Pork Roast Dinner

Cooking a pork roast might be one of the easiest things my hubbie had to cook and I might say he was pretty proud of himself! I had him buy the type of pork roast that is tied together. These tend to be the most tender.

I had him cover the roast with salt and pepper. Then, place in a covered roasting pan (or any pan and cover with aluminum foil)and bake at 350 degrees for about 3 hours. Meat should easily pull away from the roast.

The leftover meat was placed back in the roasting pan with about 1/2 cup of water. He placed back in the oven for 350 degrees for about 10-15 minutes. Once hot, he chopped it up and tossed in some leftover homemade BBQ sauce. Served on toasted buns with some store bought coleslaw.

Here is my homemade BBQ sauce recipe:

2 c Ketchup

4 tbsp. Brown sugar
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp. Soy sauce
1 tbsp. Apple cider Vinegar
1 tbsp. Honey or Agave Nectar
1 tsp. Garlic powder
1 tsp. Yellow Mustard
1 tsp. Smoked paprika
1/2 Onion

I put everything in a pan and simmered for about 10 minutes until the onions are soft. Then, remove the onion and allow to cool.

Grilled Pizza

I LOVE grilled pizza! It is super simple (plus my hubbie can make them on his own). They cook so quickly and always have a crispy crust. Plus, there are so many variations.

My hubbie will made 3 pizzas (one for each of us). Our 2 yo sone, who also LOVES pizza, had a small cheese pizza. My hubbie had a pizza with fresh mozzarella, pimentos and sliced ham. I had a pesto and grilled zucchini and squash pizza with fresh mozzarella.

We used store bought pizza dough, but you can make your own if you like. The key to grilling pizza is to keep the flame low and check it often so it doesn't burn. Should take about 3-4 mins per pizza.

Here is my dough recipe if you want to make it from scratch:
3 to 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 package Rapid Rise Yeast
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup very warm water (not hot)
2 Tbsp oil
Cornmeal

In large bowl, combine 2 cups flour, undissolved yeast, and salt. Stir in the very warm water and oil. Stir in enough of the remaining flour to make soft dough not too sticky. Knead on lightly floured surface (or throw into the stand up mixer) until smooth and elastic, about 4 to 6 minutes. Cover; let rest on floured surface 10 minutes. Roll out to the desired size.

Cooking from the Couch

Since I have been on bed rest for the last week in a half, I had had to come up with meal ideas that will be suitable to my husbands cooking expertise. (Which I might add is very limited). So, I figured I would start this series of meal ideas called "Cooking from the Couch: Meal Ideas for a Non-Cook". The concept is simple...

So, here is what I have come up with thus far:

Sunday: Non- Creole Jambalya with salad
Monday: Left overs
Tuesday: Grilled Pork chops with baked beans and pickles
Wednesday: Grilled pizza (cheese, ham/cheese, grilled veggie)
Thursday: Pork Roast with green beans and a salad
Friday: Left over Pork- BBQ Pork Sammies with coleslaw
Saturday: Take out
Sunday: Pork and Sauerkraut Bake with Salad
Monday: Potato Soup with Rubens
Tuesday: Leftovers
Wednesday: Meatloaf with baby carrots and village salad
Thursday: Leftovers with premade mashed potatoes
Friday: Tex- Mex Enchilada Bake
Saturday: Leftovers
Sunday: Teriyaki Chicken over brown rice with frozen veggie mix

I am pretty confident that my hubbie can do these meals. Some of the recipes have been changed a bit to accommodate his cooking style. For example, the chicken and sausage for the Jambalaya was grilled instead on sauted or boiled.

Tuesday's Greek Night

Opah! Although I live in a predominantly Greek town, I do and eat very little Greek. My husband is not a super fan especially of citrus in our food. Totally bummer I know! But, sometimes he just has to go with the flow...Tuesday night will be one of those nights!

I had a Pork Roast in the freezer, so, I pulled it out to defrost in the fridge on Sunday. Then, Tuesday morning I will put it the marinade before cooking. Here is my plan:

Pork Roast:
Marinade: 1- 1.5 cups lemon juice ( I will use 1 cup and save some lemon slices), 3/4 c olive oil, 1- 1.5 T minced garlic, 3T minced rosemary and oregano, Salt and Pepper.

Marinade meat for 3-5 hours. Place in a roasting pan covered with a few lemon slices and bake at 325 degrees for 2-3 hours (depending on the poundage).

Roasted Potatoes:
1lb. little  red potatoes, 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1 T olive oil, 1/2 T minced garlic, 1 t oregano, Salt and Pepper,
1/2 cup water, Feta cheese

Cut up potatoes. Then, mix up sauce of lemon, oil, garlic and oregano. Cover baking sheet with aluminum foil and potatoes. Cover potatoes with lemon sauce and season with salt and pepper. Add water to the pan and bake at 400 degrees for 40-45 minutes. Sprinkle with Feta before serving.


My Village Greek Salad:
1 Cucumber, peeled and chunked;  2-3 Roma tomatoes, cut into wedges; ½ Cup Kalamata olives (optional for us since we don't eat olives); 1 Roasted red pepper, sliced; 1 bell pepper, chunked; 8 oz Feta cheese
Dressing: ¼ cup white balsamic vinegar, ½ cup olive oil; Fresh oregano; Salt & pepper to taste

Combine all veggies and dressing. Can be served over Romain lettuce or with potato salad, but ours will be plain!
 
 
Do you think I over did it with all the garlic and lemons? Hmm...we shall see!

My Menu for the Week

This week I thought I would not only clean up some of the meat in our freezer and food in our pantry, but I would do it while throwing together a few new recipes. So, here is what I have come up with so far...

Sunday- Spaghetti and Meatballs with a Salad and homemade Pull Apart Garlic Bread
Monday- Left overs
Tuesday- Pork Roast with greek Seasoning, Roasted Potatoes and a Village Greek Salad
Wednesday- Cube steaks with Mashed Potatoes and Gravy and Fresh Green Beans
Thursday- Potato Soup and Monte Cristos
Friday- Asian BBQ Thighs over rice or with Lo-Mein
Saturday- Left overs or go out to dinner?
Sunday- Chicken Paprika with Egg noodles and a salad

In addition to this weeks menu, I look forward to making Blueberry Crumb Bars. I can't get enough of the blueberries while they are still in season. Lately my attempts at Blueberry muffins have come up...powdery. I think i can taste the baking powder in the muffins and it is totally a turn off. I am blaming it on my super pregnancy taste buds obviously it is not my cooking!

I will post some recipes for this week as we get to them...so keep checking back!

And today I want...

I am finally getting my bake on...again! I have been making a lot of simple, delicious dinners lately, but have been craving more! I definitely think that is the baby talking. Finally my sweet tooth has kicked in, but it is different this time around. This time I crave pastry and cake along with fruit. In that sense it is not overly sweet per say as it is just crumbly goodness.

So, Here are a few recipes I have found while perusing over the last few weeks. I hope to get to all of these within the next 2 weeks.

1. Blueberries. Since blueberries are in season here...I have been stocking up. It is one of the few fruits my son will eat, plus I LOVE blueberries. I have already made a homemade blueberry sauce that is dying for a nice cheesecake. Yet, in the meantime it is smothering every waffle and pancake I can get my grubby little hands on. So, to mix it up I found Bree. She has this delectable Blueberry muffin recipe on her blog Baked Bree. I can't wait to bake these like delights!

Here is her beautiful picture of the Blueberry Muffin.

2. Apple. What is more American the Apple Pie...right! When 4th of July came and went I was so disappointed not to have this classic American treat on hand. I can see those glorious gooey apples smothered with with melting frozen goodness! MMmmm....excuse me while I drool! Thus, while at the market the other day Apples topped my list. I found two delicious recipes I can't wait to dip into!

The first is a classic apple crips...I grew up on apple crisp with its scrumptious little oatmeal crispies...Cory over at Culinary Cory has recipe I can't wait to dive into! The vanilla ice cream is already in the freeze waiting...

Here is his picture of this simple American dessert.

Yet, one apple dessert is never enough. Remember that I said I was also craving cake. Well, I couldn't resist this recipe the moment I saw this picture.

See what I mean! It just screams crumbly gloriousness. Ohhh...I want some now. So, thank you to the mother and daughter cooking combo over at Russian Season. I can't wait to bake my own!

3. Pineapple. Usually this is not a fruit high on my list of delights, but recently I had some fresh pineapple at a playdate. It was so juicy and delicious, I gorged! So, since I love pineapple on my pizza I knew I would love this recipe. (I will just have to make a separate pizza for the boys! LOL!

Thank you Barry at Rock Recipes for posting this sensation pizza-pie!

I can't wait to dive into these treats...Not to decide which ones to start first!

Breakfast: Oatmeal Medley

I personally LOVE fruit with my oatmeal. My favorite is peaches and cream, but instant oatmeal is expensive and full of sugars. So, instead of the instead sludge, I decided to throw a Baked Oatmeal Medley together this morning for breakfast. It is wet, and dreary outside, so what is better to start off the morning.

Oatmeal Medley

2 cups oatmeal ( I used steel cut oats)
2/3 c brown sugar ( I actually used a bit less)
1/2 t apple pie spice (or plain cinnamon is fine)
5T butter
2 eggs
1 1/3 c coconut milk (or plain milk is fine)
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2t salt
Fruit of your choice: Apples, Peaches, Mangoes, Apricots, cranberries, raisins, walnuts
(This is a great way to use up very ripe fruit. I made mine this time with peaches, apples, cranberries and walnuts)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Then, combine all ingredients into a bowl and mix. Pour into a greased baking dish (13x9 or 9x9 will work). Bake for 20-25 minutes. Serve warm alone or liven it up with a hint of milk (or cream if you dare!)

***This recipe was adapted from the Baked Oatmeal recipe at Pennies on a Platter.