pork chops with rice and tomatoes

my grandma used to make a huge pot of white rice which she added diced tomatoes to. then she would brown these little baby boneless pork chops and mix it all together. it was the best. this is my version of that dish.

we used seasoned boneless pork chops with our house seasoning (salt, pepper, garlic powder) and browned them in vegetable oil. i made a pot of rice and added a can of diced tomatoes (hunts brand with sauce). add a little garlic salt, a lot of pepper and a little parsley for color. so simple and sooooooo good. less than 30 minutes.

herbs

on friday i made a little herb garden on the back patio table.

i am growing basil, oregano, flat leaf parsley and chives. i also planted some tomato plants in the back yard so we'll see how that goes.

today i made a pasta sauce with some canned tomatoes our neighbor gave us from last years garden, red onion that was left over from the potato salad, about 4 gloves of garlic (!), and basil and parsley from the deck. yum. of course there is also salt, pepper and olive oil. we'll be having that tomorrow night with more homemade bread. i think this was my 7th loaf...i'm not counting anymore.

potato salad

tonight we had an awesome dinner of bbq chicken from the grill, corn on the cob and potato salad.

a few weeks ago we went to a vegan cookout at a friends house. they had some vegan potato salad that was awesome and i wish i had the recipe. i usually do not even like potato salad. yesterday i got in the mood to eat it again, but i had to come up with the recipe on my own. i'm pretty sure they didn't use pickles, but i wanted to.

ingredients:

1 bag of baby red potatoes. 3 lbs.
1/4 of a red onion
2 baby dill pickles (claussens)
1/4 cup of pickle juice
2 celery stalks
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 small garlic clove
salt and pepper

wash the potatoes. put them in cold water and boil a little less than 20 minutes. drain and cool. meanwhile, finely dice the pickles and onions and put in the pickle juice. dice garlic and use salt to make a paste and add to juice. dice the celery and add. when the potatoes are cool cut them into 4-8 pieces each. add the mayonnaise to the pickle mixture to combine and then add the potatoes. salt and pepper generously and refrigerate.

yummy!

banana chocolate chip ice cream

every summer growing up i remember my grandpa pulling out his old hand cranked ice cream maker. we always either had chocolate or cherry ice cream around the pool. it was so much work, the adults would take turns cranking the machine, filling with salt, packing the ice. it was so worth it though. there are few things as good as homemade ice cream! they later upgraded to an electric version.

a few years ago a roommate gave me a really thoughtful gift. i have only used it a few times, but i have a feeling i will be using it a lot this summer.

i have already mentioned how much adam loves the combination of chocolate and bananas so i knew just what our first home made ice cream of the summer would be.

i used a basic vanilla recipe

2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
3/4 cups sugar
vanilla flavoring

wisk milk and sugar together for 2 minutes to combine. add cold heavy cream and vanilla to taste. add to the machine. run machine for 25 minutes.

this is what is so great about making ice cream at home. you could really add anything after this and let work for another 5 minutes. i added 2 mashed bananas and about a cup of mini, semi-sweet chocolate chips.

transfer to a dish and freeze for 2 hours to harden. of course, my family always skipped this step and we just ate it soft, which is good too!

i am really getting excited about all the exciting flavors we can make!

cupcakes

yesterday i made cupcakes to bring to our mother's day celebration. i used this recipe. it made 24 with about a cup and half of batter left over that i ate. the batter was better than the baked cakes.

today i frosting them with this cream cheese frosting recipe. i squeezed a lemon in it though. the frosting was WAY better than the cupcakes.

pintos, cabbage and cornbread

yesterday i was in the grocery store and i couldn't think of anything to make for dinner, so i called adam. he said he had a big lunch and would like to just eat soup. since i was going to be home all day and i can't sit at home all day without the strong urge to cook something, i decided to take advantage and make something that i knew he wouldn't like. i picked up a large bag of dried pinto beans and a head of green cabbage and headed home.

i rinsed the beans and picked over them to take out the bad ones. dumped them into a large pot and added lots of water(cover the beans at least one inch and plan to add more while they cook). i added vegetable oil, kosher salt and i also grated in 3 cloves of garlic. i brought it to a boil, covered and simmered for hours (? i have no idea really how long i cooked them. maybe 3 hours or so). you have to keep adding water (and i keep adding salt because i am afraid of food not having flavor) and keep stirring them occasionally.

i already had a box mix of cornbread in the cabinet that i picked up at trader joe's a few weeks ago. i heard that it was really good, but i didn't have a reason to make it until yesterday. YUM! it is just the way i like it, sweet and sticky. of course, i can't follow a recipe so instead of adding the half cup of oil that the box calls for, i added a stick of melted butter. i don't think i'll ever make cornbread any other way.

then i chopped up the cabbage and added it to a pan with just a little water, oil, salt and pepper. cabbage wilts down like spinach, but you can eat it before it wilts all the way. not me though, i like it cooked to death.

to me this is a real comfort meal, but i guess adam had comfort meal too. he made tomato soup and a grilled cheese with the 5th loaf of bread that i also made yesterday.

pulled pork sandwich

with a pickle. it was amazing.

pulled pork

so today i bought a 7.5 lb boston butt while grocery shopping and came straight home and preheated the oven to 300. i generously rubbed the butt with paula deen's butt massage and a house seasoning that we made (salt, pepper, garlic powder) and put it in the cast iron pot with the lid on. placed it in the oven at 1:30 and took it out at 8. the house smelled amazing all day. it literally falls apart while it is cooking. we just drained all the grease out of the pot and pulled the pork to the texture that we like. i also made a vinegar based bbq sauce (there is no recipe because i just eyeballed everything). tomorrow night--pulled pork sandwhiches. we will have pork for days!

p.s. we store the sauce in an empty boone's farm bottle. cause we're classy.

lasagna

my mom had to come to charlotte all last week to work at my post office. fun times! finally all my co-workers and supervisors see where i get it from! wednesday was my day off, the only day i had time to cook, so we invited her over for dinner and a sleep over. of course, i made lasagna because it's her favorite.

there are so many ways to make lasagna. basically you just layer noodles, sauce, cheeses and whatever else you want in a dish and bake (duh). i don't feel like typing out a recipe, can you tell? i made this one meatless. i made tomato sauce and added cooked spinach to one of the layers. i am pretty excited about the sauce though. i decided to try something new because i usually have a chunky sauce and i wanted a thin one. i pureed a medium onion and 5 garlic cloves in the food processor and added to some olive oil with salt and pepper. then i pureed a HUGE can of crushed tomatoes with basil and added that so that everything was smooth. i added some other secret spices and simmered away for half and hour. then i proceeded to eat some with a spoon. it was so good!

i do not remember what the lasagna tasted like because i talked all the way threw dinner. adam finished the little bit that was left the next night. i boiled some spaghetti and mixed with the leftover tomato sauce. then i ate some bread dipped in the tomato sauce.

more bread

last wednesday i made my 4th loaf of bread. i am starting on my 2nd bag of bread flour. with my short work week coming up i think i will be on loaf 5 or maybe 6 by sunday. we LOVE this stuff.