Category Archives: Lengthy recipe but worth all the whisking, sweat and tears

Ancho Mama’s Pork Chops

I love Chile Rellenos but I never seem to seek them out in restaurants or I guess don’t see them too much in my recipe search. In fact, the last time I had one was this delicious little beauty we tasted for the National Mango Board. Seriously, this was an awesome spin on the traditional chile relleno. So, when I was flipping through the new Bon Appetit recently and came across this Pork Chops with Chiles Rellenos and Ancho Sauce recipe, I recalled the mango chile relleno and decided to try this one for size.

Fabulous, just fabulous, is the only word I can use for this dish. When I read all of the ingredients and preparation, at first blush I thought this might be too spicy or smokey even for my heat-loving palate but it most certainly was not.

The pork chops sit for two hours at room temperature with a simple blend of salt and ancho chile powder. While that sits you can make the simple ancho chile sauce and chile rellenos. I loved the easy-to-make chile relleno filling that had oregano, cheese, boiled Yukon Gold potatoes and toasted cumin seeds. YUM!

The pork chops were smoky and delicious and the chile relleno (which I cooked-off in the oven at 350 degrees) was amazing, plus the ancho sauce with its sweet, smokey notes drizzled on top of of it all was perfect. Since I was cooking the pork chops inside, my one recommendation is to be sure to turn on the oven vent and open a window, that chile powder is intense.

This is definitely going on the top of my recent favorites and will be a fun and delicious dish to enjoy throughout the year.

Cool, Creamy Dessert from Cooking Light

This week is a week of “house favorites” so I started it off with Turkey Meatloaf Sandwiches from the Neiman-Marcus cookbook that my dearest friend The Boo gave me for my birthday last year. When I first saw Neiman Marcus I thought “oh dear, this is going to be too fancy schmancy for me!” but dear readers it is NOT at all! The salads, sandwiches, entrees etc are actually pretty easy to make and everything I’ve made so far has been delicious. Now, I’m going to be a tease here because I don’t have the book with me today but will post the recipe soon…sorry, I suck!

I did also make the Cool, Creamy Dessert from Cooking Light last night. I would recommend this for a day when you have some time to spare since it is a layered dessert that takes time to, well, layer. This dish is sweetened by the powdered sugar, fat-free cool whipped topping, cream cheese (1/3 less fat and fat free), fat-free chocolate pudding and the flaky, pecan laden crust is wonderful. This is definitely something for a special occasion and is reminiscent of a tiramisu, without the icky coffee aftertaste or ladyfingers plus the fact that it won’t add 10 pounds to your backside. Also, I just got the new Cooking Light and Everyday Food so watch out all 10 of you gentle readers, there are going to be some really good recipes coming up!