fall-inspired pork.

One thing I pride myself in is being able to change my husband's mind about food. Pork chops is one of those things that he never really liked. Me, on the other hand, grew up on pork of many kinds. BBQ'd, fried, braised, sauteed . . . you name it, I probably had it. I made it my mission to have the hubby like at least ONE pork dish.

Why not pork chops?

This recipe is fall-inspired. It has apples, cherries, and sage. I've also added some savory spicy sausage to cut the sweetness of the fruit. I like to serve this with mashed potatoes and collard greens. This time around, I made green beans and leek smashed potatoes. The hubby found this filling and, thankfully, really tasty. Yay for pork!

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Apple-Cherry Stuffed Pork Chops
(makes 4 servings)

4 (thin-cut or 1-in) pork chops, boneless
olive oil
garlic powder
onion powder
paprika
rubbed sage
salt and pepper

2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 tsp dried sage
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
2 oz. spicy Italian sausage
1 small apple, peeled and grated
2 celery ribs, finely chopped
4 stalks green onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup chopped dried cherries
1 cup plain bread crumbs
1/2 cup chopped Italian parsley
salt and pepper

 
Preheat oven to 350F degrees.

Cut a pocket in the pork chops with a very sharp knife, carefully bringing the pocket as close to the edge of the chop as possible without cutting through. Drizzle with olive oil then season with garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, rubbed sage, salt, and pepper to taste. Set aside.

Add butter and oil to the pan. When frothy, add garlic and cook until fragrant. Add sausage, sage, and fennel seeds and cook for a few minutes, crumbling the meat. Saute in apple, celery, onion, and cherries until tender and vegetables have given off most of their liquid. Remove from heat then stir in bread crumbs and parsley until mixture comes together. Season with salt and pepper, as needed.

Heat a oven-safe pan over high heat with a little bit of olive oil. Working carefully, stuff each chop firmly with a quarter of the stuffing mixture. Once the pan is hot, add the chops and sear on both sides. Once they have been seared, transfer the pan to the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Increase the temperature to 450F degrees and bake for another 5 to 10 minutes or until pork is cooked to desired doneness.

please, with a cherry inside?

I love sweet things. I've got a pretty hardcore sweet tooth. In fact, I'm one of those people who gets the frosting from other people's cake. :) And since Valentine's Day is just around the corner, that means a plethora of chocolates, cookies, and candies available in the stores. And did I mention cakes and brownies? Yumm!

Speaking of brownies, I tried making some a few months ago. When I was going through my pantry, however, I found that I was unfortunately out of cocoa powder. So what's the alternative? Blondies, of course! I found a great decadent recipe for white chocolate cherry almond blodies and, boy, were they rich! I guess 1 1/2 stick of butter will do that. I think the main issue I had was all that butter. While they tastes sinfully good, I just couldn't get the butter factor out of my mind each time I took a bite. I've been on a hunt for a better recipe ever since.

This recipe piqued my interest. With a title of No Butter Baking. on the blog, I thought that I finally hit jackpot! No butter in sight and the blodies themselves looked decent. There is, however, a half cup of oil. Hmm...

Since I wasn't sure how these were going to turn out, I decided to improvise a little and play with the recipe. Semi-solid coconut oil replaced the vegetable oil in order to mimic fluffiness of the butter. There isn't really any liquor in my house so the brandy was switched with pure vanilla extract. I added some whole wheat flour to help soak up the inevitable liquid that this was going to produce and added some walnuts, just because. Also, I wanted to see if I could lift the batter a little, so I added some leavening agents to the dry mixture.

So what did I end up with? Not a bad blondie. It was kind of greasy though, which I expected. But since I used coconut oil, I just popped them in the freezer for a bit which helped with the texture and cutting. I think if I added another 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour or reduced the oil just a bit, these might've turned out a little bit better. Although, I'd probably end up with a stiffer dough. I still have to play around with the recipe, but all in all, this didn't turn out too bad. :)

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White Chocolate Cherry Walnut Blondies
(adapted from No Butter Baking.)

1/2 cup semi-soft coconut oil
1 cup loosely packed dark brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup white chocolate chips
1/4 cup dried cherries
1/4 cup toasted chopped walnuts

 
Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Line

In a large bowl, cream together coconut oil and brown sugar. Add egg, vanilla, and salt, and whip until fluffy.

In a separate bowl, whisk together flours, baking soda, and baking powder until well combined. Add to wet ingredients along with white chocolate chips, cherries, and walnuts.

Pour batter into a parchment lined pan and level. Sprinkle top with additional cherries, chips, and walnuts and gently press into the batter.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until tester inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool completely in pan then chill in the freezer for 5 to 10 minutes for easier cutting. Remove from freezer then cut into 16 squares.

christmas time.

Merry Christmas!

It's weird being on a tropical island where it's always the same temperature all year round. At least when I was living in San Diego, there was *some* climate change. Here, the only way that i can tell that the seasons are changing is by the amount of rain fall that we have. Speaking of San Diego, it dawned on me that this will be the very first time in my entire life that I'm away from my family during the holidays and I have to say that it sucks! And to put the cherry on the cake, this would've been the very first Christmas that the hubby and I would have as a husband and wife except that he has work today...meaning I won't see him until *after* Christmas. *que charlie brown sad song here* Lol.

Well, that won't do. Today's itinerary? Take that cherry and bake it in a bread! :D

I wanted to make something festive and this recipe caught my eye. It's just so nice and *pink*! When I actually started to make the cake, however, I spied the box of dark cocoa on the shelf and thought, "Hn....chocolate cherry bread....". So I decided to experiment and tweaked the recipe a little bit to add the cocoa. Then I saw cream that was going to expire within the next few days, and I threw that into the batter too (I rationalized with myself that cream was needed since i was using skim milk, lol).

So what did I get? A lesson in glazing, first of all. My technique leaves much to be desired. Next time, I think I'll do a little less juice so that i'll have a nice thick glaze. Following the recipe gave me a runny glaze that I had to pour on the bread over and over again. Taste-wise...rich, decadent, and almost cake-y. The glaze adds a nice touch of almond flavor without having the crunch of the almonds. Since I only had one bottle of cherries, I found that I really wanted it to stud the bread a little bit more. Definitely 2 bottles next time. And the chocolate? Who doesn't like chocolate??

Chocolate Cherry Almond Bread
(adapted from Tastes of Lizzy T's)

Bread:
1/2 cup milk*
1/4 cup cream*
1/2 cup oil
1 egg
3/4 to 1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup dark cocoa powder 1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)
2 (10 oz) jar maraschino cherries

Glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar
2 tbsp melted butter
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/4 to 1/3 cup maraschino cherry juice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, stir together the milk, cream, oil and egg. In a separate bowl, combine the sugar, flours, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, and chocolate chips (if using). Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until just combined (little streaks or clumps of flour is okay).

Drain the maraschino cherries, reserving the juice for the glaze. Coarsely chop the cherries in a food processor or with a knife. Gently fold the cherries into the batter.

Pour the bread batter into a greased or parchment lined 9"x5" bread pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean. Allow the bread to cool for 10 minutes, then remove the bread to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the glaze, combine the powdered sugar, melted butter, and almond extract in a small bowl. Add just enough cherry juice to make a thick glaze. Mix until it is smooth. Once the bread is cool, spread the glaze on top of the bread. Let stand 15 to 30 minutes to set then slice and serve.

*You could probably substitute half and half or all milk. I haven't tried it so I don't know how that'll come out. More experimenting! :D