Last night was pork chops because I didn't have to prep anything. Four pork chops seared on the stove and then finished in the oven covered in onions - cause that's what the recipe said to do. They came out extremely dry. Maybe the chops weren't thick enough, but the recipe didn't mention anything about thickness in the ingredient list :(
When I obtained the porkchops from the fridge, I also retrieved a bag of my steam green beans and 2 microwave sweet potatoes. I poke a hole on the back of the bag of beans and set it aside since the potatoes take longer to cook. don't turn the potatoes on yet because I know the chops have to cook for a bit in the oven and I don't want the potatoes to be cold when we sit down to eat.
Once again, I remembered to pre-heat the oven to 425 :) I also remembered to obtain a cookie sheet and aluminum. I placed the cookie sheet topped with the foil next to my cooking pan for easy transfer when the time comes.
The players:
4 boneless pork chops at 4-6 oz each
1 onion, sliced (pre-sliced from store)
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp ground thyme
1/4 tsp ground sage
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
The original recipe called for 2 tbsp of coconut oil, but neither BGS or I are a fan of the coconut flavor for savory dishes.
Mix all the dry spices together and coat both sides of the chops. Melt the butter and mix it with the olive oil. Once the oils are hot enough, add the pork chops
and brown on both sides Lay the pork chops in a row on top of the foil and top with the chopped onion. Pull the foil up around the chops and onions and close tightly.
I placed the chops in the preheated oven and set the timer for 30 minutes.
I walked the short distance to the microwave with the sweet potatoes and turned the it on for 14 minutes.
While I wait for the potatoes to cook, I clean the pan and set it in the rack to dry in an effort to prep for what I thought would be tomorrow night's meal.
*Beep* Pull out the taters and throw in the green beans for 4.5 minutes *BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP* Dinner!
Like I said earlier, the chops came out dry and slightly tough even though they were covered in onions.
I added some applesauce to my plate to help with the dryness while BGS used A1.
Once I finished eating dinner, I set to the task of prepping for the rest of the week....
After dinner I used the same pan in which I cooked the pork to cook the chicken for what I thought would be Wednesday's dinner.
I used almost the same spice mix I have used every other time I make this GF Chicken-Broccoli Casserole. The only hiccup was that I am completely out of poultry seasoning, but that's ok, I have all the ingredients, so I made my own version :) There were some additions to this "homemade" poultry seasoning, because I couldn't locate the dried marjoram. I was pretty sure Herbes de Provence had everything I needed, so I reached for the bottle and compared it to my empty poultry seasoning bottle and sure enough, I was right! SCORE! The chicken mix is poultry seasoning, garlic powder, smoked paprika. salt and pepper, usually, so all I had to do was add the garlic powder and paprika and it worked well.
I combine the spices in this ratio 2 tsp herbes de provence, 1 tsp, smoked paprika, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp fresh cracked pepper. Coat each side of the 6 chicken breasts with the mixture. I added 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp butter to the pan again and turn on the heat. Once the pan is hot, add 3 of the chicken breasts and cook 3-4 minutes each side. Once the first three are cooked, pull them out and put them on a plate. Make sure there is enough oil in the pan before placing the remaining 3 breasts in the pan to cook. Again, cook the breasts 3-4 minutes each side and pull them out to cool.
After the chicken was cooled enough to touch, I chopped it into bite-sized chunks. As I put the cooked and cooled broccoli into the fridge, I checked the date for the pork roast I purchased over the weekend. To my disappointment, it had to be cooked today, Wednesday.
I woke up this morning and started putting the pork shoulder together. I chopped the onion (boy do I miss my goggles), and placed in the bottom of the crock that I had already lined with one of my slow-cooker liners. Read down a few more lines and instantly realize what I should have prepped last night: the barbecue sauce for the pork. It needs to simmer for 30 minutes. *facepalm*
So all the prep work I did Tuesday night for the chicken should really have been done for the pork, because the pork actually needed WAY more prep than the chicken. If I had bothered to read the recipe Tuesday night, I would not have sat down to watch tv, but actually stayed in the kitchen and prepped for today.
Note to self: read all new recipes at the beginning of the week. If I had done that, I would have actually cooked the bbq sauce Sunday when I made the biscuits..
Time to switch gears!
Pull out a small 2-qt pot and grab the ingredients from the pantry and spice cupboard.
Players for the sauce:
1 1/2 cups of beef stock
2 cloves of garlic, pressed or minced
6 oz. can of tomato paste
1/4 cup of raw honey
1 tbs apple cider vinegar
2 tbs dijon mustard
2 tsp smokey paprika
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne
I pour the beef stock into the pot and then add the pressed garlic cloves to the pot. Bring the stock to a simmer and let it simmer for 5 minutes. Once the 5 minutes have elapsed, I added the remaining ingredients and reduced the power to a bare simmer for 30 minutes. It quickly started to sputter and splat, so I quickly grabbed my wire mesh splatter protector thingy and put it on top of the pot. By this point it's noon-ish, so I make my lunch and wait for the *BEEP*
When I obtained the porkchops from the fridge, I also retrieved a bag of my steam green beans and 2 microwave sweet potatoes. I poke a hole on the back of the bag of beans and set it aside since the potatoes take longer to cook. don't turn the potatoes on yet because I know the chops have to cook for a bit in the oven and I don't want the potatoes to be cold when we sit down to eat.
Once again, I remembered to pre-heat the oven to 425 :) I also remembered to obtain a cookie sheet and aluminum. I placed the cookie sheet topped with the foil next to my cooking pan for easy transfer when the time comes.
4 boneless pork chops at 4-6 oz each
1 onion, sliced (pre-sliced from store)
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp ground thyme
1/4 tsp ground sage
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
The original recipe called for 2 tbsp of coconut oil, but neither BGS or I are a fan of the coconut flavor for savory dishes.
Mix all the dry spices together and coat both sides of the chops. Melt the butter and mix it with the olive oil. Once the oils are hot enough, add the pork chops
and brown on both sides Lay the pork chops in a row on top of the foil and top with the chopped onion. Pull the foil up around the chops and onions and close tightly.
I placed the chops in the preheated oven and set the timer for 30 minutes.
I walked the short distance to the microwave with the sweet potatoes and turned the it on for 14 minutes.
While I wait for the potatoes to cook, I clean the pan and set it in the rack to dry in an effort to prep for what I thought would be tomorrow night's meal.
*Beep* Pull out the taters and throw in the green beans for 4.5 minutes *BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP* Dinner!
Like I said earlier, the chops came out dry and slightly tough even though they were covered in onions.
I added some applesauce to my plate to help with the dryness while BGS used A1.
Once I finished eating dinner, I set to the task of prepping for the rest of the week....
After dinner I used the same pan in which I cooked the pork to cook the chicken for what I thought would be Wednesday's dinner.
I used almost the same spice mix I have used every other time I make this GF Chicken-Broccoli Casserole. The only hiccup was that I am completely out of poultry seasoning, but that's ok, I have all the ingredients, so I made my own version :) There were some additions to this "homemade" poultry seasoning, because I couldn't locate the dried marjoram. I was pretty sure Herbes de Provence had everything I needed, so I reached for the bottle and compared it to my empty poultry seasoning bottle and sure enough, I was right! SCORE! The chicken mix is poultry seasoning, garlic powder, smoked paprika. salt and pepper, usually, so all I had to do was add the garlic powder and paprika and it worked well.
I combine the spices in this ratio 2 tsp herbes de provence, 1 tsp, smoked paprika, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp fresh cracked pepper. Coat each side of the 6 chicken breasts with the mixture. I added 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp butter to the pan again and turn on the heat. Once the pan is hot, add 3 of the chicken breasts and cook 3-4 minutes each side. Once the first three are cooked, pull them out and put them on a plate. Make sure there is enough oil in the pan before placing the remaining 3 breasts in the pan to cook. Again, cook the breasts 3-4 minutes each side and pull them out to cool.
After the chicken was cooled enough to touch, I chopped it into bite-sized chunks. As I put the cooked and cooled broccoli into the fridge, I checked the date for the pork roast I purchased over the weekend. To my disappointment, it had to be cooked today, Wednesday.
I woke up this morning and started putting the pork shoulder together. I chopped the onion (boy do I miss my goggles), and placed in the bottom of the crock that I had already lined with one of my slow-cooker liners. Read down a few more lines and instantly realize what I should have prepped last night: the barbecue sauce for the pork. It needs to simmer for 30 minutes. *facepalm*
So all the prep work I did Tuesday night for the chicken should really have been done for the pork, because the pork actually needed WAY more prep than the chicken. If I had bothered to read the recipe Tuesday night, I would not have sat down to watch tv, but actually stayed in the kitchen and prepped for today.
Note to self: read all new recipes at the beginning of the week. If I had done that, I would have actually cooked the bbq sauce Sunday when I made the biscuits..
Time to switch gears!
Pull out a small 2-qt pot and grab the ingredients from the pantry and spice cupboard.
Players for the sauce:1 1/2 cups of beef stock
2 cloves of garlic, pressed or minced
6 oz. can of tomato paste
1/4 cup of raw honey
1 tbs apple cider vinegar
2 tbs dijon mustard
2 tsp smokey paprika
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne
I pour the beef stock into the pot and then add the pressed garlic cloves to the pot. Bring the stock to a simmer and let it simmer for 5 minutes. Once the 5 minutes have elapsed, I added the remaining ingredients and reduced the power to a bare simmer for 30 minutes. It quickly started to sputter and splat, so I quickly grabbed my wire mesh splatter protector thingy and put it on top of the pot. By this point it's noon-ish, so I make my lunch and wait for the *BEEP*
Once it beeps I turn the heat off and let it cool before adding 1 cup of the emergency bbq sauce to the top of the pork shoulder. Once that's done, I set the timer for 7 hours and clean up a bit.
Time to sit and start writing.
Halfway through the time and it smells WONDERFUL!
Time to shovel a little more before the next impending storm tonight. 1.5 hr later. House smells FANTASTIC! And I'm genuinely starving!
Oh crud....what's the appropriate veggie for bbq that I might actually have in the house?? I hope it's green beans, because that's all I have to spare.
Next step was to remove the roast from the crock and set it aside....that process sent bbq sauce splattering across the kitchen - OOPS :) Then scoop out the onions and set them aside. Once you have retrieved all the onions floating in the tasty bbq drippings, you strain the liquid - I used my Oxo gravy separator - and shred the pork.... *SUMMON BGS for shredding* While I wait for him, I pour the onion-less juice back into the crock.
I think I might have chosen the wrong roast, or maybe BGS did it wrong, because he said it wasn't shredding easily. He did his best though. Once he shredded it , we put the pork back the crock, top it with the onions and turn the crock back on set to low for 30 minutes. While the shredded pork was simmering in the juice, I heated two sweet potatoes and green beans in the microwave.
He tried the GF buns on Monday - even though I told him not to touch them - and said he didn't like them. I had planned on making more - this time with GF Bisquick, but the 1.5 hours of snow shoveling shot those plans to kingdom come.
The bbq was beyond tasty and moist and I was just too hungry to pause to take pictures. Sorry. Maybe I will take some with the leftovers.
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