Cajun Spiced Pork Chops

I needed a new un-breaded pork chop recipe when I discovered I was out of bread crumbs tonight.  I found this on allrecipes.com.

Ingredients:

1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp rubbed dried sage leaves
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1 1/2 tsp oil
4 pork chops

Mix paprika, cumin, pepper, cayenne pepper, sage and garlic salt on a plate.  Liberally coat each pork chop with the spice mixture.

Heat oil in a large skillet over high heat.  Place pork chops in the skillet, reducing heat to medium.  Cook until the pork is no longer pink in the center, 8-10 minutes.  An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read 160 degrees F.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

I've never been a huge fan of pumpkin, but I'm slowly working my way up to it.  So far I like pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and this bread.  I guess as long as it has chocolate, I'm happy!  I got the recipe from our Relief Society November calendar, so I'm not sure who's it is.

Ingredients:

Mix together:
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups canned pumpkin
1 cup canola oil
3 T vanilla

Add:
3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
3 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

Mix well.

Grease 2 loaf pans and dust with flour.  Pour batter into pans and bake at 350 for 60-65 minutes (mine was done in about 55).  Check to see if they're done by poking a toothpick down the center.  If it comes out clean, it's done!

Sweet Cornbread

This is for all you cornbread-haters out there.  Derek is one of them, but he actually likes this because he says it tastes like cake.  And it actually does, because half of it is cake.  The ingredients I kind of made up, so just follow your gut on those.

Ingredients:

1 package cornbread mix (I used Betty Crocker, but Jiffy would work great)
1/2 package yellow cake mix
Whatever ingredients they call for (oil, water, milk, butter, eggs, etc.)

So the ingredients on the back of the boxes: I put in everything that the cornbread mix called for (since I put in the whole mix), and half of what the cake mix called for (since I only put in half).  After all was said and done, I had put in 2 eggs, 1/3 cup milk, 1/2 cup water, 1/2 of a 1/3 cup of oil (I estimated) and 2 T melted margarine.  The cornbread said to bake at 350 and the cake said 400, so I baked it at 375 for about 5 minutes longer than what the cornbread said to do.  And it turned out great!  Just make sure you stick a toothpick in the middle to make sure it's done before you take it out.

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

This recipe comes from my sister and it is oh so good!  Normally I'm not a huge chicken noodle soup fan, but this has lots of flavor and I love the creamy consistency.  Derek actually liked it too!  It's a keeper.

Ingredients:

2 chicken bouillon cubes

3 cups chicken broth

2 cups chopped carrots

2 cups chopped celery

3/4 cup chopped onion

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1/2 cup sour cream

2 cups cooked, diced chicken

cooked egg noodles

Heat bouillon and broth in large pot.  Add carrots, celery and onions and simmer until tender.  Add soup and sour cream.  Add chicken and noodles.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Golden Baked Pork Cutlets

Sorry for the terrible picture, but I was in such a hurry to eat because these were so good!  Derek said he'd pay money at a restaurant for them.  The breading kept the meat nice and juicy (another tip to make it juicy is to tent it with foil for 5-10 minutes after coming out of the oven) and the flavor was great.  I believe I got the recipe from Food Network, but I saved it so long ago I can't remember.

Ingredients:

1 lb pork tenderloin, trimmed (I just used some pork chops)
1/2 cup dry breadcrumbs (I only had Italian and they were great; plain would be good too)
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 tsp canola oil
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
4 tsp cornstarch

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Coat a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray.

Holding a chef's knife at a 45 degree angle and perpendicular to the tenderloin, slice the pork into 4 long, thin fillets (skip if you already have pre-cut pork chops).

Mix breadcrumbs, sugar, paprika, onion powder, and salt in a shallow dish.  Drizzle with oil and mash with fork until oil is thoroughly incorporated.  Lightly beat egg white with fork in another shallow dish.  Sprinkle cornstarch over pork slices and pat to coat evenly on both sides.  Dip the pork into the egg, then press into the breading mixture until evenly coated on both sides.

Place the pork on the prepared baking sheet.  Bake until just barely pink in the middle and a thermometer reads 145 degrees F, 14-16 minutes.

Witch Hat Calzones

In honor of Halloween we had these for dinner tonight.  They were super easy and really tasty!

Ingredients:

2 packages of crescent rolls
pizza sauce
pepperoni
cheese
egg, beaten
Italian seasoning
Parmesan cheese

Open one of the packages of crescent rolls, separate the rolls, and lay them on a cookie sheet.  Spread sauce on rolls, leaving a little room around the edges.  Sprinkle cheese and pepperoni (I chopped the pepperoni into small pieces) on top.  Brush a little of the beaten egg around the edges and top with the other package of crescent rolls.  Press around the edges to seal and roll up the bottom to form the bottom of the hat.

Brush beaten egg on top and sprinkle with Italian seasoning and Parmesan cheese.  You can decorate with chopped pieces of pepperoni.  Bake at 425 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

Cafe Rio Sweet Pork

I've seen this recipe in a few different places, but I think I got this particular one from Yvonne's blog.  Yum, yum, yum!  I love sweet pork and this really does taste like the Cafe Rio version.  It's great with cheese, avocado, and tomatoes or whatever you have on hand!  I had a 3 lb roast, so I halved it and it worked great.

Ingredients:

6 lb pork roast
2 cups brown sugar
1 1/2 cans Coke (or 20 oz bottle)
16 oz Pace Picante sauce (I didn't have any but I did have a jar of La Victoria salsa so I used that and it was really good)

Trim fat from roast and cook in crockpot full of water on low for 6 hours or until tender.  Remove roast and shred and remove any fat leftover.  Dump water out of crockpot and replace the shredded pork.  Pour coke, brown sugar and picante sauce over the pork and mix in.  Slow cook for 3-4 hours.