Pork w/ Apple Stuffing and Veggies!

We always happen to buy pork chops in bulk when they are on sale at our grocery store. This means having to do more things with it so we don’t get bored! The pork itself isn’t much different in this recipe, however the side dishes make it! For the pork I just seared it in a pan with olive oil spray. I have found that the best way to get a really good sear is for the meat to be completely dry. I then season the pork with a little bit of salt and lots of garlic powder (you will find that these are my two go to spices). I do not use much pepper because I am not a fan of black pepper, however I use it as a finishing touch on most of my husband’s meals because he LOVES pepper (opposites attract). So it can be added before, after, or not at all depending on your tastes! I do not even touch any meat that is searing until I am flipping it, and I only flip one time once I have a golden sear, and let the meat rest before slicing.

Another thing we usually have a lot of is apples because we buy them in bulk as well (since bulk is cheaper). Apples and pork is one of my favorite food combinations, and since we recently had thanksgiving, I decided to make apple stuffing (sounds a little weird but it is really good). Basically I take a standard stuffing mix with WHEAT bread (Sarah lee 45 calorie), onion, celery, chopped apple, sage, a bit of salt, an egg, and a little bit of apple cider. Instead of cider, chicken stock can be used (or vegetable stock for my momma). I sauté the onion, celery and apple, and add the sage and salt. In the meantime, I throw the bread (about 5 pcs) to get toasted some, cube the bread, and throw it in a mixing bowl. I add the warm sautéed veggies (and fruit), add in the egg and mix. I then added the apple cider just to make sure the stuffing was moist enough. Throw this in a greased casserole and bake at 350, covered with foil, for 30 minutes. Take off foil and bake for another 10 minutes and stuffing is complete and delicious:

For another side, a blend of veggies is always good. I like to do steamed cauliflower, snap peas, carrots, and dried cranberries (and by “I like to do”, I mean “the microwave likes to do it with my frozen veggies”. Honestly you would never know they are frozen! I love a certain brand of vegetables available at my local grocery store because it tastes fresh! They are delicious and fast! No one said you can’t have a little extra help in the kitchen!

The final plate has pork, stuffing, and a mix of veggies but in a healthy way! It is a perfect fall or winter dish full of flavor and very filling! Just another dish turned out of the newlywed kitchen and my husband loves it!

Mini Turkey Meatloaf "Cupcakes"

This is one of my favorite recipes as it is very versatile! I take a meat loaf mix of ground TURKEY, onion, celery, bread crumbs, an egg, garlic, and a little bit of barbeque sauce. This obviously can be made with any type of ground meat with any ingredients (which is why I love it so much). I then take the mixture and place them in a cupcake tin to make mini meatloaf “cupcakes”. The quick time is much faster, and I love the outside edge of meatloaf that gets crispy, so this makes it happen for each little meatloaf.  While they are baking (about 350 degrees for 30 minutes), I steamed 2 sweet potatoes in the microwave, once soft, I took the potato out of the skin and mashed them up with our yogurt butter blend, aka fake butter, aka healthy. I add a touch of salt and a nutmeg and clove mix (just a dash). These flavors work really well with the turkey.  Instead of sweet potatoes, you can always use regular potatoes (but sweet potatoes are much more nutritious). Instead of potatoes altogether, a pureed vegetable could be used or mashed cauliflower.  Once the mini turkey meatloaves are finished cooking, I take them out of a pan and let them cool, and they look like this:

I then take the mashed sweet potato and add it on top of the turkey meatloaf as if it was the icing on the cupcake! This recipe is incredibly fun for kids as playing with food is allowed because they can create their own mini meatloaf cupcake. This is especially great if there are different types of “icings” and “sprinkles”. For these meatloaf cupcakes, I added chive “green sprinkles” and on some and a swirl of barbeque sauce. Other toppings could be anything you load in a baked potato. With sweet potato it is good to add chopped dried cranberries, and for regular potatoes, shredded cheese, bacon, tomato, etc. It is a great way to sneak in food to kids because they see it as a sprinkle rather than an ingredient.  The final result looks like this:

To bring them to a party or serve them for dinner, they look great in a dish all together! Although there are no kids in this newlywed kitchen… yet, it is still fun to eat a dish like this.

Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms

For Thanksgiving every year, we go to my husband’s family’s house for dinner. We normally eat around 5 or 6 so hanging out around the house and smelling all the yummy food makes everyone very hungry. This year I decided to bring an appetizer for everyone to munch on while we waited for dinner. I wanted something easy to eat, healthy, and virtually needed no utensils necessary to serve or eat. I decided to make stuffed mushrooms with spinach and sausage. To make the stuffing, I put onion, garlic, and celery in the food processor, added that to TURKEY Italian sweet sausage and sauté, add a drained box of chopped spinach, 3 pieces of whole wheat bread (toasted and cubed), and some parmesan cheese. I then made the stuffing into little balls and stuffed them into the mushrooms. The stuffed mushrooms baked for a while in the oven and I let them cool and refrigerate over night. (They can be served immediately but I was cooking ahead of time). The next day, we brought them to my husband’s aunts house, threw them in the oven for a couple minutes, set them on the table, and they were gone in about 6.4 seconds. I now am in charge of appetizers every year for thanksgiving which is a pretty big deal! It is nice to bring a bit of our newlywed kitchen into another kitchen, especially when it’s your in-laws!

Forgive the appearance of my pan and foil, but that is just how I cook : )

Spinach Stuffed Steak

I was walking through my favorite store, Target, and saw steak pin wheels stuffed with garlic and spinach. They looked fantastic and I needed to make a meal in a hurry. The price was good and the cooking seemed fairly easy. We do not eat red meat often, but every once in a while it is a nice change! While the steaks were roasting in the oven, I steamed some cauliflower and made a quick garlic "butter" sauce with cracked black pepper. We do not use real butter in our house, instead we use a yogurt blend which has been just as great! Besides, I never ate "real" butter as a child, but I will explain that later. I also made "Italian" salads. I am not Italian what-so-ever, but I made it with romaine, roasted red peppers, tomato, provolone cheese, and Italian seasoning blend. The meal turned out perfect, was inexpensive, looked great on the plate, and healthy (for the most part). I will definitely buy these steaks again!

 So, back to the butter....  We never had real butter in our house, instead used a margarine blend. We went to Disney World one year over Thanksgiving when I was in third grade or so, where I experienced butter for the first time. From the way I reacted to it, you would think Mickey Mouse was nothing in comparison to this delicious spread that was on my dinner roll. I told everyone how it was the best butter I ever had, in which my family had to tell me that is because it was real. Well....  I still try to hold on to what my momma taught me, so no real butter in this newlywed kitchen, but we are doing just fine!

Salmon & Mustard Dill Sauce

Last night’s dinner was delish! Not to mention a very easy clean up! I made salmon filets with a creamy mustard dill sauce ... and to go along with it, roasted brussel sprouts and butternut squash. The salmon was cooked perfectly, the skin was super crispy, and the inside was moist and flaky.  It was lightly seasoned with salt and garlic powder and cooked in my skillet, skin down first. While that was cooking, I microwaved the frozen steam-able brussel sprouts for a few minutes then threw them on a baking sheet. I then took the pre peeled butternut squash and diced it up … threw that on the sheet as well. The brussel sprouts were seasoned with salt, garlic powder, mustard powder, and a dash of sage. The butternut squash had salt, a pumpkin spice blend, as well as a dash of sage. These flavors were all fantastic together and my kitchen smelled wonderful. Once the salmon was finished, I plated it and poured a little bit of chicken stock in the pan to scrape all the flavor. I added honey mustard and Dijon mustard, sour cream, garlic powder, and dill. I never made this sauce before but I always figure if I like all the ingredients going in, I will most likely enjoy the way it tastes… plus you can always add more. Everything came out perfectly and the sauce was my favorite part … and my husband’s too!

One day while shopping ...

As I was shopping earlier today, I thought about all of the things I enjoy cooking and how I manage to do things on a budget. I also can produce meals fairly fast mixing products of things that are already prepared (but healthy) with fresh ingredients. If you are a food lover like me, do not think this is another way of semi-homemade, but just think of it as what most people try to do ... create meals, on a budget, with not a lot of time to do so, that is still healthy, and tastes like it came right out of a restaurant. As I scanned the aisles at my grocery store, I thought of all of the meals that I wanted to cook... I do not mean just a piece of chicken with a vegetable and some rice ... how boring does that sound? I like to create meals that flow well together, look great on a plate, and taste phenomenal when you eat it! Since I enjoy this so much, I thought I would share it with anyone who likes to cook, eat, blog, or whatever. We also have fantastic restaurants around here ... so I would like to start profiling the great places we get to eat! So starting soon, I will start to post some meals that I cook in my kitchen for my husband and I, my Newlywed Kitchen, or the things that we get eating out. Please feel free to ask questions, comments, or whatever ... but most importantly ... Enjoy!