Honey Glazed Pork Loin & Belly

It's hard to speak about the trivial things going on in my own life when such tragedies as today's events in Boston occur.  So instead of rambling about being tired, or being over-worked, or stressed... I'm just going to say I'm thankful.  We never know when our last day will come.  Nor do we know what tomorrow will bring.  So I'm thankful for my health, my sanity, my family.  And my prayers go out to all of the families affected by today's awful event.

Ingredients:

Pork Belly:

1 lb. pork belly
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup salt
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon garlic powder
2 cups chicken stock
1-2 tablespoon olive oil

1 lb. pork loin, cut into 1 & 1/2 inch thick medallions
salt and pepper, to taste

Honey Glaze:

1/2 cup water 
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup honey
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tablespoon black peppercorns

In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, paprika, onion powder, cayenne, and garlic powder. 

Score the pork belly and rub the spice mixture all over the pork belly, making sure to get in the creases of the scoring.  Tightly wrap pork belly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, up to 24 hours.

Preheat oven to 275 F.

Unwrap pork belly and rinse off spice rub.  Pat pork belly dry. 

Heat a large oven-proof skillet under medium high heat and add olive oil.  Sear the pork belly, scored side first, until golden and caramelized.  Add enough chicken stock to the pan to come up halfway on the pork belly.  Transfer skillet to oven and cook until pork belly is nice and tender, about 4-6 hours.  Alternatively, you can do this step in a slow-cooker if you don't want to have your oven on for such a long period of time.

Combine the water, soy sauce, rice vinegar, honey, garlic, and black peppercorns in a small saucepan.  Reduce mixture by half or until slightly thickened.  Set aside.

Heat a large saute pan under medium high heat.  Season the pork loin medallions with salt and pepper, to taste.  Add oil to the saute pan.

Add the pork loin to the pan and cook until caramelized.  Flip over and cook until at desired temperature.  About a minute or so before done, pour some of the glaze liquid into the hot pan and let the mixture thicken around the pork loin to coat it.

Brush some of the thickened glaze on the pork belly, as well.

We served this with some creamy grits and balsamic brussels sprouts.  Definitely a tasty meal.

I hope you all have a great rest of the week and remember not to take any day for granted!  Be safe!

Chef Salad w/ Honey Mustard Dressing

Boy am I glad it's Friday!  I don't really have big plans for the weekend (possibly the KY State Fair?), but the usual - relaxing. 

Andy is going to be out tonight for a bachelor party, so that leaves me to fend for myself tonight for dinner.  I work late, so I might just throw together some CSA vegetables and see what I come up with!

Salads are always my go-to lunch during the week, but every now and then you'll see them appear for dinner.  I made this a while back, but it's still been in the back of my mind because it was one of the best and most filling salads I've ever had.  The easy honey mustard dressing really makes this something special!

Ingredients:

Dressing:

1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1 tablespoon honey
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon chopped dill

Salad:

Romaine Lettuce
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and julienned
2 hard boiled eggs, chopped
3 pieces of bacon, cooked and chopped
shredded cheddar cheese
sliced turkey, chopped
1 carrot, peeled and chopped

I love the "Mason Jar" method when making salad dressings.  What is that?  Well, basically, throw in all of the ingredients for the dressing into a Mason Jar.  Shake until mixed.  Pour on top of salad.  Easy?  Hell yeah it is.

To assemble the salad, wash the lettuce and shake dry.  Divide among plates and top with apple, eggs, bacon, cheese, turkey, and carrots.  Drizzle on dressing. 

And bam!  Lunch or dinner is ready in no time. 

I don't usually like honey mustard as anything other than a dipping sauce for chicken, but on top of this salad... it was amazing.

What's your favorite salad & dressing combo?

Have a great weekend guys!

Secret Recipe Club: Creative Culinary's Grapefruit, Ginger & Honey Flank Steak

After doing my usual stumbling of food blogs one day, I came across a link for the Secret Recipe Club.  It's a group of bloggers that post a recipe from an assigned food blog every month.  The idea is genius!  #1, you get to discover someone new each month.  And #2, someone gets assigned your blog, so you get to see your recipes done their way.  It's win-win!  To find out more, visit here.

So I decided to join last month and this month would be my first post.  I received the blog Creative Culinary for my assignment.  I'd never been to this blog before, but I knew it was somewhere that I'd be back to again and again.  It was so hard to choose a recipe - because they all looked so good!  Then I came across the Grapefruit, Ginger, & Honey Flank Steak.  I knew it would be a hit just from the name.  So that was my chosen recipe!

Ingredients:
Adapted from Creative Culinary's recipe


2 tablespoons olive oil
juice from 1 orange (I mistakenly bought a giant orange instead of a grapefruit - apparently I wasn't reading the tags correctly, hehe)
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 teaspoon ground coriander
about 1 teaspoon kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 lbs. skirt steak (I already had some skirt steak in the freezer, so I used it instead of flank)

In a medium bowl, combine the olive oil, orange juice, honey, ginger, coriander, salt, and pepper.

Lightly score the skirt steak both horizontally and vertically on both sides.

Add skirt steak to a resealable plastic bag and pour in marinade.  Refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.

Light a charcoal grill under medium high heat.  Grill skirt steak for about 5 minutes per side for a good medium rare.

Let steak rest for about 5 minutes and slice against the grain.


I really enjoyed this meal and thought it was the perfect weeknight meal!  It was one of those things you could just throw together in the morning for the marinade, come home from work, and within 30 minutes, you've got dinner!  I'll definitely be back to Creative Culinary's blog for more fantastic recipes like this!  So if you haven't stopped by there, you really should - and check out the other Secret Recipe Club members too!


If you're interested in joining, head on over here.  Hopefully I'll see you guys next month!!



Semi-Wheat Bread

Happy Wednesday guys!  I'm glad you guys liked my wedding bouquet idea! 

I'm pretty excited because tonight is our first sand volleyball game of the season.  It's just the start of more "active" nights.  During the winter, it's so hard to get motivated to do anything, but once spring hits - it's volleyball and softball season so I'm outside all the time!

It's actually a big weekend coming up too.  It's Thunder Over Louisville (one of the largest fireworks shows in the US!) and it pretty much signifies the start of 'Derby Season' (I don't think that's really a season, but everyone does start talking about Kentucky Derby this and Kentucky Derby that).  So looking forward to posting pics from the weekend to come!

Anyway, Andy's favorite type of bread is wheat bread, so when Sunday rolls around (my usual bread baking day) he's always begging for wheat bread.  I've got to give in to him every now and then, right? 

Ingredients:

1 cup warm water
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons honey
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons active dry yeast

In a large bowl, combine the water, milk, olive oil, honey, and brown sugar.  Add in both flours, yeast, and salt.

Knead dough for about 10 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic.  Whole wheat flour always requires a little more elbow grease, so be prepared!

Place dough in a greased bowl and cover with a kitchen towel.  Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Punch dough down and knead for a couple more minutes and form into a loaf.  Please in a greased loaf pan and cover with a kitchen towel.  Allow to rise for another hour, or until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 350F.  Bake bread for 35-40 minutes.

Allow to cool for a couple minutes and turn onto wire rack to finish cooling.  Or if you can't hold back (like us), slice it up while it's still warm and serve with a pat of butter!

This was really great bread!  I'm actually using it tonight to make some Vietnamese Shrimp Toasts (hopefully a recipe is sure to come if all goes well!).

Well, I've got some last minute studying to do before my volleyball game tonight!  Wish me luck!

Have a great rest of your Wednesday guys!

Honey-Caramel Ice Cream Sundaes

It's Friday!  Woop.  Woop!  The only bummer about Fridays, for the next 11 weeks, is that Andy has a class until 10pm.  Yup.  Meaning that my Friday nights will pretty much consist of me hanging out with the dogs at home.  I'm so exciting, aren't I?!

With the exception of this Friday night.  My friend Kendra and I just had dinner at Varanese (you know, my fave restaurant in all of Louisville).  Needless to say, I'm in a rather food-induced sort of coma.  It was so friggin' good. 

Yeah, I waited until the last minute to post the last poll winner, didn't I?  I promise, I try to post them earlier, but life gets in the way.  Busy busy, as can be.  But you'll forgive me, I'm sure.  After you see how awesome this ice cream is. =)  Oh... and don't forget to vote for the new poll down below!


Ingredients:
Adapted from The Perfect Scoop

1/2 cup honey (buy local! - if you can)
1 & 1/2 cups whole milk
1/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1 & 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream, plus 1 tablespoon
5 egg yolks
about 10 soft caramel candies
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
bananas, optional
sesame seed brittle, optional (recipe below)
chocolate syrup, optional


Sesame Seed Brittle
Adapted from The Perfect Scoop

1/2 cup mixture of black and white sesame seeds
3 tablespoon honey

In a small saucepan, heat the honey until warm.  Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

In a large saucepan, heat the milk, sugar, and salt until warm and sugar is dissolved.

Pour the heavy cream into a large bowl and place a metal strainer over top.  Pour the honey into the cream and stir until combined.

In a medium bowl, whisk egg yolks until combined.  Slowly pour the warm milk mixture into the egg yolk bowl, whisking constantly.  Then transfer egg yolk mixture back to sauce pan over medium heat.  Stir constantly with a heatproof spatula until mixture thickens and coats spatula.

Pour the custard into the strainer over the heavy cream and stir until mixed together.  Place bowl in an ice bath to cool.  Once at room temperature, cover mixture with plastic wrap and allow to sit in refrigerator overnight.

The next day, melt the caramel candies with 1 tablespoon of heavy cream in a microwave safe bowl.  (30 second intervals until caramel is smooth should do it).  Let cool to room temperature.

Take custard mixture out of the fridge and prepare in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions, about 30 minutes or so.  About a minute or two before it is done, drizzle cooled caramel into machine to create a "swirl".

To prepare sesame brittle, heat 3 tablespoons of honey in a sauce pan until warm.  Add sesame seeds and fold in until coated with honey.

Preheat oven to 350 F and line a rimmed baking sheet with foil.

Spread honey-sesame mixture over foil in an even layer.  Bake for about 15-20 minutes, or until golden.  Watch it carefully because it can burn rather quickly.  Let cool until hardened.  Then break up into pieces.

In a medium skillet, melt 1 tablespoon of butter.  Slice banana into 1/2 inch slices.  Add bananas to skillet and fry until warmed and slightly browned/carmelized.  Remove from skillet and allow to cool slightly.

To assemble sundaes, place 3 scoops of ice cream in a bowl.  Top with semi-warm bananas (in my opinion, there is nothing better than warm bananas and ice cream!) and sesame seed brittle.  Drizzle chocolate sauce on top, if desired.  Try not to eat the whole thing.  I dare you.

This was awesome.  Damn awesome, if I do say so myself.  I loved the ice cream.  The honey and caramel were two different dimensions of sweetness that paired so well together.  Try it out.  I know you'll love it!

Enjoy your weekend guys!

What should I make this weekend???

Honey Oat Wheat Bread

I apologize for the cruddy pictures... this is what happens when I get in a rush I guess =)

Happy Monday guys!  How was everyone's weekend? 

We went out for sushi on Friday night and for dessert afterward.  Andy was holding a grudge (not really) because I wouldn't let him go get ice cream the night before, so I told him we could go this weekend.  And after pondering what to eat for dessert, we stumbled upon the Comfy Cow, and came up with a genius idea.  Get this... we're gonna have an ice cream sundae bar at the wedding!  The Comfy Cow caters, so hopefully I can book that soon!  We figure it'll be something different for dessert, although we're still planning on having a little wedding cake too.  Neat, eh?

Anyway, today's bread is probably the best I've made yet.  It's definitely the softest, fluffiest loaf I've produced this year.  And Andy has been begging me to make some wheat bread, so I finally did it! 

Man, I've been caving into a lot of his needs and wants lately, haven't I?  First with the Velveeta, and now the wheat bread.  At least with the wheat bread, we both can agree it was fantastic!


Ingredients:

Adapted from Radishes & Rhubarb's recipe

1/2 cup oats

1 to 2 cups boiling water
3 tablespoons of honey
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1-2 teaspoons salt

1 & 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 & 1/2 cups bread flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1 & 1/4  teaspoons instant yeast

2 tablespoons milk
oats, for dusting (optional)

In a large bowl, combine oats, 1 cup boiling water, honey, butter, and salt.  Mix until butter has melted.  

Allow mixture to cool slightly and stir again. You've basically made some oatmeal porridge and this is going to rock your world when mixed with the flour.  Seriously.

Stir in all three flours and yeast.  The dough will be relatively shaggy.  Add water (in 1/2 cup increments) until you have a manageable dough.

Turn bread onto floured worktop and knead for about 7 to 10 minutes, or until dough is smooth and elastic.
 

Oil a large, clean bowl and form your dough into a ball. Turn dough ball to lightly cover with oil in bowl. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and a warm, damp towel and leave for about an hour until it has roughly doubled in size.

Turn dough ball onto floured surface again and punch down.  With a floured rolling pin, roll dough out into a rectangle and fold like a business letter (top half down and bottom half up).  Turn once and roll out and fold once more.

Fold in the sides to get a nicely shaped loaf.  Grease a bread loaf pan/tin and place dough, smooth side up in pan.  Using a pastry brush, brush on enough milk to lightly coat the top.  Lightly sprinkle oats on top, if desired.  Cover with warm towel and let rise for another 30-45 minutes.

 

Cut 3 diagonal slashes on top of bread and place in oven on middle rack. 

 

Place a baking sheet underneath and add about 1/2 to 1 cup of water.  

 

Heat oven to 375 F and bake for about 45 minutes, or until outside is golden and bread is cooked through.

 

Cool on a heating rack before cutting.

Serve with your favorite jam or a slat of butter.  This bread is THE bomb.

 

Through my bread-making escapades this year, I've found when I place the loaf in a cold oven, it results in a softer bread.  And when there's steam from the water in the pan below, it created a crispy crust.  I'm no bread expert, trust me.  This is just what I've found works for me! 

Hope you guys have a great rest of your Monday and see you tomorrow!

Cast Iron Cornbread

Although Andy got to "break-in" our new Cast Iron Skillet, I knew I had to use it soon after.  I don't know what it is, but when we get new things for our kitchen or home, I just have that itch to use them immediately!  I've held out since Christmas, so I mean, I've waited long enough.

Cornbread is one of those things that goes great with comforting meals.  In our case, we had some black eyed pea "stew".  But you know, most people have cornbread with chili and things like that.  Me... I like to eat it by itself.  What more do you want?  It's sweet, yellow, crumbly cornbread.  With a nice pat of butter.  Simple heaven, I tell you.

Ingredients:

1 cup white cornmeal (you can use yellow too, but this is what I had on hand)
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup milk
1 egg
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon sugar

Grease a 10-12 inch round cast iron skillet and place in oven.  Preheat oven to 400 F.

Combine cornmeal, flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda in a medium bowl. 

In a separate medium bowl, combine milk, egg, olive oil, and honey. 

Pour the wet ingredients in with the dry ingredients and mix well.

Carefully remove the cast iron skillet from the oven and pour in batter.  Return skillet to oven and bake for about 15 minutes, or until cornbread is golden brown.

Cool slightly and slice into wedges.  Top with butter and enjoy sweet cornbread bliss!

I don't like an overly sweet cornbread, and I also don't like an overly dry and plain cornbread.  This was pretty close to perfect!  If you like it on the sweeter side, feel free to adjust the honey and sugar accordingly.  Like I said, this pairs perfectly with some beans or chili, but is just as great on it's own with some butter or extra honey! 

Hope you all enjoy your weekend... I'm off to make that pear-caramel ice cream and do a few other errands... Monday will be here before you know it, but I'm going to enjoy this 3 day weekend as much as possible!  Enjoy your weekend guys!

Ginger Honey Chicken

Well, it's officially summer... in my book anyway. After a whole WEEK AND A HALF with just gray and rainy skies, the sun finally showed it's face again this past weekend. And you know what? I worked ALL WEEKEND long. But I know I'll get other chances to enjoy the nice weather we're currently having (hopefully). One thing that does scream summer to me is grilling. Summer = grilling. I know more people are grilling all year round more often, but there's just something about the sun shining, the weather being hot, and a grilling, that just screams summer to me.

Something I wish I'd just go out and buy already, a grill basket. They're just easy to cook practically anything from vegetables to fish in. Definitely would help with the problem of fragile fish on the grill, that's for sure! If you wanna check out a great grill basket, Foodbuzz.com's Daily Special today happen to be just that!

A great grilled chicken recipe comin' right up!


Ingredients:

1 cup honey
3/4 cup soy sauce
5-8 cloves garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
1 in. piece ginger root, peeled and minced
1 jalapeno, minced
3-4 chicken thighs, boneless and skinless

In a small saucepan, combine honey, soy sauce, garlic, shallot, ginger, and jalapeno under medium high heat. Stir until honey is just melted and ingredients are well combined.

Place chicken thighs in shallow dish and pour honey soy mixture on top of chicken. Let marinate in fridge for at least 1 hour (I let mine sit for about 2 & 1/2 and it was PERFECT!).

Light a charcoal grill under medium high heat. Grill chicken for about 5 minutes per side (depending on thickness of thighs) or until cooked throughout. Let rest for about 10 minutes and slice into strips. I served this with white rice and carmelized carrots!

This was absolutely exceptional. The honey, soy sauce, and ginger were prevalent in the chicken, but didn't overpower one another. The chicken was succulent and juicy! Enjoy!