Two great quick and easy recipes =)

This week I tried a Cider Vinegar and Molasses Glazed Pork Chop and Beef Stirfry. They were both really easy to prepare and very tasty. The only question I was left with was what do you do with 1/2 a can of beef broth? By the way it's a good thing I'm making myself accountable on here. Fri. night I was so wanting to just order a pizza. The stirfry was much healthier and tastier! Here are pictures of the end products.

Long Time, No Blog

The latest additions to my cooking expeditions were marinated chicken breasts with a rice medley from Trader Joes and a dried apple, procciuto (sp?) pork chop. I tried using the thermometer when cooking the chicken breasts. It works by sounding an alarm when the chicken gets to the correct temperature. According to the directions chicken is done at 165. Well, the chicken was quite dry at that temp.

The pork recipe was prett y easy to follow and make. The flavor wasn't quite potent enough though. The left overs were much more tasty the next day.

I'm continuing to eat at home without convience food! =) I've come to really love Trader Joes and Whole Foods. Last night, I was feeling under the weather so I opted for curried pumpkin soup courtesy of WFs. Tonight, I'm planning to try another pork chop recipe.

Quick and Easy!

I had no idea how quick and easy this meal would be. Total time 15 minutes. Yippeee! Again google helped me to figure out how long to steam green beans. (8 minutes if you were wondering) I'm still not sure if I cooked the fish long enough but I followed the recipe - 2 minutes per side. It seemed to flake and tasted great. I'll update if I get the plague. I've discovered I really like the larger couscous. Once I get into a good groove, I plan to start posting the recipes with the pictures.

Day 2: Turkey Chili

The chili turned out pretty well. It had nice flavor. The biggest draw back to this recipe is the fact it took 3 hours to make. This doesn't include the day of soaking the beans. So, I'm pretty sure this is a one time only recipe. On the plus side, there is enough left over for 2 more meals =)

Squash, Potato, and Onion Soup

This recipe sounded like the perfect meal for a cold night in. Until, I had no idea what a "winter" squash was. Thank goodness for great friends and Google to help me understand that winter squash isn't the name of a squash rather its a class of squash. Then the recipe called for fresh corriander. I thought that corriander was just the seeds from the cilantro plant. Well come to find out from a Google search cilantro is just the leaves and corriander refers to the entire "cilantro" plant. So, once I finally had all of the ingredients I got hung up a little on making "mashed squash". How long are you supposed to boil cubed squash to equal fork tender? Well I cooked it 18 minutes which may have been a few minutes too long as it was a little watery.

The cool thing about this recipe is that I got to use my blender! I haven't used it in at least 2 years.

Verdict: The soup tasted pretty good. The color was great. It took me about an hour and 10 minutes to complete the recipe. Also, there was a nice balance of active and inactive cook time so I could clean up as I went. That's amazing for me!

Happy New Year All!