Bake marinated pork chops when grill won't light

It is pouring rain. Happy Memorial Day. We had planned to grill today, so I marinated extra thick pork chops. And then -- after a couple of storms' worth of hail and rain, the grill wouldn't light. So we had to regroup and figure out a different way to cook the chops. I browned and baked them, and they were actually quite delicious.

I didn't bother looking up a recipe for the marinade; I just sloshed various ingredients in a gallon-size freezer bag and threw the chops in. Here's basically what I did:

Baked marinated pork chops

Combine in a gallon-size freezer bag:

1/4 cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup red wine
1/4 cup finely diced sweet onion
1 crushed garlic clove
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sweet basil

Seal bag, shake well to combine ingredients. Add three or four thick pork chops. Shake well. Let marinate at least two hours.

In a large skillet, heat 1/4 cup olive oil over medium high heat. Brown chops (with a good share of your marinated onion and garlic bits) in olive oil, three minutes to a side until well browned. Line a casserole dish with aluminum foil. Place browned chops in the foil, topping with extra pan juices and onion bits from skillet. Bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes.

Break from tradition with mayo-free potato salad

Today after getting home from a quick road trip, I didn't have a lot of energy for cooking. But it's Memorial Day weekend, so -- after finding that the fresh dill growing in my garden is thriving--I had a hankering for homemade potato salad. I threw some ingredients together-- potatoes, pickles, onions, red pepper pieces, olives and artichoke hearts, before I realized that the only mayonnaise in my fridge had an expiration date of June '07. So I pitched that jar of mayo and created a healthier-than-traditional potato salad. We'll grill flatiron steak and some corn on the cob to go with.

Potato salad with red pepper, hold the mayo

8-10 medium-sized red-skinned potatoes, boiled just 'til soft (about 15 minutes. Do NOT rinse potatoes after cooking)
1 jar artichoke hearts, chopped, and accompanying marinade
1/2 cup sliced black olives
1 large red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 large dill pickle, chopped
4 hard-cooked eggs, sliced
3 green onions, chopped
1/2 cup diced sweet onion
1/4 cup fresh dill, chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 to 3/4 cup olive oil
3/4 teaspoon paprika
1/3 cup Dijon-style mustard
Sprigs of fresh parsley

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Chill at least two hours before serving.

Grilled asparagus kicks off farmers' market season

We hit the farmers' market for the first time this season on Saturday. Bought beautiful asparagus, which the vendor recommended we grill. We hadn't done this before. He suggested putting the stalks into a plastic bag with a little olive and salt and pepper, shaking that up and then laying the stalks onto the grill and turning often 'til they're just a little blackened.

Last night we had a crowd of out-of-town family here for dinner and weatherwise, it was the best spring evening we have had all year. Dave grilled up German sausage (from YB Meats-- what a great store!), asparagus, some green and yellow bell peppers. I wrapped potato rolls in foil and heated those for just a few minutes on the grill too to go with our sausage. Added some store-bought potato salad and tabouli to the mix. An easy backyard picnic. The asparagus was especially elegant.

Shrimp spinach salad is ultimate convenience food

I don't shop for dinner in the frozen-food aisle, because it's so easy to make a healthy, fresh meal quickly from scratch. The other night I threw supper on two plates in less than a minute. I started with a layer of bagged baby spinach, added some dried cranberries, a few mini-carrots, some baby tomatoes, and a few crumbles of feta cheese. I added sliced almonds, a morsel of artichoke heart and a generous layer of pre-cooked cocktail shrimp I'd bought at the fish counter at my grocery store. I spritzed on some no-fat dressing and we were set. Genuine lean cuisine, no microwave needed.

Savor easy-to-make bite-size quiche, pesto tarts

Yesterday I made mini quiches and pesto tarts to take to a dinner party. These are really easy and fun to make. To make the dough, beat an 8-ounce package of cream cheese with two sticks softened butter until well blended. Add two cups flour. Mix until dough forms. Shape into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate one hour, or overnight.

Shape the dough into golf-ball size rounds and place into a non-stick mini-muffin tin. I press the tarts into shape with a little wooden mini-tart shaper I bought from Pampered Chef. The dough is easy to work with and this little pestle is just the coolest kitchen tool. With a toothpick, poke holes in the flattened crusts and bake at 425 (400 convection) for about 10-15 minutes, until crust is golden. Let the tart shells cool a little in the pan.

To assemble quiche, mix two eggs with 1/4 cup milk. Put a little Swiss cheese in the bottom of the baked tart shells, add a little shredded spinach, finely chopped onion, bits of ham, whatever you like. Drizzle egg mixture into each filled shell with a teaspoon to fill. Season with salt and pepper.

To make pesto tarts, put a little shredded mozzarrella or Swiss cheese into the bottom of each baked shell, top with a dollop of pre-packaged pesto sauce, top with more cheese and about three pine nuts.

You can also fill the tarts with just cheddar cheese and a little pepperoni or ham, bits of bell pepper and feta, bits of chopped olive, anything that sounds good.

Bake tarts at 425 (400 in a convection oven) for about 10-15 more minutes, until cheese is melted and the eggs in your quiches are cooked. Serve immediately. Makes 3 dozen lovely mini-tarts.

Pass the Dijon: Turkey feta burgers, grilled peppers

Another gorgeous evening, and we're still on this (probably temporary) health kick, so we grilled turkey burgers for dinner, adding a few sprinkles of feta before we pulled 'em off the heat. I chopped a red bell pepper into big chunks, skewered the pieces and brushed my pepper kabobs generously with olive oil. While the meat patties cooked, Dave grilled the pepper pieces, making sure they got just a little blackened and nice and soft. They were perfect. I made a spinach, tomato and walnut salad, which I topped with a shake of low-fat balsamic vinagrette. Easy supper in about 10 minutes.

Instead of standard hamburger buns, we used nice slices of whole grain bread for our burgers. Didn't slop on any mayo, just spread with a baby bit of Dijon and some red-leaf lettuce. Delectable.

Heat up the grill on a beautiful sunny weekend

Today was warm and wind-free, so we spent all day outside with the pup and then had dinner on the patio. We grilled chicken with sweet potatoes, peppers, onions and broccoli.

With a nice cold bottle of Fat Tire, I felt like summer has arrived. I came up with a quick way to grill sweet potatoes. I cut two potatoes into home-fry-size sticks, brushed those with olive oil and then laid them flat on a sheet of aluminum foil. I folded the edges of the foil up, covered the bottom sheet with a second sheet and sealed those up. The sweet potatoes were cooked through on medium heat in about 20 minutes. Sweet potatoes provide good, healthy carbs, and I just love them. These would also be good with a few shakes of fresh-grated parmesan cheese.

Nice and healthy: Stir-fry vegetables with shrimp

I'm on a health jag. I'm determined that we are going to start eating right, every meal, every day. This resolution will not last two more weeks, I know, but for now, we've had a lovely weekend with lots of vegetables, low-calorie meals, all the right moves.

Tonight for dinner I cooked up a wok full of veggies with shrimp to serve over rice. It was easy and so good. In the 30 minutes it took to cook rice in the microwave, I chopped a red bell pepper, a sweet onion, two large chunks of broccoli, about 10 stalks asparagus, three stalks of celery. I heated some canola oil in my wok with a few sprinkles of sesame oil, then threw in all the vegetables, and cooked those on high heat for about 6 minutes. I added about 1/2 cup white wine, and three generous shakes of red pepper flakes. Then I added one pound medium-sized, peeled, pre-cooked shrimp, which I'd bought today at the grocery store fish counter. And I added a 1/2 cup bottled Kikkoman-brand stir-fry sauce.

Yum. And healthy, too.

Lebanese inspiration: Pizza on pita bread crust

Carrie Rengers forwarded me her terrific pita pizza recipe. Her husband, food writer Joe Stumpe, got this idea from someone in the local Lebanese community. What an inspiration to make quick pizza on a pita bread crust. She recommends buying pitas at N&J Bakery in Wichita. You can freeze the pita bread and thaw briefly in the microwave for 15-20 seconds, or just top pita and cook frozen.

Spread sun-dried tomato paste on several pita rounds in a thin layer. (Carrie recommends the squeezable tubes of tomato paste, available in the veggie aisle at Dillons.) Then top with whatever fresh ingredients you like: fresh veggies, diced bell peppers, olives, shredded chicken, sausage, fresh herbs, a few raisins. Add some cheese, maybe some crumbled feta or blue cheese. You can also add a few pine nuts or chopped pecans. Drizzle a bit of olive oil over the pizzas and bake on a cookie sheet at 375 to 400 degrees for 5 to 7 minutes, depending on your desired level of crunchiness. "Joe likes them a little less crunchy," Carrie says. "I like them a bit more crunchy. Seriously, these are a great way to use leftovers -- the pitas don't take many toppings. And they make a fine meal (perhaps served with a salad) or appetizer. It's fun to experiment with different toppings."

Start and end the day with Irish soda bread

This month's book group selection is "Life with Mae," by Neal Shine. Great, funny book about Shine's Irish mother and their family's life in Detroit. We're getting together tonight to discuss, so I got up early this morning to make Irish soda bread for the occasion. When Dave and I were in Ireland a couple of years ago with our mothers, this was served at every meal. It's remarkably easy to make. Here's the recipe I used:

Irish soda bread

4 cups all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup raisins

In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and 1/2 cup butter. Stir in 1 cup buttermilk and egg. Add raisins. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead slightly. Form dough into a round and place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. In a small bowl, mix melted butter with 1/4 cup buttermilk. Brush loaf with this mixture. With a sharp knife, cut an X into the top of the loaf. Bake in 375 degree oven (350 if using convection) for 40 to 50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Brush the loaf again with buttermilk mixture after first 20 minutes of baking.

March Madness in April: Quick couscous salad

Yesterday we went to an open-air concert in the afternoon with friends and then invited them to our house to watch KU play North Carolina in the Final Four. I didn't have a lot of time to spend in the kitchen during the day, so I bought nice German sausage at YB Meats (great store-- I gotta shop there more often!) to grill once we got back to the house, and before we left for the concert, I made a very quick couscous salad. Our friends contributed an elegant spinach salad and pita-bread pizza appetizers. (I'll post that recipe once I get it from Carrie.) Excellent food, and (as it turned out) an excellent game.

Making couscous salad takes all of five minutes from start to finish. Pour two boxes of quick-cook couscous into boiling water according to package directions, remove from heat, cover and let sit for five minutes. During that five minutes, chop 1/2 cup green onions, a red bell pepper, a peeled, seeded cucumber, three or four large tomatoes, a handful of fresh basil. Mix in a large bowl with 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice, 3 tablespoons olive oil and 1 cup halved pitted Kalamata olives. Add couscous. Stir well. Chill for several hours before serving. Then add 1 cup crumbled feta cheese.

The recipe made plenty, so we have leftovers to enjoy during KU's championship game tomorrow night.

Celebrate Easter with macaroon pie

Gotta blog quickly. It's 5 a.m. and I have a plane to catch-- I'm off to join my kids, brothers, sister, mom for Easter. Before I go, here's a very nice dessert to make for Easter dinner. This delectable recipe comes from my Aunt Katie. I took it to a dinner party last week and it was a hit.

Macaroon pie

1-1/2 cups crushed soda cracker crumbs (more commonly known, I guess, as saltines)
3/4 cup pitted, chopped dates
3/4 cup chopped nuts
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
4 egg whites
1 teaspoon almond extract

Beat egg whites until very stiff. Slowly add sugar. Fold in all other ingredients. Pour into well-buttered pie pan and bake 30 minutes at 300 degrees. For serving, top wedges with sweetened, almond flavored whipping cream, or (my preference) add 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract to a cup of sour cream and spread over the top of the pie. Sprinkle with sliced almonds.

Add a cup of cranberries to oatmeal cookies

I love making oatmeal cookies. I add handfuls of extras to pack them with goodness: chocolate chips, coconut, raisins and nuts. I've just made a big batch and added dried cranberries for a little variety. They're yummy. Here's the basic recipe for about four dozen cookies:

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3/4 cup no-transfat Crisco
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups uncooked oatmeal (quick or old-fashioned)
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Heat oven to 350 degrees (325 if using convection oven). In large bowl or standing mixer, mix brown sugar, shortening and granulated sugar until creamy. Add egg, water and vanilla. Beat well. Add oats, flour, baking soda; mix well. Add handfuls of anything else that sounds good-- chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, dried fruit, nuts, coconut.

Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls onto sheets. Bake 11-13 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Remove to wire rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered or freeze in plastic freezer bags.