Great pork chops

Memphis-Style Pork Chops
Better Homes and Gardens New Dieter’s Cookbook Copyright 2003

½ cup bottled chili sauce
2 tablespoons molasses
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 teaspoon chili powder
4 boneless pork loin chops, cut ¾ to 1 inch thick (1 ¼ pounds total)
1 teaspoon dried basil, crushed
½ teaspoon paprika
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
Purchased coleslaw (optional)

1. In a small saucepan stir together chili sauce, molasses, vinegar, and chili powder. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 3 minutes. Remove from heat.
2. Trim fat from chops. In a small bowl stir together basil, paprika, salt, onion powder and cayenne pepper. Sprinkle evenly over both sides of each chop; rub in with your fingers.
3. Place chops on the rack of an uncovered grill directly over medium coals. Grill for 12 to 15 minutes or until pork juices run clear (160 degrees F), turning once and brushing with chili sauce mixture during the last 5 minutes of grilling. (I broiled mine.) If desired, serve with coleslaw.

Makes 4 servings. Per serving: 260 cal, 7 g fat, 83 mg chol, 623 mg sodium, 16 g carbs, 2 g fiber, 31 g pro
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Sometimes pork chops turn out so good and other times they're just so-so. This was one of those times when they were really good. I didn't grill them since it was gloomy and damp outside. I considered the George Foreman grill but I decided to broil them and that was a smart decision. I cut these chops from the fattier end of the pork loin. They weren't all that fatty - pork is pretty lean these days - but that little bit of extra fat helps a lot. The were perfectly cooked and a bit crispy from being broiled (the contact grill tends to almost steam the chops making them rubbery instead of crispy). I hardly ever use the broiler but I think I'll be using it more often from now on.

The sauce was great. It had the perfect blend of tanginess, sweetness and smokiness. Even my son liked the sauce. I almost kept his plain but he ate an entire sauced chop and asked for more.

Hey, it's the last day to sign up for the November cookbook giveaway. Tomorrow is December! Guess I can start thinking about Christmas baking.

Speaking of cookbooks, here's a little advice. Do not order anything directly from Oxmoor House (Cooking Light Annuals, Southern Living books, etc) unless you want them to keep sending you more books and more bills. I ordered one CL annual from them, paid for it, and then a Southern Living cookbook came. I remember getting the solicitation for the Southern Living book but I didn't think I replied. When it arrived, I thought, well, maybe I had. Now that a third book has arrived that I'm sure I didn't order, I did a little research and found out that this is how they operate. Most people will just pay rather than return the book. Making a simple purchase can have so many strings attached anymore. Apparently they have been doing this for many years and have already been fined by the FTC so I'm sure the fine print was there, I just didn't read it. Live and learn.

Blast From the Past: Honeyed Pork Chops from October 2005. Why haven't I made them again. They were so good.

Question of the Day: How often do you broil food?

Cutting back

Dari’s Picante Chicken
The Biggest Loser Cookbook Copyright 2006

1/3 cup plus ½ cup mild, medium or hot picante sauce
4 medium (4-ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed of visible fat I used tenders
6 tablespoons light cream cheese from a block, softened
½ cup (1 ounce) finely shredded Cabot 75% Light Cheddar Cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spread 1/3 cup of the picante sauce in the bottom of a 13x9-inch baking dish. Set aside.

Lay chicken breasts on a cutting board. Use the flat side of a meat mallet to pound the chicken breasts to a uniform thickness.

Spread the chicken evenly with the cream cheese. Lay the chicken, cream cheese side up, in a single layer in the prepared baking dish. Spoon the remaining ½ cup picante sauce evenly over the breasts. Cover the dish with aluminum foil. Because I used tenders and they didn't need to cook as long, I didn't cover them.

Bake for 15 minutes. Remove the aluminum foil. Sprinkle the Cheddar cheese evenly over the breasts. Bake, uncovered, for 15 minutes, or until no longer pink. Serve immediately.

Makes 4 servings
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I got this book from the library. It was the perfect choice to select recipes from the week after eating two Thanksgiving meals. I wasn't expecting that much from this cookbook but I was pleasantly surprised. I'll be picking up my own copy. I didn't really know much about the Biggest Loser Diet, even though I've been watching all this season. It's basically a restricted carb, low-fat, high protein diet. You can have four or more servings of veggies or fruits (at least half have to be veggies), 3 servings of protein, 2 servings of whole grain and 200 extra calories. It sounded really restrictive until I saw that a protein serving was 8 ounces and a whole-grain serving was 1 cup (or 2 slices of bread). I still don't understand how anyone can continually lose 20 pounds each week without having surgery as one contestant has been doing.

This was good and relatively effortless to put together. I'm usually tempted to add more cheese than a light recipe calls for but since the 75% Light Cabot Cheddar costs twice as much as the 50% Light Cabot Cheddar, I was able to control myself. The cheese melted fine but did get a slightly weird crinkly texture on top.

I think Costco changed providers, when it comes to their frozen chicken tenders (unless they carry more than one brand but I doubt that). I thought Tyson used to provide them under the Kirkland brand but I noticed this last bag was Purdue. The tenders are much, much smaller. Coincidentally, I had almost finished a bag of Purdue tenders I picked up in the supermarket when I bought these in Costco and the supermarket tenders had a 15% solution added, while the Costco ones only have an 8% solution. I'm not sure but I thought the ones I used to buy had an even lower percentage. I hate change.

Blast From The Past: Balsamic Chicken from January 2006. An unattractive but good chicken recipe.

Question of the Day: Do you watch reality shows?

Baba's cheesecake, sort of

Cheesecake
The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cookbook Copyright 1997, 1998

CRUST:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
¼ cup sugar
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix ingredients together and pat onto bottom and sides of an 8-inch springform cake pan. Prepare filling.

FILLING:
2 eggs
12 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla

Beat eggs and softened cream cheese together. Add sugar and vanilla. Beat until well blended. Pour into prepared crust. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes. Add topping.

TOPPING:
½ cup sugar
1 cup sour cream I used lite because that's what I had
½ teaspoon vanilla

Combine ingredients and put on top of cake; return to oven for 10 minutes.
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My husband's grandmother has several recipes that she seems reluctant to part with. I've had no luck at all figuring them out on my own, except for her cheesecake. This recipe was extremely close, if it had been cooked another 5 minutes and I left out the crust. Personally, I like a crust with my cheesecake.

Funnily enough, I made this cheesecake for my family on Thursday and on Saturday, when I had Thanksgiving with my husband's family, Baba made her cheesecake and somehow we (me, my sister-in-law and my mother-in-law) actually pried her cheesecake recipe out of her. It was very close to this one, same ingredients but different amounts (and no crust). I just found it kind of ironic that she gave it up as soon as I figured it out on my own. And no, I did not get the macaroni salad recipe but now I at least have hope that I might someday.

By the way, this is a great cheesecake. I think it just needed another 5 minutes in the oven to be perfect. I think fancy, flavored cheesecakes are great but plain cheesecake is best. Paula Deen did include a fruit topping recipe with this in the cookbook but I didn't use it.

I don't think I have any more Thanksgiving recipes. Maybe I'll blog about the pie I made that wasn't that spectacular. I'm not sure yet. The dinner rolls came out good for a first try but I never got a picture. I brought home a few leftover rolls to photograph but the cat chewed through the ziploc bag and ate them.

A Blast From The Past: Sausage and Mushroom Pasta from February 2006. We had this last night. It goes over very well in our house. I used turkey kielbas and Dreamfield penne last night.

Question of the Day: Do you like cheesecake? Plain or fancy?

Outed

French Silk Chocolate Pie
Easy Pies With Pillsbury Pie Crust Copyright 2004

1 Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust, softened as directed on box
3 oz unsweetened baking chocolate, cut into pieces
1 cup butter, softened (do not use margarine)
1 cup sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla
4 pasteurized eggs or 1 cup fat-free egg product I used the egg product
½ cup sweetened whipping cream

Chocolate curls, if desired

1. Heat oven to 450 degrees F. Make pie crust as directed on box for one-crust baked shell using 9-inch glass pie pan. Bake 9 to 11 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.
2. In 1-quart saucepan, melt chocolate over low heat; cool. In small bowl, beat butter with electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy. Gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Beat in cooled chocolate and vanilla.
3. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating on high speed 2 minutes after each addition; beat until mixture is smooth and fluffy. Pour into cooled baked pie shell. Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving. Serve topped with whipped cream and chocolate curls. Store in refrigerator.
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While I was eating this I kept thinking it reminded me of something but I couldn't pinpoint what it was. It wasn't until I was copying the recipe that I figured out that it tasted like chocolate frosting. I only tasted it after eating a full Thanksgiving meal so it's hard for me to judge this fairly. Something so rich would stand better on it's own, not on a table full of other pies after a heavy meal.

So my sister found my blog. What the big deal, right? This isn't dooce.com after all, it's just a bunch of recipes. I would have shared it with my family except they have a history of mocking my hobbies. I know a lot of my readers are also food bloggers and you're probably scratching your head and wondering what's so embarassing about a food blog - there are probably thousands of them all over the world afterall. Well, I didn't think polymer clay was a ridiculous hobby either but I believe the phrase 'you really need to get a life' came up when I dabbled in that.

It wasn't as if I heard 'I found your blog, it's great' or anything like that. It was more of a whisper and then as soon as I left the get-together and then walked right back in for something I forgot, they were already talking about it. My other sister had that scrunched up face that signals she about to say something I don't want to hear (such as, 'you really need to get a life') so I just high-tailed it out of there.

I hope they got a good laugh and moved on. For the first time in almost 15 months, I'm not excited about blogging. I feel a little self-conscious right now. Every sentence I type suddenly looks silly. But I don't want to be one of those bloggers that disappears into thin air so I'll keep going.

One of those so-so dishes

Chicken Dijon
The All-New Ultimate Southern Living Cookbook Copyright 2006

3 tablespoons butter
6 skinned and boned chicken breasts I used tenderloins
1 (14-ounce) can chicken broth
1 medium-size sweet onion, diced
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat; add chicken, and cook 2 minutes on each side or until golden. My chicken was still sort of frozen so it didn't brown - too much liquid. Whisk together broth and remaining ingredients; pour over chicken. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer 20 minutes.

Yield: 6 servings
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This was one of those dishes that was fine, not awful, but not that special either. It would have been better if I had good Dijon mustard in the house but when I went to make this I realized I had a brand that is okay for adding a tablespoon here and there but not my favorite for starring in a recipe. It was a simple recipe that I made out of ingredients I keep on hand so it scored extra points for that.

It's pie and dinner roll making day. I won't start until later. I want everything to be as fresh as possible. Grocery stores are open tomorrow if the rolls don't turn out that well!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving (or a Happy Thursday, if you're not in the states)!