Honey Ginger Pork Chops

I know I'm a terrible photographer, and the picture doesn't do these pork chops justice. They were quite possibly the best pork chops I've ever made, and I never expected to say that about a pork chop that wasn't fried!

Ingredients:

• Honey
• Soy Sauce
• Powdered ginger
• Pork chops

Note: I'm not putting exact amounts here because I didn't measure out exact amounts when I was making the pork chops and I don't want to steer you wrong by guessing. Don't worry, I'll walk you through it. 

Directions:

1. Mix three parts honey to one part soy sauce. Give the mixture two hearty shakes of the powdered ginger. The amount you'll need depends on how many pork chops you have, so adjust it accordingly. 

2. Put the pork chops into a glass casserole dish. Top with the marinade. Put them into the fridge and let them marinate for 2 - 4 hours. 

3. Preheat the oven to 350. Bake the pork chops for 25-35 minutes, depending on the thickness. The thicker your pork chops, the longer they'll need to cook. 

4. Mix up another batch of honey ginger marinade. Drizzle it over the pork chops when they come out of the oven or offer it up as a dipping sauce. 

Creamy Pesto Pasta

Ingredients:

• About 1/2 a box of wheat penne noodles
• 1.5 cups cream
• 1/2 cup parmesean cheese
• 4 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• Salt and pepper
• Pesto (you can make this yourself or buy it in a jar already prepared)

Directions

1. Boil penne noodles until soft. Drain. Set aside. 

2. Put the butter and garlic powder in a skillet. Melt over medium heat. 

3. Add the cream. Whisk the cream together with the butter. Bring the sauce to a low boil. Allow to boil for about three minutes or until the sauce thickens. 

4. Reduce heat to low. Add the parmesean cheese and salt and pepper to taste. Whisk together well. 

5. Add the noodles. Stir the noodles until they are well saturated. Add the pesto and mix throughout the noodles. Everyone's pesto preference differs, so feel free to add as much or as little pesto as you want. Feel free to top it off with more parmesean.

Note: Garlic powder works better than fresh garlic cloves in this recipe. You will rarely ever hear me say that, but in this case its true. 

No Bake Chocolate Coconut Peanut Butter Balls

Ingredients:

• 2 cups peanut butter
• 2 cup powdered milk
• 1 cup honey
• 1 cup shredded coconut
• 4 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs

Directions

1. Mix the peanut butter dry milk and honey together in a large bowl until the ingredients form a thick, brown paste. Form the paste into approximately 1.5 inch balls. 

2. Pour the shredded coconut, cocoa powder and graham cracker crumbs in three separate paper plates. Roll each ball first in the cocoa powder then the coconut and finally the graham cracker crumbs. 

3. Refrigerate for 2 hours. Serve. 

Olive Oil, Herb and Cheese Bread Dip

Ingredients:

• Olive oil (about a cup)
• Feta cheese crumbles
• 2 cloves fresh garlic, chopped (no, you cannot substitute the powder)
• Rosemary
• Dried basil

Directions

Add the olive oil to a shallow dish. Add a handful of feta cheese crumbles and a heavy sprinkling of your favorite herbs. For this batch I used rosemary and basil, but I almost always just throw in what I have on hand. Thyme, Oregano, whatever. Unless you're tossing in pumpkin pie spice and dry mustard or something crazy like that you'll be fine. 

Tomato and Mozzarella Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 large ripe tomato (Not icebox. Icebox tomatoes don't jive with this dish)
• 1 block soft mozzarella
• Handful of fresh basil leaves
• Olive oil

Directions:

Slice the tomato and mozzarella. Layer them in a small casserole dish with the basil leaves. Drizzle with olive oil.  Boom! You're done. Now, wasn't that easy? 

Note: If you're feeling squirrley, add a splash of balsamic vinegar. It's divine. 

Whole Lemon Herb Fryer Chicken

Ingredients:

• 1 1.5-2.5 lb. whole fryer chicken
• 2 lemons
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1/2 tbsp paprika
• 1/2 stick butter, softened 

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350.

2. Rinse off the chicken and pat dry. You have no idea what nasty surprises are lurking on the chicken's skin or whose dirty factory hands have been all over it. Sure, cooking gets rid of germs but who can afford to take chances? You? No? Okay then, rinse the chicken. 

3. Put the salt and paprika together into a small bowl. Rub down the outside and inside of the chicken with the seasonings. Don't worry, this isn't going to be a salty chicken. The salt merely keeps the chicken's juices inside. 

3. Lay the chicken in the casserole dish breast side up. Lift up the chicken skin and put the butter underneath. 

4. Cut one lemon into 4 wedges. Squeeze the juice out over the chicken's skin. Stuff the squeezes lemon quarters inside the chicken cavity. 

5. Slice the remaining lemon. Place the slices on top of the chicken. Secure them with toothpicks if they don't stay put. 

6. Bake the chicken at 350 for approximately 1.5 hours. Your cooking time may vary slightly depending on the weight of the chicken. 

Note: If you have any small cuts or scrapes on your hands, wear gloves to rub the salt/paprika mixture onto your fryer chicken. If you're like me and have a cut you don't know about, that salt in the wound (literally, ha!) will remind you with a quickness. 

Baked Chicken in White Cheddar and Broccoli Sauce

Ingredients

• 4 boneless chicken breasts
• 3 cups cream
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup sharp white cheddar
• 1/3 cup shredded parmesan
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 head of broccoli, chopped and cooked.

Directions:

Put the chicken into a shallow dish and bake it in the oven. The length of time you bake your chicken depends on how thick the chicken pieces are. Thin chicken pieces work best for this dish, so consider slicing thick chicken breasts in half horizontally or flatting them with a mallet. 

Chop the garlic. Put the butter and garlic in a frying pan on medium low heat until the butter is melted.

Add the cream. Whisk until the ingredients are well blended. Bring to a low boil, stirring frequently. Let boil for about three minutes, then turn the heat to low. 

Add the cheese and the salt and pepper. Stir the sauce periodically while the cheese melts. Chop the broccoli into very small pieces and add to the sauce. Take the chicken out of the oven. Remove each piece of chicken separately from the pan, blot off any excess liquid with a paper towel and add the chicken to the sauce. Serve. 

Note: There's a good reason we aren't cooking the chicken in the white cheddar sauce. Chicken naturally gives off liquid while it cooks. We want a moderately thick sauce. Not only would that chicken juice thin out our sauce, it's just plain gross. 

Squash Casserole

Ingredients:

• 6 yellow squash
• 1 large sweet onion
• 3 tbsp butter
• 2/3 cup sour cream
• 1/2 tsp salt
• cooking spray
• 1 8 oz. block of cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Directions:

Wash your squash and slice it up. Slice the onion into half rings. Add the butter, squash and onion to a pan on the stove. Set the pan to medium. Cook the squash and onion for about 20 to 25 minutes, stirring frequently. When the mixture is done, the squash will be very soft to the touch, almost falling apart, and the onion will be translucent. 

Drain the squash and onion mixture. Put it into a bowl and smash it up with a fork or potato masher. 

 Add the 2/3 of the cheese, the salt and the sour cream. Mix it in well. 

Set aside the remaining third of the cheddar cheese with the parmesan. You need this for your topping. 

Spray the bottom of a 13x9 glass dish with cooking spray. Pour the squash/onion/cheese mix into the dish. Top with the remaining cheese. 

Bake at 350 for 40 minutes, until the cheese is brown and bubbling. 

Black Beans and Rice

Ingredients:

1 1 lb. bag dried black beans

1 large yellow onion, chopped

2 large tomatos, chopped

4 tbsp cumin

5 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tbsp olive oil

5 cups water

1 tbsp salt

Rice

Directions:

1. Add everything but the rice to your slow cooker. Mix it together well. 

2. Set the slow cooker on high. Cook the beans for 8 hours or until soft. Stir periodically. 

3. Make the rice right before dinner. I use the boil in a bag white rice. I don't expect that brown or yellow rice would taste very good with the beans, but I could be wrong. 

4. Pour beans over the rice and serve.

Note: These aren't very spicy because I have children who balk at spicy food, but feel free to add red pepper flakes or chopped jalapenos if you prefer your black beans with a little kick. 

Balsamic Pork Loin

Ingredients:

• 1 3lb. pork loin
• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 tbsp steak seasoning
• 1 gallon size freezer bag

Directions

1. Add the olive oil. balsamic vinegar and steak seasoning to the freezer bag. Add the pork loin to the freezer bag. Place the pork loin in the refrigerator for 4-5 hours. 

2. Preheat the oven to 350.

3. Put the seasoned pork loin in a meatloaf pan. Drizzle with the excess marinade from the bag. Cook the pork loin for 1.5 hours. 

Greek Chicken and Vegetable Tzatziki Wraps

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless chicken breasts
• Sandwich wraps (I used spinach, you can use any kind)
• 4 tablespoons Greek salad dressing
• Spring mix
• 1 medium sweet yellow onion
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic
• feta cheese crumbles

Tzatziki Sauce Ingredients

• 1 tomato, diced
• 1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp onion powder

Directions:

1. Bake the chicken. Cut into long, thin strips

2. Chop up the garlic. Cut the onion in half and chop into crescents. Put the olive oil, garlic and onion into a frying pan. Cook the onion over medium heat for 5-10 minutes until it caramelizes. 

3. Put the sour cream into a bowl with the garlic powder and onion powder. Mix well. Add the tomato and cucumber and stir until the vegetables are well coated. 

4. Add a handful of chicken pieces, some onion, 1 tbsp of Greek salad dressing, a handful of spring mix, a sprinking of feta cheese crumbles and some of the vegetable tzatziki to each wrap. 

5. Fold up the wraps, slice diagonally and eat! 

Veggie and Cheese Topped Ribeye

Ingredients

2 steaks (I'm partial to ribeye, but this will work on any cut)

1 vidalia onion (this recipe does NOT work with other onions!)

2 cloves garlic

2 roma tomatoes

6 tbsp Olive oil

1/2 cup freshly grated parmesean or romano cheese

Blue cheese dressing (full fat)

Directions

1. Chop garlic into small pieces. Chop onion and pull apart into rings and half-rings. You don't want your onion chopped too small.

2. Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a small fryer. Once the oil is hot, add the onions and garlic. Cook 5-10 mins or until the onion is translucent.

3. While the onions and garlic are cooking, heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a frying pan over high heat. Heat a separate 2 tbsp of olive oil in a second fryer over med heat. 

4. Put the ribeye in the hot pan for 1 min per each side. This should blacken the outside slightly, searing in the juices. Move the steaks to the second pan for 4-5 mins per side, depending on how done you want them. Just for reference, the more you cook them, the less flavor they have. 

5. While the steaks are cooking, slice the Roma tomatos into thin, lengthwise slices. 

3. Remove steaks from the pan. Lay Roma tomato slices on top of steaks. Split the onion/garlic mixture and top each steak with onions and garlic pieces. Sprinkle each steak with 1/4 cup cheese. 

7. Drizzle with Blue Cheese dressing and serve. 

Note: The reason I noted that this recipe will only work with vidalia onions is because vidalias have a different flavor than any other onion. They're mild and not too crunchy. Regular white or red onions have a strong, powerful flavor that will easily overpower the subtle taste of the steak. The flavors should compliment each other – not be in competition for your taste buds. 

No Bake Chocolate Butterscotch Bars

Ingredients

3.5 cups oats

1 cup peanut butter

4 tbsp cocoa powder

1 stick butter

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup milk

3 tsp vanilla flavoring

1/2 cup butterscotch chips

Directions

1. Melt the butter, sugar, milk and cocoa powder in a saucepan. Heat to boiling. Let the mixture boil for approximately 1 minute. This boils off some of the excess liquid. Stir the mixture constantly during this process to prevent the sugar from burning. 

2. Turn down the heat to low. Add the peanut butter. Stir until the peanut butter is fully mixed in and smooth. 

3. Add the oats. Mix well. 

4. Butter a casserole dish. Pour oatmeal mixture into the casserole dish. 

5. Pour the butterscotch pieces on top. Mix them in. Don't think you're going to cut corners and add the butterscotch pieces when you add the oats. That will cause your butterscotch to melt and you don't want them to melt entirely. 

6. Place dish in the refrigerator uncovered for two hours. 

7. Remove the dish of oatmeal bars from the refridgerator and cover them with plastic wrap or aluminum foil. Remember, you don't want food just sitting out uncovered in your fridge. These bars, however, need a little while to harden without the risk of sweating.

8. Slice into bars and enjoy! 

Tomato and Spinach Farfalle Salad

Ingredients

1/2 box farfalle pasta 

1 package cherry tomatoes

Fresh spinach 

1 small block feta (you can also buy this pre-crumbled)

Greek dressing or the light vinaigrette of your choice. 

Note: I'm not including exact amounts here because there really aren't any. Its solely your preference how much of each ingredient you add. You really can't ruin this salad.

Directions

1. Wash the cherry tomatoes. Chop them lengthwise and sit them aside. Wash the spinach. Do not chop.

3. Boil the pasta. Roughly 2 minutes before the pasta is finished boiling add spinach leaves to the water. Spinach leaves shrink considerably when they wilt, so don't be afraid to add too much. You can add as much as you like. 

4. Put the chopped cherry tomatoes into a colander. Drain the pasta/spinach mixture by pouring it through the colander on top of the cherry tomatoes. This blanches the tomatoes and warms them – ensuring that you aren't mixing hot and cold temperatures. While doing that works with some dishes, you don't want to pull that stunt with a pasta salad, got it? 

5. Move the pasta/spinach/tomato mixture from the colander to a mixing bowl. Crumble the feta on top of the salad. Add 1/3 cup of the salad dressing. Mix the dressing and cheese into the pasta salad. The amount of salad dressing you use depends upon how much spinach and noodles you're using. Taste the pasta salad first to make sure it has enough kick before serving. You can always add more dressing. 

Spicy Honey Salmon With Kiwi and Mango Salsa

Ingredients

1/2 of a salmon 

Honey

2 tbsp Soy sauce

1 tbsp olive oil 

1 ripe mango

2 kiwi

1/4 cup orange juice (if you really want to go natural, squeeze it yourself)

1/4 cup chopped cilantro (Buy this fresh.  Do not use the dried variety. The dried variety is far too potent.)

Directions

1. Put a large cooking pan on the stove. Pour a fair bit of olive oil on a paper towel and wipe the paper towel throughout the pan. This is an alternative to cooking spray and it tastes better. If you haven't already noticed, I only use cooking spray when absolutely necessary. Why? It has preservatives and chemicals. Olive oil or butter are always healthier options. 

2. Cut your salmon into steaks. Buying half the filleted fish and chopping it up yourself allows you to control the portion sizes, which is a godsend if you have small children and don't want them wasting expensive fish. Use an extremely sharp knife for this. Salmon skin is tough to cut through. (Cut portions true-to-size. Unlike most meats, salmon doesn't shrink much during cooking!)

3. Lay the salmon steaks out on a paper towel. Drizzle them liberally with the honey. 

4. Put the soy sauce and olive oil into a gallon size freezer bag. Put the honey covered salmon steaks into the freezer bag along with it. Turn the freezer bag around and around, saturating all of the fish steaks with the mixture. If you have a lot of fish steaks, or your fish was particularly thick, feel free to add more soy sauce and olive oil to properly coat the fish.  Having extra marinade doesn't hurt anything.  

5. Chop up the mango and kiwi into small pieces. (If you have small children, these need to be very small pieces to prevent a choking accident). Chop the cilantro leaves. Put the mango, kiwi and cilantro into a second gallon-size freezer bag with the orange juice. 

Fruit relish

6. Heat your olive oil coated frying pan up to medium. It should be hot enough to make a popping sound when you flick water onto the pan's surface, but not hot enough to start smoking. 

7. Place the salmon steaks in the pan. Allow them to cook for 4-5 minutes. Flip them over and cook for another 4-5 minutes. Do not overcook the fish. Only cook them until the flesh begins to flake. The thinner your steaks, the less time they need to cook. 

8. Remove the salmon steaks from the pan. Top with a tablespoon or so of the relish from the bag. Serve!

Note: While its true that with some fruit the peel contains a wealth of nutrients that the flesh lacks, this is not true of mango. The peel is edible, but it contains urushiol oil. Urushiol oil is what causes poison ivy to irritate your skin. Small amounts won't hurt you, but if you happen to be allergic to urushiol oil, eating mango peel can have disastrous consequences. Don't risk it, just peel the fruit.

Cauliflower Casserole

Ingredients 

1 head cauliflower 

2 tbsp French's mustard

2 cups milk

1/4 cup flour

6 tbsp butter

Shredded Parmesean

pinch of salt and pepper

Panko breadcrumbs

Directions

1. Wash the cauliflower. I mean scrub the ever-loving heck out of it. Florets like to accumulate dirt, pesticides and other unsavory stuff. WASH IT. 

2. Bring water to a boil in a medium-sized saucepan. Add a pinch of salt. Cut the stalk away from the cauliflower and break the head into small florets. Put the florets into the boiling water. Boil them until you can easily stick a fork into the florets. This takes about 5 minutes. 

3. While the florets are boiling, melt half the butter in a second saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the flour and a pinch of salt and pepper. Stir until well-blended. Add the milk by degrees, stirring the whole while until the mixture thickens. This takes a couple of minutes. Stir in the mustard and remove from heat.

4. Spray a casserole dish with cooking spray. I use a deep dish pie pan because a casserole dish makes this casserole just too thin. A deep dish pie pan works perfectly for this recipe. Drain the cauliflower and arrange it in the casserole dish/pie pan. 

5. Pour the flour/butter/milk/mustard mixture over the cauliflower in the pan. Top the casserole liberally with shredded Parmesean cheese and Panko breadcrumbs (use regular dry breadcrumbs at your own risk!)

6. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until slightly brown on top. 

Mexican Casserole

Ingredients:

1 - 1.5 lbs ground beef or turkey

1 handful fresh black olives

2 cups sour cream (full fat, light or reduced fat, doesn't matter)

2 cups medium or sharp cheddar cheese

1 cup corn and black bean salsa

1.5 cups freshly cooked black beans

1 bag tortilla chips

1 tbsp. chili powder 

1 large tomato or 2 small tomatoes

1/4 cup jalapenos (optional)

Cooking spray

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350. 

2. Cook the ground beef or turkey. Drain. Stir in corn and black bean salsa and chili powder. Simmer for 5 mins on med/low heat. 

3. Spray the bottom of a glass casserole dish liberally with cooking spray. If you're a die-hard naturalist, feel free to smear the bottom of the pan with butter. Don't think you're going to be creative and use olive oil here. Trust me, it may be nonstick but it makes the casserole taste funny. The size pan you use doesn't matter. I typically use a 4 quart dish, but a 3 quart will work just as well. The smaller the dish, the thicker the mexican casserole will be. 

4. Crush tortilla chips in your hands or put them in a plastic bag and smash them with a kitchen mallet until crumbly (a good job for the kids). You don't want crumbs, just broken chips. 

Crush chips to about this size...

5. Line the bottom of the casserole dish with the chips. Your chip layer should be thick enough to prevent you from seeing the bottom of the pan. 

6. Pour the ground beef mixture into the pan. Spread it out with an icing spoon or spatula until the layer is even. 

7. Add a layer of sour cream over the ground beef and salsa layer. Spread it evenly. 

8. Chop the olives, tomato and jalapenos. Layer these over the sour cream layer. 

9. Shred the cheese. Make this the top layer of the casserole. 

10. Bake the casserole at 350 for 30 minutes or until cheese turns brown around the edges. 

Note: Yes, I know it sounds strange to actually bake sour cream, but it doesn't come out gross, I promise. This dish is even better if you crumble up some additional tortilla chips on top before digging in. And no, this dish isn't low fat. I'm not into low fat. Make it anyway. It's good. 

Berries n' Cream Dessert

Ingredients

1 package fresh strawberries

1 package fresh blueberries

1 package fresh raspberries

1 16 oz container very cold heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup organic unbleached sugar

Granola

Directions

1. Wash and dry all of the fruit well. Now, when I say wash well, I don't mean rinse the berries off under the running water while still in the container. Unless you picked them out of your own garden and know exactly what's on them, take them out by the handfuls, and wash them by rolling them gently around in your hands under the stream of water. You can also wash them through a colander, but rinse each group of berries separately since we will be separating them. 

2. Pour the entire container of heavy whipping cream into the blender. Turn the blender on. Feel free to use any setting but "Liquefy." Blend for about 5 seconds, or until the cream begins to show peaks. Pour in the sugar. Blend another 10 seconds or until the mixture thickens into whipped topping. Taste the whipped cream. If its sweet enough for you, move on. If not, add more sugar. I don't usually measure things, so 1/4 cup sugar is a rough estimate. Use however much you like. 

3. Arrange strawberries in the bottom of a small dish. Put a big dollop of whipped cream on top of the strawberries. Repeat the layering with the blueberries and raspberries. Top with granola. 

Note: You can use any fruit you like to make this dessert...except for watermelon. Lets not go there, okay?