Honey Glazed Butterfly Chops with Nutty Greens and Apple Baked Potatoes

Dinner tonight.
Inspiration: Necessity

I hate to waste food. So, often I create recipes based on what needs to be used first. Tonight I discovered a bag of spinach that was on it's last leg. My first instinct was to turn it to soup, but after searching the freezer for protein, I had another idea. And here it is:



You'll Need

2 butterfly chops
1/2 lb baby spinach
onion
honey
cracked pepper
garlic
walnuts
coarse salt
1 beer*
lemon juice
olive oil/butter

THe ChOPs

• marinate the chops in the beer, 2 tbsp lemon juice and a teaspoon of coarse salt for 20 minutes
• remove from marinade, place in shallow baking dish and bake chops in a 375F oven for 30-40 minutes, depending on the size or thickness
  
• top chops with cracked pepper and drizzle with honey
• place under the broiler until honey begins to caramelize
• remove and serve against the greens
  

The GREENS

• dice 1/2 cup white or spanish onion, mince 3 cloves of garlic and caramelize them in 1 tbsp olive oil
  
• add spinach with a pinch of salt and pepper, cover and cook until bright green (about 2 minutes)
• in a separate pan, toast 4 tbsp chopped walnuts, then add them to the spinach

the apple-baked taters

• 4 large yukon gold potatoes cut into chunks and put in a baking dish
• in a small bowl place 1/4 cup applesauce, 1tbsp butter, 2 tbsp brown sugar, few dashes of allspice, dash of cayenne, salt and fresh cracked pepper
• heat in microwave until butter is softened (30-40 seconds)
• mix and pour over potatoes
• cook for 1 hour at 375F

*vinegar will substitute just fine for beer, preferably malt or cider.

Chocolate Chili

Dinner tonight.
Inspiration: The hubby's love for the sweet and spicy.

One thing I can't recommend enough is to use recipes as a reference. Don't be afraid to omit unappealing ingredients or substitute them with the foods you do like. Nothing could be more true than when it comes to spicy food. Some like it hot. But it doesn't have to blister your tongue or require you to wear an extra layer of antiperspirant. The beauty with this particular recipe is that you can find your own personal balance between the sweet and the spicy. Here is my version. I hope you can read my writing ;o)


in a saute pan, cook the beef, jalapeños and chili peppers. when they are almost done, let them simmer in the red wine for about 4 minutes.
in a stock pot, saute the diced onion with the garlic until they are golden brown.
add to the pot the black beans, the beans in tomato sauce, the diced tomatoes, tomato paste, diced roasted red peppers and all of the seasonings.
stir in the finished beef and the brown sugar.
finally, grate in the chocolate.
let simmer for 2 hours.
adjust seasonings to taste.



I'd love to serve this with a cheddar corn bread.

~You're welcome ;o)

Wild Rice Pilaf

Easy dishes that taste like hours of preparation are my favourite. Rice pilaf is not just for restaurants and banquet halls. And it should never be instant. For the short time it takes to dice a few veg, the payoff is 2-fold.

In the Pot

• according to the directions on the package, measure out rice* adding it to chicken stock in place of water.
• add a combined cup of diced mushroom, red pepper, red onion and celery
• add 2 tblsp of chopped walnuts
  
• bring to a boil, reduce, cover and let simmer for the cooking time stated in the directions.
• Serve. It's that easy.

*use quick cooking wild rice. Otherwise the other ingredients will be far over cooked. If you must use regular wild rice, saute the other ingredients and stir them in once the rice is cooked.

~you're welcome ;o)