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

Chili Chocolate Pork Chops with Apple Aplenty

December 12, 2014 by Mary 5 Comments

The first item I want to introduce to you from our MARY’s secret ingredients winter box is Apple Aplenty from Peeled Snacks. It is a totally delicious, organic, all natural trail mix with dried fruits, nuts, peanuts and chocolate pieces. Of course it’s terrific right out of the bag. However, these Chili Chocolate Pork Chops with Apple Aplenty really take this mix to another level. I reached back to Mexican cooking for inspiration. Think mole sauce, then, think about how delicious apples and raisins are with pork. Can’t go wrong with some red wine thrown in and garnishing it with cilantro kept it in the Mexican theme.

This dish was so very scrumptious and satisfying. I woke up the next morning still remembering every bite and feeling all nice and yummy inside. I think it was the chocolate in the sauce. It was all deliciousness!

Noha Waibsnaider started this Peeled Snacks company in 2004, when she noticed that the snack aisle was only filled with processed food. She set out to develop healthy, tasty and nourishing snacks using gently dried fruits combined with nuts and sometimes chocolate for a nutritious snack you could feel good about eating. She believes we all should be mindful of what we eat. That is certainly my philosophy here at LOVE.

Try this recipe – it is just so good!!!

CHILI CHOCOLATE PORK CHOPS WITH APPLE APLENTY – serves 2

1 tsp. olive oil
1 tsp. butter
2 one-inch thick pork loin chops
Salt
Pepper, fresh ground
1/4 tsp. sweet smoked Spanish paprika
1/2 cup dry red wine – preferably a Syrah
1 scant cup of Apple Aplenty
1/8 tsp. red chili pepper flakes
1 heaping Tbs. of chopped cilantro

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Wash and dry your chops. Salt and pepper one side and sprinkle the smoked paprika evenly over both chops on the same side. Rub the seasonings in a bit.

Warm olive oil in a small skillet. Add butter and turn up heat to medium-high. When butter stops sizzling, add the chops, seasoned side down. Brown the chops on that side for about 3 minutes. While the chops are browning, season the top side with salt and pepper.

Turn chops over. After 2 minutes, drain grease, add the wine and sprinkle the Apple Aplenty on top along with the red chili flakes, distributing evenly. Put the skillet in the preheated oven for 10 – 16 minutes. Test with an instant meat thermometer – it should be at 145 – 150 degrees. Remove the chops to a platter, scraping all the goodness on top. Let sit for 5 -10 minutes and the temperature will gain to the perfect degree of doneness.

Garnish with the cilantro and serve with LOVE!

Chili Chocolate Pork Chops with Apple Aplenty on two plates on table

I served these Chili Chocolate Pork Chops with Apple Aplenty alongside roasted zucchini topped with a green salsa. Delish!

Spicy Brined Chicken and Pork

May 14, 2014 by Mary 24 Comments

The wonderful bottle of brine from Sweetwater Spice Company, included in the MARY’s secret ingredients spring box, makes for a super easy way to tenderize and flavor meats. You would have either received the Tres Chilies Fajita Bath or the Pineapple Habanero Jerk BBQ Bath Brine. Both of these flavors are great to make spicy brined chicken and pork or even seafood. If you didn’t order a spring box, you can click on their ad on the right rail here and go directly to their website and order some bottles.

We have received amazing positive and enthusiastic comments and reviews on the box. Such excitement! You can see those reviews here:

http://subscriptionboxmania.weebly.com/1/post/2014/05/marys-secret-ingredients-april-2014.html
http://www.hangingoffthewire.com/2014/05/marys-secret-ingredients-box-may-2014.html
http://www.subscriptionboxmom.com/2014/05/marys-secret-ingredients.html
http://shouldibuythisbox.wordpress.com/2014/05/07/marys-secret-ingredient-spring-2014/
http://2littlerosebuds.com/2014/05/06/marys-secret-ingredients-msi-culinary-box-review-discount-code/
http://www.ramblingsofasuburbanmom.com/2014/05/spring-2014-marys-secret-ingredients-review/
http://modernmommyfiles.com/2014/05/marys-secret-ingredients-box-may-2104/

Best of all, sales of boxes help to feed hungry children worldwide as 10% of our annual profits will be donated to Feed The Children. Because of these great reviews, the summer box is selling fast, as well as the other seasons too, so if you want to get in on the fun, place your order now. Use the promo code 4LOVE when checking out for $4.00 off for a total cost of $21.95.

Using the Austin, Texas, Sweetwater Spice Company brines, I created this wonderful dinner salad by marinating skinless, boneless chicken breasts in the Pineapple Habanero Jerk Brine and then grilling them. The beauty of this product is that the brining time (30 minutes) is quick and the results produce really juicy flavorful meat. This is not a sweet dish, don’t let the pineapple in the name fool you. It is spicy with just a hint of pineapple on the back end. Here’s the recipe, super easy – use any leftover vegetables you have or grill some fresh.

PINEAPPLE HABANERO JERK GRILLED CHICKEN ON A SALAD – serves 4

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, washed, dried and trimmed of all fat
Sweetwater Spice Company Pineapple Habanero Jerk BBQ Bath Brine – follow instructions on the bottle to dilute the brine and marinate for 30 minutes or more. Do not strain the spices and add on unless you like things super firey hot!
Boston lettuce, washed and air dried
Radicchio leaves, washed and air dried
2 vine ripened tomatoes, cored and washed
16 asparagus spears, washed and trimmed of woody stem parts
1/2 lb. okra, washed and tops trimmed
2 tbs. olive oil
Vidalia or other sweet onion, very thinly sliced
Croutons – homemade preferably
Sherry vinaigrette salad dressing

Marinate chicken in the brine for 30 minutes or more – up to 2 hours.

Wash and dry the lettuce and radicchio. Toss asparagus and okra in olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Cut the tomatoes into wedges. Make the salad dressing. Remove the chicken from the brine and pat dry. Discard brine. Grill the chicken until just done. Let rest for 5 -10 minutes before slicing on an angle. While the chicken is resting, grill the vegetables until nicely done.

Arrange the lettuce and radicchio on the plates. Place the grilled vegetables, tomatoes and the sliced onions on the sides, leaving the center area clear for the chicken. Slice the chicken breasts and place in the middle. Scatter croutons on top. Drizzle dressing overall to taste. Serve with LOVE.

Enjoy!

Just look at how juicy that chicken is!

I also used the Tres Chilies Fajita Bath to brine big thick pork chops and they turned out divine! I brined them for 3 hours and grilled them – really wonderful!

Our Easter Dinner

April 24, 2014 by Mary 35 Comments

This year was unusual for us.

We celebrated a lovely Easter Sunday dinner on . . . Saturday night! I was originally planning on having a Sunday dinner, but then my sister-in-law pointed out that people would have to leave so early, or couldn’t be there at all due to the travel time needed to be back home for work on Monday morning. I thought this solution was genius. It accommodated some of our guests and worked out so well. I think I might do this every year! Last year I complained about Easter Monday not being a true holiday so I’ll just go at it from the other end and celebrate our Easter dinner on Saturday!

An added benefit for us hosts was that this left Sunday to be truly a day to relax, take a walk in the park, and enjoy leisure time. It was a gift!

The dinner I made, I must say, turned out really, really well. After a workout in the gym on Saturday, I got started on prepping all the vegetables, enlisting my husband to help. As long as I didn’t balk at listening to the baseball game, he was willing to be an able sous chef.

Vegetables that cooked with the elephant beans.

There were 10 of us. We started with an asparagus soup topped with crème fraiche and snipped chives – a recipe from the HayDay Country Market cookbook. This soup was delicious, however I must confess that when I was pureeing it, I had my doubts, as it smelled just awful – like Del Monte canned asparagus – eew! I was near gagging and then thinking, how could I possibly serve this? And by that time, it was too late to throw it out and make something new. Fortunately, the smell didn’t last and the soup tasted delicious – whew!

Our main course was a delicious 10 lb. organic, free range, no nitrate ham from Herondale Farms in upstate New York and it was amazing!! Just look at this beauty. My glaze was a homemade mustard, honey, rum and cloves number, no sticky pineapple and awful cherries for me! This type of ham almost looks like a fresh ham, because there are no dyes to make it pink, but it is smoked. It is so different and so good!!

Here’s the full dinner plate: the ham, chrzan (our Polish red beets and horseradish dish), Greek elephant beans baked in a tomato sauce that were so creamy and good (I’ll have to make that again and measure, so I can give you the recipe) and sauteed spinach with garlic. It was certainly colorful!

We ended the meal with this totally yummy sour cream topped cheesecake – an Amanda Hesser recipe that was in the New York Times years ago, with fresh figs and raspberries on the side.

A totally satisfying, delicious dinner! But what always happens at these big dinner parties is that I’m rushing and take crappy pictures or forget to take them at all! With all the excitement and all the people, it’s just not foremost in my mind, so I apologize for that.

As I said before, our big bonus was a totally enjoyable, lazy Sunday with a walk down to Central Park drinking in the sunshine and sights.

Aren’t they just so cute?

Cumin, Lamb and Eggplant Pasta

April 10, 2014 by Mary 42 Comments

I think you all probably know how much I love cumin, love lamb and love eggplant but I never really thought of the three of them together until I read about this recipe in the April issue of Food & Wine magazine. Yep, this recipe is a winner, as are so many of their recipes! It’s not very pretty when it’s done but boy is it good! I made this dish the week before last when Bianca was in town and she was having a quiet night at home with just Steve and me. Or should I say, we got to have her to ourselves for one night, lucky us! And you know when Bianca says a pasta dish is great (being from Arezzo in Tuscany), you know you hit a winner and that’s what I did with this Cumin, Lamb and Eggplant Pasta dish! The recipe is actually from another blogger, Ashley Rodriguez, who is being featured in the publication. Way to go Ashley!

I really have to thank Food & Wine for initially turning me on to cooking with a vengeance. You see, when we moved to New Jersey when our boys were 6 and 3, the restaurant food out there just wasn’t NYC and I really got tired of paying large restaurant bills for the four of us for mediocre food. So I promptly subscribed to Food & Wine, adopted the “I’ll show you” attitude, and started cooking away. In those days, my favorite was Lee Bailey. He used to do a column, “Dinner for a Busy Weeknight.” I still have many of those torn pages, soiled with olive oil drips and whatnot. I’ll never forget, one of my very first “gourmet meals” was his Pasta with Shrimp and Arugula recipe from that feature. It’s still a good recipe! (More on that later) He even accompanied it with dessert – sliced oranges with crushed amaretto cookies – simple and delish!

I have tweaked Ashley’s recipe a bit – cut down on the oil and pumped up the garlic, cumin and oregano. Here you go – not quite pretty but oh so tasty! And home-grown Italian approved, thanks to Bianca!

CUMIN, LAMB AND EGGPLANT PASTA – serves 4 – 5
Adapted from ASHLEY RODRIGUEZ and Food & Wine magazine

2 tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced on a mandoline
1 medium eggplant (1 pound), peeled and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 heaping tsp. dried Greek oregano
1 heaping tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. smoked paprika, preferably hot (Pimenton Ahumado)
Pinch of crushed red pepper
Kosher salt
1 lb. ground lamb
1/4 cup tomato paste
3/4 cup chicken stock
12 ounces gemelli
1/2 cup zero fat plain Greek yogurt
1/3 cup chopped mint

In a large skillet, heat the oil. Add the onion and cook over low-moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 10 – 12 minutes. Increase heat to moderate. Add the eggplant, garlic, oregano, cumin, paprika and crushed red pepper and season with salt. Cook, stirring, until fragrant, 1 minute. Add the lamb and cook, breaking up the meat into small pieces with a wooden spoon. Increase the heat a bit and add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, for at least 2 minutes to get the flavor to “bloom”. Stir in the stock and bring to a boil. Cover and cook over low heat until the sauce is thickened, about 12 minutes.

Cook the pasta in a pot of salted boiling water until al dente. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking water. Stir the pasta into the sauce; add 1/4 cup of the reserved cooking water if necessary; (I didn’t) add more water if a thinner sauce is desired. Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in the yogurt and mint. Taste and season with salt if necessary (I didn’t) and serve hot.

Thomas Keller’s Beef Stroganoff

March 30, 2014 by Mary 38 Comments

I did it! I actually did it – made a double recipe of Thomas Keller’s Beef Stroganoff recipe. Lord, I hope I never have to do it again. This was our birthday boy’s request for last weekend. My husband thinks he’s going to ask for it again. (Please, please no.)

It’s a two-day affair. For the complete recipe, please check out these links on another blog that has the whole recipe from Keller’s Ad Hoc cookbook. Basically you make a braise by reducing wine with a ton of vegetables until syrupy. Then add more of the same fresh vegetables, cover it with cheesecloth to make a “nest” to hold your browned pieces of meat, add beef broth and then top with a parchment paper hat (cover) and braise for 2 hours. You separate the meat from the vegetable wine broth in this cheesecloth nest because Keller doesn’t want any little bits of onion, leeks or carrots soiling his meat. Ha!!

So that was done on Saturday. Then on Sunday, the day of serving, you make the mushroom cream sauce (6 cups of heavy cream, butter and crème fraiche!), sauté the mushrooms (4.5 lbs. total), cook the fresh pappardella, cut the meat into cubes, warm and caramelize the presentation side of the meat, toss the noodles with the sauce, add more butter, fold in the sliced mushrooms, put it all together and top with chopped parsley. Whew!!

Bianca helping me – sliced 2 lbs. of cremini mushrooms

With help on both days, you’re talking about 9 hours worth of work.

There had to be a lot of LOVE here to get through all of this.

How was it?

It was good – but way too rich for me. Since the recipe doesn’t state how many it serves and we had 7 people, I doubled it. We served 7 plus 1 second serving and then leftovers to feed 5 more people. But you know, if you’re going to go through that much work, you might as well make extra for leftovers.

The birthday boy was happy. He called the next day to comment on how deeply flavored each cube of meat was. (It damn well better have been.) Perhaps the parchment lid is a great idea because if you use the Le Creuset lid, that causes moisture to form therefore dropping water onto your meat. Not good.

Making one boy happy was my aim!

Grilled eggplant, prosciutto, mozzarella, basil and tomato sandwich

March 23, 2014 by Mary 37 Comments

While in the midst of a cooking frenzy yesterday, I had an eggplant who’s calling had come and the other ingredients needed to be used, so I quickly put together this grilled eggplant, prosciutto, mozzarella, basil and tomato sandwich. It was divine!!

Yesterday was our oldest son’s birthday. Our family celebration is today. It is a rule in our house that the birthday boy gets to request whatever he wants for dinner. I’m thinking of changing that rule. He requested Thomas Keller’s Beef Stroganoff. I responded with, “All that cream!! Are you crazy?” He insisted. My husband and I cooked all day yesterday and will start again today at 3:00 for dinner tonight. I sure hope this is good and worth it.

Keller must have been an engineer in another life. His precision and aim for perfection is daunting. What I’m really making is a homemade, made from scratch version of the beef stroganoff we all had as kids made with Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup. Do you think we’ll be able to taste the difference? I’ll let you know later this week, after I recover from all of this.

As I chop and cook away, I’m reminding myself to make this with a smile on my face and love in my heart.

Meanwhile, make this sandwich sometime. This you won’t regret and it can be ready in a jiffy.

GRILLED EGGPLANT, PROSCIUTTO, MOZZARELLA, BASIL AND TOMATO SANDWICH – serves 2

1 baguette
1 medium-small eggplant, washed, trimmed, and sliced lengthwise into 5 or 6 slices
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbs. olive oil plus more for drizzling
3 thin slices of prosciutto
1/2 of a ball of mozzarella cheese, sliced
2 small tomatoes, sliced
8 – 10 large fresh basil leaves, washed and dried

Light a grill or heat a grill pan. Salt and pepper the eggplant slices. Mix the minced garlic with the 2 tbs. of olive oil. Brush that on one side of all the eggplant slices. Grill both sides on a fairly high heat until nicely charred and tender.

Cut two 6-inch pieces off of the baguette and slice those in half lengthwise. Drizzle a tiny bit of olive oil on the cut sides. Assemble the sandwiches with grilled eggplant, the cheese, tomato, salt the tomato lightly, the basil, then finish with 11/2 slices of prosciutto and the other half of the bread. Slice the whole sandwich into 2 halves. Enjoy!!

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