Spicy Sweet and Sour Pork

My Wine Pie post was the swift kick in the pants I needed to get back to my blog. I really have quite a few things to share that I've made recently, so hopefully now I can get back on track and make my ol' blog here a priority again. I mean, right now I should be cleaning up my kitchen and putting a load of towels into the washer, but I'm sacrificing those things to write this. Ha! Like that was a tough decision.

I've been trying to have the husband help me meal plan some each week, and this was one of his choices a couple weeks ago. I pulled up some recipes I'd saved on Pinterest and had him flip through them and see what looked good. This is one he chose. I'm always down for a stir fry, and my kids love sweet and sour anything, so I figured this would be a good choice.

Spicy Sweet and Sour Pork
Source: adapted from Cooking Light

1 pound boneless pork chops, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
2 tablespoons cornstarch, divided
3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce, divided
1 (8-ounce) can pineapple chunks in juice, undrained
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 teaspoons Sriracha (hot chile sauce, such as Huy Fong)
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon minced ginger
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 cup chopped green bell pepper

Combine pork, 1 tablespoon cornstarch, and 1 tablespoon soy sauce; toss well to coat. Drain pineapple in a sieve over a bowl, reserving juice. Combine juice, remaining 1 tablespoon cornstarch, remaining 2 tablespoons soy sauce, vinegar, and next 3 ingredients (through Sriracha), stirring with a whisk.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add canola oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add pork to pan; sauté 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Add 1 cup onion, ginger, and garlic; sauté 1 minute. Stir in pineapple and bell pepper; sauté 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in vinegar mixture; bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Serve.

*****

The original recipe called for pork tenderloin, but I had pork chops on hand. Although, instead of grabbing two packages of pork chops from my freezer, I accidentally grabbed a package of pork chops and a package of chicken breasts. Oops. So ours was a pork/chicken combo. It worked out okay, and my kids thought it was kind of fun to try and figure out which pieces were pork and which were chicken. Anyway, it also called for more Sriracha, but I cut back on it since my kids don't like spicy food.

This was a total winner of a dinner! Everyone in my family loved it. Boy #1 even wanted to take leftovers to school for lunch the next day!! What?! I believe he rated this a "triple A+, 100" which is pretty freakin' good. I'll definitely make it again since my whole family enjoyed it!

Jen B's Sausage Bread

We ended up not having dinner last night. The boy started throwing up after his nap, and to be quite honest having to clean that up made me lose my appetite. Plus my stomach felt kind of off too. I made some mac and cheese for the husband, then I had a piece of toast before bed. Good thing I didn't eat more because I woke up in the middle of the night throwing up as well. I think we may have gotten food poisoning from lunch yesterday. The school district near us is offering free lunches for kids over the summer, so we went yesterday, and I think maybe that's how we got sick. I don't know for sure though.

Anyway...I was doing a freezer inventory recently and saw some frozen bread dough hanging out in the back corner of my garage freezer, so I wanted to put it to use. I also found a package of sweet Italian chicken sausage that was in there as well. I remembered seeing this recipe on Jen B's blog and thought it would be a perfect way to use up these two freezer items.

Jen's Sausage Bread

1 loaf of thawed frozen bread dough
1 Tablespoon of olive oil
1 small onion, sliced thinly (or 1/2 of a large onion)
1 green pepper, sliced into strips
3 cloves of fresh minced garlic
1 package of either regular or Italian sausage (mild or hot)
1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon of Italian seasoning (if using regular sausage)
1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes (can omit if too spicy or if using hot sausage)
salt and pepper to taste
cooking spray
egg wash (1 egg beaten and a teaspoon of water)

Directions:
1) Thaw bread dough according to package directions and set aside.
2) In a separate skillet, brown the sausage and remove from skillet. Let drain and set aside to cool on a cookie sheet (spread out in even layer for faster cooling).
3) In the same skillet, saute green peppers and onions until soft and onions are translucent. Add Italian seasoning and salt and pepper to mixture. Add minced garlic and saute until just slightly brown (do not burn).
4) Add cooked veggies to same cookie sheet and spread out evenly to cool.
5) While sausage and veggies are cooling, roll out dough into a large round OR a rectangle shape (it does not have to be precise).
6) Place filling of sausage and veggies in center. Sprinkle with red pepper flakes. Sprinkle with shredded mozzarella cheese and Parmesan.
7) Fold bread dough around filling and press seams together gently. (I like to roll mine like a burrito or fold it like an envelope).
8) Spay cookie sheet with cooking spray (I use the same one that the filling mixture was on). Place Sausage Bread seam side down on cookie sheet and brush top and sides of loaf with egg wash, evenly coating.
9) Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes (or whatever bread dough package recommends for cook time and oven temp).
10) Let cool for about 10-15 minutes, then slice and enjoy!

*****

The husband and I are going to eat dinner after the boy goes to bed. Originally I was going to make this last night, but I forgot to get the bread dough out to defrost, which ended up working out since I wasn't in the mood for dinner anyway. I think the boy would like this, but maybe there will be some left that he can try. Plus I've been really careful about what he eats today and sausage probably isn't good for his tummy. Of course I was sick, too, and I'm still going to eat it, which I guess doesn't really make sense.

I'm not sure if we have salad fixings in the fridge, but if we do I'll probably make up a salad to go with this.

Oh, and GO RED WINGS!!!!!!!!

Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice

I really like cooking Sunday dinner in the crockpot. It's so nice to get the whole afternoon with my family instead of them getting to have fun while I'm in the kitchen. The husband always calls his parents on Sunday after church, so while he and the boy were talking to them this morning I got this in the crockpot. And now all I have to do is put on some rice to cook in an hour or so. Fantastic!! In fact, I'm sitting outside in our backyard enjoying this FABULOUS 80 degree day while the boy runs through the sprinkler. This is why I love living in AZ (and I'll try to remember that in a couple months when I'm complaining about how freakin' hot it is).

Anyway, we've had this before but not in a long time. I was looking for something in my freezer and saw some frozen sausage, and I knew I had kidney beans in the pantry, so I added it to the menu for this week. It kept getting pushed back for varoius reasons, but it's worked out great now that we're having it tonight.

Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice
3 cups water
1 cup dried red kidney beans
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
3/4 cup chopped celery
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon paprika
3/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 (14-ounce) package turkey, pork, and beef smoked sausage, thinly sliced (such as Healthy Choice)
1 bay leaf
5 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups hot cooked long-grain rice
1/4 cup chopped green onions

Combine first 12 ingredients in an electric slow cooker. Cover with lid; cook on high heat for 5 hours. Discard bay leaf; stir in salt. Serve over rice; sprinkle servings evenly with green onions.

*****

Instead of the red pepper and black pepper I added in some Cajun seasoning instead. And my sausage wasn't Healthy Choice, it was Hillshire Farm. I'm so excited for this dinner. I went grocery shopping this afternoon, and the house smelled amazing when I walked in from that. I think we'll probably just have a salad with this and call it good.

I had planned on making a really yummy dessert for tonight, too, because blackberries were on sale this week, but the store was all out of them. I'm so bummed! I did get a rain check at least, and I may stop in there tomorrow to see if they have some so I could still get them and have the rain check for later. On a bright note, I finally spent less than $80--I only spent $37! I feel like I must have forgotten some important things because that seems like way too little to have spent.

Get ready for some yummy dinners this coming week--I'm really excited for the menu line-up I have planned!!

Beer Chicken Fajitas

Don't you love finding new cooking blogs? Okay, maybe not everyone does, but I sure do! Foodie Blogroll has changed my world. That may be an overstatement, but I sure have found some cool blogs through it. I haven't even explored the website a whole lot, but I just click on some of the blogs that show up on the widget every day (over on the right side of my blog). This is how I found this recipe, it was on Feasting Fun.

The husband is taking a class at church on Wednesday nights, so I'm trying to do a crockpot recipe on Wednesday nights so we're guaranteed to eat at a certain time. I hadn't been able to find any crockpot recipes that use stuff I got at Trader Joe's or Sprouts last week, so we were going to have french dip sandwiches because I figured that was easy to have ready for whenever. Then yesterday I came across this chicken fajita recipe and said, "Aha!" Okay, not really. Or I didn't verbalize it at least. I had slated chicken fajitas for Saturday night, so I just did some rearranging so we'll have them tonight. I'm excited to try this. My mom said she's done something similar with beef fajitas, and they turned out well. I used to have a really good recipe for chicken fajitas, but I got rid of the cookbook it was in without writing it down. All I remember is the chicken marinated in lime juice, garlic, and something else. Sigh. So hopefully we like this and it can be my new chicken fajita recipe.

Beer Chicken Fajitas
Ingredients:
1 onion
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
3-4 boneless chicken breasts (approx. 1 per person)
2 bags of fajita seasoning
½ bottle of beer
Tortillas

1. Slice up 1 onion, 1 red pepper, 1 green pepper, and 1 boneless/skinless chicken breast per person and put in a crock pot
2. toss with 2 bags fajita seasoning, and pour in half a bottle of beer
3. Simmer on low for 6-8 hours
4. Serve with tortillas and your favorite toppings.

*****

When I was at Trader Joe's last week I spotted a bag of frozen red, green, and yellow bell peppers (already sliced even!) and threw it in my cart. Jen B. and I took turns going in while the other stayed in the car with the kids, so it was literally a whirlwind TJ's trip, so I really did throw it in my cart. I think I'm going to just toss the whole bag into the crockpot, and I may scale back on the chicken a little since there will be a lot of peppers. I'll probably do two chicken breasts. And I guess I'll have to have beer with lunch because I'd hate to have half a bottle go to waste. ;) I bought some avocados at Sprouts, so I'm going to make guacamole to go with these. Not sure what we'll have on the side, I haven't planned that far ahead yet.

*****

Wow. This was REALLY yummy!! And for the first time in I think forever, I made chicken in the crockpot and it wasn't dried out!!! It was so super easy to throw everything together. I put the chicken breasts in the the crockpot still frozen, then after a few hours I took them out and sliced them up and put them back in. This is something I will definitely be making again. And I'll be honest...I didn't mind finishing off the remaining half a beer. Actually after the day I had, I went and got another out too. ;) Oh, I used High Life Light, so don't think you have to use some fancy beer for this. Even though High Life is the champagne of beers. ;)

Vegetable Calzones

Have you guys missed me? Wondered what happened to me? Did I drop off the face of the earth? Go into labor early? Nope...just haven't had to cook dinner for the past four nights. I have to say it's been awesome. I don't remember what happened Wednesday night that I didn't cook. The husband brought home some frozen pizzas from Whole Foods that were quite tasty. Thursday he had a big celebration at work and ate a bunch of food around 2:00 and wasn't hungry, so the boy and I had mac and cheese and hot dogs. Friday night we went to an Oktoberfest. One of our friends' companies was the main sponsor, so he hooked us up with wristbands for free food and drinks, so the boy and I took the husband and stayed to have free dinner, then we came home while the husband imbibed on free beer. Last night we went to my aunt and uncles, and my uncle grilled up some amazing steaks. Oh man, were they good.

So, now that you're all caught up on our goings-on for the past few nights, on to tonight's dinner. This was originally slated for Friday night. Since I had all the veggies for it, I figured I should make it tonight while they were still in good condition. This was from one of my many Weight Watchers cookbooks. Not that I'm doing WW right now, but it has good recipes in it, and I hadn't used it in awhile. There's no notes on it, so I don't think this is something I've ever made before.

Vegetable Calzones
3/4 cup warm water
1 tsp sugar
1 packet active dry yeast
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp salt
1 large egg
1 cup shredded mozzarella
3/4 cup ricotta cheese
2 plum tomatoes, chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, seeded and diced
3 scallions, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil
1/4 tsp black pepper

Combine the water and sugar in a small bowl. Sprinkle in the yeast and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.

Combine the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, and salt in a food processor. With the machine running, scrape the yeast mixture and the egg through the feed tube; pulse until the dough forms a smooth ball, about 1 minute.

Spray a large bowl with nonstick spray; put the dough in the bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm, draft-free place until it doubles in size, about 1 hour.

Meanwhile, combine the mozzarella, ricotta, tomatoes, bell pepper, scallions, basil, and pepper in a medium bowl.

Preheat the oven to 400. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray; set aside.

Punch down the dough. Sprinkle a work surface lightly with flour. Turn the dough onto the surface and cut into 6 pieces. Knead each piece lightly, then with a lightly floured rolling pin, roll each into a 6-inch circle. Mound one-sixth of the cheese mixture on half of each circle, then brush the edges lightly with water. Fold the dough over the filling; crimp the edges to seal. Transfer the calzones to the baking sheet; make three 1-inch slashes on top of each with a sharp knife. Bake until golden 20-23 minutes.

*****

They're in the oven now and almost done. I'm excited to try them. I'll tell you everything I did when I write the review (I know, I know...I still haven't done those for the last two dinenrs I made).

*****

The calzones were good, but they could have used some more fillings. Maybe less ricotta and more mozzarella? I think next time I'd add more veggies, too. Mushrooms, black olives. Also the dough needed a little something, but I don't know what. I'm not much of a yeast user, so I really don't know how much tampering you can do with a yeast dough. I think maybe a little more salt or some Italian seasoning would have helped. Also, I only had enough filling for five calzones, not the six called for in the recipe. I don't know if I overstuffed or what, but it worked out. I had some of the leftovers for lunch today, and it reheated decently. Definitely better the first time, but not bad. I'd make these again, just tweak them a little so there was more flavor.

Spaghetti Salad

We're having a low key dinner week. For one thing, it's too freakin' hot here in Phoenix to want to cook. Well, not if you're 18 weeks pregnant but really then all that you'd want is that half gallon of Blue Bell ice cream you bought at the grocery store today and a spoon while sitting on the couch with your feet up and the ceiling fan blowing above you. For another, we're heading out of town later this week, so I didn't want to buy a ton of groceries.

Last night we had brats and Pasta Roni. Not very exciting. Tonight we're having some chicken burgers from Trader Joe's (Chile Lime Chicken Burgers, I think they are), and I'm making a pasta salad that's going to be our side dish for the rest of the week. This recipe is from a family friend that I've known for literally my whole life. At one of my bridal showers, guests were asked to bring a dish to share and write down the recipe for me, so this is what our friend Julie did for me. I loved the salad when I was little, so I was super excited to get it, but I also love that it's in her handwriting. Don't you love recipes like that? Plus I love pasta salad in the summer when it's too stinkin' hot to want to eat.

Spaghetti Salad
20 ounces thin spaghetti, broken in pieces and cooked
2 pints cherry tomatoes
1 red onion, chopped
2 green peppers, chopped
1 lb. mushrooms, sliced
Sprinkle lots of parmesan cheese
4 T. Salad Elegance
1 large bottle Italian dressing

Combine pasta and vegetables. Top with cheese, Salad Elegance, and dressing. Mix well.

*****

I forgot it was thin spaghetti, so I bought regular. I also got grape tomatoes (is there really a difference?), and I skipped the green peppers because one was $1.29 at my grocery store. WTF?! That's what I usually pay for one red pepper that isn't on sale. Sheesh. Darn gas prices driving up grocery prices.

I'm sure there will be more pasta salad recipes to come during this opressive heat of summer in Phoenix. Or if you have one you love, send it to me!

Easy Stuffed Peppers

This is a recipe from the new cookbook I mentioned last week. It was my first time making stuffed peppers. I've only ever had the frozen Stouffers kind before, which I didn't think were bad at all. This seemed really easy, and I wanted some vegetarian dinners this week, so it sounded perfect!

Easy Stuffed Peppers
2-3/4 cup cooked brown rice
1 cup fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 cup spaghetti sauce
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided
4 medium green peppers, seeded, tops removed

Preheat oven to 400. Mix rice, mushrooms, spaghetti sauce, and 3/4 cup of the cheese. Place peppers in 2-quart baking dish. Fill with rice mixture, cover dish. Bake 30-35 minutes or until peppers are crisp-tender and filling is heated through. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup cheese. Bake additional 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

*****

I used two cups of dried rice and got slightly more than the 2-3/4 cup called for. I used all of it and added in some additional sauce to make up for it...I was worried the extra rice would make the filling kind of dry. And I missed the part about covering the dish, but I don't think it made too much difference, although I have nothing else to compare it to.

Overall, the peppers were good. I think I'd use different sauce next time because the one I used was a bit bland. I might try and add something more to the filling, too. I'm not sure what, I'll have to think on it. They were really filling...I could only eat half of one. The husband ate a whole one, the boy ate all of the filling out of half a pepper.