Mediterranean Pork Medallions

I'm always looking for a new recipe for marinating pork and this one stood out as a classic. You can either slice the pork as suggested, or if you're going to grill the meat, leave it as a whole tenderloin and marinate the entire piece. This will give it a little less flavor, but make it easier to grill.

Mediterranean Pork Medallions

Sweet Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin

Sweet Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin

Grilled Balsamic-Garlic Flank Steak

Grilled Balsamic-Garlic Flank Steak

EJ's Simple Ribs

Why, hello there! Have you missed me? Between vacations, the heat, and the general weariness of chasing around an active toddler all day; I haven't been cooking or baking much of anything new in the kitchen. But I'm back with a few new things!

With all the family parties and birthdays we have going on, somehow Chuck and I were able to spend the actual fourth of July by ourselves. So I wanted to make it a special meal that I wouldn't normally make for the two of us. I decided on pretty traditional ribs but went the extra mile and found a recipe to make my own rub and sauce.

These were pretty good! Chuck wants to try cooking them lower and slower in the oven next time - maybe 2-3 hours at 250 degrees instead of the recommended time and temperature in the recipe. I would also suggest leaving a LOT of time to reduce the sauce down to your desired consistency. The recipe suggests simmering for 30 minutes - I simmered for well over an hour and it still wasn't as thick as I would have liked it.

But all in all, these were good and I was pretty proud of myself for taking the time to make everything myself. I served these alongside roasted baby potatoes with ricotta and a tomato/mozzarella/pesto salad. Link to the ribs below with the rib sauce link within that:

EJ's Simple Ribs

Grilled Chicken with Basil Dressing

This was a simple and delicious main dish - from Giada of course. I am glad I chose to make this after seeing it on The Piggly-Wiggly. I made the basil dressing the night before the party, marinated the chicken the morning of, and Chuck grilled it right before serving. The dressing recipe makes a lot, so even though I doubled the chicken and marinade, I probably could have made the original amount of dressing and been fine. Use fresh basil - you'll notice the difference! Link below:

Grilled Chicken with Basil Dressing

BBQ Meatloaf

So hungry people + a late dinner time + comfort food = some really ugly pictures, so there are none for this post. Sorry! But this was so delicious and easy to prepare I just had to share it with you.

I saw this on my friend Nicole's blog while I was making my weekly meal plan and immediately added it to the list. I have been making my same version of turkey meatloaf for awhile now and was in the mood to try something new. This was great - a tasty make-your-own BBQ sauce really adds a lot to the old favorite!

BBQ Meatloaf
slightly adapted from Ingredients for a Wonderful Life
Makes 4-6 servings

1.25-1.5 pounds ground beef or turkey
1 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1/4 medium onion, finely chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 (8-ounce) cans tomato sauce
3 tablespoons white vinegar
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly coat an 11x7 baking dish with cooking spray.

Mix together the beef or turkey, bread crumbs, onion, egg, salt, pepper, and 1/2 c. of the tomato sauce. Form mixture into a loaf and place into prepared baking dish.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the rest of the tomato sauce, vinegar, sugar, mustard, and Worcestershire sauce. Pour the sauce over the meatloaf.

Bake for 1 hour, basting every 15 minutes or so with the pan juices.

Flank Steak with Red Wine Sauce

If you are looking for a good beef dish for a special occasion, then this is it! The sauce is very rich and I normally prefer a good marinade over a sauce, but it was perfect for a celebration. Giada's original recipe calls for cooking the steak in a heavy skillet, but in my house, we always grill if we can! Chuck's instructions are below. My recipe also reflects the changes I made to the sauce, most notably halving it - there was waaaaay too much for the amount of meat there was. Enjoy!

Flank Steak with Red Wine Sauce
slightly adapted from Giada's Family Dinners
Makes 6 servings

3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
1/2 medium onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 1/4 cups dry red wine
1 (2-pound) flank steak
olive oil
kosher salt and coarse ground black pepper

Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large, heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and saute until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and oregano and saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Whisk in the wine. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce reduces by half, about 10-15 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat. Whisk in the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter. Strain the sauce into a small bowl, pressing on the onions to extract as much liquid as possible. Season to taste with salt and pepper and keep warm.

Meanwhile, rub olive oil and salt and pepper into the meat. Heat the grill to medium-high. Cook 5-7 minutes on one side; flip meat and cook 7-8 minutes; flip again and cook 5-7 minutes for medium.

Transfer steak to cutting board and let rest for several minutes. Slice thinly across the grain and serve with warm sauce alongside.

Garlic-Marinated Chicken Cutlets with Grilled Potatoes and Asparagus

When I asked Chuck to look through my Everyday Food cookbook and pick something for dinner he selected this. Upon first glance it looked a little boring to me - I mean, essentially it's just grilled chicken and vegetables, something I make all the time. But each component has a little twist to it that makes the whole meal delicious.

You will notice that the recipe calls for a tablespoon of homemade vinaigrette to spoon over the asparagus. I was not about to make an entire recipe of it to use one tablespoon so I just used our current favorite storebought dressing, Ken's Creamy Balsamic, and it was delicious.

I used about 2/3 of each ingredient amount, since it was just the two of us; and didn't buy the new potatoes because they are expensive. Using regular red potatoes and cutting them into chunks works just fine. And since I didn't make any other changes I will just link you to the original recipe here:

Garlic-Marinated Chicken Cutlets with Grilled Potatoes and Asparagus

Tip: Have everything prepped before you start cooking!

Grilled Chicken Sausage Sandwiches with Grilled Onion Chowchow

I have been looking for a yummy relish to put on grilled chicken sausages for awhile now. Originally I was searching for a mango salsa but when I came upon this while browsing recipe sites, I decided to give it a try. It was very good - a strong mustard taste (which I like, and Chuck doesn't like mustard but enjoyed this) combined with the charred onion and spicy jalapeno. I served this with Southwest Pasta Salad.

But don't limit yourself to chicken sausages with this - use on regular sausages, to top a steak, or even a regular hot dog. It would fit nicely in a topping bar at a BBQ as well.

I was making this in advance and I didn't want to turn on the grill just to make the onion/pepper skewers, so I simply coated my grill pan with olive oil and placed the individual pieces of onion as well as the whole jalapeno on the pan. Cook over high heat, turning occasionally, until you get that nice char all over the veggies. I also seeded my jalapeno to cut down on the spice.

Grilled Chicken Sausage Sandwiches with Grilled Onion Chowchow

adapted from Food & Wine

Makes about 4 servings

1 sweet onion, cut into 1/2" slices

1 jalapeno pepper

olive oil

1/4 cup cider vinegar

3 tablespoons light brown sugar

2 tablespoons grainy mustard

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1/8 teaspoon tumeric

1/2 teaspoon cornstarch dissolved in 1 teaspoon water

kosher salt and coarse ground black pepper

4 links chicken sausages, any flavor

4 hot dog/hoagie rolls

Heat the grill to high heat. Skewer the onion slices and whole jalapeno pepper. Brush the vegetables with olive oil and grill until charred but still crisp, about 10 minutes (or see above for stovetop directions).

Remove from heat and coarsely chop the onions. Remove the skin from the jalapeno (if possible), seed if desired, and finely chop.

In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the cider vinegar, brown sugar, mustards, and tumeric and bring to a simmer. Add the onions and jalapenos and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until sauce is slightly reduced, about 12 minutes. Stir in the cornstarch mixture and cook until slightly thickened, stirring occasionally, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Grill the sausages according the package directions. Serve the sausages on rolls topped with the chow chow.

I had to include a picture with the beautiful lilies Chuck bought me for my last day of school!

Parmesan Crusted Salmon

When I ask Chuck if he has any requests for dinner, he usually just says that I can decide, since he knows I love coming up with menus. So when he told me this week that he would like salmon, I was determined to find something delicious! I decided I wanted to try out a crusted salmon, so I searched around and found this. Wow, it was worth it - this was great!

I halved everything except for the amount of onion since it was just for the two of us. The wine and teryaki marinade reduces down to give the salmon a delicious flavor and caramelizes the onion as well. The crust itself was a little disappointing though - I ended up crusting both sides, and by the time the fish had cooked through, it was not very crisp, nor was it golden brown. I would still recommend that you try it thoough - the parmesan and seasoned bread crumbs can only add to the flavor.

Oh, and make sure you have someone very willing to clean your pan, especially if you are using stainless steel. Just look at how nice and carmamelized the bottom of mine is!

I served this with brown rice and sauteed string beans and shallots.

Parmesan Crusted Salmon

from allrecipes.com

Makes 4 servings

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1 teaspoon dried tarragon (I omitted)
1 teaspoon dill weed
1 cup white wine
1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
1 tablespoon melted butter
1/4 cup chopped red onion (I suggest using one medium red onion)
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 pounds salmon steaks

In a shallow, medium bowl mix Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoned bread crumbs, tarragon and dill.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, blend white wine, teriyaki sauce, butter, red onion and garlic. Cook and stir until onions are tender.

Press one side of each salmon steak into the Parmesan cheese mixture. (I breaded both sides.) Place steaks crust side up in saucepan with white wine mixture.

Cook over medium high heat until most of the liquid is reduced, 10 to 15 minutes, then flip with a spatula. Continue cooking until crust is golden brown and fish is easily flaked with a fork.

Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Pan Sauce

This pork tenderloin is easy enough to make for a weeknight dinner and fancy and flavorful enough to make for company. I quickly put the marinade together in the morning before work, leaving almost 12 hours for the meat to sit. Browning the meat before roasting really seals in the flavor as well, and adds a lot to the terrific pan sauce that you make while the pork is in the oven.

Most recipes call for pork to register an internal temperature of 160 degrees F, which is super easy to monitor with an instant read thermometer. Mine goes right into the piece of meat and connects to the actual thermometer outside of the oven so I can keep a constant watch over it.

I served this with roasted asparagus and white beans and tomatoes. Yum!

Roasted Pork Tenderloin
from For the Love of Cooking
Makes 3-4 servings

1⁄2 cup olive oil
1⁄3 cup soy sauce
1⁄4 cup red wine vinegar
Juice of 1 lemon
1-2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1-2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
2 teaspoon dry mustard
Freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 pound pork tenderloin

Combine all ingredients and marinate for at least 3-4 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a hot oven-safe skillet over medium heat, sear each side of tenderloin for 2-3 minutes.

Place in the oven and cook for 20-30 minutes or until the meat has reached 160 degrees. Let rest for at least 5 minutes before slicing.

Pan Sauce:

Pan scrapings from pork tenderloin
1/2 cup of chicken broth
2-3 tablespoons of pork marinade (thoroughly mixed)
1-2 teaspoons butter

Meanwhile, place the skillet back on the stove over medium heat. Add the chicken broth and scrape up all the browned pieces from the bottom of the pan. Add the marinade and let it boil down for 2-3 minutes.

Add the butter and remove from heat stirring until butter has melted. Pour over the pork tenderloin. Enjoy.

Spicy Apricot-Glazed Chicken

I am not usually a fan of mixing fruit (or nuts, for that matter) with my dinner. To me, fruit is a sweet and best eaten either as a snack or with lots of sugar and/or chocolate in a dessert! But I saw this recipe in this month's Everyday Food magazine and realized I had some leftover apricot jam in the fridge from a dessert made long ago.

And to be honest, I was fairly pleased with the result. Actually, I would have preferred more apricot flavor; so next time I make this I will either pound the chicken thinner so as to make the chicken to glaze ratio smaller, or just save some extra sauce to serve alongside. If you use thinner pieces of chicken, make sure to adjust the cooking time so you don't overcook it.

Spicy Apricot-Glazed Chicken
Everyday Food
Makes 4 servings

1/4 cup apricot jam
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 6 ounces each)
coarse salt and ground pepper

Heat broiler to high, with rack set 4 inches from heat. In small bowl, stir together jam and red pepper flakes; set glaze aside.

Place chicken on aluminum-foil lined baking sheet (or broiler pan, or wire rack on cookie sheet). Broil until chicken begins to turn opaque, 5 to 6 minutes.

Brush glaze on chicken. Broil until glaze is browned and an instant-read thermometer inserted in thickest part of the chicken registers 165 degrees F, 4 to 5 minutes more.

Sweet & Tangy Pork Chops

This is a super-easy and super-quick way to make pork chops for a weeknight dinner. The sauce comes together within seconds and there is no long marinating time; although the longer you leave the rub on it, the better I'm sure it will taste! This has been adapted from a recipe I have had in my recipe file for awhile; so please let me know if it's yours!

Sweet & Tangy Pork Chops
Serves 2

2 center cut, bone-in pork chops, 1/2" thick
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons ketchup
1/2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tablespoon soy sauce

Rub garlic powder, thyme, and black pepper on both sides on the pork chops.

Combine last 4 ingredients. Mix together and reserve half of it. Baste with sauce before and during cooking. Serve with remaining sauce.

Broiling directions: Place on broiling pan and baste with sauce. Broil as close to heat as possible for 6 minutes on each side or until pork is done in the middle.

Grilling directions: Place chops on grill over medium-high heat. Grill 6 minutes on each side or until pork is done.