Another Saturday Night

Home tonight and our dinner plans are:

• Grilling up a batch of chicken to have for tonight and the rest of the week
• Tomato and Okra Cornmeal Cakes
• Wilted spinach salad with bacon and tomato

I will post pictures of this.

Birthday Menu

Hubby's birthday was this past week and we had a great dinner at home.  He grills a steak better than any $40 restaurant steak in Dallas.  To go with the steaks we had:

• Smoked gouda, bacon and jalapeno grits
• Baby spinach salad with grapes, feta cheese, pecans and a Strawberry/Walnut vinegrette
• Sauteed mushrooms

It was so good I forgot to take pics.  :(

PRIME! Rib

Today I made my first attempt at a Rib Roast.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Beef Cuts
Beef cut:	Rib
Steak type:	Standing rib roast
(also known as: prime rib, beef rib roast)

A standing rib roast is a cut of beef from the primal rib, which is one of the eight primal cuts of beef. The entire rib section comprises ribs six through 12 of the animal; a standing rib roast can comprise anywhere from two to seven ribs. It is given the name "standing" because it is most often roasted in a standing position, that is, with the ribs stacked vertically and the vertebral processes on the bottom. An alternative is to cook with the rib bones on the bottom and the vertebral processes removed for easier carving. A standing rib roast, if sliced when uncooked, would yield a number of rib steaks. Ribeye steaks result from removing the bones and most of the fat and lesser muscles (tail).



So, I went by Paula Deen's recipe and added one ot

her spice and it came out Awesome.

Roast going into a 350 oven.

For a 5 pound roast with ribs -

Preheat the oven to 350

Rub the roast with Paula Deen' House seasoning which is a mixture of salt, pepper and grlic powder. I added some Steak Seasoning to the rub.

Put the roast in the oven, on a rack, fatty side up

Cook for 1 hour, DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN AT ANY TIME

Turn the oven off and leave the roast for 3 hours.  DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN AT ANY TIME

Turn the oven back up to 375 and cook for one hour.

Perfect



Broccolli Salad

• 1 head broccoli, stems removed and florets cut into pieces
• 4 slices cooked bacon, crumbled
• 1/2 cup red onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp white vinegar
• 1 1/2 tbsp honey
• 1/4 cup roasted no salt added sunflower seed kernels
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preparation:

1. In a small bowl combine mayo, vinegar, honey, salt and pepper. Mix well and set aside.
2. In a large bowl combine broccoli, bacon, onion and raisins. Gently stir in the mayo dressing.
3. Sprinkle with sunflower seeds and serve immediately

(travels well if you do not add dressing till you arrive at your destination)

Brown Sugar Pineapple glazed pork chop

It's all about the marinade.

2 or 3 thick cut boneless pork chops

1 small can pineapple chunks
1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
few shakes of sea salt
few shakes of crushed red pepper
cup of water
1/4 cup olive oil

put all in a gallon zip lock bag and seal. Squish around to mix well and lay flay in the fridge so the pork soaks up all the good stuff. Marinate at least an hour. Turn the bag over occaisionally.


Get the grill up to about 300 degrees. Our chops were about an inch thick and Ray cooked them 7 minutes each side. When you turn the chops you want to grill the pineapple chunks that were in the marinade. We have a seperate grill tray with very small holes that we put on top of the grill grates. Ray cooked the pineapple on that. GOODNESS

Crock Pot Girls = Phenom!

One of the fastest ever recorded "friends" sites on Facebook is Crock Pot Girls. Once they hit Facebook and people saw what they were doing it went viral like gangbusters.

I "liked" them early, (early is relative) on and watched them hit 1,000,000 friends in less than 10 days.
It's a simple premise, have people share crock pot recipes on their page. Duh!

This is the first I tried. Crock Pot Italian Chicken.

the original recipe called for boneless chicken breasts but I used thighs. Chicken's chicken.

4 chicken thighs or boneless breasts (Frozen)
one jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce
2 tablespoons italian seasoning
1 tablespoon black pepper

Place Frozen chicken in the bottom of your crock pot
add Italian Seasoning
Add black pepper
pour sauce over chicken

Cook on low for 4-6 hours or on high for 3-4

Protein, Protein

It's been a long time since I posted here.  Life and "stuff" has gotten in the way.  When life and stuff happens, so does the weight gain. 

Today, thanks to Daylight Saving Time, I'm starting my walks in the park again.  In addition, I'm following the Atkins plan for weight loss.  We'll see how that goes.

This morning I woke up with my head pounding so I'm working from home. I started the day with some coffee, hoping it would help with the headache.  I fixed me a turkey zuchinni egg scramble.  No toast, no carbs.  Not bad at all!

Tonight I'm fixing Cajun Pork Chops and veggies.  I pray that God will help me stick with this program.

Free cookbook download

check this out - Betty Crocker Soups Cookbook

http://www.mysavings.com/free-stuff/Betty-Crocker/19525/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+mysavings-daily-ca+%28Daily+Offer+Updates+%28Canada%29%29#

more freestuff to come.

Spicy Shrimp and Grits

this is awesome and I've never even like grits! With enough cheese and spice anything is good!  sorry, no pics on this one.

Ingredients:

1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined

3 cups chicken broth

1 tbls sea salt


1 cup grits (regular, not quick)

1 cup white cheddar, grated

1 cup pepper jack, grated

1/2 cup parmesan, grated

1/2 cup milk

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 stick butter

1 tsp pepper

1 tbls cajan spice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, grease a casserole dish. (i used a small square dish but may use a 9x6 next time so it will be thinner with crisper edges)

Bring broth, salt, pepper to a boil in 2 quart saucepan. Stir in the grits and whisk until completely combined. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until the grits are thick. about 8-10 minutes. Add 1/2 of all the cheeses and milk and stir till cheese is melted. GRADUALLY stir in the eggs and butter and cajun spice. stir till all is combined. Pour the mixture into the casserole dish, top with the rest of the cheese. Bake 35-40 minutes.



Shrimp:

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup lemon or lime juice

2 tbls cajun spice



combine all with the shrimp and let stand for an hour. grill and serve on top of the grits.

Cinnamon Pineapple Pork Loin

The key here is brining the pork.  Always, always, always brine pork and chicken for moist reselts every time!!!!!!

Pork Loin brine
1 1/2 to 2 pork loin
water to cover pork in a large bowl
apple cider vinegar
1/8 cup sea salt


Cover pork loin in above liquid and salt and let sit for at least one hour. pour out brine withholding about 2 cups of brine.

Marinade:
1/2 cup teriyaki marinade
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbls cinnamon
2 small cans pineapple CHUNKS with liquid

combine all above and pour over pork and let marinate for at least an hour

Heat grill to 400 degrees
place pork on grill and cook 11 to 12 minutes, turn pork loin, cook another 11 to 12 minutes.  turn once again and pour marinade over pork.  Grill pineapple chunks about 2-3 minutes.

Yummy