Tag: Dinner

Dinner, April 25, 2016


Sautéed swai filets, served over spinach and mushrooms, topped with grilled pineapple and a dab of Dixie Relish. Homemade zesty pickled beets and a simple cucumber and cherry tomato salad on the side.

Dinner, April 24, 2016


After almost a week of uninspired menus and several days that were Festival of Leftovers, finally, a decent meal.

Turkey meatloaf topped with sautéed onion, mushrooms and peppers, roasted butternut squash, and homemade pickled beets. Tomato jam added to meatloaf at the table.

Dinner, April 18, 2016

  
First grilling day of the year!

Marinated some boneless chicken breasts in Italian dressing while they thawed, then grilled them. Served over raw spinach with grilled sweet potato slices, grilled fresh pineapple, and sautéed mushrooms. Condiment: chunky sauce/relish made by chopping a partial jar of canned green tomatoes and peppers.

Dinner, April 15, 2016

  Turkey meatballs (leftover from the other day), topped with tomato jam. Sautéed mushrooms, cucumber and cherry tomato salad, and steamed green beans. Delicious and low-calorie!

Dinner, April 14, 2016

 dinner 
Spinach and feta chicken sausages, beets, and greens with yellow bell pepper. Delicious with a couple chunks of pickled zucchini and some tomato jam.

Recipe: Pork and Sauerkraut

Recipe for easy Pork and Sauerkraut

I grew up with sauerkraut on the table. Not every day, or even every week. But it was a part of our family meals. Usually, there were sauteéd onions, maybe mushrooms, mixed in. Or it was the filling in pierogi, or served cold on hot dogs. But it was always a side dish, something meant to play with the main flavor of the meal.

This recipe is something that I got from a recipe card at my local Penzey’s Spices. I’m embarassed to say that I never considered using sauerkraut like this, even though it’s such a simple thing. Almost not a real recipe, as much as an idea for throwing things together. I’ve made it with pork tenderloin, cut into chunks, as well as with boneless pork country ribs, and both times it’s been out of this world.

Sauerkraut
Home-fermented sauerkraut, in-process

If you have it, go ahead and use home-fermented sauerkraut. Yeah, I know that’s a bit of an oddity, unless you homestead or follow some food trends. But it’s actually really easy to make, especially if you have an airlock system that keeps the oxygen out of your fermentation vessel, like Pickle Pipes. (Disclaimer: I’m not selling these. I got a set for Christmas from my sister, along with the Pickle Pebbles weights, and they’re easy to use and low-maintenance.)

The last time I made this, I was out of whole fennel seed, so I just tossed in 1/2 teaspoon of ground fennel instead.

Pork
Layer the pork on the kraut

Accompaniment suggestions: prepared horseradish for the meat; beets or carrots as side veg; crunchy roasted potatoes are a nice texture contrast

Pork and Sauerkraut

  • Servings: 4-6
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

Ingredients:

  • 1 quart sauerkraut, undrained
  • 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and sliced
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 teaspoon fennel seed
  • 1 teaspoon caraway seed
  • Pork Chop Seasoning or Bavarian Seasoning
  • 6 pork chops OR 2 pork tenderloins, cut into 2″ thick slices OR 6-8 boneless pork country ribs
  • 1-2 bay leaves

Instructions:

  1. Do not drain the sauerkraut. Place the kraut, chopped apple, chopped onion, fennel seed and caraway seed in a medium bowl and stir to combine. Set aside.
  2. Season pork with Pork Chop Seasoning or Bavarian Seasoning. I like the Bavarian because it’s a salt-free blend (and sauerkraut has a bunch of salt already), plus the mustard seed in it plays really well with the tang of the kraut. Brown both sides of the meat in a large skillet over medium-high heat. If necessary, do this in 2 batches so the meat isn’t crowded in the pan.
  3. In a 4-6 quart slow cooker crock or a heavy-bottomed Dutch oven, place about 1/3 of the sauerkraut mixture. Top with the browned pork and then the rest of the kraut. If you can’t fit all the pork in a single layer, then use half in one layer, then 1/3 of the kraut (half of what’s left), another layer with the rest of the pork, and the end of the kraut on top. Add a bay leaf or two. (I always use two so that I know how many to fish out when it’s done.) Cover.
  4. If using a slow cooker, set to high for 3-4 hours (longer if you like to use low or you need to set it in the morning and let it go all day). If using a Dutch oven, place over medium heat until it reaches a simmer, then turn the heat to low and let it be for 1-2 hours.
  5. Serve 1/2 cup kraut with 1 chop/hunk of tenderloin/country rib.

 

Dinner, March 26, 2016

  Sautéed chicken breast, mushrooms, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, roasted eggplant. Using up extra ingredients from a batch of Ratatouille I made to take to Easter dinner.

Dinner, March 23, 2016

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Spaghetti-style spaghetti squash, sautéed kale

Pan steam-sautéed kale (put bit of water in bottom of sauté pan, add kale, cover. Cook a few minutes until bright green, then remove lid and let water evaporate.)

Spaghetti-style spaghetti squash:

Cut squash in half, remove seeds. Place cut side up on baking pan in 375˚F oven until a paring knife pokes squash easily (this was a big squash; it took about an hour). Let cook for a few minutes. Scrape with fork to remove strands of squash from skin. Because this was such a huge squash, I used half and froze the other. I used about 300g of strands for this recipe.

Meanwhile, in large skillet, brown and crumble 20 oz. lean (93/7) ground turkey, 1 diced medium yellow onion, and 8 oz. chopped baby bella mushrooms. Season with dried minced garlic and Italian herb mix. When meat is cooked through, stir in 1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes and the squash strands. Heat through.

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