We’re a day late in wishing everyone a happy Memorial Day, but it’s never too late to reflect on what this holiday is all about — a day of remembrance for those who have died in service of our nation. When I was thinking about what to write that could somehow adequately express the gratitude we feel to those who selflessly serve in our military, I remembered a profound occasion that Dan and I witnessed in an airport several years ago. We arrived for a very early morning flight and found that most of the people flying out of our terminal that day were men and women in uniform.  I had never seen that many military personnel in one place before.  I don’t know what branch of the military they were in, nor do I know where they were headed. But they were clearly being deployed somewhere significant.

Airport security relaxed the usual procedures and allowed loved ones to accompany the departing service members beyond the security lines and x-ray machines to the terminal gates. We saw mothers and fathers proudly yet anxiously escorting young men who seemed barely out of high school.  Then there were couples, one parent in uniform and holding a baby or small child, the other alongside struggling not to cry. We also saw a few soldiers sitting alone, which was heartbreaking to me without knowing their stories and why no one was there to give them a proper send-off.  It was a truly humbling and unforgettable experience.  What Dan and I will always remember most from that morning at the airport is seeing those men and women about to embark on a journey that we realized was more than we could ever possibly comprehend in terms of commitment, duty and potential sacrifice.  We humbly say thank you to the people we saw that day and all the men and women of the armed forces who devote themselves to serving our country, especially those who, in the words of Abraham Lincoln, “gave the last full measure of devotion.”

Continue reading “Memorial Day BBQ Ribs”

Bobby Flay knows his way around a grill.  We have several of his grilling cookbooks and I like to consult them when we’re in the mood for something a little different than the usual grill recipes.  Bobby tends to use a lot of interesting rubs and sauces in his grilling, and this dish is no exception.  We like how the rich and earthy mushroom flavor of the sauce complements the spicy (but not too spicy) rub on the pork.  This mushroom vinaigrette would also be good served on other proteins – like a grilled chicken breast or a nice filet mignon.

Continue reading “Grilled Pork Chops with Mushroom-Soy Vinaigrette”

Way back when it was still winter here in Texas, we had a snow/ice storm.  While we were “snowed in,” Dan wanted to cook some comfort food, but something a little different than the usual stew, chili or casserole.   He found this recipe, which incorporates pork, jalapenos, tomatillos and other yummy Tex-Mex ingredients.  The “verde” in this dish comes from the deliciously tart tomatillos, perfectly balanced against the spice of the jalepeno peppers.

Continue reading “Verde Pork”

One of the main reasons we live in Texas is the weather, which we appreciate most in the Spring and Fall.  Lots of people think that living in Texas, we don’t really get to experience the four traditional “seasons,” but we do.  It’s just that two of them — Spring and Fall — happen to be rather short.  Here in Dallas, we are lucky enough to still be having some Spring weather, unlike our poor friends and family further south, who are already experiencing the heat and humidity for which the Houston area is infamous.  No matter the weather, we grill pretty much year-round.  Yet the warm (but not too warm!) temps and sunny, cloud-free days definitely have me drawn to our grilling cookbooks when searching for recipes these days.  This pork recipe is one we have had many times before, but for some reason we usually only cook it during warm weather months.  Maybe it’s something about the kebab itself — perhaps the idea of grilling almost your entire meal on a “stick” evokes memories/thoughts of summer days and nights roasting hot dogs and marshmallows around a campfire.  We decided to enjoy this nostalgic feeling and kick off our short window of Spring with pork kebabs.  Check back in about a month (or less) for recipes involving refrigeration and bitching about how it’s already too hot to be outside.

Continue reading “Pork Kebabs”

I’m always looking for good pork chop recipes, probably because I seldom find any that we love enough to repeat.  But I finally found one that could be a contender.  We adapted this pork chop dish from this recipe on the Epicurious website.  We’ve mentioned Epicurious before — it’s a great, user-friendly site with tons and tons of recipes.  The “user rating” and review features of the site are so helpful and provide tips and feedback from other people who have cooked the recipes.  For example, several reviewers of this pork chop recipe mentioned that they substituted panko for the cubed bread and suggested putting a little extra stuffing around the chops in the baking dish.  We followed both of these tips and the pork chops turned out great.

Continue reading “Stuffed Pork Chops”

This is one of our favorite slow-cooker recipes.  It has great Tex-Mex flavors, and you can make it as spicy as you like.  The recipe makes enough for 2 pretty big pans of enchiladas, so we usually freeze half of the cooked enchilada filling to use later.  I was in charge of preparing everything for the slow-cooker on the day we made these, which was a bit of a challenge for me since it involved trimming 2 pork tenderloins of their fat.  Since Dan does pretty much all the cooking around here, he also takes care of the cooking steps that involve raw meat, something I’m not very experienced with and probably enjoy least about cooking.  But, I decided to face my fear dislike of processing raw meat and take one for the team this time.  (And I freely admit that I’m a wimp in the kitchen.)

Continue reading “Slow-Cooker Green Chile Pork Enchiladas”

Whenever we cook pork tenderloin, we make sure our weekly menu includes a second meal using the leftover pork.  For some reason, these leftover pork recipes almost always end up being Asian — Pork Fried Rice and Moo Shoo Pork, to name a few.  Maybe it’s because pork takes on the Asian flavors so well.  Or because these recipes are usually really fast and easy to prepare during the week.  Whatever the reason, here’s another Asian dish using pork.  We found this stir-fry recipe in Cook’s Illustrated’s “The Quick Recipe” cookbook.  Although we chose the hot-and-sour sauce to go along with it, the book contains several other sauces that would also work well.  Proteins other than pork would also be good in this recipe.  We really like the versatility of stir-fry and will try some of the other flavor combinations when we need to use up some leftover pork, chicken or beef.

Continue reading “Stir-Fried Pork with Cabbage in Hot-and-Sour Sauce (with leftover pork)”

Cooking pork tenderloin usually yields enough pork for two main dishes in one week, especially when you cook two tenderloins, which is how tenderloin is typically packaged.  If you don’t want to cook both tenderloins, you can always separate them and freeze one for later.  We found this grilled pork tenderloin recipe in Weber’s Big Book of Grilling, one of our favorite grilling cookbooks.  We thought it would taste good on its own, and would be good as leftovers incorporated into a different dish later in the week.  This recipe takes a little extra time because the pork requires a marinade, a rub and a pico de gallo topping.  But the end result is worth your while.  According to Weber, “after one bite you’ll know how we came up with the name for this recipe.” Continue reading ““Disappearing” Pork Tenderloin with Pico de Gallo”

We adapted this recipe from “Tequila-Marinated Ham Steaks” in Weber’s “Real Grilling” cookbook.  (As an aside, we use this book so often that it is falling apart – pages are literally falling out.  Obviously, we highly recommend it.)  This is a great weeknight recipe and a good alternative if you get tired of the usual chicken, pork or beef main dishes.  We’ve made this recipe with the tequila in the marinade and without, but haven’t really noticed a difference in the end result.  Since most of our tequila is usually consumed in margarita form, we typically leave it out of the marinade. Continue reading “Citrus-Marinated Grilled Ham Steak”

The other night, Dan grilled 2 GIANT pork chops, and we needed a good recipe for the leftovers.  We consulted one of our most-used cookbooks for week-night cooking, “The Best 30 Minute Recipe,” and found a great one.  I’ve never tried Moo Shoo Pork from a Chinese restaurant, so I wasn’t quite sure how it would turn out.  But the ingredients looked good and we liked that it seemed really easy, so we decided to give it a shot.  Plus the name sounds funny.

Continue reading “Moo Shoo Pork (with leftover pork)”