Judy's Baked Pork Chops

This recipe got raving reviews on allrecipes.com so I wanted to try it.

Bleh. That pretty much sums up the Mister and I's feelings about the pork chops. They weren't bad, they were just bleh. Not blah, but bleh. :) I don't know if it's because I rubbed on too much seasoning salt or it was the cream of mushroom (although I bought the low sodium can), but the chops were way salty. The chops had no flavor, just saltiness. I had really high expectations for the sauce for it to be the piece that made the recipe so delish, but it didn't do anything. Maybe (if I decide to cook it again) I would have added some fresh mushrooms and more spices to the sauce. I ended up eating salad and couldn't finish the pork chops. I did like the method in which the pork chops were cooked (breading, pan fry, bake) and they didn't come out dry BUT I will probably just use Thai sweet and spicy sauce for dipping the chops in! And the Mister, he did not have seconds. Here's a picture! It looks better than it tasted. (The salad was really good, Cherry Almond Vinaigrette Mix from Costco!)

Kathleen's Baked Pork Chops

I only made 4 chops instead of 6 and kind of eyeballed all the ingredients because I was too lazy to do the conversions. And now that I'm writing this, I realize I didn't coat the chops in flour before dipping in egg. I just smeared on some garlic (no garlic powder in the house), sprinkled on some seasoned salt, dipped in egg, then breadcrumbs. Oops. But, even though I only used 4 chops, I think 2 eggs was too much. And 2 cups of breadcrumbs seems like a lot too. I just kept pouring them out as I ran out. But I probably used around 1 cup total. When browning, I kept 5 minutes in mind and started cleaning my kitchen. After 3 minutes I started to smell...burning. So I checked, and they were totally burning. I don't know if my pan was too cheap or what but I did the rest of the chops for 2 minutes per side.

I took the advice of some who reviewed the recipe and kept the gravy separate so the chops would stay crunchy. But my chops weren't crunchy. They were kind of soggy, probably from being covered with foil. I was glad I didn't combine the gravy though, because it gave me a chance to lay them on paper towels to soak up some of the grease. I used this instead of cream of mushroom soup and combined all the gravy ingredients and heated them in a saucepan over low heat to thicken. The pork chops were tender and smelled fantastic while they were in the oven but overall I wasn't that impressed by the taste. They were good, just not great.

Kathleen's Quinoa Risotto

I made the quinoa risotto tonight and it took like 15 minutes, awesome. I HATE mushrooms so I omitted them. My plan was to substitute the mushrooms with some of the short ribs I saved from last week's recipe. But then I got lazy and just made the quinoa plain. I used shallots instead of onions because I had some laying around. I also used herbs de provence instead of thyme because I didn't have any thyme and it was the first ingredient on the herbs de provence label. Let's see, what else? Like Jennifer, I changed it to fit my taste, which meant the full cup of wine, woot woot! And I took her advice and added a pinch of red pepper flakes. The result? The quinoa was good, especially after I loaded on the cheese. It looks really plain, hence the dull picture (I have no idea what is going on with that black spot in the corner, btw) but it will probably taste good served with some baked pork chops next week!

If you want to try a different quinoa recipe, this is one I've made often. I know it says to use orzo but I've only ever made it with quinoa and I've always enjoyed it!

Jennifer's Quinoa Risotto

This was the first time I made or even tasted quinoa. However, I was excited to try it out, because I kept reading about how healthy it was for you (and we could all use some "healthy" foods in our lives - I say this as I'm eating the whole box of almond cinnamon cookies from Ikea). Luckily, they had a box of organic quinoa at Trader Joe's!

I made a few adjustments to the recipe to gear it more toward my liking. I added a bit more garlic and onion than called for and had dried thyme on hand so used that instead of fresh. One cup of wine sounded like it was too much (and waaaay too much for me), so I reduced that to only 1/2 a cup. I didn't miss it at all. Also, it took more than "2 minutes" for the wine to reduce down. As for the quinoa itself, it looks very interesting (totally different than when it came out of the box) when cooked (remember - this was my first experience with quinoa). I called my mom over so that she could see as well. She, too, was surprised and actually thought it was some kind of roe. After we got over the initial awe of the quinoa's interesting appearance, we decided to taste it. My mom liked it as it was, but I was a bit disappointed. It needed something, because it was a bit boring. I decided to add some red pepper flakes (the solution to all of my problems). The result - much better!

To make this more of a main meal and not a side dish, I think you could add some chicken. I'd make this recipe again but want to experiment with other quinoa recipes first.

Lisa's Teriyaki Short Ribs

We just finished our dinner of teriyaki beef short rib dinner! I used all the ingredients, but after reading Judy's post, I decided to half the hoisin sauce and only kept it in the crock pot for about 4 1/2 hours...(Roger was too hungry to wait until 5 1/2 hours). Dinner was good, but I think i should have used a whole cup of hoisin sauce because it wasn't sweet at all....maybe even add a little sugar too. Molly enjoyed dinner too...at this very moment, she's going at it with the rib bone!

This meal is a keeper, but will have to add more sweetness to the meal!!!

Judy's Teriyaki Short Ribs

The short ribs reminded me of a steak bowl from Samurai Sam's. Maybe it was because I served it with rice and zucchini like they do at the restuarant. Or maybe it was because of the substitutions and modifications I made. I ran out of teriyaki sauce so it was on my Costco list of things to buy. For those that don't know, Torrance is like Hawaii on the mainland, so I was surprised that didn't have any teriyaki sauce (although they do have kikoman soy sauce by the gallons). Instead (because I was too lazy to make another stop at another grocery story), I bought Mr. Yoshida's Marinade and Cooking Sauce. I figured it would be similar to teriyaki sauce, you know tomato-tomato, potato-potato, Mr. Yoshida-teriyaki. Well ok, maybe not.


Anyways, since I used this marinade, I only used 1/4 a cup of hoisin sauce for fear it may be too sweet. Like Kathleen, I also used boneless short ribs because that's all they had at Costco. While it was cooking, it smelled dee-lish and I hoped it would taste as good as it smelled. Although I set the slow cooker to 8 hours, I stopped it at around 5 and a half hours. It was cooked and I didn't want overcooked, dry meat. I did not bother to make the sauce or use scallions. If I'm cooking a crockpot meal, then that's it for me!

The verdict: the meat was a tad bit too sweet for my liking, but paired with steamed zucchini and red bell peppers, it was almost perfect. Next time, I would use Mr. Yoshida's sauce exclusively with the other ingredients and omit the hoisin sauce. I might also use 3/4 of Mr. Yoshida's sauce and 3/4 beef broth. It is a definite cook again recipe. And the Mister, he enjoyed it as well, no complaints!

Kathleen's Teriyaki Short Ribs

The short ribs tasted great! I used 1/2 cup of teriyaki sauce because I ran out, and then upped the beef broth to 1 cup to compensate. I also couldn't figure out how to open my pepper mill so I used ground pepper. Also, I got my ribs at Costco and they only had boneless short ribs. Lastly, I don't know why I even bother buying scallions because I always forget to use them. Anyway, the ribs were super tender from slow cooking all day that they fell apart as I lifted them out of the crock pot. I poured the sauce into a medium-sized pyrex bowl and stuck it in the fridge overnight so the fat would harden. The next morning I had a nice solid chunk of fat that I picked up and discarded. Then I thickened the sauce, and poured it over the short ribs. I served it with brown rice and sauteed snow peas. It was delicious! Can't wait to eat leftovers! For more details, check out my blog.

Judy's Marinated Flank Steak

It was YUM-O, as Rachael Ray would say since it is her recipe! I substituted spicy brown mustard for dijon mustard. I also marinated the steak for about 10 minutes on each side because I somehow missed that it was suppose to be 3 hours. I broiled it for 8 minutes on the first side and then noticed it burned a little, so for the next side I broiled for 6 minutes instead. The thinner end of the steak was cooked perfectly for me and the thicker end was cooked perfectly for the Mister. The Mister likes his meat a little rare. I served the flank steak with white rice and steamed vegetables. The Mister went back for seconds so I would definitely cook it again!

Lisa's Marinated Flank Steak

All I can say is YUUUUUUUUUUUM!!! I pretty much followed all the directions and ingredients, except that I put it in the broiler for 8 minutes on each side, rather than 6 based on Kathleen's own experience...and that I used 1.5 lbs of flank. My oven has three different temperature settings for boiler: low, normal, and high. I first put it on normal because I wasn't sure which temp I should do...After the 8 minutes, I saw that the first side didn't have that nice seared look to it, so I upped the temp to "High". I think I should have cooked on "High"to both sides to cook it more evenly, but I'm glad I did change it to "High" still.
The taste was flavorful, and my hubby enjoyed it very much...and he is my toughest critic....so two thumbs up!

Kathleen's Marinated Flank Steak

I used a 1-pound steak instead of a 2-pound steak and broiled it in my toaster oven. I did 6 minutes on each side and let it rest before slicing. When I started slicing it, I realized it was waaaay underdone (a little too bloody) so I stuck it in the toaster oven for 4 more minutes and it was much better.

I halved the recipe and saved some of the marinade to use as a dressing for a pasta salad. So, 1/2 a recipe of the steak, one box of whole wheat pasta (they are like 13.5 oz instead of 16 oz) and one bag of baby arugula. Toss together with the reserved marinade mixed with pasta water and serve! See the complete recipe here. Can't wait to try the short ribs next week!