Pork Chops with Caribbean Rub and Mango Salsa

Tags

Caribbean, mango, pork, tomato, tropical

It might not yet be mango season, but I’m all ready for it! I still have a couple bags of mango that I froze from last year. I try to make stuff last, and then I kind of forget about it… whoops! I did the same thing with my thin mints, but that also means I get very excited when I find my hidden stash!

And mango salsa is a great use for leftover/frozen mango! Especially when it’s paired up with a perfectly spiced pork chop. As soon as I saw this recipe, I knew it was something I had to try, I just wanted to wait until mangoes were more in season. And I might have jumped the gun a little, but it’s soon… very soon. So for once I’m ahead of the game, and I’ve given you some food for thought (no pun intended :P).I’ve made these twice so far and they were wonderful each time. The first time, I was at my sister’s and she had pork chops, but no breadcrumbs and her original plan for the chops had fallen through, or she had forgotten an ingredient or something along those lines! She was asking me if I had any ideas, and I remembered that I had bookmarked this recipe. It worked out perfectly. She had all the spices in her pantry, and even had some mango papaya salsa from Trader Joe’s. The meal came together quickly, and I knew I had to make it again soon so my husband could try it. It was a hit with him, too, and it’s nice to know that you can easily make your own mango salsa, or use any store bought tropical salsa. So with summer right around the corner, keep this recipe in mind and spice up your summer with some tropical flair! 🙂One Year Ago: Lemon Bars

Pork Chops with Caribbean Rub and Mango Salsa

1½ teaspoons ground coriander
1½ teaspoons ground cumin
¾ teaspoon sugar
¾ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
⅛ teaspoon ground red pepper
4 (6-ounce) pork chops, bone-in or boneless
½ cup mango, diced
½ cup plum tomato, diced
½ cup cilantro, chopped
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

Combine first 7 ingredients in a small bowl. Rub pork chops with spice mixture.

Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray;  add pork to pan and cook 3 minutes on each side or until a thermometer registers 145  degrees F (slightly pink). If pork chops are thick, cook for 3 minutes on each side then bake at 350 degrees F for up to 10 minutes, until chops are fully cooked through.

In the meantime, combine mango, tomato, cilantro, red wine vinegar, and olive oil in a small bowl; toss gently. Serve salsa over pork.

Source: Our Best Bites, via Cooking Light

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Lemon-Garlic Linguine with Mascarpone and Shrimp

Tags

lemon, mascarpone, pasta, shrimp

I’m thinking it’s been a while since I posted a pasta recipe… the horror! Hehe. Yes, I have an addiction. It’s almost as bad as my chocolate addiction. 🙂 In my defense, it doesn’t help that my husband always wants pasta. When given dinner options, he’ll always choose the dish with pasta in it! Don’t worry, I’m not complaining!I already have lemon pasta dishes, such as Spaghetti with Olive Oil and Lemon and Orecchiette with Shrimp, Arugula, and Grape Tomatoes, but having more delicious lemony and pasta-y recipes is never a bad thing in my book. This specific recipe has a special Italian flair due to the addition of mascarpone, which is an Italian cream cheese (hence, awesomeness, since it’s cream cheese and Italian). The pasta is creamy and delicious, with a subtle kick from the red pepper flakes. It’s a perfect dish for spring!One Year Ago: Penne with Sausage, Artichokes, and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Lemon-Garlic Linguine with Mascarpone and Shrimp

1 pound dried linguine
1½ teaspoon lemon zest
Juice of 1 lemon, about ⅓ cup
1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons butter
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 small shallot, minced
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
¼ cup dry white wine
½ cup mascarpone cheese
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
Lemon slices, for serving, optional

Bring a large pot of well-salted water to boil. Cook pasta until al dente, according to package instructions. Drain, reserving ½ cup of the pasta water.

Meanwhile, pat the shrimp dry and toss with half the lemon zest, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

In a large skillet set over medium-high heat, melt the butter. Add the shallot, garlic, and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring continuously, until the garlic is golden brown and fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the shrimp and cook about 90 seconds on one side. Flip the shrimp, reduce the heat to medium, and add the white wine and half the lemon juice. Bring to a boil and cook about 1 minute. Add the mascarpone, reserved pasta water, and linguine; toss to coat. Cook an additional 1 to 2 minutes, or until the pasta is well coated and the sauce has thickened slightly. Stir in the remaining lemon zest, lemon juice, and parsley. Season with additional salt and pepper if necessary, and serve immediately, with lemon slices if desired.

Source: Adapted from Pink Parsley

Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Muffins, and an Anniversary!

Tags

cinnamon, cream cheese, muffin, Pumpkin

As seems to be the trend for the last few months, I’m behind. Apparently I hit one year of blogging last week! Whoops, but yay! It’s been quite an adventure… and I must say I didn’t have a good start. Somehow, I thought that people would somehow find my blog all on their own and I just had to sit back and write posts. Oh how wrong I was, and how much I’ve learned! I’ve met so many amazing bloggers over the last year, and I want to thank all of you for your support and kind words. Before I post a new recipe, I want to do a little recap of some of the top posts over the last year.The most popular post was this awesome Pull-Apart Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Bread with Spiced Glaze, which was derived from the very popular cinnamon sugar pull-apart breads that swept the blogospere.Surprisingly enough, the second most popular post was the very first post I ever made, these Chocolate Cupcakes with Baileys Buttercream. Just goes to show how great it is! It’s also the first recipe that was shared on another blog!Third is Slow-Cooker Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Homemade Barbecue Sauce, because who doesn’t love pulled pork!And fourth is Blueberry Sour Cream Pie, which was another surprising hit. I think I assumed this post was a more unique recipe and hence wouldn’t be as sought after, but maybe that was it’s appeal!

Now before I bore you all to death, I just want to share a couple of my own favorites from this past year, which you might have overlooked or missed.Mango Bread. Tropical, moist, and oh so delicious!Croque Monsieur/Madame. Classic French food which makes for a simple yet indulgent meal.Broiled Shrimp with Tomatoes and Brie. Nuff said. You gotta try this!!

Anyways, on to the main attraction! It may not be a very celebratory food, but I do love me some muffins! Yes it’s pumpkin, and yes it’s spring, but I believe I’ve mentioned before that I eat pumpkin year round. It’s a super tasty superfood! I made these muffins once before, following the original recipe exactly and making my own vanilla glaze. They were very good, but the muffin was a little too tender for my liking, and the glaze didn’t quite match up as I wanted. So, on to take two and I was in heaven! I used my go-to family recipe for pumpkin bread, which is a little sturdier of a bread. Topping was the same, since that was perfect the first time around. As for the glaze, a vanilla glaze didn’t quite seem right for a cinnamon roll muffin, so this time around I made a cream cheese glaze. Yum!

So in conclusion, try these muffins and hurray for my first year blogoversary!!

Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Muffins
Yield: 15 to 16 muffins

Muffins:
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
½ cup vegetable oil
⅓ cup water
2 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1¾ cups all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon ground ginger

Topping:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
¼ cup brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Glaze:
2 ounces cream cheese, softened
½ cup powdered sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 to 2 tablespoons milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tins with paper liners; set aside.

To make the muffins: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and ground ginger; set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the pumpkin puree, oil, water, eggs, and sugar. Slowly add the dry ingredients; mix until smooth. Split batter equally between prepared muffin tins, filling about ¾ of the way full.

To make the topping: In a small bowl, combine butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Crumble on top of uncooked muffins and swirl into the batter.

Bake the muffins for 17 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Move muffin pan to wire rack and cool for 5 minutes, then remove muffins and finish cooling on wire rack.

To make the glaze: In a medium bowl, whisk or beat together the cream cheese and powdered sugar. Stir in the vanilla extract; stir in 1 tablespoon of milk, checking the consistency and adding more milk as needed. Drizzle the cooled muffins with desired amount of glaze.

Source: Adapted/inspired from The Teenage Taste

Cream Egg Brownies

I hope everyone had a great Easter! I spent my Easter at work, but then I spent my two days off with my mom, sister, and nephews. My oldest nephew helped my mom hide an Easter basket for me 🙂 I may be in my upper 20’s but I still love holiday traditions! One of my favorite Easter candies is Cadbury cream eggs, and lucky for me, my basket was full of them! Original cream eggs, caramel eggs, and a new chocolate cream egg. Yum yum!! My husband absolutely loves cream eggs, so when I saw this recipe for cream egg brownies, I knew it was something I had to try.The reason I’m posting this after Easter is for all you Cadbury cream egg fans. Once your eggs are all gone, and you need a fix, try these brownies! The filling is a copycat of the actual cream egg filling, but these brownies aren’t overly sweet like the cream eggs. The creamy filling is subtle, but these brownies are great! For extra cream egg goodness, you can always double to filling! So go ahead and eat all your cream eggs, then when the craving for more hits, make some cream egg brownies!Cream Egg Brownies
Yield: 16 brownies

Brownies:
⅔ cup flour
2 tablespoons Dutch-processed cocoa powder
½ teaspoon salt
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into cubes
¼ cup granulated sugar
½ cup light brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream Filling:
¼ cup light corn syrup
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
⅛ teaspoon salt
1½ cups powdered sugar

Glaze:
3 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into cubes

To make the brownies: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line the bottom and sides of an 8-by-8-inch pan with parchment paper, leaving a slight overhang on two edges.

In a small bowl, combine flour, cocoa, and salt; set aside.

In a double boiler or a medium-large bowl set over gently simmering water, melt chocolate and butter; stir until smooth, then remove from heat. Whisk in sugars and stir until dissolved and mixture has cooled slightly. Whisk in eggs and vanilla extract until just combined; do not overmix. Sprinkle flour mixture over top of chocolate mixture and fold in using a large rubber spatula until just incorporated. Pour into prepared pan.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Transfer pan to a wire rack and allow to cool completely.

To make the cream filling: Beat together corn syrup, butter, vanilla, and salt on medium-high speed until smooth. Add powdered sugar, a little at a time, mixing until creamy and stiff. Place ¾ of the cream mixture on top of cooled brownies and spread into an even layer. Add a drop of yellow food coloring to remaining cream mixture and stir until evenly colored. Drop dollops of yellow cream on top of white layer, and then gently spread over the white layer. Let set at room temperature for about 10 minutes.

To make the glaze: In a small saucepan over low heat or a microwave safe bowl, melt chocolate and butter together; stir until smooth. Pour over cream filling, carefully spreading into a thin, even layer. Chill until set, at least 30 minutes, but preferably overnight.

Using the edges of the parchment paper, remove brownies from pan. Use a long sharp knife to cut the brownies into 2-inch squares. Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 5 days, bringing to room temperature before serving.

Source: Adapted from Love & Olive Oil

Peasant Bread

Tags

bread, yeast

I’ve always been afraid of baking bread. Not quick breads of course, since they’re so easy! But there’s something about yeast… and I don’t know why. I’m slowly working up my nerves. I’ve been making my own pizza dough a little more regularly now, and I have made bread a couple of times, though they haven’t all come out as I hoped.This bread came out wonderfully though! And there are so many great things about this recipe. First of all, if you’re at all intimidated by yeast and everything it involves then this recipe is perfect. It involves no kneading, with very short rise times. And this one recipe makes 4 separate loaves, which can be stored in the frig and baked over a 2 week period. Now, whenever I want bread, I can just throw a loaf in the oven and voila I have homemade bread!

I pretty much went through one of these loaves in one day. I had some with dinner, breakfast, snack, pre-dinner snack, and dinner again! 🙂 I guess I need to bake up another one so my husband will be able to try some… good thing there are three more loaves waiting to be baked in my frig!!Peasant Bread
Yield: Four 1-pound loaves

3 cups lukewarm water
1½ tablespoons instant yeast
1½ tablespoons salt
1 cup whole wheat flour
5½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
Cornmeal and additional flour for dusting the dough and peel

In a 4 or 5 quart bowl, mix yeast and salt with water. Mix in the flours without kneading, using your hands if need be to get the last bit of flour mixed in. Cover with plastic wrap or a light towel and allow to rest at room temperature until the dough rises and then collapses or flattens on top, about 2 hours. After the initial rise, the dough can be used immediately or covered and refrigerated for up to 14 days.

To prepare the dough to bake, dust the surface of the dough with flour and cut the dough into 4 equal sections, each about 1-pound and the size of a grapefruit. Dust with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball by stretching the edges of the dough around to the bottom, rotating the ball as needed. Allow to rest and rise on a cornmeal-covered pizza peel for 40 minutes.

As dough rests, preheat the oven to 450 degrees F, and place a baking stone on the middle rack. Remember that it’s ideal to have a hot stone to bake the bread on.

Once the second rise is complete, sprinkle the loaf liberally with flour and slash a cross, scallop, or tic-tac-toe pattern on the top, using a serrated bread knife; leave the flour in place for baking, but tap some of it off before slicing. In a cast iron pan or broiler tray, pour 1 cup of hot tap water; place in the preheated oven on a lower rack. Slide the loaf directly onto the hot baking stone. Bake for about 35 minutes or until the top crust is deeply browned and very firm; smaller or larger loaves will require adjustments in baking time. Remove loaf to a cooling rack. Serve while still warm, or let cool completely.

Source: Adapted from Honey & Jam via Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day