Something New: Lemon Chive Buttered Pork Chops

I need to work on inventing shorter recipe names.

Oh well. Chase and I thought of this one on Saturday, and both of our mouths watered at the thought of it. I'm not sure I had ever really experienced the sensation before. Of course we had to try our hand at making it.

And apparently, these trying hands forgot to take many pictures.

Our first attempt was far too salty, but you know, there's a simple fix for that. And now we have a recipe that gives an excuse to use butter as a meat condiment. Oh yeah.

Happy cooking!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lemon Chive Buttered Pork Chops

Ingredients

4 pork chops

⅓ cup butter or ICBINB, softened

2 Tbsp chopped chives

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp lemon zest

1 tsp pepper, plus a pinch

¼ tsp garlic powder

¼ tsp dry rosemary

3 Tbsp olive oil

cooking oil (olive or vegetable)

Directions

1. Combine garlic powder, rosemary, 1 tsp pepper, and olive oil in a bowl.

2. Put a tablespoon or two of cooking oil into a large skillet and heat to medium-high.

3. Dip the chops in the spice mixture and set in the skillet. Let cook for at least 3-4 minutes before flipping. Continue until the chops are cooked through.

4. While the chops are cooking, soften the butter in the microwave until stir-able, but not liquid. Stir chives, lemon juice, zest, and pinch of pepper into the butter.

5. Remove the cooked pork chops to a plate and top with a tablespoon of the lemon chive butter.

6. Enjoy.

Lemon Chive Butter, reporting for duty.

Pork chops cooking away, almost ready for plating.

Butter is the new ketchup. Happy cooking!

Something Old: Cinnamon White Wine Chicken

I feel as if I've been posting a lot of simple recipes and neglecting the fancier ones. Part of this is because Chase and I tend to get to the end of the week and just want something comforting. But that's no excuse for not giving you something a little fancier for your table.

This recipe holds many good memories for Chase and me. Safe to say it's our go-to romantic recipe, as you'll see in the story below.

Romantic nostalgia aside, it's also a recipe with great depth of flavor and a party-worthy wow factor. Next time you are cooking to impress, try this puppy!

Happy cooking!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cinnamon White Wine Chicken August 25, 2009

It's been awhile! Between helping the boyfriend pack and move away (not my favorite activity), school starting, and a trip up to see my sister, there's been very little cooking beyond basic pasta and sandwiches.

This is a recipe Chase and I have made before, on our first Valentine's Day in fact, so we decided to make it again as our last meal together before he moved away. Because that's a pretty romantic choice of recipe.

And you know we loved it if we made it twice! It's not as quick as some of the other recipes, but it's still easy and makes great leftovers. This is the perfect thing for a special dinner.

Oh, and did I mention? Leftover wine!

Ingredients

3 chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces

2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp pepper

1 cup chopped onion

3 garlic cloves (2 minced, 1 peeled and left whole)

¼ cup dry white wine

3 oz. tomato paste

2-3 cups spinach leaves, roughly torn

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 cup water

½ cup grated parmesan cheese (optional)

Brown rice, cooked according to package directions

Directions

1. Combine salt, pepper and cinnamon in a small mixing bowl. Toss the chicken pieces in the mixture until completely coated.

2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook until no longer pink. Remove the chicken from the skillet and set aside.

3. Add the onion and minced garlic to the skillet. Cook until onions are soft and beginning to brown.

4. Add the wine and scrape browned bits from the skillet. Let cook until wine is mostly evaporated.

5. Add water, tomato paste, whole garlic clove, and chicken to the pan. Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes.

6. While everything is simmering, prepare your brown rice.

7. After 20-30 minutes, add the spinach leaves and cook until wilted.

8. Serve the chicken over rice and top with grated cheese. Enjoy.

Chicken coated in cinnamon topping.

The cooked chicken takes a tomato bath.

All together now.

The extra spinach makes for a beautiful side salad.

Happy cooking!

Something Extra: Jello Fruit Salad

Hey food friends! I just got off my first full day working with the kiddos (I'm composing the night before posting day). I had a lot of fun at work, but I'm close to exhausted. I could have fallen asleep for the night when I got home at 6!

Anyway, I'm not going to do too much chattering on this post. This is a side dish that was always on my childhood table. It's simple and tasty and works as a side for any meal of the day. Plus, it's easy to modify. You can't use fresh tropical fruit (the jello won't set), but anything else fresh or canned works great. Tell me any great combos you come up with!

Note: This recipe requires at least 6 hours to set. It's the prefect thing to make before bed and eat the next day.

Happy cooking!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jello Fruit Salad

Basic Ingredients

3 cups chopped fruit (or three 15-oz cans of fruit, chopped)

2 packages fruit-flavored jello

2 cups boiling water

2 cups cold water or juice

Specific Ingredients - Peach Salad

2 cans peaches

1 can pears

2 packages peach jello

2 cups boiling water

2 cups juice (from the canned fruit)

Specific Ingredients -Fruit Cocktail Salad

3 cans fruit cocktail

2 packages cherry jello

2 cups boiling water

2 cups juice (from the canned cocktail)

Directions

1. Drain canned fruit thoroughly, reserving the juice.

2. In a glass or Corningware casserole dish, prepare jello according to package directions, using fruit juice in place of cold water.

3. Let jello set in the fridge for 60-80 minutes. Meanwhile, cut the fruit into bite-size pieces.

4. After 60-80 minutes, remove the jello from the fridge. Gently stir in the fruit.

5. Return to fridge and let the jello set completely (6 hours).

6. Eat with any meal, or for snack time!

All of the ingredients, minus water.

This recipe doesn't have many steps. This is what your jello should look like out of the fridge!

Ready for eating! Happy cooking!

Something New: Chicken Balls

Okay, so the real name of the recipe is "Chicken Croquettes" according to our cookbook. But Chase's inner 12-year-old is tickled by the name "Chicken Balls," and I'd be lying if I said I'm completely unamused by it.

Adolescent snickering aside, this recipe is great. Juicy chicken, crunchy breading, just a little prep work. We took the recipe from the same cookbook as the Chicken Bake from last week. The White House Cookbook is now 2 for 2. Keep it up, new kitchen addition!

It's a great alternative to Salmon Patties for people who don't like fish. Plus, you can use any kind of pre-cooked chicken. We had frozen raw chicken in our fridge and threw it in the oven for 50 minutes at 350. But you can buy frozen grilled chicken and microwave thaw, or buy a rotisserie chicken. All work well!

Last note, we ate these with homemade honey mustard dressing, and it was delicious. I have a feeling these would be great with a little barbecue, too.

Happy cooking!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chicken Balls

Ingredients

2 cups cooked chicken, shredded

1 cup Italian bread crumbs

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup milk

2 Tbsp butter or margarine

2 Tbsp flour

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp parsley

½ tsp basil

¼ tsp salt

⅛ tsp cayenne pepper

Directions

1. Melt margarine in a medium sauce pan over low heat. Mix in flour until smooth, then stir in milk.

2. Add Worcestershire, parsley, basil, salt, and cayenne. Then stir in the shredded chicken.

3. Cool the mixture in the fridge for 1 hour, uncovered.

4. Right before you remove the mixture from the fridge, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Then put the bread crumbs in a bowl, and the eggs in another bowl and beat.

5. Remove the mixture from the fridge and form into balls, using about one-third cup of the mixture per ball. If the mixture is too wet and is not holding its shape, stir in a handful of bread crumbs.

6. Roll each ball in bread crumbs, then in the eggs, then again in bread crumbs.

6. Set the balls onto a baking sheet that has been coated in cooking spray.

7. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until golden brown.

8. Serve and enjoy.

Seasoning mix, ready mixin' and chicken.

Stirring in the chicken before a bit of fridgerating.

It's kind of a yucky process, but the end result is tasty!

Double breaded before the oven.

Served with a side of honey mustard. Happy cooking!

Something Old: Scones

It's been a year since I was in Oxford studying and making new friends. (Can you believe it, girls?!) When we were over there, we had some amazing scones at The Rose, and I think we all became pretty hooked. Melanie, our professor, shared a scone recipe with us, and within a week of being back in the states, I had made a batch of scones.

They are so tasty! I thought the one year anniversary of our Oxford adventure would be the perfect time to reshare this tasty little recipe. I hope it brings back happy memories to all my Oxford girls (botanical gardens, secret gardens, bike tours, tower climbing, late night kebabs and dancing).

And to everyone, happy cooking!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Scones August 8, 2009

I haven't cooked or baked in awhile (darn that Oxford!), but after enjoying great tea and scones in England, I felt I had to try my hand at it. Melanie was nice enough to supply a recipe to us. Having nothing else to do this afternoon, with Chase off at B&N reading about motorcycle PhDs, I decided to bake.

Ingredients

2 cups flour

¼ cup white sugar

2 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

½ cup whipping cream, plus 2 Tbsp

⅓ cup cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

3. Cut in the butter with a two knives or a pastry cutter. The mixture should look like course crumbs.

4. In a small bowl, combine half cup whipping cream, beaten egg, and vanilla. Add this to the flour mixture and stir until just combined.

5. Knead the dough on a floured surface, until the dough is smooth (about 10 kneads).

6. Roll or pat the dough out until the dough is about half an inch to an inch thick. Cut out scones into 2-3 inch diameter rounds.

7. Place rounds on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush the tops of the rounds with the extra whipping cream.

8. Bake for 15-17 minutes, until nicely browned.

9. Serve with cream and your favorite jam.

Bonus: I made my own whipped cream using the remainder of the whipping cream. Combine 1 cup whipping cream with 2 tablespoons of sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla extract, and whip with a hand mixer until it forms "soft peaks." Basically until it's Cool Whip consistency, but tastier!

Eggs, vanilla and cream, ready to meet the flour.

All the ingredients together.

Kneaded until smooth and ready for cutting.

Brushed with cream.

Baked to perfection.

Happy cooking!

Something Extra: Battered French Fries

I've always wondered how restaurants get their french fries so crispy. Turns out, the answer lies in something you do to just about anything else you'd deep fry: batter it!

Chase and I came across this recipe a couple of weeks ago, and that's when the light bulb turned on. We loved the idea, but we also love making things our own way (spice experimenting!) Here, with our modifications, is the recipe for Battered French Fries.

Happy cooking!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Battered French Fries

Ingredients

2 medium potatoes

1-2 cups vegetable oil (depending on your skillet's depth)

1 cup flour

1 tsp McCormick's Salt-Free All Purpose Potato Seasoning

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

⅛ tsp garlic powder

approx. 1 cup water

Directions

1. Wash potatoes, then slice into medium-thick wedges (think Red Robin fries).

2. Heat oil in skillet to medium-high.

3. While the oil is heating, combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Gradually add water and stir until the batter is about the consistency of ranch dressing.

4. Place a handful of the sliced potatoes into the batter and toss to coat.

5. Using tongs, carefully lift the slices one at a time out of the batter and drop them into the oil. If the oil is hot enough, it will give a satisfying sizzle. Continue adding slices until the skillet is full but not overcrowded. It is important to add the slices one at a time so they don't fry together into one giant french fry.

6. When the fries are golden brown, use the tongs to remove them from the skillet. Place them on a paper towel to collect excess oil, and sprinkle with an extra pinch of salt.

7. Repeat until all potato slices have been fried. You may have to add extra oil to the skillet during this process.

8. Serve and enjoy.

Sliced potatoes.

Into the batter ...

... then into the pan!

Golden brown and ready for ketchup!

Happy cooking!