What’s for Dinner Wednesday: Honey Dijon Pork Chops

12 Dec
I have a love/hate relationship with pork chops.

I have a love/hate relationship with pork chops.

If you’ve followed my blog for a while, you may remember my love/hate relationship with pork chops. I love them, but my family usually hates them.

In fact, if you search the words “pork chops” in my blog’s search bar, you’ll see all of the various recipes I’ve tried, hoping to find one they like.

Meanwhile, I’ve never stopped liking them.

Recently, I picked up a package of boneless pork chops, going with the Try, Try Again method of meal planning. As I was thinking of how to try them this time, I remembered that we used to do a Honey Dijon pork chop way back when. I knew I liked it, of course, but I had no idea which other family members had or had not. I decided to search for one and try again.
I went to my favorite go-to when I do a recipe search: Allrecipes.com and found a recipe that looked like the one we used to make, except that we used to dip ours in bread crumbs after we dipped them in the sauce first.

This Pampered Chef product is perfect for recipes that require lots of dipping and breading!

This Pampered Chef product is perfect for recipes that require lots of dipping and breading!

I even remembered that I have a cool Pampered Chef product that I use for this type of recipe too, so I pulled that out as well.

The Coating Trays and Tool kit is great for recipes that require you to dip your meat into something or into several somethings. For this particular recipe I ended up using only two of the trays, one for the honey mustard sauce and one for the bread crumbs.

I hope you enjoy today’s recipe. My family liked it well enough.

Kind of.

IMG_8002HONEY DIJON PORK CHOPS

INGREDIENTS

  • 1/4 cup Dijon mustard
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1 teaspoon ground black pepper ( I left this out.)
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 4 boneless pork loin chops
  • I added in bread crumbs for coating after the dipping step.
  • DIRECTIONS
    1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a baking dish.
    2. Mix Dijon mustard, honey, black pepper, and garlic powder in a bowl. Arrange pork chops in prepared baking dish and pour mustard mixture over pork.
    3. Bake in preheated oven until pork is slightly pink in the center, about 45 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 145 degrees F (63 degrees C).

      We served our recipe with couscous and green beans almondine.

      We served our recipe with couscous and green beans almondine.

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Family Movie Night & a Recipe: Homemade Hot Chocolate

7 Dec

ORIGINALLY POSTED DECEMBER 9, 2011

It’s a Friday and for us Friday nights are sometimes Family Movie Nights. It’s the end of the week and it’s often a wind-down night as well. We look forward to it.

In the winter, our Family Movie Night movie is usually “The Polar Express” at least once.

I got this book in 1993, before there even *was* a movie!

We have the hardcover version of the Chris VanAllsburg book, and it’s even autographed. We also have the special bell from the story as well as the cd of the story from a gift set that we received a few years back. You can find the book and the movie here on Amazon.com.

There are several bell crafts you could do to go along with “The Polar Express” if you’d like.

Cups, pipe cleaners, stickers and glitter make for an easy jingle bell craft. If you have a real jingle bell, you can put it inside so that the bell actually rings.

You could:

1) Cut out a bell from construction paper and decorate it with glitter or other materials,

and

2) Turn a styrofoam drinking cup upside down, put a pipe cleaner through the top (gold works well) turning it into a bell that way, decorating it on the outside any way you’d like.

During the winter months, Family Movie Night often includes a special treat: Homemade Hot Chocolate. My kids LOVE this recipe and it came from a cookbook I received as a gift from one of my Stampin’ Up! customers several years back. The cookbook is called “Old Fashioned Holiday Recipes.” It was full of many great recipe ideas, but this one has always been a favorite find and perfect for our Family Movie Nights. It would go especially well with the “Krispie” Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe from yesterday!

Two mugs of hot chocolate

Hot off the stove tonight!

Creamy Hot Chocolate
INGREDIENTS

1 (14 ounce) can Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk (NOT Evaporated Milk)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
6 1/2 cups hot water
Marshmallows, optional

DIRECTIONS

In a large saucepan over medium heat combine Eagle Brand, cocoa, vanilla and salt; mix well.

Slowly stir in water. Heat through, stirring occasionally. Do not boil.

Top with marshmallows (optional.)

Store covered in refrigerator. Makes about 2 quarts.

Hot chocolate can be stored in the refrigerator for up to five days. Mix well and reheat before serving.

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What’s for Dinner Wednesday: Chicken & Asparagus Penne

5 Dec
The finished product!

Nice and easy for the pre-holiday season!

Simple, affordable, healthy ingredients make this recipe a keeper!

Simple, affordable, healthy ingredients make this recipe a keeper!

During the holiday time, it’s easy to over do it when it comes time to eating. There’s lots of special food, lots of rich holiday food. It’s also a busy, busy time; lots to do leading up to the holidays.

That’s why, when I first saw this recipe on Pinterest for Chicken & Asparagus Penne, I was drawn to it because of both the simplicity and the affordability of it. It would be a good, easy dinner that we could use over and over again and all of the ingredients were on my shopping list at Aldis on a regular basis. There’s not much to it as far as prep and ingredients, and that’s exactly what I need this time of year. I can’t need to exert much more energy than I already am.

This recipe was linked over from Pinterest to GoodnessGracious.com but even she got it from somewhere else! I love how everyone shares, especially during the holidays! Thanks Goodness Gracious, for sharing!

CHICKEN & ASPARAGUS PENNE

Ingredients

  • 1 lb Asparagus- Steamed
  • 12 oz Smart Taste Penne- Cooked
  • 1/4 Cup Olive Oil
  • 1 lb Chicken Breast- Cubed and Cooked
  • 1/2 Cup Shredded Parmesan

Instructions

  1. Add all ingredients into a 9 x13 pan and stir to combine.
  2. Top with Cheese and Broil for 5 minutes or until cheese is golden.

Notes

Calories 383 Total Fat 14.5g Sat. Fat 3.2g Cholest. 50mg Sodium 273mg Carb. 45.9g Fiber 8.2g Sugars 3g Protein 25.4g

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The Reverse Dinner Party

3 Dec
Just two years ago, we were in the midst of all this, but a great new tradition did come out of it!

Just two years ago, we were in the midst of all this, but a great new tradition did come out of it!

Some of you know that two years ago my husband had surgery on his leg. He had ruptured his achilles tendon and he had a cast on his leg for several months, and was on crutches with a boot for several more. It was a long year for him and for us, and a very humbling experience, but believe it or not, some good did come out of it.

The Reverse Dinner Party is one of those good things.
During the initial few weeks after the surgery we had lots of help from family and friends. We had people raking leaves and bringing meals and staying over, all to help us out. It was an incredible outpouring of generosity.

When things died down a little, we had some friends of ours, the Garabedian family, ask us if they could bring us dinner and hang out for the evening. We welcomed the fun and the food, and we said we’d make dessert. So they cooked at their house, we cleaned up at ours, and made dessert, and they arrived on our doorstep that evening with their two girls and our dinner.

It was their turn to cook dinner this time, and we were treated to turkey and all the fixins!

It was their turn to cook dinner this time, and we were treated to turkey and all the fixins!

With that one gesture, a new tradition was created: The Reverse Dinner Party. Our friends had brought dinner to us at our house but the next month when Don was more mobile, they asked us to come for dinner at their house. It seemed unfair to have them make dinner for us again, so we decided to treat them and we brought dinner to them at their house and this time they provided dessert.

It became a fun treat and a little bit of a break, too. If you had to clean your house for company, at least you “only” had to make dessert along with the cleaning. If you had to cook the main dish, at least you didn’t have to worry about making your house presentable for guests at the same time.

Monkey bread and pumpkin pie for dessert!

Monkey bread and pumpkin pie for dessert!

There was also an element of surprise with some of our Reverse Dinner Parties. We would try not to tell the others ahead of time, what we were going to make. We’ve had all kinds of things and so far there has never been a time where we haven’t liked what the others have made. It’s also been a fun time to try out something new.

This month, we did know that the Garabedians were bringing a turkey diner, so I planned a pumpkin pie for dessert, to go along with it. I also made a new dessert that I had on hand in my pantry: a banana chocolate chip monkey bread. Both desserts and all of the dinner courses got all thumbs up from all nine of us.

This year we agreed to do a Yankee Swap in between dinner and dessert.

This year we agreed to do a Yankee Swap in between dinner and dessert.

We’ve had our dinners in all seasons, indoors and out. We’ve had drinks and desserts over a fire, sometimes we play games, and this time around we incorporated a Yankee Swap, just in time for the holidays. The kids and the adults all had a blast, so I’m sure we’ll do it again next year.

In the end, it’s a night together with friends and it’s the sharing of a meal that really matters. It amazes me to think that we began this tradition two years ago, and I am grateful to our friends who asked simply if they could bring us dinner.

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Five Thumbs Up: Apple Butter Bars

30 Nov

Caroline loves using the pastry cutter to cut the butter into recipes. This one provided a perfect opportunity to use it!

I’ve got a great new recipe for you, and it got all thumbs up from everyone in my house this week! That almost never happens!

I originally found this recipe for Apple Butter Bars on Pinterest, but it’s from the site Three Many Cooks.  I pinned it because my kids love apple butter. Overall the recipe seemed somewhat healthy: no eggs, no white sugar. Apple butter is healthy in itself, so other than the stick of butter that helps to form the crust and topping, it’s not so bad for you, I don’t think.

Caroline made these herself and it was a very easy recipe to follow. If I could change any one thing about it, I’d double it! It makes an 8×8 dish, but with five of us, it didn’t leave many leftovers to last into the next day(s).

Here is the recipe from Three Many Cooks. Enjoy!

Apple Butter-Cinnamon Bars with Oatmeal Crumble

Makes 16 bars

Relatively healthy ingredients makes for a keeper on my list!

INGREDIENTS

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup old-fashioned oatmeal
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter, melted
1 cup apple butter
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Spread the apple butter between the layers.

DIRECTIONS

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position, and heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat an 8- by 8-inch baking pan with vegetable cooking spray, then line pan bottom and up and over 2 sides with heavy-duty foil to facilitate removal of bars from pan. Coat foil with vegetable cooking spray.

Mix flour, oatmeal, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir in butter with a fork until well mixed and clumps form. Spread half the oatmeal mixture over pan bottom and up the sides about 1/4 inch, pressing to form a thin crust. Mix apple butter and cinnamon in a small bowl; spread mixture over crust and then sprinkle remaining oatmeal mixture over apple mixture.

Bake until crisp and golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes. Set on a wire rack and cool to room temperature. Use foil “handles” to remove bars from pan. (Can be double wrapped and frozen for several months.). Cut into squares and serve.

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Seasonal snack mix: Pumpkin Pie Crunch

26 Nov

A new after school snack for the kids with a seasonal flavor!

My kids are always on the lookout for new recipes for me to try. They read magazines, pour through cookbooks, and even check the backs and sides of cereal boxes, always looking for the next great recipe. They love it when they find out that I’ve tried “their” recipe. I love surprising them.

Most recently, Elizabeth stumbled on the jackpot: a Chex cereal box with three recipes on the back of the box. She found one she wanted me to try, and it had a seasonal flavor to it, just in time for Thanksgiving. One Monday afternoon I decided to give it a try because I had everything I needed on hand with the exception of one type of Chex cereal. It called for three different kinds and I had three, just not the exact three. You’ll see what I mean in my notes below.

Lots of recipe options to choose from!

The other thing I liked about this recipe, besides the fact that it was fast, is that it was a microwave recipe. No need to preheat the oven. In just five minutes in the microwave, it was done.

Here is the recipe for you to try too! This one was found on the back of the Honey Nut Chex cereal, which also happens to be gluten free.

Three bowls of ingredients: cereal, spices, liquids.

CHEX PUMPKIN PIE CRUNCH

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

1/4 cup butter

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups Cinnamon Chex cereal

2 cups Wheat Chex cereal (I had Rice Chex cereal instead)

2 cups Honey Nut Chex cereal

8 oz. pecans

Make sure your bowl is big enough and is microwave safe!

DIRECTIONS

1) In small bowl, mix brown sugar and pumpkin pie spice; set aside.

2) In small microwave-safe dish, microwave butter on high about 30 seconds or until melted.

3) Stir in vanilla.

4) In large microwave bowl, mix all cereals and pecans. Pour butter mixture over cereal mixture, stirring until evenly distributed.

5) Add sugar and spice mixture and stir until coated.

6) Microwave uncovered on high 5 minutes or until mixture begins to brown, stirring every minute.

7) Spread on wax paper or a cookie sheet to cool.

Store in an airtight container.

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Happy Veteran’s Day

12 Nov

Patriotic waffles as we remember our soldiers today!

As I type this, it is Sunday, Veteran’s Day 2012.

It’s a day to remember our veterans, those who have served so that we can be free.

I attended a wonderful Veteran’s Day ceremony on Friday at one of the schools I visited and I literally had goosebumps as the whole room pledged allegiance to the flag.

We often take our freedoms for granted, and I am grateful today for the opportunity to remember why we are free.

Thank you to all who serve and all who have served!

Since I’m posting a picture of our patriotic waffles, I will re-post a recipe for waffles that I posted a while back, too.

Enjoy them as you remember why we have the day off today!

All-American Waffles

serves 2-3

INGREDIENTS

1 egg, separated (put yolk in two quart bowl and white in small bowl.)

1 cup plus 2 TBL milk

1 tsp. vanilla

2 TBL canola or vegetable oil ** I recently earned that you can substitute the same amount of nonfat plain yogurt for the oil!

1 cup plus 2 TBL flour

4 tsp. sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

DIRECTIONS

Separate the egg,  putting egg white aside in small bowl.

In larger bowl, combine the egg yolk, milk, vanilla and oil. Blend together, by hand, with wire whisk.

Add flour, sugar, baking powder and salt to the liquid ingredients and blend with wire whisk. (There will probably be some lumps.)

Beat the egg white with electric mixer until stiff. Fold into the batter with wire whisk until just blended.

(Do not beat egg whites into batter,  just fold in.)

When waffle iron is ready, drop batter into the four squares and use according to directions.

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What’s for Dinner Wednesday: Chicken and Dumplings

7 Nov

Don made Chicken and Dumplings for us, for the first time ever.

Recently I wrote a post showing our dinner in the Pampered Chef Deep Covered Baker, and I mentioned that I’d show you what we did with our leftovers, one day soon.

Well, today’s that day.

Don had been dying to try making Chicken and Dumplings when we had some leftover roasted chicken, and this last time we made it, that’s exactly what he did.

As an aside, we try to plan a roasted chicken or turkey at least once a month during the fall/winter months because that equals two meals for us and even sometimes chicken salad for lunch. When you’re on a tight budget, you try to stretch your meals as much as you can.

Since Don had never made dumplings before, he looked up a recipe and found this one on Food.com that looked appealing to him.

Caroline did the dumplings all on her own.

He put Caroline in charge of making the dumpling batter while he put together the rest of it.

Here’s the recipe. Keep in mind that we used our leftover roasted chicken, but I’ve left the entire recipe here as is, in case you don’t have leftover chicken but still want to try this out.

Let me know how you like it! It’s a great alternative for leftover roasted chicken!

CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS
INGREDIENTS

1 large broiler-fryer chicken, cut up
2 celery ribs, sliced
4 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 medium onion, diced
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can chicken broth
2 tablespoons dried parsley
2 teaspoons chicken bouillon granules
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2-1 teaspoon pepper
water
DUMPLING INGREDIENTS
2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
4 tablespoons oil

Dumplings right into the sauce to cook.

DIRECTIONS

Combine chicken, celery, carrots, onion, chicken broth, parsley, chicken bouillon granules, salt and pepper in a large pan or dutch oven; add enough water to cover chicken.Bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover and simmer for 2 hours or until chicken is done.Remove chicken and let stand until cool enough to handle.Remove skin from chicken and tear meat away from bones.Return meat to soup; discard skin and bones.Add more salt and pepper to taste, if desired. (Don made a roux to thicken his soup, using equal parts flour and melted butter.)Return soup to a simmer.In a mixing bowl, combine dumpling ingredients and mix well to form a stiff dough.Drop by tablespoonfuls into simmering soup.

Cover and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.

Serve immediately.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings.

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Bye Bye Summer Memories Time Line!

5 Nov

Last week the east coast suffered a horrible, devastating hurricane, Hurricane Sandy.

Before reading this post, please remember all of those who are still reeling from this event. Although we were not personally affected, as you’ll read below, so many we know were.

If you would like to donate, I have linked to the American Red Cross and their Hurricane relief site.
You can click here to make your own donation.

Thank you, and enjoy today’s post.

******************************************************************************************************

Our Summer Time Line has been up for a long, long time.

You all remember our Summer Memories Time Line, right?

Started in June, finished in August.

It’s November.

I was thrilled with how the Time Line came out. I loved the pictures, I loved re-living my favorite season.

Til about October. Early October.

“I’m going to take the Time Line down soon,” I’d say.

“No, don’t! I still like looking at it,” someone 13 and under would say.

“I still like remembering all the fun things we did,” another would say.

So I’d leave it longer.

Caroline was 12 when the Time Line went up and 13 by the time it came down.

Caroline’s birthday came at the end of October. The cards went up on the wall, above the Time Line. Halloween decorations went up, around the Time Line.

Christmas was coming, cards would be coming in a matter of weeks. I knew I had to take the Time Line down. I wasn’t going to throw it out, I don’t throw anything out. Ever. I was going to save it.

Then came Hurricane Sandy.

I was wandering around Target the day before the storm, picking up canned goods and thinking about the possibility of being out of electricity for what they said could be weeks.

With an S.

Weeks.

I tried not to think about that possibility and tried instead, to think of what kinds of things one could do with three kids with no power, for weeks, or even a few days.

I wandered through their scrapbooking aisle, and that’s when it hit me, like a ton of canned goods.

The Time Line!! We could scrapbook the Time Line. Together. I’d let them do it, each creating their own pages, using the photos I’d printed for it and the little papers they’d written the events on.

Being a former Stampin’ Up! demonstrator, I had tons of empty scrapbooks and probably thousands of pieces of paper to use.

Thousands.

With an S.

It was perfect.

We never lost power.

Not even a day. Without an S.

They watched TV for two days straight, while we prepared on Sunday and while I typed like crazy on Monday for an extra-early deadline, with us thinking that any minute the lights would go off and I’d whip out my plan.

But, then Tuesday came, the day after the storm ended. Lights on but no school again. Thankfully we were unscathed by the storm.

So many papers to choose from!

This would definitely be the day. We went out during the day and ran some errands and then after lunch but before dinner, we cleared off the dining room table (or at least one end of it) and brought up all the scrapbooking stuff.

I picked out an album. The kids started looking through all the designer papers.

Lots to choose from.

And I started. I began to dis-assemble the Time Line.

Piece by piece, and they were fine with it. I’d give each child a page to work on and give them all the pictures and the posted events to go with it.

Everyone knew the pages they wanted to work on before we started.

They went to town. It was totally their project. I let them put the pictures on the pages they wanted, in the order they wanted. No direction from me.

That’s really big for me you know. I’m a director. I like things to be a certain way usually, but I really liked that this was all them. They owned it.

In about an hour and a half we were done.

The Time Line was empty, ripped off the wall and thrown away and our Summer Memories Scrapbook was done, filled with the events and photos showing our summer of 2012, preserved forever, in their writing, their words. There’s even room in the book for next year’s Time Line photos.

Total independence. Very hard for me, great for them.

Because we already decided, we’re doing it again next summer.

And soon, we’ll have thousands of memories of our summers.

Thousands.

With an S.

All gone!

So proud of all the pages the girls created!

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Pumpkin Palooza Recipe of the Day: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 Nov

Originally posted on: November 16, 2011

OK seriously, what could be more perfect than the combination of pumpkin AND chocolate chips!? Last year I made these for a school party and the kids loved them.

At the time, I wrote on Facebook that a friend of mine posted this recipe and she got it from Allrecipes.com. I can’t remember who the friend was though! What I do remember is they were delicious!

I did double it when I made it last year. I didn’t even use my standup mixer, I used a wooden spoon. You could use one though if you have one.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies III
from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

  • 1 cup canned pumpkin
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 egg
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon milk
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts ( I did not use walnuts)

Directions

  1. Combine pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, and egg. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and salt. Dissolve the baking soda with the milk and stir in. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and mix well.
  2. Add vanilla, chocolate chips and nuts.
  3. Drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for approximately 10 minutes or until lightly brown and firm.

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