Yummy mac n cheese

I went through a phase while I was pregnant with our little man when I aspired to organize all my go-to recipes on these cards, print them at a photo place, and keep them in a small album. Great idea, huh?

Well, good intentions, at least. I got as far as putting several on cards and then realizing that I plan better with them in a Word doc that I can cut and paste from to make one page each week with all of our recipes for the week on it. I still have these files, so I've decided to post them occasionally. (And if you want the template or others, here's where I found it.) Here's a recipe that I found on the cooking discussion forum on BabyCenter. We love it, and I'm considering making this weekend as good ol' comfort food. Mmm.

Edited to add: it's not really spicy, unless you buy spicier Monterrey Jack cheese.

New favorite recipe

Lee and I usually would not rank pork at the top of our list of favorite foods, but after eating this a couple weeks ago, Lee said, "That might be my favorite dish ever." I'm making it again tonight, so I'll try to remember to take a couple pictures to add to this post!

Rosemary Pork Chops
1 lb pork chops
1 tsp rosemary
1/2 tsp marjoram
1/2 tsp savory
1 tsp minced garlic (I think I'll use 2 tsp tonight, though)
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup white wine
4 oz goat cheese

-Make a mixture of all the seasonings and mash it onto both sides of the each pork chop.
-Fry the chops in the butter and oil over medium heat, browning both sides.
-Add the wine, cover, and bring to a boil.
-Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 20-25 minutes.
-Uncover and add goat cheese (can put on top of meat and/or in the sauce - works either way).
-Cover again once you've added the goat cheese and simmer for another 15-20 minutes or until chops are very tender.
-Serve chops with the sauce spooned over them - yum!

I adapted this recipe from a low-carb cookbook that my sister-in-law gave me for Christmas, but I don't feel bad posting it here as my own since I changed it so much! :)

Tasty, tasy Southwestern pork chops

I've had a major revelation this week: I'm not much of a cook, but now that work has slowed down and I have more time to be domestic, I've realized that I actually like to cook. I've never disliked cooking, but I've never been overly fond of it either; I've just thought of it as a means to an end, not as something particularly enjoyable. But evidently I do enjoy cooking as long as I have enough time not to feel rushed while cooking!

The dinner I made for us last night is quite possibly my most impressive culinary feat yet. I was already marinating pork chops in a tequila lime sauce, so I decided to search online for a Southwestern pork recipe. I found one here. See the recipe I actually used below, since I modified it some because of the ingredients I had and because I had to scale up the recipe since I had a lot of pork to cook. It was AMAZING, and I don't even like pork (or I didn't think I did until last night)!

Southwestern pork chops

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 9 thick pork chops (not sure how much they weighed; it was a big thing of pork chops from Sam's Club), marinated in tequile lime marinade (but I think I could have skipped the marinade and probably will in the future)
• 1.5 cups of long grain rice
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 4 tsp chopped fresh cilantro (I didn't really measure, just guestimated!)
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 2 tsp onion powder
• 2 tsp taco seasoning
• 1 can green Mexican salsa (found in the Hispanic food section, I think my can was 7oz)
• 1 can corn, drained
• 2 cans chicken broth (I think it was about 4-5 cups maybe?)
• 1 can tomato sauce (I used a 15oz can of plain tomato sauce, though I think it would be tasty if you got one of the Southwestern-flavored tomato sauces)
• 1 medium-sized red bell pepper, chopped into small-medium pieces
• 1 cup Colby & Monterrey Jack cheese (to be honest, I probably used more than one cup since I think cheese makes everything better)

Recipe:

1. Heat oil in frying pan.
2. Brown pork chops on both sides. (I just had them browned slightly, about two minutes or so each side.)
3. In a baking dish, combine rice, chicken broth, tomato sauce, corn, green salsa, bell pepper, and spices. (I did this in advance during Jocelyn's naptime, and put it in the fridge until I started making dinner.)
4. Place browned chops over rice mixture.
5. Cover and bake for 1.5 hours at 350 degrees.
6. Uncover and sprinkle with cheese.
7. Put back in oven for a couple minutes until cheese is melted.

In Lee's words, "This is a restaurant-quality dish!" Plus Jocelyn loved the rice, even though it was a little spicy, so it worked for the whole family. (She wasn't too interested in the pork, though, and just filled up on rice and veggies.) As for me, this is the first meal I've had in Raleigh that made me feel like I was in South Texas when I closed my eyes and just savored the flavors. I love the food in Rio Grande City, so that's the highest compliment I can give!