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Monday, March 29, 2010

That's a good pig! (pork)

It's a bit late so this post may be a bit incoherent or whatever but I feel bad that I haven't really posted much of anything in a good while so I figured I could sacrifice precious sleep time to post this. Life has a way of getting in the way of things that I'd rather be doing, like blogging and cooking and baking and stuff, but I can't complain too much. My life has some suckage at times but I am blessed.

You're probably wondering what this post will be about, well it's gonna be about pork! Oink, oink, snort, snort. Unfortunately, it's not about bacon but we will get there eventually. I promise.

This recipe is pretty easy. Simple, delicious, easy, and healthy. I had some pork chops in my fridge that had been giving me a guilt trip and was just nagging me to make something good and not the usual way I make pork chops. I also got recently introduced to Quinoa which is a yummy, whole-grain that is a lot like my beloved rice only better for you. My plan was: cook pork and have quinoa as a side and make it healthy and delicious! Easy enough. After a little bit of internet research and a couple of polls as to what pork recipe to follow I picked Rosemary Pork Chop Skillet with Quinoa. Let me just say that making this recipe with all the fresh herbs made my house smell utterly delectable. If I could eat the air whilst I was cooking this I probably would have. I really do love the smell of fresh herbs. If you've never cooked with it before well this recipe is the perfect time to start (and I would never lie to you!) I found the recipe here. I always rinse the meat and pat it dry with a paper towel or clean dish towel before I season it. I rubbed it with sea salt and pepper and I recommend that if time permits and you can season the pork and just let it sit for at least an hour or so in the fridge to marinate some. Here's the recipe:

Rosemary Pork Chop Skillet


Ingredients

* 1 pound boneless pork sirloin chops, cut 1/2 inch thick (I had 4 decent size 1/2" thick pork chops)
* 1/2 teaspoon salt (The S&P doesn't have to be exact, eyeball it to suit your taste, I did!)
* 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
* 1 tablespoon olive oil
* 2 cups peeled and cubed (1 inch) winter squash, such as butternut, banana, spaghetti, and/or acorn squash (I used butternut squash and I used a little over 2 cups cuz I love em!)
* 1 medium onion, cut into thin wedges
* 2 teaspoons snipped fresh rosemary (again doesn't have to be exact)
* 1/4 cup chicken broth (I doubled the broth and orange juice because I wanted to be able to drizzle some in my quinoa)
* 1/4 cup orange juice (note above)
* 2 medium zucchini, quartered lengthwise and cut into 1-inch pieces
* 1 teaspoon snipped fresh sage

Directions

1. Trim fat from pork. Sprinkle chops with the salt and pepper. In a 12-inch skillet heat oil over medium-high heat. Brown chops about 4 minutes, turning once. Combine squash, onion, and rosemary; spoon squash mixture over chops. Pour broth and orange juice over squash mixture and chops. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 10 minutes.

2. Add zucchini and sage. Cook, covered, about 5 minutes more or until chops are done (160 degrees F). Using a slotted spoon, transfer chops and vegetables to a serving platter. Cover; keep warm.

3. Bring reserved juices in skillet to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, about 5 minutes or until liquid is reduced to about 1/4 cup. Spoon over chops and vegetables.


** I didn't have a big enough skillet to do this all in so what I did is cook the pork chops in my grilling skillet then transferred it over to a heated pan and finished cooking it in there.

As for the quinoa. You can purchase this at your local supermarket (ie. Publix) or if you can't find it there they will have it at a health food store. Cook it according to package directions and when its done add about 1 Tbsp. of chopped basil per 1 cup of uncooked quinoa. The basil is not mandatory but it just gives it that extra notch of goodness.

To serve this dish, I placed some quinoa on a plate then topped it with the pork chop, drizzled with some of the broth and surrounded it by beautiful, colorful, mouth-watering vegetables. Enjoy! (I sure did!)

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Turn "pretty" to hott!

Heeeyyyy! How you doin??? I apologize for falling off the face of the earth, this thing called life kept getting in the way! I do have a new recipes I need to share with you but this post will not be it. I know, I know but hey, "pretty lil things" covers a broad subject area so deal with it ok?


Moving on. I've made a few friends via twitter and even though I haven't met a lot (all) of them in person due to geographical differences, I am still glad to have "met" them. One of them being @sarahntastic She has sent me books and other baked yummy goodies and I totally love her for it! She also has her own blog and I highly recommend it. Anyway, via said blog I found out about this amazing product called Yummie Tummie.

Yummie Tummie. What is it? Why do you (if you're a female that is) NEED this thing? Let me explain. Upon reading this in Sarah's blog I was intrigued. I mean really, shape wear that is comfortable, pretty and not some kind of torture device??? It can't be! So I did my research. I went to the website, I perused and read and contemplated...then I ebay-ed because I am not about to pay retail and then end up with crap since it's not exactly the cheapest. (that's how my brain works :P) Well a few days later I received my very own Yummie Tummie shape wear tanktop. IT. IS. FABULOUS! Granted I could have gotten a size smaller (I think) since I'm kind of an in between size right now but I really do love this thing. The material is soft, comfortable and wearable as a layering tank top. I will be getting some more at some point in the near future and build up on my wardrobe staples...yes, this product is a wardrobe staple!

Some of you may know that I have a toddler, if not well now you do ;) I didn't gain much when I was pregnant but I was all belly, so my stomach was stretched beyond normal proportions and it's not like how it was pre-pregnancy. Although, I have lost all of my "baby weight" I still have a "pooch" the baby pooch which is really quite annoying and unfortunately for me I am not a celebrity with a dedicated plastic surgeon to do some nip and tuck on my problem area nor do I have a trainer and can train for 8 hours a day and get those amazing abs that they flaunt all the effin time! I have some other shape wear products that I have purchased before to go under certain dresses but they are not comfortable nor are they really meant to be seen by anyone else but the wearer but Yummie Tummie is totally different. I can't tell you how fairly amazed I am about this thing and if I could afford it I would buy more because I need these! You may ask well..."I've never had a kid so I don't need this" you are WRONG! If you have any kind of shape wear like Spanx, well you will want this and you will probably chuck your old one out. If you don't believe what I'm saying then I highly recommend that you locate a store near you and try one on. If you don't love it then you can come back here and tell me I'm wrong...which I know I'm not, just sayin' ;) Well, what are you waiting for? Go and try some on!


p.s.
unfortunately, I can't take my own before and after pictures but here it is one of their's.



p.p.s.
ok so I took a picture with my phone of me wearing it today. No "before" picture because my self-esteem is *not* that high lol