Pumpkin butter
White fish (tilapia or cod preferred)
Marjoram
fry fish with minimal salt and sprinkle marjoram generously on both sides (as you're cooking). Spoon pumpkin butter over the top and serve.
If you don't have marjoram, open pumpkin butter and smell with any spices you have. If the combination smells good to you, they should work well together.
Serve with rice and veggies or butternut squash.
Pork loin (about a pound)
Spicy brown mustard
Crumbled bacon (optional)
Philo (phyllo?) dough (9x14 sheets)
Butter (melted)
Apple (Optional)
This was really good and festive for Halloween.
1. optional: Marinade pork loin (not sliced but a roll of it) in spicy brown mustard (optional: crumbled bacon).
2. Broil pork 6 inches away from heat for 6 minutes (with our without marinade). Remove from oven and cool slightly. Change oven to 400.
3. Lay out one layer of Philo dough, brush with butter, then lay another sheet of Philo dough on top. Repeat. You want about 4 layers. You will wrap the pork, with the marinade, in the phyllo dough. Then take another sheet of phyllo dough, brush with butter, lay a sheet of phyllo dough on top. Repeat like before. Cut into strips and wrap like a mummy. If you want a head, peel the apple and wrap in sheets of phyllo dough.
4. Cook uncovered for 15-20 minutes or till an internal temperature of 160. Let cool for about 10 minutes before cutting.
So, this is the quickest meal I know, but it takes a little advance preparation. I buy pork loins in bulk from Costco/Sam's Club. I cut them in half, and since there's two of us-Jon and i, I put two in each bag (so do however many you'd need each time). Then I pick 3-4 marinades. Pork chops work well with fruit side dishes or sweet flavors. Some marinades I've tried and liked:
1. Maple syrup and walnuts
2. A sun dried tomato Tuscan salad dressing (were trying panera's balsamic salad dressing this time)
3. Apple pie filling (a can of peaches sounds good right now but I haven't tried it)
4. Raspberry Wasabi dip (it's like a specialty mustard sauce we found here in Indiana, but a mustard would work)
Anyways, freeze in any serving size you like with a brief description of the marinade and the date. Then the day before or the day of, take it out of the freezer to thaw.
To cook, turn a pan on high heat and you'll sear the pork on each side (leave extra marinade in the bag-syrup and some dressings don't cook as well). This doesn't take very long. Pour the extra marinade on top after seared to heat it up and for extra flavor. To make a healthy meal of it, throw together a salad, frozen mixed veggies in the microwave (usually what we do, we buy frozen veggies in bulk from Sam's) and rice. Our you can open up a can of fruit or applesauce. Another option we've tried for pork is searing pork that wasn't in a marinade and putting a little salt and pepper on it and then serve with applesauce on top.
We started using pork with weight watchers dinners (the maple syrup one we got from weight watchers). We've found it to be easy and tasty when we sear it, which is also the gayest way to cook it. Thawed pork can be ready to eat in under 10 minutes. (Possibly in about 5 minutes).
Ingredients:
2 T butter
1/2-1 onion, chopped
1 small red pepper, chopped (optional)
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 can of diced tomatoes or 2 medium tomatoes, chopped
garlic powder
salt and black pepper
2 10.75 oz cans Campbells Condensed Creamy Poblano and Queso Soup
1.5 cups milk
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
1 lb bag of elbow macaroni (cooked and drained)
4 hot dogs, sliced
2 T chopped fresh cilantro (optional)
1. Cook macaroni noodles
2. Heat the butter over medium high heat. Add the onion and bell peppers and cook for 5 minutes or until the vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally.
3. Add the tomato and garlic (sprinkle in) and cook and stir for 1 minute. Season with salt and black pepper
4. Stir in the soup, hot dogs and milk and heat to a boil. Remove the saucepan from heat. Add cheese and stir until melted. Stir in the macaroni. Sprinkle with cilantro if desired.
Makes 6
Ingredients:
One 8 Oz package cream cheese
Chicken (we used thigh but I got the idea from someone who used chicken breasts)
Onions
Celery
1/2 green bell pepper
Green onions
One can mushroom soup
Uncooked bread (I tried both pillsbury crescent roll dough- 3 packages and frozen rolls for a smaller serving)
Butter
Italian bread crumbs
Directions:
1. Boil chicken. I did 6 tenderloin thighs, or 2-4 chicken breasts depending on size. Chop when finished (will end up in between chopped and shredded)
2. Chop onions. Saute onions in a little oil (maybe 1 T- just enough to coat the bottom of the pan). Chop and add in celery and then the chopped green pepper and continue to saute. Go until onions are ready. Turn stove off.
3. Add in sliced green onions and cream cheese and can of mushroom soup and chicken.
4. Use 2 crescent roll triangles and press seams together to make a square. Spoon filling onto dough and then pull up the sides of the dough, pressing sides together to seal shut. Flip over so that the seam side is down. For the roll option, I flattened the risen dough and spooned mixture in and sealed this as well. The first option gives bigger squares and the second, round rolls.
5. Melt butter and brush onto rolls and then sprinkle on Italian bread crumbs.
6. Cook rolls at designated temperature for the roll of your choice (should say on package) until golden brown.
Ingredients:
Glazed donuts (sliced)
Hamburger patties
Slices of cheese
2 slices of bacon per hamburger
Lawrys seasoning or salt, pepper and onion powder
Directions:
1. Cook bacon slices.
2. Cook hamburger patties. Season each side with lawrys or salt, pepper and onion powder. Place bacon on top of pattie and melt cheese slice on top.
3. After you get the hamburgers cooking, place the donuts on a pan, glaze side up, and toast the inside of the donuts.
4. Assemble cheeseburgers, glazed part facing in
Serves 4
Ingredients:
Pasta noodles (we used rotini because that's what we had)
Ground beef enough for one seasoning packet (I think they usually say 1/2 lb)
One taco seasoning pack
Cumin
2 Cans of stewed tomatoes
One can of tomatoes with green Chiles (make sure the jar says mild if you don't want it spicy)
Cheddar cheese
Parmesan cheese
Directions:
1. Start boiling water to make pasta noodles normally.
2. Cook ground beef and follow directions on taco seasoning packet
3. Add one can of stewed tomatoes and can of tomatoes with green Chiles. Add other can of stewed tomatoes until you have enough for the sauce. Mix and smash stewed tomatoes. Add cumin to taste.
4. Mix in cooked pasta noodles. Here you have a few options. You can save this mixture now (the leftovers are actually better because the flavors settle in more) or melt the cheddar cheese on top- you can do this in the pan or in the bowl. If you save it for later you can melt it as you warm it up. We melted one slice on top of pasta in each bowl (shredded cheese also works great). Sprinkle Parmesan cheese to taste.
