Spiced Pork Agrodolce

This recipe is from Giada De Laurentiis's "Childhood Favorites" episode of her show Giada at Home. She used thick cuts of pork chops, while I veered toward tender pork tenderloin, sliced into medallions. For this recipe, we will make a fancy-shmancy sounding entree in a very simple manner. We will start by preparing the pork with a little spice from red pepper flakes, then creating the agrodolce sauce, the naming meaning agro (sour) and dolce (sweet), a tradition in Italian cuisine.

On a side note, I have a confession: I love the opera. It started as a need to fulfill an extra curricular class in high school but grew to a solid interest. I was involved in the school's Opera Society and our teacher focused on the a series in Dallas that spring, Richard Wagner's Das Rheingold, Siegfried, Die Walkure (remember the "w" in German is pronounced like a "v", sports fans example Dirk Nowitzki, and they are very emphatic with their pronunciation). We would study the libretto and learn the story in English, translating from German, and then go see each opera. He always wanted us to learn his favorite, Verdi's Italian opera, Rigoletto, but it was not playing that semester - and then I graduated. I recently saw Rigoletto is coming to Dallas this spring so I downloaded the arias and playing them tonight as I prepare this Italian pork dish.

Grocery List:

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 lb. pork tenderloin
• Crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup honey
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
  
• 3 scallions, pale green and white part only, minced
  
• 1 tsp fresh rosemary leaves, minced
  
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
  
• Salt and pepper to taste

Start by mincing your fresh rosemary, garlic and scallions, then combine with the balsamic vinegar and honey in a mixing bowl, whisking well. Pour into a sauce pan over medium heat. Once bubbling, add the butter and whisk until dissolved and thickened, creating the glaze.




Cut your tenderloin into 1 - 1 1/2 inch medallions, season with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Heat the olive oil in a skillet and sear your pork for 5-6 minutes. Flip and spoon 1/3 cup's worth of the glaze over the pork, then cover the skillet to help the meat cook evenly. Let cook for an another 6 minutes.




Once the pork is cooked through, arrange on a plate and spoon the glaze over top. Maybe it was the mood from cooking, maybe it was the classical music, or maybe it really was just that good but we really loved this recipe! The butternut squash risotto was a perfect compliment to this meal. Very successful Monday night in my kitchen, bon appetit mi amores.

Baked Chipotle Sweet Potato Fries

Here is a recipe from Gina's Skinny Recipe blog that paired deliciously with the Skinny Sloppy Joes. The natural sweetness of the sweet potato was ignited with chipotle chili seasoning and a little garlic powder. This took 10 minutes of prep time, 30 minutes to cook. The nutritional facts inlcude 108 calories, 4.7 g of fat, 1.1g of protein, 15.8g carbs, 2g of fiber.

Grocery List:
- 1 sweet potato (about 5-7 inches long)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- salt to taste
- 1 tbsp chipotle chile powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder

Start be preheating your oven to 450 degrees. Peel your sweet potato and slice into strips - I found it easier to cut the sweet potato in half (width wise) and then cut vertical strips for the fries.


In a medium size bowl, add the olive oil, salt, chile powder and the garlic powder, stirring well. Toss the potatoes in the oil until well coated.


Arrange the sweet potatoes on a baking sheet and put in the oven for 15 minutes.


Take out and flip, then bake for another 15 minutes. Keep an eye on the potatoes, they cook differently according to size.


After an additional 15 minutes, if the fries are not crispy enough, turn on the broiler for 3-5 minutes. Let cool for about 10 minutes and enjoy!

Skinny Sloppy Joes

This is what happens when you ask a man what he wants for dinner - the suggestion of sloppy joes or chili. Since we had already posted our chili recipe, I thought I would try for this one instead. I searched some of my favorite sites and found this recipe courtesy of Gina's Skinny Recipe blog - I forgot the red bell pepper and omitted the mushrooms, but you can use if you want more nutritional sustenance. Prep and cook time took about 20 minutes and this meal contains about 150 calories.

Grocery List:
- 1 lb. of lean ground beef
- 1 tbsp of steak seasoning
- 5 baby carrots, minced
- 3/4 cup onion, minced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 cups tomato sauce
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
(we also added 1 tsp. brown sugar, chili powder and cumin to taste to enhance the flavor)

Using a food processor, chop up the carrots, onion and garlic.

Heat a large skillet or pot over medium high heat. Add the meat to the pan and break it up with a spatula. Add the steak seasoning as the meat cooks. After about 5 minutes, add the minced carrot, onion and garlic.


Next, add the Worcestershire sauce and red wine vinegar then cook for an additional 5 minutes, followed by the tomato sauce and tomato paste. Stir well to combine. At this point Max and I agreed that it needed more flavor, so we added a few shakes of cumin and chili powder, which made it perfect.


Take your rolls and serve it up with a salad and baked chipotle sweet potato fries.

Goat Cheese Pesto Pizza

Nom, Nom, Nom.... things I love 1) goat cheese, 2) pesto, 3) pizza. This works out beautifully. Max Man had requested that we do a pizza night soon. Last spring we frequently made our own pizzas so I thought it would be a great "date night in" meal for us this Friday evening, slightly revamped. I googled a goat cheese pesto pizza and found numerous recipes to help tailor my compilation of ingredients and make the right version for our taste buds. I wanted to add chicken chunks and sun-dried tomatoes to the toppings, making sure my chicken had a good long pesto bath to enhance the basil flavor. I accidentally chose the sun-dried tomatoes that were vacuum packaged rather than ones in oil. When I tried to cut them, I couldn't, so I used regular tomatoes in my fridge instead.

The bakery sold me fresh dough that they use for their pizzas in house at Whole Foods. Why re-invent the wheel when you have such wonderful dough at your disposal? Ok, truth be told, I'm just not feeling ambitious enough to whip up our own, maybe another time.

Grocery list:
- Batch of basic pizza dough
- 1/3 cup basil pesto
- 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese (low fat, part skim)
- 2 oz. crumbled goat cheese
- Tomato, chopped
- 2 small chicken breasts, chopped
- Red onion, chopped

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Using a cookie sheet or pizza pan, spread your dough out into your desired shape. Dork moment, I did try the "pizza toss" and it absolutely did not work for me. I settled on my best attempt at a circle...


Next, take your pesto and spread it across the dough evenly until fully covered.


I then chopped the chicken and put it in a container with pesto, shake it up to coat.


Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese across the pesto. Follow in suit with the goat cheese.


Add your tomatoes, followed by your chicken and strips of red onion.


Put your pizza in the oven and bake for 15 minutes or until cheese is bubbling and slightly browned. Simply divine!


This reaffirmed my love for goat cheese, pesto and pizza. I hope you enjoy it like we did!

Mongolian Beef

It's been a while since I've used the wok, so I decided tonight would be a good night to make the Mongolian Beef that was on my list of upcoming meals. This comes from Cooking Light's Fast Healthy Meals magazine. I served it over light organic Udon noodles and added water chestnuts and fresh broccoli, while the original recipe called for white rice and scallions. The sauce is very robust with a bit of a kick to it and the noodles really captured the garlic and ginger flavors from the sauce. This recipe contains 337 calories, 105g fat, 26g protien, 90g carbs, 17g fiber, 67mg calcium per serving.

Grocery List:
- 4 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce (I prefer Tamari)
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 4 teaspoons dry sherry
- 4 teaspoons hoisin sauce
- 2 teaspoons rice vinegar
- 2 teaspoons red chili paste
- 1/4 teaspoon of salt
- 2 teaspoons of peanut or sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon ginger
- 2 cloves minced fresh garlic
- 1 lb. sirloin steak, thinly sliced across the grain
- 1/4 cup water chestnuts
- 2 cups of broccoli florets

Combine the first 8 ingredients, stirring until smooth.


Thinly slice the meat into long strips.


Heat the oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add the beef, followed by the garlic and then the ginger. Saute for 2 minutes or until beef is browned. Next add the soy sauce mixture to the wok and cook until thickened.



Cut the broccoli and steam in either a veggie steamer or in a pot with a little water.



Once the broccoli is softened, drain and add it to the wok, followed by the water chestnuts.




The noodles take only 5 minutes. Boil the water until bubbling then add the noodles.


Drain when soft. To serve, create a bed of noodles and spoon the mongolian beef on top and you have one delicious dinner, we loved it!

Beef Kabobs

So this is not fully homemade but it was a wonderful dinner for us tonight! This afternoon in our Sunday Whole Foods run, we decided to have steak kabobs, and the man behind the counter told us to pick what we wanted and they would assemble as we continued shopping. We picked our veggies (red and yellow bell peppers, red onion) and they prepared the kabobs for us with our chosen teryaki marinade. I think of it as our "food processor" dinner. No we didn't spend the time chopping it ourselves, but we had something (or someone) take care of it for us, as we continued our grocery shopping.

I made simple steamed baby carrots and my creamed spinach recipe, this time adding a little more Tony's Creole. We stuck these on the E-Grill for 20 minutes and then had a wonderful little Sunday night dinner!

Gorgonzola Mashed Potatoes with Fried Onions

Well, I can't seem to get my picture to cooperate so this is going to remain at the top of the post, rather than below. Are you salivating yet?

This recipe was an amazing twist on mashed potatoes and all credit due to fellow blogger, Anne, at AnnieBakes. I made this version and my regular potatoes with chives, horseradish and sour cream for Thanksgiving. They were both very well received, completely demolished by the family. I look forward to making these again and highly recommend them for you to try!

Grocery List:

• 2 onions, diced
• 3-4 cloves garlic, chopped (don't mince, keep thick and in full slices for flavor)
  
• 4 tablespoons butter, divided
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 5 Yukon Gold potatoes
  
• 3/4 cup light milk
• 1/4 cup Gorgonzola cheese, or to taste
• Salt & pepper, to taste
• 1 tablespoon fresh chives, chopped

In a skillet heat 2 tablespoons butter on medium heat then add the onions. I decided to add slivers of garlic to this recipe. Add garlic to onions and fry until golden brown.

By the time I got to my aunt's she had already peeled and boiled the potatoes so I'll skip that step but go ahead and do that part. Drain the potatoes and put in a mixing bowl. Add the butter and the milk, mix together using electric beaters. Stir in the Gorgonzola and season with salt and pepper. Transfer the potatoes to your serving bowl and top with the fried onions, garlic and fresh chives, then ta-da, fantastic!

Now I will refer to the picture at the top: the one on the right is Gorgonzola and Fried Onion version, the one on the left is my signature sour cream, horseradish and chive potatoes. I placed them in the same aluminum casserole dish and kept warm in a buffet warmer.