On the lighter side

Cooking is a passion of mine - there is usually nothing I enjoy more than trying out a new and exciting recipe and finding the results to be tasty and satisfying. Food is truly my love language, and every meal is an opportunity to express care and creativity to family and friends. New recipes are an adventure, and "mistakes" are often opportunities to exercise creativity to salvage a would-be disaster and to learn to laugh at yourself. You cannot take yourself too seriously in the kitchen!

With that said, I want to expand the subject of this blog beyond just sugary treats (though they are fun to make) and include fun meals that others might enjoy trying themselves. I also hope to encourage others who may feel inadequate in their cooking abilities to branch out and try something new. Maybe blogging meals will also help me to plan better and more interesting meals to share. Win-win!

Breaded boneless pork chops with baked sweet potatoes,
and cranberry pecan salad with feta cheese

You'll need:
4 boneless pork chops
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup reduced sodium chicken or vegetable broth
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon ground sage
1 cup italian bread crumbs

4 sweet potatoes, washed
butter
brown sugar
cinnamon

1 heart of romaine, washed
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup shelled pecan halves
1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
poppyseed dressing

2 hrs before dinner: Bake sweet potatoes.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Pierce sweet potatoes all over 8-10 times with a fork and place on cookie sheet. Bake for 45 minutes - 1 hour (depending on size of sweet potatoes). When done, slice each sweet potato down the middle and insert a pat (about 1 tablespoon) of butter to give it time to melt and permeate the inside of the sweet potato. Mmm..
**To check for doneness: pick up the largest baking sweet potato out of the oven with oven mitt. With medium to light force, tap it on the counter - if it feels soft (or even gets a little smashed), then they are done. If it still feels stiff, put it back in and bake for another 15 minutes or so and check again. (I forgot to do this and we ended up with partially baked sweet potatoes - remember what I said about laughing at yourself?) :)

45 min before dinner: Prep salad.
Tear washed romaine leaves into bite sized pieces and place in salad bowl. Sprinkle cranberries, pecans, and feta cheese on top. Done! (Don't forget to set out dressing when it's time to eat - that way the lettuce won't be soggy.)

30 min before dinner: Prepare pork chops.
1) Heat olive oil in large skillet on medium to medium high heat. Beat egg and sage in a small bowl and set aside. In a second small bowl, pour in bread crumbs. Use paper towel to pat-dry your pork chops.
2) When the pan is hot, dip each pork chop into the egg mixture bowl making sure to completely coat the pork chop on all sides. Do the same with the bread crumbs.
3) Place chops in hot skillet and brown on both sides (about 5 minutes on each side). Add chicken broth to pan, just enough to cover the bottom of the skillet and reduce heat to medium-low. Cover skillet and allow to simmer for 10-15 minutes or until pork is cooked through. Serve hot.
**If broth evaporates before chops are done, just add a little more. Too much broth will make your chops soggy!

Before serving the meal, slice open the tops of the sweet potatoes and dress it up with a pat of butter, a sprinkle of cinnamon, and 1-2 tablespoons of brown sugar.

Homemade Pecan Pie + Dark Chocolate = YUM.

My mom, a very health conscious woman, mailed us a bag of pecans this week. Now, I don't know about you, but when I think of pecans my mind usually drifts into one particular direction:

**Photo courtesy of webmd.com - under an article titled "holiday food horrors"

I'm sure my mother did NOT have this purpose in mind for her lovely pecans, but sometimes ignorance is bliss. And my friends, it WAS bliss.

This time I decided to spice things up by chopping up some semi-sweet dark baking chocolate and mixing it into the filling before baking it. Actually, my husband suggested the addition. The result: Amazing. Something very similar to derby pie but with a little more bittersweet bite to it. Yum.

Here is the recipe - if you want an easy pie to make for Christmas, look no further.

Note: I started with a basic pecan pie recipe from the Millard Cook Book, a collaboration made several years ago by the men and women on my dad's side of the family. Thanks again for the copy, Aunt Sis!

Dark Chocolate Chunk Pecan Pie
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup butter/margarine, melted
- 1 cup corn syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup pecans
- 3-1 oz blocks of semi-sweet dark chocolate
- 1 unbaked pie crust

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine eggs, sugar, butter, corn syrup, vanilla, and salt until well blended. Set aside.

2) Using a serrated bread knife (I'm told this kind of knife is best!), carefully chop dark chocolate blocks - make small cuts on the corners of the brick and work your way inward. The pieces don't have to be very large or uniform, though you will probably want a few nice sized chunks to bite into. Fold chocolate and pecans into egg mixture.

3) Pour filling into pie pan and place pie on cookie sheet. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until done.

4) Enjoy a warm piece of pie with a cold glass of milk.

**I made this pie dairy-free by substituting reduced fat margarine for the butter and using Baker's chocolate. You will have to make your own crust if you need it to be dairy-free also, simply make it by substituting the butter with same margarine.

Bad boys, bad boys...

I'm almost finished playing catch up now - 2009 was not a good year for cake making. Pregnancy was nine months of illness, dizziness, fatigue, etc etc - but on September 30, 2009 the result was a beautiful baby boy, Emmett Abraham!


Though I'm not planning on getting back into cakes yet (helloooo, new baby?), I am hoping to post a few fun recipes and little projects here and there over the next few months. But before I start with the new, I have one more cake from this past summer that I made for my friend Robby who graduated from police academy.

Robby's wife and my long-time friend Rachel wanted to surprise Robby with a cake that looked like the LMPD squad car. She let me borrow a miniature that they possessed and I did my best to replicate it. So here they are, side by side:

I was so out of it that I forgot the cover the cake board with foil, DOH!


Ah well, at least Robby liked it.
Congrats, Robby!