Aug 03 2011

Grilled Huli Huli Pork

We had some friends over for dinner this past weekend and I wanted to cook something fun. I thumbed through magazines and cookbooks and decided on making Grilled Huli Huli Pork with Pineapples and Peppers. I loved that the blurb in my “Cuisine Tonight Grilling Magazine” said, “Say good-bye to plain pork chops, and say hello to grilled huli huli pork.” I pretty much hated pork chops as a kid. I’ve grown to like them as an adult, but they have to be grilled and seasoned well… or smothered in sauce.

This Hawaiian-inspired meal included pineapple and pepper slices caramelized on the grill. I loved the bright, tropical flavors and will definitely be making this dish again. You could easily substitute chicken if you aren’t a pork fan.

The Sauce Ingredients:
1/4 Cup Ketchup
2 Tablespoons Low-Sodium Soy Sauce
2 Tablespoons Light Brown Sugar
1 Tablespoon Vegetable Oil
1 Tablespoon Minced Garlic – I used crushed
1 Tablespoon Minced Ginger – I used crushed
1 Tablespoon Fresh Lime Juice
1/4 Teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes

Sauce Directions:
Heat ketchup, soy sauce, brown sugar, oil, garlic, ginger, lime juice, and pepper flakes in a saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Remove sauce from heat.

Ingredients for the Pork Chops:
4 Boneless Pork Loin Chops – 1 inch thick, about 6-7 oz. each
2 Red Bell Peppers – stemmed and seeded
8 Fresh Pineapple Slices – 1/2 inch thick – for grilling
8 Scallions – for grilling
2 Tablespoons Chopped Cashews
2 Tablespoons Chopped Scallions
Salt and Pepper – to taste

Directions:

  • Prepare your bell pepper and onion for grilling
  • Chop your cashews and green onion to later place on top of the pork after it is grilled
  • Preheat grill to medium-high – brush grill grate with oil
  • Season pork chops with salt and pepper
  • Grill chops, covered, 6-7 minutes per side
  • Brush chops with 1/2 the sauce – reserve other 1/2 to serve with pork
  • Grill pork chops until they reach an internal temperature of 150 degrees F. on an instant read thermometer
  • Remove chops from grill and tent with foil
  • Next grill your peppers, pineapple slices and scallions – uncovered, until lightly charred (2-3 minutes per side) and remove from grill
  • Slice peppers when cool enough to handle
  • Serve chops with pineapple and pepper slices, grilled scallions, cashews, chopped scallions, and reserved sauce

I used my handy dandy votive candle holder cutter to core my pineapple slices. My Mom got me the cutter and I’ve used it to put candles in apples and other fruit for display,  but I also use it for my pineapple slices.

Pork is prepped and ready for the grill.

Veggies and fruit are ready to go…

Grill baby grill… The pork took about 8 minutes per side.

The pineapple and veggies took way longer than 2-3 minutes per side – I think I had the heat too low, I had turned it down after the pork.

You really have to be careful with the onions – the ends charred really fast.

Top each piece of pork with sauce, sliced peppers, chopped scallions and cashew pieces. Set your pork on top of 2 pineapple rings and place your grilled scallions on top of those.

I even broke out my fine china… fancy girl…

The chops were a hit – like I said above – these will be had again, just not until “Cycle 2” of the 17 day diet (I’ll have to use low carb ketchup and I’ll have to 86 the brown sugar.) Right now (on Cycle 1) the only protein I can eat is salmon, sole, flounder, catfish, tilapia, canned light tuna in water, chicken breasts, turkey breasts, lean ground turkey and eggs. So far so good – almost done with day 3, only 14 more to go. 🙂

The 17 Day Diet Update
What I’ve learned:

  • DO NOT wear high heels to work when the bathroom is several hallways away, especially when you are drinking water and green tea like it’s your job
  • Green tea tastes like grass clippings
  • I pretty much can’t stand plain Greek yogurt
  • I’m not a Truvia fan
  • A dressing made of balsamic, extra virgin olive oil, garlic gold, salt and pepper can pretty much rock any salad
  • Lifetime Cheese has a fairly decent fat free jalapeño jack
  • Working out for 17 minutes 2x’s a day is really kind of cool
  • Husbands who fix loose wires on broken treadmills make me happy
  • Miso is a probiotic
  • Frozen red grapes really do complete me
  • Fat-free sour cream, salsa and lime zest makes a mean dressing for ground turkey taco salad
  • Creating a spreadsheet to be able to mark off all of my daily requirements is key

That’s it for now… And yes, I’ve learned ALL of those things in the past 3 days. I’m awesome like that.

Permanent link to this article: http://foodiddy.com/?p=5495

Jul 30 2011

Cupcake Day at Ginger Elizabeth

My girlfriend Kristen invited me to a girl’s day out today. We met at Starbucks so I could get my newest obsession – a grande Pink Lime Frozt – so addicting. We then headed to Barnes and Noble to pick up some books – I wanted to get “The Help” and “The 17 Day Diet” – my SIL mentioned it the other day and says she’s never felt better following the plan. My entire book shelf of diet books proves that I pretty much jump on anything shiny and new when it comes to dieting. I find it hysterical that I bought the book before going to “Cupcake Day” at Ginger Elizabeth – even more hysterical that I read it at a small table outside while sampling cupcakes. 😉

We parked and walked around the block to Ginger Elizabeth Chocolates located at 1801 L. Street, Suite 60, in Sacramento, CA.  I had been there before thanks to Deede – she’s a huge fan of the place.

They are known for their chocolate and macarons. Ginger Elizabeth is a formally trained American chocolatier. All of her products are all-natural and contain no preservatives.

Kristen had pre-ordered cupcakes because last time she attempted to go to one of their special cupcake days – they ran out.

She picked up her box and we sat outside and sampled/shared the flavors.

The cupcakes were gorgeous, almost too pretty to eat. Note I said, “almost” – ha!

First up – The Peach Melba Cupcake – Vanilla Cake filled with House Made Good Humus Farm Organic Peach Jam, topped with Raspberry Buttercream.

The peach jam was incredible! I loved the peach/raspberry combination, it was my second favorite of the day.

The Red Red Velvet Cupcake – Ginger’s Grandmother’s Light Chocolate Cake topped with Cream Cheese Frosting.

Super light and fluffy,  the frosting melted in your mouth and the little malted chocolate balls were fabulous.

The Plum Elderflower Cobbler Cupcake – Buttermilk Yellow Cake filled with “Ginger’s Backyard Plum” Elderflower Compote, topped with Buttercream and Streusel  – This was so different from the others, the elderflower compote had a tartness to it, that the buttercream and struesel balanced out. We both liked it.

The Salty Caramel Cupcake – Rich Chocolate Cake filled with Fleur de Sel Caramel and topped with Caramel Buttercream – this should have been called the OMG, so good! cupcake. By far my favorite of the day. I ate it with my eyes closed… it was that sinful.

I was not kidding about chowing down on cupcakes while reading The 17 Day Diet book. It seems pretty similar to South Beach, but has some different requirements – 2 daily pro-biotic servings, no fruit after 2:00 p.m. and some other things I need to study up on. I’m going to give it a go starting Monday. I was doing really well in the area of weight loss and then had the back injury that took me away from exercise. I tend to deal with pain by eating comfort foods… so I have a fair amount of weight I’d like to take off. I know that the majority of my weight is in my stomach, so why not give this a go? BTW, my back is 100% better. It took over a month of rest from working out and babying it with ice,  heat, and Aleve – with lots of pool time thrown in for good measure.

From cupcakes to weight loss… yes, it’s been one of those weeks. If you are interested, I’ll check in with how I’m doing on the plan. I know this isn’t my old weight loss blog, but I’m guessing people might begin to wonder why I keep posting about salads, lean protein and nothing sinful.

After the cupcake extravaganza, we stopped at a little boutique – I saw a dress in the window and had to investigate. It was a “One Size Fits All” wrap dress – which I’m always skeptical about – but it did fit and I fell in love. It walked out of the store with me and some how a necklace jumped into the bag too.

All in all a successful day of good eats and shopping with a friend. It’s just what I needed after my crazy week. Thanks for the invite Kristen!

Permanent link to this article: http://foodiddy.com/?p=5430

Jul 22 2011

U.S.A. Burger

My 9 year old niece decided the day before the Burger-Palooza Contest that she wanted to submit her own entry. She went with a chicken sandwich for the “alternative burger” category because she doesn’t eat/like beef burgers. Abby worked on her ingredient list and my bro and her hit the grocery store for supplies. They decided to use the George Foreman Grill so she could cook the chicken by herself – with some minimal supervision from her Dad.

Ab named her chicken sandwich the U.S.A. Burger – “Ultimate Super Amazing Burger” and she created her own recipe page on the computer which was presented to me in a frame. My heart melted. This creative little person is MY niece! I am so in love with the way she thinks and I can’t get over how fast she has grown up – right before my eyes.  It’s just so amazing to be part of her life – especially since I don’t have children of my own.

Abby picked her own spices and condiments for her chicken sandwich. A dash here, a sprinkle there… hmmm, wonder what her thought process was to determine if it needed a dash or a sprinkle? She brought the meat all spiced up in a Ziploc bag. Aunt Kath pulled through with some lettuce and mayo (She texted to see if I had some extra) and she got to work in the kitchen with her Dad. He got the Foreman fired up/plugged in and she put the chicken on, closed the lid and watched it cook. She put a generous amount of BBQ sauce on top of the chicken…  generous as in glug, glug, super glug, OMG!  She ended up asking her Dad to help her take some off.

The Ingredients:
3 Chicken Breasts
3 Buns
Seasoning for Chicken:
Dash of Lemon Pepper
Dash of Garlic Salt
Dash of Sweet Paprika
Sprinkle of Chili Powder
Dash of Parsley Flakes
Dash of Garlic Powder
Sprinkle of Black Pepper
Condiments:
Sweet Baby Ray’s Hickory and Brown Sugar BBQ Sauce
Ketchup
Mayo
Toppings:
Lettuce
Provolone Cheese

Instructions: (According to Abby)

  • Turn on George Foreman Grill and preheat
  • Cut pieces of chicken on the grill and preheat – (cut/put… same thing, pretty sure she meant “put”)
  • Place chicken on grill and close lid (Hmmm, maybe she didn’t mean put…)
  • Turn the timer on for 3 minutes – (cooking time ended up actually being 8-10 minutes – no 4th of July salmonella at our place)
  • Place provolone cheese onto patty after done
  • Once chicken is cooked, get buns out and lay out the condiments and toppings
  • The order: first, the bottom half of the bun, then the chicken with cheese, BBQ sauce, ketchup, lettuce, mayo, and finally the top half of the bun

And that my friends is the recipe for the WINNING Burger-Palooza Alternative Burger.

Everyone voted for Abby’s U.S. A. Burger/chicken sandwich and she walked away with the first place medal.

She wore the medal for the rest of the night. It was pretty cool to share the title with a 9 year old. 🙂 It’s also pretty exciting to see Absterz in the kitchen  – it seems like yesterday when she was only eating a handful of things. Mac-n-cheese being at the top of her list. Obvious that we share common genes. 😉

Congratulations on your first place entry Abby! Way to go!
/ Aunt Kath

Permanent link to this article: http://foodiddy.com/?p=5390