Goat Cheese and Spinach Stuffed Portabellas

I've been making these for years now, don't remember where I got the recipe/idea from. They are YUM.


Goat Cheese and Spinach Stuffed Portabellas

Ingredients:

• PAM
• 2 large portabella caps, cleaned and dried
• Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt
• 1 4oz. log of goat cheese
• 1/2 cup frozen spinach, thawed and drained

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Spray a baking sheet with PAM.
• Place portabella caps upside-down (gills facing up) on baking sheet and sprinkle with TSSS.
• In a bowl, combine goat cheese and spinach.  Stuff each portabella cap with the cheese mixture.
• Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, until the mushroom is tender.

Braised Pork Chops with Apples

A few years ago I was walking through Home Depot's garden center when I saw a tiny grafted ultra-dwarf Fuji apple twig in a pot.  "Grows to 6' tall" it said on the tag, "Can be kept smaller if in a pot."  Hmmm....  I love Fuji apples.  And I have a patio.  So I bought it.

The first year we got no fruit, which was as expected.  Last year we got 4 tiny, sour but flavorful apples.  This year, well, check out the picture.  The tree is about 5' tall and bore us 12 large, juicy, crunchy, uber-sweet apples!  We'd already eaten 1/2 of them by the time I got around to taking this photo.

They are awesome eaten freshly-picked off the tree.  But then I wondered, what else could I do with them?  Not enough for a pie.  And I have some pork chops in the fridge.  So why not braised pork chops with apples?  Genius!


Braised Pork Chops with Apples

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless pork chops, all visible fat removed
• Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt
• olive oil
• 3/4 cup chicken broth 
• 1 large fresh-from-the-patio-tree Fuji apple, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
• Tastefully Simple Onion Onion
• Dijon mustard

Directions:

• Season both sides of the pork chops with TSSS.
• In a large pan with a tablespoon of olive oil, sear the chops on both sides on medium-high heat.  Transfer the chops to a plate and set aside.
• Reduce heat to medium and deglaze the pan with the chicken broth.  Add in the apple slices and a couple shakes of TSOO.  Cover and cook for a few minutes until the apples are tender.  Add a large dollop of Dijon mustard and stir until fully incorporated.
• Move the cooked apples to the sides of the pan and return the pork chops to the pan.
• Cover and braise for 10 minutes. 
• Remove cover, flip the chops and continue braising for an additional 5-10 minutes.
• Serve immediately.

I think next time I'll use 2 apples instead of 1, they were so yummy! Also, if you like a little sweeter flavor and are not tied to South Beach, you can use apple cider or juice in place of the chicken broth.

Skillet Pasta with Chard and White Beans

Swiss chard -- I've had it in restaurants before, but I've never cooked with it and don't even know what to do with it.  But it was in the CSA sample box of goodies that my Moms Group organizer shared with me, and what a beautiful bunch with its different color stalks (yellow, orange, red and purple) against the dark leafy greens.  So I did a quick Google search for recipes and came across this.  I only modified the recipe because of what I had available in the kitchen (fusili pasta instead of gnocchi, diced onions instead of sliced, Tastefully Simple Garlic Garlic instead of fresh cloves, etc.).  I also added the avocado on top b/c, well, I just love avocado.  :-)  This dish turned out pretty scrumptious.

Skillet Pasta with Chard and White Beans
Taken from this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups of dry whole wheat fusili (or other shaped) pasta
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 smallish-medium onion, diced
• Tastefully Simple Garlic Garlic
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 smallish-medium bunch of Swiss chard, washed and chopped
• 1 can (15 oz) Great Northern Beans, drained
• 1 can (15 oz) diced tomatoes
• Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt
• 1/2 cup shredded part skim mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

• Prepare pasta to al dente according to package instructions.  Set aside.
• In a large skillet, sauté onion in olive oil for a couple of minutes.  Add TSGG and water and stir.  Cover and cook until the onion is soft and translucent.
• Add Swiss chard and cook, stirring occasionally, for a few minutes until it starts to wilt.
• Stir in beans, tomatoes and seasoned salt.  Bring to a simmer.  Cover and continue to simmer for 5 minutes.
• Stir in pasta and sprinkle with cheeses.  Cover and continue to simmer for a few minutes until cheese is melted.  
• Serve immediately.

Baked Onion Rings

My Moms Group is thinking about joining a local CSA.  The farm kindly sent our organizer a free sample box of produce to try out, and she, in turn, kindly shared some of it with me.  One of the items I got was a giant Maui onion.  If you've never had a Maui onion before, let me tell you this sucker is SWEET!  It's great for sauteeing to put on top of steaks, and it's great as onion rings.

But of course we all know that deep frying is not SBD-approved.  So baking it is.  This recipe yields crunchy, sweet-savory onion rings.  We ate it all straight up with dinner, no ketchup or mustard needed.  Even the toddler had seconds (and thirds).

The key is the whole wheat panko bread crumbs.  Japanese panko style crumbs make it extra crunchy. 

Baked Onion Rings

Ingredients:

• PAM
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup EggBeaters
• 1 cup whole wheat panko bread crumbs
• Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt (or your favorite fry seasoning such as Old Bay, etc.)
• A Maui onion, sliced into rings, 1/3" thick (I had a giant one, so only used 1/2 of it)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
• Spray a baking sheet with PAM.  Set aside.
• Place the flour, EggBeaters and panko bread crumbs each in their own separate shallow bowls.  Add some seasoned salt to the panko bread crumbs and mix together.
• Dip an onion ring into the flour, then the EggBeaters, then the seasoned bread crumbs.  Place onto baking sheet in a single layer.
• Bake for 20 minutes until onion is soft and coating is golden brown and crunchy.