Spicy Baked Pork Chops with Butternut Squash

Who doesn't like delicious food? Okay, you can GTFO. Everyone else, this meal was totally scrumptious, as well as warming for a winter night, which it definitely still is here in Chicago, no bones about it. Speaking of no bones, these are boneless pork chops, which I prefer over bone-in. They just always seem to come out juicier.

I served this with some creamed spinach I found in the freezer, but any steamed green vegetable would be an excellent way to add color and extra nutrition to this meal.

Before you set off on the full recipe, you're going to want to whip up a batch of this Shake'n'Bake-style breadcrumb coating. It's damn delicious.

Spicy Homemade Breadcrumb Crust
Makes enough to coat 6 large boneless pork chops
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp ground mustard
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp sugar
1 cup unseasoned breadcrumbs
1 1/2 Tbsp vegetable oil

Mix dry ingredients together thoroughly, then add vegetable oil and mix with a fork until oil is distributed evenly and crumbs are a uniform size. This will keep in a well-sealed container for about two week. Not actually, though, because you'll want to put it on everything.

On to the main recipe!

Spicy Baked Pork Chops with Butternut Squash
Makes 6 servings
2 lbs. butternut squash, diced into 1 inch cubes
1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
Salt
Pepper
6 boneless pork chops (about 4 oz apiece and 1 inch thick)
1 recipe Spicy Homemade Breadcrumb Crust

Preheat your oven to 400º F. Toss the butternut squash with the olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast on a foil-lined baking sheet on the middle rack for 18 minutes.

While the squash is in the oven, line another baking sheet with foil. Divide the breadcrumb mixture in half and put it into two gallon size plastic bags.* Rinse the pork chops in cold water and shake off the excess. Working with one chop at a time, place them into the plastic bag and shake vigorously to coat. Remove, being careful not to disturb the coating, and place onto the prepared baking sheet.

After the butternut squash has roasted for 18 minutes, raise the oven temperature to 425º F. Toss the squash a little with a spoon to make sure it's heating evenly. Move it up one rack and place the pork chops on the newly vacant one. Bake for 13-16 minutes, until the chops are firm, but still have a little give in the middle. Remove all food from the over and feast.

*This is to keep the mixture from getting too weird and lumpy to use with all six pork chops.

Baked Turkey and Black Bean Meatballs

I don't think I've ever made such a concerted effort to make a food item healthy.  I think I may have actually pulled it off (though, of course, I couldn't resist throwing in a little cheesy goodness). The best part is that it is soooo easy to make these, and you could just as easily make turkey burgers out of the this recipe, I'm sure they'd taste great with a bit of a crust on them.

Baked Turkey and Black Bean Meatballs

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

1 lb. 99% Lean Ground Turkey

2 oz. crumbled feta

1 15.5 oz can of black beans, drained and rinsed

1/3 cup flaxseed meal

1 whole egg

1 small onion, diced

1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

1 tsp. table salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Put rack in the center of the oven. Line a cookie sheet with tin foil.

2.) In a large bowl, use your hands to combine all ingredients, making sure the egg and flaxseed meal are evenly incorporated. Take care not to over mix.

3.) Form the mixture into meatballs, about 1/3 cup mixture in each one. Place on baking sheet.

4.) Bake for 35 minutes, or until cooked through.

5.) Enjoy! I find mustard is the perfect condiment for these bad boys.

Recipe: Tarragon and Chive Oil

Hello, friends! I apologize for my absence yesterday, I was feeling quite out of sorts and just couldn't get my act together.  But today I return!  And with a delicious recipe that will fancy up your kitchen stocks with very little effort.

Here, we have Tarragon and Chive Oil! Three ingredients is all it takes to make a delicious oil with with to dress a variety of foods (I intend to drizzle mine over some filet of sole, hence the tarragon, which goes just smashingly with white fish).  Really, you can use whatever herbs you like, so feel free to experiment based on what you think you'd like to use it on/with.

Tarragon and Chive Oil
Adapted from Bon Appétit Magazine

1 1/2 cups vegetable or olive oil (olive oil will impart a flavor of its own)
3 stalks worth of fresh tarragon leaves
1-2 bunches chives
Coffee filter

Preparation

Combine oil and herbs in a food processor and process until herbs are finely chopped.

Transfer oil to a small saucepan and cook over medium-high heat for about three minutes.  Don't be afraid of the sizzling, that's good!

Place the coffee filter inside a strainer over a heat-proof vessel.  Slowly pour oil mixture through coffee filter, allowing it to drain slowly into the dish.  This might take a few minutes, but don't try to push the oil out of the herbs, as this may make the oil cloudy.

Allow oil to cool, seal in a container, and store in the refrigerator.  Should keep for about 1 week.

Recipe: Smitten Kitchen Knishes

This weekend, I set out to make one of my favorite snacks (I use the term snack loosely) from my childhood: knishes.  As I explained to my friends who were unfamiliar with this carb-lover's heaven, it's basically mashed potatoes wrapped in dough and baked into mouth-scorching deliciousness.  Every once in a while, my dad would come home from work in New York with a massive potato-filled pastry for my sisters and me to enjoy, and when I wasn't begging for a stale hot pretzel on a trip into the city, I was desperate for a knish, ready to sacrifice the skin in my mouth rather than wait for it to cool off a bit.

I found this recipe on Smitten Kitchen and, always trusting Ms. Perelman, gave it a stab.  I had some difficulty with the amount of water called for in the dough recipe, so I would say to start with half of the listed amount and then increase from there if the dough seems too dry.  Ultimately, my dough did not turn out as flaky and delicious, but if at first you don't succeed, try, try again.  I chose to make a traditional potato knish, but I would be lying if I said I weren't thinking about adding bacon to the next ones...

Find the recipe here : Potato Knish, Two Ways | Smitten Kitchen

Recipe: Smitten Kitchen Flat-Roasted Chicken

As you may know, Spring hasn't exactly rolled into Chicago in the friendliest of ways.  I've taken this quite hard, and I have tried quite a few things to cheer myself up.  But one of the most lovely things I think you can do to comfort yourself when the weather just keeps beating you down is to have some solid home-cooked food.

Since I obtained the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook a few short days after its release, I've been working my way through it, and my, has it been spectacular. This is one of the least complicated recipes in the book, I'm convinced even a cooking noob could totally execute it with maximum deliciousness.  The chicken turns out wonderfully juicy, and the potatoes are simply divine.  If you so chose, a simple salad would go wonderfully with this meal, but I prefer to be honest with myself about what I want to take up the most room in my stomach.

Out of respect for the book's author, Smitten Kitchen's Deb Perelman, I'm going to decline to post the specific recipe here. I heartily encourage you to pick up a copy of the cookbook, which is available on Amazon, as well as a number of other outlets.

This meal definitely bolstered me for the continuing cold weather.  Is there anything you like to cook when the weather gets you down?

I'm baking my way into Fall.

You'll notice that I made up for doing two posts in one day by casually going ten days between posts.  I really feel like you guys -- if there are any of you left -- have become familiar with the sweet taste of neglect this summer.  So perhaps you won't mind that my cooking seems to be veering into fall territory.  My former (nooooooo) roommate Kelsey made these pumpkin muffins at the end of school when I was sick and I found them immensely comforting, although I, being the strange woman I am, had to beg her to leave chocolate chips out of some of the muffins since it's not my favorite thing.  Whatever, shut up.  She made them from this Smitten Kitchen recipe, but I'm gonna write it down for you here the way I did it, because I made some mistakes, and I kind of like the result better.

Pumpkin Pie Muffins
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 15-ounce can of pumpkin pie filling
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt



Preheat oven to 350° F.  Spray nonstick cooking spray on muffin cups (you can also grease them with butter, but I found it easier to just use PAM).

In a medium bowl, whisk together baking powder and flour.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together pumpkin pie filling, vegetable oil, eggs, allspice, cinnamon, sugar, baking soda, and salt until smooth.  Then, add flour mixture and whisk until just combined.

Spoon batter into muffin cups until 3/4 full.  Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool muffins for 5 minutes in muffin tin, then remove and cool on rack.

I realize now that I used approximately twice as much pumpkin stuff as the original recipe called for, but I don't care because mine do not taste overly pumpkin-y and they have a delicious texture.  Now, this is the second time I've made these, and the first time I accidentally left out the baking powder, which resulted in a much denser goodie.  While the ones I made today are definitely more muffin-like in nature, I personally enjoyed the first round, and would encourage the absence of baking powder as a welcome variation if you so chose.

Rainy Day Pretzels

I've been wanting to make pretzels for a while now, so I finally steeled myself yesterday and went recipe searching.  There are several foods that, no matter what else I'm exposed to, I always like best out of a box: StoveTop stuffing, Idaho mashed potatoes, and Superpretzel pretzels.  I love cooking, and making my own food, but I think the nostalgia factor is just a little too strong in each of those cases.  I'm not saying I don't like other forms of these foods, just that my yearning for childhood puts these ahead in the competition.  Sadly, I had a difficult time finding a recipe for Superpretzel-esque goodies, or even satisfactory New York-style pretzels.  In the end, I settled for the chewy, Philadelphia iteration.  I would share the recipe, but I don't think they turned out all that well.  Though delicious, they lacked the density I would expect, and the crust on them was flimsy at best.  Oh well, I guess I'll just have to keep searching.

The weather here has taken a turn for the worse again, 45 degrees with rain and wind, and it's left me feeling a little uninspired.  I'm not quite sure how to climb out of this funk.  What do you do when inspiration is lacking?

P.S. The Star Wars logo in the background is on a toaster belonging to my roommate. It burns Darth Vader's face into one side of the bread.  Naturally, it works better than our other toasters.

When Life Gives You Lemons...

...have an awesome day.

Now that I have bangs, it turns out my hair needs a bit more maintenance than it had been getting the past few years my whole life.  A new salon spa extravaganza thing place opened here recently, and they offer 50% off services during the week with a student ID.  Floored by the obvious awesomeness of this discount, I signed myself up for both a bangs trim and a manicure, which you can see I clearly needed based on the above pictured busted-ness of my nails.

When the appointment rolled around on Friday, it was a really miserable, windy, gray day.  I should have known, because if I have a haircut scheduled, there's about a 95% chance of rain that day.  This is why I don't schedule haircuts on the day of a wedding, as much as I would like to have my hair shampooed and blown dry for the occasion.  I digress.  The point is that I ended up getting a really magnificent manicure for twelve dollars and fifty cents.  Good to know that my continued academic suffering is good for something.

Afterwards, I went to visit my good friend Lauren, where I encountered Smitten Kitchen Lemon Bars.

Lauren, it turns out, is really good at baking.  They.  Were.  Delicious.  And the color looked so good with my nails!  All in all, my dreary day turned into a lovely experience, and it was the perfect start to my weekend.

Happy Monday, everyone!

Boots: Steve Madden

Nails, Before: Essie Peach Daquiri

Nails, After: Essie Going Incognito

(I think.  I may have forgotten to look at the label.  Oops)

Vice Report: Week of 4/11/11

This week was a problem.  I baked cookies.  Twice.  Remember those Mini Banana Whoopie Pies?  Most of them are gone.  Admittedly, I have five roommates, but I did a lot of that damage myself, plus all the cookie dough I ate while I was making them.  What you don't remember are the oatmeal raisin cookies I made earlier in the week.

(You should click on that.  It's a smitten kitchen recipe.)

In honor of my vice this week, since the oatmeal raisin cookies escaped documentation, I offer to you some of the sweet treats I've wanted to try making, in the hopes that one of them can become your vice.

Knuckle Salad's Berry Oat Crumble

Girl Who Bakes: Homemade Oatmeal Creme Pie

Happy Healthy Life's 

Vanilla Cherry Coconut Breakfast Risotto

Enjoy :)  Let me know if you attempt any of these delicious goodies!

This shit is bananas.

I may have made a mistake.

But it's suuuuuuuuuch a good one.  What you are looking at are Mini Banana Whoopie Pies. Yummmmmm.  I made these suckers last night when I seized by a desire to prove myself capable in light of my last baking semi-failure.  I altered the recipe for the filling by replacing the peanut butter with this Banana Chocolate Spread I found at World Market, and had to use skim milk instead of heavy cream, but they still taste pretty damn rich to me, so I'm not complaining.  Still, it is a little jarring to look at your doom and know you will embrace it fully.

How will I ever survive?

Braving the wilds of...the kitchen?

With all the cooking I do, it may come as a surprise that I am not yet in possession of an apron.  Honestly, getting flour all over myself when I make pasta dough is getting a little old, and I had quite a scare with some balsamic vinegar yesterday.  I almost ruined a dress!  Horror!

Although I must admit that I will probably end up with something I don't mind getting dirty, which is the point, after all, I can't help but admire all the adorable ones I see every time I go into Anthropologie.  Who wouldn't want an apron that's just as adorable as the clothes they wear?

 Charmed, I'm Sure

 Sewing Basket

Tea-and-Crumpets

I surely am charmed by these little confections of  kitchenwear.  How can any apron be as classy as that first one?  The Sewing Basket apron just screams cuteness at me, and, bonus, the pattern would probably make stains harder to see!  With the Tea-and-Crumpets (I am dying over these names) apron, I was immediately drawn to color.  It's been a while, but I still can't figure out why I love that particular shade of yellow so much.

So hopefully an apron will be joining my collection of kitchen tools in the near future, as I can't stop cooking and I fear for the lives of my pretty dresses.  How do you guys get ready to do battle in the kitchen?

Let's call a spade a spade.

I like cooking.  In fact, I love cooking.  I would go so far as to say that I'm good at cooking.  But I have no knack for baking sweet things.  Not hardly at all.  This may have something to do with the fact that baking is, above all, a precision art.  Me and my poor, and rapidly degrading, fine motor skills over here can't really appreciate that.  So I should have known that I would be no good at some point in the process of this adventure.

You may recall that I found a darling website with some delicious looking cupcakes that practically begged to be made.  So, unable to control myself, I decided to make the Sour Cream Apricot Cupcakes with Mascarpone Frosting and Toasted Almonds.

And, honestly, the result was pretty successful.  They tasted great, and except for some apricot preserve spillover, they looked good, too.  But I should have realized from the moment I cracked that egg so bizarrely that something was fated to go wrong.  And wrong it went.  When it came time to make the frosting, I grabbed the mascarpone, confectioner's sugar, and heavy whipping cream, and went to work. 

What I didn't know was that if you overbeat mascarpone, it separates.  Which is, of course, what I did.

No frosting for the cupcakes :(

Luckily, my baking fiend of a roommate Sammy called up her mother, and they decided on a seven minute frosting that turned out perfectly.  Of course.  Because Sammy wants to be a doctor and that is all about precision.

Like the clutter in the background?  Me, too.  My bad :/

It essentially tastes like and has the texture of Marshmallow Fluff, which is just fine with me, and it certainly looks shiny and beautiful on top of those cupcakes.  Thank you Sammy and Sammy's mom for saving the day!

Even if it's raining, I've decided it's spring.

As I struggled to get my bangs to behave yesterday morning, I should have realized that some time between my trip to the gym and the end of my shower, it had begun pouring rain. I know, sad face. But, since I have no class on Fridays, I refused to let that fact dampen my spirits. I resolved to undertake a project for which I previously had lacked both the time and motivation: baking my own bread.

Inspired by the challah featured on Cupcakes and Cashmere the other day, I selected that as my first adventure into bread.  I followed the same Smitten Kitchen recipe as Emily (it's like I know her!), and I was equally impressed with the results.

My dear friend Lauren undertook this adventure with me, and her narration of the braiding was invaluable.  I still managed to mess it up, but the messiness did not have an impact on the delicious flavor.  The bread was the perfect density and had just enough taste of egg to be delicious without being overpowering.

Since it took an awfully long time to make, with all the rising time factored in, Lauren and I got quite hungry.  I found this recipe last night while cruising Tastespotting, and it seemed like the perfect dish for a rainy day at the beginning of spring.

Spring Green Herbed Orzo Salad

This was the only picture I managed because I was too busy devouring its all-encompassing deliciousness.  I left out the parsley in the original because I just don't like the way it tastes, and I used frozen peas instead of fresh.  It seems to me that it worked out perfectly fine, since I could barely breathe I was eating it so fast.  All in all, I'd say the day goes down solidly in the win column.

The (allegedly) Friendly Skies

The Place: My darkened room, New Jersey

The Time: March 27th, 3:22am

The Scene:  I'm slumbering peacefully when I am suddenly awakened by the dulcet tones of Ciara's "Like A Boy."  Yes, that is the ringtone on my phone.  I grab my phone, looking at the screen in confusion.  Why is an 800 number calling me at 3 in the morning?  Obviously, I'm not going to pick up.  And then, a sudden realization.

It's the airline calling.

I was supposed to be on a 12:15pm flight out of Newark Liberty International Airport.  I was supposed to be back in my apartment at around 3pm Central Time.  I was supposed to have time to go grocery shopping.  Instead, this middle of the night phone call informed me that my flight was canceled and I had been re-booked on a flight leaving at 6:10pm.

FROM LAGUARDIA.

I'll spare you the gory details, but suffice it to say that there is no remotely convenient way to reach LaGuardia from my home.  When I finally arrived at my apartment at nine-thirty at night, I was tired and I was hungry.  Thankfully, I had a single frozen fillet of salmon remaining, as well as some orzo and frozen peas, which turned into this:

Yum.  The salmon may not look that appetizing, but it tastes absolutely phenomenal.  I used Pike Place Fish Market's Our Own Rub spice blend, and it is absurdly delicious.  All this delicious eating and the trials of the day led to this:

Tired Harris.  So I called it a night.  Friendly skies?  Friendly bed.

I feel a project coming on...

Everyone and anyone who likes cooking/baking needs to check out Ming Makes Cupcakes.

A friend of mine posted this website on one of my roommates' Facebook wall.  Ming offers the recipe for 33 cupcakes on her website, with equally gorgeous images for each one, in addition to some cookies and savory treats.  We have some pretty avid bakers in my apartment, so I'm outrageously excited to see what new treats pop up when I return.  I'm particularly excited to try the recipes above, as A) sour cream is my ultimate weakness and B) my second-most ultimate weakness is filled yellow cake.  Definitely expect a post when I get around to making these delicious bits of heavenly looking confection.

I'm always looking for new and interesting recipes, so I'm very pleased to have found this site.  Do you guys have any recommendations for yummy treats?

Tastes Like Chicken.

I wanted to make something really delicious and comforting for my mom and myself to eat tonight, so I went with a good old favorite: Chicken Pot Pie.

I "followed" an Ina Garten recipe I'd made once before.  As usual, the modifications I made resulted in a dish that looks absolutely nothing like the images provided with the recipe.  Also as usual, I don't care because it was deeeeeeeeeelicious.  Having made this once before, I was already aware of the fact that Ina's conception of portion size is totally inappropriate, so I immediately halved it.  You will note the original says it yields "4 individual pot pies" [my emphasis].  You will also note that cutting it in half still resulted in an entire 9" pie, the contents of which rose considerably above the level of the pie dish.  And this is what Ms. Garten's recipe says is enough for two.

Yeah.  Right.

I added potatoes 'cause my mom wanted them, and I love 'em, too!  The last time I made this, I did make the pastry dough myself; but, being without my trusty food processor, (...and feeling lazy) I went ahead and bought Pillsbury pre-made pie crusts.  Worked out juuuuuust fine.  I might have even liked it better.  I'm going to assume this has more to do with my pastry making skills than the quality of store-bought pie crust.

So have at, y'all, and don't be afraid to make your own alterations!  Chicken pot pie is one of my favorite comfort foods, no matter what "accessories" it has in it.  What are some of your favorite comfort foods?