cheese
• 1/4 cup butter - softened
• 1/2 cup sugar (it was a generous 1/2 cup because I was cutting it down, but not so generous that I couldn't walk from the pantry to the mixer with the cup full in my hand.)
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/3 cup mashed ripe banana. (I think I was closer to 2 today but I used 5 bananas)
• 2 cups flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans, divided

Orange glaze

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 Tablespoon orange juice
• 1/2 teaspoon grated orange peel

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter, cream cheese, and sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time then beat in mashed bananas and vanilla until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Fold in 1/4 cup pecans. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle other 1/4 cup pecans on top.
   
3. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.
4. Mix glaze ingredients together and drizzle on top of the bread.
   

Overnight pecan rolls

This is a recipe I found at allrecipes.com. I put it on my menu way back on Jan 8, and just got around to making them today. I will have to write how they were tomorrow. I made them just like they said. I thought the dough was a bit sticky for bread dough, but I left it that way because mom's recipe for cinnamon rolls is really sticky and they are really tasty.
These turned out great! I had read reviews online saying that they wanted to double the caramel sauce, but I don't think that was necessary. That would have been too sweet for breakfast for me. I'm tempted to give them 5 star, but my mom's cinnamon rolls are tastier. However, they take all day to do. These are 5 star if you combine their flavor with their ease of making.

Ingredients

• 2 cups milk
• 2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 egg
• 7 cups all-purpose flour
• 
  
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 1 cup pecan halves
• 
  
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Warm the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles, then remove from heat. Let cool until lukewarm. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, combine yeast mixture, milk, sugar, oil, baking powder, salt, egg and 3 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
3. Heat brown sugar and 1/2 cup butter until melted. Remove from heat; stir in corn syrup. Divide mixture between two 9x13 inch baking pans. Sprinkle 1/2 cup pecans in each pan.
4. When dough has doubled in size, punch down and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out into a large rectangle and spread with butter. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Starting with the long side, roll up the rectangle into a log, and slice into 1 inch wide rolls. Place the rolls slightly apart in pans. Wrap pans with aluminum foil and refrigerate at least 12 hours but no longer than 48.
5. Remove rolls from refrigerator and let stand in a warm place until doubled in size, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
6. Bake uncovered in preheated oven until golden 30 to 35 minutes. Immediately invert pan on heatproof serving plate. Wait for 1 or 2 minutes before removing pan, so that caramel drizzles over rolls.

Cheesy risotto

This recipe is from The food nanny rescues dinner book, only it is supposed to be with parmesan. We've had a lot of things with Parmesan lately and I didn't want another. I had some shredded Muenster, so I used that. I also didn't have a lot of Arborio rice (only 1/2 cup) so I used 1 cup regular rice and 1/2 cup arborio. It turned out fine - still creamy. I'd probably go with this option again since arborio rice is more expensive and I don't keep it on hand. This ended up being rather oniony, but I messed up and dumped the arborio rice in before the onions, so they didn't get well sauteed. I'm writing what I did minus my mistakes. It does vary from the original, but was delicious. I would definitely make this again, I would just make sure my onion wasn't as strong, and/or that I got it fully sauteed.

This picture has our whole meal fo rthe day. The pork, risotto, and plain canned cream corn (Tavio's favorite veggie.)



Ingredients

• 5 cups chicken stock (I now switch stock for broth in almost all of my recipes. It has so much more flavor.
  
• 4 tablespoons butter, divided
• 1 1/2 cup finely chopped onion (I used 1 medium large onion)
• 1 1/2 cups arborio rice (I used 1/2 cup arborio, 1 cup long grain)
• 1 cup grated muenster cheese
• salt and pepper
• Parsley - I didn't decorate it and make it cute, but included this because it would make a nice presentation.

Directions

1. Bring broth to boiling in medium saucepan. Decrease heat to low and cover the pan.
2. Meanwhile, melt 2 Tablespoons of the butter in a heavy, large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the onion (not the rice - silly distracted me.) Cook and stir until very tender but not brown, about 10 minutes. Increase heat to medium. Add the rice. Stir 1 minute.
3. Add 1 1/2 cups of the hot broth. Boil gently until the broth is absorbed, stirring frequently. Add another cup of broth; stir until broth is absorbed. Add the remaining broth 1/2 cup at a time, allowing to absorb before adding more. Stir frequently until the rice is tender and the mixture is creamy, about 20 minutes. (I started covering mine at the very end to speed things along because my rice was still a bit cruncy and I was getting low on broth.)
4. Stir in remaining 2 Tablespoons butter and the cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
   

Smoked pork loin in a pastry case

This recipe is from a book called German Cooking Today The original by DR. Oetker
I have to admit it had some strange directions. I will write my comments there as I write what I did. I accidentally used filo dough rather than puff dough, but I have done the reverse before as well. It turned out really well. Everyone loved it.





Ingredients

• 10 1/2 oz. (5 sheets) frozen puff dough (I used about 7 sheets of filo)
• 5 1/2 oz. frozen spinach (I may have used a bit more.
• 1 lb. 12 oz pork loin roast
• 3 Tablespoons oil (I used only about 1/2, and didn't need that much even.)
• 2 shallots (for some reason I only bought 1
• 1 garlic clove (used 2 since I was short on the shallots)
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• salt
• pepper
• nutmeg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 Tablespoon milk

Directions

1. Cover the dough and defrost at room temperature. Defrost spinach. Pat pork drie. Heat the oil in a pan and brown the meat all over. Remove to a plate. (I used the same pan and poured out the oil. There was more than when I started from some of the fat from the pork which is why next time I would probably only use about a teaspoon of oil, or just spray the pan.)
2. Peel and chop the shallots and garlic. Melt butter and lightly braise teh shallots and garlic. Squeeze excess moisture from spinach and add to the pan. Cook for about 10 minutes, seasoning with salt, pepper and nutmeg. (I just added a couple of shakes of each.) Leave to cool and then spread on top of the meat.
   
3. Dust the work surface with flou and layout 4 sheets of dough. Roll out to form a single sheet. (I just laid my 5-7 sheets of filo on the cookie sheet I was going to bake this on.) I flipped my pork over so the spinach was on the bottom and the pork on the top and rolled my dough up over so the spinach would be on top when it was done. Fold the dough over the pork.
   
4. Beat the egg yolk with the milk and brush over the dough. Cut out shapes from teh remaining sheet of dough and use to decorate the top. Brush the pastry shapes with the beaten egg yolk. Bake at 400 for 45 -50 minutes.
   

Double chocolate cranberry chunkies

Duncan picked and made these cookies for FHE tonight. He did a good job for his first time making cookies by himself. They were quite tasty. He did leave egg shell in there, but I think I managed to get them all out.



Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chunks or chips
• 3/4 cup dried cranberries or dried tart cherries (we used cranberry)
• additional granulated sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt in small bowl; set aside. Beat butter and sugars in a bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla until well blended. Gradually beat in flour until blended. Sir in chocolate chunks and cranberries
3. Drop dough by level 1/4 cupfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets, spacing 3 inches apart. Flatten dough until 2 inches in diameter with bottom of glass that has been dipped in additional granulated sugar. (We didn't make them this big. We just made our normal cookie scoop size. I didn't flatten or sugar the first batch, but Duncan wanted to make them like the recipe, so he flattened the other cookies.
4. Bake 11 to 12 minutes or until cookies are set. Cool cookies 2 minutes on cookie sheets; transfer to wire racks. Cool completely.
   

Recipe says it makes 1 dozen 4 inch cookies. I made 2 1/2 to 3 dozen regular sized cookies.

Thai Chicken pasta

Today we were supposed to have the pork roast from yesterday, which I was missing spinach for, but due to a sick child and spending the day at the doctors and then getting labs done, I didn't get to the grocery store for the spinach so I picked something I thought i had all of the ingredients for. Of course par for the course today I was missing salsa. Brandon picked some up on the way home, but they only had medium at the cvs, so I used 1 cup salsa and 1/2 cup crushed tomatoes that I had in the fridge so it wouldn't be too spicy. This recipe comes from a taste of home healthy cooking magazine. I also had no cilantro. It was good. I thought it would have been better with all salsa. Tavio thought it was a 5 star meal.

This is mostly the original recipe. (minus the wheat pasta, low sodium, reduced fat...info.) I tripled it, used the crushed tomato, forgot the peanuts and didn't hhve the cilantro. I also heated the sauce in a saucepan instead of in the microwave.


Ingredients

• 3 oz. linguini
• 1/2 cup salsa
• 2 Tbsp. creamy peanut butter
• 2 Tablespoon orange juice
• 1 1/2 teaspoon honey
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1 cup cubed cooked chicken breast
• 1 Tablespoon chopped peanuts
• 1 Tablespoon minced cilantro

Directions

1. Cook noodles according to package directions.
2. Meanwhile, in a microwave-safe dish, combine the salsa, peanut butter, orange juice, honey and soy sauce. Cover and microwave on high for 2 minute; stir. Add the chicken; heat through. (I just put it in a saucepan and heated it until it boiled then added the chicken)
3. Serve over noodles. Top with peanuts and cilantro.