Let's Eat...

When I was married, I cooked and baked all the time. I loved watching people I care about take their FIRST bite in to something that I made, then seeing their expression of pure bliss come over their face. It is something my ex won't ever get to do again. Now I just create recipe's in the kitchen for me and for my guests. There is one rule in my house...the first words out of your mouth after eating my food have to be, "OH MY GOSH! This is GREAT!" Then you can stay. I hope you try one of my goodies and please let me know what you think!!

                                        MARINATED CHICKEN IN GREEK YOGURT 


Get about 1/2 cup of plain Greek yogurt and water it down a bit with 1/4 cup of chicken broth. Add 2 cloves of minced garlic, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper. Also add about 1/4 tsp paprika. I like the Hungarian paprika. Squeeze 1/2 lemon in to the marinade and also 1/4 tsp lemon zest. Finally, the most important ingredient to me is fresh Lemon/Thyme, this comes straight from the garden. Mix everything together in a shallow bowl. Take enough boneless chicken to feed the family and season it with Lowry's seasoning salt. Coat both sides of the chicken with the marinade and let it sit in the fridge for at least 3 hours, it can be more if you want to. Overnight marinading is best. 

Cook the chicken on the grill and ENJOY!!

MY FAVORITE PORK TENDERLOIN MARINADE

Get a cup of soy sauce

2/3 of a cup of vegetable oil

3 Tbsp of brown sugar (more if you like it sweet)

2 Tbsp Dijon Mustard

A Tbsp of white vinegar, (I like rice vinegar)

A tsp of garlic powder

A bunch of green onions, chopped up

Mix all of those ingredients together...

Now put the tenderloin in a big or a bowl so it will get covered by the marinade. Cover the marinade up and put it in the fridge. You'll want to marinade the pork for at least 8 hours. Overnight is best.

Take the tenderloin out of the marinade (but don't throw the extra marinade out) Bring it to a boil in a small saucepan and put it aside. Use it to baste the tenderloin every now and then while it is cooking.

Put the pork in the oven at about 350 degrees. Usually you cook the pork about 20 minutes for every pound. A meat thermometer helps you see if it is done.

APPLE MINT CHUTNEY

This recipe goes really well with pork AND it gives you a chance to use fresh herbs from the garden. This recipe calls for Apple Mint, but you can use any flavor of mint.

3 cups of sliced AND peeled Granny Smith apples

1/2 c golden raisins

1/2 c brown sugar

1/3 c apple cider vinegar

1/4 finely chopped onion

2 Tbsp. chopped fresh mint leaves

1/4 tsp salt

Put all of those ingredients in a pot and stir them together, bring the mixture to a boil and keep stirring.

Lower the heat and simmer it for about 5 minutes or until the apples get soft and the mixture gets thick...

That's it! Keep it in the fridge until you need it, but don't wait to long to use it, it's best when it is used fresh from the stove!




My LEMON LIME PORK CHOPS

 8 Pork Chops, on the bone

Lime Juice

Salt

Mrs. Dash Lemon-Pepper Seasoning

a little bit of oil for cooking

Putting it all together:

Pour some lime juice on a plate and wet both sides of the chops, move it to another plate and add a little bit of salt on one side of the pork, then add the Mrs. Dash LIBERALLY on the same side. Repeat this and keep stacking the pork chops.

Pour a little bit of oil in the pan...(it only takes a little) turn the heat on medium to high...just don't let the oil burn! You want to sear the meat, this holds the flavor in. Take the chop and put it seasoning side down in to the pan. While that side is cooking, go ahead and season the bare side with salt and lemon pepper. After about 3-4 minutes, turn the pork over and cook the other side for a couple of minutes. The pork should be golden brown on both sides.

That's it! It is that easy.

Make sure your side dishes are complete before you start cooking the pork. Eat it right away because it is best when it is straight off of the stove!

One of my favorite side dishes with the pork is grilled vegetables. I've used yellow squash and zucchini squash (onion would be good in there too). Especially good if you get them straight from the garden. Julienne the vegetables and place them in the center of a piece of foil. Put in a couple of squirts of lime juice (not to much), salt and lemon -pepper. Wrap the foil up and put it on the grill for about 20 minutes and you are ready to go!