Glaze, Ginger and Chops

Dinner tonight was great!  The only change we'd make was to have more sauce to pour on the meat.  I made a chicken flavored rice in the rice cooker, some green peas and the Ginger-Glazed Pork Chops.  I also made a boneless chicken breast just in case Miss M didn't want the pork chop.  She ate the pork chop, much to her delight so that was awesome! 

And as you can see from the gravy boat, there was only about 1/2 cup of sauce leftover after I removed what I needed for the glaze.  So double the sauce would definitely work.

All in all, it's a keeper recipe.  Nothing too exotic except maybe the ginger, but that's the whole purpose.  There was also a recipe for Ginger Basmati rice on the same page...that has possibilities as well.  I do have Basmati rice on hand.  Maybe this could be part of one of the unnamed recipes.  Hmmm.

Still not sure whether the Danish Sailor's Stew will be tomorrow or Friday.  Depends on how my life goes.  Right now I plan to cook tomorrow, but a lot can happen between now and dinner.

I changed my mind...I switched some of the recipes

This is the great thing about making a list.  You can change it, or as I prefer, rearrange it.

So I haven't had Danish Sailor's Stew in about a million years, so I thought I'd bring that back sooner rather than next week.  It was a recipe that has been with me since way back and I remember making it at home when I was a teenager who had decided that doing the dishes was a chore I had had enough of and would rather feed my family instead.  That meant having a plan when I got home and not spending too much time with my friends after school (although sometimes they came over to assist or just watch every so often) and gather our family favorites as well as find some new dishes.  This was one of my first finds.  I still think it needs a bit of a tweak here and there.  One of the things that is a bit off putting to me is the color of the gravy.  It is quite light in color.  Gravy to me should be brown usually, and especially when beef is involved.  I have added a bit of caramel coloring that I get from the King Arthur Flour Company.  Its awesome because it is vegetable based so it works with any dish!!  And of course this solves my problem.

Anyway here it is:

Danish Sailor’s Stew

2 T. Butter

½ lb. Ground Beef

1 ½ c. chopped onion

3 c. boiling water

3 peppercorns

½ small bay leaf

Dash nutmeg

1 ½ t. salt

3 large potatoes, pared, diced

          Melt butter in a Dutch Oven.  Add the meat and onions.  Stir-fry, breaking up the meat clumps, 10 minutes, or just until the meat loses its redness. (DO NOT BROWN) Add water, peppercorns, bay leaf, nutmeg, and salt; cover and simmer 30 minutes.  Add potatoes, recover and simmer very slowly, 2-3 hours or until the potatoes cook down to mush and the flavors mellow.  Remove bay leaf and serve.  Serves 4.

Also, since Graduation was yesterday and our Tuesday dinner in with friends is now dinner out, I will cook Wednesday and Thursday or Friday.

Again, rearranging a list is fun and it's good to be flexible...even with dinner!

June and July list, starting with the first recipe

This is the June/July list which will have recipe links eventually

6/11 #45 Ginger Glazed Pork Chops

6/13 #42 Danish Sailor's Stew 

6/18 #41  Bulgur Mini Meatloaves

6/20 #40 Keftedes ~ Greek Meatballs
6/25 #43 Seasoned Baked Chicken Legs
6/27 #44  Pork Lo Mein 
7/2   #38 Coal Miner's Pies
7/4   #46
7/9   #47
7/11  #48
7/16  #49
7/18  #50
7/23  #51
7/25  #52
7/30  #53
8/1    #54

 Recipes 46-54 are to be determined this week.  I just wanted to get going on this weeks stuff.  New recipe tomorrow for Ginger Glazed Pork Chops.  Gluten Free so that's a bonus.  It comes from "Cooking Light", July 2015, p.142 which highlights using up ginger.  Here it is:

Ginger Glazed Pork Chops

¼ c. unsalted ketchup

¼ c. water

2 T. reduced sodium soy sauce

1 T. finely chopped fresh ginger

2 t. minced garlic

4-4 oz. boneless pork chops

½ t. kosher salt

3 T. green onions

1 T. sesame seeds

Combine ketchup, water, soy sauce, ginger, and garlic in a saucepan.  Bring to a simmer; simmer 5 minutes or until slightly thickened, stirring occasionally.  Combine 3 T. of the Sauce and the pork chops in a bowl; toss to coat.  Sprinkle with salt.  Heat a a large grill pan over medium high heat.  Coat the pan with cooking spray.  Add the pork to the pan; grill 4 minutes on each side util the desired degree of doneness.  Remove the pork from the pan and let stand 5 minutes.  Drizzle the pork with the remaining sauce; sprinkle with green onions and sesame seeds.  Serves 4.

I'll post the rest of the recipes tomorrow or Tuesday.  Tuesday is a better bet.  I'm cooking this on Tuesday as we are having our friends over, and tomorrow is graduation night.  Not a lot of time tomorrow needless to say.  And I have to wear girl shoes!  Yikes! :(

         

          

And the hiatus is really over...

My dinner went so well, that I guess I gave myself permission to be less regimented.  So much for that.  We are nearly at a summer schedule, so this should be a time that's easier to get back into the groove.

So my calendar is freer, so much so that it hasn't been set up yet.  I'm going to still have dinner with our friends once a week.  That means out twice, once our pick, once their pick, as well as, dinner at home, once at our house and once at their house.

The calendar will be set to start with dinner at our house next.  That will be a cooking night.  Generally it is Tuesday, but sometimes it moves.  This also means that I trade the cooking night that week to accommodate dinner that particular week.  If I decide to cook Mondays, then that week I'll cook on Tuesday instead as a meal swap.  That said, Mondays and Thursdays will be cooking nights generally, but I can add and swap as needed.

Usually, it is a new recipe when we gather with our friends, so that's fun too!  I'll update a couple of times before Tuesday next arrives (June 12th to be exact).  I'm looking for something new for that night.  Also I have to make room in the freezer as well.  That's the scariest part.  I have two refrigerators and that means two freezers upstairs and then two freezers downstairs.  I think I can make space by eating through the ice cream and sorbet that occupies a good bit of space in one freezer...that and peanut butter eggs...my favorite and hubby's favorite food group as well!

It is Captain's Practice season now, so less structured for the atheltes. Then we start summer conditioning so more time during the day since we are tied to the school calendar and have the summer "off".  This will come together.  I never intended for this to be a 15 plus month break.  Calendar will be up this week.  That's the first step.  I'll also know how much room to make in the freezer.  The good news is some of the ingredients for my dinners will be readily available because I can inventory the freezers at the same time.  I am frightened at the final count of peanut butter eggs...but they freeze so well and are so yummy!

We still are gluten reduced and have found that still works for us.  I now routinely substitute sunbutter (from sunflower seeds) for peanut butter, generally use olive or sunflower oil, and we've really not missed high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oil of any kind or fake sweeteners.  The bonus on the fake sweetener is I have not had a migraine in 6+ years.

Thanks for letting me ramble...the calendar will post on Friday.  There, I've set a concrete goal!  Friday it is!