Inspiring People to Cook Again
Recently, I ran into my good friend, Ava Cowan, at a fitness competition here in South Florida. Ava is a five-time overall figure champion. Overall! That means that when she wins, she not only wins within her age and height group, she beats everyone competing […]
Shrimp and Corn Chowder This rich chowder is easy to make and I promise everyone will love it. I consider this a treat meal if you make the full fat version. It’s one of my sister’s favorite dishes and one that I often make for […]
This recipe works great for lamb or chicken but my daughter just loves pork chops so this is one of her favorite dishes. I like to buy a large package of thick boneless pork chops at Costco. They have never let me down with their meat department. It is usually a nice lean cut and just the right thickness for grilling.
If you have ever grilled pork chops you know how easy it is to over cook them and wind up with a dry rubbery chop. The thin chops are difficult to cook because they cook so quickly you can easily over cook them. The marinade for this recipe gives the chops flavor as well as moisture and the Dijon mustard just seals in the juices. If you give this one a try let me know what you think because I think this one is a winner.
Ingredients:
Directions:
Place the pork chops in a large glass baking dish. Sprinkle each side with salt and pepper. Pour the olive oil, and the balsamic vinegar over the meat. Sprinkle the chopped garlic and the rosemary over the meat. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours or overnight, turning the chops over at least once during the marinating time. I usually put this all together the morning I’m making the dish and then grill them that evening.
About 30 minutes before you are ready to grill (or before you light your grill), remove the chops from the refrigerator and just let them sit out in room temperature. You don’t want to place ice-cold meat on the BBQ because it can interfere with your cooking time.
Let the grill get hot, clean the grill and give it a good dose of grill spray. When your grill is nice and hot (about 350 in the hood), and the chops have had a chance to sit, remove them from the baking dish and place on the grill. Keep your bowl of Dijon mustard near the grill. One cup should be plenty but if you need more, just use it as needed.
Sear the chops on one side for about 3 minutes on high heat, then turn. You’re looking for a nice grill mark if your grill is good and hot. Give each chop a coat of Dijon mustard with a grill brush (if you don’t have one just use a teaspoon and spread the mustard with the back of the spoon). Allow the other side to cook for 3 minutes. Then, turn the chops again, coat the other side with the mustard and turn the grill down to medium.
Close the lid and cook the chops another 8 to 10 minutes without turning the chops again. Total cooking time should only be about 14- 16 minutes so keep an eye on your watch. If you can’t turn the grill down move them to a cooler spot on the grill.
To be sure you don’t overcook, I recommend that you use a meat thermometer and check internal temperature after 10-12 minutes. When the chops measure 140 degrees with a meat thermometer they are ready to come off. The goal is about 145 but the temperature will rise slightly when they sit, so there is no need to over cook them. A slightly pink-inside, juicy chop is what you are looking for.
Once you remove the chops from the grill, allow them to rest on a serving plate covered with foil for at least 5 minutes before you serve them. This will give them a chance to hold their juices.
Cooks notes:
-The longer you leave the chops in the marinade, the more flavor they will have. However, if you are short on time you can prick the chops with a fork to help them absorb the marinade faster.
-Do not over cook! If you follow my directions you should end up with perfectly cooked juicy meat.
-If you do over cook your chops by accident, don’t panic. Just add a pat of butter to the top of each chop and serve. The extra cream in the butter will counter act the dry texture of the pork and everyone will love it.
I sometimes purposely serve some herb-seasoned butter over the top of the pork just for added flavor.
My family and I eat a lot of fish. It’s a great way to make a simple healthy meal in minutes. The biggest mistake people seem to make with fish is that they over cook it. You are better off undercooking fish and having to […]
My Aunt Rosie and my Grandma Reo made this salad all the time when I was younger. This amazing salad can be used in so many ways. It’s great by itself or over some mixed greens. I like to serve it over grilled fish, shrimp, […]
Cruising through the Aegean Sea this past weekend with Rome and Greece behind me and Naples, Sorrento and the island of Capri in front of me, it really hit me how much the Europeans get it – food, love, laughter and life. Over the past two weeks, our magical stay in Rome and our breathtaking stops in Sicily, Kusadasi (Turkey), Mykonos, Santorini and Rhodes (Greece) underscored for me how important it is to enjoy a true passion for living that comes from sharing time around the table.
What I have found so often missing in American culture today seems to be intact throughout Southern Europe. I really felt like I had gone back to my mother country on this trip because everywhere we went, people were living life the way I have tried to live it, and the way I always thought it should be. I think we all rush too much, miss too much and give up too much by skipping real meals and by not taking time to cook and eat and enjoy time. Amazing time. Real time. Not fast food time.
People at cafes on ever corner from Rome, Italy to Rhodes, Greece, sat and ate and talked and drank, less to satisfy hunger than to connect with one another. When is the last time you’ve done that? Just invited someone over for a cup of coffee or tea — or made someone a sandwich, just so you could spend an hour talking with them?
That’s the difference, too – enjoying food with an eye towards sharing it and serving it and using it as a vehicle for social media connection, instead of just feeding our faces or getting eating done as a chore. The best way to boost your social media interaction is by gaining subscribers from https://www.socialmediadaily.com/youtube. There were so many examples of this on our trip, thankfully, we had the best traders insurance covering the car we were using so we were able to travel to many places without any worries.
In Kusadasi, a Turkish shopkeeper named Niko sat with me and my husband John for half an hour to talk about life over Greek beer and baklava and black Turkish coffee across the street from his store. The language barrier was unimportant. In the middle of his work day, he had stopped to chat about local restaurants and his mother’s wine and the differences in the foods we were eating.
At Piperno, a restaurant in the Jewish “ghetto” section of Rome, on a side street so small and cute that we thought we were on the set of a Broadway play, we had only food to help us to communicate with the waiter and chef.
“Speak any English? No.”
“Speak any Italian? Some.”
What followed was ten minutes of descriptions by hand, laughter and a lot of pointing until we had ordered a tableful of wonderful foods, local wine and even better homemade desserts. I could go on forever about what we ate (see blogs next week for recipes and photos), but the time John and I spent that night laughing with the kids over Chianti, pasta and pastries will be one of my best memories of the trip.
We did eat many times because we were hungry, of course, and we could have “solved” the hunger issue by just grabbing a slice of pizza. But that wasn’t the goal, was it? One night, in a restaurant that was literally built inside the walls of what had been the catacombs for the ashes of Roman gladiators, we had the pleasure of the owner, Paolo and his father Massimo, preparing for us whatever they wanted to make for us. Like guests in their home, rather than in a restaurant, we enjoyed homemade antipasta, meats, seafood and a 2,000 year-old lasagna recipe that was out of this world. I’m going to make that recipe and put it here for you in the next few weeks. And I can’t wait to do that. It will be my pleasure to share it with you.
When we just order take out or grab fast food or cook prepared frozen foods, what’s lost is the fun part. Preparing food for others involves picking ingredients and planning similar to buying a gift. How meaningless it would be if you always gave just money as a gift to others so you could get it over with instead of putting thought into it and shopping for just the right thing. Food is like that too, I think.
The Europeans certainly have their share of problems but when it comes to food and enjoying life we can learn a lot from them. This week, I challenge you to invite a friend or family member over for a meal, coffee, or a snack (and prepare it yourself). If you think you are too busy, then cancel something to make it happen.
I know one thing for sure — when I am on my deathbed I won’t be wishing I worked more or had more money or more to do, because when it comes to money it is pretty simple, you could just get a personal lending with nation21 or contact one of those unsecured personal loans bad credit lenders and get money without stressing yourself. I will be wishing I spent more time with the people in my life that matter to me most, maybe having a good cup of coffee or a bowl of homemade soup.
Don’t wait, do it today.
This recipe is easy to make but you need to have all your ingredients ready, because it all cooks very quickly. It’s so delicious you will never want to order pasta and clams at a restaurant again, because nothing you order out will ever taste […]
Simple Blueberry Cobbler This is an easy dessert to make for a yummy treat. Everyone loves this one with some homemade whipped cream or ice cream. You can even substitute peaches or mix different types of berries with this recipe. (not a low fat treat! […]
