the list #4

#4- Make a New Recipe

As a new housewife, one of the things I am learning how to do is to create new and interesting yet healthy meals for Tony and I's dinner.

Today I branched out in the meat department and the veggie department, plus the entire recipe

I bought boneless pork chops in bulk last time I went grocery shopping, excited about using pork and chicken and fish versus mainly just chicken.

So today being the first actual day we got to eat at home (busy week!) since then, I made pork.

I didn't know what to make so I used Spark People's recipe database since it is large and I can directly import the meal I make into my nutrition tracker- very easy! (www.sparkrecipes.com, www.sparkpeople.com)

I thought about what else I had in the house, and knew my mushrooms were going to go bad soon so I searched for a boneless pork chop + mushrooms dish.

I found this recipe:
Boneless Pork Chops and Mushrooms
Ingredients
6 boneless pork chops
salt and pepper
1-2 TBS olive oil
1 C mushrooms, slices
1 small onion, chopped

Instructions:
1. sprinkle chops with salt and pepper
2. cook on grill or in skillet until done
3. heat olive oil in pan, saute mushroom and onions until tender
4. spoon mushrooms over chops

6 servings


I of course modified it to be just for the 2 of us. I used seasoning salt instead of regular salt on the chops, and put too much, resulting in them being too salty. We grilled them and they cooked great!

I guesstimated olive oil and mushrooms, I used a lot of mushrooms- we both love them!- and I use a misto olive oil spray to cut down on how much we use. I really like it. I also used frozen pre-diced onions instead of fresh. Buying fresh onions for cooking usually results in me throwing it away since we don't use it fast enough. I would have liked being able to have larger onion pieces, which we could also have cooked in the grill pan, maybe strips, but the convenince of the frozen onions is really great!

My original plan was to grill the pork chops but to saute the mushrooms and onions in a pan on the stove, but Tony got home and was helping and put the mushrooms in the grill pan on the grill while I was getting the onions going inside. So he finished the mushrooms on the grill and I just put the mushroosm in with the onions last minute to toss and lightly season them together.

I served it just as it says, pork chop with mushrooms and onions on top.

For a side, I had bought an eggplant dish I wanted to try from another recipe I had perused in a magazine. I sliced the eggplant into rings and then lightly salted the eggplant, then brushed an approximately 50/50 olive oil and balsamic vinegar mix on it, then grilled it. I thought that was really yummy but Tony thought it was a little too tart. He might have liked it better if I hadn't finished off the dish by using the remainder of the vinaigrette on the eggplant after we took it off the grill.

Overall it was a successful meal. I will certainly use the pork dish again, with a different veggie side (anything goes, I am thinking steamed broccoli), and maybe make the eggplant dish just for myself for lunch. I thought it was great!

I will use less salt on both probably, definitely the pork( I try to watch our sodium content). Tony suggested Mrs Dash next time instead of salt and pepper, which is something I am game to try, or a less flavorful and generic grill seasoning (the ones I have are rather specific) so the mushroom and onions are still the highlight of the dish.

This meal left both of us full, and kept me under my calories for the day (hooray!). I really enjoy how filling mushrooms are :]

So that is my new recipe for the month. I am sure there will be more especially as I explore with catfish and pork more :] I hope they are all yummy!