Smothered Pork Chops & Crash Hot Potatoes

Smothered Pork Chops.

This recipe was so close, yet so far from its potential. I usually love Tyler’s recipes, but I honestly can’t believe that so many people rated this 5 starts on foodnetwork.com. I was very disappointed with this gravy. I’ve got to say the seasonings on the meat was spot on, BUT this gravy wasn’t that good. After tasting this, its crystal clear I don’t like oil based gravy. Not only was it bland, the consistency was kind of greasy. I kept whisking away hoping it would change. No such luck. I added more flour, no such luck. I gave up and settled on the consistency the way it was. After it was made, I tasted it and it was gross! So bland and oily! Side note: Remember always taste your food! Anyways, I had to add a good amount more of onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper to it to make it edible. Then I didn’t use much of it at all over the chops. I just basically finished cooking them in it and that was it.

Overall, I liked the smothered pork chops so next time I’ll make some major changes to the gravy because I know it can be done better.

Additional notes: I watched the video of him preparing this dish the day after I made this and he used WAY less than ¼ cup of EVOO which his recipe says to use. That may have been the issue with the gravy, too much oil…if you make this, be sure to view and then copy the video method, ignore the amount of oil the recipe says to use.

Source: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/smothered-pork-chops-recipe/index.html
Rating: 3 forks



Up Next, Crash Hot Potatoes!

YUM! Thank you Pioneer Woman! They are really good and not much work….and a little bit dangerous! I’m saying dangerous because I ate four of this little suckers. Must have control over the potatoes! LOL I’ll be making these again.

Source: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/06/crash-hot-potatoes/
Rating: 5 forks

Salmon Croquettes and Three Cheese Garlic Scalloped Potatoes

Tuesday night I made Salmon Croquettes…and they were awesome! That was my third time making them and every time they get better. So much so, I’ve finalized my recipe. Both hubby and I LOVED these. They were so good. Perfectly cooked, crunchy outside, moist inside and perfectly seasoned.

Along with my amazing salmon croquettes, I decided to cook Three Cheese Garlic Scalloped potatoes. Sadly, I we didn’t enjoy this dish as much as I hoped we would. These potatoes had WAY too much garlic for my taste. Serious overkill. My husband said it was “good”, but he also doused it with hot sauce and ketchup…so he obviously was masking something. Probably all that garlic. LOL. BUT, on the upside my sister and my little niece came over last night and ate some. They loved it! They both are garlic lovers, the more the better.

Also, the cook time was ridiculous! I cooked it at 350 for like 1 ½ hours. That was 25 degrees warmer and 45 minutes longer than what the recipe called for. If I had cooked it at 325 (per the instructions), it would have taken even longer to cook. I know it wasn’t the thickness of my potatoes, because I sliced them very thin using a mandolin, so they were all uniform in thickness. This recipe just wasn’t to my liking.  I may try to make scalloped potatoes again, minus half the garlic.


Sources w/ Ratings:      Three Cheese Garlic Scalloped Potatoes ~ 3 forks
                                               Salmon Croquettes (Me!, original recipe) ~ 5 forks

Awesomely Delicious Salmon Croquettes
Yields 9 croquettes

Ingredients:
18 ozs of canned Pink Salmon, drained (I used 3, 6 oz cans of the boneless & skinless Pink Salmon)
2 eggs, beaten
2 green onions, finely chopped
small handful of fresh flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
1 cup of Italian bread crumbs
1 good squeeze of fresh lemon juice, to taste
1-2 Tbsp of lite sour cream (start with 1 Tbsp, then add more to get the correct consistency)
Old Bay seasoning, to taste (approx 1 tsp)
fresh ground black pepper, to taste (approx ½ tsp)
½ cup of Panko bread crumbs
small amount of vegetable oil, for frying

Directions:
Using a fork, flake apart the Salmon in a medium sized bowl. Add the beaten eggs, green onions, parsley, Italian bread crumbs, lemon juice, sour cream, Old Bay and black pepper. Form into 9 patties and dust with Panko bread crumbs. Don’t make the patties to thick or they will take longer to cook.

Place the patties into the refrigerator until the oil heats up. Cooling the patties also help them keep their shape while frying.

Over medium heat, heat oil in medium skillet. Put 3 patties into the skillet. Fry until golden brown, 2 minutes on each side. Repeat two more times, cooking 3 patties at a time.

**If you use my recipe in your blog, please cite appropriately.

Crispy Skin Salmon, Orzo Salad w/ Roasted Asparagus

Tuesday – Crispy Skin Salmon, Orzo Salad w/ Roasted Asparagus

Last Tuesday, I had my mom over for Dinner. It was an amazing Dinner! I wanted to post this earlier…but you know how things get busy. I pulled these three recipes together all courtesy of the food network. The Crispy Skin Salmon was from Claire Robinson of 5 Ingredient Fix, the Orzo Salad was Bobby Flay’s and the Asparagus was from Alton Brown. Let me just say, I think I matched up these flavors very well. I never even thought to use nutmeg on asparagus. It was soooo good!!!

Sources & Ratings:     Crispy Skin Salmon ~ 5 forks
                                           Orzo Salad ~ 5 forks
                                           Roasted Asparagus ~ 5 forks

Easy Crockpot BBQ Pork Ribs, Garlic Parmesan Oven Fries & Coleslaw

Saturday: Easy Crockpot BBQ Pork Ribs, Garlic Parmesan Oven Fries & Coleslaw

Now this was a really tasty dinner! This is a great alternative when you want to kill that craving for ribs but can’t fire up the charcoal grill. The ribs were supper easy and not much work at all. I think the only thing I would change for next time is take them out the crock pot and try to “dry” the outside of them a little in the oven. I’ll probably try flashing them at a high temp for a short amount of time. Maybe even put them under the broiler for a few minutes. I hope doing that would make them seem more like they are off the grill and not out of the pot.

The oven fries were also good. It was welcome different take on potato wedges. The cold and crispy coleslaw was a perfect match for this meal.

My ribs are supper simple.

Sources w/ Ratings: Easy Crockpot BBQ Pork Ribs – (Me!, orignial recipe) ~ 4 forks
Garlic Parmesan Oven Fries ~ 5 forks

Easy Crockpot BBQ Ribs

Ingredients:
1, 2-3 lb rack of pork spare ribs
1 medium red onion, finely chopped
1 bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce
2 Tbsp Lawry’s seasoning salt
2 Tbsp of ground black pepper

Directions:
Chop the onions and evenly lay into the bottom of Crockpot.

Clean the ribs. Dry them with paper towel. Cut off excess fat. Cut the ribs into pieces of 2 bones at a time. Season with seasoning salt and pepper. Added them to the Crockpot and top with BBQ sauce. Cook on low for 9 hours.

**If you use my recipe in your blog, please cite appropriately.

Mediterranean Chicken Packets, Mock Risotto

Tuesday - Mediterranean Chicken Packets, Mock Risotto w/ Salad

My main issue with making these two recipes were the cost of some of the ingredients.  If you don't make Greek food on the regular you will end up buying a few somewhat pricey items.  When I spend more money on a meal, I want that "Wow" factor.  These dishes didn't have that and I was a little disappointed. Don't get me wrong, this meal was good...but lacking in something.  I won't be making this again. 

On the good side, my husband actually liked it, which sort of surprised me.  Of course first he eyed it suspiciously.  Probably because all of the veggies on top of the chicken!  This dinner was beautifully colorful.  I'm going to be working on taking better photos...unfortunately for now, the pictures don't do it justice.

I didn't make any modifications to these dishes, so I won't repost the recipes. Please click the links below to check them out.

4 Servings

Sources: Mediterranean Chicken Packets, Mock Risotto
Recipe Rating: 3 Forks