Who here loves watermelon? And I don't mean the seedless, flavorless ones you buy from the grocery. I mean the heavy, pink, juicy ones you get from the Farmer's Markets or roadside vendors. I bought one the other day and just cut it up today. WHY DID I WAIT? This baby was so JUICY and SWEET, and BURSTING WITH FLAVOR. It may or may not be half gone now. It's been like 3 hours. Good thing we got another one from a Co-op we're a part of.True story: my cousin used to call it waterlemon. Conversations would go like this:
"Sophie, say 'watermelon.'"
"Waterlemon."
"Sophie, say 'water.'"
"Water."
"Say 'melon.'"
"Melon."
"Now say 'watermelon.'"
"Waterlemon."
She's all growed up now. She's like... 10 or 11 now (I hope that's right, Soph! You can correct me if I'm wrong!). She can say it right now. Just thought I'd share that tidbit of my history for ya'll.
Tonight's been great so far. I didn't have to work today, and Jon got done with work pretty early, so we sat together and watched How I Met Your Mother while I cut and then we ate the watermelon. Then after a few hours of that, we put on The Hunger Games to enjoy while we ate dinner- BBQ shredded chicken on buns with watermelon. Now he's showing me hilarious videos on youtube like this one and this one and this one. I nearly peed my pants watching them. Then we saw some super cute ones of a husky and a baby. And another. I love living in the 21st century. And enjoy your evening which will now be spent on youtube looking at the cutest videos ever.
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Monday, August 20, 2012
Crock Pot: Pork Tenderloin Style
We had a pork tenderloin for dinner today, and it was grand. So tender, so tasty! Here's how I spent all day laboring in the kitchen to make it. I forgot to take a picture of it, sorry. But believe me, it was gorgeous.
First, my husband and I went to Gordy's over the weekend, and saw they had marinated pork tenderloins on sale for less than $3 a pound. So we picked out the marinade we wanted: sherry and teriyaki. Then when we got home we put it in the refrigerator. Step one: complete.
Second, I got up this morning around 9:30 and pulled out our crock pot. At about 9:31 I opened the package... okay, is this too detailed for you? Yeah. Thought so. You get the idea. I put the tenderloin in the crock pot, added some water, and turned it on. Then I decided to look at some recipes online to see if they add water and how much. (I was paranoid it wouldn't turn out, silly me.) I found this recipe to first pan-sear the meat before putting it in the crock pot! That helps keep in the flavor. So I stabbed the meat with a fork and put it in a skillet, then browned both sides of the meat with the stove on high, then put the meat back in the crock pot and almost covered with water. Then left it. All. Day. Long.
I got home from work just after 6, put some rice on, sauteed some fresh green beans, cut up the meat, and, viola, a supremely easy, ridiculously delectable dinner for the husband and me! I can't wait until dinner tomorrow to finish it off!
What are your favorite crock pot recipes? What about pork tenderloin recipes?
First, my husband and I went to Gordy's over the weekend, and saw they had marinated pork tenderloins on sale for less than $3 a pound. So we picked out the marinade we wanted: sherry and teriyaki. Then when we got home we put it in the refrigerator. Step one: complete.
Second, I got up this morning around 9:30 and pulled out our crock pot. At about 9:31 I opened the package... okay, is this too detailed for you? Yeah. Thought so. You get the idea. I put the tenderloin in the crock pot, added some water, and turned it on. Then I decided to look at some recipes online to see if they add water and how much. (I was paranoid it wouldn't turn out, silly me.) I found this recipe to first pan-sear the meat before putting it in the crock pot! That helps keep in the flavor. So I stabbed the meat with a fork and put it in a skillet, then browned both sides of the meat with the stove on high, then put the meat back in the crock pot and almost covered with water. Then left it. All. Day. Long.
I got home from work just after 6, put some rice on, sauteed some fresh green beans, cut up the meat, and, viola, a supremely easy, ridiculously delectable dinner for the husband and me! I can't wait until dinner tomorrow to finish it off!
What are your favorite crock pot recipes? What about pork tenderloin recipes?
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Parmesan Encrusted Chicken
So, last night I wanted Parmesan-encrusted Chicken. So what did I do? I hopped on over to Pinterest (figuratively; I don't really hop anywhere. Ever. At all.) Looked up a bunch of recipes. The ones that didn't use bread crumbs or non-fat Greek yogurt (which we don't have) used egg or mayo (yes, mayo. And I can't have eggs OR mayo, since mayo is mostly egg). So, what to do, what to do. Why, experiment, of course! So after asking Jon's permission, this is what I came up with. And sorry, but I didn't really measure anything... I'll give approximate amounts, but they're not perfect.
Parmesan Encrusted Chicken
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I only used 3; you can use more or fewer.)
1/3 cup sour cream
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese (save some to put on top of chicken before you bake it, or use extra for that...)
1/2-1 cup breading, potato flakes, flour, what have you (I didn't measure this, but I probably used 1-1/2 cups and it was WAY TOO MUCH.)
Olive oil
Instead of egg, mayo, or yogurt, I used sour cream. Ours had onions and chives in it. I figured that'd be fine; just adds more flavor. Then I added a bit of brown sugar to sweeten it a bit, since mayo and yogurt are pretty sweet. Honestly, I'm not sure the brown sugar was needed. But I have a hard time passing up using brown sugar. I love me some sugar. Anyway. Back to the recipe. I mixed some Parmesan cheese into the sour cream/brown sugar mix. I used shredded cheese. The powdered stuff would work fine. Or the flakes. Use what you have. Don't have Parmesan? I bet Feta would taste pretty good, too. Next I took some boneless, skinless chicken breasts and cut them in half (so the goodies-to-chicken ratio was higher!!) and dried them off, so they were kinda sticky. Next I dunked them in the sour cream mixture. So, remember how I said we had no bread crumbs? I'm sure flour would probably work, but I used dried instant potato flakes. Frankly, I thought these were bland and in the future I'd probably use bread crumbs if possible, but the potato flakes worked. In fact, husband loved them. So, after the chicken is coated in sour cream, put some coating in a bag, add chicken, and shake, shake, shake your booty. Just kidding. Sort of. Pull chicken out of coating, making sure they're coated well; place on a baking sheet lined with foil. I had extra sour cream mix, so I put a dollop on top of the chicken and then pressed more flakes into the top. Drizzle some olive oil and some more cheese on top of chicken. Bake 15-20 minutes at 375 or until chicken is done all the way through. I ended up having to put the oven on broil for a bit, because my chicken wouldn't brown.
We also had some noodles with butter, garlic, and parsley, then added some zucchini and cherry tomatoes. Please, be sure to sautee the veggies separately from the noodles. I didn't; I just dropped these into the noodles after they cooked, and the zucchini was hard and tasteless. The french bread was good, though.
Parmesan Encrusted Chicken
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I only used 3; you can use more or fewer.)
1/3 cup sour cream
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese (save some to put on top of chicken before you bake it, or use extra for that...)
1/2-1 cup breading, potato flakes, flour, what have you (I didn't measure this, but I probably used 1-1/2 cups and it was WAY TOO MUCH.)
Olive oil
Instead of egg, mayo, or yogurt, I used sour cream. Ours had onions and chives in it. I figured that'd be fine; just adds more flavor. Then I added a bit of brown sugar to sweeten it a bit, since mayo and yogurt are pretty sweet. Honestly, I'm not sure the brown sugar was needed. But I have a hard time passing up using brown sugar. I love me some sugar. Anyway. Back to the recipe. I mixed some Parmesan cheese into the sour cream/brown sugar mix. I used shredded cheese. The powdered stuff would work fine. Or the flakes. Use what you have. Don't have Parmesan? I bet Feta would taste pretty good, too. Next I took some boneless, skinless chicken breasts and cut them in half (so the goodies-to-chicken ratio was higher!!) and dried them off, so they were kinda sticky. Next I dunked them in the sour cream mixture. So, remember how I said we had no bread crumbs? I'm sure flour would probably work, but I used dried instant potato flakes. Frankly, I thought these were bland and in the future I'd probably use bread crumbs if possible, but the potato flakes worked. In fact, husband loved them. So, after the chicken is coated in sour cream, put some coating in a bag, add chicken, and shake, shake, shake your booty. Just kidding. Sort of. Pull chicken out of coating, making sure they're coated well; place on a baking sheet lined with foil. I had extra sour cream mix, so I put a dollop on top of the chicken and then pressed more flakes into the top. Drizzle some olive oil and some more cheese on top of chicken. Bake 15-20 minutes at 375 or until chicken is done all the way through. I ended up having to put the oven on broil for a bit, because my chicken wouldn't brown.We also had some noodles with butter, garlic, and parsley, then added some zucchini and cherry tomatoes. Please, be sure to sautee the veggies separately from the noodles. I didn't; I just dropped these into the noodles after they cooked, and the zucchini was hard and tasteless. The french bread was good, though.
I'm a blogger!
Wow! Hi! My first blog ever!
Well, you should all know a few things about me. I'm Taylor. Tatre is a nickname my cousin gave me several years ago. I'm married to the best man ever. In the immortal words of Dory the fish: "I shall call him Squishy, and he shall be mine, and he shall be my Squishy." Just kidding. Sort of. His name is Jon, Jonny, Jonald, Jonathan... take your pick. My parents are still married after like... a millennium (just kidding... 28 years in October! Give these folks a medal!) Julie is the oldest, married to Damon. They're expecting their first baby, a boy they're naming Liam, in October. Katie is between Julie and me. She's not married.
I am 22. I love being the "typical housewife" minus the cleaning. I mean really, who actually enjoys scrubbing the toilet and mopping the floors? But I do enjoy cooking, baking, taking care of my husband, sewing, etc. And reading. And TV. But I'm not sure how reading and watching TV help me be a better wifey. I just wish he enjoyed washing the dishes as much as I enjoy cooking... then we truly would be the perfect couple. As it is, we're pretty close.
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