7.10.2013

Honey and spice sautéed pork hand tacos

Source:  porkbeinspired.com

So I have a pork problem. I'm not opposed to it. I just find it to be an awkward food. Growing up pork meant shake and bake on thick butterflies chops. Yum. That's a win in my book, even in my 30's. But that's not really my food style anymore. Now I do enjoy pork tenderloin, and hello pulled pork. We buy chips when they go on sale (hello buy one get one!), however the last several times they have seemed to be overlooked and dry. I was flipping through a magazine the other day and saw this recipe. I knew we had pork to use this week so I thought I would give it a try.  

Weather has been pretty rough here today. Like massive flooding shutting down streets. So when I came home I rushed to get dinner started and done before things got bad again. Fail. Meat was marinated but not cooked. I had electric stoves growing up and am never really comfortable but God bless gas. Out electric starter didn't work but a long lighter and the gas got us there. 

Ingredients
1 lb pork thinly sliced into strips (by the time I trimmed away the fat we had 12 oz)
1 tbl olive oil
1 tbl honey
1 tbl soy sauce
1 tbl lemon juice
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp chili powder

Methods
Mix the marinade ingredients well and add pork. Stir to coat and let it sit 15 min. Cook on the sautéed pan for a few min until cooked through (or throw on the grill in a grill pan) 

Serve taco style!



I actually ate mine with a bunch of farmers market veggies and a little cheese in classic fajita salad style. Easy. Fast. Tasty. David approved. Win. 

Sorry for the crap pic.... But we still have no power:(


7.08.2013

Buffalo chicken enchiladas

Who doesn't live dome Mexican? Or buffalo chicken?  Why not combine them? EmilyBites did and I gave it a try. Turned out on, but I will stick with my normal Mexican. This was a but too much kick for me and really, I like my Mexican a little more traditional or just tex-mex fusiony. Even David thought these were too spicy. 

Adapted from Emilybites.com

materials
12 oz chicken, cooked and shredded  
8 oz can tomato sauce
1/4 cup buffalo sauce 
1/2 T chili powder
1/2 T cumin
1/2 T garlic powder 
1/8 t sugar
3/4 cup triple cheddar
1/4-1/2 cup minced celery
1 T blue cheese dressing 
8 small corn tortillas 

methods
Combine the tomato sauce, buffalo sauce, chili poser, cumin, garlic powder, and sugar. Take 1/2 cup sauce and mix well with chicken, cheese, and blue cheese dressing. At this point I stopped to make David's veggie free enchiladas. For mine I mixed in the celery and completed the enchiladas. Spray with a little oil and bake at 425F for 8-10 min to get crunchy. Then lower the heat to 400, top with the remaining sauce and bake for 18-20 min. 

David added plenty of extra blue cheese dressing to cool his down. Ill be using some yogurt with my leftovers for lunch.  And later this week we will just go back to old fashioned turkey and black bean enchiladas. 



7.07.2013

Baked Cod

Nothing super special here. We bought a bunch of cod when it was on sale, but I had no idea what we were going to do with it since frying was out. I found this handy little method of cooking them in Cooking Light. It was pretty quick ad actually turned out crunchy!  I imagine we will use this method again.

Ingredients
2 cod fillets, approx 4 is apiece
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/4 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder 
Black pepper and salt to taste 
2 tbl oil (olive or canola)

Methods
Preheat oven to 450F.

I started out with mixing the panko, paprika, onion powder, and garlic powder in a bowl. Next, I rinsed the cod and patted it dry and salted and peppered to taste. Next step - obviously, dip the cod into the egg followed by the breadcrumbs. 



Add the oil to an ovenproof pan on medium/medium-high. Pan fry the cod pieces for about 3 minutes on one side (until brown and crispy). I flipped the fish over and then baked it for about 7-8 minutes in the preheated oven. 



I enjoyed with a sauce made of Greek yogurt, lemon juice, and fresh dill. Definitely the best fake fried fish I've made.