I have created this site to help people have fun in the kitchen. I write about enjoying life both in and out of my kitchen. Life is short! Make the most of it and enjoy!
Pork chops were next in line for our weekly meat rotation. I whipped up a quick, easy marinade and let the pork chops set for about two hours before grilling them up. They were full of flavor and oh so tender. They just melted in our mouths. It was perfect for a hot almost summer day, or any day for that matter. 🙂
Soy Sauce and Brown Sugar Pork Chops
This marinade is super easy-peasy and delicious and only requires a few simple, basic ingredients.
2/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil
2 TBSP soy sauce
4 1/2 tsp firmly packed brown sugar
fresh ground black pepper to taste
1-2 tsp dried rosemary or 1-2 TBSP fresh rosemary
1-2 tsp dried sage or 1-2 TBSP fresh sage, chiffonade
1 TBSP garlic
2-3 lbs either pork chops or pork tenderloin
Combine everything together and add the pork. Let marinade for at least 2 hours before grilling to perfection.
The pork chops will come out so tender and moist. Your taste buds will definitely be doing a happy dance with this recipe. Serve with your favorite side dishes and savor the flavors.
Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.
According to the calendar, we are technically still in late spring. We won’t officially be into summer for another couple of weeks. Our weather is all over the place. One minute we are cold and rainy and the next minute, we are sunny and hot. But this must be the perfect combination for beautiful flowers. Our flowers, bushes and trees are in full bloom right now, and they are gorgeous. Brightly colored, numerous and lots of them too. I LOVE IT! 🙂
Any one who has ever cooked professionally knows that different knives are used for different things. But we also know, as good as all these knives are for their specific uses, we really ONLY need a few. If you know how to use a knife, any knife, you can achieve good results from any kind of knife, and NO, they don’t need to be expensive either.
Most chefs will tell you that the most important knives in your kitchen will always be 1) your Chef’s knife, 2) your paring knife, and 3) some kind of a serrated slicer. Anything else, is just fancy bling. They are nice to have, but not necessarily needed. Of course I have all kinds of knives, but the ones I use 99% of the time are the three I just mentioned.
My go-to knife is my serrated French knife or chef’s knife. I use that for EVERYTHING! I do use my flatblade French knife for chopping herbs.
When I want to cut things smaller or finer, or when peeling apples or slicing strawberries or other fruit, I use my paring knife.
When slicing bread or tomatoes, or something that needs to be sliced precisely and thin, I use my bread slicer.
There are so many knives on the market, ranging from affordable to VERY expensive. You don’t have to have expensive “toys”. If you know what you are doing, you can make the affordable ones work just as well as the expensive ones. In fact, they are often better, because they are not so delicate or temperamental. I do have some expensive knives, but I really don’t use them nearly as much as you might think.
I just thought this was good information to know and to share. 🙂 Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.
We decided to head out to the Wild Animal Sanctuary once again to visit with the animals. We arrived just as the park was opening, but to our shock, they were having a race, and the parking lot was already full. Fortunately, the race was just finishing up, but there were too many people at first. But the animals were out and were the stars of the day, as they should be. Despite the early crowds, we had a great time. And we did see lions, tigers and bears, as well as many other beautiful animals. 🙂 🙂 🙂
We even saw this beautiful black leopard.
The foxes were out and about too. Some were just sunning themselves, while others were on the move.
Lots of the big cats. I love the all the big cats. 🙂
The lunch truck had arrived and the tigers were lining up.
The King and Queen overseeing their “jungle”.
The bears were having a great time playing in the water and cooling off. There were Grizzly Bears and Black Bears.
He’s enjoying a summer melon.
And the wolves were out too. Some were in their pack and some were being the lone wolves. The pack of wolves really is a pack. They are a family of the mom, dad and their 3 kids.
And yes, EVEN yet another snake! This time it was a big bull snake in one of the lion’s inside pens. YIKES!!!! I will be so glad when it is NO LONGER snake season!!!!!
Despite a few hiccups, it was another great day to visit all the animals.
I bought some crab the other day, just because I was hungry for crab. Larry asked what I was going to make with it. I had no idea at the time, but that quickly changed. I made crab cakes, and a creamy bechamel sauce, then topped my chicken with both.
Chicken and Crab Cakes
This dish is a layered dish. First I made the crab cakes, Maryland style, with very little breading.
Mix all the ingredients together and form into small balls. Place the balls on the parchment paper and bake for about 8-15 minutes, or until lightly golden.
When the crab cakes are done, keep them warm until ready to use.
Next comes the chicken. You can do it a couple of ways. If you are cooking your chicken, generously season it with Old Bay seasoning on both sides and olive oil, then pan fry until it is golden. I cheated, or as I prefer to say, I took a shortcut, and used my Costco rotisserie chicken, that was already cooked, so I eliminated this step.
The Sauce
The Sauce is basically a bechamel sauce with Old Bay seasoning.
2 TBSP butter
1 TBSP flour
1/2-3/4 cup milk, depending on how thick you like your sauce
1 tsp Old Bay seasoning
salt & pepper to taste
1 tsp fresh parsley, chopped fine
1 tsp lemon verbena, optional, chiffonade fine
Mix the milk, seasonings and flour together, then add to the butter and melt together in a skillet, whisking everything together until everything is blended together to make a sauce. At first, I used only 1/2 cup of milk, but the sauce was too thick for how I wanted to use it, so I added more milk. I added the lemon verbena and parsley at the end.
Because my chicken was already cooked, I just added it to my sauce to heat up, once my sauce was done.
Once everything was hot, I dished up and served it over wild rice. First, a layer of rice, then a little sauce, next came the chicken, followed by the crab cake, finished with a dash more sauce on top. A cool, crisp chardonnay was the finishing touch that made the meal perfect, along with some asparagus topped with mushrooms, garlic, shallots and peppers.
On a side note. …. This summer is turning out to be a very snakey season. Twice just this week, I have had some very unwelcomed garter snakes in my yard, including this time. When I went out to my backyard to gather up some lemon verbena, lo and behold, a garter snake was slithering in the lemon verbena, and almost slithered right over my foot. Needless to say, I shrieked and jumped a mile high, and ran back into the house in a flash. I had Larry go out and gather some lemon verbena when he got home. I guess I am done working in my garden for the season. The first time, just a day or two before, probably this same snake was coiled up right outside my garage door. Because of the way it was coiled up, I thought it was a baby rattlesnake. I was able to get in my car, and was able to run some errands. While out and about, I didn’t want to take any chances that it was a rattlesnake, so I went to animal control to ask them to remove it. Sure enough, once I got home, the snake was still there. I waited for animal control to come, and when they finally did come, they said it just a garter snake. The officer caught it, but just placed it out over my back fence, in my open space right behind our yard. That’s why I say it was probably the same snake. I HATE snakes!!!!!!! So this meal came with a bit of adventure as well.
Life is always an adventure, but those adventures make for good stories. Live your adventures, but keep them safe and stay well. Til next time.
I haven’t made cookies in quite a while, since I am desperately trying to NOT have a lot of sweets and goodies around the house on a regular basis. That being said, I did make some frosted cashew cookies Frosted Cashew Butter Cookies the other day. I don’t have a lot of sweets around when it is just us, but when I have people over, I usually like to have something sweet for nibblies and dessert. You have seen these cookies before, so just click on the link for the recipe.
These just hit the spot. They were exactly what I was craving. They were a big hit with everyone. They were sweet, but not too sweet.
Once the cookies were made and cooled, I frosted them some creamy cashew butter cream.
Then I drizzled melted chocolate on top to really make them stand out. Oh they were so good too.
Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time
My goslings are growing up very quickly, and are in the awkward teenager phase. But at least I still have a few ducklings for now, or my favorite way to call them, duck-a-lings. Some are still tiny babies, some are toddlers, and some are also in the teenager phase. Soon, they too will all be grown up and ready to venture off on their own.
This group was real curious and very friendly. They just waddled right up to me and wanted to be my friend.
It won’t be too much longer before these teenagers will be out of the nest and starting families of their own.
Stir-fries are quick and easy ways to prepare a good meal that includes everything. There are really no right or wrong ways to make a stir-fry. In my view, the more things you throw into the stir-fry, the better it’s going to be. A good stir-fry is more about the technique than the actual ingredients. Once you get the technique down pat, anything goes as far as the actual ingredients used. Stir-fries lend themselves very well to creativity and imagination.
My latest stir-fry was with caramelized beef strips and vegetables. I added mushrooms, green beans, red bell peppers, ginger and shallots. I served it all over rice with some egg rolls on the side. Because it was beef, and the sauce was spicy-sweet, I served a red wine on the side to complete the meal.
Caramelized Beef and Vegetable Stir-Fry
I didn’t have cilantro, so instead I used some of my overflowing lemon verbena, and gave a hint of lemon flavor to the dish.
1-1 1/2 lbs sirloin, cut into thin strips
1 TBSP ginger
1 TBSP Siracha sauce
1 jalapeno, diced fine
1/2 cup sugar
1-1 1/2 cups water
1/2 lb green beans
5-6 mushrooms, sliced
salt & pepper to taste
red pepper flakes to taste
1-2 shallots, sliced very thin
1/4 red bell pepper, sliced into matchsticks
2 TBSP either fresh cilantro and/or fresh lemon verbena, chopped or chiffonade
Add the sugar to a large skillet, and let it melt & caramelize. As soon as it starts to change color, to a lightly golden brown, add the water.
Combine the seasonings and Siracha sauce and mix together well. Add to the caramelized sugar mixture and mix together well.
Add the vegetables and ginger and saute for about 3-5 minutes, stirring contantly over a high heat.
Add the meat and continue cooking until the meat is completely cooked, about 3-5 minutes, stirring constantly once again.
Once the meat is cooked and everything is done, add most of the the lemon verbena and/or cilantro and mix in well. Add the remaining portion as topping to the dish right before serving.
This is a quick and easy meal to prepare. It’s healthy and delicious, and full of color and flavor. Enjoy!
Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.
It seems like it was just yesterday that I was telling you about the first of my baby goslings. But now, they are almost all grown up. They are definitely teenagers now and will soon be out on their own.
These are the older ones. They have their adult colorings now, with very little of their baby gosling colors left.
Soon, they will be all grown up and will be starting their own families, and the cycle will continue. Time goes by so quickly, and this is exactly why I say savor every moment while you can, before it’s too late.
Yesterday, I mentioned that I have already been entertaining and feeding people again. Coconut Lime Rum Cake In the week and a half we’ve been home, I have already cooked for others twice. This time I made a mixed grill with chicken, shrimp and sausage and I made a batch of cowboy butter to top any and all of the meats, as wanted. I served a simple tomato, cucumber and onion salad and a potato salad on the side to round it all out.
Cowboy butter is a delicious and flavorful compound butter often used to enhance the taste of meats, seafood, and vegetables. While its exact origins are unclear, the name likely stems from its association with hearty, rustic cuisine reminiscent of cowboy cooking and the cowboy way of life. Common ingredients include garlic, paprika, cayenne pepper, mustard, and herbs like parsley, chives, and thyme, but there are so many other different variations, giving lots of options and way to butter things up. Usually it has a little extra kick added, giving it a bit of spice.
Cowboy Butter
This is just one of many possible varieties. Use your imagination. The possibilities of compound butters are endless. 🙂 I remember once when I was in culinary school, and we were making compound butters, I broke rank, and did not make what everyone else was making, but came up with my own creation instead. My chef instructor, Chef Aversegn, was saying “No, no, no Jeanne (in his heavy French accent pronounced Gee-nee), dis is not da way”. Then he tasted it and said, “Oh, dis is good”.
1 stick of butter
1-2 tsp Dijon mustard
1/4 red onion, diced fine
1/4 red bell pepper, diced fine
1 TBSP garlic
salt & pepper to taste
1 TBSP paprika
1 tsp red pepper flakes (I used a blend of pepper flakes)
1-2 TBSP chopped parsley
1-2 TBSP lemon verbena, chiffonade (optional)
Get a skillet hot and add the butter, onions, garlic and bell pepper. Saute for about 3-5 minutes, or until the vegetables begin to soften.
Add the seasonings and spices and continue to cook for about 1-2 minutes, stirring frequently.
Add the fresh parsley and lemon verbena right at the end, right before serving and mix in thoroughly.
Use this for anything you want to add some extra flavor to and giddy up!
It is lemon verbena season again, and once again, my whole back yard has been taken over by this fresh, lemony member of the mint family. I love it and use it as much as I can, but there is NO WAY, I will ever be able to get through all that I have. Every year, I seem to have more and more too. If anyone wants some, come on over help yourself. 🙂
You can use any kinds of pepper flakes to your saucy butter too, but Bob and Janet had given me a jar of blended pepper flakes, made here in Boulder, that I wanted to try. I LIKE it!!!!
We all need an extra little cowboy kick every now and then. Kick it up. Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.
A Jeanne in the Kitchen 