Herb Oil meal

One quick sauce, made from just a few stellar ingredients, can really turn around a boring dinner. Pork chops and baked potatoes are taken to new heights with this easy herb oil. Make a Saturday-style dinner on Monday night. Your family will love you for it.

Oregano oil
1 cup of fresh oregano leaves
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp paprika (smoked is especially nice)
1/2 tsp garlic

Pour all ingredients into a blender and blend for 1 minute, or until everything is totally pulverized.

Make it a meal...

-Boil 4 potatoes for 10 minutes--they will still be firm, but starting to get tender. This is called par-boiling or par-cooking.
-Run the hot potatoes under cold water until you can handle them. Cut into fourths or large wedges.
-Brush the herb oil on the potatoes, thick-cut pork chops or chicken breasts, and thickly sliced onions.
-Grill on medium-high until everything is done. The potatoes will take about 10 minutes, the pork chops need to be 160 degrees, and depending on the thickness, that could be anywhere from 3 to 10 minutes per side. Temperature is best. The onions will be fastest, at about 5 minutes on the grill. Turn once or twice to ensure lovely grill marks all over the food.
-Serve everything along side a simple green salad or just sliced veggies. If you want, serve the potatoes with a little sour cream or mayonnaise, though they're delicious just as is. If you time everything right and are quick with the knife, you can make this meal in 30 minutes or less.

Note: when you're putting anything on meat, make sure that nothing comes in contact with the raw meat. Brush your veggies first, or pour the herb oil over the meat and rub it in with your fingers so that no oil, tools, or surfaces are contaminated. The last thing anyone wants is food-born illness.

This oil would be great on lots and lots of things, and will store in the fridge just fine for a few days. Make extra and try brushing it on other vegetables, meats, or even pouring a little on your breakfast eggs. It'd even make a fine salad dressing.

Meat Marinades 101

Time for Lisa's Soap Box again. Today's subject: marinading meat.

A marinade is a flavorful liquid that you soak meat in. It tenderizes the meat, adds juice, and really affects the flavor. Wonderfully, marinades can be incredibly tasty while being incredibly healthy as well. Plus, they are relatively simple to create, and make you look like a rock-star on the grill.

Marinades have 3 basic parts: an acid, an oil, and seasonings. Unlike salad dressings, the ratio doesn't have to be very precise. I'd do about a 2-1 acid to oil ratio, though. Add as much or as little seasoning as you like.

Acids: Help to break down connective tissue and tenderize the meat, as well as driving other flavors into the meat deeply and quickly.
-Vinegar (red wine, rice wine, apple cider, balsamic--anything except distilled)
-Juice (lemon, lime, orange, apple, etc)

Oils: Lubricates the meat and prevents sticking or burning. Also adds to a juicy mouth feel.
-Vegetable oil
-Extra-Virgin Olive oil (my favorite)

Seasonings: Time to get super creative!
-Salt and Pepper are a must.
-Garlic or garlic juice
-pull out your spice cabinet! ginger, cardamom, cumin, chili flake, or paprika are all classic
-Worcestershire sauce
-soy sauce (careful, this is salty)
-honey or molasses
-hot sauce
-herbs like thyme, rosemary, oregano, sage, or basil

Try to pick things for your seasonings that compliment each other and compliment your acid. Last night we did an asian-inspired marinade: orange juice, olive oil, soy sauce, fresh oregano, and ginger. It was fantastic.

Assemble your marinade and pour into a ziploc bag. Add the meat. Any kind of meat--chicken breasts, pork chops, steaks--can benefit from a good marinade. Depending on how much acid you use depends on how long it will need to sit. I'd shoot for no less than 30 minutes, though up to 4 hours is fantastic. Then grill up the meat on a grill or under a broiler. DISCARD ANY REMAINING MARINADE. Leftover marinade is not for basting, and is most definitely not a sauce. It has done its job, and you will not be sorry for using it, I promise.

Meat temperatures are this, and I would not recommend grilling without an insta-read thermometer. They are very cheap and can be purchased at most grocery stores. Ground beef, chicken, pork, fish: 160 degrees Farenheit. Beef Steak: 140. If you go over these temperatures by more than 10 degrees, you'll really start to notice a difference in juiciness. If you've always had overcooked meat, you're really missing out! Properly cooked meat should be quite juicy. And don't freak out if you've never eaten pink steak before. Brown steak is burnt. End of story.

Correctly used, marinades can really benefit your weekly cooking, and can change your eating and cooking habits. Plus, if you're just a beginner cook, or not very creative in the kitchen, marinades are a great place to start, because they're hard to mess up, and really taste great, and can turn a cheaper cut of meat into a really awesome dinner. Good luck, and be creative!

Lisa's Wonderful Dutch Oven Meld

Another healthy recipe, down home comfort food. Pork chops in the dutch oven, cooked low and slow, make them tender and slightly sweet. All the extra vegetables make this a one-pot meal, sure to be a hit with your kids, your husband, your waistline, and your dishes pile.

Dutch Oven Meld
4 tbsp olive oil
4 pork chops, thick cut
1 or 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced about 1/2 inch thick
1 onion, sliced
2 firm flesh sliced apples (Gala, Macintosh, Granny Smith, braeburn, etc)
1/2 lb cremini mushrooms, left whole
salt and pepper


BBQ sauce:
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp red pepper flake (just a pinch!)
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tsp smoked paprika (regular paprika will be okay too)
1 tsp minced garlic
2 tbsp fresh minced rosemary, or 1 tbsp dry

In a 4 quart dutch oven, pour the olive oil. Layer in the onion, sweet potatoes, meat, apples, and mushrooms, sprinkling each layer with salt and pepper as desired. Mix together the BBQ sauce ingredients and pour over the whole thing. Cover and cook for 1 hour at 400 degrees in the oven, or with 15 briquettes on bottom, 13 on top.

Sweet and Sour Edamame with Pork

Last night's dinner was tasty and healthy. Edamame are soy beans, becoming more and more available in regular grocery stores. They are high on fiber, and are the only plant source of complete proteins. This meal is low in fat and high on flavor. For a satisfying vegetarian option, just leave out the pork.

Sweet and Sour Edamame with Pork

1 bag frozen edamame

2 thick cut pork chops

1 red bell pepper

1 lb cremini mushrooms

5 green onions

1 can pineapple chunks

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup ketchup

1 tsp crushed garlic

1 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp red curry paste (optional)

Thaw the edamame in the microwave for 2 minutes. If it is still in the shell, remove the shells by squeezing out the edamame beans. Preheat a large skillet over high heat. Add 2 tbsp olive oil to the pan. Cut the porkchops into roughly 1 inch cubes. Season liberally with salt and pepper, then add to the pan. Once the meat is in, lower the heat to medium. Let the meat cook for about 2 minutes per side, until it is brown. Meanwhile, julienne the pepper (slice into thin slices), halve the mushrooms, and roughly chop the green onion. Drain half the juice off the canned pineapple, retain the other half. To the pan, add the retained juice from the pineapple, the soy sauce, worcestershire sauce, ketchup, garlic, ginger, and curry paste. Be careful of steam when you add the liquid to the pan. Stir the meat with the sauce, gently removing the brown bits from the bottom of the pan (called deglazing). Let cook for 5 minutes. Now add the remaining ingredients, stir to combine, and let simmer on medium heat until the pepper and mushrooms soften. Serve on a bed of white steamed rice.