Smoky Pan-Grilled Pork Chops

From Cooking Light



Ingredients:
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon hot smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 (4-ounce) boneless center-cut pork chops
Cooking spray

Directions:
1. Cook cumin seeds in a small skillet over medium heat 1 minute or until fragrant, stirring frequently. Place in a clean coffee grinder or blender; process until ground. Combine ground cumin, sugar, paprika, salt, and pepper; rub evenly over pork.

2. Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add pork to pan; cook 5 minutes on each side or until done

Comments:
Kind of copped out on this one. Skipped most of the first step and just mixed the spices together and dumped them on the pork. What can I say? It was an off week. I'm just happy I cooked anything at all. And I got to use my new grill pan again, so that was fun.

Turkey & Bow Ties

From Taste of Home's Cooking for 2 Winter 2009



Ingredients:
1-1/4 cups uncooked bow tie pasta
6 ounces turkey breast tenderloin, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 cup fresh broccoli florets
1 garlic clove, minced
3/4 cup canned Italian diced tomatoes
1/3 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons white wine or additional reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
Dash cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook turkey in oil over medium heat until no longer pink. Add broccoli and garlic; cook until broccoli is tender.

Stir in the tomatoes, broth, wine, basil and cayenne. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 5-8 minutes or until heated through, stirring occasionally. Drain pasta; add to turkey mixture and toss to coat. Sprinkle with cheese. Yield: 2 servings.

Comments:
I actually used chicken rather than turkey. I always have a gazillion boneless, skinless breasts in the house and turkey is not cheap. That was my only swap out on this one. It seems similar to another recipe I made previously, but I'll never turn down chicken and pasta. :)

Crabmeat Scramble

From Taste of Home's Cooking for 2 Winter 2009



Ingredients:
4 eggs
1/4 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 can (6 ounces) lump crabmeat, drained
2 tablespoons sliced green onion
2 tablespoons butter

Directions:
In a small bowl, whisk the eggs, sour cream, cheese, pepper and salt; set aside.

In a large skillet, saute crab and onion in butter until crab is lightly browned and onion is tender. Add egg mixture; cook and stir over medium heat until eggs are completely set. Yield: 2 servings.

Comments:
This is a quick, simple breakfast or dinner meal. The recipe says total time is 20 minutes. It took me 10, maybe. This was not for me of course, but Adam ate it all up.

Barbecued Chicken Quesadillas

From Taste of Home's Cooking for 2 Winter 2009



Ingredients:
1 tablespoon butter, softened
2 flour tortillas (8 inches)
3/4 cup shredded cheddar-Monterey Jack cheese
1 cup chopped cooked chicken breast
1/4 cup barbecue sauce

Directions:
Spread butter over one side of each tortilla. Place tortillas, buttered side down, on griddle. Sprinkle one side of each tortilla with 3 tablespoons cheese. Combine chicken and barbecue sauce; spoon over cheese. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Fold over and cook over low heat for 1-2 minutes on each side or until cheese is melted. Cut into wedges.

Comments:
I used cooking spray rather than butter and it worked fine. This is a totally simple dish, I added barbecue sauce to half of the chicken for Adam and left mine plain, so it even works for people with differing tastes. We'll probably try this one again. The variations are endless.

Broccoli Cheese Strata

From Taste of Home's Cooking for 2



Ingredients:
1 cup coarsely chopped fresh broccoli
2 green onions, sliced
1 tablespoon water
2 slices white bread, cubed
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
4 eggs
1/2 cup 2% milk
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/8 teaspoon dill weed
Dash ground nutmeg
Dash pepper

Directions:
In a small microwave-safe dish, microwave broccoli and onions in water on high for 1 minute; drain and set aside. Place bread in a shallow 3-cup baking dish coated with cooking spray. Add broccoli mixture and cheese. In a small bowl, combine the eggs, milk, mustard, dill, nutmeg and pepper; pour over cheese. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Yield: 2 servings.

Comments:
Interesting dish. I made it in the morning and baked it for dinner. The texture wasn't really that great, but it tasted fine. I don't know that I'd make it again. We'll see.

Grilled Turkey Sandwiches

From Taste of Home's Cooking for 2



Ingredients:
4 slices white bread
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1/3 pound thinly sliced deli turkey
4 slices tomato
2 slices provolone cheese (1 ounce each)
1 tablespoon butter, softened (I used Brummel & Brown. Yum!)

Directions:
Spread two slices of bread with mayonnaise. Layer with turkey, tomato and cheese; top with remaining bread. Spread outsides of sandwiches with butter. On a hot griddle, grill sandwiches for 3-4 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Yield: 2 servings.

Comments:
A very simple meal for sure. I used our panini press rather than a griddle but it didn't brown up like I expected. I think I had the temperature setting too low. In any case, they tasted just fine. This will be made again at some point for sure.

Beef Macaroni Skillet

From Taste of Home's Cooking for 2 Summer 2008. (Subscriber only recipe)



Ingredients:
ground beef
onion
green pepper (left out)
V8
macaroni
Worcestershire sauce
pepper
(I also added some cheddar cheese)

Comments:
When Adam asked me what was for dinner tonight I told him "some beef macaroni thing." He said, "Does it have cheese in it?" Well, no, it didn't, but that doesn't mean I couldn't just throw some in. So that's what I did. I also was short on the V8 (I was doubling the recipe and forgot that when I went shopping) so I partially cooked the pasta before putting everything together in the pan. That seemed to work nicely. Overall, it was a little bland for my tastes. I'm not sure if maybe some Italian seasoning or salt would have fixed that. Something to play with next time I guess.

Hot Ham 'n' Cheese Sandwiches

From Taste of Home's Cooking for 2 Summer 2008. (Subscriber only recipe)



Ingredients:
mayo
kaiser rolls
cheddar cheese
ham
mozzarella cheese

Comments:
These were so good! The original recipe calls for bacon along with the ham, but even I have limits on the number of pig parts I eat in one meal. So I skipped that. I ran out of foil after two so the third sandwich got packeted in parchement paper. It didn't seem to make a difference in the end product. This recipe will definitely remain in rotation. Yum!

Mexican Manicotti

From Taste of Home's Cooking for 2 Summer 2008.



Ingredients:
manicotti
chicken breast
salsa
ricotta cheese
olives (left out)
parsley
pimentos (also left out)
green onion
garlic
hot sauce (yep, that's right, left out as well)
Monteray Jack cheese

Comments:
I was kind of skeptical of a manicotti dish made with salsa rather than spaghetti sauce. It was kind of neat how the salsa turned the ricotta cheese filling a cute pink color. Luckily the end product was mighty tasty and not too hot for my wimp of a tongue.

Black Bean Pita Pockets

From Taste of Home's Cooking for 2 Summer 2008



Ingredients:
black beans
corn
bacon
red pepper (left out)
mayo
celery
sugar
onion
cider vinegar
olive oil
pita bread
romaine (left out)
tomato

Comments:
Adam chose this recipe out of one of the magazines I got him to look through. Then when I made it he said, "I don't like black beans." Uhm. Ok then. He ate it anyway. The filling was very tasty and while we ate it for dinner with warm pita and corn, it's just as good cold. I did forget to pick up romaine so I had to leave it out. I'm not sure how much of a difference it would have made. Perhaps it would have been less runny with some lettuce to soak up some of the juices.

Grilled Summer Fruit Kabobs

From Cooking for 2 Summer 2008.

Pre grill

Post grill

On the plate


Ingredients:
peach
nectarine
plum
peach preserves
butter

Comments:
Since the grill was on for the brats anyway I figured this would be a good side dish/dessert. I only stabbed myself about a million times with the skewers while threading the fruit on. Those things are sharp! Anyway, the fruit gets really sweet as it cooks so I'd recommend using the optional pound cake and whipped topping to cut some of that. I didn't. I wish I would have.

Grilled Seasoned Bratwurst

From Cooking for 2 Summer 2008. (link is to the original recipe, not the scaled-down for 2 version, which is a subscriber only link.)



Ingredients:
brats
beer
onion
fennel seed (left out - I don't even have this)
buns

Comments:
This recipe is very similar to a crockpot version that we like in that the brats are poached in beer and onions. This version then crisps up the outside on the grill whereas the slow cooker one just cooks them all day. Both are yummy. And easy.

Fried Ice Cream

From Cooking for 2 Summer 2008. (subscriber only recipe)



Ingredients:
vanilla ice cream
heavy whipping cream
vanilla
frosted flakes
cinnamon

Comments:
Interesting idea, frying ice cream. Kind of like a baked Alaska concept. It takes a while since the ice cream has to freeze for at least an hour between coating layers. Mine didn't turn out so well since the coating fell off in the deep fryer. It still tasted good... I've got the second half of the ice cream left so I might try this again. I may throw the cereal in the food processer to get them smaller. I might also try and sculpt the ice cream into smoother balls so the crumbs stick better. We'll see.