Beer Brined Pork Chops

Brining pork is a good way to take a lean (and more healthy) cut of meat and cook it such that it stays juicy and delicious.   Using beer in the brine adds a subtle layer of flavor — Dan says it’s a hoppy flavor, but his palate is way more sophisticated than mine.  Beer-brining is a good way to cook pork that you may want to use later in the week in a different dish.  It’s flavorful, without being tied to any particular flavor profile (e.g., Asian, BBQ, etc.) Continue reading “Beer Brined Pork Chops”

Weekly Menu (Oct. 30)

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Saturday

  • Dinner Out

Sunday

  • Spooky Seafood Gumbo, Candy

Monday

  • Moo Shoo Pork (with Leftover Pork), Eggrolls

Tuesday

  • Peri-Peri Chicken Thighs, Celery and Parmesan Salad

Wednesday

  • Take-Out
Thursday
  • Fish Tacos, Rice with Poblano Peppers (home-grown!) and Spinach

Friday

  • Evening in Fort Worth

Sauteed Okra

Although summer is the peak season for okra, it is still available in grocery stores here in Texas, so we thought we’d share a really, really quick, easy and delicious recipe for sauteed okra.  Until we found this recipe, okra was a vegetable that never made it into our rotation (I’m not a big fan of vegetables, so our rotation typically consists of veggies that Dan cooks in such a way that they don’t taste like vegetables).  This recipe earned okra a spot among our usual broccolini, green beans, zucchini, and asparagus side dish favorites. Continue reading “Sauteed Okra”

Stuffed Shells with Italian Sausage Tomato Sauce

Today we present two recipes in one (long) post, mostly because our last post was pretty much devoid of any culinary content.  (This is a food blog, after all, folks!)  First, we made a tomato sauce with spicy Italian sausage, and in the past we’ve served this meaty sauce over simple pasta.  On this night, however, we decided to make some stuffed shells — a favorite Italian meal from when I was growing up.  Our recipe made enough for leftovers this week, plus additional shells for the freezer for yet another meal later.  Continue reading “Stuffed Shells with Italian Sausage Tomato Sauce”

Bishop Arts District Art Festival

Dan and I used to live in a different area of town than we do now.  Just west of downtown is an older neighborhood called Kessler Park and within that neighborhood is a cool little area called Bishop Arts District.  There are restaurants and shops and occasionally they shut down the streets for art festivals.  We went to one on a sunny Saturday a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it. Continue reading “Bishop Arts District Art Festival”

Weekly Menu (Oct. 23)

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Saturday

  • Dinner Out

Sunday

  • Stuffed Shells with Meat Sauce, Salad

Monday

  • Grilled Mahi Mahi, Rice Side, Grill Veggie

Tuesday

  • Leftover Stuffed Shells

Wednesday

  • Take-Out
Thursday
  • Beer Brined Pork Chops, Cheese Grits, Salad

Friday

  • Turkey Burgers, Sweet Potato Fries

Spicy Turkey Paella (with leftover turkey)

With the holidays rapidly approaching, we’ve been looking for recipes incorporating leftover turkey.  We wanted to try something different than the usual leftover turkey dishes, like pot pie and turkey soup (although they are delicious!).  The Epicurious website came through for us yet again — with the recipe for Spicy Turkey Paella.  We made just a few small changes and the resulting dish was really good.  We look forward to making it again with our turkey from Thanksgiving.

Continue reading “Spicy Turkey Paella (with leftover turkey)”

Grilled Eggplant Parmesan

This is a new-to-us recipe that we found on Epicurious, in our (my) continuous search for delicious vegetarian dishes.  We made a few changes to the original recipe – based on reviews from people who tried the Epicurious recipe.   The result was good, but we think it could use some improvement.  We liked that it was quick and easy for a weeknight, but missed the crispy breading aspect of regular eggplant parmesan.  We’ll try it again sometime. Continue reading “Grilled Eggplant Parmesan”

Grilled Stuffed Jalapenos

Always looking for cool new cooking utensils and gadgets, Dan picked up an interesting grilling tool at the State Fair — a Chile Grill.  Basically, it’s a tray to hold stuffed jalapenos on the grill.  We decided to try it out one evening when we were having grilled shrimp and a rice side dish.  The jalapenos were pretty good, but very hot (we should have grilled them a little longer).  We need a little more practice/experimentation with our ingredients, but the tray worked like a champ. Continue reading “Grilled Stuffed Jalapenos”

Butternut Squash with Gorgonzola

A few years ago we hosted Thanksgiving here in Dallas with some of my family, and we were looking for a new side dish.  We happened upon a recipe for roasted butternut squash with gorgonzola cheese.  It was amazing and we’re now hooked on this dish, which is full of autumn flavors and pairs perfectly with turkey.  This is one of our favorite Thanksgiving dinner side dishes.  Try it, you will not be disappointed!
Continue reading “Butternut Squash with Gorgonzola”