Whats For Dinner Wednesday

Have you thought about What’s For Dinner tonight?  Today’s meal is a sweet savory dish, which is one of my favorites.  While it was baking I was asked if we were having apple pie for dessert.  To the disappointment of the family, we didn’t and it was just the Apple Pork loin.

Apple Pork Loin
2 T All Purpose Flour
1 tsp Caraway Seeds
1 tsp Ground Mustard
3/4 tsp Salt (for a little more flavor I sometimes substitute with 1/4 tsp onion or garlic salt)
1/2 tsp Sugar
1/4 tsp Sage (rubbed and broken)
1/4 tsp Pepper
1-2 lb Pork Loin Roast (I typically use the 1lb Pork Loins that come prepackaged)
2 T Olive Oil

Apple Topping
1-1/2 C Finely Chopped Peeled Apple (I prefer Granny Smith or Braeburn)
1/2 C Brown Sugar
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Cinnamon
1/8 tsp Mace

Combine the first 7 ingredients together and rub over the roast.  In a large skillet, heat the oil and brown the roast on all sides.  Place in a baking dish and bake uncovered for approximately 30-40 minutes at 350.  If you are using a full boneless pork loin roast you can place it on a rack in a roasting pan and bake at 325 for about 50-60 minutes or until reaches an internal temperature of 160 degrees.

Combine all of the Apple Topping ingredients together and spread over the roast the last 15-20 minutes of cooking.

Kitchen Tip:
Make sure when you cook meat that you give it about 5-10 minutes of resting time.  When you let the meat rest it gives it time to absorb all of the juices that cooked out of the meat but are still trapped inside.  If you cut it before your meat can absorb the juices, the juices run out and it can make for pretty dry meat.

This is especially true for the larger the item that you cook, like those turkeys at the holidays.  I actually plan on having my turkey or ham done about 45-60 minutes before we eat and let it sit on the counter covered in foil to keep it warm.  It gives you a super moist meat, that stays moist even after being sliced and sitting on the counter for one trip through the buffet.  Along with giving you great tasting meat, having it done early takes one less stress off of you during a big meal by not having to worry that it won’t be done in time!

Original variation of recipe from Susan Seymour at Allrecipes.com

It’s time for another What’s For Dinner? segment.  I am always looking for something new to cook as I not only get tired of cooking the same things over and over, but also eating the same things.  Every other Wednesday (or even more often!) I will be sharing a new recipe along with kitchen tips, from how to stretch your food even further to tips to save you time.  If you would like to see past recipes posted you can find them at What’s For Dinner Wednesday.

Since our kids started eating table food I have been a lot more conscious of what we’re eating and trying to get a bigger variety of things, along with healthy items on the table.  Sadly, we’re actually eating better now that the kids eat the same meals we do than before, and I wish I would have started doing it a lot earlier.  Spinach is not something that we ate, but I have been working on trying at least one new thing a month.  I try to cook it at least 3 different ways to see if we prefer one cooked way over the other before I completely dismiss it, plus trying it at least 3 times gives the kids multiple chances to try something new if they didn’t eat it the first time.

This meal started out as a recipe for an appetizer and I modified it to meet my needs of a full meal.  In this recipe it calls for the spinach to stay raw, however we have found that we like spinach cooked more, so I toss it in a warm pan with olive oil for just a couple minutes.  Of course, do whichever way you prefer the spinach, or try both ways if you’re trying Spinach for the first time.

Italian Chicken with Spinach Salad:
2 Skinless Boneless Chicken Breast Halves
1-1/4 C Tuscan Italian salad dressing (we have tried Italian, but prefer the Tuscan Italian)
4 C fresh Spinach, torn
1/3 C feta cheese (original taste good, but the Garlic & Herb is great)
2-3 Sun Dried Tomatoes, chopped

Place the chicken and 1 cup of dressing in a plastic bag and marinate for 3 or more hours.  Grill the chicken for about 7-10 minutes or until juices run clear.

While chicken is cooking, add spinach, feta cheese, sun-dried tomatoes and 1/4 cup of dressing to a large bowl and toss.  Serve salad with chicken and bread.  I prefer French or Italian bread, however Focaccia was originally intended with this recipe as an appetizer.

It’s nice outside right now which means you can grill the chicken a little easier, but if you prefer to cook it in the oven you can bake the chicken at 350 for about 15-20 minutes, or until done.

It’s time for another What’s For Dinner? segment.  I am always looking for something new to cook as I not only get tired of cooking the same things over and over, but also eating the same things.  Every other Wednesday (or even more often!) I will be sharing a new recipe along with kitchen tips, from how to stretch your food even further to tips to save you time.  If you would like to see past recipes posted you can find them at What’s For Dinner Wednesday.

Kitchen Tip:
Do you end up throwing away the heals on the loaves of bread you eat?  I’m sure you’ve heard you can make bread crumbs out of them, but did you realize it is REALLY easy?  I make a variety of homemade breads and also get different breads from the store, whatever ends up drying up or if I have heals left over, I toss them in the freezer in a gallon size bag.

Once the gallon bag is full, I place all of the pieces on a cookie sheet in a single layer and bake at about 300 degrees for 15 minutes or until all of the bread is dry.  You will want turn it about half way through to ensure it dries evenly.

Once the bread is dry, let it cool and then put in a food processor or blender and blend til it’s reached the desired coarseness.  Put into an airtight container for storage.   Now wasn’t that easy?  During the summer though,  I have to fight my kids for the dry pieces as they would rather take them to the park and feed the ducks!

I have to admit, I don’t care for homemade meatballs or meatloaf.  I can’t remember a recipe of either that I ever enjoyed while growing up. They all seemed too dry, too many “additions”, or even t0o bland.  However, I have been exploring a variety of different recipes over the last 10 years because I just knew that there had to be a recipe that I would like.  I finally found one that we all like!  It took a tweaking and combining of recipes to find one that we all liked, but it was worth the wait.  You can serve this as a main dish, add it to your spaghetti, or add it into a family favorite dish.

I also want to make a note, that all of the recipes I share use either onion salt or powder.  I have an onion allergy in our house and I can not use fresh onion or onion flakes, so I substitute with salt or powder when fresh onion is called for.  If you have onion in the house and enjoy cooking with it, please use it in place of the salt or powder that I list in a recipe.

Recipe:
1 lb. ground beef (pork or turkey can be substituted too)
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp onion powder (or 1 small onion, diced)
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
3/4 tsp dried oregano
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (more or less depending on taste preference)
1 1/2 T Worcestershire sauce
1/3 C milk
1/4 C grated Parmesan cheese (freshly grated is our preference, but prepackaged works well too)
1/2 C bread crumbs

Add everything from the ground beef through the Worcestershire sauce to a mixing bowl and mix well.  Add in the milk, Parmesan cheese and bread crumbs.  Mix until blended well.  Make 1-1/2″ meatballs (approximately 2 T) and place onto baking sheet.

Bake in a 400 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until cooked through.

Serve with mashed potatoes and fresh vegetables, or over your favorite spaghetti.

Freezer Tip:
These meatballs freeze well pre-baked or after they are baked.   While you’re making the batch for dinner, double or triple it and put the extras in the freezer for another meal.  One night of prep in the kitchen for 2 or 3 meals.  Just put them in a single layer on a cookie sheet and freeze solid, once frozen put into freezer containers, or freezer bags and freeze until ready to use.

If you freeze them pre-baked, you can put them directly in the oven, just plan on baking a little longer.  You can easily thaw them overnight in the fridge though and bake them as listed above.

If you freeze them after they’re baked just warm them up in the oven, or add to your spaghetti sauce and warm them up together on the stove top.

It’s time for another What’s For Dinner? segment.  I am always looking for something new to cook as I not only get tired of cooking the same things over and over, but also eating the same things.  Every other Wednesday (or even more often!) I will be sharing a new recipe along with kitchen tips, from how to stretch your food even further to tips to save you time.  If you would like to see past recipes posted you can find them at What’s For Dinner Wednesday.

Kitchen Tip:
Do you have as much cereal as I do after the last month of cereal deals?  Did you get some new cereals to try because they were a good price and then tried them and found out you didn’t really care for them?  Don’t throw them away!  Crush them up and save them in the pantry for a quick and easy coating on chicken, pork, or even a crusted beef.

I also collect and crush the bottom of the bag when there isn’t enough left for a bowl of cereal.  Don’t forget those crackers also, they make a great coating and when you start to get a mix of the crackers together it can make for a nice combination of flavors.

I found a great deal one time on Chex and picked up some new flavors that I hadn’t had before.  The honey oat sounded delicious so I picked up a few boxes.  Unfortunately no one in the house really cared for it, so I was left with 2-1/2 boxes that I had no idea what I was going to do with.  Well one night I wanted to make chicken strips and and didn’t have any of the store bought coating that I normally used, so I went hunting in recipe books.  I found a recipe that called for rice krispies and that gave me the idea to crush up the honey Chex and use that, it was a WINNER!!  The sweet flavor is just right and when it’s baked it gives you that crispiness that we like also.  I will change up the cereal we use every now and then, but honey Chex is one of our favorites, so now I have to keep an eye out for another great deal!  Since I just stocked up on a lot of Kelloggs cereals I’ll also be using Corn Flakes, Special K and I’m even going to try the Honey Crunch Oats.

This recipe is very basic.  I can scale it up or down depending on how many I’m cooking for, or change up the ingredients depending on what I have on hand.  A simple recipe to create a variety of meals.

Recipe:
2 Boneless skinless chicken breast (or chicken tenders)
1 C Crushed Honey Chex
1 T All-purpose Flour
Salt and Pepper to taste

Clean off excess fat from chicken and slice into strips and rinse with water.  Mix flour, Chex and salt and pepper together in a shallow dish.  Dip chicken into coating and place on baking sheet.  Bake 15 minutes at 350 or until chicken is done.  Serve with any sides you’d like or cut up and toss in a salad.

You can easily substitute any chicken, cooking times will need to be adjusted however for bone in chicken.  Bone in chicken breast typically take about 25-35 minutes to cook thoroughly depending on size.

It’s time for another What’s For Dinner? segment.  I am always looking for something new to cook as I not only get tired of cooking the same things over and over, but also eating the same things.  Every other Wednesday (or even more often!) I will be sharing a new recipe along with kitchen tips, from how to stretch your food even further to tips to save you time.  If you would like to see past recipes posted you can find them at What’s For Dinner Wednesday.

Ok, I admit it, we do eat a lot of chicken!  I grew up eating a lot of beef and pork, and to be honest, I’m just tired of it.  It seems I can do so many different things with chicken so that is what I fall back on.  However, I am trying to add a variety of things into our diet and Salmon is one thing that we enjoy, but usually only get if we go out to eat somewhere.  So I found a nice simple recipe that takes little of my time, but offers a meal full of flavor.

Baked Salmon
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 T light olive oil
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 T lemon juice
1 T fresh parsley, chopped (I use about 1/2 T when using dried)
2 fillets of salmon, approx 6oz each

Mix everything, except for the Salmon, in a shallow dish or plastic bag.  Add the salmon and marinate in the refrigerator for at least an hour. Preheat oven to 375  degrees and place salmon in aluminum foil and cover with marinade.  Create foil packets for the salmon and place in a baking dish.  Bake 35-40 minutes or until the fish easily flakes with a fork.

Serve with your choice of sides.  I like to serve with rice or a light pasta and a vegetable, don’t forget to pour the extra sauce in the packet over your rice or pasta too.

Freezer Tip:
Have you noticed yet that I like to have a freezer full of quick meals?  My grandma always told me that you can freeze just about everything (and she does! everything except sugar) but never really took it to heart until I started couponing and was able to get some perishable items really cheap and wanted to stock up, and meat and fish are no exception!

When I find a good deal on salmon I like to get 3-4 meals worth.  Since it freezes well I will plan on eating one meal within the first day or two of purchasing it, and the rest I will put into freezer bags with the marinade and freeze until we’re ready for more salmon.  Just take it out of the freezer and put it in the fridge 24-36 hours before you want to cook it and it’s ready to grill, bake, or broil!