Engaging stories of love, joy, comfort and friendship with proven scrumptious, healthy recipes, we celebrate LOVE as the secret ingredient for wonderful food!

Dijon Pork Chops with Herbs and Grapes

July 26, 2014 by Mary 62 Comments

“Can you do this again?” That’s what my husband said on finishing this dinner last Sunday night. So I quickly went to work to write all this down so I would remember how to make these Dijon Pork Chops with Herbs and Grapes again! I got this idea from a veal chop recipe I had made years ago. And once again, I get inspired by what’s in my refrigerator and what needs to be used up and how fast can I get something on the table – not really too exciting and all out of necessity. I was making our breakfast fruit salad that I usually make for the week, before making dinner on last Sunday night, and had too many grapes. We had just picked up these beautiful heritage breed pork chops from Second Chance Farm on our way home that night. They have wonderful beef, pork and chickens and sell at the Milan Farmers Market on Fridays, and had invited us to their farm to pick up some fresh chickens. Kim and Charlie are wonderful folks who run a very clean and neat farm in Milan, NY. It was so nice to see their whole operation. All of the animals are happy campers – their pigs love to be petted! Here’s what I did, which was simple, quick, delicious and a little different! This is a riff on the combo of savory and sweet – which I LOVE. I hope you will too!

DIJON PORK CHOPS WITH HERBS AND GRAPES – serves 2

1.5 tsp unsalted butter
1.5 tsp olive oil 1 medium onion, sliced 1/4” thick
2 heritage breed pork chops, 3/4” thick
Salt
Fresh ground pepper
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
3 tbs. chopped fresh herbs – oregano, rosemary and thyme
3/4 cup dry white wine, divided – I used Sauvignon Blanc
3/4 cup seedless red grapes

In a skillet, melt butter in olive oil on low heat. Add onions and cover to sweat and soften for about 20 minutes.

Wash and dry pork chops. Salt and pepper and smear one side with 1 tsp. Dijon mustard on each chop. Toss together the mixed herbs, take half of them and divide into two equal portions and sprinkle on each chop. Press them down into the mustard. Push onions to the side in the skillet, raise heat to medium high. Add the chops, mustard and herb side down. While they are browning, salt and pepper the top sides of the chops. Turn the chops after 3 minutes and pile the onions on top of the chops. Sprinkle remaining herbs overall. Saute 1 minute to brown the bottom of the chops. Add 1/2 of the wine and all of the grapes and cook for one more minute or so, until chops reach an internal temperature of 145 degrees. (they will cook more while resting) Remove the chops to a platter. Leave the grapes in the skillet and add the rest of the wine and simmer rapidly for 1 -2 minutes, stirring constantly. When sauce has thickened a bit and reduced, and the grapes are softened, remove from heat and pour sauce and grapes over the chops. Make sure the chops have rested for a total time of 5 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

Clean Lean and Sexy

July 18, 2014 by Mary 28 Comments

Clean Lean and Sexy – wouldn’t we all like to be that way? Well their coconut cashew bar and whole line of snack items is just that. This is the last item in our MARY’s secret ingredients summer box. Suzie Carpenter was a mom on a mission to help her daughter conquer all kinds of problems including a gluten, soy, corn and dairy intolerance. Plus, she was tired of reading ingredients on foods that you couldn’t pronounce nor know what they really are, so she created this line of all natural, healthy-for-you snack foods. This is an energy bar and it really does the trick as a quick pick me up with the power of coconut and cashews.

I made this delightful breakfast this morning with yogurt, fresh blueberries and honey, and I was raring to go all day long. A great, delicious morning starter, use good unflavored 2% or 0% Greek yogurt for optimum taste and health. (I like Fage) If you can, use a great farmer’s market honey, (Ethel’s in Milan, NY is the best!) and blueberries are at their height now, so enjoy this wonderful concoction. I also think this bar would be great broken up as a topping on Irish oatmeal as another breakfast. Eat it plain, eat it broken up as a topping – enjoy it any way you please – it’s good for you!

CLEAN LEAN AND SEXY BREAKFAST – serves 1

1 Clean Lean and Sexy Coconut Cashew bar, broken into pieces
1 cup 2% or 0% plain Greek yogurt
1/4 cup fresh blueberries
1 tbs. honey

Spoon the yogurt into a bowl, top with the coconut cashew bar bits and blueberries. Drizzle with honey and LOVE. Enjoy!!

Chef’s Planet Nonstick Toaster Ovenliner

July 16, 2014 by Mary 5 Comments

THIS is a really handy, dandy thing, this Chef’s Planet Nonstick Toaster Ovenliner, which was included in our MARY’s secret ingredients summer box. You know when your husband or kids just make total messes in your toaster oven? Or when you decide to get clever and not use your big oven because you don’t want to heat up the whole house in the summertime, and you roast a chicken or bake a blueberry or peach pie and you know the mess it’s going to make but you do it anyway?

Well Chef’s Planet is this nifty company and is here to save the day. Their whole mission in life, their entire reason for existence, is to make your life easier in the kitchen. We like them. We really like them!

Here’s my toaster oven tray from just toasting some bread.

And look at it now with my new ovenliner. And I can just take that baby out and wipe it clean (it’s nonstick, remember) or even throw it in the dishwasher, woo hoo!!! Thank you Chef’s Planet!

Visit their site and take a look at their other great products. They even make a full size ovenliner, which is next on my list. Be liberated and throw away that tinfoil I know you have down there now. The good folks at Chef’s Planet actually wanted to include a full oven-sized liner, but it wouldn’t fit in our box. 🙁 Maybe next year we’ll grow bigger boxes!

Bruce Cost Ginger Ale Spice Cake

July 14, 2014 by Mary 23 Comments

Bruce Cost Ginger Ale is, in one word, amazing! It is made with real fresh ginger and pure cane sugar, and this, my friends, is the complete real deal. As they say in their ads, you don’t have to imagine the ginger. Now as you know, real ginger is spicy wonderfulness – I LOVE it!!! But if you’re not familiar with the real thing, you might think this a bit strong. You can drink it straight and iced or mix a cocktail, as the brochure indicates, that we included in the MARY’s secret ingredients summer box. Or you can use one cup of it as an ingredient to make this Bruce Cost Ginger Ale Spice Cake recipe. Use the rest for your cocktail and you’ll really enjoy making this cake!

I made this for a big family Sunday night dinner that was so much fun. You know, the loud noisy wonderful family parties where everyone is talking at once? My oldest niece, Lisa, was in town from St. Louis visiting with her husband and two kids, as well as our oldest son with his girlfriend and his former roommate Bert, all joined us a couple of weeks ago when I made this cake. I also used my mother’s bundt pan (doesn’t everyone think of that scene in My Big Fat Greek Wedding when they hear those words?), for the very first time! My mother passed away in 1995 and I’ve had it since 1998 and never used it until now. I could feel her. It was a nice connection to have while making this from scratch, super delicious cake for a Sunday family dinner party.

I served it with a dab of good vanilla ice cream and a fresh strawberry garnish. Two guests took some home and told me later they ate it all for breakfast! It was very, very good!!!

BRUCE COST GINGER ALE SPICE CAKE – serves 12

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
1 scant cup of white sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tbs. vanilla extract
1 cup Bruce Cost Ginger Ale
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tbs. rum
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tbs. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
3 cups of all purpose flour
Sifted confectioner’s sugar for dusting on the top

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour a (9×13 inch) pan or a (10 inch) tube or Bundt pan.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars. Blend in eggs, vanilla extract and rum. Add Bruce Cost Ginger Ale.

In another large bowl toss together the dry ingredients. Add to the creamed mixture and mix well.

Spoon into prepared pan. Bake until the cake springs back when lightly pressed (45 minutes for sheet pan and 55 – 60 minutes for the tube or Bundt pan).

Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan. Cool thoroughly on a rack. Dust with confectioners’ sugar. Serve with LOVE! Enjoy!

Jaxn’s Twice-Baked Potato Stix

July 11, 2014 by Mary 12 Comments

Jaxn’s Twice-Baked Potato Stix arrived on this planet due to a little boy in Jasper, Georgia, named Jaxn, who LOVED French fries and was getting just plain fat from eating them. So his mother came up with this delicious crunchy, twice-baked version. True love! Made with all natural ingredients, Jaxn’s Twice-Baked Potato Stix are gluten-free, delicious and the perfect salty crunch to go with a cocktail or cool summer drink. The Sea Salt and Cracked Pepper flavor was included in our MARY’s secret ingredients summer box

I prepared this appetizer to work with cocktails when our friends Margaret and Wayne came over for dinner on the 4^th of July. I speared small cherry tomatoes and mini mozzarella cheese balls on these little sticks and made this tasty snack even tastier! Both versions were super delicious, although I preferred the tomatoes.

The potato stix themselves cannot punch the hole in the cheese or tomatoes. Don’t try it – they will break. Take a pair of pointed ended scissors and keep them closed and punch a hole in the cheese balls and the cocktail tomatoes. Stick the potato stick inside and voila! You have a pretty, and tasty appetizer in no time flat!

Next time, I might drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil on top and throw on a few fresh basil leaves too, but it was raining really, really hard and I just couldn’t convince myself to go out in it to the garden to get some. Even if you have some leftover mini meatballs hanging about, they would be great stuck with a Jaxn’s stix! Go crazy and have fun!

Parmesan and Simply7 Quinoa Chip Crusted Catfish

July 9, 2014 by Mary 22 Comments

Woah! – that’s a title – but it’s worth it, particularly if you follow a gluten-free diet. The Simply7 Sea Salt Quinoa Chips in the MSI summer box are, of course, delicious on their own. They are super light, tasty and not bad for you, as so many other snack products are. Serve them with the Zukali Cilantro Pineapple Salsa, and pour up your favorite cocktail or glass of wine (I think a Sauvignon Blanc with this) and you are set! But to really make use of the ancient grain in these chips as an ingredient, you have to try this Parmesan and Simply7 Quinoa Chip Crusted Catfish recipe.

To be honest, this is really healthy because it’s baked. But to be honest, it doesn’t really get crusty and crisp, but it is full of flavor. Now I know, with the Italians, cheese on fish is a HUGE no no. But try this, you won’t be sorry. You can buy these chips at most Whole Foods and natural food stores.

PARMESAN AND SIMPLY7 QUINOA CHIP CRUSTED CATFISH – serves 3

1/3 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
2 small packages (.8 oz.) of Simply7 Sea Salt Quinoa Chips, finely crushed
1/2 tsp. smoked, sweet Spanish paprika
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/8 tsp. black pepper
1 egg
2 tbs. real buttermilk or milk
3 catfish fillets (about 5 oz. each)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Lightly oil a 13” x 9” baking pan or rimmed roasting sheet pan with olive oil and set aside.

In a shallow bowl or pie plate, combine the Parmesan, finely crushed quinoa chips, paprika, and pepper. In a separate bowl, beat the egg and buttermilk or milk together.

Wash and dry the catfish fillets. Dip them into the egg mixture and dredge in the Parmesan and crushed quinoa chip mixture. Place on the prepared pan and bake uncovered for 10 – 14 minutes or until the fish flakes easily with a fork. Serve immediately, with LOVE!