David Favorite, Emily Favorite, Pork-a-licious, Quick and Delicious

Balsamic-Glazed Pork Chops with Polenta

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Oh sweet lambs in the morn…this dish was INCREDIBLE. You can tell I really like something when while eating it I repeat about 20 times how good it is and fill in the rest of my review with “mmmmmmmmmmmmomgmmmmmmmm.” Per my menu plan, I had a day o’cooking which was lovely in and of itself. I did make the Egg White and Sun-Dried Tomato Frittata and Sweet Potato Biscuits, both were OK but we decided they were not really right for a Cooking Inside the Lines dish. If you want more details just ask me in the comments.

I also made the Braised Chicken with Red Potatoes and Tarragon Broth for our lunches today, and I’ll post my full review after lunch.

Balsamic-Glazed Pork Chops (Photo by John Autry)

Now, for the big winner here, the Balsamic-Glazed Pork Chops with Polenta from Cooking Light. Let’s highlight why this recipe was perfection on a plate: (a) the rub was the perfect herbacious complement to the very simple balsamic glaze on the pork chops (b) the polenta…oh wow, the polenta with the cream cheese was out of this world delicious (c) this came together in no-time (d) it was also very wallet friendly and is a part of their “budget eating” section (e) this ROCKED.

One ingredient I changed was the whole milk. I only had reduced fat in the house but trust me after you put the cream cheese in the polenta, you won’t notice the absence of whole milk. I highly recommend this recipe and I think this will go on rotation in our house moving forward. Now tonight, one of my favorite recipes I’ve ever tried, Meatballs All’Amerticiana. Will it be as good as I remembered poodles? Will David think so too? Will I still be amazed by bacon paste? Tune in for more details this week.

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Next Week’s Menu Plan

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I’ve made the command decision lambs to start sharing with you my menu plans each week as I create them. Anyone who knows me knows that for some strange reason creating a menu plan is my moment of “zen” during the day. I’ve heard others say they would rather have a root canal so if this helps at all with your weekly planning let me know!

I like to balance my week out with a variety of proteins, cuisines and of course quick-cooking choices during the weeknight to keep our dinners something to look forward to each and every night. Plus I tend to think about leftovers factor so we can keep enjoying our delicious dinner while we pound away at our desks the next day – a bit of a gentle culinary break in the middle of our work day.

Since I had today off,  I went ahead and planned this Saturday through Wednesday’s menu plan. The reason why you don’t see Thursday on here (yet) is because each week we go to WAKA Kickball at Gillis Fields (Go Brown Chicken Brown Cow!) but you will soon once the playoffs are over:

Saturday: Egg White and Sun-Dried Tomato Frittata (the rest of the day is filled with the UT vs OSU game, yes I know we are going to get pummeled :()

Sunday:

Breakfast – Leftover Frittata, Fruit Salad with fresh mint and poppy seed dressing

Lunch – Braised Chicken with Red Potatoes and Tarragon Broth with Sweet Potato Biscuits

Dinner – Balsamic-Glazed Pork Chops with Polenta (make meatballs tonight)

Monday: Meatballs All’Amatriciana (Squeal! Made this some time ago and can’t wait for David to try – I recall this being one of the best dishes I’ve ever tried)

Tuesday: Braised Chicken with Dates and Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Wednesday: Scallops with Green Tea Cream and Sauteed Baby Bok Choy

There you have it my menu plan for the week. We will see how it goes and more updates to come…super excited about the scallops dish not gonna lie.

Bacon is always awesome, Chicken, David Favorite, Emily Favorite, French, Includes Alcohol

Coq Fight!

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(Insert your best ring announcer voice here) In the blue corner we have the Quick Coq Au Vin  AKA “Quick Talons” from Bon Appetit weighing in at 371 calories per serving and a nine ingredient list, and in the red corner we have Easy Coq Au Vin  AKA “The Easy Breezy” from Cooking Light weighing in at 319 calories per serving with an 18 ingredient list.

Quick Coq Au Vin (Photograph by Jose Picayo)

The Easy Breezy comes out swinging with succulent chicken thighs that knocks Quick Talons’ use of chicken breast to the ropes but Quick Talons throws a powerful jab with its better use of bacon and less ingredients. Easy Breezy does a right hook with less calories and more veggie power. Quick Talons stumbles for just a moment and then comes roaring back with its great depth of flavor in the sauce. The jabs keep coming and it looks like folks we are going to a judges decision…who will win?

The judges take a look at both dishes flavor profiles and wish the fighters could combine The Easy Breezy’s chicken thighs with Quick Talons’ sauce but finally decide that…

The Easy Breezy is the winner in this highly contested fight! The crowd goes wild!

Check out Apron Adventure’s review of the same two dishes and see what she thought…great minds huh? http://apronadventures.blogspot.com/2010/11/coq-au-vin-off.html

Beefy McBeefy, David Favorite, Global Flavor, Includes Alcohol, Soup

Beef and Guinness Stew

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Beef and Guinness Stew (Photo by Jonny Valiant)

Every month Cooking Light does their staff favorites of recipes from each issue, and while reviewing their choices I came across this Beef and Guinness Stew recipe. How I managed to miss this in the March 2010 issue is beyond me since I love a traditional Irish stew and come on, it’s a staff favorite. Shame on me and three whacks with a shillelagh.

It’s been a little chilly here so I thought a stew would be a nice belly warmer and since I was just coming back from one of the most Irish cities in the U.S. – Boston – I thought my timing was perfect.

You know a recipe is good when your signficant other mentions that this is one of their favorite stews they’ve had in a while – thank you Cooking Light, thank you! David liked this better than I did but I have to say it was a deliciously-perfect Irish stew that was uber savory and the layers of flavors were marvelous. Plus, I was just informed by David that leftovers of this were awesome and even better the next day. 

I followed this exactly except I didn’t include parsnips because our local HEB hates me and didn’t have any. There were also a little less onions than called for – oh not because I didn’t chop enough. I did in fact chop the right amount and then tripped, almost fell and knocked the bowl over with some of my precious chopped onions falling to the floor. Yeah, clumsytastic I know. Anyhoodles, give this a try on a cold wintry night, it is soooo super gentle!

Bacon is always awesome, Chicken, Emily Favorite, French, Global Flavor, Includes Alcohol, Potato

Ma Vie en Vin!

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Ahhh, picture it poodles. The Madeleine Peyroux Pandora station playing through the house over the Sonos. A bottle of French wine. Flickering candles. Sunset over Zilker park on a lazy, gentle Sunday evening.  Coq Au Vin. Potatoes Gratin. Could you ask for a better set-up for a FANTASTIQUE French meal? Non!

My bestie, Apron Adventures, mentioned making the Coq Au Vin from Bon Appetit, but I thought she said she made the one from Cooking Light. She raved and raved and I decided to give the Cooking Light version a try…trust me, I’ll try the Bon App one next for sure. If Apron loves it, I know I will.  Zut alors lambs this was absolutely amazing and has definitely made my list as one of my favorites. I don’t think I’ve “mmmmmed” and “ahhhhhhed” over a meal in quite sometime.

Easy Coq Au Vin (Photo by: Johnny Valiant)

This was so earthy, delicious and had that je ne sais quoi-ness to it. Plus the chicken just fell off the bone and there’s bacon. We all know how I feel about glorious bacon – see my food categories to the right of this post if you need further confirmation.  I couldn’t find pearl onions but we did just fine without them. I served this with these awesome Muffin-Pan Potato Gratins from Everyday Food. I followed the recipe pretty much to the letter except decided to add freshly chopped rosemary every time I seasoned with salt and pepper and since there are only two of us, I served in greased ramekins for easier clean-up. This is such a simple and delicious side, you have no excuse not to give them a try.

There you have it mes amis, a beautiful, easy dinner that I’m for sure going to make for a dinner party when the time is right. C’est si bon!

David Favorite, Emily Favorite, Global Flavor, Italian, Pork-a-licious, Potato

Pork Tenderloin Agrodolce

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I think Agrodolce sauce might be the new chimichurri of 2010. I’ve seen this sauce three times in three separate magazines and when I saw Cooking Light had a Pork Tenderloin Agrodolce I was like, “FINE I WILL TRY IT.” Well, good for us that I gave in because this rocked.

Pork Tenderloin Agrodolce (Photo by Johnny Valiant)

I did some light digging and Agrodolce is a traditional sour and sweet (agro and dolce) Italian sauce. This one uses the salty bite of green olives, mixed with balsamic vinegar, dried sweet cherries, thyme, chicken broth, garlic, and one of my all-time favorites, the sweet-tasting cippolini onion.

Wow lambs, wow. This recipe was easy – besides the waiting time because your house smells insane while the sauce cooks – and very elegant when served. This recipe is in their holiday cookbook section and I could see this being a super hit and something quite different to bring to the table.

I served with these Italian Smashed Potatoes from Every Day with Rachael Ray and voila! an Italian-inspired meal that had us saying “molto buona!”

Eggs, Emily Favorite, Seafood

Are you mocking me?

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Imagine this…a “mock” hollandaise sauce from the one, the only Cooking Light. Now you know that I know that Cooking Light can make some seriously good sauces that skimp on fat, calories, and artery clogging ingredients, but even I was a little hesitant that this would turn out tasting like the real thing. David loves crab and he loves eggs Benedict with creamy hollandaise sauce so when I saw this Crab Eggs Benedict with said mock hollandaise sauce, I thought “meh, sure, we’ll see Cooking Light, we. will. see.”

And yes, Cooking Light definitely proved to me (once again) that they can bring their A-game while saving me the extra poundage on my hips. The hollandaise sauce with its mix of canola mayonnaise, reduced-fat buttermilk, Dijon mustard and lemon juice/rind was so simple to put together and was YUMMY. Combined with my favorite – poached eggs, sprouted-grain English muffins, chives and of course fresh lump crabmeat it was an absolutely perfect Sunday morning breakfast. I served with side salad of spinach and grapefruit…easy breezy!  I would definitely try this if you’ve got someone in your house who adores crab as much as we do, it’s an excellent spin on traditional eggs Benedict.

Our finished Crab Eggs Benedict (photo: ME! via Hypstamatic app for the iPhone)
Cheesy Cheese, Dose of Veggies, French, Sandwich, Vegetarian

Ratatouille and Goat Cheese Subs with a Side of ACL

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I earmarked these subs a while ago in the September issue of Food & Wine because I adore Ratatouille (sans eggplant) and I love the idea of this timeless dish combined with tangy goat cheese all on toasty bread. More on the recipe’s creator Chef Matt Neal in Food & Wine:

Matt Neal had never made ratatouille before he opened Neal’s Deli. He took the recipe from his father, the legendary Southern chef Bill Neal, and used it as the basis for his own version. Neal cooks the key ingredients—eggplant, zucchini, bell peppers and onion—separately. “That way, I can make sure each vegetable cooks exactly how I want it; plus they won’t steam in a big group all together,” he says. “Customers request this sandwich all summer long, but we wait until the ingredients are available at the farmers’ market before we serve it.”

Ratatouille and Goat Cheese Subs (Photo: John Kernick)

I omitted the eggplant because we both think it’s disgusting – yes disgusting and it’s quite nice to have someone share that same disgust with you since so many people love eggplant. Otherwise, I followed the recipe’s instructions to the letter and it went by much, much quicker than I thought given you have to cook all of the vegetables individually.

I really can’t say much more about these except that they were absolutely delicious, full of flavor and as a bonus perfect for a meatless Monday meal. After ACL Festival weekend, this was a great transition dish to move back into a healthy diet.

As a sidenote, ACL? Wow. I had an absolute BLAST. While Muse was mind-blowingly good my choice for best show was definitely Deadmau5. Lambs, he was a super poodle, put on a fantastic show and the crowd was waaaaay into it. I highly recommend checking him out if you haven’t yet. Oh, and The National, one of my all-time favorites, was exactly how I thought they would be…absolutely incredible. Thank goodness I finally got to see them live!

Fruit, Includes Alcohol, Pork-a-licious, Quick and Delicious

I like to eat, eat, eat…

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Apples! For those of you who don’t know where this is from, click here, but watch out you will be singing this Barney tune all.day.long.

We definitely had an apples and bananas night with our Peanut Butter Banana Bread and apples in every which way we could think of. There is a huge section on apples in the new Cooking Light and one recipe that sounded so intriguing was this Apple Sangria. Apples! Sangria! Couldn’t suck if you tried! Alas, this was awesome. It’s fun, fall-ish and a pretty cool twist on sangria. Make this at your next party, I think your guests will love it.

Apple Sangria (Photo by: Gentl & Hyers)

To keep up our fiber-consumption we also made this Spiced Pork Tenderloin with Sauteed Apples. I followed this recipe to the letter and it was so simple to put together and absolutely delicious. I loved every single bite.

Spiced Pork Tenderloin wtih Sauteed Apples (Photo by: John Autry)

If you want to start enjoying this chilly fall weather and all of the apples that are in season right now, I would highly recommend these two recipes. I like to ate, ate, ate…

Baking, Bread, Dessert, Vegetarian

B-A-N-A-N-A-S

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The new Cooking Light cover simply states “Indulge Yourself”…yeah twist my arm Cooking Light, twist my arm. I think I earmarked half of this issue and when I got to the banana bread section – yes lambs you have a plethora of choices for banana breads in this issue – I clapped with glee. When I was little, I would go to  this lovely tea room in Longview, TX with my mom and two older sisters and the one thing I recall vividly was their delicious banana bread. The tea room is long gone, but I will always remember that’s where my love of banana bread began.

As mentioned, Cooking Light has basic banana bread, banana bread with chocolate and the peanut butter banana bread that also happens to grace this month’s cover. I also love a good old peanut butter, honey and banana sandwich, so this one was a clear winner for me.

This was extremely easy to put together. You simply mix all of the wet ingredients, combine the dry ingredients and then mix into the wet. I baked this in the Wolf range for a little less than the suggested time as it was starting to look a little overdone…I was worried…ask David I really was. I decided to forge ahead and make Cooking Light’s go-to glaze of one percent milk and powdered sugar, but this time they added peanut butter. After cooling, I cut into it and took a bite, still very concerned it was overdone. The verdict?  Moist. Delicious, Sweet and nutty. This had perfect banana bread flavor with a peanut butter twist and I liked the addition of the crunchy peanuts to give it some texture.

My only advice is to watch this while it’s in the oven. I’m still getting used to using the Wolf range since it’s amazing but is a little more sophisticated than yours truly. This browned pretty quickly and I was keeping an eye on it. I did pull it out about five minutes early since it was browning on the top and edges, but the flavor and moist texture made this a winner for us…and my office mates.