Broccoli in Oyster sauce

Last night seemed like the first night this week that Chris and I had a normal schedule. So nice. He's been stressed out with work, which stresses me out, on top of that my uncle is in the hospital so I'm all freaked out about that.

Last night we had pan fried steak and broccoli stir fried in oyster sauce. I really like broccoli, but I usually just steam it so I've been on the look out for something new to do to it. I found this recipe and thought I'd give it a try. I really enjoyed the flavor, I just wish that the sauce was a bit thicker. Still it was pretty good and all that sauce soaked into the rice nicely. Any suggestions on how to thicken Asian sauces? I don't like the aftertaste that cornstarch leaves... 

The only other thing I'd want to do is maybe sprinkle toasted sesame seeds on the top. Bring out the flavor of the oil a bit. No pictures this time. Sorry!

Pork is a very misunderstood meat.

Chris was under the impression that he didn't like pork chops. Which I knew had to be crazy. Understandable though, considering what a mess most people make of pork chops, especially overcooking them. Overcooked pork is just... sad. Dry and sad.

Needless to say the situation needed to be remedied. Pork and Seafood fight for first place in my heart. So Friday night I made breaded pork chops, skillet greens and applesauce.

I didn't have bread so I used pre-made bread crumbs so I didn't add any salt like you would in this recipe. I think there was way too many or my chops were just much smaller. Either way I'm cutting back on them next time and increasing the garlic a little.

For the greens I made them according to the recipe using chard and kale, this time we didn't use the bacon fat, and despite what the recipe says I have concluded it is absolutely NOT optional. The pork fat plus the applecider vinegar is what makes that taste so good. However, they were remarkably good cold the next day, and I'm inclined to think the pork fat wouldn't have made it as good for leftovers. So if you are planning on eating them all in one night, definitely go with the bacon, if not it's up to you.

The applesauce was just out of the jar. I'm remaking this recipe (minus the greens) tonight and I'm going to warm the applesauce and doctor it a little.

Bottom Line: Porkchops 4.6 stars and this version of Greens 4.1 stars
No pictures for this one, didn't think about it till it was already consumed!

Prawns w/ Avocado and Blood Orange Salsa

Ooooh man. This was GOOD. Like top 5 home-cooked meals ever good. I think all the stuff I made would be great made into tacos with a little rice added. That being said it was really good just on it's own. I've had blood oranges before, but these were so sweet and so tangy they practically sizzled on your tongue! The salsa was such a nice counterpoint to the buttery-ness of the prawns.

I served it with black beans, which don't look so pretty in the pictures, but really they aren't the focus anyway! I really need to learn something to do to doctor canned black beans besides simply warming them up. I like them better than most other beans, but they are still sort of ho-hum unless you take the time to really make them from scratch.

I added about half a cup of cilantro to the mix, and I think it was a good thing I did. Who ever heard of fresh salsa without cilantro. That's just crazy talk. In the future I will also add a little cumin and maybe a touch or oregano. Also, my blood oranges were teeny-weeny so I used four of them. Chris thinks that they need to be chopped rather than segmented so their distribution is more even throughout the salsa. I sort of liked pairing a wedge with each prawn, but I see his point. I'll try it next time and update. I'll also add photos to this post and the previous one this weekend.

Long day = Simple dinner

Chris and I both had long stressful days yesterday. I had to take our puppy Jaxx to the vet and had to work at the lab, and Chris has a big deadline coming up for work. Not to mention we were out of prawns so I couldn't make what I was planning on.

Instead we just had broiled steaks, sauteed zucchini and pasta for dinner. Really easy. 20 minutes. Zucchini was cooked in olive oil and garlic, seasoned to taste.

Tonight we dine on PRAWNS!

Lunch! Blood Orange, red onion and cucumber salad

Lunch today was pretty simple. Tuna and egg salad open face on a whole grain english muffin and a green salad. I packed the tuna and egg on because it was going to be a long day with no snacks, so no judgement please!

The salad was made with stuff from my box: I used red and green leaf lettuce, cucumber red onion and segments from 2 small blood oranges. I used a modified version of the dressing from the Grapefruit, Avocado and Arugula salad. The only modifications I made were that I used just lemon juice, more dry mustard and white wine vinegar. I substituted garlic for shallots. It turned out pretty well and didn't overpower the blood oranges which I segmented and added to the salad.

Chicken, Grated Beets, Beet Greens and Orange Butter

I really love beets, and Chris doesn't. However, he hasn't eaten them that much, so I'm always on the lookout for new ways to cook beets. This was pretty okay... Chris liked it, but he was also a bit drunk. The chicken was good, needed a little bit longer on the stove than the recipe called for. The Orange butter was pretty nummy, I put it on the grated beets since they didn't end up having a ton of flavor. The beet greens were the best part of this hands down.

I followed this to the letter including the crazy foil tenting, which seemed kind of dumb. Next time I'm going to switch the order... I don't think the beet greens gained THAT much from the chicken fat, besides, I can always use bacon!

Bottom Line: 3.7 Stars

Skillet Greens with Apple Cider Vinegar Gastrique

These were delicious and SPICY! I use really hot red pepper flakes though, so it may just be me. 

I sort of wanted breakfast for dinner. So I had these with fried eggs. Grits or potatoes would have been great but I was lazy and didn't want to go to the store. I used collard greens and kale raab, which I didn't have any experience with. Major tip for both, but especially the kale: make sure you get every little bit of stem off, it is SUPER tough.

Everybody who lives in the Northwest knows that right now it's really hard to find a vegetable that's actually in season, luckily greens are and they are delicious. It's miraculous to me that my boyfriend grew up in the south and managed never to have them. If I was going to pair this with meat for a more traditional dinner it would be pork. Either slow cooked or chops would be fine. I actually really enjoyed the eggs with them though... I used 4 pieces of bacon to make the drippings, and I'm a little sorry I ate them on the side instead of adding them to the greens. Knowledge for next time. My gastrique was a little on the thin side, but still tasted wonderful. To be truthful though bacon, apple and shallots is a winning combo no matter what else goes in there!

The Bottom Line: 4.8 Stars

Grapefruit, Arugula and Avocado Salad with Citrus Dressing

Originally this recipe is supposed to be made with arugula and Fennel, however I didn't have any fennel so I just mixed 2 bunches of arugula with 1/2 a head of green leaf lettuce (red would have been better). I initially made this recipe to go with some fish I had, but I once the whole thing was ready I took one bite of the fish and decided it wasn't worth a night of puking. I tossed the fish and just ate the salad. I had some left over and had it with boneless/skinless chicken breast, that I heated separately, the next day. It was super tasty.

The dressing was really yummy, a tiny bit Asian tasting (ginger and sesame oil). The only thing I would change is to increase the amount of dry mustard or use actual mustard, good dijon if possible. The components of the salad interacted really nicely: the sweetness of the grapefruit, the spiciness of the arugula and the creaminess of the avocado.

I think the original recipe with the fennel would be amazing and I would SERIOUSLY like to try it next time I have some fennel.

Bottom Line: I give this recipe 4.5 Stars

A journey through time and produce...

So my boyfriend and I signed up for produce delivery about a week and a half ago. We got our first box of produce on Tuesday. My thought is that I want to start a blog based on the recipes, meals, etc that we eat based on what we get. I think it will be pretty fun, and I'll do my best to include pictures where I can. Basically this is getting switched to a food blog, that I'm going to do my best to update. I will continue updating my beauty blog simultaneously. Good luck me.

These first few posts will be a bit retro-active, since a lot of what we got last week has already been made and consumed, which also means that there won't be any pictures. There will also be a short hiatus while Chris and I are in Texas and Arkansas.

Think that's about it!